Mark 12:18-27... The Question about the Resurrection...reflect
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Posted:Jul 4, 2007 10:17 pm
Last Updated:Jul 4, 2007 10:18 pm 2165 Views
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Mark 12:18-27... The Question about the Resurrection... Reflect…
Uncertainty about the afterlife has plaued many people over the centuries. The good Socrates (470 BC-399 BC) himself, so spiritually insightful in many respects, nevertheless had these words on his lips just before dying; “I go to die and you live; but which of us goes to the better lot is known to none but God” (Plato, Apology, 42 ).
The Sadducces were in even greater darkness that Socrates. They flatly denied that there is an afterlife. Here Jesus’ demonstration of their mistake is absolutely, brilliant: if God, who is the God of the living, calls himself the God of past ancestors, it is because these ancestors are still alive. But Jesus could have gone a step further, if he had wanted to. He could have insisted that god, who dearly Abraham and the others, would never allow his loved ones to be annihilated forever. When you love someone, you want to keep that someone alive forever. And if you happen to be God, you can. This same idea is well expressed by the author Henri Nouwen, of fond memory, in his book Seeds of Hope:
“I think,” he writes, “love-deep, human love-does not know death… Real love says, ‘Forever.’ Love will always reach out toward the eternal. Love comes from that place within us where death cannot enter. Love does not accept the limits of hours, days, weeks, months, years, or centuries. Love is not willing to be imprisoned by time” (p.133 )
This basic intuition is confirmed nowadays by insights coming from different angles; the unconscious desire for immortality as uncovered by psychoanalysis, the testimony of all the great religions, the near-death experiences of thousands of people, and so forth. Could so much evidence pointing in the same direction be wrong?
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365 Days with the Lord
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Mark 12:18-27... The Question about the Resurrection
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Posted:Jul 4, 2007 10:13 pm
Last Updated:Apr 27, 2024 9:24 am 2141 Views
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Mark 12:18-27
The Question about the Resurrection
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to [Jesus] and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, ‘If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no , his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.’ Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. And the seven left leaving no descendants. Last of all the woman also died. At the resurrection [when they rise] whose wife will she be? For all the seven had been married to her.”
Jesus said to them, “Are you not misled because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, [the] God of Isaac, and [the] God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled.”
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365 Days with the Lord
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Mark 12:13-17... Paying Taxes to the Emperor... Reflect
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Posted:Jul 2, 2007 4:37 am
Last Updated:Jul 3, 2007 5:38 am 2282 Views
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Mark 12:13-17...Paying Taxes to the Emperor... Reflect
In our gospel, we hear Jesus say; “Repay to Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar and to God what belongs to God.” This saying of his, while proclaiming that politics has a certain autonomy in its own sphere, also implies that in some way politics remains subordinate to God’s rule. From the point of view of Jesus, his disciples must give their first loyalty to God on all issues (cf. the first commandment) and judge all issues from the vantage point of God’s will regarding humans and the world. In other words, the saying of Jesus sets definite moral bounds of politics.
Some people criticize the Church for “meddling” (as they say) in politics and social issues. They figure that the Church should limit herself to celebrating the sacraments and converting “sinners.” By “sinners,” of course, these critical Christian refer to people who commit only “private” sins (if there is such a thing!) like drunkenness, fornication, adultery, gambling, gluttony, etc. But they forget that there are also social sins, such as human exploitation, oppression of entire classes of society, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and so on. Against these sins and similar ones, the prophets of old spoke very clearly and emphatically. In this sense, all the prophets “meddled” in politics and social issues. They all strongly condemned the pious Jews of their day who frequented the Temple regularly while neglecting social justice (see, for example, Jer 7:1-7).
Jesus did exactly the same thing in his own preaching. In fact, he was ultimately killed by the leaders of his nation for wanting to inaugurate a totally new social order, one based on justice and compassion. And so, the church of today is only continuing this tradition.
