JESUS' NEW APPROACH

In the early 2000s, Nokia was a leading tech company being the major provider of mobile phones in the world. However, in 2007, Steve Jobs introduced the smartphone; a phone with a touchscreen keypad, with numerous applications that can easily be downloaded by their users. Jobs introduced an innovation in the market that easily put aside the Nokia mania. But what broke the spine of Nokia is its failure to treat new realities in their field through new approaches. They kept doing the same thing and offering the same product. One cannot expect to achieve a new result by doing the old tricks. An emotional Nokia CEO closed one of his press conferences with these words: “We didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow, we lost.” And to add, they too did not do anything new, as their competitors did the right things in their industry. If one does not update, he gets outdated and becomes irrelevant.

Jesus came to the world to proclaim God's message of love for man. But what is new about that? Didn't Moses and prophets preach the same? Indeed, they brought the same message to God's people. However, Jesus preached differently; packaged the same message in distinct wrappings. While the preaching of the old was accompanied by damnation and fire against those who oppose them or would not receive them, Jesus preached with peace, non-violence, meekness, and gentleness. Being God, he could have summoned fire from heaven to consume and destroy the unwelcoming Samaritans as His disciples suggested.

As Jesus proceeded to Jerusalem to fulfill His mission He opted for a new approach. He had a new way in His mind in approaching such resistance. That is a peaceful way of winning the hearts of those who oppose or do not believe in Him. Such way proves to be effective in spread the message of God's love for man, as Christianity spread from Jerusalem to the rest of the world like fire. That fire from Christ does not destroy the world. Rather, it renews and regenerates humanity through peace and love, through the new way Jesus introduced. People have been attracted by that way for through it they can seek the Lord. People come to the Church, allured by its merciful and gentle way just like those of Jesus, for the Church, has the Lord with her. The medium is the message. Though having the old message, this manner of preaching is always new, since the one who introduced it never gets old, for Jesus is eternal.

This "ever old and ever new" way which Jesus introduced two thousand years ago, is what we as Christian ought to adopt in our life. There is no other way to offer to our neighbor the loving God we experience other than through a peaceful way; through deeds of charity even, and most especially, to our enemies; to those who may oppose us or hinder us in realizing God's plan for man.

SUMMONED TO PREACH

I go to the school, to my office, in my Dominican habit. As students see me, they would approach me and make a "mano po" to me asking my blessing. The distance between my office and the entrance gate is just a couple of meters. However, it will take me some time to arrive in my office as students would swarm on me. Their eagerness to approach a priest is evident as they would run towards me when they see a person in white. The scenario would be different when sometimes I would go to the office in my civilian clothes. They would barely recognize me as a priest and pass by me. In less than a minute, I am already in my office. Children nowadays, indeed, are hungry for the presence of God, which they may see in men of the cloth. Even without opening one’s mouth, one can proclaim the presence of God amid His people, through one's way of life. 

With an ardent desire to hear the word of God, the Israelites prompted the prophet Ezra to bring out the book of the Law and read it before them (Neh 8:1-4A, 5-6, 7B-12). As Ezra read the Law, the people listened attentively. They were even moved to tears. They were touch by the Word of God uttered before them. In their suffering, they were consoled by the Word of God proclaimed before them by the prophet. Indeed, the precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart. As the law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul; the decree of the LORD is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple (cf. Ps 19:8-11). The Israelites were available to experience the power of God's words through the readiness of God's ministers (Ezra and Nehemiah) to attend to the needs of God's people. 

In the Gospel (Lk 10:1-12), Jesus sent His disciples two by two, to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God through the peace, healing, and reconciliation they bring to the people to whom they will administer. They were sent in pairs so that even without opening their mouths, their treatment with one another, their way of life would become their first preaching. Today, the harvest remains to be abundant but the laborers are still few. The great challenge for the few laborers is how they can make their proclamation more effective and affective; one that touches the lives of the persons they meet. The life we live speaks more eloquently than the words we utter. In our action, and even in the clothes we wear, God is made more visible and present to others. Jesus bid his disciples to carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; that people may see His disciples' reliance on Divine Providence. That though they may be like sheep sent among wolves, they would remain dependent on their one true Shepherd who would never forsake them. The life we live is our greatest testimony (witnessing; preaching) to the vocation God called us to embrace.  

