300 versus 30!

John 12:1-11

Six days before Passover (that is, today), Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus, so recently raised from the dead, was living. Lazarus and his sisters invited Jesus to dinner at their home. Martha served. Lazarus was one of those sitting at the table with them. Mary came in with a jar of very expensive aromatic oils, anointed and massaged Jesus’ feet, and then wiped them with her hair. The fragrance of the oils filled the house. Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, even then getting ready to betray him, said, “Why wasn’t this oil sold and the money given to the poor? It would have easily brought three hundred silver pieces.” He said this not because he cared two cents about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of their common funds, but also embezzled them. Jesus said, “Let her alone. She’s anticipating and honoring the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you. You don’t always ha ve me.” Word got out among the Jews that he was back in town. The people came to take a look, not only at Jesus but also at Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead. So the high priests plotted to kill Lazarus because so many of the Jews were going over and believing in Jesus on account of him.

Food for thought!

Six days before Passover! Mary brought her perfume, very expensive. Judas calculated it to cost 300 silver pieces. Now, to get an idea of this, remember that Jesus was valued at 30 silver pieces. This perfume was 10x more expensive than Jesus, that is according to Judas. That is why this man saw it as sheer waste.

This story is a carry on of yesterday, which as you remember, was about giving and getting: "Jesus Christ’s state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself." Jesus emptied himself, that is, he gave all he had and was. The donkey owner gave it all for good, never to get it back. Today, a wom an called Mary gave away for good her very expensive perfume to Jesus. Just as the donkey man, Mary gave her perfume for Jesus' sake. FOR JESUS' SAKE.

There are things we do for Jesus' sake; things we give away for the sake of Jesus. Please, do consider what you can and will give away this week for the sake of Jesus; something you would rather not give away if it was not for Jesus and because of Jesus. Our example is Jesus himself, who emptied himself completely; he broke his bottle of life for us. He too, poured every drop out for our sake. I wonder if we have ever broken the alabaster box of our life to spend it for the sake of Jesus. That's what Jesus does throughout this holy week. Holy week is about giving our best, doing our best, being our best, talking our best, loving our best and serving our best. Nothing but the best should come out of ourselves.

As you do your best in life for the sake of Jesus, someone like Judas will criticize you. Judas are over the place,  especially where good is done. Don't be discouraged by them. As long as Jesus is happy with your action, go ahead and do it. Jesus will defend you as well.

From Hosanna to Crucify Him!

Isaiah 50:4-7

The Lord God has given me his words of wisdom so that I may know what I should say to all these weary ones. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. 5 The Lord God has spoken to me, and I have listened; I do not rebel nor turn away. 6 I give my back to the whip, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I do not hide from shame—they spit in my face. 7 Because the Lord God helps me, I will not be dismayed; therefore, I have set my face like flint to do his will, and I know that I will triumph.

Food for thought on Palm Sunday

The Holy Week begins on a triumphant note and suddenly descends into suffering.  The gospel reading just before the Procession begins, says: "The crowds who had come up for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took branches of palm and went out to meet him, shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessings on the King of Israel, who comes in the name of the Lord.’"

And the gospel reading after the procession end by saying: "The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus on which they might pass the death sentence. But they could not find any. Several, indeed, brought false evidence against him, but their evidence was conflicting. Some stood up and submitted this false evidence against him, ‘We heard him say, “I am going to destroy this Temple made by human hands, and in three days build another, not made by human hands.”’ But even on this point their evidence was conflicting." [...] "The chief priests, however, had incited the crowd to demand that he should release Barabbas for them instead. Then Pilate spoke again. ‘But in that case,’ he said to them ‘what am I to do with the man you call king of the Jews?’ They shouted back, ‘Crucify him!’ ‘Why?’ Pilate asked them ‘What harm has he done?’ But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’ So Pilate, anxious to placate the crowd, released Barabbas for them and, having ordered Jesus to be scourged, handed him over to be crucified."

One of the most frightening things about life is how quickly it can change, in an instant, in a moment. Our life can change from peaceful to problematic in just a few minutes. It can be by a phone call in the middle of the night; a police officer at your front door; a special news bulletin interrupting your TV comedy; a visit to your doctor; a call from your employer that you have been fired; an SMS from your lover that s/he has sued for a divorce. One moment Joseph was the favored son of Jacob, a teenager with great dreams and ambitions, dressed in a multicolored coat of honor, stationed in the pastures of Canaan, watching his flock and planning his future. The next moment, he was torn from his family, ripped from his father’s love, stripped of his ambitious dreams, robbed of his future, and led away in shackles, wearing the loincloth of a slave.

In the case of Jesus, life changed abruptly from ‘Hosanna! Blessings on the King of Israel, who comes in the name of the Lord’ to ‘Crucify him!’ Does this sound familiar to you? Have you ever fallen from grace to disgrace in a matter of days, hours or moments?  If so, you're not alone. You're with Jesus and Jesus is with you. People may be shouting "crucify him" to you right now. They may be wanting to harm and hurt you.  But remember Genesis 50:20 and Romans 8:28.

When we take our situations, whatever they are, and place them under the redemptive blood of Christ, the sovereign workings of God’s providence are activated so as to work all things together for good, conforming them to the purposes of His will. Your enemy means it for evil, but God intends it for good. Those high priests who incited the crowds to hurt Jesus intended evil, but God redeemed the evil and made our salvation out of it.

Remember the story of Joseph in the Old Testament.  Remember Joseph's words to his brothers, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20). Lord gave us Joseph in order to prepare us for Holy Week. The story of Joseph is an early case study of the overruling power of Divine Providence for those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.

Genesis 50:20 shows us that God can use an unfortunate series of life-crushing blows to bring about history-changing benefits. Though Joseph’s brothers meant it for evil, God intended it for good. The Lord wasn’t surprised by the turn of events, and He was determined to work all things together for good in Joseph’s life for the benefit of others. In fact, these events that seemed to devastate were actually the tools God would use to protect Joseph’s family, preserve the Jewish people, and safeguard the messianic line.

Don't forget the story of Joseph as you follow both your own story and the story of Jesus's Passion, Death and Resurrection. Remember that even the smallest details of our lives—the inconveniences, the trials and tribulations, the suffering, and struggles—become nothing more nor less than ingredients in the cake of God’s providence.

The world and the Devil may spoil our comforts, our dreams, our wherewithal, and our apparent well-being. But they can’t pry us from the invisible hand of God’s constant care. Now, what are your problems today? What are you going through? Who’s in your way? What failures are dogging your step? The people may mean it for evil, and the Devil may want to harm you, but God intends to use it for good.

Jesus no longer went about openly!

John 11:45-56

Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him, but some of them went to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting. ‘Here is this man working all these signs’ they said ‘and what action are we taking? If we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy the Holy Place and our nation.’ One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said, ‘You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation to be destroyed.’ He did not speak in his own person, it was as high priest that he made this prophecy that Jesus was to die for the nation – and not for the nation only, but to gather together in unity the scattered children of God. From that day they were determined to kill him. So Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but left the district for a town called Ephraim, in the country bordering on the desert, and stayed there with his disciples. The Jewish Passover drew near, and many of the country people who had gone up to Jerusalem to purify themselves looked out for Jesus, saying to one another as they stood about in the Temple, ‘What do you think? Will he come to the festival or not?’

Food for thought!

