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

Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23

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

The worship they offer me is worthless, the doctrines they teach are only human regulations. You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.’ He called the people to him again and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean. For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.’

Food for thought!

You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.
This is a strong statement, especially when made by Jesus against the people of his time. Is it any different today? Is it possibly true that we do put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions? This is what Jesus said and is possibly saying that we do. In order to understand Jesus' point, let us remember that the commandments of God are 10 (ten), which I assume you still remember. All the rest are human traditions. Yes, anything beyond and beside the ten commandments is human tradition. These include the traditions, the rules and laws of the church. Yes, these are not commandments of God. This does not mean that they are, therefore bad; they are good in as far as they reinforce the commandments of God. For instance, not eating meat on a Friday is a tradition of the church, not a commandment of God. The two are not on the same level; the commandments of God are supremely important.
In the time of Jesus, the religious scholars (scribes and Pharisees) had forgotten this fact and had transformed the religious rules and traditions into the essence of religion. To observe them was to please God; to break them was to greatly sin. This was their idea of goodness and of the service of God. That is why they constantly found either Jesus or his disciples at fault. on many occasions they accused Jesus of breaking the law. Just because Jesus had no use for all these regulations they considered him a bad man, just as we consider bad those who don't keep the laws, rules and discipline of our Catholic church.

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

Never make impossible promises!

Mark 6:17-29

Never make impossible promises!

For Herod had sent soldiers to arrest and imprison John because he kept saying it was wrong for the king to marry Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. Herodias wanted John killed in revenge, but without Herod’s approval she was powerless. And Herod respected John, knowing that he was a good and holy man, and so he kept him under his protection. Herod was disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so he liked to listen to him. Herodias’s chance finally came. It was Herod’s birthday and he gave a stag party for his palace aides, army officers, and the leading citizens of Galilee. Then Herodias’s daughter came in and danced before them and greatly pleased them all. “Ask me for anything you like,” the king vowed, “even half of my kingdom, and I will give it to you!” She went out and consulted her mother, who told her, “Ask for John the Baptist’s head!” So she hurried back to the king and told him, “I want the head of John the Baptist—right now—on a tray!” Then the king was sorry, but he was embarrassed to break his oath in front of his guests. So he sent one of his bodyguards to the prison to cut off John’s head and bring it to him. The soldier killed John in the prison, and brought back his head on a tray, and gave it to the girl and she took it to her mother. When John’s disciples heard what had happened, they came for his body and buried it in a tomb.

Food for thought

This passage is one of the most difficult to understand in the entire Bible. It records the events surrounding the death of '' the best among those born of a woman'', John the Baptist. He was a special man, chosen for a special mission. He was the “forerunner” of the Messiah. He was the fulfilment of several Old Testament prophecies. He was the last of the Old Testament prophets. He was a powerful preacher. He was a fearless prophet. He was a true man of God. As Jesus Christ Himself testified, “Among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist,” (Matt. 11:11).

All this said, John was imprisoned, then beheaded. Why do bad things happen to good people like John? The answer is in the question: Because bad things sometimes do happen to good people. Besides Jesus, John is the best example of bad things happening to good people.

Have you ever felt like being another John, who though serving the Lord and following his ways, that you find yourself imprisoned in overwhelming circumstances in life that seem to point to the idea that God just simply can’t be trusted?

At times, when we’re certain that we’ve been faithful to God, we can find ourselves feeling alone and abandoned by a God who promised us great things. In our times of suffering, God requires us to trust Him, against all human reason.

Didn’t John deserve better? With all that he had done for the Lord? Having prepared the way for Christ, shouldn’t he be rescued? No. Why? Because God wants to teach us that bad things do happen to good people.

Whatever your prison may be, whatever your Herod may be, you must accept that God has allowed every circumstance in your life to happen, and that he will use it all for good. He knows about the enemies surrounding you. He’s brought you to this very place, so that you can witness, first hand, what it’s like to have bad things happening to good people. Yesterday, it was John, then Jesus, then... you!

Don't procrastinate!

Matthew 25:1-13

1 "God's kingdom is like ten young virgins who took oil lamps and went out to greet the bridegroom. 2 Five were silly and five were smart. 3 The silly virgins took lamps, but no extra oil. 4 The smart virgins took jars of oil to feed their lamps. 5 The bridegroom didn't show up when they expected him, and they all fell asleep. 6" In the middle of the night someone yelled out, 'He's here! The bridegroom's here! Go out and greet him!' 7 "The ten virgins got up and got their lamps ready. 8 The silly virgins said to the smart ones, 'Our lamps are going out; lend us some of your oil. 9" They answered, 'There might not be enough to go around; go buy your own.' 10 "They did, but while they were out buying oil, the bridegroom arrived. When everyone who was there to greet him had gone into the wedding feast, the door was locked. 11" Much later, the other virgins, the silly ones, showed up and knocked on the door, saying, 'Master, we're here. Let us in.' 12 "He answered, 'Do I know you? I don't think I know you.' 13" So stay alert. You have no idea when he might arrive.

Food for thought

Jesus, by this parable, is teaching us at least two universal lessons:
(i) He teaches us that there are certain things which cannot be obtained at the last minute. It is easy to leave spiritual things so late that we can no longer do anything. To be late is always tragedy. Don't leave for later what you can do now; don't leave things for the last hour. Be prepared. Don't procrastinate. As Jesus taught us yesterday, failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
(ii) He teaches us that there are certain things which cannot be given nor borrowed. The wise virgins couldn't give their oil, and the foolish virgins found it impossible to borrow oil, when they discovered they needed it. We cannot borrow a relationship with God or with any human; we must possess it for ourselves. We cannot borrow goodness; we must be clothed with it; we cannot pass on to others our goodness, our faith, our love, our dedication, our talents.
We cannot always be living on the spiritual capital which others have amassed. There are certain things we must win or acquire for ourselves, for we cannot borrow them from others. Because you live with a good and holy person is no guarantee that you're good and holy; you must be good yourself. If you live next to a devout person does not mean that automatically you too are devout.

To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail!

