Unstopped & Unstoppable!

Luke 14:1-6

One Sabbath as he was in the home of a member of the Jewish Council, the Pharisees were watching him like hawks to see if he would heal a man who was present who was suffering from dropsy. Jesus said to the Pharisees and legal experts standing around, “Is it against the Law to heal a man on the Sabbath day, yes or no?” And when they refused to answer, Jesus took the sick man by the hand and healed him and sent him away. Then he turned to them: “Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath?” he asked. “If your cow falls into a pit, don’t you proceed at once to get it out?” Again they had no answer.

Food for thought!

Is it against the law to...? This is the question Jesus made and makes. As we now know, Jesus teaches us by his words and by his works. Yesterday Herod the king wanted to stop Jesus in his purpose and mission. Today, it is another kind of people: the Pharisees and religious legal experts.  If yesterday it was politicians, today it is the religious people. These people, just like yesterday, did not and could not stop Jesus doing good.

Jesus simply took the sick man by the hand and healed him and sent him away. In other words, nobody should ever stop us from doing good; there is no law of God that tells us not to do good to the needy. “Love is above the laws, above the opinion of men; it is the truth, the flame, the pure element, the primary idea of the moral world.” — Madam de Stael

Have you ever noticed that some of the most difficult resistance can come from the people closest to you? Longtime friends, trusted colleagues, and even family members can be the first people to discourage you when you begin to tell them about the decisions you’re making for God. This is what happened to Jesus. The people who criticized  him most were not pagans nor atheists but fellow Jews, the Pharisees, Scribes, and religions scholars.

The gospel says, "the Pharisees were watching him like hawks to see if he would heal a man who was present who was suffering from dropsy."  Jesus was being watched. Is he going to back down  and not do the healing in respect to the opinion of his critics or he  is going to ignore them and do the healing anyway? What would you do? What do you do in similar circumstances?

As Joyce Meyer says, ''One of the most important things you can do in life is let go of your need to please people. Trying to please others and trying to meet their expectations will cause you to live the life they want you to live and miss the life that God wants you to live. There is no joy in that, only bondage. Rather than trying to please others, live your life to please God. 

Colossians 1: 10 says: “That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things.” This is where you will find rest and peace for your soul. If you want to experience the life-changing joy of the Lord, let go of the unrealistic expectations of others and live for God each day."

Don’t allow the negative opinion of others to hold you back from doing and being good. Live your life to please God. His opinion is the only one that counts.

We were made for a purpose!

Luke 13:31-35

Just then some Pharisees came up and said, “Run for your life! Herod’s on the hunt. He’s out to kill you!” Jesus said, “Tell that fox that I’ve no time for him right now. Today and tomorrow I’m busy clearing out the demons and healing the sick; the third day I’m wrapping things up. Besides, it’s not proper for a prophet to come to a bad end outside Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killer of prophets, abuser of the messengers of God! How often I’ve longed to gather your children, gather your children like a hen, Her brood safe under her wings— but you refused and turned away! And now it’s too late: You won’t see me again until the day you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of God.’”

Food for thought!

What would you do if someone came and told you to quit your job, your family, your mission, your purpose in life? This is what they told Jesus:“Run for your life! Herod’s on the hunt. He’s out to kill you!” Jesus didn't and couldn't go, because he knew the purpose of his life.

As Viktor Frankl reminds us, man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life. More than to live by, man needs something to live for, and if need be even to die for. This something may be a person, a thing, an idea, a situation, or just a cause. Unfortunately, sometimes we have enough to live by but nothing to live for; we have the means to live by but not the meaning to live for.

Like Jesus, we need to know our “why” of life; what we live for; God created us for some reason, some purpose, some mission. And God equipped us the way he did with talents and abilities because of our purpose in life. 

Jesus knew when and how he was to reach his goal, and could not let anybody stop him; not even king Herod. He said about him, “Tell that fox that I’ve no time for him right now. Today and tomorrow I’m busy clearing out the demons and healing the sick; the third day I’m wrapping things up. Jesus was unstoppable in fulfilling the purpose of his life. 

Our purpose of life is the standard we use to evaluate which activities are essential and which aren’t. We simply ask, “Does this activity help me fulfill one of God’s purposes for my life?” Without a clear purpose we have no foundation on which to base decisions, allocate our time, and use our resources. Without a clear purpose, we will tend to make choices based on circumstances, pressures, and our mood at that moment. 

People who don’t know their purpose try to do too much—and that causes stress, fatigue, and conflict. It is impossible to do everything people want you to do. You have just enough time to do God’s will. If you can’t get it all done, it means you’re trying to do more than God intended for you to do (or, possibly, that you’re watching too much television).