In today's gospel, we understand why Jesus was killed: it was in order for the religious authorities of the time (Pharisees and Sadducees) to hold on their political and social power and prestige. What they feared was that Jesus might gain a following and raise a disturbance against the roman government. Now, Rome was essentially tolerant, but, with such a vast empire to govern, it could never afford civil disorder, and always crushed whatever disturbance with a firm and merciless hand. If Jesus was the cause of civil disorder, R ome would descend in all her power, and, beyond a doubt the Sadducees would be dismissed from their positions of authority.

It never even occurred to them to ask whether Jesus was right or wrong. Their only question was: "What effect will this have on our ease and comfort and authority?" They judged Jesus, not in the light of principle but in the light of their own career. Sometimes we are that mean; we set our own interests before the other's interests; we look at and judge others in light of our own interests; as long as our interests are served, we don't mind at all about what the other person goes through. Things have not changed much!

So the Sadducees insisted that Jesus must be eliminated or the Romans would come and take their authority away. Then Caiaphas, the High Priest, made his two-edged statement: "You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation to be destroye d." 

Here is another tremendous example of dramatic irony. Caiaphas meant that it was better that Jesus should die than that there should be trouble with the Romans. It was true that Jesus must die to save the nation. That was true—but not in the way that Caiaphas meant. It was true in a far greater and more wonderful way. God can speak through the most unlikely people; sometimes he sends his message through a man without the man being aware; he can use even the words of bad men, like on this occasion. Indeed, Jesus was to die for the nation and also for all God's people throughout the world.

It’s God’s darkroom in which negatives become positives. It’s His situation-reversal machine in which heartaches are changed into hallelujahs. It is the foundation of hope and a fountainhead of confidence. Even our failures can become enriching and our sins can be redeemed. Even death itself becomes a blessing for the child of God. So why stay depresse d? Why mope around discouraged or moody? Sometimes we act as though God forgot to insert verse 28 into the eighth chapter of Letter to the Romans.  

Jesus went back again to the beginning!

John 10:31-42

The Jews fetched stones to stone him, so Jesus said to them, ‘I have done many good works for you to see, works from my Father; for which of these are you stoning me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘We are not stoning you for doing a good work but for blasphemy: you are only a man and you claim to be God.’ Jesus answered:

‘Is it not written in your Law: I said, you are gods? So the Law uses the word gods of those to whom the word of God was addressed, and scripture cannot be rejected. Yet you say to someone the Father has consecrated and sent into the world, “You are blaspheming,” because he says, “I am the son of God.” If I am not doing my Father’s work, there is no need to believe me; but if I am doing it, then even if you refuse to believe in me, at least believe in the work I do; then you will know for sure that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’

They wanted to arrest him then, but he eluded them.  He went back again to the far side of the Jordan to stay in the district where John had once been baptising. Many people who came to him there said, ‘John gave no signs, but all he said about this man was true’; and many of them believed in him.

Food for thought!

In this text, there is something worth noting that Jesus did: *"He went back again to the far side of the Jordan to stay in the district where John had once been baptising." *

Why did Jesus do this? Well, for Jesus the time was running out; he knew his hour was approaching but was not yet. He would not recklessly court danger and throw his life away; nor would he in cowardice avoid danger to preserve his life. Jesus desired quietness before the final struggle. He always armed himself to meet men by first meeting God. That is why he retired to the other side of Jordan where he had started his ministry (****Matthew 3:13********** **Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the** **Jordan** **to be baptized by him... From that timeJesus began to preach (Matthew 4:12-25)****. 

The place to which Jesus went is most significant. He went to the place where John had been baptizing, the place where he himself had been baptized. It was there that the voice of God had come to him and assured him that he had taken the right decision and was on the right way. That place was significant because that is where it all began; that is where Jesus started his ministry.

There is everything to be said about returning every now and then to the place where we had the supreme experience of our life. When Jacob was up against it, when things had gone wrong and badly wrong, he went back to Bethel (Gen.35:1-5). When he needed God, he went back to the place where he had first found him. Jesus, before the end, went back to the place where the beginning had happened. It would often do our souls good to make a visit to the place where we first found God, or where we first fell in love, or where we first met, or where we first loved or where we first met Jesus, etc. In other words, never loose touch with your beginning; it is your source of inspiration. When your life begin to fall apart, remember to go to your beginning, and start your life all over again.

But not only Jesus went back to the source, the people too went: "Many people who came to him there said, ‘John gave no signs, but all he said about this man was true’; and many of them believed in him."

Time and again, we also get discouraged; we too loose faith and begin to doubt; we too loose the initial fire of our love to the Lord and to each other. Many couples have lost the initial fire of love and passion they used to enjoy. In other words, we too need to go back to Jordan where it all started, where we started our journey, where we got the initial inspiration, initial love and passion. And if and when we do so, will be like the people in the gospel reading, they became believers in Jesus. They adhered to and trusted in and relied on Jesus again; they too were re-energized in their commitment. 

Do you think you need to go to your Jordan again? Where's your Jordan? Where did you start? May be you need to revisit the place. May be. When things get tough, we do well to go back to our Jordan and press the Reset Button.

Whoever keeps the word of Jesus will never see death!

John 8:51-59

Jesus said to the Jews: ‘I tell you most solemnly, whoever keeps my word will never see death.’ The Jews said, ‘Now we know for certain that you are possessed. Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead, and yet you say, “Whoever keeps my word will never know the taste of death.” Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? The prophets are dead too. Who are you claiming to be?’ Jesus answered:

‘If I were to seek my own glory that would be no glory at all; my glory is conferred by the Father, by the one of whom you say, “He is our God” although you do not know him. But I know him, and if I were to say: I do not know him, I should be a liar, as you are liars yourselves. But I do know him, and I faithfully keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to think that he would see my Day; he saw it and was glad.’ The Jews then said, ‘You are not fifty years old yet, and you have seen Abraham!’ Jesus replied: ‘I tell you most solemnly, before Abraham ever was, I Am.’ At this they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.

Food for thought!

Jesus makes revelation after revelation, each more tremendous than the one preceding it. Here he makes it known that if anyone keeps his words, he will never know death. It is not physical life and physical death of which Jesus is thinking. He means that, for the man who fully accepts him, physical death has lost its finality; he has entered into a relationship with God which neither time nor death can destroy. Jesus is saying that a person who follows him goes, not from life to death, but from life to life; physical death is only the introduction to the nearer presence of God.

When we were in the womb of our mother, we were limited in space and movement. Then we came out to a more expansive life with more freedom. Jesus is saying that those who accept him die, they go into even a more expansive life. Jesus is saying that there is more to life than meets our eyes.

Then Jesus makes these revelations which are the very foundation of his life.

(i) He has unique knowledge of God. Jesus knows God as no one else ever has known him or ever will. And he will he lower that claim, for to do so would be a lie. The only way to full knowledge of the heart and mind of God is through Jesus Christ. With our own minds we can reach fragments of knowledge about God; but only in Jesus Christ is the full truth, for only in him do we see what God is like.

(ii) He has unique obedience to God. To look at Jesus is to be able to say; "This is how God wishes me to live." To look at his life is to say: "This is serving God." In Jesus alone we see what God wants us to know and what God wants us to be.

(iii) He is God. This is what he means by these words: Before Abraham was born, I AM. Here Jesus was making a revelation that He is timeless, that He is God. We must note carefully that Jesus did not say: "Before Abraham was born, I was," but, "Before Abraham was born, I am." Here is the revelation that Jesus is timeless. There never was a time when he came into being; there never will be a time when he is not in being.

