Sunday Reflections on The Southerner
Sunday, July 6, 2025
(Luke 10:1-12.17-20, Galatians 6: 14-18 )
“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest”. (Luke 10:2).
My dear brethren in Christ, Peace and Love of Chris be with you.
Today, we celebrate a special day in our lives as Christians, the mission of the seventy signifying our own mission here on earth, not just to live out our lives and return back to our maker, but to ensure that we bring about positive reforms, ensuring a fair state, a society of equity, justice and fairness.
It will not be said of us that after our lives, we had no impact on the civil society which we lived. God has not commissioned us to be self centered but reflect Him, His Kingdom here on earth, in the lives of others, imprint His face on the face of the earth…
The harvest is plenty, the works are much but the labourers are few, nonetheless, we rejoice because at the end, we have left a legacy for generations to come (a good name is better than silver and gold – Proverbs 22:1).
The reflection of today will be split into three parts, reflecting our journey, and the necessity to affect our world positively against all odds. The first part which is anchored on Luke 10: 1-4 reflects a wider mission or outreach for the larger Christian community beyond the ‘selective twelve’.
This refers to the urgency and simplicity of the mission likewise the challenges involved.
The second part which continues the mission mandate is anchored on Luke 10:5-12. It points on the need to carryout our God given assignments in peace, being bearers of God’s Peace, focus on the mission, depending on God’s Providence through the hospitality of those whom we are being sent to reach out to.
The third part anchored on Luke 10 : 17-20 reminds us of the things that should constitute our true happiness, not being limited by the physical achievements of today but the bigger picture of fulfilling God’s mandate.
On the first part of the reflection, Christ urged His disciples on the urgency of the mission to imprint His face on the face of the earth, bringing about healing, justice and fairness to a world where it has been disregarded.
A mission of simplicity not overwhelmed by the desires and endless quest for material good that characterize the human society, also pointing to the fact that the mission is tantamount to swimming against the tide, opposing the ‘orders of the day’.
Hence, we should be equipped both in mind and strategy to ensure a successful experience because certainly the road and the process are thorny and never smooth.
The opposition does not necessarily need sword or gun but the principles that govern the affairs of the day, the ideology of the rich getting richer and the poor, poorer, of class distinctions, marginalization and disregard of the human life and above all, the moral fight of the soul and conquering the self.
The second part of the reflection further highlights the place of peace in the mission mandate and the need to remain focused irrespective of what challenges we might encounter in the course of the mission. We are called to submit and rely on God’s Providence because He knows our needs better at each point (Matthew 6:8).
Class or status as the world categorizes should not be in us but our hearts should align with them who in one way or the other accept the message of peace, of healing, happiness to the sorrowful and love to the disheartened. There we must pitch our tents because there is unity of intention.
Our focus must be to make sure that the message of renewal is spread abroad as individuals and as a nation through the channel of peace and Love.
However, in a situation where your message is being disregarded, do not worry for we reap what we sow. He who does not accept light, invites darkness likewise the rejection of peace is an invitation for chaos and war. In a situation where one fails to accept the message of justice and fairness, the reverse of oppression and marginalization is certain.
Finally, in the third part of the reflection today, Christ brings to our consciousness, once again, that our true happiness does not rely on the fact that we had accolade for the things we have done or the achievements or positive reforms we were able to bring to the table but the fact that generations will always point to the legacy we left behind.
Our names are being written in the sands of time, not for evil but for good, not going after our selfish desires but having fulfilled the mandate of God, to bring healing and deliverance to the sick (mentally, emotionally and spiritually) and oppressed, bringing God’s kingdom down on earth that men shall see the face of God in the created things.
By God’s Grace, when we achieve what we set out for, it’s not the end of the journey. Eternity is the goal.
My dear brethren in Christ, this is a wake up call to each of us for whom Christ was crucified and by believing the world is crucified to us, let nothing actually hinder us from effectively bringing about the renewal of the face of the earth (Galatians 6:14-15).
We are called to have it at the back of our mind that we are the answers that the world seeks. We are the discipline and comfort that the world longs for. This mandate is not just for Christ or the twelve but the extended family of believers, men of goodwill scattered in different aspects of the society; from the civil service to the military, from the executive to the legislatures, from the judiciary to the masses.
There is a gap and yearning that can only be quenched when we arise, shine forth our lights and salt our world.
What we fail to effect now surely comes haunting us, the peace we fail to accept now, comes haunting us when we need it the most, the love we failed to radiate now, disappears when we yearn more for it. The very change we want and desire for is in our hands, it is not for one but for all.
It is our world…
We live it…
We are it’s glory…
May the Peace and Love of God that surpasses all things, rest and abide in our hearts. Amen.