Knowing our purpose gives meaning to our life. We were made for a purpose and meaning. When our life has meaning, we can bear almost anything; without it, nothing is bearable.

Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope. In the Bible, many different people expressed this hopelessness. Isaiah complained, “I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.” (Isaiah 49:4); Job said, “My life drags by—day after hopeless day” (Job 7:6); and “I give up; I am tired of living. Leave me alone. My life makes no sense.” (Job 7:16). 

The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose. Purpose is as essential to our life as air and water. We need purpose to cope.

Master, will only a few be saved?

Luke 13:22-30 

Jesus went on teaching from town to village, village to town, but keeping on a steady course toward Jerusalem. 23 A bystander said, "Master, will only a few be saved?" He said, 24 "Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life--to God!--is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you'll sit down to God's salvation banquet just because you've been hanging around the neighbourhood all your lives. 25 Well, one day you're going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you'll find the door locked and the Master saying, 'Sorry, you're not on my guest list.' 26 "You'll protest, 'But we've known you all our lives!' 27 only to be interrupted with his abrupt, 'Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don't know the first thing about me.' 28 "That's when you'll find yourselves out in the cold, strangers to grace. You'll watch Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets march into God's kingdom. 29 You'll watch outsiders stream in from east, west, north, and south and sit down at the table of God's kingdom. And all the time you'll be outside looking in--and wondering what happened. 30 This is the Great Reversal: the last in line put at the head of the line, and the so-called first ending up last.

Food for thought!

Jesus' answer to the man's question must have come as a shock: "Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life, to God, is vigorous and requires your total attention. With it Jesus declared that entry to the kingdom cannot be taken for granted; it is the result and the reward of a struggle. "Keep on striving to enter," he said, "the way to life, to God is vigorous." Jesus told this man to mind his own business: “Do your best to go in through the narrow door; because many people will surely try to go in but will not be able.

Like this man, we sometime look at some people as hell bound and ourselves as heaven bound. Sometimes we think that some people will not simply go to heaven, or that once we ourselves have made a commitment to Jesus Christ, we have reached the end of the road and can, as it were, sit back as if we had achieved our goal. There is no such finality in the Christian life. We must ever be going forward or else we go backward.

Please note the defence of these people was, "We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets." There are those who think that just because they are members of a Church, all is well. They differentiate between themselves and the rest. But belonging to some church is not all; going to mass is not all; carrying a Christian name is not all; that is no reason for sitting back content that all is well. Rather, belonging to a church, going to mass or carrying a Christian name should inspire us to be and do more; to struggle to improve what is good to being great.

Jesus is cautioning us not to take salvation for granted. He is urging us to keep on struggling; keep on praying; keep on walking, and working, and loving, and forgiving, and hoping, and believing. Let us all do like Jesus did in today's gospel reading: "He went on teaching from town to village, village to town, but keeping on a steady course toward Jerusalem." This is what Mike Ditka once said: "You never really lose until you stop trying." And it is what the Budhist proverb says, "If you are facing in the right direction, all you need to do is keep walking." It is what St. Paul urges us to do: "Keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God." (Philippians 2:12). And it is what Oliver Wendell Holmes indicated when he said, “I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it—but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.” 

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. (Matthew 9:35)

Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. (Acts 10:38)

Pray over it and do it anyway!

Luke 6:12-16

At that time Jesus went up a hill to pray and spent the whole night there praying to God. When day came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he named apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter) and his brother Andrew; James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon (who was called the Patriot), Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became the traitor.

Food for thought!

Have you ever heard of the phrase: "Pray over it and do it anyway? Well, it is what happens in today's gospel reading.  Two almost contradictory things happens: Jesus spends a whole night in prayer before God. The following morning he chooses his companions, one of whom was to betray him to death. So, what went wrong for Jesus to pick up his enemy? The gospel says that he "chose the twelve" including Judas Iscariot, "who became the traitor." Despite or we should say, in spite of his night long prayer vigil, Jesus called someone like Judas Iscariot. Jesus prayed and chose Judas anyway!

Does Jesus' experience sound familiar? You pray and pray and pray, make novenas and fasting, and at the end exactly what you feared and what you prayed not to happen happens anyway. Despite his night long prayer with the Father, Jesus still called someone who was to betray him to death. So you ask, why pray if it will happen ANYWAY?

Well, from Jesus' experience we learn that prayer is not meant to flee us from our Judas and our challenges and trials. Prayer is meant to empower us to face our Judas, be them what they are. Like St. Paul taught us, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," (Philippians 4:13); our prayer is meant to empower us to do all things that the Father wills to come our way, good and not so good. 