What did he mean? Obviously he did not mean that he, the man Jesus, had always existed. We know that Jesus was born into this world at Bethlehem; there is more than that here. Think of it this way. There is only one person in the universe who is timeless; and that one person is God. What Jesus is saying here is nothing less than that the life in him is the life of God; he is saying, as the writer of the Hebrews put it more simply, that he is the same yesterday, today and forever. In Jesus we see, not simply a man who came and lived and died; we see the timeless God, who was before time and who will be after time, who always is. In Jesus the immortal God showed himself to mortal men. To him be glory and honour and praise. Amen.

Greetings, favoured one, the Lord is with you too!

Luke 1:26-38 The following month God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin, Mary, engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Congratulations, favored lady! The Lord is with you!” Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be frightened, Mary,” the angel told her, Gabriel appeared to her and said, **"Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!"!** Very soon now, **you will become pregnant and have a baby boy, and you are to name him ‘Jesus.**’ He shall be very great and shall be called the Son of God. And the Lord God shall give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he shall reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom shall never end!” Mary asked the angel, “But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin.” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of God shall overshadow you; so the baby born to you will be utterly holy—the Son of God. Furthermore, six months ago your Aunt Elizabeth—‘the barren one,’ they called her—became pregnant in her old age! For every promise from God shall surely come true.” Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to do whatever he wants. May everything you said come true.” And then the angel disappeared. Food for thought Webster’s Dictionary defines the words “favor” as the “preference for one person over another.” Mary was favoured by God over all other women. The question is, why was Mary favoured? She was favoured for a reason: “You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus.” Mary was favoured so that she would conceive and bear the Son of God. You may have found in your life that there is a supernatural favor which seems to follow you wherever you go that cannot be explained. This favour or grace does not depend on circumstances surrounding you. You're blessed regardless of your knowledge. Did you notice that Mary carried the blessing without knowing? The angel told her, “Congratulations, favored lady! The Lord is with you!” Mary had no idea of her blessing. Just many of us do; We're blessed without knowing. We are like Jacob, who said, "Surely, the Lord is in this Place" (28:16-17). He didn't know that he was standing in a blessed place. Let us receive our blessing like Mary did: “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to do whatever he wants.” Walking in God's favor is not arrogance as long as you recognize it as GOD’S favor. There is nothing wrong with realizing that God has marked you with something special, something extraordinary. By receiving this favor, you are proclaiming the goodness of your heavenly Father! So, if you're good in something, and all of us are, be grateful to the Lord. Are you walking in the fullness of the favor God has for you? Take some time to evaluate the favor or favors you have already seen in your life. Thank Him for the doors He has opened and allowed you to walk through. Prayer: Thank you, God, for all that you have done for me in my journey thus far. You have truly shown your faithfulness and grace in my life when it seems like it was the last thing I deserved. Continue to lead me in the paths you have for me and help me lead with confidence and humility in the favor you have given me. Amen. 

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John 5:17-30

Jesus answered the people: My Father is still working even now, and so I am working. 18For this cause the Jews had an even greater desire to put Jesus to death, because not only did he not keep the Sabbath but he said God was his Father, so making himself equal with God. 19So Jesus made answer and said, Truly I say to you, The Son is not able to do anything himself; he is able to do only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does the Son does it in the same way. 20For the Father has love for the Son and lets him see everything which he does: and he will let him see greater works than these so that you may be full of wonder. 21In the same way, as the Father gives life to the dead, even so the Son gives life to those to whom he is pleased to give it. 22The Father is not the judge of men, but he has given all decisions into the hands of the Son; 23So that all men may give honour to the Son even as they give honour to the Father. He who gives no honour to the Son gives no honour to the Father who sent him. 24Truly I say to you, The man whose ears are open to my word and who has faith in him who sent me, has eternal life; he will not be judged, but has come from death into life. 25Truly I say to you, The time is coming, it has even now come, when the voice of the Son of God will come to the ears of the dead, and those hearing it will have life. 26For even as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to be judge because he is the Son of man. 28Do not be surprised at this: for the time is coming when his voice will come to all who are in the place of the dead, 29And they will come out; those who have done good, into the new life; and those who have done evil, to be judged. 30Of myself I am unable to do anything: as the voice comes to me so I give a decision: and my decision is right because I have no desire to do what is pleasing to myself, but only what is pleasing to him who sent me.

Food for thought

Today's Gospel is about Jesus' answer to the Jews' charge that he was making himself equal to God. He lays down three things about his relationship with God.
(i) He lays down his identity with God. The salient truth about Jesus is that in him we see God. If we wish to see how God feels to men, to women, to children, to the young, to the old, if we wish to see how God reacts to sin, if we wish to see how God regards the human situation, we must look at Jesus. The mind of Jesus is the mind of God; the words of Jesus are the words of God; the actions of Jesus are the actions of God. Jesus is God in human flesh; He is Emmanuel, God with us.
(ii) This identity is not so much based on equality as on complete obedience. Jesus never did what he wanted to do but always what God wanted him to do. It is because his will was completely submitted to God's will that we see God in him. Jesus is to God as we must be to Jesus.

(iii) This obedience is not based on submission to power; it is based on love. The unity between Jesus and God is a unity of love. We speak of two minds having only a single thought and two hearts beating as one. In human terms that is a perfect description of the relationship between Jesus and God. There is such complete identity of mind and will and heart that Father and Son are one.

But this passage has something still more to tell us about Jesus.
(i) It tells us of his complete confidence. Jesus is quite sure that what men were seeing then was only a beginning. On purely human grounds the one thing Jesus might reasonably expect was death. The forces of Jewish orthodoxy were gathering against him and the end was already sure. But Jesus was quite certain that the future was in the hands of God and that men could not stop what God had sent him to do. That is what we must know: God has a plan for each one of us; we do well to let him lead us where he wills.

(ii) It tells of his complete fearlessness. That Jesus would be misunderstood was certain. That his words would inflame the minds of his hearers and endanger his own life was beyond argument. There was no human situation in which Jesus would lower his claims or adulterate the truth. He would make his claim and speak his truth no matter what men might threaten to do. To him it was much more important to be true to God than to fear men. We need this kind of confidence and determination Jesus had because many times we follow and fear men than God; we sacrifice our God-given convictions and vocations because we fear what men will say and do to us; we respect more the people than God!!

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No one ever speaks like Jesus!

John 7:40-53

When the crowds heard him say this, some of them declared, “This man surely is the prophet who will come just before the Messiah.” Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others, “But he can’t be! Will the Messiah come from Galilee? For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where David was born.” So the crowd was divided about him. And some wanted him arrested, but no one touched him. The Temple police who had been sent to arrest him returned to the chief priests and Pharisees. “Why didn’t you bring him in?” they demanded. “He says such wonderful things!” they mumbled. “We’ve never heard anything like it.” “So you also have been led astray?” the Pharisees mocked. “Is there a single one of us Jewish rulers or Pharisees who believes he is the Messiah? These stupid crowds do, yes; but what do they know about it? A curse upon them anyway!” Then Nicodemus spoke up. (Remember him? He was the Jewish leader who came secretly to interview Jesus.) “Is it legal to convict a man before he is even tried?” he asked. They replied, “Are you a wretched Galilean too? Search the Scriptures and see for yourself—no prophets will come from Galilee!”

Food for thought!

Something consistent happens throughout this gospel: the people who heard Jesus talk always end, some impressed others depressed; some end liking him even more, others hating him even more. After hearing Jesus, some people thought that he was the Christ, others not; and there followed a wrangle about whether or not any Christ could ever come from Bethlehem.

