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Removing Other gods From The Father's House

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The Passover of the Jews was near. A big deal for Jews! They rehearsed and remembered their divine rescue from Egyptian slavery, a day that is ingrained in the minds of the children of Israel. As it was customary, Jesus would be in Capernaum often teaching about the Kingdom of God. After having spent a few days with his mom and brothers, he went to Jerusalem. In the Temple, the idea was that people of God gather; pursuing holiness and purity in front of a Holy God, so that God, would come and vindicate them. Remember they were conquered by Romans, they certainly had many prayer requests asking God to intervene in their lives. As part of the Passover celebrations were the Matzah: A simple meal, made from flour and water without any yeast: a symbol of the meager rations the Jewish slaves had to subsist on during their enslavement, and a reminder of the poverty and hardship they endured. When Jesus got to the temple, it was business as usual for Israel’s leaders. The very reason to come
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Seeking The Face of Christ

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If there is anything that fascinate us the most, it would be the existence of other life forms/ other worlds. We are drawn to all kinds of imaginations about life elsewhere in the Universe. Star trek? UFO’s? Are we alone in this vast Universe? Jesus comes describing the realm of his Father’s Kingdom and we are less interested? What is going on? The Gospel of Mark presents the evidence of this Kingdom, where Jesus came from. 3 Witnesses: Peter, James and John went on this trip up on a high mountain with Jesus! They described in detail what they saw and heard. Mark tells us that they were so terrified that they mumbled words just to make small talk conversation. Jesus intended us to see the evidence of God’s glory, a glimpse into the eternal if you will. They saw how changed in appearance Jesus was, and they recognized two of the most respected Israel leaders: Elijah and Moses. Was Jesus showing them a window into his eternal Kingdom? Sort of, on-the-job training and mentoring? Is that
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True Freedom In Christ's Embrace!

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We live in a world so sophisticated that we have answers to many questions on our finger tips: We have google/ Artificial Intelligence or new medical equipment that makes surgeries less invasive and more effective. In some way, this progress offers great freedom and efficiency which wouldn’t be available otherwise. But, if we are being honest with ourselves, we recognize the dilemma that still, not all our questions and concerns will find solutions despite all this progress. We run into the danger of hailing this human progress much higher in the place of God. We were made to worship God, if we don’t, we will substitute anything in God’s place. Isaiah warned Israel about putting creatures in the place of God and fearing them more than we should fear God. This prompted God to ask: “Are those fit to be my rivals? To whom will you compare me, or who is my equal? The people of God had been under a lot of distress in Assyrian and Babylonian captivity and forgot the power of their God, and
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Scatter-brained? Look To Jesus!

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As you know, I still struggle with English idioms even if I have lived-in English-speaking world for decades. There is a new one I recently acquired: To be scatter-brained or mentally scattered. I looked it up: It seemed to describe a situation when our lives have a bunch of things going on at once, and multiple things to manage in each of those areas … it can feel really messy and scattered. This kind of feeling of messiness can cause us stress. We all have been there before, haven’t we? We learn to put up a good face because we don’t want the world to know that we are not in control! Am I right? This is a human trait. We all go through life differently; face different battles and we react differently. Some of us may use aspirin or melatonin (Sleep aid) to cope better, and others develop new ways of coping with stress, some positive and others negative. The Gospel of Mark does not tell us everything about all the people Jesus met. He mentions some really amazing healings that stood
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The Least Of These

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Oscar Romero who was the archbishop of El Salvador, was assassinated while presiding at a memorial Mass in the Carmelite chapel of a Hospital on March 24, 1980. The archbishop was standing behind the altar, preparing the gifts at the offertory, when two mercenaries approached the chapel and fired a single shot from a military assault rifle. The archbishop died within minutes from shock and blood loss. He was source of hope for millions of oppressed and impoverished Salvadorians, and was seen as the greatest threat to the greed and arrogance of the oligarchy of 14 families that ruled El Salvador as if it were their own. Archbishop Romero was known to say the truth, and to say it loud and clear. He often said: “The word of God is like the light of the sun. It illuminates beautiful things, but also things which we would rather not see.” This got me thinking... What is it that happens in our communities that we would rather not see? Perhaps most of these may not end up with a 911 call, an
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Love Others Intensely Because You Were Loved Intensely

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Without love, nurture and nutrition, no living thing can prosper. We humans are no different. In fact, statistics demonstrate that infants that were not held with love; compassion and proper nutrition, always exhibit troubles of insecurity later in adulthood. How interesting that Psalm 1 provided us with a beautiful imagery similar to the vine and its branches in John 15. The image describes a tree planted close to a river; bearing fruits in due season with leaves that do not wither. The Psalmist was comparing people who walk in the way of righteousness to this beautiful tree with green branches all year. Of course, the tree is healthy because it has had plenty sun; its roots have sufficient water and well-nourished in its soil. All this imagery is pointing to believers with a healthy, strong relationship with God! Their roots are deeply embedded in Jesus. They are grounded in Christ; stable and secure because they are constantly nourished by divine life. It begs the question of what
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Check Your Mirror!

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There is a growing issue in our modern world, when it comes to overly opinionated or offended responses. Quite frankly, it has reached an epidemic proportion when one has to either be in offense or defense mode no matter what the subject of discussion is. But this is not new. In Jesus time, it was no different. The Chief Priests and Pharisees were stuck in rigidity over the law that they missed entirely God’s intentions. They were the good guys; they knew the laws since they were educated. Jesus did not fit in any of their category, so they approached him trying to discredit him. The Gospel message today is about correcting some of our misconceptions, where we may think we are absolutely too correct to be corrected. And, wait a minute! That’s when we are realize that we were actually trekking in the wrong direction. The Chief Priests and Pharisees got that same shock after interacting with Jesus. Paul knew our human tendency to be on our high horse because we’re right. So, he encourag
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