Category Archives: Friday

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to win the whole world and ruin his life? And indeed what can a man offer in exchange for his life? For if anyone in this adulterous and sinful generation is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

From the Gospel, we can see a few key qualities of being a follower of Jesus:

1. If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. Here, a follower of Jesus chooses to renounce himself, takes up his cross, and follows Jesus. It is not enough to just renounce oneself, but one also needs to take up his cross and follow Jesus.
2. But anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. Here, a follower of Jesus not only chooses to lose his life for Jesus’ sake, He or she also chooses to do so for the sake of the gospel. Both Jesus and the gospel must be involved.
3. For if anyone in this adulterous and sinful generation is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Here, one must be willing to stand up for Jesus and His words. If one is ashamed of Jesus’ words, especially those words which may seem difficult to understand or accept, then how can one stand up for Jesus?

So as we can see, being a follower of Jesus is not so simple. Anyone can claim to be a follower of Jesus, but claiming to be a follower of Jesus means nothing if there is no action or personal sacrifice. May we strive towards being true and genuine in following Jesus completely, and give glory to God in all we say and do.

What sort of leader would we want to follow? Quite likely, we would want to follow a leader who is important, or a leader who has a great track record, or a leader who is a winner, or even a leader who can produce results which could help or benefit us. How many of us would follow a leader who is going to be mocked, persecuted or even put to death? If we observe the the ways of the world, such a leader would only bring disaster to us, and should be avoided at all cost. However, as Christians what sort of leader do we really follow?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us: “‘The Son of Man’ he said ‘is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.'” From a worldly point of view such a leader would end up dead and would not benefit or help us. Moreover, such a leader would be raised up on the third day? The world would laugh and say that such a thing is ridiculous, illogical or impossible. But Jesus proved to all that He did die and He rose again, as His purpose as a leader was not to gain fame or recognition from the world, but to save us from our sins.

Today we as Christians are called by Jesus to follow His example and His leadership. We are called to take up our cross and follow Him. Ultimately, we have a choice: to follow the ways of the world and its ideas of leadership, or to follow the ways of Christ and His way of leadership. May we learn to lead the way He leads us and let Him be our help and guide.

In today’s Gospel, we come across Jesus cursing a fig tree which had no figs on it. Some of us may initially wonder whether Jesus was acting irrationally or weird, since the Gospel tells us that Jesus felt hungry and seemed annoyed that He could not find any figs, only leaves, since it was not the season for figs. However, if we look carefully at the text, we would discover that Jesus was actually using symbolic language to mean Israel, especially the scribes and Pharisees, who had so stubbornly held to their ways of doing things and their self-righteous behaviour and attitude, instead of repenting and returning to God’s ways.

If we look at ourselves, have some of us become like the scribes and Pharisees? Have we so stubbornly held to our ways of doing things and our self-righteous behaviour and attitude, instead of repenting and returning to God’s ways. Have we been like the fig tree, which produces fruit only according to season, and at other times we can behave and do as we please? Let us be mindful, lest we end up like the fig tree, withered to the roots; because of our pride, prejudice, selfishness, lack of forgiveness, and stubbornness; as well as our refusal to truly, consistently and wholeheartedly do all things for the glory of God.

Is it okay to cure on a Sabbath day? The Sabbath day is supposed to be a day of rest and worship. But in the Gospel, Jesus seems to be not following the rules of the Sabbath day. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, we see that Jesus does not choose a special place, occasion or time to help and to heal. Instead, as long as Jesus sees a need, He would do something about it regardless of whether it is a Sabbath day or not.

The lawyers and the Pharisees were those who faithfully observe the Sabbath law. However, by Jesus’ action, He simply showed them that there’s an exception; that the law of the Sabbath can be broken, as long as there is a good and valid reason to break it. Jesus is showing the lawyers and the Pharisees that the observance of the Sabbath day should be superseded by a more important need, in this case, the need to heal the man sick with dropsy.

If you were in Jesus’ situation, what would you do? Would you simply let the man suffer from his severe sickness even if you could actually do something to help him? Or would you heal the man just like Jesus did? May our faith in God be made more real, alive and dynamic, by living it with acts of love, mercy, compassion and kindness.

How loyal are we in our lives, when it comes to our family, our spouse, our workplace, in society, and even in a country? Are we loyal only when it befits us, and when things are not to our liking or not going our way, we run away or look for alternatives? It is easy for some of us to become disloyal, especially when we are more concerned only about ourselves, and perhaps our loved ones. But how many of us are willing to set aside our ego, our pride, our need for personal gratification, and remain loyal, come what may?

In today’s reading, we are reminded: “Come back, disloyal children – it is the Lord who speaks – for I alone am your Master.” The question we need to ask ourselves is this: are we willing to be loyal at all costs, through thick and through thin, and continue remaining loyal even when we face persecution or even death? When it comes to our relationship with God, would we remain loyal to Him, knowing that He will guide and help us no matter how tough the situation may be?

