The Cross of Jesus reminds us of the Jesus of the Cross!

John 3:13-17

13 "No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. 14 In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up-- 15 and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life. 16" This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. 17 God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.

Food for thought!

On 14th of September, we mark the Feast of the Holy Cross. To understand the significance of this feast, let's go back to the Old Testament. There, in the Book of Numbers, we read: Num 21:4-9

4 They set out from Mount Hor along the Red Sea Road, a detour around the land of Edom. The people became irritable and cross as they traveled. 5 They spoke out against God and Moses: "Why did you drag us out of Egypt to die in this godforsaken country? No decent food; no water-- we can't stomach this stuff any longer." 6 So GOD sent poisonous snakes among the people; they bit them and many in Israel died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke out against GOD and you. Pray to GOD; ask him to take these snakes from us." Moses prayed for the people. 8 GOD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it on a flagpole: Whoever is bitten and looks at it will live."
9 So Moses made a snake of fiery copper and put it on top of a flagpole. Anyone bitten by a snake who then looked at the copper snake lived.

This incident is rather puzzling in view of the fact that the Bible absolutely forbids to make and use graven images. And in this text, the Lord explicitly commands Moses to make one and present it before the people. "Make a snake and put it on a flagpole: Whoever is bitten and looks at it will live." So, what's all this about? How can we explain this and the images / statues in our churches and homes?

First and foremost, it was not the serpent that gave life. So long as Moses lifted up the serpent, the people believed in him who had commanded Moses to act thus. It was God who healed them, not the serpent. The serpent served only as visual aid, as icon, as reminder. The healing power lay not in the brazen serpent; it was only a symbol to turn their thoughts to God; and when they did that they were healed.

Man is an animal of symbols. We use symbols all over, like marriage rings, flowers, road signs, etc. All these are intended to lift our mind to what they stand for; symbols point beyond themselves to what they represent. They're just pointers to something invisible. This is what that bronzen snake became for the Israelites. The same with the holy cross of Jesus: it lifts our mind to Jesus; it points beyond itself to whom it represents, Jesus.

For that reason, the crucifix we carry on our chest, in our cars, homes, etc, is intended not for others to see how religious we are; it is for us to remember Jesus and his sacrifice of love for us! We don't use religious images to show off, but to lift our mind and heart to the Lord. The same with wedding rings, they're reminders to the bearers that they're committed. The husband or wife that forgets that s/he is married and committed, will always run into not a few problems! The holy cross of Jesus is a constant reminder of Jesus of the cross!

Criticism breeds criticism!

Luke 6:39-42

39 Jesus quoted a proverb: "'Can a blind man guide a blind man?' Wouldn't they both end up in the ditch? 40 An apprentice doesn't lecture the master. The point is to be careful who you follow as your teacher. 41" It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbour's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. 42 Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this I- know- better- than- you mentality again, playing a holier- than- thou part instead of just living your own part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbour.

Food for thought!

Jesus warned that no teacher can lead his scholars beyond the stage which he himself has reached. That is a double warning to us. In our learning we must seek only the best teacher for only he can lead us farthest on; and our best and only teacher is Jesus.

And what is it that our teacher is teaching us with a picture of a man with a plank in his own eye trying to extract a speck of dust from someone else's eye? He is teaching us that we have no right to criticize others unless we ourselves are free of faults. That simply means that we have no right to criticise at all, because as Edward Wallis Hoch put it, "There's so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it hardly behoves any of us, to talk about the rest of us."

John M. Templeton said, "Any of us may experience stressful times at home, at school, or in our work. When things are not going well, it is often tempting to criticize others. We may think finding fault with someone else can help us feel better about ourselves or our condition. Or maybe it could be simply that misery loves company!

"In those 'down' moments that each of us has experienced, it may be best to remain silent if we cannot say things that are helpful and kind. Destructive language tends to produce destructive results. Besides causing unnecessary pain and suffering for those around us, our negative words frequently compound our own problems."