I am sure that, in his night long prayer, Jesus prayed to the Father what he prayed in Gethsemane: "Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." (Luke 22:42). I say this, because according to (John 6:64), Jesus knew from the beginning the one who would betray Him. Although Jesus knew Judas before he called him, he called him ANYWAY.

To illustrate the point, look at the the words below that were written on the wall of Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta, India, and are widely attributed to her. They seem to be based on a composition originally by Kent Keith, but much of the second half has been re-written in a more spiritual way.  Both versions are shown below, the first being of Kent Keith and the second of Mother Theresa.

1.   People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

2.   If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

3.   If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

4.   The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

5.   Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

6.   The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

7.   People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

8.   What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

9.   People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

10.                Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway. (© 1968, 2001 Kent M. Keith)

The version found written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta:

1.   People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway. 

2.   If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway. 

3.   If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway. 

4.   If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway. 

5.   What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway. 

6.   If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway. 

7.   The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway. 

8.   Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway. 

9.   In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

Shouldn't this woman be released on a Sabbath?

Luke 13:10-17

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, 11 and a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten herself up completely. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity." 13 Then he placed his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14 But the president of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, "There are six days on which work should be done! So come and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day." 15 Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from its stall, and lead it to water? 16 Then shouldnʼt this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be released from this imprisonment on the Sabbath day?" 17 When he said this all his adversaries were humiliated, but the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things he was doing.

Food for thought!

Before anything, let's note that this is the last time we ever hear of Jesus being in a synagogue. It is clear that by this time the religious authorities were watching his every action and waiting to pounce upon him whenever they got the chance. And they got one: Jesus healed on a Sabbath a woman who for eighteen years had not been able to straighten her bent body; and then the president of the synagogue intervened. He had not even the courage to speak directly to Jesus. He addressed his protest to the waiting people, although it was meant for Jesus. He criticized Jesus thru the people! Sometimes people can criticize JESUS by criticizing us; and criticize us by criticizing Jesus. What they don't know is that there are certain things we do by Jesus' mandate.

Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; technically healing was work; and, therefore he had broken the Sabbath. But he answered his opponents out of their own law. The Rabbis abhorred cruelty to dumb animals and, even on the Sabbath, it was perfectly legal to loose beasts from their stalls and water them. Jesus demanded, "If you can loose a beast from a stall and water him on the Sabbath day, surely it is right in the sight of God to loose this poor woman from her infirmity."

What Jesus is saying is what many people do, even today. Being more benign to animals than to humans. Some people spend lots of money on their pets while some where some humans are starving. Sometimes we give more attention to beasts than to humans!

The president of the synagogue and those like him were people who loved systems more than people. They were more concerned that their own petty little laws should be observed than that a woman should be helped. For Jesus, the individual comes before the system; humans come before animals. In the world and in the church we are constantly in peril of loving systems more than we love God and more than we love humans.

Jesus' action in this matter makes it clear that it is not God's will that any human being should suffer one moment longer than is absolutely necessary. If Jesus had postponed the healing of this woman until the next day, no one could have criticized him; but he performed the healing to teach us that suffering must not be allowed to continue until tomorrow if it could be eased today. Over and over again in life some good and kindly deed is held up until this or that regulation is satisfied, or this or that technical detail worked out. He gives twice who gives quickly, as the Latin proverb has it: bis dat qui cito dat. No good that we can do today should be postponed until tomorrow.

The greatest and first command is also the fairest!

Matthew 22:34-40

When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. 35 One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: 36 "Teacher, which command in God's Law is the most important?" 37 Jesus said, "'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind' 38 This is the most important, the first on any list. 39 But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' 40 These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

Food for Thought!

A religion scholar asked Jesus, "Teacher, which command in God's Law is the most important?" He answered, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" Therefore, the greatest commandment in the Bible is to love God. And Jesus says to do this not only with our heart and soul but also with our mind.

What does it mean to love God “with all your mind”? Since the first activity of the mind is “thinking,” to love God with the mind is to love him in the way we use our mind to think. Loving  God means treasuring God, means cherishing, delighting, admiring, and valuing God. It’s the sort of thing Paul was expressing for Jesus when he said, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8). Loving God is not about theory nor theology. The Devil can think true thoughts about God. But such thinking would not be love. For thinking to be loving, it must be more than thinking.

Loving God with all YOUR mind means that give to God what He gave you; love him the way God made you. That is why the greatest and first command is also the fairest. It teaches us: we can and should only love God according to what he has given us and made us. The emphasis here is on the word YOUR: You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. God made us different and would not be fair if He expected me to love him as you do, or vice versa. I can only love God with all MY heart, all MY soul, all MY mind. The same to you: you can only love God with all YOUR heart, with all YOUR soul, and with all YOUR mind.

