Luke 12:54-59 You Should Know By Now

Luke 12:54-59  You Should Know By Now

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Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west you say immediately that it is going to rain – and so it does; and when you notice that the wind is blowing from the south you say that it is going to be hot – and so it is.  You hypocrites!  You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

Discovery Channel has a program known as Animal Planet.  How fitting.  But what is even more fitting is its subtitle:  surprisingly human.

In today’s first readings, St. Paul urges us “to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received” (Eph 4:1).  You would think by now we would be getting closer to the Kingdom of God.  Instead, it seems like we’re moving ever closer to the Animal Kingdom.

This phenomenon might be due to the fact that we’ve gotten bad at predicting the weather.  That’s the only explanation I have in how bad we’ve become in predicting human behavior.

When you go outside in Texas, and there’s a strong cold wind that greets you, you know it’s coming from the North.  When you feel a blazing heat, you know it’s coming from the South. 

Yesterday, I was speaking to a young student who told me that their best friend had recently become their worst enemy.  They began to share with me all the awful things this “friend” had done.  I asked this young person what they thought the problem might be.  They didn’t have a clue.  When they finished, I said: “It sounds like she’s having family problems.”  There was a look of confusion.  I asked, “Do you know her mother?”  The student replied, “Well, her mother is in rehab.”  I asked about her father.  They replied, “Her father left them.  She’s being raised by her grandparents.”

Oh, I get it.  Do you? 

Is it so hard to see?  Is it so hard to judge things?  “Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.” 

What are these mysteries?  Maybe we can address them with maxims: 

·         If you try smashing the commandments, you won’t succeed.  But you will end up breaking apart.

·         If you try to crucify the Lord, you'll end up crucifying yourself.

·         The further away you get from Christ, the greater the chance you’ll get lost. 

·         Major problems always start off small.

Is this so hard to see?  Is this all a mystery to you?  What about these maxims:

·         An absent father and mother leads to a child seeking affection in all the wrong ways and places.

·         The smaller the family, the more expensive the problems.

·         Immodesty is a reflection of insecurity.

·         Promiscuity leads to poor self-esteem.

·         Spoiled kids tend to manipulate their parents.

Sure, there are exceptions to every rule.  But, who wants to live with the odds always being against you? 

Even in this political year, some things should be clear:

·         When someone attacks who, it means they’ve given up on solving the problems. 

·         When someone belittles you, it means they have little confidence in their abilities.

·         When someone resorts to foul language, it means they are desperate.

The Lord asks the crowd: “Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?”  

The world has been collecting a lot of data for some time now.  We have data in just about everything!  We know what works and what does not work.  So why are we still so confused?  It might be because what works doesn’t necessarily sell as well as what does not work as well.  There’s a lot of money to be made in false hopes and false ideas.  There’s a lot of pressure to keep the public as stupid as possible. 

At the last Presidential debate, Mitt Romney commented that we had “fewer ships today than in 1917”.  The President of the United States responded by saying, “Yes, and we have fewer horses as well.”  I have to admit:  I laughed very hard!  I laughed because of how cheap the President’s response was and how expensive the problem is.  I wish I could have responded.  I would have said, “Mr. President, you must have forgotten how a $150,000 Humvee is blown up by a $100 IED.  You must have forgotten that we have been forced to replace each Humvee with a $250,000 JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle).  Did you forget how the USS Cole was destroyed buy a raft?  Don’t you think we need quality as well as quantity, for we never know what the enemy will throw at us?”

You should know this by now.

Luke 10:1-9 Clearing The Way

Luke 10:1-9  Clearing The Way

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The Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit.  He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

He was driving home from a football game.  His team had lost (like always) and he was in a bad mood.  Instead of taking the normal (safe) route home, he decided to take a different route.  It was late at night when he noticed a woman on side of the road.  She was waiting.  She was a prostitute. 

This young man, a senior in high school, lived under very strict rules at home.  Although he never complained, he was a bit resentful of his life.  As he was speaking to me, he reminded me of the eldest son in the parable of the Prodigal Son.  Yes, he was a solid Christian man.  He went to church on Sunday.  He prayed before meals.  He was respectful to his elders.  He kept his virginity.  But he wasn’t happy.  He felt like his family was keeping him from the best things in life!

