Don't take anything for granted!

Mark 9:41-50

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward. ‘But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck. And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out. And if your foot should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should cause you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where their worm does not die nor their fire go out. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is a good thing, but if salt has become insipid, how can you season it again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.’

Ecclesiasticus 5:1-5

Do not give your heart to your money, or say, ‘With this I am self-sufficient.’ Do not be led by your appetites and energy to follow the passions of your heart. And do not say, ‘Who has authority over me?’ for the Lord will certainly be avenged on you. Do not say, ‘I sinned, and what happened to me?’ for the Lord’s forbearance is long. Do not be so sure of forgiveness that you add sin to sin. And do not say, ‘His compassion is great, he will forgive me my many sins’; for with him are both mercy and wrath, and his rage bears heavy on sinners. Do not delay your return to the Lord, do not put it off day after day; for suddenly the Lord’s wrath will blaze out, and at the time of vengeance you will be utterly destroyed. Do not set your heart on ill-gotten gains, they will be of no use to you on the day of disaster.

Food for thought!

These two readings have one thing in common: NOT TO TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED.

1.   Do not take any deed for too small.  It means that any kindness shown, any help given, to God's people will not lose its reward. Jesus is telling us that everybody in need has a claim upon us because s/he is dear to Christ. Had Jesus still been here in the flesh he would have helped that man in the most practical way and the duty of help has devolved on us, Christians. It is to be noted how simple the help is. A cup of cold water. We are not asked to do great things for others, things beyond our power. We are asked to give the simple things that anybody can give; we can all afford a cup of water.

2.   Do not take anybody for too small to matter: "anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck." To sin is terrible but to teach another to sin is infinitely worse, even when the other is a small child.

3.   Do not say, ‘I sinned, and what happened to me?’ for the Lord’s forbearance is long.

4.   Do not be so sure of forgiveness that you add sin to sin. And do not say, ‘His compassion is great, he will forgive me my many sins’; for with him are both mercy and wrath, and his rage bears heavy on sinners.

5.   Do not delay your return to the Lord, do not put it off day after day; for suddenly the Lord’s wrath will blaze out, and at the time of vengeance you will be utterly destroyed.

6.   Do not set your heart on ill-gotten gains, they will be of no use to you on the day of disaster.

1 Corinthians 10:11-12

So when you see someone failing and falling into sin or disrepute don't laugh but pray; don’t be so naïve and self-confident. You’re not exempt. You could fail and fall flat on your face as easily as the person you laughing at. Forget about self-confidence; it’s useless. Cultivate God-confidence. Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands [who feels sure that he has a steadfast mind and is standing firm], take heed lest he too fall into sin and disrepute.

Who is not against us is for us!

Mark 9:38-40

John said to Jesus, ‘Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.’ But Jesus said, ‘You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.’

Numbers 11:25-29

GOD came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy leaders. When the Spirit rested on them they prophesied. But they didn't continue; it was a onetime event. 26 Meanwhile two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp. They were listed as leaders but they didn't leave camp to go to the Tent. Still, the Spirit also rested on them and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!" 28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' right-hand man since his youth, said, "Moses, master! Stop them!" 29 But Moses said, "Are you jealous for me? Would that all GOD's people were prophets. Would that GOD would put his Spirit on all of them."

Food for thought!

What do you think of these two Readings? They both deal with something called jealousy and tolerance. Jealousy does not always come from bad people alone; sometimes it comes from good people like you and me. Did you notice that in the Reading from Numbers who is jealous is Joshua, who had been Moses' right-hand man since his youth; and in the Gospel Reading it is John, the Beloved disciple?

Even good people can be jealous. I can be jealous; you can be jealous. So the question is, why do people who are blessed become jealous of other blessed people? Good people like Joshua and John intolerant of other people trying to do good? Why do we stop people who are doing, not evil, but good? John says that it is because they do not belong to our group!

Many Christian people lament that God no longer has a place in our world today. Maybe we are looking for God in the wrong places. If we looked beyond the Tent of Meeting and beyond those who belong to our group, it might surprise us to see that God is as active in our world today as He has always been. He may be working with those we regard as the wrong people, and in places we deem to be the wrong places.

It is wrong for any of us to think that our church has a monopoly of salvation. Why? Because there are many ways to God. He has his own secret stairway into every heart. He fulfils himself in many ways; and no man or church has a monopoly of his truth.

But--and this is intensely important--our tolerance must be based not on indifference but on love. We ought to be tolerant not because we could not care less; but because we look at the other person with eyes of love. When Abraham Lincoln was criticized for being too lenient to his enemies and reminded that it was his duty to destroy them, he gave the great answer, "Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" Even if a man be utterly mistaken, we must never regard him as an enemy to be destroyed but as a strayed friend to be recovered by love.

Would you do it in the presence of Jesus!

Mark 9:30-37

30 They went on from there and passed along through Galilee. And He did not wish to have anyone know it. 31 For He was [engaged for the time being in] teaching His disciples. He said to them, The Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of men, and they will put Him to death; and when He has been killed, after three days He will rise [ from death]. 32 But they did not comprehend what He was saying, and they were afraid to ask Him [what this statement meant]. 33 And they arrived at Capernaum; and when [they were] in the house, He asked them, What were you discussing and arguing about on the road? 34 But they kept still, for on the road they had discussed and disputed with one another as to who was the greatest. 35 And He sat down and called the Twelve [apostles], and He said to them, If anyone desires to be first, he must be last of all, and servant of all. 36 And He took a little child and put him in the center of their group; and taking him in [His] arms, He said to them,
37 Whoever in My name and for My sake accepts and receives and welcomes one such child also accepts and receives and welcomes Me; and whoever so receives Me receives not only Me but Him Who sent Me.

Food for thought!

When they left there, they made their way through Galilee, and Jesus did not wish anyone to know where he was. This passage marks a mile-stone. Jesus had now left the north country where he was safe and was taking the first step towards Jerusalem and to the Cross which awaited him there. FOR ONCE JESUS DID NOT WANT THE CROWDS AROUND HIM. Strange, isn't it? Jesus wanted some time away by himself! Why?

Well, the reason is stated as being, "For He was teaching His disciples." As you know by now, Jesus had different message for different people. He spoke differing messages to different audiences. He had things to tell Pharisees, things to tell everybody, things to tell the Twelve apostles. This time he was teaching just his apostles. What was he teaching them?

