Jesus is our Saviour, even in temporal things!

Luke 14:1.7-11

1 One time when Jesus went for a Sabbath meal with one of the top leaders of the Pharisees, all the guests had their eyes on him, watching his every move. 7 He went on to tell a story to the guests around the table. Noticing how each had tried to elbow into the place of honour, he said, 8 "When someone invites you to dinner, don't take the place of honour. Somebody more important than you might have been invited by the host. 9 Then he'll come and call out in front of everybody, 'You're in the wrong place. The place of honour belongs to this man.' Red-faced, you'll have to make your way to the very last table, the only place left. 10 "When you're invited to dinner, go and sit at the last place. Then when the host comes he may very well say, 'Friend, come up to the front.' That will give the dinner guests something to talk about! 11 What I'm saying is, 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!

This passage tells us certain things about Jesus and his enemies. It shows us the serenity with which Jesus met his enemies. There is nothing more trying than to be under constant and critical scrutiny. When that happens to most people they lose their nerve and, even more often, lose their temper. They become irritable; and while there may be greater sins than irritability there is none that causes more pain and heartbreak. But even in things which would have broken most men's spirit, Jesus remained serene. If we live with him, he can make us like himself. He can teach us how to deal with our enemies.

It is to be noted that Jesus never refused any man's invitation of hospitality. He could turn any occasion into graceful moment to teach us some eternal truth. Jesus would not refuse even an enemy's invitation. Even though we will never make our enemies our friends, we can meet them and talk with them.

The enemies of Jesus watched every move he made; but Jesus watched them too, with his divine eye. The gospel says that, "Noticing how each had tried to elbow into the place of honour". Jesus also notices us; looks at us; observes us! And when he sees us, he sees us from inside out; he sees our motivations and intentions.
On this occasion Jesus chose a homely illustration to illustrate what he saw. If a quite undistinguished guest arrived early at a feast and annexed the top place, and if a more distinguished person then arrived, and the man who had usurped the first place was told to step down, a most embarrassing situation resulted. If, on the other hand, a man deliberately slipped into the bottom place, and was then asked to occupy a more distinguished place, his humility gained him all the more honour.

Jesus saves us from shame and embarrasment. He is our Saviour in eternal and temporal things.

Just do it!

Luke 14:1-6

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

Food for thought!

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

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

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

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

As Joyce Meyer says, ''One of the most important things you can do in life is let go of your need to please people. Trying to please others and trying to meet their expectations will cause you to live the life they want you to live and miss the life that God wants you to live. There is no joy in that, only bondage. Rather than trying to please others, live your life to please God. Colossians 1: 10 says: “That you may walk (live and conduct yourselves) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all things.” This is where you will find rest and peace for your soul. If you want to experience the life-changing joy of the Lord, let go of the unrealistic expectations of others and live for God each day."

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

Deadlines!

Luke 13:31-35

Just then some Pharisees came up and said, “Run for your life! Herod’s on the hunt. He’s out to kill you!” Jesus said, “Tell that fox that I’ve no time for him right now. Today and tomorrow I’m busy clearing out the demons and healing the sick; the third day I’m wrapping things up. Besides, it’s not proper for a prophet to come to a bad end outside Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killer of prophets, abuser of the messengers of God! How often I’ve longed to gather your children, gather your children like a hen, Her brood safe under her wings— but you refused and turned away! And now it’s too late: You won’t see me again until the day you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of God.’”

Food for thought!

What would you do if someone came and told you to quit your job, your family, your mission, your purpose in life? This is what they told Jesus: “Run for your life! Herod’s on the hunt. He’s out to kill you!” Jesus didn't and couldn't go, because he knew both his purpose in life and his deadline.
As Viktor Frankl reminds us, man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life. More than to live by, man needs something to live for, and if need be even to die for. This something may be a person, a thing, an idea, a situation, or just a cause. Unfortunately, sometimes we have enough to live by but nothing to live for; we have the means to live by but not the meaning to live for.
Like Jesus, know your “why” of life that you live for; God created you for some reason, some purpose. This is what life expects of you to do before you die. Jesus said, “Tell that fox that I’ve no time for him right now. Today and tomorrow I’m busy clearing out the demons and healing the sick; the third day I’m wrapping things up. Besides, it’s not proper for a prophet to come to a bad end outside Jerusalem.
Classic advice for golfers has been, “Keep your eye on the ball.” The professional knows it is virtually impossible to hit a golf ball if you’re not looking at it! Once you have your purpose clearly in mind, set goals. However, a goal without some kind of deadline is a goal most likely not attainable. Jesus knew his deadline: "Today and tomorrow I’m busy clearing out the demons and healing the sick; the third day I’m wrapping things up." A deadline may also serve as an inspiration to complete a project. A deadline or target date can help you know when your goal may be attained.
It has often been observed that those who have the most time at their disposal profit by it the least. Without a deadline, you could exhaust yourself, galloping around in an open, often bleak, desert of unspecific thoughts and activities. A deadline, properly developed, can actually be a lifeline that draws you into alignment with your purpose and allows you to tame your time, talent, and resources, and apply them where they may be most useful.
Time-management experts say the best deadlines are the ones we choose for ourselves. If we don't have deadlines for ourselves, others will force theirs on us, like the Pharisees were doing to Jesus in today's gospel. Ask yourself, What would you like to achieve in your lifetime? How do you visualize making a difference in this world? Whatever large or small ambition you may have, begin today to create goals that suit your purpose, and set deadlines. I pray that it be not too late to set your goals and deadlines, and that Jesus never have to tell you as he did in the gospel reading, "And now it’s too late."

From nobodies to somebodies!

Luke 6:12-16

At that time Jesus went up a hill to pray and spent the whole night there praying to God. 13 When day came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon (whom he named Peter) and his brother Andrew; James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, 15 Matthew and Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon (who was called the Patriot), 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became the traitor.

Food for thought!