He decided to turn into an abandoned lot.  He stopped the car.  She walked up to it.  He rolled down the window.  He looked at her.  She looked at him.  But when she looked at him, he felt as though she looked right through him.  She smiled at him, shook her head and said to him, “No.  You shouldn’t be here.  This is not for you.  Go home.”

He took off, ashamed of himself and crying as he had never cried before.  A prostitute had saved his soul.

Maybe she was an undercover cop.  Maybe she was a real-life prostitute.  But no matter what, this young man will never forget what happened to him that night. 

Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom (cf. Psalm 145:12).  Paradoxically, morals, values and principles are black and white.  People are not.  What is right or wrong is clear.  That people are good or bad is not. 

Of course, much of who we are is connected to what we do.  But instead of focusing on what we do, the Lord focused on who we are.  This is why the Lord was so successful in converting the sinner.  He was able to look beyond the sin and see the broken heart behind every “Sinner”.  By healing the heart, he eliminated the bleeding, the sinning. 

I chose you from the world, to go and bear fruit that will last.  No matter what state of life I am in, I can give glory to God.  No matter what I have done, I can give glory to God.  No matter what work I do, I can give glory to God.  No matter what I have or where I am, I can give glory to God.  No matter how sinful I am, I can give glory to God.  For God chose the weak to make the strong look weak. 

He chose us (the weak) to carry his work along.    

So what do you work for?  Who do you work for? Who’s your boss?  Do you work for heaven and earth or just for earth?  Do you work for God and man or just for man?  When was the last time you invited someone to go to Church with you?  Never??? 

“Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way.”  Leave behind your pride (money = security), your vanity (sandals = image), and your sensuality (greetings = seeking approval).

What I must do is pretty clear.  Who I am is not so clear.  Let’s make it all a lot clearer by clearing the Way of the Lord. 

Luke 10:38-42 Lord, Do You Not Care?

Luke 10:38-42  Lord, Do You Not Care?

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Martha, burdened with much serving, came to Jesus and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?  Tell her to help me.”  The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.  There is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”

Lord, do you not care?  The Lord cares…that I know.  But I’m not convinced that He cares so much about what we care so much about.  While we stress over a lot of things that maybe are just not worth stressing about, we don’t stress enough what we should be stressing.

Forget for a moment that Martha is working hard in preparing and serving a meal.  Let’s, for a moment, imagine that Martha is a 21^st century woman, wife and mom who doesn’t prepare or serve a meal but rather stresses over picking the right nanny to tend to her only child.  Lord, don’t you care that I pick the right nanny? Now of course I can’t speak for the Lord, but my gut instinct tells me He really doesn’t care.  Or let’s take for a moment our full-time working man who thinks he's a part-time dad and husband.  He puts in extra hours on Saturday and Sunday to get that big promotion at work.  Lord, don’t you care that I make more money than I really need?  Again, I can’t speak for the Lord, but I think it’s a sure bet that He doesn’t really care.   

There is a school for young children in Dallas that by the name of it I thought at first was a French pastry shop.  But then one morning I was surprised to see so many kids getting dropped off to get a pastry, and right before school!  I inquired and found out that my little “French pastry store” was actually an American’s ingenious business plan to start up a very expensive school for the snobbish and lonely children of the very rich and far too busy parent.

Recommendations written by school parents reinforce what I just said:

“If not my wife or I…then [this school]...as slightly (maybe overly) protective parents, we looked at EVERY option. Nanny’s, babysitters, daycares, half days, half weeks, full weeks…Far and away the best decision was [this school].

They stressed.  They looked at every option, except the obvious one; that is, that they downsize to allow someone to stay home and be the most important person in their child's life; that is, the first educators of love, faith and values to their own God-given and precious child. 

Another stressed-out parent writes:  “Our daughter has attended [this school] since she was 7 months and she’s now almost 4 years old.  [This school] has exceeded our expectations and prepared her so well for Pre-K.  I highly recommend [this school] This is not a daycare but the first steps into education.”

Yes, before your child can take his or her first physical steps, they need to be taking their first cognitive steps “into” education, Pre-K. 

Now, I've always understood how some poor families could not afford to have one parent stay home.  But the fact that rich families cannot afford to either is very confusing to me. By the looks of it (and commentaries), it seems as though rich parents are stressed just as much over the right educational options for their child as poor parents are stressed over the lack of options for their child.  Everyone seems to be stressed out, regardless of whether or not they are rich or poor.  So maybe poverty and wealth have nothing to do with stress but being over-ambitious and selfishness do?