"The Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of men, and they will put Him to death; and when He has been killed, after three days He will rise from death." Jesus knew quite clearly that unless he could write his message on the hearts of his chosen men, he had failed. Any teacher can leave behind him a series of propositions, but Jesus knew that that was not enough. He had to leave behind him a band of persons on whom these propositions were written. He had to make sure, before he left this world in the body, that there were some who understood, however dimly, what he had come to say.

Unfortunately, they did not understand, and could not understand. The gospel says, "But they did not comprehend what He was saying, and they were afraid to ask Him what this statement meant." They could not understand because they were AFRAID TO ASK. Sometimes we are amazed that they did not grasp what was so plainly spoken. The human mind has an amazing faculty for rejecting what it does not wish to know. Are we so very different? Many of us do accept the parts of the Christian message which we like and which suit us, and refuse to understand the rest.

We often refuse to face the truth! We prefer ignorance because we are afraid of the consequences. We deliberately "switch off" our mind and think of what we want. The disciples switched off from what Jesus was teaching them to what they wanted to hear: who's the greatest among them?

Yet in their heart of hearts they knew they were wrong. When he asked them what they had been arguing about they had nothing to say. It was the silence of shame. They had no defence. It is strange how a thing takes its proper place and acquires its true character when it is set in the eyes of Jesus. So long as they thought that Jesus was not listening and that Jesus had not seen, the argument about who should be greatest seemed fair enough, but when that argument had to be stated in the presence of Jesus it was seen in all its unworthiness.

If we took everything and set it in the sight of Jesus it would make all the difference in the world. If of everything we did, we asked, "Could I go on doing this if Jesus was watching me?"; if of everything we said, we asked, "Could I go on talking like this if Jesus was listening to me?" there would be many things which we would be saved from doing and saying. And the fact of Christian belief is that there is no "if" about it. All deeds are done, all words are spoken in his presence. God keep us from the words and deeds which we would be ashamed that he should hear and see.

Only with prayer!

Mark 9:14-29

When Jesus, with Peter, James and John came down from the mountain and rejoined the disciples, they saw a large crowd round them and some scribes arguing with them. The moment they saw him the whole crowd were struck with amazement and ran to greet him. ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ he asked. A man answered him from the crowd, ‘Master, I have brought my son to you; there is a spirit of dumbness in him, and when it takes hold of him it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and goes rigid. And I asked your disciples to cast it out and they were unable to.’

‘You faithless generation’ he said to them in reply. ‘How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.’ They brought the boy to him, and as soon as the spirit saw Jesus it threw the boy into convulsions, and he fell to the ground and lay writhing there, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ ‘From childhood,’ he replied ‘and it has often thrown him into the fire and into the water, in order to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.’

‘If you can?’ retorted Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for anyone who has faith.’ Immediately the father of the boy cried out, ‘I do have faith. Help the little faith I have!’ And when Jesus saw how many people were pressing round him, he rebuked the unclean spirit. ‘Deaf and dumb spirit,’ he said ‘I command you: come out of him and never enter him again.’ Then throwing the boy into violent convulsions it came out shouting, and the boy lay there so like a corpse that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up, and he was able to stand.

When he had gone indoors his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why were we unable to cast it out?’ ‘This is the kind’ he answered ‘that can only be driven out by prayer.’

Food for thought!

This is the kind that can only be driven out by prayer!

According to this statement of Jesus, there are some things in life that we cannot do by our efforts. There are things that are just too much for us to accomplish. In other words, there are things that only God can do. Today's gospel is a reminder of this fact.

While Jesus was up in the mountain, down in the valley the disciples were struggling without success. A man had brought to Jesus his son possessed by devil. As Jesus was not around, the man asked the disciples to cast it out, AND THEY WERE UNABLE TO.

Does this sound familiar? Don't you have situations, issues, problems that just don't go away, however much you fight and struggle? Despite going to church every Sunday or to some everyday, despite being a follower of Jesus, Christians are bound to sometimes fail in their endeavors.

After their failure, and when they  went home, away from the crowd and in private with Jesus, the disciples revisited the issue; they took their failure to Jesus; they wanted to know why the kept failing and failing. This is a lesson. We must take our failures to Jesus; we must tell him in private not only about our successes but also our failures. And when they spoke to Jesus about their failure, Jesus told them why they failed.

He said, "This is the kind that can only be driven out by prayer." In other words, there are some kinds of problems, some kind of situations in our lives that can only be conquered with the help from heaven; things that only God can do. This is what Jesus told the father of the possessed son: "Everything is possible for anyone who has faith." Yes, everything, not just some things, are possible with God. This is what St. Paul reminds us in the letter to the Phillipians, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (4:13)

So, as we start this week, let us remember to call upon heaven when and where we often fail. Let us bring our struggles to Jesus, and bring Jesus to our struggles. 

Do not fight against an evil person!

Matthew 5:38-48

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to anyone who asks, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away.

‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’

Food for thought!
Since last week, Jesus has been setting up new standards for us; a Christian lives by different standards. Chapters five to seven of the gospel of Matthew are about this new standard. «When Jesus concluded his address, the crowd burst into applause. They had never heard teaching like this. It was apparent that he was living everything he was saying—quite a contrast to their religion teachers! This was the best teaching they had ever heard.» (Mt 7:29)
Today, Jesus is redefining resistance. He says, «Do not fight against an evil person.» Why? When we resist we make a mental image of the thing we are fighting, and that tends to have it created for us. When we fight our enemies we make them into heroes. When we learn to look only at what we want and never at what we do not want, we will no longer resist anything.
What Jesus is teaching us today is that whatever man thinks, he gets and becomes. If we wish to transcend old thoughts and bad feelings we must just think of something good. Remember Philippians 4:8-9 «Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.»
Jesus abolished tit for tats because retaliation has no place in the Christian life. He gives examples. He says that if anyone smites us on the right cheek we must turn to him the other cheek also. There is far more here than meets the eye, far more than a mere matter of blows on the face. Suppose a right-handed man is standing in front of another man, and suppose he wants to slap the other man on the right cheek (note that Jesus said «right» cheek), how must he do it? Unless he goes through the most complicated contortions, and unless he empties the blow of all force, he can hit the other man's cheek only in one way--with the back of his hand. Now according to Jews (Jesus' people)) to hit a man with the back of the hand was twice as insulting as to hit him with the flat of the hand. So, then, what Jesus is saying is this: "Even if a man should direct at you the most deadly and calculated insult, you must on no account retaliate, and you must on no account resent it."
It will not happen very often, if at all, that anyone will slap us on the face, but time and time again life brings to us insults either great or small; and Jesus is here saying that the true Christian has learned to resent no insult and to seek retaliation for no slight. Jesus himself was called a gluttonous man and a winer. He was called the friend of tax gatherers and harlots, with the implication that he was like the company he kept.