In practice we are saying, that not everybody prays with the same devotion. For instance, in general, women are more religious and devoted than men. And God would be unfair if He expected men to love him with a woman's heart, soul and mind. Or vice versa. Nobody gives what they don't have! And everybody should give according to what they are and have. God will judge each one of us according to what He made us and gave us. Thus, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. 

Since Jesus is the fullest revelation of God, loving him is loving his Father. “Whoever has seen me,” he said, “has seen the Father” (John 14:9). This means that knowing and loving Jesus is the test of knowing and loving God. “The one who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:16).

It means that our love for God must issue in love for men. But it is to be noted in which order the commandments come; it is love of God first, and love of man second. Why? Well, because it is only when we love God that man becomes lovable. There are some people out there that are unlovable; there are people we love only for God's sake. Without God, some people are simply not worth our love. Wise is the person whose love of work, of family and friends, of colleagues and peers, and of life itself stems from his love of God.

Another thing to note and do is that the first man to love is YOU. Sometimes we forget this basic truth. Let's look again at Jesus' answer:

Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.'"

Do you notice that the verb "love" appears three times? There is love of God, love of others, and love of yourself. For Jesus, true love must express itself in three dimensions. These three dimensions are (a) love of God, (b) love of neighbour, and (c) love of oneself. The first two are positively commanded; the last one is not commanded but presumed to be the basis of all loving. The commandment to love your neighbour as yourself presumes that you love yourself.

No one gives what they don't have! You can't give love to others if you hate yourself; you can't be nice to others when you have a bad day. Do you realize that when you have bad day, you are nasty to people? You can't smile at people when you're sad. But, the day you're happy, you'll treat everybody nicely. We don't shout at people when we are happy. In other words, you treat others in as much as you treat yourself; you love others in as much as you love yourself. Jesus is saying, Be happy and everybody around you will be happy; and when everybody is happy, God is happy too. For the glory of God is man fully alive.

So, in theory, love of God comes first, then neighbour, then self. But in practice, love of self is first, then of neighbour, then of God. When we love ourselves we will love our neighbour, and when we love neighbour we love God.

1 John 4:20

If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see?  

Leave it / her / him one more year!

Luke 13:1-9

Some people arrived and told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. At this he said to them, 'Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.'

He then told this parable: 'A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to the man who looked after the vineyard, "Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?" "Sir," the man replied "leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down."'

Food for thought!

Today, we have a parable that is at one and the same time lit by grace and full of warnings.

(i) The parable reminds us that we will be judged according to the opportunities we had in life. All of us and each one us was given much, was equipped for productivity and success. The Bible says, "God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Gen. 1:27). In other words, we have the image and likeness of God and yet sometimes we behave like we have the image and likeness of beasts. There is no excuse; we must behave as human beings and not as animals.

(ii) The parable teaches that uselessness invites disaster. The tree was given all it needed to grow, and yet did not produce expected fruits. This is why the most searching question we all have to make to ourselves is "Of what use are we in this world? What difference have we made in this life?"

(iii) Further, the parable teaches that nothing which only takes out can survive. The fig-tree was drawing strength and sustenance from the soil; and in return was producing nothing. That was precisely its sin. In the last analysis, there are two kinds of people in this world--those who take out more than they put in, and those who put in more than they take out. Where do you belong?

(vi) In one sense we are all in debt to life. We came into it at the peril of someone else's life; and we would never have survived without the care of those who loved us. As you know, man is the weakest animal at birth. Many beasts can survive on their own immediately at birth, but not man. Without our mother and the midwives, none of us would have survived. After carrying us for nine month, our mother carried us, fed us, washed us, educated us, etc. That is why we must  be grateful to our mothers, and must be mothers to some one; we must give life and living to others. Each one of us must pass on to others what she or he got; we must put into life at least as much as we take out.

(v) The parable tells us of the gospel of the second chance. A fig-tree normally takes three years to reach maturity. If it is not fruiting by that time it is not likely to fruit at all. But this fig-tree was given another chance. It is always Jesus' way to give us chance after chance. God is infinitely kind to those who fall and rise again; with God there is always a second chance.

(vi) But the parable also makes it quite clear that there is a final chance. If we refuse chance after chance, if God's appeal and challenge come again and again in vain, the day finally comes, not when God has shut us out, but when we by deliberate choice have shut ourselves out. God save us from that!

Just use your common sense!

