September 9, 2025

Luke 6:12-19

There can be heartbreak in the midst of love and beauty. In fact, heartbreak is the norm in human life. A family member, mate, or friend becomes ill. A job is lost, and with it a house. A nation is decimated and people starve. And we reach out to help as much as we can, but we cannot remove heartbreak.

In today’s reading, Jesus prays all night and then in the morning, he names his twelve disciples.  After praying all night, what he has received from God he transmits to the apostles, the twelve disciples who will go out to spread his teachings and his healing.  The reading says that a crowd of people came to hear his teachings and to be healed by him, and “everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.”  In this we know that Jesus was and is approachable; he transmits the power of God in a way that we can receive. Coming close to Jesus is easy, or relatively easy, compared with the endless mystery of God the Father, whom we cannot see or visualize or comprehend with thoughts, words or concepts.

Yet even on the joyful and momentous occasion of his selecting the twelve disciples who would go on to spread the teachings and transmit them even down to us today, there is a heartbreak – the heartbreak of the betrayer, Judas Escariot.  In the midst of love and beauty, there is heartbreak. But as the Psalm also says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,” as our heart breaks open, so seek comfort in the Lord.

That is all for today. We are glad you are back. Amen.