Jesus needs all of us. This passage reminds us that Jesus can and does use all of us. As we look at the kind of men Jesus chose and used in those days, it gives us hope in these days. If Jesus can use men like those he used and in the manner that He did, then surely He can use you and me in these days.
Jesus chose a very mixed group. In this group the two extremes met. Matthew was a tax-collector and, therefore, an outcast; he was a renegade and a traitor to his fellow countrymen. Simon the Cananaean was Zealot; and the Zealots were a band of fiery, violent nationalists who were pledged even to murder and assassination to clear their country of the foreign rulers; today we call such as these terrorists. Between Matthew and Simon there were all kinds of backgrounds and opinions, there are all of us. Jesus continues to mix us.
Judging them by worldly standards the men Jesus chose had no special qualifications at all. They were not wealthy; they had no special social position; they had no special education--they were not trained theologians; they were not high-ranking churchmen and ecclesiastics; they were twelve ordinary men. But they had two special qualifications.
The fact that Jesus was able to use these men with all their weaknesses and failures lets me know that he can use us too. These men lacked spiritual understanding. They lacked humility. They lacked faith. They lacked commitment. They lacked power. These men were always getting into trouble; missing the point or Christ’s teachings; saying the wrong thing; walking away from their commitment to Jesus; among other failures and problems. Despite their weaknesses, the Lord used these men to turn the world upside down for His glory. If he can use them, surely he can use us too! That gives me and you hope today! Or not?

With these men, Jesus set a precedence, of looking, not so much for extraordinary people, as for ordinary people who can do ordinary things extraordinarily well. Jesus sees in everybody, not only what that man or woman is, but also what he can make him or her. Jesus chose these men, not only for what they were, but also for what they were capable of becoming under his influence and in his power. Yes, under Jesus you and I can become different and can make a difference in your world. Stick to Jesus, come what may!

From small beginnings comes great endings!

Luke 13:18-21

So Jesus said to them, "To what is the kingdom of God like, and to what will I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into his garden; and it grew until it became a tree, and the birds of the air found a lodging in its branches. Again Jesus said, "To what will I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened."

Food for thought!

Jesus wants his listeners to understand the kingdom of God. For him, the kingdom of God is like, that is, is similar to the mustard seed. The kingdom of God is not the mustard seed, and the mustard seed is not the kingdom of God. But the dynamics of the kingdom of God are like those of a mustard seed; although the two realities are different, they are similar.

The grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is very small, grows up and becomes formidable tree, that puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade. Though very small, when the mustard seed is sown upon the ground, grows into something very big indeed, which welcomes and accommodates other creatures. Jesus is saying that from its small beginnings comes great endings. This is the gist or essence of the parable of the mustard seed.
Again Jesus said, "To what will I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened."
As we might know, behind all things there is a leaven, there is an idea or ruling principle. We all have it; we are all driven by something. There is some idea or philosophy or principle or force that drives us in what we do. As it has been stated by others, there is a ruling principle for each one of us. We may not know it, but it is there. There is a guiding force, a controlling assumption, a directing conviction behind everything that happens. It may be unspoken; it may be unknown to many; most likely it’s never called by any name. But it is there, influencing every aspect of our life.
We do not see the leaven working but all the time it is fulfilling its function. We too, don't and can't see the change and transformation at work; it is as if nothing is happening in us. Jesus assures us that, like a seed growing, like yeast in flour, the change and growth are there, day and night. This is what Paul told us in Rom 8:22-26

22 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. 23 These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. 24 That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. 25 But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. 26 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans.

Don't postpone for tomorrow the good you can do today!

Luke 13:10-17

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

Food for thought!

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

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

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

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

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

O Teacher, I want to see again!

Mark 10:46-52

And so they reached Jericho. Later, as they left town, a great crowd was following. Now it happened that a blind beggar named Bartimaeus (the son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth was near, he began to shout out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” “Shut up!” some of the people yelled at him. But he only shouted the louder, again and again, “O Son of David, have mercy on me!” When Jesus heard him, he stopped there in the road and said, “Tell him to come here.” So they called the blind man. “You lucky fellow,” they said, “come on, he’s calling you!” Bartimaeus yanked off his old coat and flung it aside, jumped up and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked. “O Teacher,” the blind man said, “I want to see again!” And Jesus said to him, “All right, it’s done. Your faith has healed you.” And instantly the blind man could see and followed Jesus down the road!

Food for thought!

A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. Says the gospel reading of a man who had lost his identity, his destiny, and his place in the society. Due to his situation of blindness, the man was named Bartimaeus, that is, SON OF A FATHER! The man was, in other words, nameless. He was known and knowable in terms of his father; he had no name of his own. Sounds familiar?

Being nameless means being without identity of his own. THIS, was THE problem of this man. He was simply the son of the father. To call someone "son of the father" is to say nothing; is to say the obvious; is to say that the man was a son of a father; we're all born of the father. So why Repete? It is because he was a nobody.

No wonder that when Jesus asked the man, “What do you want me to do for you?”, the man went straight to the base of his situation, the mother of his all problems: “I want to see again!” Did you notice that the man is referred to as Bartimaeus (son of a father) up to and until he came to Jesus? Did you notice that, in Jesus' presence the man threw away the coat that was covering him all along? Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus." Before this man knew Jesus he "was sitting beside the road", after coming to Jesus he was "back on track". He instantly could see, and he followed Jesus down the road.

I don't know on which part of the road you are standing today; I do'nt know the name of your coat that is covering you right now, whether it is guilt, boredom, unemployment and probably unemployable or underemployment, anger, despair, confusion, addiction, or even grieving the loss of a dear friend. Whatever is covering us this day, we can throw it away, thru him who strengthens us. The man's coat was called Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus. This is the coat that the man, empowered by Jesus, threw away for the first time. Because of this coat, the man could not see; he had become blind; he had lost his name; he had lost his God given identity; he had lost his job, his status, his family and friends. It is all this that Jesus restored in this man: his identity, his name, his sight, his status, his dignity, and above all his personality. He is no longer a son of a father, but a son of THE HEAVENLY FATHER, created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:27).