The true Christian has forgotten what it is to be insulted; he has learned from his Master to accept any insult and never to resent it, and never to seek to retaliate. Now you may ask: are our enemies going to get away with it? No. Remember what the Lord says in Deuteronomy 32:35, «Vengeance is mine. I will repay.» So let us not take vengeance into our hands; it is the God's right and duty. God knows when and how to repay those who hurt us.

To know yourself you must know Jesus!

Matthew 16:13-19

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said ‘the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.’

Food for thought

He did not ask the question directly; he led up to it. He began by asking what people were saying about him, and who they took him to be. Some said that he was John the Baptist. Others said that he was Elijah. In doing so, they were saying two things about Jesus. They were saying that he was as great as the greatest of the prophets, for Elijah had always been looked on as the summit and the prince of the prophetic line.

When the people identified Jesus with Elijah and with Jeremiah and with John the Baptist they were paying him a great compliment and setting him in a high place, for Jeremiah and Elijah and John the Baptist were none other than the expected forerunners of the Anointed One of God. In other words, Jesus was good but not good enough, was great but not great enough.

When Jesus had heard the verdicts of the crowd, he asked the all-important question: "But you, who do you say I am?" At that question there may well have been a moment of silence, during which into the minds of Peter came thought from heaven about both Jesus and himself.

Like Jesus, we all want to know who we are. We want to know what others think of us. One thing is certain, NO ONE KNOWS WHO WE ARE, EXCEPT JESUS. All the others call us many things, many names; I am many things for many people, you're many things to many people. If you asked your friends who you're, like Jesus did, you would here all kinds of answers, good and not so good; it is all guesswork because no one can tell you who you are except the Lord.

But to know who you are, you have to know who Jesus is. This is what happened. When Peter came to know who Jesus is, when Peter told Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," Jesus told Peter who he is: "I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church."

This means that the road to ourselves goes through Jesus; he is the key that opens us. Peter never knew himself nor his career until Jesus told him in all details. And Jesus never told Peter who he is until Peter knew who Jesus is. So, you too, to know yourself, you will have to know who Jesus is. The more you know Jesus the better you know yourself, the less you know Jesus the less you know yourself.

If you don't know yourself well, it is because you don't know quite well who Jesus is. Ignorance of Jesus is ignorance of ourselves.

Are you saving or serving your life?

Mark 8:34-9:1

Jesus called the people and his disciples to him and said, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to win the whole world and ruin his life? And indeed what can a man offer in exchange for his life? For if anyone in this adulterous and sinful generation is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’ And he said to them, ‘I tell you solemnly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.’

Food for thought!

Jesus said (and says) to his disciples that things get worse before they get better; suffering comes before victory; victory comes after a fight; crown comes after a cross; Easter Sunday comes after Good Friday; daytime comes after night. He knows that this law applies to him as well; he is no exception: he will suffer grievously, be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be put to death, before we he is raised up on the third day. Jesus is talking of himself, yes, but also he is talking of every human, like you and me.

This is why Jesus exhorts us to take our cross, our struggle, our fight and our challenges every day and  move on, because this is the way we can ever make a difference in the world. Here Jesus lays down the laws of life. “Life is a place of service and in that service one has to suffer a great deal that is hard to bear, but more often to experience a great deal of joy. But that joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.” — Leo Tolstoy

He says that we must deny ourselves. What does that mean? A great scholar comes at the meaning in this way. Peter once denied his Lord. That is to say, he said of Jesus, "I do not know the man." To deny ourselves is therefore to say, "I do not know myself." It is to go beyond the self, to go beyond the immediate; it is to reach out to others; is to forget about self, and put our whole heart into someone or something greater.

Jesus says that we must take up our cross. What does that mean? To take up our cross means to be prepared to face things; it means to be ready to endure the worst that man can do to us for the sake of being true to a cause. Do you have any worthy cause you live for? Do you find life worth living? And what, at the end of the day, can make life really worth living unless there is something— a cause, a love, a person— worth dying for? Remember Viktor E. Frankl's lament, "people have enough to live by but nothing to live for; they have the means but no meaning."

Jesus says that we must spend our life, not hoard it. The whole gamut of the world's standards must be changed. The questions are not, "How much can I get out of life?" but, "How much can I give to life?" Not, "What is the safe thing to do?" but, "What is the right thing to do?" Not, "What is the minimum permissible I must do?" but, "What is the maximum possible contribution that I must make in life?" The Christian must realize that meaning is found beyond and not within oneself. What we need is to discover the meaning in our life, to find someone or something to live for. "He who has a why to live can endure almost any how." (Nietzsche)

"And You, Who Do You Say I Am?"

Mark 8:27-33

27 Jesus and his disciples headed out for the villages around Caesarea Philippi. As they walked, he asked, "Who do the people say I am?" 28 "Some say 'John the Baptizer,'" they said. "Others say 'Elijah.' Still others say 'one of the prophets.'" 29 He then asked, "And you-- what are you saying about me? Who am I?" Peter gave the answer: "You are the Christ, the Messiah." 30 Jesus warned them to keep it quiet, not to breathe a word of it to anyone. 31 He then began explaining things to them: "It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the elders, high priests, and religion scholars, be killed, and after three days rise up alive." 32 He said this simply and clearly so they couldn't miss it. But Peter grabbed him in protest. 33 Turning and seeing his disciples wavering, wondering what to believe, Jesus confronted Peter. "Peter, get out of my way! Satan, get lost! You have no idea how God works."

Food for thought

Our lives are filled with questions. Some of the questions we are faced with are very mundane and routine. For instance, “What shall I wear today?”, “Where do you want to eat dinner?”, and “What do you want to watch on television?”, are not questions that have long term implications in our lives. Some of life’s questions are just plain unanswerable. For instance, “Why do women open their mouths when they put on eye makeup?”, “Why do men refuse to stop and ask for directions?” But, some of life’s questions are terribly important. Consider the following questions for instance, “When, how, where will I die?"

