Service

Today’s Gospel Text: Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.”  Jn. 12: 24-26

Reflection: For some people service comes very easily; whether it is a service to the poor or to the sick.

Some are proficient in delegated service or a work that is delegated to them.

There are some types who will avoid any form of service, even a service for a noble cause.

The Christian idea of service has a very broad meaning and starts with the service of the God who also serves us because of his great love for us.

Hence a good and faithful service is founded on the love of God and this love of God is made easy by the death of Jesus on the cross; a proof of the eternal and persistent love of God.

Since we have a proof of God’s love in the cross of Jesus, all that we need to do is to respond to this love initiative of God.

A love initiative that is sealed in the precious of blood of Jesus and now continues to be manifested in various ways.

On the other hand there are many who want to serve the Lord and do mighty things for him but would not want to follow him and his teachings.

Of this Jesus already warns us about them:

“Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven."  (DR: Mt. 7:21)

On the other hand Jesus assures us of the reward which every human being seeks, including a servant.

The reward will be the presence of Christ Jesus and the honor the Father will give to the one who sincerely and in a dedicated way serves Him.

Prayer:  Lord, teach us the way of service that our lives may glorify your holy name.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

 

Prophet

Today’s Gospel Text:  And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Eli'jah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; 26 and Eli'jah was sent to none of them but only to Zar'ephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Eli'sha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Na'aman the Syrian." 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. 30 But passing through the midst of them he went away. Luke 4:24-30

Reflection: Does anyone wants to be a servant of the Lord? I am sure many of us would want to be one.

We want to serve our great Lord because we love and want to follow him whatever the cost. We know that we love him because he first loved us and still continues to love us and without his love we would always have difficulty loving him.

But how many of us would want to become prophets of the Lord, seeking to speak his voice, on his behalf?  This means; seeking to know God’s mind and speaking his mind to a wicked and perverse generation, which never stops from rebelling against the Lord.

  

It means, many a times, speaking to a stiff-neck people who are hardened with the cares of the world and would not care about their creator nor give him the obeisance that is due to him.

It also means correcting that generation of people both ordinary and those in authority over their hardness of heart for turning away from the Lord and even leading the folk, redeemed by the blood of Christ astray or for feeding on these lambs of Christ.

Who will stop them if not the voice of the prophet who speaks the unpleasant words, which convicts, hurts and disturbs.  It may disturb to such an extent that the hearer feels that their very existence is at stake.

The words of the prophet maybe no murderous action but yet his words have managed to intimidate the murderous wicked man, with evil intent.

Though this is the fate that awaits any prophets, their existence is a must in any generation. How else can the wicked claim that they were not warned about the impending judgment, for their rejection of God’s word?

"Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!" Num 11:29

Prayer: Lord, if thou will then prepare my heart and my lips to speak thy word.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Waiting to Trap

Today’s Gospel Text:  Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 And they watched him, to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Come here." 4 And he said to them, "Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent. 5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out, and immediately held counsel with the Hero'di-ans against him, how to destroy him. Mark 3:1-6

Reflection: This passage of the gospel brings out the great element of God’s nature and his love for us.

Here are a people who are waiting to accuse the innocent Jesus. The moment seems right:

It is the Sabbath and they know the weakness of Jesus (at least that’s how they looked at Jesus) to heal a person and Jesus is bound to exercise his weakness for showing off (this is how they may have perceived his actions).

And as expected; here there was a man with withered hand and Jesus invites him to come to him and stretch out his hand; and he is immediately  restored.

But what comes out still more strongly is the emotional reaction of Jesus over their hardness of hearts.

The hardness of the heart is seen not so much in the emphasis of the Pharisees on the law, instead at the root of it is the blindness to understand God’s priority when he gave the law.

This factor of applying the law irrationally without looking at the real human priority and purpose can be seen anywhere and in any society, as long as sinful humans exist.  This is unlike those who would deliberately misinterpret a law in order to beat someone out of vengeance.

Here the Pharisees were not merely misinterpreting the law as of priority but their greater aim seemed to be to indict Jesus.

Jesus' reaction is a righteous anger; if at the cross he cried out: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34), then here it must have been; "listen! see! believe! for you do not know what you are doing in the hardness of your hearts, where you are heading; the path of damnation.

As if it was not enough it made Jesus grieve at the hardness of their hearts; which was not a mere reaction for the sake of reaction but could best be surmised in a question: where are you heading (the path of hell fire)? Or what has happened to your humanity, that you don's seem to care about the suffering of your fellow human being?   

This can happen to anyone of us as we continue in a life of self-seeking, leaving out God and his saving help.

Prayer:  Lord, let me seek thee and by thy holy wisdom transform me and thy Holy Spirit guide me all through life’s journey, so that I may care of my brothers and sisters. 

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Resurrection

Today’s Gospel Text:  There came to him some Sadducees, those who say that there is no resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the wife and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and died without children; 30 and the second 31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife."