Here is tragedy. A great religious experience has ended as a theological wrangle; a great sermon has done more harm than good. It is not uncommon even among us, to like the preaching and hate the preacher; to like the message and hate the messenger. Things have not changed much.

That is what above all we must avoid. Jesus is not someone about whom to argue; he is someone to know and love and enjoy. If we have one view of him and someone else has another, it does not matter so long as both of us find him our Saviour and accept him as Lord. Even if we explain our religious experience in different ways as we do, that should never divide us, for it is the experience that is important, and not our explanation of it.

This is what the Policemen were saying, "He says such wonderful things!” they mumbled. “We’ve never heard anything like it." They had gone out to arrest Jesus and had come back arrested by Jesus' message, because never in their lives had they heard anyone speak as he did. Really to listen to Jesus is an unparalleled experience for any man.

This is what Nicodemus was saying, "Does our Law decide about a man's guilt without first listening to him?" He was telling the people who should have known better, the high priests and Pharisees. Sometimes, even today, those people that should know better, people in our churches and communities and families, are sometimes missing the point. Their argument was "Is there a single one of us Jewish rulers or Pharisees who believes he is the Messiah? These stupid crowds do, yes; but what do they know about it? A curse upon them anyway!" It is indeed a terrible thing when a man thinks himself either too clever or too good to need Jesus Christ--and it happens still.

God's time is the best time!

John 7:1-2,10,25-30

Jesus stayed in Galilee; he could not stay in Judaea, because the Jews were out to kill him. As the Jewish feast of Tabernacles drew near, However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went up as well, but quite privately, without drawing attention to himself. Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Isn’t this the man they want to kill? And here he is, speaking freely, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authorities have made up their minds that he is the Christ? Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from. Then, as Jesus taught in the Temple, he cried out:

‘Yes, you know me and you know where I came from. Yet I have not come of myself: no, there is one who sent me and I really come from him, and you do not know him,
but I know him because I have come from him and it was he who sent me.’ They would have arrested him then, but because his time had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.

Food for thought: Without drawing attention to himself!

This sentence is very important. Jesus kept out of the way, careful not to draw attention to himself because his time had not yet come. And the Jews too were looking for a way to arrest him, but not a hand was laid on him because it wasn't yet God's time.

All this means that there is God's time and our time. And Jesus knew it. He knew how and when to wait for God's time to come. In this particular instance Jesus' opportunity had not come. Literally this means that the best time for Jesus to act, the moment when circumstances were most suitable, the psychological moment was not yet; the moment which would give him the chance for which he was waiting had not yet arrived. For that reason, Jesus kept out of the way, careful not to draw attention to himself because his time had not yet come. And the Jews too were looking for a way to arrest him, but not a hand was laid on him because it wasn't yet God's time.

From this passage we learn one thing that, we too must learn to wait on God's time because God's time is the best time. Anything done out of its time is disastrous. Many of us don't know how and when to wait, and that is why we crush and get crushed. We don't want to stay in God's waiting room. The enemy fills us with the lies that we must take action . . . take matters into our own hands. The enemy whispers, “God’s Word can’t be relied upon, He can’t be trusted . . . you have to do something! You've waited long enough! God isn’t going to show up!” But God’s strong, still, small voice replies, “Wait on Me . . . I will save you . . . I will deliver you . . . I hold your life (every detail) in the palms of My hands.”

You see, there’s a BIG difference between “being still” and “doing nothing.” When God appears to have escorted you into His “waiting room,” you can be certain that He doesn’t want you “doing nothing” . . . He wants you “being still.” We must remember in our most desperate moments in life that it is God who has often led us to the very place we cry out from . . . the “waiting place” . . . the place where we face impossibilities.

We must know that God has led us to this place and moment to teach us a much needed lesson in our walk of faith—we cannot deliver ourselves from a crisis that God himself has orchestrated. Too often, it is by His design that we are in the “waiting place” . . . in the midst of an overwhelming situation. Whatever you’re going through, God is in it. He has allowed the circumstances that have brought you to this “waiting place."

While you’re waiting, God wants you praying, drawing nearer to Him, and resting in the peace that He provides in the midst of a raging storm.

Joseph, the master of silence!

Luke 2:41-51

Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day’s journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere. Three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, ‘My child, why have, you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.’ ‘Why were you looking for me?’ he replied ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ But they did not understand what he meant. He then went down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority.

Food for thought!

Today we remember and celebrate St. Joseph, the patron of silence and silent people. In all the Gospels we don't find any word ever spoken by Joseph; he speaks by his silence. St. Joseph reminds us of the gift of silence, the importance of silence, the use of silence. Yes, even silent people can talk to us, not by mouth and words but by their silence.

In today's Gospel reading, who does the talking is the woman, Mary. The gospel says, "When his parents saw him, they were astonished." Both Joseph and Mary were astonished; both wondered, but only Mary spoke out. Yes, Mary was an outspoken lady. Women, don't be afraid to talk; men, don't be afraid not to talk. Let your Mary do the talking because many times she knows better. Jesus' mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." Your father and I! Isn't this amazing? That Mary talks in the name and on behalf of Joseph!

Back to silence and silent people. Joseph should remind us that sometimes the best response is silence; that sometimes we do well to stay silent; that we don't have to open our mouth all the time. In fact, the lesss you say, the more profound and mysterious you appear. You have more power when you shut up.

By saying less than necessary you create the appearance of meaning and power. Also, the less you say, the less risk you run of saying something foolish, even dangerous. Learn the lesson: once the words are out, you cannot take them back. So like Joseph, keep your words under control.

Those who are attentive enough, like Mary was attentive to Joseph, can understand our words of silence and our silent words and our silent suffering and our silent anxiety. St. Joseph, patron of silence and of silent people, pray for us, now and at the hour of our death. St. Joseph is also the patron of the dying!

The Father and the Son are one!

​

John 5:17-30

Jesus answered the people: My Father is still working even now, and so I am working. 18For this cause the Jews had an even greater desire to put Jesus to death, because not only did he not keep the Sabbath but he said God was his Father, so making himself equal with God. 19So Jesus made answer and said, Truly I say to you, The Son is not able to do anything himself; he is able to do only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does the Son does it in the same way. 20For the Father has love for the Son and lets him see everything which he does: and he will let him see greater works than these so that you may be full of wonder. 21In the same way, as the Father gives life to the dead, even so the Son gives life to those to whom he is pleased to give it. 22The Father is not the judge of men, but he has given all decisions into the hands of the Son; 23So that all men may give honour to the Son even as they give honour to the Father. He who gives no honour to the Son gives no honour to the Father who sent him. 24Truly I say to you, The man whose ears are open to my word and who has faith in him who sent me, has eternal life; he will not be judged, but has come from death into life. 25Truly I say to you, The time is coming, it has even now come, when the voice of the Son of God will come to the ears of the dead, and those hearing it will have life. 26For even as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to be judge because he is the Son of man. 28Do not be surprised at this: for the time is coming when his voice will come to all who are in the place of the dead, 29And they will come out; those who have done good, into the new life; and those who have done evil, to be judged. 30Of myself I am unable to do anything: as the voice comes to me so I give a decision: and my decision is right because I have no desire to do what is pleasing to myself, but only what is pleasing to him who sent me.