Many of us have lost our sight of what God made us for; we have lost our "God given identity", and are known by "people given identity". If I asked, What is your identity? Your mission? Your purpose in life? What on earth are you for? What would you reply? Most of us would reply in terms of the people given identity. Please, notice how difficult it was for the man to beat the people given identity? When he called, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” many of the people yelled at him: “Be quiet!”. Why did the people react this way? Because they don't want us to lose the label they have given us; people like seeing us miserable. As long as they enjoy, as long as the people get what they want, they don't mind about your condition. We are egoistic people, and all we want is to have our interests served.

Everybody was created, not to be just a son of a father; this is too little. As Viktor E. Frankl says in his book "Man's Search for Meaning", Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Once someone said, "He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how." It means that who knows the "why" for his existence, will be able to bear the "hows of his life."

Everybody needs "something" for the sake of which to live and sometimes, if need be, to die for. This meaning is unique and specific to every body, in that it must and can be fulfilled by each person alone. That is why, life's greatest tragedy is one to lose sight of the meaning of life; the tragedy is to have the means of life (be materially rich) but have no meaning of life.

We can discover the meaning in life in three different ways: (I) by creating a work or doing a deed; (2) by experiencing something or encountering someone; and (3) by the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering. The man in the gospel found his meaning by encountering Jesus. To Jesus be praise and honour and glory, for ever! Amen.

Use your head!

Luke 12:54-59

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

Food for thought!

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

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

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

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

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

Romans 12:2

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

Deliberate fire!

Luke 12:49-53 Fire on Earth!

Jesus said to the people, "I've come to start a fire on this earth, how I wish it were blazing right now! 50 I've come to change everything, turn everything right-side up; how I long for it to be finished! 51 Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice? Not so. I've come to disrupt and confront! 52 From now on, when you find five in a house, it will be three against two, and two against three; 53 Father against son, and son against father; Mother against daughter, and daughter against mother; Mother- in- law against bride, and bride against mother- in- law."

Food for Thought

Jesus knew all about his life; he knew what would happen, when it would happen, how it would happen, and why it would happen. "I have," he said, "a terrible experience through which I must pass; and life is full of tension until I pass through it and emerge triumphantly from it." The cross was ever before his eyes; his passion and death was always before his eyes. Jesus well knew that without his pains there would be no gains. We do well to know this eternal principle, too.
We too, have to go thru hardships before getting the results we need; things normally get worse before they get better. If your life if going to get better, you'll have to go through hardships. There's simply no way to the top that does not include climbing.
That's why we don't concentrate on hardships, but on the good results. Remember this, obstacles are what we see whenever we take our eyes off the goal. If you're afraid of hardships and terrible experiences, you'll never accomplish great things. You can improve your life, if you too drink the cup of hardships like Jesus.
One of the terrible experience to go through will inevitably be your dear people, some of whom may object to your aspirations. You will have to decide whether you love more your dear people or your dear dreams; whether you love more comfort or hardships, whether you follow Christ through a Good Friday or follow Judas Iscariot who wanted easy money without a struggle; he eventually killed himself.
Following Christ's (hard) way is a choice we have to make. This choice many times implies division, estrangement and opposition, sometimes even from our dearest. He says, Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice? Not so. I've come to disrupt and confront! We must ready ourselves for rough ride.
Loyalty to Christ has to take precedence over the dearest loyalties of this earth. We must be prepared to count all things but loss for the excellence of Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3:7-9a

But the things that were gain to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, first hand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ 9 and be embraced by him.

God is never away!

Luke 12:39-48

Jesus said, “You know that if the house owner had known what night the burglar was coming, he wouldn’t have stayed out late and left the place unlocked. So don’t you be slovenly and careless. Just when you don’t expect him, the Son of Man will show up.” Peter said, “Master, are you telling this story just for us? Or is it for everybody?” The Master said, “Let me ask you: Who is the dependable manager, full of common sense, that the master puts in charge of his staff to feed them well and on time? He is a blessed man if when the master shows up he’s doing his job. But if he says to himself, ‘The master is certainly taking his time,’ begins maltreating the servants and maids, throws parties for his friends, and gets drunk, the master will walk in when he least expects it, give him the thrashing of his life, and put him back in the kitchen peeling potatoes. “The servant who knows what his master wants and ignores it, or insolently does whatever he pleases, will be thoroughly thrashed. But if he does a poor job through ignorance, he’ll get off with a slap on the hand. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities!

Food for thought!

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

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

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

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

Jesus wants us to cultivate a sense of continuity between the prayers we offer to God and the conversations we have with the people we speak to and who speak to us. He wants us to nurture an awareness of the sanctity of words, the holy gift of language, regardless of whether it is directed vertically to God or horizontally to our neighbour. We do well to know that there is no part of life when the master is away. We are working and living forever in the presence of God. 

Preparedness is the first step to success!

Luke 12:36-38

Jesus said to his disciples: "See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit! Be like house servants waiting for their master to come back from his honeymoon, awake and ready to open the door when he arrives and knocks. Lucky the servants whom the master finds on watch! He’ll put on an apron, sit them at the table, and serve them a meal, sharing his wedding feast with them. It doesn’t matter what time of the night he arrives; they’re awake—and so blessed!"

Food for Thought!

Jesus has many ways of teaching us. He is the teacher. Today he teaches us the law of life, that Preparedness is the first step to success! Always chance favours the prepared. Opportunity knocks at our doors many more times than we may realize. If the moment of opportunity is not seized, it may be because we don’t recognize it or are unprepared to seize it. For instance, when you get up in the morning, do you greet the day with "Good morning, God!" or "Good God, morning!"?