Matthew 24:42-51

Jesus said to his disciples, So stay awake, alert. You have no idea what day your Master will show up. 43 But you do know this: You know that if the homeowner had known what time of night the burglar would arrive, he would have been there with his dogs to prevent the break-in. 44 Be vigilant just like that. You have no idea when the Son of Man is going to show up. 45 "Who here qualifies for the job of overseeing the kitchen? A person the Master can depend on to feed the workers on time each day. 46 Someone the Master can drop in on unannounced and always find him doing his job. A God-blessed man or woman, I tell you. 47 It won't be long before the Master will put this person in charge of the whole operation. 48" But if that person only looks out for himself, and the minute the Master is away does what he pleases-- 49 abusing the help and throwing drunken parties for his friends-- 50 the Master is going to show up when he least expects it 51 and make hash of him. He'll end up in the dump with the hypocrites, out in the cold shivering, teeth chattering.

Food for thought

Jesus is indeed our friend. He came to prepare us for the end; he doesn't want to surprise us. He came to prepare us for our departure from this life; our death. He told us all the answers to the questions he will make when he returns to call us out of this life. Today's gospel is all about this.

If the day and the hour of the coming of Christ are known to none save God, then all life must be a constant preparation for that coming. And, if that is so, there are certain basics we do well to remember:

(i) To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail. Living without watchfulness invites disaster. A thief does not send a letter saying when he is going to burgle a house; his principal weapon is surprise; therefore a householder who has valuables in his house must maintain a constant guard. But to get this picture right, we must remember that the watching of the Christian for the coming of Christ is not that of terror-stricken fear and shivering apprehension; it is the watching of eager expectation for the coming of glory and joy.

(ii) The spirit which leads to disaster is the spirit which says there is plenty of time. It is the comfortable delusion of the servant that he will have plenty of time to put things to rights before his master returns. There is a fable which tells of three apprentice devils who were coming to this earth to finish their internship. They were talking to Satan, the chief of the devils, about their plans to tempt and ruin men. The first said, "I will tell them there is no God." Satan said, "That will not delude many, for they know that there is a God." The second said, "I will tell men there is no hell." Satan answered, "You will deceive no one that way; men know even now that there is a hell for sin." The third said, "I will tell men there is no hurry." "Go," said Satan, "and you will ruin them by the thousands."

The most dangerous of all delusions is that there is plenty of time. The most dangerous day in our life is when we learn that there is such a word as tomorrow. There are things which must not be put off, for nobody knows if s/he will see tomorrow.

(iii) Rejection is based on failure in duty, and reward is based on fidelity in one's duties. The servant who fulfilled his duty faithfully was given a still greater place; and the servant who failed in his daily duties was dealt with in severity. The inevitable conclusion is that, when he comes, Jesus Christ should find us employed in no better and greater task than in doing our daily duties dutifully. If we do well our daily and usual duties, however simple these duties may be, on the day Christ comes there will be joy for us. For that reason, whatever you do, do it well, very well, and don't live for tomorrow what you can do today.

Be just; be merciful; and have faith in God!

Matthew 23:27-32

27 “How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look fine on the outside but are full of bones and decaying corpses on the inside. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear good to everybody, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and sins. 29 “How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You make fine tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of those who lived good lives; 30 and you claim that if you had lived during the time of your ancestors, you would not have done what they did and killed the prophets. 31 So you actually admit that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets! 32 Go on, then, and finish up what your ancestors started!

Food for thought!

Jesus continues to criticize the people of his day. "You are like whitewashed tombs, which look fine on the outside but are full of bones and decaying corpses on the inside. In the same way, on the outside you appear good to everybody, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and sins." These people's outward actions were the actions of intensely religious men; but their inward hearts were all but religious. Their outer actions did not march their inner actions; there was a mismatch between their ceremonies and their hearts. Are we any different? May be yes, may be no.

Does Jesus mean that we should abandon our religious acts and ceremonies? Are we to stop all our religiosity? Are we to stop praying or going to church, for example? Not at all. Yesterday, Jesus told us: "These you should have practised, without neglecting the others." (Matthew 23:23). In other words, religious ceremonies and acts can and sometimes must be done, but do not neglect the more important things. So what are these "more important things"?

Yesterday, Jesus told us these things (Matthew 23:23). He said, "you have neglected the more important matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith." These are the things we should labour to do in all we do. Psalm 4:5 reminds us: "Make justice your sacrifice, and trust in the Lord." And in Luke 6:36 Jesus tells us: "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." And in Mark 11:22 Jesus recommends us: "Have faith in God."

Justice, Mercy and Faith are the important things that we need to practice everyday and everywhere even as we practice over religiosity. So don't compromise on them. Be just; be merciful; and have faith in God.

Be genuine!

Matthew 23:23-26

Jesus said, "You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God's Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment-- the absolute basics!-- you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. 24 Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that's wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons? 25 "You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. 26 Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.

Food for thought!

Jesus continues from where he left off yesterday. He calls his contemporaries, the "religious people", as hypocrites. What does this word mean? Originally, hypocrite was the regular Greek word for an actor, like in plays. It used to mean something amusing. But then it came to mean an actor in the worse sense of the term, a pretender, one who acts a part, one who wears a mask to cover his true feelings, one who puts on an external show while inwardly his thoughts and feelings are very different.

To Jesus the Scribes and Pharisees were men who were religious actors. What he meant was this. For the Scribes and Pharisees religion consisted in outward observances, the wearing of elaborate garments and vestments, the meticulous observance of the rules and regulations of the Law. But in their hearts there was bitterness and envy and pride and arrogance and evil. To Jesus these Scribes and Pharisees were men who, under a mask of elaborate godliness, concealed hearts in which the most godless feelings and emotions held sway.

That accusation holds good in greater or lesser degree of anybody, including you and me, whose life is on the assumption that religion consists in external observances and external acts. Religion is an act of the heart. The laws and rules and rituals and ceremonies are intended to be manifestations of our heart. When this does not correspond to those, when that which happens in the heart is different from religious laws and rules and rituals and ceremonies, we become mere actors, we become hypocritical. In theaters and plays this kind of hypocrisy is accepted and even expected; in religion it is condemned because it is sinful. In religion, we are called to be genuine and not actors.

There are many of us who wear the right clothes to church, carefully hand in our offering to the Church, adopt the right attitude at prayer, are never absent from the celebration of the Eucharist, and yet outside the church we live irreligious lives. Church laws, rules and ceremonies are simply manifestations of what goes on inside our hearts. But unfortunately, sometimes we focus on them at the expense of our hearts. God looks more at our hearts than at our laws, rules and celebrations.

You will see greater proofs!

