Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.” I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town. 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 man we know as St Patrick was probably the greatest Christian missionary since St Paul. This was because he took the Gospel beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire. The Romans had conquered much of Britain, though Scotland was always a bridge too far. But if Scotland was a bridge too far, Ireland was out of the question, and the Romans made no attempt to plant their standard there. It was seen as a dark and violent place, far beyond the pale of civilisation.

Into such a place, the young Patrick, a Roman Briton, was taken as a slave, eventually escaping and returning home across the Irish Sea. But, extraordinarily, he decided in time to return bearing only the power of the Gospel. Like the prophet Jeremiah, he understood this as a God-inspired mission for which, in many ways, he felt ill equipped. But he knew God was with him, and he understood the Irish people from deep within. It was this deep sense of God and the Irish people that gave his mission such power and ensured that it bore such fruit.

He went like a lamb among wolves and lit the darkness with the light of Christ. The effects of this have been incalculable, given the vast influence of Irish Christianity throughout the world, not least in Australia. From the horrors of slavery, God brought an astonishing liberation through Patrick, turning the wild, uncivilised place into a hearth of true civilisation.