This is why Jesus tells us to be ready, dressed for action, ready to seize the opportunity when it comes our way. "Be as ready as the house servants waiting for their master to come back from his honeymoon, awake and ready to open the door when he arrives and knocks. He’ll put on an apron, sit them at the table, and serve them a meal, sharing his wedding feast with them."
Far too often many of us do not prepare ourselves for success; many people are just not ready for what they want. Many times we only have wishful thinking for our needs. We forget that if we’re not prepared for success, we may find it difficult to hold on to the opportunities that come our way.
As an exercise, ask yourself from time to time what you are really doing to prepare yourself for opportunity. Have you established and become fully committed to your goals? Are you willing not only to cultivate the soil and plant the seed but also to nurture and care for the tender blade and the young ear as it appears? Are you willing to go the extra mile, and give the energy and attention that the opportunity calls for? Are you willing to stand firm with your convictions, your principles, your faith in God? Are you prepared to stand alone if necessary? Have you trained yourself to recognize opportunity when it knocks?
And you never know when it may knock. Opportunity often presents itself in an unexpected form. As Jesus put it, "It doesn’t matter what time of the night he [opportunity] arrives; they’re awake—and so blessed!" Or as Jesus says in Revelation 3:20,

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If any of you hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with you. And you will eat with me." 

Real life and real living are not related to how rich we are!

Luke 12:13-21

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

Food for thought!

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

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

Two things stand out about this man.

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

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

The wo/man who never remembers that there is another world is destined some day for the strongest of strong shocks. Let us include life after death in the equation of our life and in our planning and in our living and in our being and in our doing, and in our shopping and in our talking and in our listening.

Not to be served but to serve!

Mark 10:35-45

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came over and spoke to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do us a favor.” 36 “What is your request?” he asked. 37 They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” 39 “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!” Then Jesus told them, “You will indeed drink from my bitter cup and be baptized with my baptism of suffering. 40 But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”41 When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant. 42 So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 43 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Food for thought!

This is a very revealing story.

It tells us something about James and John: they were ordinary people, like you and me! Matthew retells this story (Matt.20:20-23), but in his version the request for the first places is made not by James and John, but by their mother Salome. Matthew must have felt that such a request was unworthy of an apostle, and, to save the reputation of James and John, he attributed it to the natural ambition of their mother.

On the other hand, Mark wants to portray James and John, not as supermen, but as natural and normal people, like the rest of us. All the apostles were not a company of saints. They were ordinary men. Did you notice what the ten did? "When the ten other disciples heard what James and John had asked, they were indignant." It was with people like ourselves that Jesus set out to change the world, and did it.

It is with such people that Jesus continues to save and serve the world. We too, are like James and John. We have been Christians for some time now, but we still continue to misunderstand Jesus. This incident tells us that they had completely failed to understand Jesus. It shows, as nothing else could, how little they understood what Jesus was saying to them.

Like James and John, many times we come to Jesus, kneel down, and make requests for which we are not ready to pay the price. We want the product, and we hate the price. We want riches but don't want to work for them; we want the rose but hate the thorns; we want salvation but hate the suffering.

“You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?” And they said, we are able. And they were able. As you know, James was the first apostle to die; he was martyred. And John? He was the last apostle to die. He died in exile, under persecution.

You know what? Most of our troubles are due tot he prayers we made in the past. I repeat: many of our problems are because of the requests we made to the Lord. our problems are the price we pay for what we asked the Lord to grant us. There is nothing of value we can get without a price. we should know this as we kneel down to pray. There is a price tag attached at each and everything good.

Whenever you ask Jesus anything, Jesus asks you: Are you able to drink the bitter cup of suffering that accompanies your request? Are you able to suffer in order to get what you want? Are you able to pay the price? Because there is no glory without crown; no victory without a fight. This is what Jesus teaching us in the gospel reading of today:

"Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Are we to stop making requests to the Lord? No. We only have to brace outburst pay the price. And when the moment of paying the price comes, we have the second reading of today to console us:

14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. (Heb 4:14-16)

The unforgivable sin is the sin against the Holy Spirit!

Luke 12:8-12

Luke 12:8-12

8 And I tell you, Whoever declares openly [speaking out freely] and confesses that he is My worshiper and acknowledges Me before men, the Son of Man also will declare and confess and acknowledge him before the angels of God. 9 But he who disowns and denies and rejects and refuses to acknowledge Me before men will be disowned and denied and rejected and refused acknowledgement in the presence of the angels of God. 10 And everyone who makes a statement or speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit [that is, whoever intentionally comes short of the reverence due the Holy Spirit], it will not be forgiven him [for him there is no forgiveness]. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities, do not be anxious [beforehand] how you shall reply in defense or what you are to say. 12 For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour and moment what [you] ought to say.

Food for thought!

The unforgivable sin, which is the sin against the Holy Spirit.

Both Matthew and Mark record that Jesus spoke about this sin immediately after the scribes and Pharisees had attributed his cures to the prince of devils instead of to God (Matt.12:31-32; Mk.3:28-29). These men could look at the very grace and power of God and call it the work of the devil. So, the sin against the Holy Spirit is about calling good evil, treating good as if it was evil. Why is this so?

Why is that the unforgivable sin? Because in such a state repentance is impossible. If a man does not even realize that he is sinning, if goodness no longer makes any appeal to him, he cannot repent. Will he? God has not shut him out; by his repeated refusals he has shut himself out. That means that, he is so dead to God that he is conscious of no sin at all.

We offend God when we love evil, when we prefer evil to good, when we deliberately refuse to see and acknowledge the good in others. This is what the Pharisees and scribes did with Jesus. They called him agent of Satan. How often do we do the same? The people we dislike we label them as evil, even when they do good, we see their good as evil. This is the sin against the Holy Spirit. We do well to acknowledge the good, even when it comes from our enemies. Goodness is holy, and when we accept it we accept and embrace holiness itself. And there is no holiness without the Holy spirit.

