You Are One of The 72d
Jesus appointed and sent out 72 of his disciples to every town and place. Did you ever wonder why 72? Where did this number come from? Well it’s interesting to point out that Scripture Scholars tell us that if you count all the sons of Noah’s children, you’ll come up72. The Bible also says that after the flood, 72 people started to spread over all the earth. And so these 72 came to represent all the peoples of the earth- all people in the world today can be traced back to these 72. When Jesus sent out the “72”, this was a very symbolic number- a number that represents all believers. The point is Jesus appointed each and every one of us to proclaim that, “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” It’s important for us to hear this today because some feel that this instruction of Jesus is meant only for clergy, religious and perhaps those who work for the Church, but not for “the average person”. The truth is Jesus meant this instruction for every baptized person, every disciple. This is why Jesus lamented in the Gospel, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.” Jesus needs and is counting on every one of us to bring his Gospel to every heart. If I asked anyone why you come to this Church, you would probably tell me, in various ways, that here you experience the peace and love of Christ- and this fills your heart like nothing else can in this world. Well what we do when we leave Church is even more important than what we do here. We are called to bring Christ from our Church and into the lives of others. The irony is that when we extend the peace and love of Christ to others, we are truly blessed in return. We will find that our own burdens and crosses become lighter and easer to carry, and God’s peace and joy reigns in our heart. Christ indeed appointed us to proclaim God’s Kingdom to others. Let us take this appointment seriously, for if we do, we will indeed be rewarded a hundred fold and our names will be written in heaven.
God Loves You,Fr. Dunn