Food for thought

Today's Gospel is about Jesus' answer to the Jews' charge that he was making himself equal to God. He lays down three things about his relationship with God.
(i) He lays down his identity with God. The salient truth about Jesus is that in him we see God. If we wish to see how God feels to men, to women, to children, to the young, to the old, if we wish to see how God reacts to sin, if we wish to see how God regards the human situation, we must look at Jesus. The mind of Jesus is the mind of God; the words of Jesus are the words of God; the actions of Jesus are the actions of God. Jesus is God in human flesh; He is Emmanuel, God with us.
(ii) This identity is not so much based on equality as on complete obedience. Jesus never did what he wanted to do but always what God wanted him to do. It is because his will was completely submitted to God's will that we see God in him. Jesus is to God as we must be to Jesus.

(iii) This obedience is not based on submission to power; it is based on love. The unity between Jesus and God is a unity of love. We speak of two minds having only a single thought and two hearts beating as one. In human terms that is a perfect description of the relationship between Jesus and God. There is such complete identity of mind and will and heart that Father and Son are one.

But this passage has something still more to tell us about Jesus.
(i) It tells us of his complete confidence. Jesus is quite sure that what men were seeing then was only a beginning. On purely human grounds the one thing Jesus might reasonably expect was death. The forces of Jewish orthodoxy were gathering against him and the end was already sure. But Jesus was quite certain that the future was in the hands of God and that men could not stop what God had sent him to do. That is what we must know: God has a plan for each one of us; we do well to let him lead us where he wills.

(ii) It tells of his complete fearlessness. That Jesus would be misunderstood was certain. That his words would inflame the minds of his hearers and endanger his own life was beyond argument. There was no human situation in which Jesus would lower his claims or adulterate the truth. He would make his claim and speak his truth no matter what men might threaten to do. To him it was much more important to be true to God than to fear men. We need this kind of confidence and determination Jesus had because many times we follow and fear men than God; we sacrifice our God-given convictions and vocations because we fear what men will say and do to us; we respect more the people than God!!

​

Stand up, take your mat and go!

John 5:1-3,5-16

There was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem there is a building, called Bethzatha in Hebrew, consisting of five porticos; and under these were crowds of sick people – blind, lame, paralysed – waiting for the water to move; One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in this condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you want to be well again?’ ‘Sir,’ replied the sick man ‘I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me.’ Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and walked away. Now that day happened to be the sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.’ He replied, ‘But the man who cured me told me, “Pick up your mat and walk.”’ They asked, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your mat and walk”?’ The man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that filled the place. After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, ‘Now you are well again, be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.’ The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. It was because he did things like this on the sabbath that the Jews began to persecute Jesus.

Food for thought! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Have you ever found yourself in a dilemma, whereby you feel that after much praying, what you get out of it, what the Lord tells you goes against the law or the rules? Have you ever felt empowered by Jesus to break the rules, the tradition or custom? This is the situation of the man that had been sick for 38 years. On finding him, Jesus literally asked the man, "Do you want to be well again? Then, get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk." And the gospel says that that day Jesus told the man to carry his mat was a Sabbath. Jesus consciously told this man to break the Sabbath law. Yes, Jesus sometimes tells us to break laws and rules and traditions and expectations of others.

Jesus began by asking the man if he wanted to be cured. It was not so foolish a question as it may sound. The man had waited for thirty-eight years and it might well have been that hope had died and left behind a passive and dull despair. In his heart of hearts the man might be well content to remain an invalid for, if he was cured, he would have to shoulder all the burden of making a living. There are people who are happy with their status; people whose problem is not unpleasant, because someone else does for them all the working and all the worrying.

But this man's response was immediate. He wanted to be healed; he was desperate for a change. This is why for 38 years he never left the site; he was always hoping and waiting for someone like Jesua.
The first essential towards receiving the power of Jesus is to have intense desire for it. Jesus says: "Do you really want to be changed?" If in our inmost hearts we are well content to stay as we are, there can be no change for us. Jesus went on to tell the man to get up. It is as if he said to him: "Man, bend your will to it and you and I will do this thing together!"

The power of God never dispenses with our effort. Nothing is truer than that we must realize our own helplessness; but in a very real sense it is true that miracles happen when our will and God's power cooperate to make them happens. Remember that God cannot anything without our cooperation.

In effect Jesus was commanding the man to attempt the impossible. "Get up!" he said, "Carry the mat that has carried you all along." Yes, Jesus is saying to us all, "Stand up, and stop being a victim; don't be carried by anger or hate or laziness any more; start being a subject and productive and active; carry the mat that has been carrying you. It is Jesus telling you. The man might well have said with a kind of injured resentment that for thirty-eight years his bed had been carrying him and there was not much sense in telling him to carry it. But he made the effort along with Christ, and the thing was done.
Here is the road to achievement. There are so many things in this world which defeat us. When we have intensity of desire and determination to make the effort, hopeless though it may seem, the power of Christ gets its opportunity, and with him we can conquer what for long has conquered us. Yes, we can! "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)

Believe Jesus and start going or doing!

John 4:43-54

After the two days he left for Galilee. Now, Jesus knew well from experience that a prophet is not respected in the place where he grew up. So when he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, but only because they were impressed with what he had done in Jerusalem during the Passover Feast, not that they really had a clue about who he was or what he was up to. Now he was back in Cana of Galilee, the place where he made the water into wine. Meanwhile in Capernaum, there was a certain official from the king’s court whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked that he come down and heal his son, who was on the brink of death. Jesus put him off: “Unless you people are dazzled by a miracle, you refuse to believe.” But the court official wouldn’t be put off. “Come down! It’s life or death for my son.” Jesus simply replied, “Go home. Your son lives.” The man believed the bare word Jesus spoke and headed home. On his way back, his servants intercepted him and announced, “Your son lives!” He asked them what time he began to get better. They said, “The fever broke yesterday afternoon at one o’clock.” The father knew that that was the very moment Jesus had said, “Your son lives.” That clinched it. Not only he but his entire household believed. This was now the second sign Jesus gave after having come from Judea into Galilee.

Food for thought!

After Sunday, after church, after listening to the word of God, we start our work week. We are like the man in the Gospel reading: we heard the Word of God, now we need to get going. "The man believed the bare word Jesus spoke and headed home." He believed what Jesus had told him, "Go home. Your son lives." Now that Sunday is over, we are called upon to put the word Jesus told us at the church we attended and head to work. Yes, we must do what the man did: move from words to works; from pews to queues; from church to Main Street.

Here was a courtier who had faith. It must have been hard for him to turn away and go home with Jesus' assurance that his little lad would live; it must have been difficult for the courtier. Yet he had faith enough to turn and walk back that twenty mile road with nothing but Jesus' word to comfort his heart. We too, must believe that what Jesus says is true. So often we have a kind of vague, wistful longing that the promises of Jesus should be true. The only way really to enter into them is to believe in them with the clutching intensity of a drowning man. If Jesus says a thing, it is not a case of "It may be true"; it is a case of "It must be true."

This single piece of wisdom is worth taping to your desk or using as the background on your laptop or posting somewhere you can be reminded: Believe Jesus and start going or doing. Keep it in front of you because in the midst of procrastinating, you will surely forget it.

What is the goal you most want to reach at this point in your life? (Consider your health, relationships , finances, career, and spiritual life.) Talk to Jesus about it, like the man in today's gospel. Like the man in today's gospel, believe the words Jesus will speak to you and start going.