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365 Days with the Lord
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Mark 12:13-17... Paying Taxes to the Emperor
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Posted:Jul 2, 2007 4:30 am
Last Updated:Jul 2, 2007 4:32 am 2192 Views
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Mark 12:13-17
Paying Taxes to the Emperor
Some Pharisees and Herodians [were sent to Jesus] to ensnare him in his speech. They came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion. You do not regard a person’s status but teach the way God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Ceasar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?”
Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.” They brought one to him and he said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” they replied to him, “Ceasar’s.” So Jesus said to them, “Repay to Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar and to God what belongs to God.” They were utterly amazed at him.
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365 Days with the Lord
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Mark 12:1-12... Parable of the Tenants... Reflect
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Posted:Jul 1, 2007 6:09 am
Last Updated:Jul 1, 2007 6:10 am 2200 Views
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Mark 12:1-12... Parable of the Tenants... Reflect
Our gospel says something equivalent–which it applies to Jesus in this case–with the quotation of Psalm 118: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” In the psalm, this verse refer to Israel. This nation had always been looked down upon by the great surrounding empires, which saw themselves as architects of the world. But the Psalmist knew that, in God’s economy, despised Israel would someday become the most important nation on earth.
We must never forget, as Christians, that things are rarely what they seem. A lot of so–called ordeals or painful events in our lives turn out to be blessings in disguise. Anything can lead us to God, even rejection and death. If we live out lives in faith and trust in God, we will always end up being keystones in God’s great work of salvation.
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365 Days with the Lord
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Mark 12:1-12... Parable of the Tenants
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Posted:Jul 1, 2007 6:05 am
Last Updated:Apr 27, 2024 9:24 am 2145 Views
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Mark 12:1-12
Parable of the Tenants
[Jesus] began to speak to the chief priest, [the scribes, and the elders] in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left journey. At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty‒handed. Again he sent them another servant. And that one they beat over the head and treated shamefully. He sent yet another whom they killed. So, too, many others; some they beat, others they killed. He had one other to send, a beloved . He sent him to them last of all, thinking. ‘They will respect my .’
But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. What [then] will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read the scripture passage:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?’
They were seeking to arrest him, but they feared the crowd, for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them. So they left him and went away.
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365 Days with the Lord
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A Trinity of Persons in a Unity of Godhead
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Posted:Jun 30, 2007 11:11 pm
Last Updated:Apr 27, 2024 9:24 am 2209 Views
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A Trinity of Persons in a Unity of Godhead
All rational beings, including non- material beings such as angels, are made of three things; a mind conscious self, an image of that self, and self-love. Let us look at these things as they function in a normal human being. Let us call him Ray.
Ray has a mind capable of insight, knowledge and reasoning. As a baby, he gets to know the world around him. Progressively, he learns to distinguish between himself and others; his mother is not his leg, because his leg is a part of him and stays with him all the time and he can even shake it when he wants to, but his mother comes and goes, and he cannot shake her. Thus he discovers that he is an individual. As he grows up, he also discovers that he has certain gifts and talents that not everybody has or, at least, not to the same degree. For example, he can throw a ball faster than his sister Lucy, he can run faster, too, and he is stronger than she is, even though she is a year older. He is better-looking than his friend Charly; he has better grades than his older friend Ralp. Little by little, Ray forms an image of himself which reflects pretty much what he is. That image is not perfectly objective, of course, and is also quite incomplete. Yet, partly distorted as his self-image is (he doesn’t like to admit his lack of talent in certain areas) and partly incomplete as it is, nevertheless the idea he has gained of himself is substantially correct. So now we have two things: Ray as a source of awareness or a center of consciousness, and Ray ay possessing a self-image or an idea of himself.