John 1:45-51

Philip now went off to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the Messiah!—the very person Moses and the prophets told about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth!” “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from there?” “Just come and see for yourself,” Philip declared. As they approached, Jesus said, “Here comes an honest man—a true son of Israel.” “How do you know what I am like?” Nathanael demanded. And Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.” Nathanael replied, “Sir, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!” Jesus asked him, “Do you believe all this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater proofs than this. You will even see heaven open and the angels of God coming back and forth to me, the Messiah.” “Just come and see for yourself,” Philip declared. As they approached, Jesus said, “Here comes an honest man—a true son of Israel.” “How do you know what I am like?” Nathanael demanded. And Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.” Nathanael replied, “Sir, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”

Food for thought!

Philip could not keep the good news of Jesus to himself. No one does keep a monopoly on Jesus; Jesus must be shared with others. Begin with your friends. Don't preach to them; just invite them to Christ. So Philip went and found his friend Nathanael. He told him that he believed that he had discovered the long promised Messiah in Jesus, the man from Nazareth. Nathanael was contemptuous.

Nazareth was a quite undistinguished place. Nathanael himself came from Cana, another Galilean town, and he was well aware of the jealousy between town and town and rivalry between village and village. Nathanael's reaction was to declare that Nazareth was not the kind of place that anything as good as Jesus was likely to come out of. Philip was wise. He did not argue. He said simply: "Come and see!" We all can learn from this incident. And the first lesson is that not very many people have ever been argued into following Christ. Often our arguments do more harm than good.

The only way to convince a someone of the supremacy of Christ is to confront him with Christ himself. On the whole it is true to say that it is not preaching which has won people for Christ; it is teaching or the presentation of the story of the Jesus. The problem is that there is an awful lot of preaching than teaching in today's sermons; no wonder today there are more preachers than teachers in our churches. The truth is that Jesus did not say: Go and preach! He said, Go and teach! (Matthew 28:19).

What is the difference between preaching and teaching? Well, preaching is proclaiming good news, announcing something that has happened, that completely changes the situation of the listeners. This is what Philip did to Nathanael. Teaching on the other hand is explaining the implications of the news, helping people with concepts and ideas they don’t understand, and telling people what they need to do in response, given their various situations. This what Jesus did to Nathanael. He told him: “Here comes an honest man—a true son of Israel...I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you. ...Do you believe all this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater proofs than this. You will even see heaven open and the angels of God coming back and forth to me, the Messiah.”

Like Philip did to Nathanael, may our preachers help us get to the only teacher we have, our Lord Jesus Christ, to him be glory and honour and power, for ever and ever. 

Lord, who shall we go to?

John 6:60-69

After hearing his doctrine many of the followers of Jesus said, ‘This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?’ Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, ‘Does this upset you? What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before? ‘It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. ‘But there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the outset those who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. He went on, ‘This is why I told you that no one could come to me unless the Father allows him.’ After this, many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him. Then Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘What about you, do you want to go away too?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.’

Food for thought!

It all started with a crowd, a hungry crowd. And has ended with an angry crowd!
This is how it started. When Jesus looked out and saw that a large crowd had arrived, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy bread to feed these people?" He said this to stretch Philip's faith. He already knew what he was going to do. Philip answered, "Two hundred silver pieces wouldn't be enough to buy bread for each person to get a piece." One of the disciples-- it was Andrew, brother to Simon Peter-- said, "There's a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that's a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this." Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." There was a nice carpet of green grass in this place. They sat down, about five thousand of them. (John 6:5-10)
As we learnt at the beginning of Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, Jesus was teaching us to go beyond numbers. There are things that numbers, economics and money cannot solve. This is what Andrew did not know; he was saying "There's a little boy here who has **five** barley loaves and **two** fish. But that's a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this."
Then, Jesus taught us: "Don't waste your energy striving for perishable bread like that. Work for the bread that sticks with you, bread that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last." (John 6:27). Jesus was teaching us to go beyond bread. Beyond the bread of Jesus there's the Jesus of the bread. This is most important; not the bread of Jesus. but the Jesus that gives the bread. We are called upon to Seek first the Kingdom of God and all the rest will be given us (Matthew 6:33). Yes, seek first the Jesus of bread and the bread of Jesus will be given you.
Then, we learnt: "I am the Bread-- living Bread!-- who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live-- and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh- and- blood self. " (John 6:51). Jesus was here teaching us to go beyond death, because there's life beyond death. And Jesus is the guarantee of the life present and future.
Unfortunately, the listeners of Jesus didn't understand him; they started fighting among themselves: "How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?" (John 6:52). They had failed to go beyond the words of Jesus; they understood Jesus literary.
Today, we come to the end, beyond which we cannot go. All that went before was leading to this one point, one moment. Today is the tipping point. The gospel says that Many among his disciples heard him and said, "This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?" After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with Jesus. Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: "What about you, do you want to go away too?"
I don't know how much time the silence lasted after Jesus' question and before Peter's answer. What I know is that this was a deciding moment, a tipping point. We all have such moments in life. Moments of either or. Did you realize that at the beginning we had a crowd of over 5000, and today we have just 12 men, minus one? Did you realize that at the beginning all the people wanted to make Jesus their king, now they don't want anything to do with him. Does this sound similar? People who loved or liked you when you were still in your prime days, still strong, still beautiful, still rich... then all of a sudden they don't want you nearby!
Why do people go away?
Because many people can't handle the truth. The day people come to know the real you, they will avoid you; this is what makes people hide all the times; they are afraid to show themselves as they're and what they're. But not Jesus. He is not afraid to tell the truth, even when everybody abandon him. Do you also want to go away? Go, away if you want, but I will not compromise the truth. Said Jesus.
Because many people want what we have but not what we are; they want our bread, our money but not us; they want not you but what you do for them. These people, sooner or later, walk away! However, while some walk away, there are others who don't. These are the Peters. They state categorically, "Lord, who shall we go to? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We've believed and know that you are the Holy One of God." Peter is saying that WE CANNOT GO BEYOND YOU; You're the end of the road; we cannot go any further.
Did you notice the sequence of words in Peter's reply. First, he said: we believe, then he said, we know, because faith comes before understanding, not the contrary. When we believe in Jesus, we understand what he says. You cannot understand someone you don't believe in. This is what Peter and the other apostles did. "Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We've believed and know that you are the Holy One of God."

You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates!

Matthew 23:1-12

1 Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. 2 "The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God's Law. 3 You won't go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all spit- and- polish veneer. 4" Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn't think of lifting a finger to help. 5 Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. 6 They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, 7 preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called 'Doctor' and 'Reverend.' 8 "Don't let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. 9 Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of 'Father'; you have only one Father, and he's in heaven. 10 And don't let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life- Leader for you and them-- Christ. 11" Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. 12 If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.