Prayer

Lord, Your Word tells me that when I draw near to You, You draw nearer to me. I believe the same is true when it is time to move forward in faith. As I take action, Your forces rally to my aid and strengthen my efforts. But sometimes I seem to operate just the opposite. I wait for inspiration before I move. I know it is fear. It is procrastination. It is perfectionism. And none of those things is Your will for me. So today, God, help me take a step forward. Right now. Not an hour from now. Not tomorrow. When I start moving forward in faith , inspiration comes. Thank You for what is about to happen as I take a step forward in faith! Amen.

Men have shown they prefer darkness to the light!

John 3:14-21

And as Moses in the wilderness lifted up the bronze image of a serpent on a pole, even so I must be lifted up upon a pole, so that anyone who believes in me will have eternal life. For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. “There is no eternal doom awaiting those who trust him to save them. But those who don’t trust him have already been tried and condemned for not believing in the only Son of God. Their sentence is based on this fact: that the Light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the Light, for their deeds were evil. They hated the heavenly Light because they wanted to sin in the darkness. They stayed away from that Light for fear their sins would be exposed and they would be punished. But those doing right come gladly to the Light to let everyone see that they are doing what God wants them to.”

Food for thought!

Jesus said,”Men preferred darkness to light”. What does he mean? Before we answer let’s remember Deuteronomy 30:19

I call heaven and earth to witness against you that today I have set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Oh, that you would choose life; that you and your children might live!

God put, and puts, before us a choice. The life God gave us is a life of choices. “I have set before you life or death, blessing or curse.” Life is about choosing. We choose what to wear, what we eat, where we live, what to do and be, what to think, what to say. We are free to choose as we like. That is the good news.

The bad news is that when the time.came for us to choose, we chose death over life, evil over good. This is the bitter truth that Jesus tells us in today’s gospel reading: men have shown they prefer darkness to the light.

Jesus remembers Adam and Eve’s choice of death. Adam and Eve were given the power to choose immortality or to choose death, just as animals were given instincts, and the seeds of plants were commanded to reproduce after their own kind. But Adam and Eve were given the gift of deciding what kinds of beings they could become. This is the same gift that’s given to all of us, you and I. We are free to choose what we so desire. 

Well, today Jesus tells us the truth. When the time cam

e, and comes, we chose (in Adam and Eve) and choose in each one of us, darkness instead of light, darkness instead of light, lies instead of truth, hate instead of love.

When the rubber hits the road we choose Barabbas over Jesus. “Now it was the season of the year when it was customary to release a man who was imprisoned. “Whom will you have me release unto you? Barabbas or Jesus? And they cried, Release Barabbas! Crucify Jesus!” “And when the wife of Pilate said to him, will you do this thing? he washed his hands. Finally, Pilate chose to release Barabbas and had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. 

This choice is set before us everyday and everywhere. The choice takes place in you and me. We must either release Barabbas and crucify the Lord or release Jesus and suffocate Barabbas. Watch your choices. In every choice you either choose Barabbas or Jesus, either lies or truth; either life or death; either violence or peace; either hate or love.

Watch your choices because the choices you make today will make you tomorrow. All of us are today the result of the choices we made in the past. We can change our life just by changing the choices we make. Make good choices and the good choices will make you.

This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God!

Luke 18:9-14

9-12 He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the other people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’13 “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’” 14 Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

Food for thought!

Have you ever heard of "Iatrogenic"? Well, it refers to a disease or illness that is contracted in the process of being treated by a physician. The physician treats you for one sickness, but the treatment, while healing you of that one sickness, makes you ill with another. Iatros, physician (or healer); genic, origin. So, iatrogenic, a disease or illness that originates in the process of being healed.

Today, Jesus is teaching us of a similar thing. The Christian church is a Holy place, where salvation is proclaimed and sins forgiven; we go to churches to be healed, be forgiven, be cleansed, be inspired, etc. This said, our churches can also be places where we sin.

Today's gospel says that Jesus "told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the other people." Please, notice that the setting is a holy place, a temple or church. “Two men went up to the Temple to pray!”

It is the only story Jesus told that is set in a place of worship. All his other stories take place in nonreligious settings, farms and suppers and weddings, and use mostly a nonreligious vocabulary from the workplace world. This one is different: it all happens inside a church. Both Pharisee and tax man have entered a church to pray. That is what churches are for. People go to church for many of the wrong reasons. The right reason for going to church is to pray.

Back to Iatrogenic disease. There is one form of sin that flourishes in churches among religious people; it begins and flourishes in places of worship. Religious or holy places provide the conditions for this spiritual disorder, this sin, to happen. The common name for the sin is self-righteousness. This is why Jesus placed this story inside a temple; and he told it to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else.

In order to take root, the sin of righteousness requires the soil of a community in which righteousness is honoured and pursued. Without a community in which righteous ways are practiced, self-righteousness would not be possible; there are some sins simply not accessible to the non-Christian, the person outside the faith. Only men and women who become Christians are capable of and have the opportunity for some sins, with self-righteousness at the top of the list.

The Pharisee in the story is a picture of many of us in the church. Everyone who sees us thinks we are pure, holy and righteous. We have convinced everyone that we are the epitome of righteousness, holiness and virtue. We have even convinced ourselves that we are right and everyone around us who is not exactly like us is wrong.

The second man, a tax-collector, is a picture of another kind of people in our churches. These are the people who do not act like we think they should. They might not dress like we think they should. They might not do things and say things just like we think they should; these people are often looked down on by the other people who think they are more spiritual. But as Jesus showed us, they are not. We do well all to remember that we are one of a great army of sinning, suffering, sorrowing humanity, all kneeling before the throne of God's mercy.

Ask Jesus your questions!

Mark 12:28-34

One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. 30 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” 32 The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. 33 And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.” 34 Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Food for thought: Ask Jesus!

As we all know, there are too many rules and regulations and commandments in our faith community, so much so that sometimes you wonder which is the most important. This was the question put to Jesus by one of the teachers of religious education: “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus replied, "You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind." These are the words Jesus said in reply to the question posted by a teacher of religion.

The religious teacher had a question for Jesus. I wonder what YOUR question to Jesus would be? What would you ask Jesus? What is your question? What can't you find answer for? What battles you? Bring it to Jesus. Jesus answered and answers whoever comes, and however one comes, to trap him or not, to genuinely know and learn from him or not, with good intentions or not. As you know, «disciple» means learner. In other words, as disciples of Jesus, we are all his learners and he is our teacher.

In Jesus' time, there were hundreds of petty laws and rules and regulations so much so people wanted to know the most important of them. For instance, David reduced all the laws to 11, in Psalm 15. "Lord, who shall sojourn in thy tent? who shall dwell on thy holy hill? He who walks blamelessly. And does what is right. And speaks truth from his heart. Who does not slander with his tongue. And does no evil to his friend. 6. Nor takes up a reproach against his neighbour. In whose eyes a reprobate is despised. But who honours those who fear the Lord. Who swears to his own heart and does not change. Who does not put out his money at interest. And does not take a bribe against the innocent."

Isaiah reduced them to 6. (Isa.33:15.)

1. He who walks righteously. 2. And speaks uprightly. 3. Who despises the gain of oppressions. 4. Who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe. 5. Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed. 6. And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil. He shall dwell on high."

The phrophet Micah reduced the 6 to 3. (Mic.6:8.)

"He hath showed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee? 1. To do justice. 2. To love kindness. 3. To walk humbly with your God."

Once again Isaiah brought the 3 down to 2. (Isa.56:1.) "1. Keep justice. 2. Do righteousness."

Finally Habakkuk reduced them all to one. (Hab.2:4.) "The righteous shall live by his faith."