Now, since Ray is normal young man, he has a healthy self-regard or self-esteem. When he looks at his self-image, he likes what he sees. Let us remember that this kind of self-love is so spontaneous and ordinary in a normal person that Jesus used it as a reference point; “Love your neighbor as you love your self.” Ray loves himself. Naturally, unthinkingly, he cares for himself. Like every normal person, Ray translates his self-regard into a constant stream of complements; he notices when he does things right. When he play basketball, he may be unsure as to how many points someone else made, but he is certain to know how many points he made. And he does not forget to compliment himself on the achievement. When he looks at a group photo in which he features, he looks for his face first. In general, therefore, Ray knows what is good in himself, and he says it not merely in words to himself and others, but also in his posture, in his way of dressing, in his body language. So now we have the three elements that make up Ray: a self, an awareness of the richness of that self, and a corresponding love of that self. Yet, these three dimensions of his being do not make three Rays. There is only one Ray but three aspects of him or three sides of him.
Now, let us suppose an infinity perfect national being. That being would also be a center of awareness capable of insight, understanding, perception, knowledge, and so on–in other words, a conscious self. He would also have an image or an idea of his own infinite excellence. That image, naturally, would be infinitely perfect as he is himself. And he would love that image of himself with an infinity perfect love. This would not result in three perfect being for so much. We would still have only one perfect being but in three dimensions or three relationship; the source of the self-image, the self-image, and the love relating the source to its image.
In halting and groping language, this is what we, Christians, are trying to say when we state, on the witness of God himself, that God is a Trinity of persons in unity of Godhead. Before God revealed this mystery to us, we did not know it nor could we even imagine it. Yet, when we think about it seriously and analyze what every rational being is–a small trinity–the mystery of the Holy Trinity, while remaining mysterious, does not appear so difficult to believe after all. We are all walking and talking mini-trinities. And, since we are made in the image and likeness of God (Gn 1:26 ), so is God a Trinity, but an infinitely perfect one.
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365 Days with the Lord
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John 16:12-15... The Spirit of Truth
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Posted:Jun 30, 2007 11:05 pm
Last Updated:Jun 30, 2007 11:07 pm 2171 Views
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John 16:12-15
The Spirit of Truth
[Jesus said to his disciples,] “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speaks on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”
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365 Days with the Lord
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Mark 11:27-33... The Authority of Jesus Questioned... Reflect
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Posted:Jun 27, 2007 9:11 pm
Last Updated:Jun 27, 2007 9:14 pm 2109 Views
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Mark 11:27-33... The Authority of Jesus Questioned... Reflect
Our gospel reading present us with men of bad faith. Their bad faith is seen in their behavior. Those men are asked if John the Baptist’s baptism was a divine origin or simply of human origin. They believe–honestly or not, it doesn’t matter for our purpose here–honestly or not, it doesn’t matter for our purpose here–that it was simply of human origin, or else they would have submitted to that baptism. However, and this is what reveals their bad faith, they hide this fact and instead say they don’t know. That is pure equivocation, if not a direct lie. They are afraid to be manhandled by the crowd if they admit their disbelief of John. Contrary to martyrs, who are ready to die for the truth, they are not. For them, saving their own skin is more important than the truth. In other words, their equivocation shows their bad faith, which in turn will bring about their spiritual undoing.
We can have a pretty good idea, in a given set of circumstances, as to whether we are of good faith or not. We only have to examine our handling of the truth. If we are ready to lie or equivocate, our cause is probably questionable, as is our good faith. The end does not justify the means.
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365 Days with the Lord
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Mark 11:27-33... The Authority of Jesus Questioned
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Posted:Jun 27, 2007 9:07 pm
Last Updated:Jun 27, 2007 9:07 pm 2111 Views
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Mark 11:27-33
The Authority of Jesus Questioned
[Jesus and his disciples] returned once more to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple area, the chief priest, the scribes, and the elders approaches him and said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?”
Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question, Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.
“They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin’ he will say, ‘[Then] why don’t you believe in him? But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”–they feared the crowd, for they all thought John really was a prophet. So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.”
Then Jesus said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
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365 Days with the Lord
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