‘I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’ - Luke 10:19-20
Jesus chose seventy-two and sent them out two by two to every place he was about to go because, the harvest was plentiful but the workers were few. When they returned they were doing cartwheels because they had seen remarkable things. They said that even the demons submitted to them in the name of Jesus. Such was the enabling they had been given and the authority they were able to exercise.
Jesus replied with these words (quoted above). It feels like he’s taking the wind out of their sails. But he’s not. He’s reminding them of what really counts. They were overjoyed by something less significant and underwhelmed by something more significant. They were overjoyed because of visible miracles, but they were underwhelmed by the greatest miracle of all – that their names were written in heaven.
How earth-bound we can become and miss the greatest privilege that belongs to us. How preoccupied we can be with authority in the church, or the achievements of the church programme, but fail to miss the most important thing of all: ‘how is it even possible, that my name should be written in heaven?’ ‘What manner of miracle is this, that one day Jesus should acknowledge my name before the Father and his angels!’
Let there be joy in our hearts then – the greatest kind of joy – that we belong to Jesus. And let that joy be first in our affections, so that even if the very demons were to be subject to our authority, it would not give us more satisfaction than to know that we belong to Jesus and he belongs to us.
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