Truth

Today’s Gospel Text: Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesare'a Philip'pi, he asked his disciples, "Who do men say that the Son of man is?" 14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Eli'jah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 20 Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. 21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you." 23 But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men." Matt 16:13-23

Reflection: Impossible! How can anyone arrive at such a conclusion as that of the Apostle Peter?

How can Peter stand alone in a crowd and proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

On the other hand how can Jesus approve what is not proclaimed by a majority? Why did Jesus not go by the democratic principles of life?

Should not truth come from the majority?

May be we should go by what the leftist have to say and arrive at truth by asking from the marginalized and those on the fringe of society. 

Once again scripture reveals to us how to be wise and arrive at the truth?

Not by flesh and blood reasoning and hence do not give extra credence to reasoning or decisions based on majority but to decisions that are based on prayer.

It should be a decision which is based on discernment; seeking God’s will and mind in the things that we do and proclaim to others.

Today we have even people in authority and positions who reject the faith of Christ and thus give credence to flesh and blood reasoning’s.

Humanly speaking Peter could have asked for trouble and even a rebuke from the Lord, who would not mince words in order to correct what is false.

Likewise, if any among the crowd would have heard it then they would have bundled him up with his master for stoning.

Did they not judge the Lord for claiming himself to be the Son of God, and crucify him for the same very reason?

Truth stands alone and yet it is never alone because the might of God is on the side of truth and nothing happens unless God allows it. 

Prayer:  Lord, teach me wisdom in the secret of my heart and a Spirit of perseverance to adhere to it.

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

Who is God?

Today’s Gospel Text:  And Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And he who sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. 47 If any one hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has bidden me." John 12:44-50

Reflection: The vastness of God, his beauty and grandeur, his omnipotence and omniscience who has comprehended and can ever comprehend.  

It would be foolishness for humans to contain God in their limited vocabulary or mind even though we must communicate to one another about him and for our own good.

People deep down in their hearts having felt the need for God have invented their own gods and religions, and even in our day we have people who still keep creating gods or make themselves a god.

Even the atheists are gods in themselves, either worshipping their own ideas or expect people to worship their concept of life. 

So too the humanists of various hues and shades think that they do a great service to humanity by giving humanism precedence over the unjust or evil gods in which their imaginations were formed in.

The Christian world view is very clear, you cannot arrive at the knowledge of God and his nature by human reasoning’s alone, unless we are assisted by divine grace, which includes his revelation.

Hence the prerogative is God’s and we know from scripture that it is out of love for humanity that he ultimately chose to become one like us to help us know him and what is more he reconciles we the enemies of God to himself, by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

Jesus is the complete revelation and salvation of God to an imperfect humanity doomed to eternal damnation. 

In Jesus God becomes one like us in all things in order that we may know him and what is more he saves us too by not only revealing to us the demands of God but by becoming our assistance to walk in his footsteps:

"He who believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And he who sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness." (vs. 44-46)

Prayer:  Lord, I believe that you are the Son of God come to save us from our sinfulness.Help me walk always believing in you. 

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

Delve into God

Today’s Gospel Text: Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." 37 He answered, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of man; 38 the field is the world, and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom; the weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. 41 The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. Matt 13:36-43

Reflection: We know what humans are all about and yet they are so mysterious. Each individual is a mystery to be discovered. We could even spend our life time discovering each other and yet find that there are certain aspects which will remain a mystery to us.

The Gospel text of today reveals the mysterious nature of God. He is hidden and yet in his generosity and mercy towards us reveals himself to us.

We can safely say this about Jesus our Lord and God: The more he revealed himself to us the more we threatened his existence when he walked on earth among us, ultimately crucifying him to a most ignoble and miserable death.

In the many parables, he teaches us the mysterious nature of God offered to us and yet it does not completely reveal the complete mystery of God.

We can look at it from a bitter point of view or we can view this from a more positive point of view. A child wanting bread can be either refused by his father or given money to explore the mystery of buying bread, rather than the child having the bread itself .

Likewise God, reveals to us, so that we may explore into that mystery which saves us, because we are now dependent on him and grow in dependency on him who alone can save us from the unseen powers and principalities of wickedness at work in us, which is far removed from our visible eyes.

Blessed are these humble Dedicated Disciples who having not understood these parables of Jesus, could have said to themselves; “if he speaks in such mysterious language then why should we go to him again and beg of him or perhaps he himself doesn’t know the interpretations to these parables.”

Yet they knew that every revelation of God, in a mysterious way, is an invitation to persevere in understanding the mystery further but with his help and wisdom.

Prayer:  Father, you who has chosen to reveal your Son to us, may we understand all those mysteries that are necessary for our salvation.

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

Jesus revealed himself

Scripture/Bible:  After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tibe'ri-as; and he revealed himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathan'a-el of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zeb'edee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat; but that night they caught nothing. 4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any fish?" They answered him, "No." 6 He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, for the quantity of fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and sprang into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. 9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. John 21:1-14

Reflection:  Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." Could this be another way of saying hell with Jesus and all this discussion about him?  "I am fed up, let’s be practical," Peter may have said in his mind. What does his resurrection mean to me, if not being practical?

He has risen or maybe not, his resurrection may be another of those ghost appearances which people talk about.  Yes we have seen those wonderful acts and miracles and the greatest thing that he taught us was love, yet it doesn’t solve my predicament. Hence upper most in Peter’s mind could have been the thought; how to be practical?

Fish and I will be able to feed my wife and my mother- in – law and a few poor waiting outside the synagogue to beg. That would be my option for the poor. Let me be practical in loving my neighbor as myself.

There are many in this world who are being practical, like Peter of old, with the Gospel of Christ.  They have adopted the praxis approach to the gospel.  In their myopic vision they see the kingdom of God as a human agenda from a praxis angle, viz. which is establishing a kingdom of justice, peace and brotherhood, earthly emancipation.  

In that they think that they love all humanity. They think that this way they are not discriminating between caste and creed and they have the complete vision of love. 

Blessed is the man who is open, not to the wisdom of the world or to Marx and liberation theories but rather to the revelation of Christ, who here comes again to reveal himself the third time to the Disciples.

There is only the one task he has for them; that which comes to them now through revelation has to be communicated to the world. If this is not love and if we do not see love in this proclamation of the revelation of God in Christ Jesus then we are as St. Paul says; “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”  1 Cor 13:1

Prayer:  Lord, reveal yourself to me more and more each day as I come before you so that I may be your instrument of love.

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

Jesus: Ultimate Revelation

Today’s Scripture: The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And he found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." 44 Now Philip was from Beth-sa'ida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathan'a-el, and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 Nathan'a-el said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." John 1:43-46

Reflection:  There are times when we have seen nurses who seem to know better than doctors. And there are times when there are mechanics who would know better than automobiles engineers.  An ordinary housewife may dish out a better and more palatable spread than a professional chef.

Did Jesus recognize this expertise in Phillip, who proves his calling, when he immediately sets out calling on Nathanael to follow Jesus?

The message for each one is this: Jesus is the safest bet, the best search word, offering true meaning to all of life’s problems.

If the highest of authorities; Moses and the Prophets have spoken about him then he is the sure and definite one. There can be no authority on earth greater than these, for the Jews, in showing them the path of true life.  The apostle Phillip picked this up well and proclaimed him as such immediately.

Prayer:  Lord, may this encounter with you take away whatever doubt I may carry about you.

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