In this passage, Jesus asks two questions that are eternal in nature. The first question has to do with what others say about Jesus. The second has to do with our personal opinion of Who Jesus is. Let us dwell on the second. It comes after hearing His disciples tell Him what others say, Jesus asks them for their opinion. He has heard public opinion, now He wants to hear their personal opinion.

"And you-- what are you saying about me? Who am I?"

This is the moment of truth! Everything Jesus has taught them and shown them has been leading up to this moment in time. Every miracle was leading to this one moment in time. Every word of truth Jesus spoke was leading His men to this great spiritual crossroad. Their response to this question would let Jesus know how effective His personal ministry to these men had been. It is a simple question, but it is filled with eternal implications.

As you read this, know that Jesus is once again making that same question to you and me. Many of us call Jesus what others call him; this is not enough. We have to come up with our, your and my, answer; an answer that is personal. We have to make Jesus a personal discovery, a personal friend, a personal Lord.

So, who is Jesus to you? See below who the Bible says He is.

1. Adam, Advocate, Anointed, Apostle, Author, Amen, Alpha, Ancient of Days.
2. The Beginning, the Begotten, Beloved, Branch, Bread, Bridegroom, Bright and Morning Star, Bishop of our souls, Brightness of the Father’s glory.
3. Captain of our Salvation, Consolation, Chief Cornerstone, Counselor, Covenant, Chosen of God, Christ.
4. The Daysman, Deliverer, Dayspring, Daystar, Door, Desire of all nations.
5. The Elect, Ensign, Emmanuel, Everlasting Father.
6. Finisher of our faith, Friend, Forerunner, First Fruits, Faithful Witness, Fountain of life issuing from the cave of death.
7. God, Gift of God, Governor, Guide, Glorious Lord.
8. Help, Hope, Husband, Horn of Salvation, Hearer, Head of the Church, Heir of all things, High Priest, Hell’s dread, Heaven’s wonder - the Holy One.
9. I Am, Inheritance, Image of God’s Person, Immortal and Invisible.
10. Judah, Just, Judge, Jesus.
11. King of Israel, King of Kings, King of Glory, King Everlasting.
12. The Life, the Light, Love, Lily, Lion, Lamb, Lawgiver, Living Stone, the Lord of glory.
13. Messenger, Mediator, Master, Messiah, Mighty God, Mercy’s Paradox.
14. The Nazarene.
15. Offspring of David, Omega, Only Begotten of God, Offering and Offerer.
16. Priest, Passover, Potentate, Prophet, Propitiation, Prince of Life, Prince of Peace, Physician.
17. Righteousness, Rabbi, Ransom, Rest, Root of Jesse, Root of David, Refiner, Refuge, Resurrection, Rose of Sharon, Ruler, Rock of Ages, Regenerate Breath.
18. Stone, Shepherd, Son of God, Son of Man, Shield, Servant, Surety, Sufferer, Saviour, Sinless Sacrifice, the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever.
19. Teacher, Truth, Tabernacle, Testator, Treasure, Tree of Life.
20. Witness, Word, Way, Wisdom of God, Wonderful.

..... (this is for you to fill). God bless you! 

He leads him as he leads us!

Mark 8:22-26

Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida. Some people brought a sightless man and begged Jesus to give him a healing touch. 23 Taking him by the hand, he led him out of the village. He put spit in the man's eyes, laid hands on him, and asked, "Do you see anything?" 24 He looked up. "I see men. They look like walking trees." 25 So Jesus laid hands on his eyes again. The man looked hard and realized that he had recovered perfect sight, saw everything in bright, twenty- twenty focus. 26 Jesus sent him straight home, telling him, "Don't enter the village."

Food for thought!

This is a very special miracle, not only because of what the Lord did but of what he does every day. But first, since the beginning of this week, Jesus has been trying to teach His men that He is the Messiah; that He is God in the flesh; that He is actually present in our ordinary experiences, our ups and downs. Unfortunately, the people have failed to get the message! In spite of seeing Him do the amazing and the impossible again and again, they just don’t get it: the Pharisees ask for a miracle, the apostles get worried for not carrying bread with them, inspite of Jesus being right there with them.

To demonstrate that he walks with us, Jesus take this blind man by the hand. He touches him and takes this man by the hand and begins to lead him out of town. Now, try to imagine Jesus walking up to this man and taking him by the hand and beginning to lead him away. Jesus and the man begin their journey in the middle of town. Can you imagine Jesus leading him around the obstacles that were in his path? Can you hear Jesus as He patiently and kindly leads this poor blind man along one step at a time, all the while holding his hand. Can you see this in your mind’s eye?

No you don't. Because this is what Jesus does to all of us. We're like the blind man; he does not see Jesus but he both believes in and lets Jesus lead him. You too don't have to see Jesus but you should believe that you're not alone; there's a a helping hand that has lead you up to where you're now. Your life is not meaningless; it is meaningful, because an invisible hand is leading you. Like the blind man, believe and let Jesus lead you. HE IS THE WAY, the truth and the life; no one goes to the Father unless by his hand.

Holding someone’s hand for a long period of time is a very intimate experience. Remember how thrilling it was to hold your girlfriend or boyfriend’s hand when you were dating? Think about how special it is just to hold the hand of your spouse as you walk from place to place.

We don’t recognize His touch until our blinded eyes are opened, but throughout our whole lives, Jesus is working and walking by our side, leading us to bring us to the place we are today. Every event, every circumstance, every tragedy and every blessing was the Lord taking your hand and mine in His grip, as He brought us forward. You can believe what you want to, but you can’t get from one day to another on your own.

Are you still without perception?

Mark 8:14-21 

The disciples had forgotten to take any food and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Then he gave them this warning, ‘Keep your eyes open; be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’ And they said to one another, ‘It is because we have no bread.’ And Jesus knew it, and he said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you not yet understand? Have you no perception? Are your minds closed? Have you eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear? Or do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ They answered, ‘Twelve.’ And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ And they answered, ‘Seven.’ Then he said to them, ‘Are you still without perception?’

Food for thought!

The incident in this gospel is very revealing of the disciples of Jesus. Although they had witnessed Jesus perform many miracles, they still had doubts about who He really was. The Disciples had seen Jesus perform many miracles - we have seen God work miracles in our own lives, yet we so easily forget them. Jesus says, “Don’t you remember” (Matthew 16: 9)?