Dare to be and do different!

Luke 6:27-38

27 "To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. 28 When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. 29 If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. 30 If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit- for- tat stuff. Live generously. 31" Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! 32 If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run- of- the- mill sinners do that. 33 If you only help those who help you, do you expect a medal? Garden- variety sinners do that. 34 If you only give for what you hope to get out of it, do you think that's charity? The stingiest of pawnbrokers does that. 35 "I tell you, love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You'll never-- I promise-- regret it. Live out this God- created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we're at our worst. 36 Our Father is kind; you be kind. 37" Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults-- unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don't condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you'll find life a lot easier. 38 Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back-- given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. "

Food for thought!

In this passage, Jesus teaches us some great facts about the Christian ethic.

(i) The Christian ethic is positive. It does not consist in not doing things but in doing them. Jesus gave us the Golden Rule which bids us do to others as we would have them do to us. That rule exists in many writers of many creeds in its negative form. Hillel, one of the great Jewish Rabbis, was asked by a man to teach him the whole law while he stood on one leg. He answered, "What is hateful to thee, do not to another. That is the whole law and all else is explanation." Philo, the great Jew of Alexandria, said, "What you hate to suffer, do not do to anyone else." Isocrates, the Greek orator, said. "What things make you angry when you suffer them at the hands of others, do not you do to other people." The Stoics had as one of their basic rules, "What you do not wish to be done to yourself, do not you do to any other." When Confucius was asked, "Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life?" he answered, "Is not Reciprocity such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others."

Every one of these forms is negative; all are in the form of DO NOT! It is not really difficult to keep yourself from not doing; it is rather easy to refrain from doing, but it is a very different thing to go out of your way to do to others what you would want them to do to you. The very essence of Christian conduct is that it consists, not in refraining from bad things, but in actively doing good things.

It is not enough not to do evil, it important to actively do good. Many of us, thank God, we do not do much evil, but also do not do much good. Everybody can do this.

(ii) The Christian ethic is based on the extra thing. Jesus described the common ways of sensible conduct and then dismissed them with the question, "What special grace is in that?" So often people claim to be just as good as their neighbours. Very likely they are. But the question of Jesus is, "How much better are you than the ordinary person?" It is not our neighbour with whom we must compare ourselves; we may well stand that comparison very adequately; it is God with whom we must compare ourselves; and in that comparison we are all in default.

(iii) What is the reason for this Christian conduct? The reason is that it makes us like God, for that is the way he acts. God sends his rain on the just and the unjust. He is kind to the man who brings him joy and equally kind to the man who grieves his heart. God's love embraces saint and sinner alike. It is that love we must copy; if we, too, seek even our enemy's highest good we will in truth be the children of God.

Happy but which happiness!

Luke 6:20-26

20 Then Jesus spoke: You're blessed when you've lost it all. God's kingdom is there for the finding.21 You're blessed when you're ravenously hungry. Then you're ready for the Messianic meal. You're blessed when the tears flow freely. Joy comes with the morning. 22 "Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. 23 You can be glad when that happens-- skip like a lamb, if you like!-- for even though they don't like it, I do... and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this. 24 But it's trouble ahead if you think you have it made. What you have is all you'll ever get. 25 And it's trouble ahead if you're satisfied with yourself. Your self will not satisfy you for long. And it's trouble ahead if you think life's all fun and games. There's suffering to be met, and you're going to meet it. 26" There's trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests-- look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.

Food for thought!

These words of Jesus are bombshells. It may well be that we have read and heard them so often that we have forgotten how revolutionary they are. They are quite unlike any conventional laws. They take the accepted standards and turn them upside down. The people whom Jesus called HAPPY the world would call WRETCHED; and the people Jesus called WRETCHED the world would call HAPPY. Just imagine anyone saying, "Happy are the poor, and, Woe to the rich!" To talk like that is to put an end to the world's values altogether.