34 And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; 35 but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, 36 for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to him." 39 And some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have spoken well." 40 For they no longer dared to ask him any question. Luke 20:27-40

Reflection: How can those who believe in God think of life without often reflecting on the resurrection?

The very foundation of our faith is based on the resurrection; Christ Jesus our founder has gone ahead of us by dying, then rising from the dead on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

We could think of people coming back to life within the first 5 to 7 minutes of their death or even a little more but to rise from the dead on the third day is a profound miracle and a powerful message for us to reflect on.

Christ’ resurrection is a fact of history, recorded in the annals of history (Flavius Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 3, 3 ) and proved by the empty tomb, whose stone was found moved on the morning of the resurrection and is found mentioned in all the four gospel and the other writings of the New Testament. 

It was preached by the Apostles as eyewitnesses to his appearances, even under grave threat to their lives and subsequently had to face it for their testimony along with other witnesses of that time.

When one believes in the resurrection, they would also accept the fact of life eternal and what Jesus has to reveal to us about this life: “God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." Rev 21:3-4

Thus Jesus in the gospel text reveals to us an important aspect of the resurrection; “those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. (vss. 35-36)

Now concerning the fruit of resurrection, this is what St. Paul has to teach us: "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him," 1 Cor 2:9

Prayer: Lord, let my actions never betray my belief in the sure resurrection of the just which you have accomplished for us by your death and Resurrection.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Climb the Tree

Today’s Gospel Text:  He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And there was a man named Zacchae'us; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. 3 And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchae'us, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today." 6 So he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it they all murmured, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." 8 And Zacchae'us stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold." 9 And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost." Luke 19:1-10

Reflection: So often in life we feel we do not meet up to God’s standards and demands and we tend to keep away from God and thus are loser's that could have found transformation in the love of God..

We look at our own sinfulness and poverty of spirit and think that the Lord will not accept us nor welcome us in love.

Many a times we look at ourselves in the light of other men who are either holy or appear to be holy and we think we are our poor self in comparison to them and we do not fit into God’s plan in any way.

The Gospel text teaches us that we are wrong: No matter and whatever our stature, whether in our own eyes or in the eyes of others, we are still welcome in God’s eyes.

The fact that Jesus looked at Zacchae’us and welcomed him by assuring to go to his place is proof of God’s love and mercy towards the unrighteous sinner.

This could be a reasonable argument: “Well Jesus could look at the short in stature Zacchaeus because he could climb the tree and make himself visible.”

Though God could fail to look at the short in stature on account of their sinfulness, even though he loves them, yet he has given them various means to turn to his love.

And one of the best means that he has given us is the tree on which each one can climb on in order to draw God’s attention towards us just the way Zacchaeus did. 

The tree that God offers us is much more wonderful than the tree that condemned Adam or the tree that saved Zacchaeus.

It is the tree of the cross which every sinner can come to, no matter how big their sin or dark their sinfulness,  no matter how short in stature they may be, in God’s plan we are offered a tree which he embraced through the death of his Son Jesus on it.

Countless generations have found their Salvation at this tree of God's love, manifest in all its perfection, which only exudes life and attracts God’s total attention.  

Prayer:  Lord, as I bow low before thy Holy Cross, transform me by thy love manifested on the cross and cleansed by thy blood strengthen me to serve you with unfailing zeal.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

The All Powerful Name

Today’s Gospel Text:  The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" 18 And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." 21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. 22 All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." 23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." Luke 10:17-24

Reflection: The all powerful name of Jesus vanquishes every evil and even brings them to submission to us who have that name and value it:

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8

Yet this truth could hold very little value to the many who do not understand the full significance of such an action of God by sending his Son Jesus into the world.

In the sin of our first parents we were subjected to the power of evil, sin and decay. Death was an inevitable consequence of that first sin and hence we all are under the power of death.

These evil to which are subjected to are further taken advantage of by the devil by either tempting us or oppressing us by various means into various kinds of bondages of life; of lethargy and sin pleasures.

Thus we are made slaves to the evil one in long as we are slaves to these sinful tendencies at work: ‘”… but I am carnal, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Rom 7:14b-15

  

The extreme form such evil takes makes us slaves to him in such a way that we are unable to relate with others in peace and joy and or even if we do relate then it is only in constant conflict.  The worst is when we led on by such oppresses forces to drastic measures of either seeking the destruction of the other or self either through immediate suicide or over indulgence.

We are often bewildered by these destructive tendencies, especially manifested in the prime of youth and wonder where as parents they have faltered.

They have faltered in not keeping the flame of faith alive in their own hearts and subsequently in the hearts of these children entrusted to them as stewards by God.

Prayer: Lord, help me not to depart from thy holy presence and ever to lose hope in your all powerful name to set us free from every evil.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us