And Jesus said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you not yet understand? Have you no perception? Are your minds closed? Have you eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear? Or do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ They answered, ‘Twelve.’ And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ And they answered, ‘Seven.’ Then he said to them, ‘Are you still without perception?’

The Disciples were truly the closest men to the Son of God; yet, we see that even they were slow to learn about who Jesus really was. They saw with their own eyes all of the miracles He performed, but they still could not connect the dots. A little surprising… don’t you think? 

What Jesus teaches here is the failure to learn from experience. The Pharisees were awhile ago demanding a sign from Jesus (as we saw yesterday) because they weren't seeing any sign of God from experience. They weren't learning anything from life; nothing! Why demand a miracle when miracles are all over? 

This is the lesson that the disciples missed, just as we often do. Even after experiencing and witnessing the miracles of Jesus, they could not still connect the dots. They could think of nothing but the fact that they had forgotten to bring loaves, and that, unless something happened, they would go hungry. Jesus saw their preoccupation with bread.

He reminded them that twice he had satisfied the hunger of huge crowds with food enough and to spare. It is as if he said, "Why all the worry? Don't you remember what happened before? Hasn't experience taught you that you don't need to worry about things like that if you are with me?" DO YOU STILL NOT GET IT? 

The odd fact is that we learn only half the lessons of experience. Too often we too fail to learn from experience. Sorrow came--and we came through it still erect. Temptation came--and somehow we did not fall. Illness took us--and somehow we recovered. A problem seemed insoluble--and somehow it was solved. We were at our wits' end--and somehow we went on. We reached the breaking point--and somehow we did not break. We, too, are blind and slow learners. If we would only read the lessons of experience aright, they would teach us not pessimism but optimism; the things each one of us has gone thru, ought to teach us to trust God in the things yet to come; if God has brought us this far in safety, God can bring us through anything that may happen to us. Or you don't still get it?

In him we live and move and have our being!

Mark 8:11-13

The Pharisees came up and started a discussion with Jesus; they demanded of him a sign from heaven, to test him. And with a sigh that came straight from the heart he said, ‘Why does this generation demand a sign? I tell you solemnly, no sign shall be given to this generation.’ And leaving them again and re-embarking, he went away to the opposite shore.

Food for thought

Sometimes we get used to the ordinary, and we begin to take it for granted and to look for the extraordinary, abnormal and the sensational. The same with God. We we're brought up to think of God as SUPERNATURAL, that is, as beyond the natural, as beyond nature, as beyond the ordinary. We forget that God is everywhere and in every event of life: "In him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)

When the Pharisees came to Jesus, they demanded something extraordinary, something uncommon. They wished to see some ABNORMAL event happen, defying the laws of nature and astonishing them. To Jesus such a demand was not due to the desire to see the hand of God; it was due to the fact that they were blind to God's hand at work in him.

Do you see God's hand at work in your life, or in the life others? Or you see your life as a mess without meaning, without sense? Or you are able to see meaning and sense and the hand of God at work in your life?

To Jesus the whole world was full of God's presence; the corn in the field, the leaven in the loaf, the grass on the hillside all spoke to him of God. He did not think that God had to break in from outside the world; he knew that God was already in the world for anyone who had eyes to see.

The sign of the truly religious man is not that he comes to Church to find God but that he finds God everywhere, every time and not that he makes a great deal of sacred places but that he sanctifies common places. As someone put it, "Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes, the rest sit round it and pluck blackberries." This poet was referring to Moses and the burning bush.

Why does anyone ask a sign from God when day by day he or she wakes up from sleep alive, when everyday the sun arises, each night the stars appear, each morning the thirsty grass is wet with dew; the corn fails not its harvest, nor the air stops to blow. Imagine what would happen to the airplanes if the air stopped blowing, what would happen to you and me if all the air disappeared?

From him who has eyes to see and a heart to understand, the daily miracle of night and day and the daily splendour of all common things are sign enough from God.

Thank God And Share what You Have and Are!

Mark 8:1-10

1 At about this same time he again found himself with a hungry crowd on his hands. He called his disciples together and said, 2 "This crowd is breaking my heart. They have stuck with me for three days, and now they have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they'll faint along the way-- some of them have come a long distance." 4 His disciples responded, "What do you expect us to do about it? Buy food out here in the desert?" 5 He asked, "How much bread do you have?" "Seven loaves," they said. 6 So Jesus told the crowd to sit down on the ground. After giving thanks, he took the seven bread loaves, broke them into pieces, and gave them to his disciples so they could hand them out to the crowd. 7 They also had a few fish. He pronounced a blessing over the fish and told his disciples to hand them out as well. 8 The crowd ate its fill. Seven sacks of leftovers were collected. 9 There were well over four thousand at the meal. Then he sent them home. 10 He himself went straight to the boat with his disciples and set out for Dalmanoutha.

Food for thought!

Have you ever felt hungry while sitting at a dining table, or felt sick while in hospital, or felt dry while inside a church, or felt in need of love with your spouse around...? This is what the disciples did. They felt empty, insufficient, limited, while in the presence of Jesus. Jesus had said, "This crowd is breaking my heart. They have stuck with me for three days, and now they have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they'll faint along the way-- some of them have come a long distance." His disciples responded, "What do you expect us to do about it? Buy food out here in the desert?"

The disciples are frustrated and don't know what to do; they're with Jesus and they're are confused; they've Jesus and don't know what to do. And Jesus knows what they think. So, in order to open their eyes, Jesus makes a question to the disciples: "How much bread do you have?" This question reminds us several things: that sometimes we need what we have, we cry for what we possess, we search for what we already have; we're poor with all our talents and God given gifts with us; we don't see opportunities while God gave us eyes to see; we suffer when we have the cure with us; we starve with food in our hands; we have questions whose answers we know; we're ignorant with our brains in our head; we don't know with all the knowledge around.

How much bread do you have? How much intelligence do you have? How many talents do you have? How many friends do have? How much luck and opportunities and money do you have? Not much? Do like Jesus did: "Giving thanks, he took the seven bread loaves, broke them into pieces, and gave them to his disciples so they could hand them out to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He pronounced a blessing over the fish and told his disciples to hand them out as well. The crowd ate its fill. Seven sacks of leftovers were collected."

Jesus did the following: 1) gave thanks for the seven loaves of bread. In other words, Jesus did not complain but thanked God for what he had. Do you ever thank God for what and whatever you have? For what and whatever you are? 2) Jesus then broke them and shared them. Do you remember to share the little you have, or you think it is too little to share?

