Luke 21: 20-28 (Thursday, November 29, 2007)

Jesus invites us in today’s gospel to trust in him. When things are not going smoothly; when life becomes too difficult; when you get to a point of giving up; Jesus says, hold firm in your trust. We see this trust in the life of Job in the Old Testament. When he lost everything and even the wife asked him to curse God and die, Job held firm to the Lord because he believed strongly that when he is down to nothing, God is up to something in his life. What about Daniel in the Old Testament? When he was thrown into the lions den, he trusted that his God will save him and His God saved him. In my life I know so many people who gave up. They could not trust in the Lord when they met challenging times. They felt the Lord had abandoned them. Remember, all the those difficult and challenging times have a life span, but the life with Jesus is eternal. Let us stand firm in him because he is coming with power and great glory to liberate us from our present bondage.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ give to us the faith of Abraham, the trust of Job and the courage of Daniel. Help us every day of our lives stand firm, believing that our day of redemption is almost at hand.

Luke 21: 12-19 (Wednesday, November 28, 2007)

Jesus does not delude his followers that their life would be easy. It would be a challenging life. They will be persecuted because they have chosen to follow him. The evil people would seem to be the ones that are succeeding and they will Lord it over the Christians. When you begin to live a radical Christian life, people are going to think of you as being weird; your family members may even laugh at you. Your persecution may even come from family members who would say nasty things about you, just because you do not want to cooperate with them in cheating and lying. That is the cost of discipleship and Jesus Christ would not let you go unrewarded. All Christians need to do is endure and persevere. If they endure and persevere, they would be victorious. The Cross is Christian victory. Why would Jesus say some of us would be killed because of his name and at the same time say, not even a hair of our head would be destroyed? This is not a contradiction. Jesus Christ is telling us that we shall live forever unhurt in a new life that we shall receive by virtue of the testimony of our faith. It is in that new kingdom that Christians belong and not the present kingdom that would pass away.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, you persevered and joyfully carried your heavy Cross because you knew that the Cross was going to bring us redemption. Help us also to carry our crosses every day of our lives.

Luke 21: 5-11 (Tuesday, November 27, 2007)

Many Christians today are afraid of issues of the last judgment. We are carried away by prophesies of when the world would come. As Jesus tells us in the gospel, no one knows the time that this will come. The only motto for Christians should be “Always be ready.” I often ask people what they will do if they knew the Lord was coming tomorrow. I usually get interesting responses. Some will say they will spend the whole day in the church praying; others will say they will confess their sins and ask for forgiveness, for others, they will reconcile with all those they have wronged or who have wronged them. My response is that you don’t want to wait to know when the Lord will come before you begin to do these things. You have to start leaving your Christian life as you should, so that when the Lord comes he will find you doing the good work you always do. Christians should look with anticipation to the judgment. The only commandment at the judgment is love. If we live out radically the law of love Jesus has given to us, the judgment day would be a celebration of our victory over sin and death.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, help us to love as you have commanded. Strengthen us every day of our lives to abide in this love, so that when we face you at judgment, we may be found worthy to enter into your kingdom.

Luke 21: 1-4 (Monday, November 26, 2007)

Jesus tells us in today’s gospel that, the widow did not give from her surplus but from all that she has. That is the whole idea of giving. It has to be sacrificial. I use to think that I will begin to give to God when I have had enough and I can spare God some change. I then discovered that God is not a beggar in a street that I spare some change from my excess. I should give to him joyfully even when I do not have much. One of the things I have noticed since I started giving weekly is that, I have not gone lacking because I gave. It reminds me of that bumper sticker “givers never lack.” God is primary every month as I write my budget. I have God’s own percentage that I should give him irrespective of all the expenses I might need to make. Some times it truly hurts when I have to give of the last money in my bank account to Jesus but I keep in mind that giving that hurts truly shows the depth of my love to the person that I am giving. While it may hurt, it must be done out of freedom and not coercion. For as St. Paul tells us, the Lord loves a cheerful giver.

Prayer:
Lord, give us the courage to give without counting the cost.

2 Samuel 5: 1-3; Colossians 1: 12-20; Luke 23: 35-43 (Sunday, November 25, 2007 – Feast of Christ the King)

Growing up in a culturally conscious society of Africa, I have a good understanding of what kingship is about. My community had a king and we all respected our king so much. The king wielded so much power. This kingship is different from the kingship of Jesus. When you come from a society where there are so much expectations of the king, you will understand why the Jews were disappointed with the “acclaimed kingship” of Jesus. A king is never expected to be weak. The community expects the king to show his power by waging wars and making them super-powers. Jesus’ kingship was completely different from the expectation of the people. They expected a king that was going to sit upon the throne of David and would rule over the whole world, rebuild the temple, bring the Jews all back from exile and place them in the number one position worldwide with dominion over all the earth. In a sense, Jesus fulfilled all these, the people failed to see this because they were looking in the physical, instead of in the spiritual. Jesus took the whole human institution of kingship and transformed it into a spiritual institution. In this sense, Jesus was truly a king.

Jesus was never weak. He was strong. It is only a strong and brave person that can embrace death joyfully for what he believes in. He was not ready to change his positions in order to save his life. He knew what He came for, he stood by it even unto death. Jesus waged wars and was victorious. He waged the war over Satan and death and liberated the whole of creation by his resurrection. Even though Satan thought he had defeated when Jesus died on the Cross, Jesus rose and showed that neither Satan nor death had any power over him. He rose and never to die again. The victory of the Cross makes all those who believe in him super-powers. He has given to them the powers to conquer all powers that are contrary to him. Jesus Christ not only sits upon the throne of David, but he sits upon the throne of the Almighty Father, in which he exercises his dominion over the entire world. Everyone is subjected to him, whether Christian or not. The new temple is the body of Christ and all those who are in exile in their different beliefs are welcomed to this new temple. This new temple would be the basis of their salvation.

JESUS IS TRULY A KING. NOT ONLY A KING OF THE JEWS, BUT THE KING OF THE WHOLE WORLD.

Luke 20: 27-40 (Saturday, November 24, 2007)

The Sadducees do not believe in the resurrection and Angels. They hold as authoritative only the first five books of the bible, the Torah. Their question in today’s gospel is to disprove the teaching on the resurrection. Jesus does not attempt to respond to them using the teachings on the resurrection in Maccabees and Daniel. He knows they will not accept these authoritative. He returns to Exodus 3. When the Sadducees argue against Jesus using the example of marriage, they are looking at resurrection more or less as a resuscitation of the body. Christian resurrection as understood in the New Testament is not resuscitation. It is a transformation in which our bodies are no longer mortal or corruptible. The resurrection conquers all authority and the last enemy of the human person is death. The resurrection conquers death. Since death is conquered by the resurrection of Jesus, Christians too can hope in the resurrection. And since Christians are transformed and they would live forever with Jesus in heaven where he is the all in all, there would be no need for marriage.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, you are our resurrection and our life. Come alive in our lives that we may live as people who hope for the resurrection.