ASTONISHMENT SEIZED THEM

PRAYER MOMENT  

Tuesday 1 September 2015

ASTONISHMENT SEIZED THEM

Pause. Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Be quiet! Come out of him!” And the evil spirit throwing the man down in front of everyone, went out of him without hurting him at all. Astonishment seized them and they were all saying to one another, “What teaching! He gives orders to unclean spirits with authority and power and they come out.” (Luke 4:31-37)

Reflection. Each gospel writer describes the amazement of the people when Jesus begins his work. We are now reading Luke and for him astonishment is a recurring theme: at the end, after Jesus had risen, the disciples in the upper room “stood there dumbfounded.” This emphasis helps us grasp how new, bewildering and “stretching” the arrival of Jesus really was. The evil spirits knew immediately who he was and, since they had such clear knowledge, it is puzzling why they did not give up immediately instead of continueing to torment humanity up to this day. But for men and women of every age there is this astonishing realisation of whole new possibilities, unimagined before, of what we can be and what we are called to.

Prayer. Lord, help us too to be astonished at your presence and fill us with joy and confidence for the future. Amen.