Luke 12:54-59

Then he turned to the crowd: “When you see clouds coming in from the west, you say, ‘Storm’s coming’—and you’re right. And when the wind comes out of the south, you say, ‘This’ll be a hot one’—and you’re right. Frauds! You know how to tell a change in the weather, so don’t tell me you can’t tell a change in the season, the God-season we’re in right now.  “You don’t have to be a genius to understand these things. Just use your common sense, the kind you’d use if, while being taken to court, you decided to settle up with your accuser on the way, knowing that if the case went to the judge you’d probably go to jail and pay every last penny of the fine. That’s the kind of decision I’m asking you to make.”

Food for thought!

In today's gospel reading, Jesus makes a very intriguing remark: You know how to tell a change in the weather, so don’t tell me you can’t tell a change in the season, the God-season we’re in right now. What Jesus is doing is to acknowledge the human capacity of think. He knows  that we know how to interpret the appearance of the sky; our minds are in full gear to think clearly about sunrise and sunset. But not so when it comes to thinking clearly about Jesus. In other words, we know how to use our eyes and our minds to draw right conclusions when it comes to the natural world. Why don't we do so with the spiritual matters? 

Jesus wonder why we don't use our brains to know spiritual matters? Some people are genius in business matters; others are successful managers of companies, others still hold high positions in life. But when it comes to spiritual matters, many of us perform very poorly. This is what makes Jesus wonder. And when he says, "You don't," he does mean  that we have what it takes to know. For all of us have brains in our head,  unfortunately we don't use them for spiritual matters. 

Like the men  in the gospel, we all have the capacity to think, but sometimes we choose not to use it; we have the mind but we don’t use it always. We have the power to think but we don’t use it to understand our life. Why is this so? What’s wrong? Why does our thinking work so well at the natural level but so badly when it comes to perceiving the presence of God in Christ?  The answers may include these ones: we are not educated in using the power of thinking; we don’t know what we have, and if and when we do, we don’t know how to use it; we are afraid to use our mind and our brains.

We have confused the need for a childlike faith (that is, an attitude of profound trust in God, and a faithful love for Him) with childish thinking. Many people become bored with the Bible precisely because their overall intellectual growth is stagnant. They cannot get new insights from Scripture because they bring the same old categories to Bible study and look to validate their old habits of thought. If you’re frustrated today because the old methods aren’t working in your marriage, your family, your finances, your career, use your brains.

Many of us try to fight new battles with old battle plans. We’ve had successes in our past, so when faced with a new challenge, we assume we can be victorious by responding the same way we did last week, last month, or last year. Instead of seeking God to see what He wants to do in this new day, we try to relive what we did the last time. This connection to the previous “glory days” keeps us tied to the past, missing out on a fresh, new thing God wants to do in this present day.

Romans 12:2

Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God —what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.

Jesus Christ is the preeminent One!

Luke 12:49-53

Jesus said to his disciples: “I’ve come to start a fire on this earth—how I wish it were blazing right now! I’ve come to change everything, turn everything rightside up—how I long for it to be finished! “Do you think I have come to give peace to the earth? No! Rather, strife and division! From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or perhaps the other way around. A father will decide one way about me; his son, the other; mother and daughter will disagree; and the decision of an honored mother-in-law will be spurned by her daughter-in-law.”

Food for thought!

Jesus' coming inevitably means division. You cannot take Christ serious and not run into problems. And Jesus knows it more than we do. That is why he tells plainly: “Do you think I have come to give peace to the earth? No! Rather, strife and division! From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or perhaps the other way around. A father will decide one way about me; his son, the other; mother and daughter will disagree; and the decision of an honored mother-in-law will be spurned by her daughter-in-law.” 

Over and over again we have to decide between our dear ones and Christ. The essence of Christianity is that loyalty to Christ has to take precedence over the dearest loyalties of this earth. We must be prepared to count all things as loss for the excellence of Jesus Christ. This is what St. Paul did: "Nothing is as wonderful as knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have given up everything else and count it all as garbage. All I want is Christ." (Phillipians 3:8). And this is what Jesus tells us elsewhere on several occasions:

"If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine." (Matthew 10:37)

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26)

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37)

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. (John 21:15-17)

Colossians 1:18 proclaims, "And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence." Jesus Christ is the preeminent One. Preeminent means superior to or notable above all others; superiority in excellence; distinction above others in quality, rank, etc. 

I will do what I like while my master is away!

Luke 12:39-48

Jesus said, “You know that if the house owner had known what night the burglar was coming, he wouldn’t have stayed out late and left the place unlocked. So don’t you be slovenly and careless. Just when you don’t expect him, the Son of Man will show up.”

Peter said, “Master, are you telling this story just for us? Or is it for everybody?”