Food for thought

There's lot of food for thought for all of us in today's gospel reading. You can't read it and talk; its best response is silence. The less we talk about this reading the better. It is a reading that reminds us a number of things that need to be corrected in our faith, our lives, our dear Church, our families and ultimately our world.

Why did Christ say these words? Because he is our saviour; he came to save us from bad practices, bad traditions, bad customs, bad policies, bad lives. He came to show us the right way of living and being. He came to teach us; "You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates." This means that only Jesus can and must tell us what to do. In other words, "Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do."

If anybody whosoever tells you anything contradictory to what Jesus teaches you to do and be, don't do it. Nobody should tell us w hat to do. Only God tells us what to do. And he has told us whom to listen to, "This is my beloved Son, listen to him!" (Mark 9:7)

Love God with all your energy!

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, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' 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!

We may well say that here Jesus laid down the complete definition of religion.

(i) Religion consists in loving God the way we are. It 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.

(ii) Religion consists in loving our neighbor.

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 that are unlovable; people we love only for God's sake. Without God, some people are simply not worth our love.

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 hewon’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see?

We are saved by Grace!

Matthew 22:1-14

Jesus responded by telling still more stories. 2 "God's kingdom," he said, "is like a king who threw a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent out servants to call in all the invited guests. And they wouldn't come! 4" He sent out another round of servants, instructing them to tell the guests, 'Look, everything is on the table, the prime rib is ready for carving. Come to the feast!' 5 "They only shrugged their shoulders and went off, one to weed his garden, another to work in his shop. 6 The rest, with nothing better to do, beat up on the messengers and then killed them. 7 The king was outraged and sent his soldiers to destroy those thugs and level their city. 8" Then he told his servants, 'We have a wedding banquet all prepared but no guests. The ones I invited weren't up to it. 9 Go out into the busiest intersections in town and invite anyone you find to the banquet.' 10 The servants went out on the streets and rounded up everyone they laid eyes on, good and bad, regardless. And so the banquet was on-- every place filled. 11 "When the king entered and looked over the scene, he spotted a man who wasn't properly dressed. 12 He said to him, 'Friend, how dare you come in here looking like that!' The man was speechless. 13 Then the king told his servants, 'Get him out of here-- fast. Tie him up and ship him to hell. And make sure he doesn't get back in.' 14" That's what I mean when I say, 'Many get invited; only a few make it.'"

Food for thought!

This parable has much to tell us.

(a) It reminds us that the invitation of God is to a feast as joyous as a wedding feast. His invitation is to joy. To think of Christianity as a gloomy giving up of everything which brings laughter and joy and happiness is unChristian. It is to joy that the Christian is invited; and it is joy he misses, if he refuses the invitation.

(b) It reminds us that the things which make us deaf to the invitation of Christ are not necessarily bad in themselves. One man went to his estate; the other to his business. They did not go off to an immoral adventure. They went off to what is in itself excellent task of efficiently administering their business life. It is very easy for us to be so busy with our daily business that we forget the things of eternity.

The tragedy of life is that it is so often the second bests which shut out the first bests; it is the things which are good in themselves which shut out the things that are supreme. We can be so busy making a living that we fail to make a life; we can be so busy with the administration and the organization of life that we forget life itself; we can be so busy administering the creation of God that we forget the God of creation.

(c) It reminds us that the appeal of Christ is not so much to consider how we will be punished as it is to see what we will miss, if we do not take his way of things. Those who would not come were punished, but their real tragedy was that they lost the joy of the wedding feast. If we refuse the invitation of Christ, someday our greatest pain will lie, not in the things we suffer, but in the realization of the precious things we have missed.

(d) It reminds us that in the last analysis God's invitation is the invitation of grace. Those who were gathered in from the highways and the byways had no claim on the king at all; they could never by any stretch of imagination have expected an invitation to the wedding feast, still less could they ever have deserved it. It came to them from nothing other than the wide-armed, open-hearted, generous hospitality of the king. It is by grace that we are saved.

Ephesians 2:8-9
For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it.

What will we have?

Matthew 19:23-30

Jesus then said to his disciples, “I assure you: it will be very hard for rich people to enter the Kingdom of heaven. I repeat: it is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.” When the disciples heard this, they were completely amazed. “Who, then, can be saved?” they asked. Jesus looked straight at them and answered, “This is impossible for human beings, but for God everything is possible.” Then Peter spoke up. “Look,” he said, “we have left everything and followed you. What will we have?” Jesus said to them, “You can be sure that when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne in the New Age, then you twelve followers of mine will also sit on thrones, to rule the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake, will receive a hundred times more and will be given eternal life. But many who now are first will be last, and many who now are last will be first.


Food for thought!

Today's gospel reading begins where yesterday's stopped (Matthew 19:16-22). Peter and his disciples must have looked at yesterday's young man go away until he disappeared in the distance. And as he went, Peter's mind must have been working hard, and, characteristically, his tongue could not stay still. He had just seen a man deliberately refuse Jesus' «Follow me!» He had just heard Jesus say in effect that that man by his action had shut himself out from the Kingdom of God.

Peter could not help drawing the contrast between that man and himself and his friends. Just as the man had refused Jesus' «Follow me!» he and his friends had accepted it, and Peter with that almost crude honesty of his wanted to know what he and his friends were to get out of it. Peter's concern is our concern: we sometimes do wonder, if there is any recognition for us for having accepted Jesus as our saviour, for having followed him on a daily basis, for having gone to church every Sunday or every day for some, for taking time to pray, for avoiding evil and doing good, etc. What is our reward? What’s in this for us?”

Jesus says that no man or woman ever followed him for nothing. Jesus is saying that those who follow him have a definite advantage both here and in the hereafter. Here, they have the advantage of a counsellor; after they have the advantage of a Saviour. Jesus reminds us all that God is not indifferent to our efforts; he is saying that God sees; that God notices; that God records and rewards every sacrifice that is made for him and because of him. Jesus reminds us that what we have walked away from might seem like a lot, but God has far more in our future than we left behind in our past. Jesus is saying that we cannot beat God with generosity, we cannot outperform God in giving.

When Jesus speaks of «100 times», he simply means that it is more than you can imagine. He is not saying that if you give a dollar, he will give you one hundred in return. He might, but that is not the point! He is simply telling us that He has far more for us than anything we could ever give up to follow Him.

A caveat!