Where then is the key to understanding these words? It comes in Lk.6:24. There Jesus says, "But it's trouble ahead if you think you have it made. What you have is all you'll ever get." The word Jesus uses for have is the word used for receiving payment in full of an account. What Jesus is saying is this, "If you set your heart and bend your whole energies to obtain the things which the world values, you will get them--but that is all you will ever get." In the expressive modern phrase, literally, you have had it! But if on the other hand you set your heart and bend all your energies to be utterly loyal to God and true to Christ, you will run into all kinds of trouble, you may by the world's standards look unhappy, but much of your payment is still to come; and it will be joy eternal.

We are here face to face with an eternal choice which begins in childhood and never ends till life ends. Will you take the easy way which yields immediate pleasure and profit? or, Will you take the hard way which yields immediate toil and sometimes suffering? Will you seize on the pleasure and the profit of the moment? or, Are you willing to look ahead and sacrifice them for the greater good? Will you concentrate on the world's rewards? or, Will you concentrate on Christ? If you take the world's way, you must abandon the values of Christ. If you take Christ's way, you must abandon the values of the world. The challenge of the beatitudes is, "Will you be happy in the world's way, or in Christ's way?"

Called to be Sent!

Luke 6:12-19

12 At about that same time he climbed a mountain to pray. He was there all night in prayer before God. 13 The next day he summoned his disciples; from them he selected twelve he designated as apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, Andrew, his brother, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James, son of Alphaeus, Simon, called the Zealot, 16 Judas, son of James, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

17 Coming down off the mountain with them, he stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their ailments. Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed. 19 Everyone was trying to touch him-- so much energy surging from him, so many people healed!

Food for thought!

Jesus summoned his disciples; from them he selected twelve he designated as apostles! This is very revealing. Jesus called to himself his disciples, and from amongst them he designated apostles. So what is the difference between disciple and apostle? Well, disciple simply means learner or apprentice or listener, that's, one who learns from a teacher. Apostle means sent, envoy, messenger, commissioner, ambassador. Jesus chose his apostles from his disciples. They were to be those who were always learning more and more about him. A Christian is a man whose whole life is spent learning from Jesus and about Jesus, whom he will some day meet face to face and will then know even as he is known.

Jesus had many disciples, but few apostles. The apostles were just twelve,  chosen to be his ambassadors to in the world. A little girl received in the Sunday School a lesson on the disciples. She did not get the word quite right because she was very young; and she came home and told her parents that she had been learning about Jesus' samples. The ambassador is the man who in a foreign land represents his country. He is supremely the sample of his country. The Christian is ever sent to be an ambassador for Christ, not only by his words but by his life and deeds.

It was from his learners that Jesus chose those he sent. Before we go, we must come; before we talk, we must listen; before we give, we must get. Before Jesus went for men, he went for his Father in prayer, the whole night. When we go to church, we go as disciples, to learn and to listen. We live the church as apostles, sent into our world, our place of work, our homes, to represent Jesus. "Go, the Mass is ended." They tell us at the end of Mass.

To go and represent Jesus, we don't have to be extraordinary people. On the contrary we have to be what we are, that is, ordinary people. Look at the Twelve. They were very ordinary men. There was not a wealthy, nor famous, nor influential people; they had no special education; they were men of the common folk. It is as if Jesus said, "Give me twelve ordinary men and I will change the world." The work of Jesus is not in the hands of men whom the world calls great, but in the hands of ordinary people like ourselves.

They were a strange mixture. To take but two of them, Matthew was a tax-collector, and, therefore, a traitor and a renegade. Simon was a Zealot, and the Zealots were fanatical nationalists, who were sworn to assassinate every traitor and every Roman they could. It is one of the miracles of the power of Christ that Matthew the tax-collector and Simon the Zealot could live at peace in the close company of the apostolic band. In Christ the most diverse and divergent types of people can live at peace together. It is only in Christ that we can solve the problem of living together; because even the most opposite people may be united in their love for him. If we really love Jesus, we will also love each other.