The Master said, “Let me ask you: Who is the dependable manager, full of common sense, that the master puts in charge of his staff to feed them well and on time? He is a blessed man if when the master shows up he’s doing his job. But if he says to himself, ‘The master is certainly taking his time,’ begins maltreating the servants and maids, throws parties for his friends, and gets drunk, the master will walk in when he least expects it, give him the thrashing of his life, and put him back in the kitchen peeling potatoes.

“The servant who knows what his master wants and ignores it, or insolently does whatever he pleases, will be thoroughly thrashed. But if he does a poor job through ignorance, he’ll get off with a slap on the hand. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities!

Food for thought!

Today's gospel reading is a continuity of yesterday's.  There are two servants, one always ready and on the job, the other not.   This one said, I will do what I like while my master is away.  Many times we are like this man. We have a habit of dividing life into compartments. There is a part in which we remember that God is present; and there is a part in which we never think of him at all. We tend to draw a line between sacred and secular.

Some of us try to confine our Christian identity to what takes place on Sundays. In order to preserve it from contamination from “the world,” we avoid as much as we can conversation beyond polite small talk between Sundays. Others of us memorize phrases from Sunday sermons and teaching and then try to insert them into pauses in the conversations or circumstances over the next six days. 

We need to tear down the fences that we have erected between language that we use on Sundays and the language we use with the people we find on the Main Street or Down Town, between Sundays. It is, after all, the same language. The same God we address in prayer on Sundays is also deeply, eternally involved in the men and women we engage in conversation with between Sundays.

God does not compartmentalize our lives into religious and secular. Why do we?  Why do we ever behave as if the Lord is away and other times as if the Lord is present? Why is there no continuity of language between the words we use on Sundays, in prayer meetings and in Bible studies and the words we use when we’re out on the Main Street?

Jesus wants us to cultivate a sense of continuity between the prayers we offer to God and the conversations we have with the people we speak to and who speak to us. He wants us to nurture an awareness of the sanctity of words, the holy gift of language, regardless of whether it is directed vertically or horizontally. Just as Jesus did.

Most of us are not preachers or teachers, or at least not designated as such. Most of the words that we speak are spoken in the quotidian contexts of eating and drinking, shopping and traveling, making what we sometimes dismiss as “small talk.” But if we really know what Christianity means we will know that there is no part of life when the master is away. We are working and living forever in the presence of God. 

Be prepared—all dressed and ready!

Luke 12:35-38

“Be prepared—all dressed and ready— for your Lord’s return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. There will be great joy for those who are ready and waiting for his return. He himself will seat them and put on a waiter’s uniform and serve them as they sit and eat! He may come at nine o’clock at night—or even at midnight. But whenever he comes, there will be joy for his servants who are ready!

Food for thought!

This passage has two senses. In its narrower sense it refers to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ; in its wider sense it refers to our death. In all cases there is praise for the servant who is ready. Since none of us can tell the day or the hour when eternity will invade time and summons will come, we do well to take the advice of Jesus most serious.  How, then, would we like God to find us?

We would like him to find us with our work completed. Life for so many of us is filled with loose ends. There are things undone and things half done; things put off and things not even attempted. As an exercise, ask yourself from time to time what you are doing to prepare yourself for the Lord. Be established and fully committed to Jesus. Be willing to stand firm with your Christ given convictions and principles. Be prepared to stand alone if necessary because of them. Live in the present.

Imagine this: “If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with U.S. Dollars in the amount of $86,400, and every evening cancelled whatever part of the amount you failed to use, what would you do? Of course, you would draw out every cent of the deposit! Well, time is just such a bank. Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off as lost whatever of those seconds you have failed to invest to good purpose. It carries no balance forward to the next day. It allows no overdrafts. Each day it opens a new account with you. Each night it burns the record for the day. “If you fail to use the day’s deposit, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow. You must live in the present—on today’s deposit. Invest in it so as to get the most out of it in health, happiness and service.”

"Be prepared—all dressed and ready— for your Lord’s return."

But God said to him, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. Then who will get it all?’

Luke 12:13-21

Then someone called from the crowd, “Sir, please tell my brother to divide my father’s estate with me.” But Jesus replied, “Man, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that? Beware! Don’t always be wishing for what you don’t have. For real life and real living are not related to how rich we are.” Then he gave an illustration: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. In fact, his barns were full to overflowing—he couldn’t get everything in. He thought about his problem, and finally exclaimed, ‘I know—I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones! Then I’ll have room enough. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “Friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Wine, women, and song for you!’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! Tonight you die. Then who will get it all?’ “Yes, every man is a fool who gets rich on earth but not in heaven.”

Food for thought!

