NOTES for Luk 10:19-21
Returning from their preaching, Christ's seventy disciples joyfully tell Him that even the demons submitted to them because of His name. For them this is indeed a source of great joy, because they have discovered God's power at work within themselves and have been strengthened in faith. Yet in today's reading the Lord tells the disciples that this is not what they should rejoice in. Not in what happens to us. The Lord calls us to rejoice in what takes place in God's heart. When He says that the disciples should rejoice because their names are written in heaven, this expression means God's forgiveness, which has been given to people and which Christ's disciples will experience at the Cross. In the same way, the Lord speaks to the disciples about treasure in heaven: this treasure is God's love for people and our closeness to Him. These words of Christ also imply that the gift of God's favor is incomparably greater than the portion of it that we manage, in any measure, to realize in our lives. This fact, too, can be a source of joy and tremendous hope for us.