So there're two things Jesus did to make the miracle: thank God for what and whatever he had; share what and whatever he had. Try this and you will have the miracle done by you. Thank God and share. 

Well done!

Mark 7:31-37

31 Then he left the region of Tyre, went through Sidon back to Galilee Lake and over to the district of the Ten Towns. 32 Some people brought a man who could neither hear nor speak and asked Jesus to lay a healing hand on him. 33 He took the man off by himself, put his fingers in the man's ears and some spit on the man's tongue. 34 Then Jesus looked up in prayer, groaned mightily, and commanded, "Ephphatha!-- Open up!" 35 And it happened. The man's hearing was clear and his speech plain-- just like that. 36 Jesus urged them to keep it quiet, but they talked it up all the more, 37 beside themselves with excitement. "He's done it all and done it well. He gives hearing to the deaf, speech to the speechless."

Food for thought!

This story is of a man with double jeopardy! He was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. No doubt the two things went together; it was the man's inability to hear which made his speech so imperfect. This was a special case that needed special handling. There is no miracle which so beautifully shows Jesus' way of treating people.

(i) He took the man aside from the crowd, all by himself. Here is the most tender considerateness of Jesus. Deaf people are always a little embarrassed. In some ways it is more embarrassing to be deaf than it is to be blind. Many times it is only the deaf person who knows that he cannot hear; and when we talk to one, we talk as if we are talking to a normal person, only to find out later that the deaf was not hearing a thing. Jesus showed the most tender consideration for the feelings of a man for whom life was very difficult. The whole story shows us most vividly that Jesus did not consider the man merely a case; he considered him as an individual the man had a special need and a special problem, and with the most tender considerateness Jesus dealt with him in a way that spared his feelings and in a way that he could understand.

We can learn from and after Jesus. When we want to correct someone, we do well to take them aside, away from the public, and speak to them there. Secondly, when we deal with physically challenged people, to be considerate. We need to learn the philosophy behind Para-Olympics.

(ii) Throughout the whole miracle Jesus acted what he was going to do in dumb-show. He put his hands in the man's ears and touched his tongue with spittle. In those days, as in ours too, people believed that spittle had a curative quality. When we cut our finger, instinctively we put the bleeding finger in the mouth. Even today, we believe that saliva is curative!

(iii) Jesus looked up to heaven to show that it was from God that help was to come. Then he spoke the word and the man was healed. We sometimes forget the source of our being and doing. It is God!

Above all we have said so far, there's something worthy of our notice. When the healing was completed the people declared that Jesus had done all things well. That is none other than the verdict of God upon his own creation in the very beginning: "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good." (Gen.1:31).

When Jesus came, bringing healing to men's bodies and salvation to their souls, he had begun the work of creation all over again. In the beginning of the world, everything had been good; God saw everything he created as good. It was man's sin that spoiled and spoils God's creation. And it is Jesus' mission to recreate us. In today's gospel reading, Jesus was bringing back the beauty of God to the man who had lost it. Jesus can do the same to you and me! That's, if we let him.

She came and knelt at Jesus' feet begging him for help!

Mark 7:24-30

24 From there Jesus set out for the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house there where he didn't think he would be found, but he couldn't escape notice. 25 He was barely inside when a woman who had a disturbed daughter heard where he was. She came and knelt at his feet, 26 begging for help. The woman was Greek, Syro- Phoenician by birth. She asked him to cure her daughter. 27 He said, "Stand in line and take your turn. The children get fed first. If there's any left over, the dogs get it." 28 She said, "Of course, Master. But don't dogs under the table get scraps dropped by the children?" 29 Jesus was impressed. "You're right! On your way! Your daughter is no longer disturbed. The demonic affliction is gone." 30 She went home and found her daughter relaxed on the bed, the torment gone for good.

Food for thought!

Here is a woman who came to Jesus because she was concerned about her daughter. The woman was no longer in possession of her daughter, since the child was demon possessed. Both the mother and the child needed help in a desperate way. Fortunately, she had heard of Jesus. The Gospel says that she had "heard where Jesus was".

The woman had a problem, but also had a solution. Many of us, if not all of us, have problems, some serious ones, and we don't know where to find the solution; we don't know where to take them; we don't know where to turn to; we don't know whom to talk to about our problems. Because we don't know where to turn to, we end up going to the wrong people and wrong places.

How many of us can identify with this poor, anxious mother? Perhaps we are dealing with a child that is out of control, lost to drugs or to bad life. Perhaps you are at your wit's end over some situation in your life and you desperately need help. Perhaps you have exhausted every means at your disposal and do not know where to turn for help. Whatever the need in your life may be today, you should take a lesson from this woman: Get that need to Jesus! The woman came and knelt at the feet of Jesus begging him for help.

Regardless of what you face in your life today, the answer will be found in Him! He can move your mountain; meet your need; save your soul; forgive your sins; heal your loved ones; you name it, He can do it! But, you have to get it to Him! And in order to get your problem to Him, you have to come to Him; you have to talk to Him, and please don't take "no" for "no". If Jesus seem to take long to attend to you, remember what he said to the woman: "Stand in line and take your turn. The children get fed first." Wait for your turn. It will come; it always does.

In other words, your problem instead of leading you away from Jesus, SHOULD LEAD YOU TO JESUS. Like it did with the woman; and when it eventually leads to him, stay there; don't quit, your turn is coming. Mat 11:28

"Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy- laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest."

"And Understand What I Say"

Mark 7:14-23

14 Jesus called the crowd together again and said, "Listen now, all of you-- and understand what I say. 15 It's not what you swallow that pollutes your life; it's what you vomit-- that's the real pollution." 17 When he was back home after being with the crowd, his disciples said, "We don't get it. Put it in plain language." 18 Jesus said, "Are you being willfully stupid? Don't you see that what you swallow can't contaminate you? 19 It doesn't enter your heart but your stomach, works its way through the intestines, and is finally flushed." (That took care of dietary quibbling; Jesus was saying that all foods are fit to eat.) 20 He went on: "It's what comes out of a person that pollutes: 21 obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness-- 23 all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution."

Food for thought!