Today's gospel reading is by all standards difficult to understand. For instance, building a barn is normal work for a farmer. No one would ever think of it as a moral failure. No farmer was ever reprimanded by his pastor or put in jail by the police for building a barn. What went wrong? 

The answer to this question is in what Jesus said immediately after today's gospel. Jesus said to his disciples, "I therefore tell you, do not worry about your life--about what you are to eat; nor about your body--about what you are to wear. Worry. this was the problem of the man in the gospel. He over worried about his future; he thought he would live long; he thought he would have enough stored away for years to come. He didn't live long. God told him: 'Fool! Tonight you die.'

Two things stand out about this man.

(a) He never saw beyond himself. Did you notice how the man used, better overused, the words I, me, my and mine.  There is no mention of others.  This man was too rich of himself.  He was too self-centred. He lived in a little world, bounded on the north, south, east and west by himself. When this man had a superfluity of goods the one thing that never entered his head was to give any away. His whole attitude was the very reverse of Christianity. Instead of denying himself he aggressively affirmed himself; instead of finding his happiness in giving he tried to conserve it by keeping.

(b) He never saw beyond this world. All his plans were made on the basis of life here. There is a story of a conversation between a young and ambitious man and an older man who knew life. Said the young man, "I will learn my trade." "And then?" said the older man. "I will set up in business." "And then?" "I will make my fortune." "And then?" "I suppose that I shall grow old and retire and live on my money." "And then?" "Well, I suppose that some day I will die." "And then?" came the last stabbing question. The wo/man who never remembers that there is another world is destined some day for the grimmest of grim shocks.

Conclusion: In your dealings don't forget other people, and don't forget that there's life after this.

It is our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Father!

Matthew 22:15-21

The Pharisees plotted a way to trap Jesus into saying something damaging for which they could arrest him. They sent their disciples, with a few of Herod’s followers mixed in, to ask, “Teacher, we know you have integrity, teach the way of God accurately, are indifferent to popular opinion, and don’t pander to your students. So tell us honestly: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

Jesus knew they were up to no good. He said, “Why are you playing these dirty games with me? Why are you trying to trap me? Do you have a coin? Let me see it.” They handed him a silver piece. “This engraving—who does it look like? And whose name is on it?” They said, “Caesar.”  Jesus replied, “Then give Caesar what is his, and give God what is his.”

Food for thought!

Never play any games with Jesus; never seek to trap Jesus. As we saw this week, our words either make us or break us. The enemies of Jesus plotted a way to trap Jesus into saying something damaging for which they could arrest him. The enemies of Jesus sought to break Jesus by his own words, and they ended up being broken and destroyed by their own words.

Let us see how Jesus destroyed his enemies. He asked them: "Do you have a coin? Let me see it." They handed him a silver piece. "This engraving — who does it look like? And whose name is on it?" They said, "Caesar."  Jesus replied, "Then give Caesar what is his."  What does this mean? It means that the reason why people should giveback to Caesar is because Caesar engraved his image on their money. Said differently:  if Caesar, and by extension any civil authority or government provides needed goods and services like building roads and hospitals and all public services, then we must, in justice, give back to the government our loyalty and support in the form of taxes. Logical, isn't it?

Jesus takes us a step further.  "And give to God what is his." According to genesis 1:17 "God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female." If God put his image and likeness in you and me,  we owe to God our tribute. We must pay our tribute and obedience and loyalty and adoration and worship and praise. Just as we say at every Mass: "It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father."

It means that when we pray, when we adore, when we worship God, we don't do God a favour; we fulfill our obligation. So, always remember this: "It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father." Remember that just as Caesar deals harshly with those who refuse to pay his tribute, God will deal harshly with those who refuse him adoration, praise, glory, power and honour.

He will take revenge on those who refuse to acknowledge God and on those who refuse to respond to the Good News about our Lord Jesus. (2 Thessalonians 1:8).

Matthew 21:33-46

“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

The Lord now chose seventy other disciples and sent them on ahead of him!

Luke 10:1-9

The Lord now chose seventy other disciples and sent them on ahead in pairs to all the towns and villages he planned to visit later. These were his instructions to them: “Plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out more laborers to help you, for the harvest is so plentiful and the workers so few. Go now, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. Don’t take any money with you, or a beggar’s bag, or even an extra pair of shoes. And don’t waste time along the way. Whenever you enter a home, give it your blessing. If it is worthy of the blessing, the blessing will stand; if not, the blessing will return to you. When you enter a village, don’t shift around from home to home, but stay in one place, eating and drinking without question whatever is set before you. And don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, for the workman is worthy of his wages! If a town welcomes you, follow these two rules: (1) Eat whatever is set before you. (2) Heal the sick; and as you heal them, say, ‘The Kingdom of God is very near you now.’

