Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and tomorrow is the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XVIII). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers the life and work of George Bell (1881-1958), Bishop of Chichester, Ecumenist and Peacemaker.
In the Jewish calendar, Shemini Atseret or Shemini Atzeret (שְׁמִינִי עֲצֶרֶת) began at sunset last night (2 October) and ends at nightfall this evening (3 October). Shemini Atzeret is an intimate, sacred Jewish holiday on the 22nd day of Tishrei that immediately follows the seven days of Sukkot.
The word Shemini (שְׁמִינִי) means ‘eighth’, meaning it is the Eighth Day, or the ‘Eighth day of Assembly’, and it acts as a transition from the public celebrations of Sukkot to a quiet, personal closing moment with God. Atzeret (עֲצֶרֶת) comes from a Hebrew root that implies a ‘halt’ or ‘detention’, symbolising God asking the Jewish people to stay one extra day before returning to their regular routines. The customs and practices associated with Shemini Atzeret include a special prayer for winter rains, marking the start of the agricultural water season.
The holiday of Simchat Torah (שִׂמְחַת תּוֹרָה), which follows immediately after Shemini Atzeret, begins at sunset this evening (3 October) and ends at nightfall tomorrow (4 October), involves joyous Torah-dancing of Simchat Torah.
Later this morning, I hope to go to Το Στεκι Μασ / Our Place, the ‘pop-up’ coffee shop in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford, from 10:30 to 3 pm today. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Luke 10: 17-24 (NRSVA):
17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!’ 18 He said to them, ‘I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 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. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’
21 At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’
23 Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.’
Today’s Reflection:
In our Gospel reading on Thursday (Luke 10: 1-12), when they were on the road to Jerusalem, Christ sent out the 72 – or the 70 – in mission, two by two. In the Gospel reading this morning (Luke 10: 17-24), they return, filled with joy and boasting, perhaps even exaggerating their experiences.
As I was saying two days ago, whether we speak of them as the 72 or the 70 depends on the translation we are reading and, in turn, the manuscripts the translations give greater weight to. In the Eastern Christian traditions, they are known as the 70 or 72 apostles, while in Western Christianity they are usually described as disciples.
The number 70 may derive from the 70 nations in Genesis 10, while the number 72 may represent the 12 tribes, as in the significance of the number of translators of the Septuagint, the symbolism of three days (24 x 3), and understanding the meaning of 144 (12 x 12), to appear again in the 144,000 in the Book of Revelation.
In translating the Vulgate, Saint Jerome selected the reading of 72. In modern translations, the number 72 is preferred in the NRSV, NIV, ESV and the New Catholic Bible, for example, but 70 figures in the NRSV Anglicised (NRSVA) and the Authorised or King James Version.
Some years back, when these two readings came together as one Sunday Gospel reading (Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20), I searched for a photograph that would illustrate the story of the 70, sent out in mission by Christ ahead of his journey on the road to Jerusalem.
I could find no speed signs for 70 kph on roads in Ireland or 70 mph in England – perhaps there are none, although they might have been suitable for a story about setting out on the road. Perhaps then, I thought, I might find a number 70 on a house or a shop on the streets of Cambridge.
It was hard to figure out where No 70 Sidney Street was in Victorian Cambridge. The older houses and shops have gone, and they have been replaced with an arcade of shops that includes Boots.
It would have suited my purpose if the former No 70 stood at the place where two plaques mark Charles Darwin’s lodgings on Sidney Street for his first year as an undergraduate at Christ’s College. But nothing was clear about the numbering on this part of Sidney Street, and I had to press on.
But later, as I made my way from Saint John’s College and the Round Church along Bridge Street towards the corner of Jesus Lane and Sidney Street and Sidney Sussex College, I came across Lindum House on 70 Bridge Street … a single doorway that I might have missed if I did not have this purpose in mind.
Discreetly located on the south-west side of Bridge Street, between 69 and 71 Bridge Street, the entrance archway to No 70 has a good early 19th century Gothic door. In the yard behind, No 70 was once the Flying Stag, a former public house, built in 1842 of brick, but incorporating a timber framed 17th century cell and 18th century fragments.
The door was firmly closed, and had the look of not being opened for years. But I understand this is a three-storey and three-storey building with attic ranges, sashes with glazing bars, and a tiled roof on an early lower build.
The architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner notes that it is an 18th century building. The Survey of Cambridge by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments In 1959 described it as a mainly early 19th century building incorporating part of an 18th century structure.
I looked at the significance of the number 72 in my reflections on Thursday morning. But is there a further significance to the number 70 as 70 disciples go out on mission into Gentile territory?
The number 70 is assigned to the families of Noah’s descendants (see Genesis 10: 1-32). In Jewish tradition, 70 is the number of nations of the world, and this is repeated in the Book of Jubilees (44: 34), although it is not regarded as Biblical in almost every tradition. The Septuagint lists 72 names, and some translations of Saint Luke’s Gospel enumerates the 70 as 72. Could the number 70 represent a future mission to all nations?
In the wilderness, Moses was aided by 70 elders (see Exodus 24: 1, 9; Numbers 11: 16, 24-25).
The Septuagint or Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, takes its Latin name, abbreviated to LXX, the Roman numeral 70, from the Greek name for the translation, Ἡ τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα μετάφρασις (ton evdomekonta metaphrais), ‘The Translation of the Seventy.’
The Letter of Aristeas in the Second Century BCE says the Septuagint was translated in Alexandria at the command of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247 BCE) by 70 Jewish scholars (or, according to later tradition, 72 – six scholars from each of the Twelve Tribes) who independently produced identical translations.
Once again, we can see the confusion between the numbers 70 and 72. Is Saint Luke saying the 70 (or 72) represent the true words of God?
The Great Sanhedrin is described in rabbinic texts as the Court of 71, although no Biblical text ever refers to such an institution. It was regarded as the supreme authority in matters religious and civil, including the appointment of kings, authorising offensive wars, punishing idolatry and teaching Torah.
Do Jesus and the 70 – or the 72 – represent the new 71, the new Sanhedrin?
Today’s Prayers (Saturday 3 October 2026):
In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 27 September to 3 October 2026 (pp 42-43), has been ‘Power of Language’. This theme was introduced last Sunday with a reflection by Rachel Weller, Communications Officer, USPG.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 3 October 2026) invites us to pray:
Gracious God, bless the Anglican Church in Mexico as it honours Spanish and Indigenous languages in worship and mission. May its work foster inclusion, preserve cultural identity, and bring hope and dignity to all communities.
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Lord, we pray that your grace
may always precede and follow us,
and make us continually to be given to all good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Gracious God,
you call us to fullness of life:
deliver us from unbelief
and banish our anxieties
with the liberating love of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect on the Eve of Trinity XVIII:
Almighty and everlasting God,
increase in us your gift of faith
that, forsaking what lies behind
and reaching out to that which is before,
we may run the way of your commandments
and win the crown of everlasting joy;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s Reflections
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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