It is always good to do good!

Luke 6:6-11

6 On another Sabbath he went to the meeting place and taught. There was a man there with a crippled right hand. 7 The religion scholars and Pharisees had their eye on Jesus to see if he would heal the man, hoping to catch him in a Sabbath infraction. 8 He knew what they were up to and spoke to the man with the crippled hand: "Get up and stand here before us." He did. 9 Then Jesus addressed them, "Let me ask you something: What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?" 10 He looked around, looked each one in the eye. He said to the man, "Hold out your hand." He held it out-- it was as good as new! 11 They were beside themselves with anger, and started plotting how they might get even with him.

Food for thought!

We begin our work week with a worker. The gospel says "There was a man there with a crippled right hand." His RIGHT hand was crippled! If this man was a right hander, he couldn't work normally. And if he couldn't work normally, his family couldn't survive normally; the bread winner was not able to work as he should. He was jobless. This man makes us remember the many men and women unemployed and unemployable because of their physical condition, because of world recession. Yes, there are many people out there like this man, unable to feign for themselves and their families.

This explains why Jesus could not and did not let this man suffer one more day. Jesus is teaching you and me that the good we can do today, be done today! Don't put off for tomorrow the good you can do today.

There is in this story a glorious atmosphere of defiance. Jesus knew that he was being watched but without hesitation he healed the man. He bade the man stand out in the midst of them all. This thing was not going to be done in a corner.  If you're doing good, never fear your critics. Critics are just that, critics!

Critics are like Pharisees who took the quite extraordinary course of hating Jesus who had just cured a sufferer. They are the outstanding example of people who love their rules and regulations more than they love God and neighbour. We see this happen in organizations, in families and in churches over and over again. Normally, disputes are not about great matters but about matters of discipline and customs and laws. Sometimes we set our loyalty to a system and to a custom above loyalty to God.

Did you notice that the man, empowered by Jesus, tried the impossible? He stretched his withered hand! He was a man who was prepared to attempt what was humanly impossible. He did not argue when Jesus told him to stretch out his useless hand; he tried and, in the strength Jesus gave him, he succeeded. Some of us are yet to stretch our hand, our talent, ourselves and do what seems impossible. Impossible is a word which must be banished from our vocabulary as Christians. As a famous scientist said, "The difference between the difficult and the impossible is only that the impossible takes a little longer to do."

The gospel says, "The religion scholars and Pharisees had their eye on Jesus to see if he would heal the man, hoping to catch him in a Sabbath infraction." In this incident Jesus openly broke the law. To heal was to work and work was prohibited on the Sabbath day. And that's exactly what Jesus deliberately did. Jesus broke the religious law!

By doing so, Jesus laid down the great principle that, whatever the rules and regulations may say, it is always good to do good, regardless of the moment and place. 

Failing to plan is planning to fail!

Luke 14:25-33

25 One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, 26 "Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters--yes, even one's own self!--can't be my disciple. 27 Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple. 28 "Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn't first sit down and figure the cost so you'll know if you can complete it? 29 If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you're going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: 30 'He started something he couldn't finish.'31 "Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? 32 And if he decides he can't, won't he send an emissary and work out a truce? 33 "Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple.

Food for thought!

Once Benjamin Franklin said, Failing to plan is planning to fail. What he meant is what Jesus teaches us today when he says, "Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn't first sit down and figure the cost so you'll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you're going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: 'He started something he couldn't finish."'

An unfinished building, just as unrealized life, is always a humiliating thing. And Jesus wants to save us from such humiliating. In his book "How to Succeed", Brian Adams wrote, “Plans are guideposts to success. Success arrives by design; failure by the lack of it. Plans are the guide posts along life’s road to success; without them the road is an unsure and rocky one. Poorly devised plans will never harvest riches. Achievements can be no greater than the undertakings. If your plans are sketchy and your aims low, you can never hope to achieve high rewards."