This might explain why so many children are on medication for anxiety and stress.  It’s not because their parents are rich or poor, it’s because their parents stress over the wrong things.

We should all take a trip to Finland where children start their education at the age of seven and don’t seem to worry so much about keeping up with other Fin’s.

I don’t think toddlers need teachers to learn skills or a foreign language like French by the time they can pick their nose.  [Of course, there is a French way to pick one’s nose…if you did not already know.]  I think toddlers need their mom and dad to take care of their bloody nose.

Does the Lord care about this?  I don’t think so.  Actually, I know He doesn’t care at all!  But I guarantee you that the Lord does care that we are faithful to our vocation as husband/wife and father/mother.  The good news is that he will hold us accountable for the simple things in life.  The bad news is that most of these things are neglected on a daily basis. 

Did you give your time, attention and affection to your spouse and family?  Did you stress to your children the need to pray to the love of their life?  Did you teach your children how to love as they should? 

If not, then it is time to stress over them...over and over again.

Luke 9:57-62 The Would Be Followers

Luke 9:57-62  The Would Be Followers

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As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding on their journey, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go?”  Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

Amanda Clayton had it all.  Her life had become a rags-to-riches story.  The story of Cinderella had finally come true!  

For years Amanda collected welfare benefits.  But that all changed in September of last year when she won one million dollars in the Michigan state lottery.  But one year later, almost to the date, she was found dead of an apparent drug overdose.  Her former boyfriend told a reporter, “The Amanda I knew was a caring person….She went down the wrong path, she got the money, got the freedom and felt like she could do whatever she wanted.”   Let’s keep her in our prayers.

Poverty kills.  Wealth does too.  But money is not the root of all evil.  Sin is.  Sin separates our heart, our mind, our will, our worth and our dignity from our Creator.  And when that happens, evil happens.  And that evil can lead us to the worst possible separation ever, the worst divorce ever:  hell.

Job was a very special man.  He was found worthy of God’s graces.  Yes!  God’s graces!  Even though his possessions were put through fire, his servants put to the sword, and his children swept away, he never found it in his heart to curse God!    Job was a man of deep faith and not of deep understanding.  Even when his mental faculties were tested and his body afflicted, he refused to try to explain why God would do this to him.  Through it all, Job never lowered his dignity; never forgot his Creator.

I say that Job was a man found worthy of God’s blessings because he was.  When this beautiful story of faith and fidelity was circulating among the Jews, he was the closest imitation to the real, yet unknown, person of Jesus Christ. 

Job is the prototype, the forerunner, of Jesus Christ.  But where Job lost everything, Christ gave everything.  Why?  Because it was worth it. 

Scripture scholars continue to debate whether or not this story is true.  I don't know why!  Give me a break.  Don’t they know people who have gone through “hell”, who have lost everything they had and everyone they loved?  Who cares if Job is a fictitious or anonymous name.  The facts speak for themselves.  The name “Job” may have been created, but we don’t need to be very creative to come up with this narrative.  We have seen it for ourselves!  Maybe we have lived it ourselves!  I know plenty of people who have gone through very dark times.  What makes all the difference in the world is how they respond to it; how it can get much better or far worse! 

Lord, I will follow you wherever you go!  How immature!  What nonsense.  Someone came up to the Lord and said, “I will follow you wherever you go?”  Sure, the first day, the days of excitement, are the best and easiest days.  But when days become years…  This poor guy didn’t know what he was talking about.  Job lost all that he had because the Lord stripped it from him.  This would-be-disciple thought he could bring it all.  Little did he know the Lord would ask him to strip down (physically and pride-fully) to nothing!  Poverty, chastity and obedience have a way of doing that to people.  My oh my!!!  But don’t feel too sorry for priests.  All commitments, even marriage vows, have a way of doing that to people! 

Love is all about giving and receiving…and in that order, and not always receiving on time.

It is immature to think the Lord will do what we tell him to do if we pray to him.  It is highly irrational to think that God’s protection means I will not experience dark days.  It is pure fantasy to think with God on my side, I will be rich and healthy.  Sorry folks, I just don’t see that anywhere in Scripture.

God is not very much interested in helping us settle down on earth.  He is very much interested in uprooting us and making His home our dwelling place.  This isn’t a “pie-in-the-sky” faith.  This is mission impossible - Delta force and Navy SEALS - work on earth!  Why would anyone risk their lives like these people do?  Because they consider it worth it.  They have been called to serve. 