Although it may not seem so now, this passage, when it was first spoken, was like a bomb shell; it was the most revolutionary thing Jesus had ever said. If you followed well, in the last days Jesus has been arguing with the so called religious experts about different aspects of the religious traditions, rules and laws. He has shown how secondary are religious ceremonies; He has shown how rigid adherence to the religious traditions, rules and laws can sometimes mean disobedience to the law of God. But here he says something more startling yet. He declares that nothing that goes into a man can possibly defile him, for it is received only into his body which rids itself of it in the normal, physical way.

No wonder the disciples couldn't understand a word. The Gospel says that "When he was back home after being with the crowd, his disciples said, 'We don't get it. Put it in plain language.'" In effect Jesus was saying that things cannot be either unclean or clean in any real religious sense of the term. Only persons can be really defiled; and what defiles a person is his own actions, which are the product of his own heart.

This was new doctrine and shatteringly new doctrine. With one sweeping pronouncement Jesus declared that uncleanness has nothing to do with what a man takes into his body but everything to do with what comes out of his heart. All the things Jesus mentioned begin and happen in the human heart.

He begins with evil designs. Every outward act of sin is preceded by an inward act of choice; therefore Jesus begins with the evil thought from which the evil action comes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness-- all these are vomit from the heart. There, in the human heart, is the source of our pollution and evil. 

Commandments of God or Human Traditions?

Mark 7:1-13

The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. For the Pharisees, and the Jews in general, follow the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow; and on returning from the market place they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are also many other observances which have been handed down to them concerning the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes. So these Pharisees and scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?’ He answered, ‘It was of you hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this passage of scripture:

This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me.

The worship they offer me is worthless,

the doctrines they teach are only human regulations.

You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.’ And he said to them, ‘How ingeniously you get round the commandment of God in order to preserve your own tradition! For Moses said: Do your duty to your father and your mother, and, Anyone who curses father or mother must be put to death. But you say, “If a man says to his father or mother: Anything I have that I might have used to help you is Corban (that is, dedicated to God), then he is forbidden from that moment to do anything for his father or mother.” In this way you make God’s word null and void for the sake of your tradition which you have handed down. And you do many other things like this.’

Food for thought!

You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.

This is a strong statement, especially when made by Jesus against you and me.  Is it possibly true that we do put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions? This is what Jesus is saying that we do. In order to understand Jesus' point, let us remember that the commandments of God are 10 (ten), which I assume you still remember. All the rest are human traditions. These include the traditions, the rules and laws of the church. Yes, these are not commandments of God.; they were made by the church to help us live better the ten commandments. They were meant to reinforce the commandments of God, not to substitute them. For instance, not eating meat on a Friday is a tradition of the church, not a commandment of God.

In the time of Jesus, the religious scholars (scribes and Pharisees) had transformed the religious rules and traditions into the essence of religion. To observe them was to please God; to break them was to sin. This was their idea of goodness and of the service of God. In the religious sense Jesus and these people spoke different languages. It was precisely because Jesus had no use for all these regulations that they considered him a bad man, just as we consider bad those who don't keep the laws, rules and discipline of our Catholic church.

There is no greater religious peril than that of identifying religion with human traditions and customs. There is no commoner religious mistake than to identify goodness with certain so-called religious traditions. Church-going, bible-reading, careful financial giving, even time-tabled prayers do not make a man a good man. The fundamental question is, how is a man's heart towards God and towards his fellow-men? And if in his heart there are enmity, bitterness, grudges, pride, not all the outward religious observances in the world will make him anything other than a hypocrite.

Be salt to your world!

Matthew 5:13-16

¹³"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

^14-16"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
Food for thought!
In the Bible Jesus calls himself various names like, I am the Goodshepherd, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, I am the Vine, I am the Gate, and many others. But other times Jesus calls us names, like today he is referring to us as "salt" and "light". What is Jesus telling us about us?
Jesus calls us salt because of our preserving ability; we preserve society from going rotten; from going bad; from getting destroyed. Do you remember the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19? Those people could have been saved if there had been just 10 righteous men or Christians in Sodom and Gomorrah; but there were nobody, and the whole city was destroyed. So please don't go bad if and when everybody around you goes or does evil. If at your work place you see everybody cutting the corners, please, you don't follow suit; the presence and the prayers of "salty" Christians preserves and saves the rest from catastrophe.
Jesus call us salt because of our penetrating ability, just as salt will penetrate and infiltrate whatever it touches. It is an aggressive substance. We have been called by the Lord to be an active force in the world around us. However, it is possible for us to loose our saltiness as well. This happens to us when we come into too close contact with the world; when we get to be more like the world than we are like the Lord, then we have lost that thing that sets us apart and makes us valuable to the world. "If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage."
Jesus calls us salt because of our purifying ability. Salt is a cleaner. In the Bible, Elisha cleansed the waters at Jericho with salt (2 Kings 2:19-22). In ancient times, newborn babies were washed in salt to cleanse their bodies and to give firmness to their skin, (Ezekiel. 16:4). Salt when applied to the wound can clean it. Wherever salt is there is purity. Please, don't be offended if people stop talking (nonsense) when you come around. Just thank God that you are acting as a purifying force in the world around you. People should feel uncomfortable to say nonsense in your presence. If and when we show up we encourage people to gossip, to say and do immoral things, it is because we have lost the salt in us; we are good for nothing.
 Jesus calls salts because of our pleasing ability. Salt always blends and adds flavor to food. You know from experience that some food is just tasteless without salt; salt brings out the best out of food. So too, the Christian should flavor the world around him. As salt, we are to help other people be and do their best.
Jesus calls us salt because of our poisoning ability. Salt can kill. Ever poured salt on a slug or iron? Slugs and salt do not mix! Salt poured on a lawn will kill the grass. In the Old Testament Abimelech took a city and spread salt all over the place to prevent the ground from being used to grow crops again; he killed the fields with salt (Judges 9:45). By the same token, when Jesus comes into a life, drinking, fighting, hating, killing, drugging, loose living, gossiping, etc, are all supposed to end in the name of Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17.)
Jesus calls us salt because of our promoting ability. Salt creates a thirst for water in those who are exposed to it. As salt, the Christian has the wonderful opportunity to promote a thirst for Jesus in the world. Remember what the Lord told us? He said that out of our bellies would flow rivers of living water (John 7:37-38). When we live as Christ, when we take the call of Jesus seriously and live right, look right, act right, talk right, worship right, dress right, love right, etc. we able to create a thirst for Jesus in the hearts of those around us.
Ours is the business of purifying, preserving, penetrating, pleasing and promoting love, peace, kindness just Jesus did in his time. God help us to be salty Christians.