To develop a workable plan of action, mentally visualize the things you want to accomplish. Jot them down across a sheet of paper, then list the steps necessary to accomplish your plan. When you know what you want to achieve, create a plan for getting there. Once you have a basic plan, follow through with the plan until you achieve your objectives.

Stephen Covey, author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", recommends that we “begin (planning) with the end in mind.” In other words, know that you what to achieve; what you want to be, and then move backwards to square one. Whether it is a special project or a simple daily routine, begin by setting a goal that takes into account the steps needed to reach it.

And once you have set a (noble) goal, don't give up before you achieve it. Or as Jesus put it, be ready for sacrifice anything in order to get it. In other words, if you're not willing to pay the price, then you won't get the prize. There is no prize without a price. Behind everything we want in life, behind every achievement, there's a cost to pay; there's a struggle, a cross. Without the cross there's no salvation; without pain there is no gain. Remember, “failing to plan is planning to fail.” Just as a road map is an indispensable tool for a trip, the cross in whatever forms it comes to us, is an indispensable tool when we travel the journey of life toward our goals.

Did you notice? Jesus does not say, If you have a cross...; he says, Anyone who won't shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can't be my disciple. In other words, Jesus knows that we all have some cross, some struggle, some fight to make before we succeed. Do you know yours?

Have you (not) read the Bible?

Luke 6:1-5

1 On a certain Sabbath Jesus was walking through a field of ripe grain. His disciples were pulling off heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands to get rid of the chaff, and eating them. 2 Some Pharisees said, "Why are you doing that, breaking a Sabbath rule?" 3 But Jesus stood up for them. "Have you never read what David and those with him did when they were hungry? 4 How he entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? He also handed it out to his companions." 5 Then he said, "The Son of Man is no slave to the Sabbath; he's in charge."

Food for thought!

This is the first of two incidents which show the opposition to Jesus rapidly coming out into the open. He and his disciples were passing along corn fields. The fact that the disciples plucked the ears of corn was in itself no crime. One of the merciful laws of the Old Testament laid it down that anyone passing through a corn field was free to pluck the corn so long as he did not put a sickle into it (Deut.23:25).

On any other day there would have been no complaint; but this was the Sabbath. Four of the forbidden kinds of work on Sabbath were reaping, threshing, winnowing, and preparing food; and technically the disciples had broken every one of them. By plucking the corn they were guilty of reaping; by rubbing it in their hands of threshing; by flinging away the husks of winnowing; and the very fact that they ate it showed that they had prepared food on the Sabbath. To us the whole thing seems fantastic; but we must remember that to a strict Pharisee this was deadly sin; rules and regulations had been broken; this was a matter of life and death.

They made their accusation and Jesus quoted the Old Testament to them. He quoted the incident in 1Sam.21:1-6 when David and his comrades, when they were very hungry, ate the showbread of the Tabernacle, the equivalent of our Eucharist. The bread stood just as our Eucharist stands for us in the Tabernacle, for the very presence of God and none but the priests might touch or eat of it (Lev.24:5-9). But David's need had taken precedence over rules and regulations.

It is most significant that they were watching Jesus and his disciples as they passed through the corn fields. Clearly they were spying; from now on every act of Jesus' life was to be scrutinised by those bleak and critical and hostile eyes.

This said, Jesus will use this incident to teach us all: "Have you not read what David did?" The answer of course was, "Yes", but the Pharisees had never seen what it meant. It is possible to read scripture meticulously, to know the Bible inside out from cover to cover, to be able to quote it verbatim and to pass any examination on it, and yet completely miss its real meaning. Why did the Pharisees miss the meaning, and why do we so often miss it?

(i) They did not bring to scripture an open mind. They came to scripture not to learn God's will but to find proof texts to back up their own ideas. Far too often men have taken their theology to the Bible instead of finding their theology in the Bible. When we read scripture we must say, not, "Listen, Lord, for thy servant is speaking," but, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant is listening."