The scholar of today's gospel was not satisfied with all the attempts and answers. That is why he wanted to know what Jesus says. Before Jesus tells you don't content yourself with others' answers. As Christian you have the right to ask Jesus. And Jesus' answer is clear: «Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.»

Briefly, Jesus is commending us the obvious: each of us can and should love God as much as s/he can, that is, with all OUR heart, all OUR soul, all OUR mind, all OUR strength. In other words, love the Lord YOUR way, for you will never love the Lord the way I love him, and I will never love the Lord the way you love him. God is fair, he only expects you to love him as you, not as me, and expects me to love him as me, not as you. That's why the greatest law is also the fairest.

And finally, the love of God is just one side of the coin. On the other side, it is the love of neighbour; you cannot have one without the other. You cannot love God and hate man, you cannot love man and hate God. That simple.

Luke 11:14-23

14 Jesus delivered a man from a demon that had kept him speechless. The demon
gone, the man started talking normally, taking the crowd by complete surprise.
15 But some people said, He drives out demons [because He is in liaison with
and] by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. 16 Others were sceptical, waiting
around for him to prove himself with a spectacular miracle.

17 Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, "Any country in civil war cannot
stand for very long. A constantly squabbling family falls to pieces. 18 If Satan
fights Satan, is there any Satan left? You accuse me of ganging up with the
Devil, the prince of demons, to cast out demons, 19 but if you're slinging devil
mud at me, calling me a devil who kicks out devils, doesn't the same mud stick
to your own exorcists? 20 But if it's God's finger I'm pointing that sends the
demons on their way, then God's kingdom is here for sure.

21" When a strong man, armed to the teeth, stands guard in his front yard, his
property is safe and sound. 22 But what if a stronger man comes along with
superior weapons? Then he's beaten at his own game, the arsenal that gave him
such confidence hauled off, and his precious possessions plundered.

23 "This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you're not on my side,
you're the enemy; if you're not helping, you're making things worse.

Food for thought!

Have you ever been misrepresented? Has anyone ever taken your words and motives
and twisted them around and used them against you? Have you ever done something
good, which was misinterpreted as bad? Have you ever been attacked, slandered
and envied for doing good? This is what is happening to Jesus. He has done
something good, he has healed a man, and his enemies are not happy; they decide
to character assassinate him.

The earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus was surrounded by constant controversy.
Nearly everyone He met misunderstood Him and what He came to this world to do.
Nearly everyone was guilty of misrepresenting his words and his works. The
things He did and said in love were used to attack Him in hate, especially by
the religious leaders. They hated him and they hated everything he said and did.
They despised Him so much that they actually plotted to have him killed, (Mark
3:6).

These men will do anything to kill Jesus. They begin by killing his name, his
character, his fame. They begin by saying, He is demon possessed. "He drives out
demons because He is in league with and by Beelzebub, the prince of demons."
They are saying that Jesus is in partnership with Satan!!!!

These men consider the words and works of the Lord and attribute them to the
power of the devil; they accuse Jesus of acting under the influence of
“Beelzebub”. Beelzebub was a loathsome, wicked demon associated with all things
dirty and filthy. It was a cruel, heartless attack. Why would they say something
so foolish and so cruel against someone so innocent and so holy as Jesus?

If they acknowledge that Jesus is working His miracles in the power of God, then
they will be obligated to follow Him too. If they acknowledge that Jesus is
working His miracles in the power of God, they will have to admit that their old
system of belief is dead and is being replaced. If they acknowledge Jesus and
what He is doing, they are out of business and they know it! They will have to
change and that is not about to happen. So, they attack Jesus and accuse Him of
being in league with the devil. If this charge sticks, they can undermine His
ministry with the people and draw away His crowds.

It is easy to attack people you don’t agree with. You don’t need facts; just
make a few wild accusations and people who are not attentive will take the bait.
When that takes place a life, a reputation, a family, or a ministry is
destroyed. Beware that you are not in the business of attacking others. When you
do, you are truly doing the work of the devil! He is a destroyer (1 Pet. 5:8),
and he loves to enlist others in the business of destroying people!

There is nothing so cruel as slander, for it is apt to stick because the human
mind always tends to think the worst and very often the human ear prefers to
hear the derogatory rather than the complimentary tale. We need not think that
we are free of that particular sin. How often do we tend to think the worst of
other people? How often do we deliberately impute low motives to someone whom we
dislike? How often do we repeat the slanderous and the malicious tale and murder
reputations over the tea-cups?

Jesus responded to his attackers and totally destroyed their arguments. He uses
illustrations from life that prove Satan cannot be in the business of casting
out Satan.

A kingdom, a country, a family, a life divided cannot stand. For a kingdom, a
country, a family, a life to be strong it must be united. For Satan to cast out
his own demons would be counterproductive.

Children who grow up in a home where mom and dad fight like cats and dogs do not
stand a chance. A marriage that faces a constant barrage of fighting is a
marriage that cannot stand. A relationship that lives on strife cannot survive.
A home is not a home unless it is filled with love, unity and peace.

Last but not least: "The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares
for those who trust in him." (Nahum 1:7).

Matthew 5:17-19 Remember by telling!

Matthew 5:17-19 Remember by telling!
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
11:48 PM
Matthew 5:17-19

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved. Therefore, the man who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven.’ Trivialize even the smallest item in God's Law and you will only have trivialized yourself. But take it seriously, tell it to others, and you will find honor in the kingdom.
Food for thought!
In the Old Testament, we find this reading from Deuteronomy 4:1,5-9

Moses said to the people: Now listen, Israel, listen carefully to the rules and regulations that I am teaching you to follow so that you may live and enter and take possession of the land that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, is giving to you. 5-6 Pay attention: I'm teaching you the rules and regulations that God commanded me, so that you may live by them in the land you are entering to take up ownership. Keep them. Practice them. You'll become wise and understanding. When people hear and see what's going on, they'll say, "What a great nation! So wise, so understanding! We've never seen anything like it." Yes. What other great nation has gods that are intimate with them the way God, our God, is with us, always ready to listen to us? And what other great nation has rules and regulations as good and fair as this Revelation that I'm setting before you today? Just make sure you stay alert. Keep close watch over yourselves. Don't forget anything of what you've seen. Don't let your heart wander off. Stay vigilant as long as you live. Teach what you've seen and heard to your children and grandchildren.
I am sure many people are like me: they forget the readings of the day moments after listening to them. Research shows that most people do forget the reading of the day shortly after, and many people do forget the things they even asked the Lord. If you are like me, the readings of toady are about not forgetting the things the Lord does for us or tells us.
And the best way is by telling others what the Lord has done for us or has told us. It is by telling that we remember: «But take it seriously, tell it to others, and you will find honor in the kingdom.»

«Don't forget anything of what you've seen. Don't let your heart wander off. Stay vigilant as long as you live. Teach what you've seen and heard to your children and grandchildren.»

In other words, the best way to remember the things the Lord tells us is by sharing them with the others. Or better, REMEMBER BY TELLING!

Forgive and you will forgiven!

Matthew 18:21-35

At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?” Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven. “The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market. “The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt. “The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!’ “The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ But he wouldn’t do it. He had him arrested and put in jail until the debt was paid. When the other servants saw this going on, they were outraged and brought a detailed report to the king. “The king summoned the man and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave your entire debt when you begged me for mercy. Shouldn’t you be compelled to be merciful to your fellow servant who asked for mercy?’ The king was furious and put the screws to the man until he paid back his entire debt. And that’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn’t forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy.”