Don’t be bluffed into silence or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies!

Luke 12:1-7

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

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

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

Food for thought!

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

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

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

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

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

Watch your words!

Luke 11:47-54

“You’re hopeless! You build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed. The tombs you build are monuments to your murdering ancestors more than to the murdered prophets. That accounts for God’s Wisdom saying, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, but they’ll kill them and run them off.’ What it means is that every drop of righteous blood ever spilled from the time earth began until now, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was struck down between altar and sanctuary, is on your heads. Yes, it’s on the bill of this generation and this generation will pay. “You’re hopeless, you religion scholars! You took the key of knowledge, but instead of unlocking doors, you locked them. You won’t go in yourself, and won’t let anyone else in either.” As soon as Jesus left the table, the religion scholars and Pharisees went into a rage. They went over and over everything he said, plotting how they could trap him in something from his own mouth.

Food for thought!

Watch your words! Our enemies use them to catch and destroy us. Why is it that our enemies' best weapon to attack and destroy us is the word we speak, and not something else? Well, as the Bible says, our words are us, and we are our words. The old saying, “You are only as good as your word,” is very true.

In the Holy Bible, we are informed that the creative power of speech had its derivation in the creative power of word. In the book of Genesis, God literally “speaks” the universe into existence. “Let there be light…. Let there be a firmament.” Each verse of the entire first chapter of Genesis begins with the notable acclamation, “Let there be….” And with the same potency begins the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the word; Everything was created through the Word; nothing — not one thing came into being without the Word!"

Words can both create and destroy; they can both build and damage our life and our reputation, and of others. This is why the enemies of Jesus "went over and over everything he said, plotting how they could trap him in something from his own mouth." They scrutinized the words of Jesus because our words reveal who we truly are; our words are us. So, let's be aware of the power of our words. There is a hidden potential in you that is known to few people.

King Solomon said in Proverbs 18:21 that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” The words we release may result in either life or death to us and our hearers hence the need to be mindful and careful of the words we speak and the words we pay attention to. When we study the life of Jesus, there was no place where Jesus made a statement and said “Oh do not worry about what I just said. I was only joking”. No, every word that proceeded out from Jesus’ mouth was for a reason and purpose.

We are made by words. Jesus said in Mark 1:17 “ . . . follow me and I will make you to become…” Jesus was not just asking his disciples to follow him wherever he went but to follow him in his word. Jesus’ words revealed His nature, character, life and glory (which are also God’s nature, character, life and glory). By following and giving attention to Jesus’ words we become transformed into that same nature, character, life and glory. To him be glory and honour and praise, forever!

Psalm 34:12-15

Do you want a long, good life? Then watch your tongue! Keep your lips from lying. Turn from all known sin and spend your time in doing good. Try to live in peace with everyone; work hard at it.

And what I say to you I say to all!

Luke 11:42-46

Jesus said, "I've had it with you! You're hopeless, you Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but manage to find loopholes for getting around basic matters of justice and God's love. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. 43 "You're hopeless, you Pharisees! Frauds! You love sitting at the head table at church dinners, love preening yourselves in the radiance of public flattery. 44 Frauds! You're just like unmarked graves: People walk over that nice, grassy surface, never suspecting the rot and corruption that is six feet under." 45 One of the religion scholars spoke up: "Teacher, do you realize that in saying these things you're insulting us too?" 46 He said, "Yes, and I can be even more explicit. You're hopeless, you religion scholars! You load people down with rules and regulations, nearly breaking their backs, but never lift even a finger to help.

Food for thought!

There is something curious about Jesus: when he speaks to some, he speaks to all. What Jesus speaks to some people is relevant to all peoples. Why so? Because, 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account. (Heb 4:12-13)

This is what is happening in today’s Gospel Reading. Jesus is addressing the Pharisees, but as he does so, one of the scribes that is, the religious scholars, jumps in with a personal confession: "Teacher, do you realize that in saying these things you're insulting us too?" It means that as Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, the scribes were getting the message as addressed to them too.

It means that we really cannot hide from Jesus and his word. It means that it is wrong to imagine that what Jesus teaches applies to others and not to us; that it is the others that must change their lives and not ourselves.Yes, like the religion teacher, we do well to admit like he did, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.” When Jesus speaks to some, he speaks to all.

When Jesus speaks to you, he speaks to me. When he speaks to me, he speaks to you (indeed, this is why my personal meditations are our meditations); when he speaks to women, he speaks to men; when he speaks to men he speaks to women; when he speaks to sinners he speaks to me. When Jesus speaks to Pharisees and to scribes, when he speaks to the people of yesterday and of long ago, he speaks to me and to you and to us all, people of today. To him be praise and honour and glory, both now and forever. Amen.

"And what I say to you I say to all." (Mark 13:37)

The one who made the outside also made the inside!

Luke 11:37-41

When Jesus finished that talk, a Pharisee asked him to dinner. He entered his house and sat right down at the table. The Pharisee was shocked and somewhat offended when he saw that Jesus didn’t wash up before the meal. But the Jesus said to him, “I know you Pharisees burnish the surface of your cups and plates so they sparkle in the sun, but I also know your insides are maggoty with greed and secret evil. Stupid Pharisees! Didn’t the One who made the outside also make the inside? Turn both your pockets and your hearts inside out and give generously to the poor; then your lives will be clean, not just your dishes and your hands.

Food for thought!

Jesus says in this gospel something that is extremely important. He says to the Pharisee, "I also know your insides... Didn’t the One who made the outside also make the inside?" Jesus is making a great revelation not only about ourselves but also about himself. About us, that we live in two worlds: the inner and outer worlds; the interior and exterior; the invisible and the visible; the spiritual and material; the godly and human.

We may develop a preference for one world or the other. Some people turn almost exclusively to the inner world, while others turn exclusively to the outer world or the world of externals. But in order to be happy and well-integrated people, it is important to function in both worlds with ease and satisfaction; our happiness lies in the development of our two worlds, the inner one and the outer one.

