Category: Uncategorized

***

Gospel: John 4: 43-54

At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee.
For Jesus himself testified
that a prophet has no honor in his native place.
When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,
since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast;
for they themselves had gone to the feast.

Then he returned to Cana in Galilee,
where he had made the water wine.
Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,
he went to him and asked him to come down
and heal his son, who was near death.
Jesus said to him,
“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”
The royal official said to him,
“Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.
While the man was on his way back,
his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.
He asked them when he began to recover.
They told him,
“The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.”
The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,
“Your son will live,”
and he and his whole household came to believe.
Now this was the second sign Jesus did
when he came to Galilee from Judea.

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

Let’s walk for a moment in this father’s shoes.

His child is deathly ill, lying in bed at home. Although he’s a high-ranking government official, no amount of wealth or influence will cure his child. He needs Jesus.

However, there’s one major problem: the Lord is 20-miles away in Galilee. 

I imagine this father sprinting, searching desperately for Jesus until he finds him. Finally, out of breath, he throws himself at the Lord’s feet, begging Jesus to visit his home.

But the Lord insists, “You may go; your son will live.”

What proof does this father have? How can he know for certain? If we were in his shoes, wouldn’t we ask the Lord for a sign, or confirmation of the healing?

But, the Gospel says, “the man believed what Jesus said to him and left.”

Now he can walk – not run – back home.

***

This man’s forty-mile roundtrip journey from his home in Capernaum to Galilee and back is symbolic of the Christian journey.

***

We begin by searching.

Though it may not be an ill child, something inside of us is stirred, causing us to look for Jesus. After a certain period of time, we find him. 

We encounter him.

That encounter with the Divine changes our perspective; it fills us with peace. Then we do what this father did – return home and share the Good News with others.

As the Gospel says, “He and his whole household came to believe.”

Which stage of the journey am I in?

Am I still seeking, searching for answers? Have I found the Lord? Am I now sharing my faith with others?

***

May the Lord bless our Lenten journeys, so that we may proclaim with others at Easter, “My Lord and my God!”

***

***

Image credits: (1) QuoteFancy (2) 123RF (3) Kairos Network Church

***

Gospel: John 3: 14-21

Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, 
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, 
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish 
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, 
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, 
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world, 
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light, 
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, 
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

When I was a boy, I remember a Southern tale about a man who operated a bridge connecting his small town to another.

The man’s job was to raise that bridge when a ship was passing through the local waterway, and to lower it when a train was approaching.

One day, he brought his son to work to show him what Daddy did. The boy marveled at all of the switches, the windows, and the seemingly magical bridge that was raised and lowered by the flick of his father’s finger.

When it came time for the final train of the day to pass through, the father realized that his son had gone missing.

From his tower post, he saw his boy playing at the base of the hill, right where the train was coming and the bridge was set to drop.

He knew if he lowered the bridge without warning that it’d kill his son. But if he didn’t, then the train speeding towards them would be derailed, crashing into the river below, killing everyone on board.

This poor father had to make a split-second decision: to lower the bridge or to rush and save his son.

***

He lowered the bridge.

***

No one onboard that train knew about the sacrifice this father made as the train sped on.

But how might these passengers’ lives have been changed if they known about this father’s sacrifice, that his son died in their place?

Would they have returned to thank him? Or made some effort to pay it forward?

***

In today’s Gospel, Jesus shares, perhaps, his most popular words ever spoken:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life.”

Just as that father lowered the bridge, allowing the train to pass through safely saving everyone onboard, so God lowered the bridge from heaven to earth at the cost of his Son, allowing humanity to pass safely into eternal life.

Imagine all the people onboard this train. God does not discriminate between one passenger and another. All who believe in him Sha find eternal life.

In fact, he’d lower that bridge if you or I were the only person onboard.

***

How does this truth change us?

Are we ever like those passengers onboard the train, which sped along without us aware of what happened? Have we sped through Lent?

Or have our hearts been transformed by Christ’s sacrifice, inspiring us to pay it forward?

***

In three weeks, we will celebrate Easter, this marvelous truth that God has loved us and given himself for us. 

He has lowered the bridge.

May these remaining weeks of Lent be marked with ever deeper faith and gratitude that, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life.”

***

***

Image credits: (1) Alabaster Grace Ministries (2) Reddit (3) Christ is a Bridge to Heaven, Elizabeth Wang, Fine Art America

***

Gospel: Mark 12: 28-34

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
“Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 
with all your soul, 
with all your mind, 
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding, 
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

In Jesus’ time, there were two major schools of thought. 

Some Jews wanted to expand the Law as much as possible. They were meticulous and exceptionally detailed; so much so that, in addition to the 10 Commandments, they created 613 extra rules to follow!

Other Jews treated the Law like an accordion. They wanted to collapse it down to its very essence.

This is the approach that Jesus takes.

***

Collapsing the Law, he says the entirety of it – and by extension all of Christianity – can be summarized in a single word: love.

But what exactly is love?

Love’s a bit like humility; it’s hard to define. But you know it when you see it. You know it when you feel it. And you know it when you don’t.

Throughout the centuries, poets like Dante have tried to define it with varying degrees of success. For example, he once wrote, “Love is what moves the sun and the other stars.” 

Perhaps a bit too abstract. Shakespeare, on the other hand, stated it practically.

In one of the most famous scenes from Romeo and Juliet, a young Juliet gazes down upon Romeo from her balcony and says to him:

“Romeo, the more I give to you, the more I seem to have.”

***

That’s the very essence of love: the more we give, the more we have.

Juliet lived in a world of “we,” not “me.”

Married couples and parents understand this well. Think of how delighted you are when you see your children succeed.  

Or the delight teachers experience when they teach their students how to read. Or the sense of meaning we find when giving the perfect gift, forgiving a neighbor, or volunteering to help the most vulnerable among us.

If Juliet is right, the more we give to anyone, the happier we become. This is why love fulfills the Law; it’s the force that moves the sun and the other stars. 

***

So, how can we be like Christ, giving more of ourselves away today?

The more we do, the happier we’ll become.

***

***

Image credits: (1) AZ Quotes (2) CL, Church Leaders (3) Connie Hertz