Jesus adds one warning epigram: «But many who now are first will be last, and many who now are last will be first.» This was in reality a warning to Peter. It may well be that by this time Peter was estimating his own worth and his own reward and assessing them high. What Jesus is saying is, «The final standard of judgment is with God. Many a man may stand well in the judgment of the world, but the judgment of God may upset the world's judgment. Still more many a man may stand well in his own judgment, and find that God's evaluation of him is very different.» It is a warning against all pride. It is a warning that the ultimate judgments belong to God who alone knows the motives of men's hearts. It is a warning that the judgments of heaven may well upset the reputations of earth.

Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?

Matthew 20:1-16

"God's kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work. 3" Later, about nine o'clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. 4 He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. 5 They went. "He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o'clock. 6 At five o'clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, 'Why are you standing around all day doing nothing? 7' "They said, 'Because no one hired us.' "He told them to go to work in his vineyard. 8" When the day's work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, 'Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.' 9 "Those hired at five o'clock came up and were each given a dollar. 10 When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. 11 Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, 12 'These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.' 13" He replied to the one speaking for the rest, 'Friend, I haven't been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn't we? 14 So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. 15 Can't I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?' 16 "Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first."

Food for thought

This week the Lord is in the market place, talking business. Monday and yesterday, it was the rich young entrepreneur, who forgot all about social responsibility in his business dealings. Today, the Lord, like a real estate manager, goes out to hire labourers. What is the Lord teaching us? What is the lesson? Let's look at the gospel reading of today.

First, in it there is the comfort of God. It means that IT IS NEVER TOO LATE; no matter when we come to the Lord, late or soon, young, in the strength of the midday, or when the shadows are lengthening, we are equally dear to God. The Lord has need of all of us, regardless of of our age.

May we not go even further with this thought of comfort? Sometimes a man dies full of years and full of honour, with his day's work ended and his task completed. Sometimes a young person dies almost before the door of life and achievement have opened at all. From God they will both receive the same welcome, for both Jesus Christ is waiting, and for neither, in the divine sense, has life ended too soon or too late. JESUS DIED AT 33 YEARS OF AGE, and he died saying, All is accomplished.

Second, it the parable there is the infinite compassion of God. There is an element of human tenderness in this parable. There is nothing more tragic in this world than a person who is unemployed, a man or woman whose talents are rusting in idleness because there is nothing for him or her to do. In that market-place men stood waiting because no one had hired them; in his compassion the master gave them work to do. He could not bear to see them idle.

Further, in strict justice the fewer hours a man worked, the less pay he should have received. But the master well knew that one dollar a day was no great wage; he well knew that, if a workman went home with less, there would be a worried wife and hungry children; and therefore he went BEYOND JUSTICE and ECONOMICS and gave them more than was their due.

As it has been put, this parable states implicitly two great truths which are the very charter of the working man--the right of every man to work and the right of every man to a living wage for his work. Unfortunately, many of us pay our workers at home and away from home JUST WAGES and not LIVING WAGES.

Thirdly, there is in it the generosity of God. These men did not all do the same work; but they did receive the same pay. There are two great lessons here. The first is, as it has been said, "All service ranks the same with God." A priest will not get more than a faithful married couple or a single man or woman. They'll all get heaven. It is not the amount or kind of service given, but the love in which it is given which matters. God does not look on the amount of our service. So long as it is all we have to give, all service ranks the same with God.

The fourth lesson is even greater, all God gives is of grace. We cannot earn what God gives us; we cannot deserve it; what God gives us is given out of the goodness of his heart; what God gives is not pay, but a gift; not a reward, but a grace.

This brings us to the supreme lesson of the parable, the whole point of work is the spirit in which it is done. The servants are clearly divided into two classes. The first came to an agreement with the master; they had a contract; they said, "We work, if you give us so much pay." As their conduct showed, all they were concerned with was to get as much as possible out of their work. But in the case of those who were engaged later, there is no word of contract; all they wanted was the chance to work and they willingly left the reward to the master.

Yesterday, Peter asked the Lord, "What do we get out of it?" The answer involved everything but money! Why? Because the Christian works for the joy of serving God and his fellow-men, not just for money. Money is additional, not principal. That is why the first will be last and the last will be first. Many people in this world, who have earned great rewards, great money will have a very low place in the Kingdom because rewards were their sole thought. Don't work just for money, that's too little; see your work, your profession, your job as a service to ease some need in society; that is what God created you for. If and when you do it passionately well, you will additionally get money. Lots of money.

What difference have you made in the life of others?

Matthew 19:16-22

Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Good master, what must I do to have eternal life?” “When you call me good you are calling me God,” Jesus replied, “for God alone is truly good. But to answer your question, you can get to heaven if you keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” the man asked. And Jesus replied, “Don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself!” “I’ve always obeyed every one of them,” the youth replied. “What else must I do?” Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when the young man heard this, he went away sadly, for he was very rich.

Food for thought!

A very sincere young man came to Jesus to inquire about the means of living forever! This man was interested in spiritual things and come face to face with the Lord Jesus. He, however, made some of the same mistakes that we make when we come to Jesus. Let’s notice the mistakes the rich young ruler made. He made a wrong question. He asks, "What must I do?" He is thinking in terms of actions, of works, of doing. He is thinking of piling up a credit balance-sheet with God by doing a series of things. He clearly knows nothing of a religion of grace. So Jesus tries to lead him on to a correct view.

Jesus answers him in his own terms. He tells him to keep the commandments, do what God tells you. This answer of Jesus is too general. So the man wants to know the details. "What in particular?" he says. Thereupon Jesus cites five of the ten commandments. Now there are two important things about the commandments which Jesus cited.
First, they are all commandments which deal, not with our duty to God, but with our duty to men. They are the commandments which govern our personal relationships, and our attitude to our fellow-men. Jesus left out all the commandments that deal with God. Second, Jesus cites one commandment, as it were, out of order. He cites the command to honour parents last, when in point of fact it ought to come first.

It is clear that Jesus wishes to lay special stress on that commandment. Why? May it not be that this young man had grown rich and successful in his career, and had then forgotten his parents, who may have been very poor? He may well have risen in the world, and had been half-ashamed of the folks in the home where he grew up.

Second, do you notice that all the commandments that Jesus cited, except the last one, are in the negative? "Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie." And do you notice the man's response, "I've done all that. What's left?" In other words, all the man had done was NOT TO murder, NOT TO commit adultery, NOT TO steal, NOT TO lie. Just as many of us do. We think that because we don't kill, don't commit adultery or steal, we are ok. Morality is not only not doing evil; it is also doing good. And this is what was still missing in this man's morality, just as it does in much of ours.