To live successfully in the outer world we need to live successfully in the inner world. Truth teaches us to relate the inner to the outer, to integrate the spiritual with the physical, to unify our thoughts, feelings, and actions into a harmonious oneness. There is an old saying that goes, “As within, so without.” It means that what appears in our outer world — friends, jobs, opportunities, schools, career —reflects what is happening inside ourselves. Almost every successful person will tell you that they first thought out their moves in the inner consciousness. The door to success opens from within.

The good news is, as Jesus said, "the One who made the outside also made the inside."

No more sign shall be given!

Luke 11:29-32

Now as the crowds were [increasingly] thronging Him, He began to say, This present generation is a wicked one; it seeks and demands a sign (miracle), but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah [the prophet]. 30For [just] as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will also the Son of Man be [a sign] to this age and generation. 31The queen of the South will arise in the judgment with the people of this age and generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the [inhabited] earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and notice, here is more than Solomon. 32The men of Nineveh will appear as witnesses at the judgment with this generation and will condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, here is more than Jonah.

Food for thought!

Great number of people kept coming to Jesus, not to get Jesus but his miracles. Sounds familiar? Many people today go to Jesus not because of Jesus himself but in search of the miracles of Jesus. This is what Jesus is condemning in the Gospel reading.

People always want what is sensational; what is emotional; what is entertaining; what is extraordinary. This
is what Jesus is condemning. "This present generation is a wicked one; it seeks and demands a sign (miracle), but no sign shall be given to it." Why will no more sign be given? Because the ultimate sign has already been given, in Jesus Christ.

God came to us in Jesus. This is what St. Paul tells us in Galatians 4:4, “when the right time came, the time God decided on, he sent his Son, born of a woman, born as a Jew.” God continues to come to us in the ordinary, just as He did in Jesus of Nazareth. God is with us (Matthew 1:23), and is always with us until the end of the world (Matthew 28:20).

If God is with us, let us seek him in the ordinary. If God is with us, let us serve him in the ordinary, by doing well our ordinary and daily duties. If we had the eyes of the queen of Sheba or of the people of Nineveh, we would see God in all the ordinary. Yes, God is not only a God of Sundays, he is also a God of the week; he is not only a God of the churches but also a God of every place including our offices, homes, streets and neighbourhoods.

Long ago, the queen of the South came from the far away just to listen to Solomon because she saw in this man the hand of God; and the people of Nineveh repented because they saw the hand of God in Jonah's preaching. In other words, the Queen of the South and the people of Nineveh saw beyond Solomon and Jonah; they knew how to go beyond the man of God to the God of the man. Let us not miss the message from God to us because of the messengers; there is more in the preaching than the preacher. God still uses the ordinary people and circumstances to speak to us.

What goodness have you done in life?

Mark 10:17-30

As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?" 18 Jesus said, "Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. 19 You know the commandments: Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't cheat, honor your father and mother." 20 He said, "Teacher, I have--from my youth--kept them all!" 21 Jesus looked him hard in the eye--and loved him! He said, "There's one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me." 22 The man's face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go. 23 Looking at his disciples, Jesus said, "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who 'have it all' to enter God's kingdom?" 24 The disciples couldn't believe what they were hearing, but Jesus kept on: "You can't imagine how difficult. 25 I'd say it's easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for the rich to get into God's kingdom." 26 That set the disciples back on their heels. "Then who has any chance at all?" they asked. 27 Jesus was blunt: "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it." 28 Peter tried another angle: "We left everything and followed you." 29 Jesus said, "Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land--whatever--because of me and the Message 30 will lose out. They'll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land--but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life!

Food for thought!

Tough question. Tough answer.

The young man that came to Jesus asked a tough question: what must I do to get eternal life? This is a question that we all ask, directly or indirectly. As we grow old, as we move away from our birth and come closer to our death, we silently make this question. When I am dead, what will happen to me? Where will I go after this life? Is this life all there is? In other words, what must I do today to live tomorrow? How must I conduct myself today in order to survive tomorrwo? This is the tough question.

Tough questions require tough answers. I praise this man because he knew where to take his tough questions. He took his question to Jesus. The Gospel says that he came running up, greeted Jesus with great reverence, and put to Jesus his question.

Where do we take our questions? To whom do we go when we need answers to our difficult questions? We do well to run to Jesus, the wisdom of God, as the second reading put it:

The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts like any double-edged sword but more finely: it can slip through the place where the soul is divided from the spirit, or joints from the marrow; it can judge the secret emotions and thoughts. No created thing can hide from him; everything is uncovered and open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves. (Heb. 4:12-13)

When you decide to take your quest to Jesus, you must prepare yourself for what he will tell you. Sometimes Jesus' answers are just too tough; you must be ready not only to ask but also to listen. Otherwise, you will be like the young man in the Gospel reading, to whom Jesus said: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart.

Why did this man go away the way he did? Well, Jesus had quoted to the man the commandments which were the basis of the decent life. Without hesitation the man said he had kept them all. And he was not lying; he was saying the truth. And Jesus liked him for that. However, note one thing, that with one exception they were all negative commandments, and that one exception operated only in the family circle.

In effect the man was saying, “I never in my life did anyone any harm.” That was perfectly true. But the real question is, “What good have you done?” And the question to this man was even more pointed, “With all your possessions, with your wealth, with all that you could give away, what positive good have you done to others? How much have you gone out of your way to help and comfort and strengthen others as you might have done?” Christianity consists in not doing bad things ONLY; Christianity consists ALSO in doing good things. That was precisely where this man, like so many of us, fell down. We think that we are ok, just because we never robbed a bank, never stole a car, never did any of those of horrible things. We are not Ok until we learn to do good to others.

