7-4-25 - Exulting

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

There is no joy quite like the joy we get when we're filled to the brim with the Holy Spirt as we engage in some ministry and the outcomes are strong and good. I once led a three-day spiritual renewal weekend, after six months of preparation. The team put in 18-hour days with little down time - but I was so juiced on the Holy Spirit as I saw people experiencing God's love in new ways, I didn't even drink coffee the whole weekend. We think living by faith, walking in radical trust is difficult. But so often when we actually do it, we are blitzed by such euphoria, it’s a wonder we don’t make more of a habit of it. That seems to have been the experience of the seventy disciples Jesus sent out:

The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

The disciples exulted not only because they’d had human success. It was that they had felt the spiritual power Jesus had promised would be theirs. They had been able to exercise authority over demons and diseases, to navigate the welcome and unwelcome of different towns and households. And Jesus affirmed their sense. “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning” might have been his statement about a cosmic past event, or his recognition that his power was now working through his followers, and that spelled the end for the reign of evil and its master.

But he is also quick to say that such power and euphoria should not be the root of our joy – our inclusion in God’s realm for all eternity is where our sense of well-being should rest. When we are rooted in that identity, as God’s chosen, delighted-in daughters and sons, we are paradoxically better able to take those leaps of faith in ministry that bring about more euphoria. As we step out from that belovedness to walk in Jesus’ name into places we cannot yet know, relying on resources we cannot yet see, we receive more gifts that God wants to give us. We receive the Spirit in such measure, so much peace and love and joy and purpose, we can’t wait to do more.

And when we are focused on ensuring that everyone knows they are included in God’s peace and joy, love and justice, we really find cause to exult. Until we are all free and equal in opportunity, security, and peace, none of us is free. Until we are willing to “respect the dignity of every human being,” as our baptismal covenant asks us to promise, we will let discord and mistrust rule us rather than the Law of Love.

Freedom is God's desire for us - and for all our fellow citizens, and for all creation. Can we make it our first priority to set others free to thrive; to embrace our inter-dependence in order to celebrate our independence?

© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.