"If you want to be perfect," Jesus replied, "go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor." GO and GIVE. For the first time, this man is told TO DO GOOD. He is told that it is not sufficient to avoid hurting others, it is as well important to do good to them.

The question Jesus is putting to this man and to you and me is, with all the riches you have justly accumulated, with all the talents you have, with all the money you have and with all the goods you have, what good have you done to others in life? Have you made any body rich from your riches? What difference have you made in the life of others?

My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink!

John 6:51-58

Jesus said, "I am the Bread, living Bread! Who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live, and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self." 52 At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves: "How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?" 53 But Jesus didn't give an inch." Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. 54 The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. 55 My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. 57 In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. 58 This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always. "

Food for thought!

We have come a long way. We started the six chapter of the gospel of John with the multiplication of bread, when Jesus taught us to go beyond numbers. Then Jesus taught us to go beyond bread. Then he taught us to go beyond death. Today, he teaches us to go beyond words. Words are vehicles that carry meanings. Words are not the end, they're just means to the end.

What is it that Jesus is trying to teach us at Capernaum? What does he want to tell us when he says that He is the Bread, the living Bread? Let's try to go beyond these "words of Jesus" to the "Jesus of the words". Let's go beyond the words because words often fails us, but they never fail Jesus. Jesus knows what he is saying and what he wants to tell us. It's we that are frustrating his attempts.

As you know, there are more things than there are words; words are fewer than reality; there are far less words than there are what words mean. This is why we use the same words to mean different things. For instance, the expression "the Gospel of Jesus" can mean at least two things: 1) the Gospel that belongs to Jesus (Jesus' Gospel). 2) that Jesus himself is the Gospel. When a woman says to the man, or man to the woman, "honey", what do they mean? That the other is really honey? No, because honey comes from bees, and people are not bees.

This is what Jesus is doing. He is teaching us eternal and heavenly truths, many of which are inexpressible in human words. He is saying, for instance that he is the bread of life. To understand these words, we have to understand what bread is: it sustains life. Without bread we cannot live. Bread, in all its forms and kind, keeps us live because it has life sustaining elements.

The same with Jesus. He sustains life; he gives us life. In today’s gospel Jesus focuses on the fact that the bread of the Eucharist is indeed himself but does not say a word on the process whereby this identity between the bread and himself takes place. Jesus speaks of the food that he gives for our life and he speaks of it in terms of ordinary and normal food and drink. And it is so. The Eucharistic bread is REAL bread from wheat flour; the Eucharistic wine is REAL drink made from grape juice; “for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink” (verse 55).

Let's look at all this in another way. Have you ever observed a mother nursing her baby? As she holds that baby at her breast, and as the baby sucks the milk from the breast, the mother silently seems to be saying to the baby, as she looks at it, "Unless you drink my milk, you will not have life in you; my milk is real food for you." Similar thing happens with Jesus, as he looks at us: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life.

Celebrate every success, even if it is not yours!

Luke 1:39-56 Celebrate every success, even if it is not yours!

Luke 1:39-56 Celebrate every success, even if it is not yours!
39 Mary got up and travelled to a town in Judah in the hill country, 40 straight to Zachariah's house, and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and sang out exuberantly, You're so blessed among women, and the babe in your womb, also blessed! 43 And why am I so blessed that the mother of my Lord visits me? 44 The moment the sound of your greeting entered my ears, The babe in my womb skipped like a lamb for sheer joy. 45 Blessed woman, who believed what God said, believed every word would come true!
46 And Mary said, I'm bursting with God-news; 47 I'm dancing the song of my Saviour God. 48 God took one good look at me, and look what happened, I'm the most fortunate woman on earth! What God has done for me will never be forgotten, 49 the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others. 50 His mercy flows in wave after wave on all those who are in awe before him. 51 He bared his arm and showed his strength, scattered the bluffing braggarts. 52 He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud. 53 The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold. 54 He embraced his chosen child, Israel; he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high. 55 It's exactly what he promised, beginning with Abraham and right up to now. 56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home.

Food for thought!

You're so blessed among women!
These words of Elizabeth contain the meaning of today's feast. Very few people rejoice at others' success; very few celebrate others' achievements; very few see and say any good about others. Instead, people envy each other; gossip about each other; destroy each other. But not so Elizabeth. She's openly celebrating Mary's success, You're so blessed among all of women, she confesses.
Like Elizabeth, we celebrate today Mary's success, blessings and achievement. We openly say, You're so blessed Mary! Your achievement is unique and outstanding. We are saying today, that what Mary got is unique among all of humanity. Today, we acknowledge Mary, not just as Mother of God Jesus, this Elizabeth did; we acknowledge Mary as assumed, as taken body and soul to heaven. Where do we get all this? Why do we say so?
The First Reading of today has a clue for us. (Rev 12:1.5) "A great Sign appeared in Heaven: a Woman dressed all in sunlight, standing on the moon, and crowned with Twelve Stars.... 5 The Woman gave birth to a Son who will shepherd all nations with an iron rod." According to this passage, there appeared in heaven, not a copse of a woman, but a living woman, dressed, standing and crowned. This is the first statement we make today. We are saying, that in heaven there's is a living woman.
Who's this woman? Again, according to the reading, the woman seen in heaven "gave birth to a Son who will shepherd all nations." Who's this great Son, if not Jesus? And who's the mother of Jesus, if not Mary? So, the nameless woman, who was seen in heaven, in Rev. 12:1.5, is Mary. This is what we publicly acknowledge and confess and celebrate on the 15 of August, like Elizabeth did long ago when she acknowledged and confessed publicly that Mary was mother of God, "why am I so blessed that the mother of my Lord visits me?" She said.
Today, we remind ourselves that in heaven, there's at least two human bodies we know of, one of a man Jesus and the other of the woman Mary. In heaven there's is a masculine and a feminine bodies. If on Ascension day we celebrate the assumption of a man, on the Assumption we celebrate the Ascension of a woman. That's why today's feast completes salvation of mankind. Both man and woman are saved. This is what is meant by these words, "His mercy flows in wave after wave on all those who are in awe before him."
All means all, both men and women. If anything, today we affirm the equality of sexes, the equality of man and woman. Today's feast is a balancing feast; we are equal. God has no favourites among sexes. God saves and loves all those who revere him, regardless of their sex or their generation. In God's economy, what counts is fear of God, faith in God, reverence to God; this is the only currency in use in God's economy.
We shouldn't envy Mary, or anybody whom God has blessed. We should instead celebrate, because God blesses everybody, at different moments, of course. We only have to wait our turn, as the Second Reading so beautifully reminded us, 1Cor. 15:20-26
20 But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries. 21 There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. 22 Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ. 23 But we have to wait our turn: Christ is first, then those with him at his Coming, 24 the grand consummation when, after crushing the opposition, he hands over his kingdom to God the Father. 25 He won't let up until the last enemy is down-- 26 and the very last enemy is death!