Food for thought!

The lesson is obvious; the lesson is clear: that's exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one of you who doesn't forgive unconditionally anyone who asks for mercy."

Not forgiving others is calling for disaster; it is not worth the risk. Let's see what happened. We owe a very great deal to the fact that Peter had a quick tongue. Again and again he rushed into speech in such a way that his impetuosity drew from Jesus teaching which is immortal. On this occasion Peter thought that he was being very generous. He asked Jesus how often he ought to forgive his brother, and then answered his own question by suggesting that he should forgive seven times. You know what, sometimes we think we have done enough or been much or have said it all there is to do. The truth is that until we see ourselves or what we have done or been or said through the eyes of Jesus, we should never take a credit.

Peter thought that he was going very far, that it was enough to forgive seven times. Peter expected to be warmly commended and praised and thanked; but Jesus's answer was that the Christian must forgive seventy times seven. In other words there is no reckonable limit to forgiveness.

Jesus then told the story. This story teaches certain lessons which Jesus never tired of teaching.

(i) It teaches that lesson which runs through all the New Testament, we must forgive in order to be forgiven. He who will not forgive his fellow-men cannot hope that God will forgive him. "Blessed are the merciful," said Jesus, "for they shall obtain mercy" (Matt. 5:7). As James had it, "For judgement is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy" (James.2:13). Divine and human forgiveness go hand in hand.

(ii) Why should that be so? One of the great points in this parable is the contrast between the two debts. The first servant owed his master $ 100,000.00 whereas the debt which a fellow-servant owed him was a trifling thing; it was just the equivalent of $ 10.00 The point is that nothing men can do to us can in any way compare with what we have done to God; and if God has forgiven us the debt we owe to him, we must forgive our fellow-men the debts they owe to us. Nothing that we have to forgive can even faintly or remotely compare with what we have been forgiven. We have been forgiven a debt which is beyond all paying, for the sin of man brought about the death of God's own Son and, if that is so, we must forgive others as God has forgiven us, or we can hope to find no mercy.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Mt 6:14-15)

Worship without reverence!

John 2:13-22

It was time for the annual Jewish Passover celebration, and Jesus went to Jerusalem. In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices, and moneychangers behind their counters. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out, and drove out the sheep and oxen, scattering the moneychangers’ coins over the floor and turning over their tables! Then, going over to the men selling doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Don’t turn my Father’s House into a market!” Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Concern for God’s House will be my undoing.” “What right have you to order them out?” the Jewish leaders demanded. “If you have this authority from God, show us a miracle to prove it.” “All right,” Jesus replied, “this is the miracle I will do for you: Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up!” “What!” they exclaimed. “It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can do it in three days?” But by “this sanctuary” he meant his body. After he came back to life again, the disciples remembered his saying this and realized that what he had quoted from the Scriptures really did refer to him, and had all come true!

Food for thought!

We started Lent in the wilderness or desert (1st Sunday), then we went to the Mountain top (2nd Sunday). Today, we are in the Temple of the Lord. Like the desert and the mountain top, the Temple is a holy place. Unfortunately, the Temple Jesus went to was no longer a meeting place of man with God; it was rather a meeting place of man and man, trader and buyer.

It means that we go to churches to meet not ourselves; we go to meet God. We do well to reserve those few hours at church for God. What enraged Jesus was seeing worship without reverence. He saw people inside the temple doing everything but praying. The people had turned the holy place into a marketplace. On that Sunday, in the holiest temple on earth, there was worship without reverence. People had gone to the temple not to worship but to trade and to conduct business.

In God's house at Jerusalem there were all kind of noises. The lowing of the oxen, the bleating of the sheep, the cooing of the doves, the shouts of the hucksters, the rattle of the coins, the voices raised in bargaining disputes--all these combined to make the Temple a place where nobody could worship. The traders were not praying, and were not letting those people who wanted to pray pray. This is what moved and moves Jesus to anger.

I wonder what Jesus would do if he were to visit our churches on Sunday morning. The truth is that Jesus does show up at every church because in Matthew 18:20, he promised to be where any two or three believers gather in His name.

Let us remember the wrath of Jesus against those who made it difficult and even impossible for others to make contact with God. Let us learn to respect holy places, holy times, holy objects and holy people.

All of us have sinned!

Luke 15:1-3,11-32

The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:

‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.
‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.
‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.
‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

‘The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”’

Food for thought!

What is the difference between a clean $20 bill and a dirty $20 bill?

A preacher showed his congregation a clean $20 bill and asked who wants it. All hands went up. Then he crumpled it in his palms and asked who still wanted it. Again all hands went up. Lastly he threw it on the ground, marched on it and repeated his question. Still the hands went up. Then he explained to them that the difference between a new, crisp $20 bill and a rumpled and soiled $20 in our eyes is the difference between a good person and a bad person in the sight of God. Both are equally acceptable. Basically both stand equal before God "since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Henri Noumen says it differently: "We are all handicapped; some are more visibly handicapped than others."

Today's gospel is the family story of a man and his two sons. At the beginning of the story we see that the younger son is the bad boy and the elder son the good boy. But by the end of the story we see that both of them are bad. The problem begins with the younger son. Without waiting for his father to die he asks for his share of the inheritance. Then he abandons his duties and responsibilities in the family estate and goes abroad to live a life of fun. His reckless lifestyle drains his fortunes and he finds himself reduced to abject poverty and misery. But no matter how far sinners stray from the father's house, the loving heart of the parent always follows them, gently whispering in their hearts, "Come home! Come home!"
The wild, fun-loving sinful youngster has one good thing: he is not too proud to go back and say, "I have erred; I am sorry." And this is precisely what he decides to do. Parents, are you ready to receive back home your strayed children? Spouses are you ready to receive each other back? If you are ready make the first step. Did you notice that both the father and the young son each took the first step? As the son was coming, the father too was out waiting. Do the same.
I can imagine how the young son's heart was pounding as he approached his father's house, not knowing whether his father would take him back or not! But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. I imagine how the young man begins to read his prepared confession, while his father, so overjoyed does not listen. But also he does not accuse. He instead says to his slaves, Quickly, bring out a robe -- the best one -- and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found! And they began to celebrate.
I wish the story ended here, but it does not. It continues to show us the flaws of the good elder brother. Instead of rejoicing that his brother who was presumed lost has come back, he is angered by the fact that their father has received him back with a celebration. In anger he distances himself from his own family and from the party. As he leaves he mutters to himself, "This is unfair. This is unfair" – a word that is often used to justify anger, intolerance, self-righteousness and violence.
Which lessons do we take from this story? Many. One of them is that we are all sinners. Whether your sins are more visible like those of the younger son or more hidden like those of the elder son, the message for us today is that we all need to repent and return to the father's heart. It means that we don't sin only by going away, by leaving home; we also can sin without going away, without leaving home.
Did you know that the speck you judge in someone else's eye may very well be a reflection of the plank in your eye? When you judge someone for being prejudiced, could it be because you struggle with prejudice yourself? The older son says, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.” Until now, no one knows anything like "his women" until the elder son mentions it; the gospel talks of "a life of debauchery" not of women, as the elder son puts it. He thinks his sins are every body's sins.

After teaching her Sunday school kids about the Parable of the Prodigal Son, a teacher asked them: "Now tell me: Who suffered the most in the story?" A child raised her hand and answered, "the fatted calf." Absolutely! This calf stands for Jesus, who was sacrificed for us to live. To him be thanks and praise and adoration for ever and ever. Amen.