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19 November 2011
You have been faithful in small things; I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master’s happiness - Extracted from Matthew, Chapter 25: 14-30
Jesus spoke this parable to his disciples:
14 'It is like a man about to go abroad who summoned his servants and entrusted his property to them.
15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to a third one, each in proportion to his ability. Then he set out on his journey.
16 The man who had received the five talents promptly went and traded with them and made five more.
17 The man who had received two made two more in the same way.
18 But the man who had received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
19 Now a long time afterwards, the master of those servants came back and went through his accounts with them.
20 The man who had received the five talents came forward bringing five more. "Sir," he said, "you entrusted me with five talents; here are five more that I have made."
21 His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you are trustworthy in small things; I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master's happiness."
22 Next the man with the two talents came forward. "Sir," he said, "you entrusted me with two talents; here are two more that I have made."
23 His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have shown you are trustworthy in small things; I will trust you with greater; come and join in your master's happiness."
24 Last came forward the man who had the single talent. "Sir," said he, "I had heard you were a hard man, reaping where you had not sown and gathering where you had not scattered;
25 so I was afraid, and I went off and hid your talent in the ground. Here it is; it was yours, you have it back."
26 But his master answered him, "You wicked and lazy servant! So you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered?
27 Well then, you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have got my money back with interest.
28 So now, take the talent from him and give it to the man who has the ten talents.
29 For to everyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but anyone who has not, will be deprived even of what he has.
30 As for this good-for-nothing servant, throw him into the darkness outside, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth."
Our Reflections: Lord, let us be faithful to your call in doing our best in our professional work and at the same time be life-giving to those you have entrusted to our care.
Let not the Day of the Lord overtake you like a thief - Extracted from 1st Letter of Saint Paul to the Thessalonians, Chapter 5:1-6
You will not be expecting us to write anything to you, brothers, about ‘times and seasons’, since you know very well that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night.
It is when people are saying, ‘How quiet and peaceful it is’ that the worst suddenly happens, as suddenly as labour pains come on a pregnant woman; and there will be no way for anyone to evade it.
But it is not as if you live in the dark, my brothers, for that Day to overtake you like a thief.
No, you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we do not belong to the night or to darkness, so we should not go on sleeping, as everyone else does, but stay wide awake and sober.
Jesus healed a blind man near Jericho - Extracted from Luke, Chapter 18: 35-43
35 As Jesus drew near to Jericho, there was a blind man sitting at the side of the road begging.
36 When he heard the crowd going past he asked what it was all about, and they told him that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by.
37 So he called out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me.’
(Interpretation: This blind man though blind, is able to recognised Jesus as the “Son of David”, a special title conferred only to the Messiah– the anticipated Saviour of the Jews, now the Saviour of the World. The blind man could have heard much about Jesus, as Jesus was in his public ministry for 3 years and had healed countless people of all kinds of illnesses, including raising the dead. Thus, though blind, his heart was able to recognise Him as the Saviour and firmly believed that Jesus would heal him.
Remember, Joseph the chosen foster father of Jesus, when decided to divorce Mary informally, was also called by the angel of the Lord “Son of David”, who told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife … - Matthew 1:18-25; as it has been prophesied since the days of old that the anticipated Saviour is to be the descendant of king David.)
39 The peoples in front scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he shouted all the louder, ‘Son of David, have pity on me.’ (Interpretation: See this blind man, he was persistent in his effort in trying to catch Jesus’ attention. Remember, Jesus has also told us to be persistent, He said: “Ask, and it will be given to you… see Luke 11: 5-13.)
40 Jesus stopped and ordered them to bring the man to Him, when he came up, asked him, ‘What do you want Me to do for you?’
41 ‘Sir,’ he replied ‘let me see again.’ (Interpretation: Look at this blind man, he just tells Jesus what he wants in a simple and straight forward manner, there is no “beating around the bush”. Don’t you think this is a beautiful example for us.)
42 Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight. Your faith has saved you.’
43 And instantly his sight returned and he followed him praising God, and all the people who saw it gave praise to God for what had happened.
(Our Reflections: Always remember to be thankful when we receive help from others, especially when the help is from God. Let’s not be like some “wicked” people who “play the devil” by returning evil for good received, turning good into evil, and making enemies out of friends. By doing so, they are only creating “hell” for themselves. Thus they would never have love, joy, peace & wisdom, because all these gifts are from the Holy Spirit who would never enter into any soul who engrossed in wrongdoing.)
19 November 2011 |
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26 November 2011
The Son of Man has come to seek out and save what was lost - Extracted from Luke 19: 1-10
1 Jesus entered Jericho and was going through the town
2 and suddenly a man whose name was Zacchaeus made his appearance; he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man.
3 He kept trying to see which Jesus was, but he was too short and could not see him for the crowd;
4 so he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and spoke to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I am to stay at your house today.'
6 And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully.
7 They all complained when they saw what was happening. 'He has gone to stay at a sinner's house,' they said. (Interpretation: the tax collectors had always collected more from the people and put all the extras into their own pockets, thus they were a “despised lot” in Jesus’ time. Zacchaeus was not only a tax collector, but the “Senior Tax Collector”; thus if he was cheating, he would have cheated even more than a normal tax collector; as such, he was somehow a “public sinner” against his own people.)
8 But Zacchaeus stood his ground and said to the Lord, 'Look, sir, I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four (4) times the amount.'
9 And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham;
10 for the Son of man has come to seek out and save what was lost.'
Interpretation: Forgiveness from God is always available for us, provided we repent of the wrongs that we have committed and make restitution for them; that was why Zacchaeus said that if he had cheated someone, he would pay back 4 times the amount.
26 November 2011
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