Food for thought!

Today is feast of Luke the evangelist.  Of  the people who wrote the New Testament writings, Luke was the only one that was not a Jew. Luke was a gentile. He was a doctor by profession (Col.4:14) and maybe that very fact gave him the wide sympathy he possessed. It has been said that a minister sees men at their best; a lawyer sees men at their worst; and a doctor sees men as they are. Luke saw men and loved them all.

 In today's gospel reading, we read that Jesus chose seventy OTHER disciples and sent them on ahead in pairs to all the towns and villages he planned to visit later.  Besides the Twelve Apostles, Jesus had many many other followers and disciples. Luke was one of the others Jesus used and uses to spread his message. Jesus needs us all, and all of us can represent Jesus each in his or her own way.

 Luke presented a Jesus that knows no barriers, Jesus  that is for Jew and gentile, saint and sinner alike.  Jesus that is the saviour of the world. 

Luke  presented a Jesus of prayer. At all the great moments of his life, Luke shows us Jesus at prayer. He prayed at his baptism (Lk.3:21); before his first collision with the Pharisees (Lk.5:16); before he chose the Twelve (Lk.6:12); before he questioned his disciples as to who they thought he was; before his first prediction of his own death (Lk.9:18); at the Transfiguration (Lk.9:29); and upon the Cross (Lk.23:46). Only Luke tells us that Jesus prayed for Peter in his hour of testing (Lk.22:32). Only he tells us the prayer parables of the Friend at Midnight (Lk.11:5-13) and the Unjust Judge (Lk.18:1-8). 

Luke  presented a Jesus that favours all men and women. Beginning with Mary,  it is Luke that  tells us Elizabeth, Anna, the widow at Nain, the woman who anointed Jesus' feet in the house of Simon the Pharisee. It is Luke who makes vivid the pictures of Martha and Mary and of Mary Magdalene. 

Above all Luke  presents a Jesus  that is friend of outcasts and sinners.  Luke alone tells of the woman who anointed Jesus' feet and bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair in the house of Simon the Pharisee (Lk.7:36-50); of Zacchaeus, the tax-gatherer (Lk.19:1-10); of the Penitent Thief (Lk.23:43); and he alone has the immortal story of the prodigal son and the loving father (Lk.15:11-32).

Like long ago, Jesus continues to send OTHER disciples ahead to all the towns and villages he plans to visit later.  It means  that all of us are  like Luke; all of us are saying something about Jesus; all of us are preachers of Jesus. Like Luke we either represent or misrepresent Jesus; whenever we go as christians, be it at work, home or neighbourhood, we either represent or misrepresent Jesus.

You are worth more than many birds!

Luke 12:1-7

By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other’s toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus’ primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, “More than anything else, beware of these Pharisees and the way they pretend to be good when they aren’t. But such hypocrisy cannot be hidden forever. Because you can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can’t whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day’s coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.

“I’m speaking to you as dear friends. Don’t be bluffed into silence or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies. True, they can kill you, but then what more can they do? There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.

"What’s the price of two or three sparrows? Some loose change, right? But God never overlooks a single one. And he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So, don’t be afraid. You are worth more than many birds."

Food for thought!

Today's gospel reading has many good news. Here are some of them: 

Jesus' primary concern was his disciples. Jesus loves his own and cares for them. It is good to know that Jesus cares for us, and that we are his primary concern. He warns us as a friend does, to more than anything else, beware of the hypocrisy of Pharisees, that is, pretending to be good when we aren’t; pretending to be religious when we are not; such hypocrisy cannot be hidden forever. Because you can’t keep your true self hidden forever; before long you’ll be exposed. You can’t hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. 

Don't pretend; be yourself. The hypocrite is never genuine; he is always play-acting. The basis of hypocrisy is insincerity. God would rather have a blunt, honest sinner, than someone who puts on an act of goodness. The birth of our true self is often called a spiritual awakening experience. It is not always a pleasant experience, because the old self that betrayed us must die for the new self that honors us to be born. The false self must come to an end. We must throw away our mask and with it the need to pretend to be what we are not.

Another good news is to know that there is a part of us that men cannot reach: "There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being." Man's power over man is strictly limited to this life. A man can destroy another man's life but not his soul. Our soul is insulated and protected. People can kill our body but they cannot kill our soul. Only God can. This is why Jesus advises us to be afraid, not of men, but of God. Yes, this one can kill both our body and our soul. 

Another good news is God's cares for us: "he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head!" God's care is the most detailed of all. To God we are never lost in the crowd.