How many of us can really rely on our leaders or even kings and royalty in our country? If there is trouble and our country is on the verge of being overrun or conquered by enemy forces, would our leaders, kings or royalty be willing to stick with us and defend our country to the very end? Quite likely, our leaders, kings or royalty would flee, leaving others to defend our country as best we can. It seems as though one’s own survival and personal interest takes precedence over the interest of the country, as far as some leaders, kings or royalty are concerned.

In today’s reading, we see an example of a king who took more interest in his own survival, and not so much on the interest of the kingdom. In the reading: “…the king made his escape under cover of dark, with all the fighting men, by way of the gate between the two walls, which is near the king’s garden – the Chaldaeans had surrounded the city – and made his way towards the Arabah. The Chaldaean troops pursued the king and caught up with him in the plains of Jericho, where all his troops deserted. The Chaldaeans captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, who passed sentence on him. He had the sons of Zedekiah slaughtered before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes and, loading him with chains, carried him off to Babylon.”

From the reading, we see two examples where one’s personal interest takes precedence. Firstly, King Zedekiah was not bothered about the city and more concerned about his own survival, and he made his escape with his fighting men. Then when the Chaldaen troops caught up with him in the plains of Jericho, his own troops deserted him, leaving him to his fate. This shows that at the end of the day, not everyone who claims to be our leaders have the interest of our city or country at heart, since at times, personal interest takes precedence. However, we do have a leader or king who would not desert or abandon us. That King is our loving God. Shouldn’t we then pay more attention and hope on our loving God, knowing that He would protect and care for us, and not abandon us?

Being a Christian is never easy. Anyone who claims that being a Christian is easy is either not really living a Christian life, or they may be lying. This is because as Christians the ways of Christ quite often do not agree or do not comply with the ways of the world. For example, as Christians, we are told to love, even to love our enemies; but the world tells us to hate others, or try to put others down to lift ourselves up, and only love ourselves and be concerned only about ourselves.

When we do not follow the ways of the world, and instead follow the ways of Christ, what happens? Today’s reading tells us: “You are well aware, then, that anybody who tries to live in devotion to Christ is certain to be attacked; while these wicked impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and deceived themselves You must keep to what you have been taught and know to be true; remember who your teachers were, and how, ever since you were a child, you have known the holy scriptures – from these you can learn the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

What does this mean to us? It means that following the ways of Christ is not going to be a bed of roses or a walk in the park. We will face many trials and tribulations, and as the reading tells us, we are certain to be attacked in some way. It also means that we must not let ourselves go astray, or give up and end up following the ways of the world. Instead, we must have faith in Christ Jesus, and remain steadfast in such faith. Are we willing to endure much challenges in the world, with hope and trust that Jesus will save us?

Among the Jews, the most common title for the ‘Christ’ was, ‘Son of David.’ In today’s Gospel, the purpose why Jesus then said “The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand and I will put your enemies under your feet.” (which is actually Psalm 110:1), is to show to the crowds and the Pharisees that the Christ was more than a descendant of David because David calls this descendant of his, “my lord.” This is to show that David views the Christ as his Lord and superior.

So what does it mean to acknowledge Jesus as Lord? To acknowledge Jesus as Lord means that we should owe our full submission and loyalty to Him. If we owe our full submission and loyalty to Him, then He is our Lord and the Master of our lives instead of the many earthly things such as: our passions, the love of money, alcohol, drugs, and so on; which may distract us or which we may pursue as if these things matter more and may have become like our “lord” instead of Jesus. The question we need to ask ourselves is this: do we really give to Jesus our loyalty? Or have we allowed ourselves to divert our loyalty to other ‘lords’?

It is easy for us to give a lot of comments and suggestions for improvement or changes in church. But sometimes, such comments and suggestions are just that: merely comments and suggestions, without any commitment to take action or to offer oneself to see such comments and suggestions through. For example, some people like to comment or suggest that churches these days should have a funeral parlour, since more and more people these days live in flats, apartments or condominiums, where facilities for a wake may not be available. But when such persons are asked to form a committee and help raise funds, so that a funeral parlour could be constructed somewhere in the church grounds, such persons suddenly give all sorts of excuses, or back down from their suggestions. Are some of us all talk and no action?

In today’s reading, we are told that “Faith is like that: if good works do not go with it, it is quite dead.” Also, the reading tells us that “A body dies when it is separated from the spirit, and in the same way faith is dead if it is separated from good deeds.” We say that we have faith; we believe in God; we recite the creed every Sunday; we call ourselves Christians; but is our faith merely words? Is our faith all talk but no or little action? Are we willing to do something about what we say, or are we merely blowing hot air?