In our baptism, we are all made prophets by God; summoned to preach the truth of the Gospel we receive to the people we meet in our life. The challenge to us who are sent to proclaim the Good News is to make the proclamation desirable to others, as the Word of God, and God Himself has millions of competitors over the attention of people. Will people be moved in tears as we proclaim the Word of God? Will they be drawn to God; to God's presence, even just through the way we dress? 

BEING GOOD ENOUGH

Almost everyone nowadays wants to be the number one, wants to be the greatest among one's peers; first in receiving attention from his parents; first in the eyes of his crush. In school, parents would fight tooth and nail just so their children would be ranked as the first among his classmates. The competition to be the best is so tight that others thought of introducing another category than good, better and best. That is, to be better than the best.

What is there in being the best and the greatest? To be the best and the greatest means you are most efficient in your field, since you have fulfilled what is required of you better than others. You are able to deliver results since you have the necessary skills, talents, and resources required. But in one's desire to be the best, some would neglect the basics; some would forget about being good. They begin to engage with fraudulent deeds, like cheating and corrupt practices just so they could make their way to the top. Though they may be the best (even better the best), they would never be good enough.     

After Jesus revealed the glorious aspect of His mission through His transfiguration, and the necessity to realize it by proceeding to Jerusalem, the disciples began to argue who among them is the greatest (Lk 9:46-50). Probably, they wanted to be the first among the disciples who would share the glory of Jesus which some of them had witnessed at Mt. Tabor. They could have been thrilled by the fact that Jesus' mission is about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem, and so, maybe, they anticipated a regal exaltation of the Son of Man. They would like, not only to participate, but also to take the front seat when Jesus would be glorified. As they rub elbows with the powerful and glorious, they thought that that would make them glorious too. Jesus however, reminded them of the true source of greatness, that is, the reception of Jesus in one's life. Not the glorious and regal Jesus, but the humble and meek one. One who is vulnerable as a child. Jesus can be found among the people whom He serves; the children, the poor, the sick, the lonely, etc. It is through them that we can encounter Jesus. And in serving them, as Jesus does, we too can attain the glory that Jesus enjoys as He fulfilled His mission. As one imitates Jesus in service, doing things in his name, God is made present in his heart. The presence of God can truly make us the best and greatest.

We may not be with Jesus physically, like the disciples thousands of years ago, but as we do things in His name today, we can do best and great things, for we have received Jesus in our hearts. We are with Jesus and that is good enough.   

CONSEQUENCE OF SIN

I have a friend who is fond of eating an excessively high-fat diet and abhors vegetables. He would accompany eating grilled liempos either with beer or brandy. In other words, he eats “sinfully”.  It did not surprise me that at a very young age of mid-thirties, he has been recently diagnosed with colon cancer. Indeed, we reap what we sow. In our spiritual life, sin brings its own punishment. The sufferings we bear are not necessarily from God but rather consequences of our own doing.

God's love and mercy is made manifest in the stern warning Jesus made to the Jewish villages of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. Jesus preached there and did mighty acts in as much as he wanted these lost sheep of the house of Israel to repent and go back into the sheepfold of God. But they would neither listen to Him nor be persuaded by His wondrous deeds. Years after Jesus' preaching in these villages, they would cease to be faithful Jews either. The destruction that came upon the stubbornness of their hearts was the building of a pagan temple dedicated to Medusa in the very walls of their synagogue in Chorazin. They were assimilated to the Greek and pagan practices of their time; from the very trap from which Jesus wanted to save them. If only they listened and allowed themselves to wonder before Jesus, they could have been better.    