(ii) They did not bring a needy heart. The man who comes with no sense of need always misses the deepest meaning of scripture. When need awakens, the Bible is a new book. When we read God's book we must bring to it the open mind and the needy heart, and then to us also it will be the greatest book in the world.

Embrace the new!

Luke 5:33-39

The Pharisees and scribes said to Jesus, "John's disciples are well- known for keeping fasts and saying prayers. Also the Pharisees. But you seem to spend most of your time at parties. Why?" 34 Jesus said, "When you're celebrating a wedding, you don't skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to pull in your belt, but this isn't the time. As long as the bride and groom are with you, you have a good time. 35 When the groom is gone, the fasting can begin. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come! 36" No one cuts up a fine silk scarf to patch old work clothes; you want fabrics that match. 37 And you don't put wine in old, cracked bottles; 38 you get strong, clean bottles for your fresh vintage wine. 39 And no one who has ever tasted fine aged wine prefers unaged wine. "

Food for thought!

There is in religious people a kind of passion for the old. Nothing moves more slowly than the religious. The trouble with the Pharisees was that the whole religious outlook of Jesus was so startlingly new they simply could not adjust to it.

Jesus used two illustrations to make his point. "You cannot put a new patch on an old garment," he said, "The strong new cloth will only rip the rent in the old cloth wider." Bottles in Palestine were made of skin. When new wine was put into them it fermented and gave off gas. If the bottle was new, there was a certain elasticity in the skin and it gave with the pressure; but if it was old, the skin was dry and hard and it would burst. "Don't," says Jesus, "let your mind become like an old wineskin. Be elastic, be open to new ideas, be open to Good news.

The whole passage is about Jesus' condemnation of the shut mind and a plea that we should not reject new ideas.

(i) We should never be afraid of adventurous thought. If there is such a person as the Holy Spirit, God must ever be leading us into new truth. Imagine: how would medicine fare if doctors were restricted to drugs and methods and techniques three hundred years old?"

(ii) The man with something new has always to fight. Galileo was branded a heretic when he held that the earth moved round the sun. Lister had to fight for antiseptic technique in surgical operations. Simpson had to battle against opposition in the merciful use of chloroform. Let us have a care that when we resent new ideas we are not simply demonstrating that our minds are grown old and inelastic; and let us never shirk the adventure of thought.

(iii) We should never be afraid of new methods. That a thing has always been done may very well be the best reason for stopping doing it. That a thing has never been done may very well be the best reason for trying it. There is a wise and an unwise conservatism. Let us have a care that in thought and in action we are not hidebound reactionaries when we ought, as Christians, to be gallant adventurers.

Business not as usual

Luke 5:1-11

Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point. When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.

Food for thought!

Put out into deep water!

Jesus knows how to challenge us; to pull our legs. He challenged Peter and his companions. Night is the time for fishing and the proper place to cast the net is near the shore. This is what Peter knew; but if Jesus wished to fish by day light in the middle of the Lake, Simon was not too weary to try. Jesus sometimes tells us to do the contrary, to do what's against the common practice, to go against expectations, to do business not as usual.

When we follow the guidance of the Lord in our lives, we achieve results that will blow our minds. This is what we see in Peter's miraculous catch of fish. He and his men toiled all night long and caught nothing; they were following traditional and time worn methods. They were following their tradition, their common practice, their own minds as to where and how to throw the net. The result, in one word, was failure. But when they followed the Lord's guidance which, humanly speaking, did not make much sense (fishermen do not set the net in broad daylight), the result was a resounding success.

Even for Jesus it is business unusual. Up to now Jesus has been preaching in synagogues; now he is at the lakeside. Jesus is now conducting his business in an usual way. His church is now the lakeside and the open road, and his pulpit a boat. Jesus would go anywhere where men would listen to him. When the synagogue was shut Jesus took to the open road. Business unsual.