Luke 6:12-19
- One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
- When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:
- Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
- Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot,
- Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
- He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon,
- who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured,
- and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
• The rhythm of God’s creation
The world that God created repeats with a regular pattern. God gave us the day for work and fellowship, and the night for meditation and self-reflection. In order to live our life smoothly, we should follow this rhythm of the universe. However, people who live in a big city find it very hard to take the time for self-reflection, which I think makes urban people wander around and get cranky.
Today’s reading shows us the rhythm of Jesus’ life. For him, the dawn and the night were the time for prayer. And the morning was dedicated to forming a community with his disciples. His daytime was devoted to preaching God’s life to people. Believers are also required to stand alone in front of God at night and dawn, make a community with neighbors and deliver to people the strength and love that they have received at night and dawn.
• Being alone
People are afraid of being alone because they feel lonely. However, being with others doesn’t eliminate the fundamental loneniness that human has. In order not to sink into depression and loneliness, they should stand alone in front of God. Only when they open their heart to God and reflect upon themselves in front of God, they can avoid the mental state of illness.
Jesus bowed down before God during the busiest time of day, because he believed that God’s heart was bigger than his and God’s thought was deeper than his. A deep fellowship with God expels the darkness inside us, and makes us overcome the anxiety and fear we have. It provides us with the strength to rise again amongst hardships and weariness.
Brothers and sisters, make the time for prayer. You can pray before going to sleep or when you wake up in the morning. Or you can pray during your lunch time. There’s no way than prayer to have a healthy spirit. When you pray, you look up to God in the midst of your life. When you pray, you realize that things that make you suffer are not that serious and things that attract you are not that valuable. Standing before God means that you get emancipated from yourself!
• Community
In prayers in loneliness, one recognizes that God loves him so much and he is one part of God’s creation. However, he can’t remain alone. Since he realizes that he is part of God’s bigger creation, he wants to stay with others. In fact, your solitary time of prayer is a preparation time to be with others. Faith always has the dimension of community.
Jesus who bowed down before God at night approaches to his disciples in the morning. He selected 12 disciples with all sorts of background. A good community has this trait of variety. In a good community, members are not to be uniform but to be harmonized. Every member of the community is important. Gentle people are necessary to maintain the community. But people with a short temper are also necessary to move the community forward.
Forming a community is not easy. Therefore, members of a community should have tolerance and generosity to the shortcomings of others. When they stand each other, forgive and trust each other, God will be extremely pleased to see the community. In order to have such a beautiful community, we should always remind ourselves the reason why we were called to form this community. What do you think is the basic principle of God’s community? It’s love and trust, as written in 1 Peter ch. 4.
- The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.
- Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
- Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.
- Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.
A good community is based on loving each other deeply, offering hospitality to one another without grumbling, and using gifts to serve others. We learn humility and gain strength in the community.
• We are God’s gift for the world
Then why did Jesus call the 12 disciples to form a community? He intended to invite them to do work of God together. Likewise, Jesus called us as his people in order for us to work for the kingdom of God, together with him.
As I said before a few times, I feel trilled not just because I was delivered by Jesus, but also because God invited a person like me to work together with him. When Jesus and his disciples descended from the mountain (in today’s reading), all the people from Jerusalem, Judea, Tyre and Sidon welcomed him. They came to listen to his word and be healed. Luke writes that they were healed because power was coming from Jesus.
Note that you are sometimes misled by the phrase “power coming from Jesus”. You might think that only Jesus has such power and we don’t. However, the power originally comes from God. When Jesus was full of mercy on those people, God was moved and healed them through Jesus. Without the mercy of the Lord, without feeling the pain of the people, he might have not been able to heal them. This is the essence of the power, i.e., feeling their pain as your pain.
Being filled with the holy spirit means that your heart becomes one with God’s heart. God has love toward people who are alienated and week. God needs our hands and feet to help those. He wants to make this world beautiful through us. When we are filled with the holy spirit, we gain power and are able to become “God’s gift” for the world! Jesus said in John 14:12:
I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these.
When we are in the holy spirit, we are not useless or powerless anymore. When we are together, that’s even better. Surely we cannot solve all the problems of the world, but if we start praying for the needs of people you know and trying with God, God will work things out. Believers live in the vase sea of God’s grace, and try to spread God’s love to the people in this world.
Brothers and sisters, I pray that you all take this glorious calling by God with joy and endeavor to make the world better. Amen.