In the history of the Jewish people, they suffered the consequence of their ill actions (cf. Baruch 1:15-22). They were exiled to Babylon away from Jerusalem; from the temple where God's presence was very evident for them. Disobedience to God led them towards that road of perdition. They did not heed God's voice and were only too ready to disregard His voice. They had the law of Moses as sure guide, but they chose to make their own direction. They refuse to be guided by the Lord. Each of them went off after the devices of their own wicked heart, served other gods, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, our God. And so they were removed from the presence of God, as that was the outcome of their misdeeds.

The Good News is we do not have a punishing God, only a merciful and loving Lord. The desire of the Lord is to deliver us from sin and death to which we may have trapped ourselves. This will only be possible if we listen to Him and to the One He sends to us. The Lord can deliver us from all evil should we repent from our sinful ways and return to His true fold.

GODtalk

We are fond of talking and expressing ourselves. It is believed that an average man speaks about 7,000 words a day, while an average woman utters 20, 000 words a day. But a study shows that both men and women speak about 16,000 words in average (M.R. Mehl et al., "Are Women Really More Talkative Than Men?", Science, 317(5834) p. 82 July 5, 2007). These assumptions, though differing in their conclusions, point to the fact that humans are talkative. This fact is manifested in different kinds of talks: debates, dialogues, discourse, diatribe, #realtalk, #bodytalk, door talk, TedTalk, Pop talk, etc. There is even an app today which encourages it: Omegle: Talk to Strangers (though we are taught by our parents not to talk to strangers!).

   

In the gospel (Lk 11:1-14), Jesus teaches us a different kind of talk. It is a talk not between two human persons but between man and God: a God-talk; a heart-to-heart talk with God. Jesus teaches us, through the request of an anonymous disciple, how to pray. He introduces us to a prayer, which is an intimate conversation with God. (More than a distant God to whom His subjects make supplication and adoration). Jesus teaches us to call God our Father, and so we have the courage to say: Our Father. It is with the Father that we talk our hearts out. It is through those intimate conversations with God that we come to discover that we have a merciful Father in God who gives life to us, who provides for our daily sustenance.

The prophet Jonah (Jonah 4:1-11) saw for himself this mercy of God as He spared the Ninevites from destruction as they repented from their sins; as indeed, God cares for Nineveh. This realization came about through the prophet's talk with God as if God is there beside him as he mused on the fate of the Ninevites, and contemplated his death. Through his prayers and conversation with God, Jonah learned about the boundless love of God for His people as a Father who would care for His lost children. This fact can be made known to us through prayer; through a constant conversation with God.

Prayer then is a conversation with God. Prayer may be done in personal words, a casual chat with God. The Good news is when our words could not contain our deepest desires and sentiments of our hearts; when we do not anymore know how to pray or what to pray for in life, Jesus teaches us a prayer that contains all the essentials of a prayer to God. He instituted a Church that guards and provides communal prayers that can express our hearts: the celebration of the Holy Eucharist (as a form of thankful prayer), the Lord's Prayer. He teaches us that God is OUR Father not only MY Father. Therefore, in our prayer as a Church, we pray as a community or as a family prays for one another; praying WITH one another. Praying to OUR Father as a community and as a Church is our safeguard for not deducing God as our only personal God (who would be shaped by our personal whims and caprices). Our Catholic Christian prayers direct us to the true identity of God as OUR Father, not only a Personal Lord and Savior. In our prayers, therefore, we may engage with God in a personal conversation with Him, but when this fails there is the communal prayer instituted by Jesus that we pray with one another; pray for one another.

In life we occupy ourselves with lots of talks, but when was the last time you had a heart-to-heart talk with God; when was the last time you had a God-talk? When was the time you prayed with all your hearts? Should this not help you, Jesus offers to us a perfect prayer; the Lord's Prayer, so that you can pray with your fellow Christians, through which you can pray for one another.