Wait for you turn. In the meantime, celebrate others' success and achievement.

Why (not) get married?

Matthew 19:3-12

3 One day the Pharisees were badgering him: "Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?" 4 He answered, "Haven't you read in your Bible that the Creator originally made man and woman for each other, male and female? 5 And because of this, a man leaves father and mother and is firmly bonded to his wife, becoming one flesh, no longer two bodies but one. 6 Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart." 7 They shot back in rebuttal, "If that's so, why did Moses give instructions for divorce papers and divorce procedures?" 8 Jesus said, "Moses provided for divorce as a concession to your hardheartedness, but it is not part of God's original plan. 9 I'm holding you to the original plan, and holding you liable for adultery if you divorce your faithful wife and then marry someone else. I make an exception in cases where the spouse has committed adultery." 10 Jesus 'disciples objected, "If those are the terms of marriage, we're stuck. Why get married?" 11 But Jesus said, "Not everyone is mature enough to live a married life. It requires a certain aptitude and grace. Marriage isn't for everyone. 12 Some, from birth seemingly, never give marriage a thought. Others never get asked, or accepted. And some decide not to get married for kingdom reasons. But if you're capable of growing into the largeness of marriage, do it."

Food for thought

"Why get married?" This is the question asked not only by the disciples of Jesus but by everyone everywhere every time. And thanks to Jesus we now know the answer: because the Creator originally made man and woman for each other, male and female He created them. This means that God made men for women, and women for men; it means that in every man there's a love for woman, and in every woman there's a love for man. It means that it is natural to love; that love and loving are inherently built in us, all of us. And we should not be ashamed of love and loving.
"And because of this, a man leaves father and mother and is firmly bonded to his wife, becoming one flesh, that's, no longer two bodies but one. Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart."
God made marriage! Marriage is a godly thing; it comes from the hands of God. Marriage is not and should neither be imposed nor obliged on anybody. To marry or not to marry is a personal decision. Nobody should force anybody to marry; nobody should force anybody not to marry. And once married, nobody should force anybody to end marriage. The husband cannot force the wife to end marriage, and the wife cannot force the husband to end marriage. Whoever does so, is held liable for adultery.
As mentioned above, everybody has interest in marriage, even the disciples of Jesus. As Jesus was explaining to the Pharisees, the twelve disciples were listening attentively. When they got the chance to talk, they joined in: "If those are the terms of marriage, we're stuck. Why get married?" The disciples are suggesting that if marriage is as Jesus says marriage is, if marriage is such, it is better not to marry at all. This is a misconception of marriage; they had misunderstood Jesus. No one should NOT marry because of marriage problems; single life is not meant to be a flight from marriage problems. It is, as Jesus said, because someone "is not mature enough to live a married life." We cannot be good for everything in life.

Marriage, says Jesus, "requires a certain aptitude and grace". In other words, "Marriage isn't for everyone". Although everybody CAN marry, not everybody SHOULD marry. Because, as Jesus said, "Some, from birth seemingly, never give marriage a thought. Others never get asked or accepted. And some decide not to get married for kingdom reasons." But if you're capable of growing into the largeness of marriage, do it.

That’s exactly what my Father in heaven is going to do to each one...!

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 and what happens when we don't forgive. But first, 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 immortal teaching. 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 say. 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 Peter's highest achievement was still wanting and far from the ideal. Never take credit for anything before you look at it through the eyes of Jesus. Jesus is our standard of living. That's why Paul commends us: “Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.” (Col. 3:17)

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 others 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. Divine mercy presupposes human mercy.

(ii) 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 one another. 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)

If a fellow believer hurts you..!

Matthew 18:15-20

Jesus said to his disciples: “If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.

“Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.”

Food for thought!

In many ways this is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible to grasp and to apply in real life. By and large, Jesus is saying, "If anyone sins against you, spare no effort to get things right again between you and him." Suppose something does go wrong, what are we to do to put it right? This passage presents us with a whole scheme of action for the mending of broken relationships; how to troubleshoot our troublesome people.

(i) If we feel that someone has wronged us, we should immediately put our complaint into words. The worst thing that we can do about a wrong is to brood about it. That is fatal. It can poison the whole mind and life, until we can think of nothing else but our injury. Any such feeling should be brought out into the open, faced, and stated, and often the very stating of it will show how unimportant and trivial the whole thing is.

If we feel that someone has wronged us, we should go to see him personally. More trouble has been caused by the writing of SMS, WhatsApp, etc. than by almost anything else. Marriages relationships have gone sour and sometimes ended because of text messages. The reason is that a text message may be misread or misunderstood; it may quite unconsciously convey a tone it was never meant to convey. And as you know from your experience, many times we send our text messages to the wrong people and at wrong times.

Jesus is saying that if and when we have a difference with someone, there is only one way to settle it, and that is face to face. The spoken word can often settle a difference which the text message would only have worsened.

(ii) If a private and personal meeting fails of its purpose, we should take some wise person or persons with us. Deut.19:15 has it: "A single witness shall not prevail against a man for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offence that he has committed; only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses, shall a charge be sustained." That is the saying which Jesus has in mind.

But in this case the taking of the witnesses is meant to help the process of reconciliation. A man often hates those whom he has hurt or who has hurt him; and it may well be that nothing we can say can win him back. But to talk matters over with some wise and kindly and gracious people present is to create a new atmosphere in which there is at least a chance that we should see ourselves "as others see us."

(iii) If that still fails, we must take our personal troubles to the Christian fellowship. Why? Because personal quarrels are never settled by going to courts. Courts merely produces further trouble. It is in an atmosphere of Christian spirit that personal relationships should be righted.

(iv) It is now we come to the difficult part. JESUS says that, if even that does not succeed, “start over from scratch, [start all over again and again and again...] confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.” Seen this way, what Jesus says is never to abandon anyone but to keep trying and trying until we win them back.

