BOND WITH JESUS

Bond with Jesus Happy Mothers’ Day! Mothers and their children share a bond that is deep and hard to comprehend. How many of you mothers would donate your kidney to your child without missing a beat? Yes, that’s a strong bond! The way I see it, it’s as if God had put a chip in a mother’s brain to respond to the cries of the baby. They are that connected. Jesus talks about a similar connectedness: He says that on that day, of his departure: “You will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you.” It’s not just a feeling in your gut, but a deep connectedness of mutual indwelling between the Father and the Son and also between the Son and his disciples. This is just amazing for us encounter. Our calling is to become more than intimate friends with God; to be able to recognize and sense the beatings of the Father’s heart because we are deeply connected with the Son. It’s no surprise that the Son was sent into the world, into our chaotic dysfunctions, to gather us into a divine life-giving relationship with the Trinity. We couldn’t have reached God Father on our own! Unfortunately, as human beings, we are limited in our understanding and strong in our stubbornness that we simply fail to live in this deep bond of connectedness with our Lord and there are lots reasons to that. Today, I want us to explore further this passage, so that at least we would find out the benefits of a strong bond with Christ, we could have been missing. I argue that without this bond, we can’t live as a new creation that Jesus is making out of us. It is true that with our lives’ ups and downs, often we don’t look back and reflect, to see the hand of God guiding us in our journey, because it would help us see and understand what went wrong while outside the bond with Jesus. Look at it this way: God’s love for us knows no bounds, and yet we have pursued other loves, often meeting crushing disappointments in the process and still we don’t learn about the way! We need an encounter with the divine! Jesus said to the disciples: “the Holy Spirit; the Comforter; the Spirit of truth will come and abide with you forever.” A life in Jesus is a life full of faith, inner peace and love despite our struggles. This is because of the work of the Holy Spirit, teaching us, reminding us of Jesus words. We need to bond with Jesus the truth especially in today’s highly secularized environment, which is increasingly hostile to God. Jesus is the best compass for us to navigate a fast-changing world which is busy altering the truth for convenience. In this bond with Jesus, we gain courage and strength to live holy lives. God help us! It’s not only our intellectual knowledge of our faith or just any passing emotions but all of it contributing for us to live transformed lives! There lies the power of the resurrection of Jesus in Christian believers: To live the same life that our Lord Jesus lived, because Jesus is alive in you! We need God’s grace and strength to pursue this deep bond with Jesus. So, beware because we will be attacked spiritually and physically. You see, the enemy our adversary, Satan tries to derail our journey by putting pressure on us, but our shells shouldn’t crack, because our internal strength of mind and heart is solely built on Christ’s foundation, not on anything else. No wonder Paul was telling the Athenians about all the gods of their passionate worship and directed them to one that read: “To the Unknown God!” [se énan ágnosto Theó] Paul explained to them who God is, and how God loves them so much and commands them to repent and to live holy lives dedicated to God. The same is applicable to us: what are our objects of worship? Is it the Superbowl game and its ads? Those things that are our most cherished attachments, unfortunately are what we bond with instead of bonding with Jesus. Take good care of your heart and bond with Jesus! He said: “Do you love me? Keep my commandments!” Amen.

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