And this is what Peter was saying: We left everything and followed you. Peter is saying, We stopped everything and followed you; we know we are doing good. We are not like that man who refused to follow you; we followed you. What will happen to us? Jesus said, “Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land--whatever--because of me and the Message will lose out. They'll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land--but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life!”

Happier those who hear the word of God put it into practice!

Luke 11:27-28

As Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, ‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!’ But he replied, ‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!’

Food for thought!

Two persons. Two views. One happiness. As Jesus was talking a certain woman shouted loud and clear: Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked! She was saying in other words, happy the woman who mothered you. She was referring to Mary. And she was saying that Mary is happy because she physically carried Jesus in her womb and breast fed him. This is true. Mary did all of this and she is a happy woman for bearing Jesus.

However, Mary is not happy just because she carried Jesus in her womb and then breast fed him. Mary is happy because of something else; she is happy because she heard the word of God and took it seriously. This is what makes Mary a happy woman. If Mary had not taken the word of God seriously, if she had ignored it, who would have known about Mary? Mary's greatness began when she heard the words of the angel and said, “Let it be done me according to thy word!”

What sets Mary apart from many of us is that when we hear the word of God, when we get any inspiration from the Lord, when we get any new idea, we don't take it seriously; we are afraid of experimenting on it; we doubt if it will really work. We question if it is indeed true and genuine and viable.

JESUS says that everybody, not just Mary, can be happy, can be successful, can make a difference in his or her life and living if and when we "hear the word of God and keep it." The word of God can come in many ways. For Mary it came by the angel. But many times it comes by our colleague, our spouse, our sibling, our neighbour, by a dream. Look at this story:

Elias Howe, American inventor of the sewing machine, was experiencing a major problem in determining the appropriate location for the eye of the needle in his new invention. He was rapidly running out of money and ideas when, one night, he had a peculiar dream. He was being led to his execution for failing to design a sewing machine for the king of a strange country. He was surrounded by guards, all of whom carried spears that were pierced near the head. Realizing instantly that this was a solution to his problem, Howe awakened and rushed straight to his workshop. By nine o’clock that morning, the design of the first sewing machine was well on the way to completion!

All successful people of all types exhibit an important factor. In each instance, the person took some kind of action to bring the dream into manifestation! This can be an encouragement to each of us that your dreams can come true when you activate them! And this is what Jesus is saying: happier those who hear the word of God put it into practice.

The peril of the empty mind!

Luke 11:15-26

Once, when Jesus cast out a demon from a man who couldn’t speak, his voice returned to him. The crowd was excited and enthusiastic, but some said, “No wonder he can cast them out. He gets his power from Satan, the king of demons!” Others asked for something to happen in the sky to prove his claim of being the Messiah. He knew the thoughts of each of them, so he said, “Any kingdom filled with civil war is doomed; so is a home filled with argument and strife. Therefore, if what you say is true, that Satan is fighting against himself by empowering me to cast out his demons, how can his kingdom survive? And if I am empowered by Satan, what about your own followers? For they cast out demons! Do you think this proves they are possessed by Satan? Ask them if you are right! But if I am casting out demons because of power from God, it proves that the Kingdom of God has arrived. “For when Satan, strong and fully armed, guards his palace, it is safe— until someone stronger and better armed attacks and overcomes him and strips him of his weapons and carries off his belongings. “Anyone who is not for me is against me; if he isn’t helping me, he is hurting my cause. “When a demon is cast out of a man, it goes to the deserts, searching there for rest; but finding none, it returns to the person it left, and finds that its former home is all swept and clean. Then it goes and gets seven other demons more evil than itself, and they all enter the man. And so the poor fellow is seven times worse off than he was before.”

Food for thought!

Have you ever felt that there seems to always be a grouch (a person who is always critical of others) in every crowd? This is the person who never seems to appreciate good and goodness in life and in others. He recounts his tales of woe to anyone who listens, telling about what’s currently wrong in his own life, or life of others. In today's gospel, while the crowd was excited and enthusiastic about Jesus, the grouch said, “No wonder he can cast them out. He gets his power from Satan, the king of demons!” The grouch know how to twist the good we do to something evil!

It is sad to consider good as evil; to call Jesus an agent of the devil. And this is not uncommon. Normally when we don't like someone, everything that person does will look evil to us; it is then that we resort to slander. Do you possibly have anyone you slander because you dislike him or her? Are you a grouch to someone?

THE PERIL OF THE EMPTY SOUL

Today's gospel reading has another grim and terrible story. There was a man from whom an unclean spirit was expelled. It wandered seeking rest and found none. It determined to return to the man. It found his soul swept and garnished--but empty. So the spirit went and collected seven spirits worse than itself and came back and entered in; and the man's last state was worse than his first.

(i) Here is the fundamental truth that you cannot leave the mind empty. It is not enough to banish the evil thoughts and the evil habits and the old ways and leave the mind empty. An empty mind is a mind in peril. We've got to fill our mind with something. It is not enough to not think of evil; it is good to think of good and goodness.

(ii) The best way to avoid evil is to do good. Often we may be troubled with wrong thoughts. If we go no further than to say to ourselves, "I will not think about that," all we do is fix our thoughts upon it more and more. The cure is to think of something else, to banish the evil thought by thinking a good thought. We never become good by not doing bad things, but by doing lovely things.

Phillipians 4:8

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-- the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.

“You gotta accentuate the positive; eliminate the negative; latch on to the affirmative; don’t mess with Mr. In-Between!” so sang Johnny Mercer in the mid-1940s. This message is still a good one for us today.

Don’t bargain with God. Be direct!

Luke 11:5-13

Then Jesus said, “Imagine what would happen if you went to a friend in the middle of the night and said, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. An old friend traveling through just showed up, and I don’t have a thing on hand.’ “The friend answers from his bed, ‘Don’t bother me. The door’s locked; my children are all down for the night; I can’t get up to give you anything.’ “But let me tell you, even if he won’t get up because he’s a friend, if you stand your ground, knocking and waking all the neighbors, he’ll finally get up and get you whatever you need. “Here’s what I’m saying: Ask and you’ll get; Seek and you’ll find; Knock and the door will open. Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?”