(v) Finally, there is the saying about losing and binding. What it means is that the relationships which we establish with our fellow-men and women last not only through time but into eternity; therefore we must get our relationships right NOW; our earthly relationships last beyond death to eternity.

“A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal.”

Unless you return to square one and start over!

Matthew 18:1-5.10

1 At about the same time, the disciples came to Jesus asking, "Who gets the highest rank in God's kingdom?" 2 For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, 3 and said, "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. 4 Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom. 5 What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me. 10" Watch that you don't treat a single one of these childlike believers arrogantly. You realize, don't you, that their personal angels are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven?

Food for thought

Here is a very revealing question, followed by a very revealing answer. The disciples asked who was the greatest. Jesus showed them the smallest. The wanted to know who was the most important. Jesus showed them the least important. No wonder Jesus said, "Unless you turn." He was warning them that they were going in completely the wrong direction, away from the Kingdom of Heaven and not towards it.

Jesus took a child and said that those who are en route to heaven are like children. What did he mean? Why children? Because, like the disciples in the gospel reading, many of us have lost the child within; the more we grow the less children we become.

Jesus called us to become as little children that we might enter into the fullness of life which he called the kingdom of Heaven. Yet, so often our self-imposed limitations of age, appropriateness of behaviour, business of living, the shoulds and the shouldn’ts, the cans and cannots, the images we hold of ourselves are robbing us of our childhood.

When did you last swing on a swing? When did you last do something “outrageous” that pushed you beyond your present adult boundaries and showed to the people around you that you are fully alive? When did the childlike spirit within you run free in joy and excitement?

Unfortunately, as we grow older, many of us aren't growing towards the Kingdom of heaven, but away from it; the more we grow up, the further away from heaven we get.

Sometime, life obliges us to make a U-Turn, however difficult this may be. We can't just keep going into the wrong direction if and when we discover the right road: "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in." We do well to turn and accept and embrace the child within, for as Jesus taught us today, receiving this child within is like receiving Christ himself. And the more childlike (not the more childish) we become, the more heaven bound we are. Happy the childlike because they behold the face of the Father in heaven, and are beheld by the Father in heaven.

The Paradoxes of life!

John 12:24-26

“Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal. “If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you’ll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment’s notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me.

Food for thought!

 

Jesus is talking of the paradoxes of life. And Jesus is the first paradox. His death is his glorification. And he explains: "Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal.”
What is this amazing paradox which Jesus is teaching us? He is saying three things, which are all variations of one central truth.
(i) He is saying that only by death comes life. The grain of wheat is ineffective and unfruitful so long as it is preserved, as it were, in safety and security. It is when it is thrown into the cold ground, and buried there as if in a tomb, that it bears fruit.
It is always because some people have been prepared to die that other people have lived. It is when mothers accept to risk their lives that we are born; it is when mothers embrace the possibility of their own death that the possibility of new life comes. By death comes life. That is the rule, the universal rule. It is sometimes only when a man buries his personal aims and ambitions that he begins to be of real use to others. By death comes life.
(ii) Jesus is saying that only by spending life do we retain it. The man who loves his life is moved by two aims, by selfishness and by the desire for security. Not once or twice but many times Jesus insisted that the man who hoarded his life must in the end lose it, and the man who spent his life must in the end gain it.
We have only to think of what this world would have been if there were no people living out this rule. What would this world be if there had not been men and women prepared to forget their personal safety, security, gain and self advancement? The world owes everything to people who recklessly spend their strength and give themselves for others' sake.
(iii) Jesus is saying that only by service comes greatness. The people whom the world remembers most with love are the people who served others with love. People like our mothers.

And that is what many of us are missing out. So many people are in business only for what they can get out of it. They may well become rich, but they will never be loved, and love is the true wealth of life.

Don't miss the message because of the messenger!

John 6:41-51

Then the Jews began to murmur against him because he claimed to be the Bread from heaven. “What?” they exclaimed. “Why, he is merely Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know. What is this he is saying, that he came down from heaven?” But Jesus replied, “Don’t murmur among yourselves about my saying that. For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him to me, and at the Last Day I will cause all such to rise again from the dead. As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They shall all be taught of God.’ Those the Father speaks to, who learn the truth from him, will be attracted to me. (Not that anyone actually sees the Father, for only I have seen him.) “How earnestly I tell you this—anyone who believes in me already has eternal life! Yes, I am the Bread of Life! When your fathers in the wilderness ate bread from the skies, they all died. But the Bread from heaven gives eternal life to everyone who eats it. I am that Living Bread that came down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread shall live forever; this Bread is my flesh given to redeem humanity.”

Food for thought!

Again Jesus makes one of those revelations of his: "They will all be taught by God; Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me." It means that the Father teaches through the teaching of Jesus. Are we listening?
It is said that God gave us two ears and one mouth so we may listen more and talk less. We do well then to learn to listen. This is the first and necessary condition for being disciple of Jesus. The words, student, pupil, disciple and learner mean basically the same. All represent the same fact: willingness to learn. “If you love to hear, you will receive, and if you listen, you will be wise”, says Ben Sira, a Hebrew scholar.
A student, a pupil, a disciple and a learner with a shut mind is a contradiction in terms. As long as we live, we must adopt a learning attitude. Learning is not a one time event; it is a life long journey leading the learner deeper and deeper into truths. The learner who feels that he has nothing more to learn he has not even begun to learn.

This passage shows the reasons why the Jews rejected Jesus, and in rejecting him, rejected eternal life. The Jews listened, but they did not learn. There are different kinds of listening. There is the listening of resentment; there is the listening of superiority; there is the listening of indifference; there is the listening of the man who listens only because for the moment he cannot get the chance to speak; there is the listening of criticism. This is the kind of listening of the people in today's gospel reading.

Their reaction in face of Jesus' teaching was to produce the fact that he was a carpenter's son and that they had seen him grow up in Nazareth. They were unable to understand how one who was a tradesman and who came from a poor home could possibly be a special messenger from God. We must have a care that we never neglect a message from God because we despise or do not care for the messenger. God has many messengers. His greatest message came through a Galilaean carpenter, and for that very reason the Jews disregarded it.

The Jews argued with each other; they kept murmuring. They were so taken up with their private arguments that it never struck them to refer the matter to God. They were exceedingly eager to let everyone know what they thought about the matter; but not in the least anxious to know what God thought. It might well be that sometimes we would be better to be quiet and ask God what he thinks and what he wants us to do. After all it does not matter so very much what we think; but what God thinks matters intensely; and we so seldom take steps to find it out.