Btw. Salt was very valuable in the ancient world. So valuable, in fact, that the Roman soldiers were often paid their wages not in money but in salt. This payment was called "salarium," from which word comes our word "salary" (wage).

You MUST come away all by yourself!

Mark 6:30-34

The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’; for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat. So they went off in a boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But people saw them going, and many could guess where; and from every town they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it before them. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length.

Food for thought!

The day before yesterday, Jesus sent his disciples for a mission, for the first time; he sent them out. And they went, for the first time, ALONE. Every day, every week, every time, the Lord sends us to some mission, at our place of work, our home, our neighborhood. It is good to know that, whatever our job, wherever our job, we are all serving the Lord. The Lord sends us as he sent the twelve disciples, alone to different places and tasks to serve his people. Please, know that your job is a service to the Lord.

Jesus does not only send us off to work for him, he also receives us from work. Like the disciples, we do well to rejoin the Lord and to tell him all we did during the day, during the week. Yes, Jesus expects us to tell him about our job, our work, our endeavours; Jesus tells us what to do and he listens to what we do.

Something very enthusing: Jesus said to his disciples when they had come back from work: You MUST come away to some lonely place all by yourself and rest for a while. Notice the way Jesus puts it: MUST. Resting is not optional; it is compulsory, mandatory, obligatory and required; it is a must to rest.

Some times it is absolutely necessary to get away all by ourselves, and leave or abandon the people. This is what the disciples did, at the command of Jesus; they were being overwhelmed by so many people who were coming and going to the point of not having any time to even eat. How many times are we like these disciples? How many times are we overwhelmed by the demands of others that we forget our own demands, to eat and rest and take care of our life, our family, our dear ones?

May you and I learn to go away to some lonely place all by ourselves and rest for while; it is a must.

The death of a conscience!

Mar 6:14-29

14 King Herod heard of all this, for by this time the name of Jesus was on everyone's lips. He said, "This has to be John the Baptizer come back from the dead-- that's why he's able to work miracles!" 15 Others said, "No, it's Elijah." Others said, "He's a prophet, just like one of the old- time prophets." 16 But Herod wouldn't budge: "It's John, sure enough. I cut off his head, and now he's back, alive." 17 Herod was the one who had ordered the arrest of John, put him in chains, and sent him to prison at the nagging of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. 18 For John had provoked Herod by naming his relationship with Herodias "adultery." 19 Herodias, smoldering with hate, wanted to kill him, but didn't dare 20 because Herod admired John. Convinced that he was a holy man, he gave him special protection. Whenever he listened to him he was miserable with guilt-- and yet he couldn't stay away. Something in John kept pulling him back. 21 But a portentous day arrived when Herod threw a birthday party, inviting all the brass and bluebloods in Galilee. 22 Herodias's daughter entered the banquet hall and danced for the guests. She dazzled Herod and the guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask me anything. I'll give you anything you want." 23 Carried away, he kept on, "I swear, I'll split my kingdom with you if you say so!" 24 She went back to her mother and said, "What should I ask for?" "Ask for the head of John the Baptizer." 25 Excited, she ran back to the king and said, "I want the head of John the Baptizer served up on a platter. And I want it now!" 26 That sobered the king up fast. But unwilling to lose face with his guests, he caved in and let her have her wish. 27 The king sent the executioner off to the prison with orders to bring back John's head. He went, cut off John's head, 28 brought it back on a platter, and presented it to the girl, who gave it to her mother. 29 When John's disciples heard about this, they came and got the body and gave it a decent burial.

Food for thought!

This passage is one of the saddest in the entire Bible. It records the events surrounding the death of John the Baptist. He was a special man, chosen for a special mission. He was the “forerunner” of the Messiah. He was the fulfillment of several Old Testament prophecies. He was the last of the Old Testament prophets. He was the last martyr of the Old Testament period and the first of the New Testament period. He was a powerful preacher. He was a fearless prophet. He was a true man of God. As Jesus Christ Himself testified, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist,” Matt. 11:11.

As sad as John's death, as sad as the death of a holy man is the death of anyone's conscience. Our conscience is a kind of John implanted into our hearts to speak in the name of God, praising us when we do well and rebuking us when we sin. This is exactly what John was doing: "he had provoked Herod by naming his relationship with Herodias "adultery." Our conscience does the same: it denounces the sin we do. No wonder we try, and sometimes we succeed, to kill and eliminate it, like Herod did.

What we see in today's Gospel reading is a picture of how a person can sin against their conscience to the point that they are capable of anything. It is possible to ignore the warnings of your heart, your soul and your mind until those warnings cease to be heard. It is possible to so deaden the conscience that it no longer stands as a barrier between the individual and any sin they choose to commit, 1 Tim. 4:2. That is why some people can do the things they do without remorse or guilt. They have seared their conscience to the point where it feels nothing and no longer warns them about evil.

Verse 20 is the most amazing verse in this reading. It says, "Herod admired John. Convinced that he was a holy man, he gave him special protection. Whenever he listened to him he was miserable with guilt-- and yet he couldn't stay away. Something in John kept pulling him back."

Herod hated John for exposing his sin. However, he still wanted John around; he both hated and loved John; he liked the preacher but hated the preaching; he loved the messenger but hated the message. As a result, when Herod heard John, he was perplexed and confused. In other words, his conscience and guilt bothered him. The guilt over what he did was eating him alive. He knows he killed an innocent, decent and good man. His conscience is bothering him and he is sure that John the Baptist has come back to haunt him. He kept saying:

"King Herod heard of all this, for by this time the name of Jesus was on everyone's lips. He said, "This has to be John the Baptizer come back from the dead-- that's why he's able to work miracles!" Others said, "No, it's Elijah." Others said, "He's a prophet, just like one of the old- time prophets." But Herod wouldn't budge: "It's John, sure enough. I cut off his head, and now he's back, alive."

 That is the power of guilt! It will eat you alive. You can’t run from it. You can’t hide from it. You can’t escape its words. It shows up when you are alone. Guilt comes calling in the dead of night. It gnaws at the soul and eats away at the mind.The only solution for guilt over past sins is to bring those sins to Jesus. When they are brought to Him, Jesus forgives the sin and removes the guilt. He can set us free from the monster of guilt! Jesus is the lamb of God that takes away our sins, John the Baptist told us.

Jn 1:29
The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, Look! There is the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!