Food for thought!

Since the beginning of the week, Jesus is in the business of telling us, better, teaching us secret of prayer. He started with Mary and Martha. Then Jesus went to a certain place to pray. And when he finished, one of his disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Note this very well: The disciples don’t ask to be taught better behavior — no petition Jesus for a course on ethics. They don’t ask to be taught to think more accurately about God — no request him for a seminar in theology. They don’t ask for a course in strategic planning for bringing in the kingdom.

No. They have been living with Jesus for something like three years, watching what he does and listening to what he says. Somehow they have come to the realization that following him does not mean imitating what he does nor repeating what he says. It means cultivating a relation with God the way they observe Jesus doing it. They want to do well what Jesus does best. So they say to him: “Teach us to pray.”

I wonder what YOU would ask Jesus to teach you! They ask to be taught to pray. They have sifted through the possibilities of what they want from Jesus. They have narrowed the options down to this one request, teach us to pray. They have arrived at the heart of the matter, Jesus' secret, and are motivated to engage in this central action that undergirds and shapes and motivates Jesus’ life. This is Jesus' secret for life and living. This is what they ask for.

After teaching us HOW to pray (yesterday), today he teaches WHY we pray: because we have a listening Father, who loves us and is ready to give. And because God loves us, Jesus gives us a tip: Ask and you’ll get; Seek and you’ll find; Knock and the door will open. Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. Keep on asking and you will keep on getting; keep on looking and you will keep on finding the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is God’s way of being personally with us in all our listening and speaking and acting.

Everything to God in prayer!

Luke 11:1-4

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test.”

Food for thought!

Do you have a certain place where you pray? Let us phrase it differently. Do you have a place, a moment, a time in which you are alone, just yourself with Lord? Do you ever be by yourself in prayer? Do your people ever see you absorbed in prayer, just yourself by yourself? Well, this what today's gospel is all about.

The gospel says that Jesus was praying in a certain place. This is the first point to note. In a certain place! Many times the gospels tells us the place where Jesus goes to pray. This time, we are not told. There is no need to know because our certain place where we go to pray doesn't have to be known. The times you go into prayer doesn't have to be known by the people who live with you, or work with you. There should be for all of us a moment, a place, a time we retreat into our soul and think about our life and your God.

Jesus' place wasn't apparently too far away. Indeed, it is possible that Jesus didn't even leave his disciples. They must have been watching him in his certain place, because he was nearby. For when he finished, one of them said, "Lord, teach us to pray." We do well to ask Jesus to teach us to pray alone. Many of us can't ever pray alone except in public. We feel ashamed to close our eyes and our mouth and our ears in a public place. But we can learn to do it. Why?

Perhaps you are living in a fine house, in a quite neighbourhood, on the pleasant side of town. Perhaps you have a steady job employment, a loving spouse, and healthy children. Perhaps you have money to pay your bills, buy groceries, and even take two vacations a year. You attend church regularly; you are in a position to help your relatives having some difficulties; in short, your life is going along just fine. Why, you ask, is it necessary to have like Jesus a certain place, time or moment reserved for prayer? The answer is one: Jesus.

Jesus prayed and told us to pray. He said, "WHEN" you pray! He did not say "IF" you pray. In other words, he expects you and me to bring in prayer all our needs. This is what Joseph Scriven taught us to sing:

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised
Thou wilt all our burdens bear;
May we ever, Lord, be bringing
All to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright, unclouded,
There will be no need for prayer—
Rapture, praise, and endless worship
Will be our sweet portion there.

Master, Don't you care?

Luke 10:38-42

As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. 39 She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. 40 But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. "Master, don't you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand." 41 The Master said, "Martha, dear Martha, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. 42 One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it--it's the main course, and won't be taken from her."

Food for thought!

We all have a Mary heart, but we’re living in a Martha world. We all have ever been in the same situation whereby we ignore the Word of God, not because it unimportant but because, like Martha, there’s things to be done. We all know that although we can submerge ourselves into God's Word, at the end of the day, we can’t understand how that time spent will get the bills paid, the house cleaned, the grocery shopping done, the yard work finished, the family fed, or the kids ready for bed.

The question we have to ask is the same question Martha asked. "Master, Don’t you care?" The answer is not what we expect. In essence, Jesus says, “Stop worrying. Quit being upset. Just come into my presence. Just spend time with me. I’ll give you peace and rest from your burdens.”

Martha, like so many of us, was pulled away by all she had to do; she had gotten distracted by her job. We can’t fault Martha. After all, she was the one who invited Jesus into her home in the first place. This said, Martha was missing the point by missing Jesus. Jesus helps us keep things in perspective. The things of this life that cause us so much worry and confusion suddenly become irrelevant when we’re in the presence of the Lord.

You see, what Martha was doing was “essential” and what Mary was doing was “eternal.” That time Mary would spend with Jesus could never be taken from her. Martha’s efforts would be consumed and forgotten within hours. Jesus reminds Martha and us that “Only one thing matters . . . and that’s being here, at My feet, in My presence.” The message is loud and clear. We can’t allow ourselves to be weighed down and distracted by many things.

If you’re finding yourself stressed out; if you’re finding yourself angry with others for not doing their share; when you wake up in the middle of the night to despair about whether “things” will ever get done . . . don’t continue to neglect yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Stop and sit in the presence of God. Take a moment to re-examine why you’re doing what you’re doing.

Ask yourself if you’re spending your time on the things that will last? The things that “cannot be taken away from you ?” Examine yourself if you are serving the things of the Lord, or the Lord of the things? What matters to Him is that you take the time to simply enjoy His presence. When daily life is frantic and out of control, when worry consumes you and you’re struggling just to make it through, Jesus says, “There’s only one thing that matters . . . and I’m right here in front of you.”