We've been called too.

Job reacted in a way that none of the “would-be-followers” of Christ did.  When he experienced the loss of family and friends, Job did not look back:  The Lord gives and the Lord takes, blessed be the Lord now and forever!  What a declaration of faith!

Our faith and prayer life are very important for our survival and holiness.  We may lose our treasure on earth, but we can never lose the treasure of our faith.  The glitter and confetti of life’s pleasures will eventually fall…fall flat on the ground, but our hearts and minds must remain firmly planted on that which never changes.  When autumn approaches, let us prepare for winter.  When our enthusiasm for God evaporates faster than our possessions, do not grind your teeth and cast the Lord aside. Instead, hold firm to the faith of our Fathers.

Lk 6:12-19 People and Things

Lk 6:12-19  People and Things

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Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.  When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles.

Right now I can’t think of a single list I ever made when I was in school.  I know I made honor roll a few times.  I made the soccer team too, but that’s only because there were so few kids that signed up for it.

It seems as though success is measured by having your name added on some kind of list.  And we’ve got plenty of lists.  Top ten artists, Fortune 500, etc… There are lists for all sorts of people.  There’s even a death row list available on the Internet.

Yesterday, I read in the newspaper that for the first time in almost fifteen years - and the third time ever- a Christian artist, TobyMac, made it to the top of the mainstream music list.  Wow!  What took so long?  Maybe the question should really be, “Why aren’t inspirational songs the “mainstream”, the norm?  Why isn’t the Good News more appealing than all the depressing bad news? 

TobyMac’s success really rests in his unrelenting determination to be the best Christian witness he can be.  He attributes his success more to his prayer life and faith in God, rather than in the sudden acceptance of the Good News or good taste.

The reason why Christian music is not as popular as it should be lies more in the lyrics than in the music, and in our general and childish attitude towards people and things. 

Little girls used to tell their father’s that they wanted to marry them.  Little boys used to tell their mom’s that they wanted to marry them.  Now, we have little boys and little girls telling their parents that they want to marry their dog.  Thus the beginning of the fall of the next taboo!  [Just kidding…I hope!].      

We honestly think we should have people like we have things:  as our possession and at our disposal. 

There’s a song that I really enjoyed listening to called Pay Phone.  I liked it for the same reason so many young people like it:  for the rhythm.  But then I read the lyrics.  They’re as explicit as they’re desperate, the typical symptoms of childish hysteria.  You see, when we think we can have people like we have things and can’t have people like we have our things, we become explicit towards them as well as desperate; Oh how we become desperate for their attention!  We write countless e-mails, send countless texts, leave gifts and notes all the time; we look for them, we wait for them, etc…

The group (Maroon) must have recorded two separate versions of it:  one for the radio and one for the iPod.  But both versions transmit a sense of despair in the lack luster response of people.

Now, what is even more interesting than theory is actual human behavior.  I’m sure that in their oversold concerts they do not resort to the toned down version of their song, but rather use the explicit one.  I am also sure that when the song approaches the explicit part, the young crowd bursts in, louder than at any other moment of the song. 

Why?  Because we are the most spoiled children E-V-E-R!  We live in a nation where we have so much and yet, we have the audacity to think that life rots!  Only a child who thought they could have it all, without working hard at all, would believe "that fairytales are full of sh*t".  Only a child who thought they could buy it all, consume it all, inhale it all, would get "f’ing sick by another love song!"  [N.B.  These are not my words].    

These pitiful and superficial sentiments of anger and disgust with people and the world are simply the resurgence of a childish act of a spontaneous outburst from a spoiled rotten childhood whose delusional dream of having it all, including a world that revolved around them, led to a feeling of nausea. Just like what happens when a merry-go-round goes a bit too fast.

Most love songs and fairy-tales are as honest as life.  That Cinderella has a deadline is no different than many of us who live by deadlines! Fairy-tales remind us that there are limits in life and with people; but if we do things well, from the very beginning, we might just finish well at the very end.  But we have to do things right, which is almost never my way of doing things.

Judas was living a fairy-tale-come-true.  Judas was immersed in love.  But if love doesn’t change you and a fairy tale doesn’t inspire you, then boy are you going to be in trouble!  And when we find ourselves in trouble, in a broken relationship, we can become very explicit and desperate.

Fairy tales and loves songs are not full of it.  We are.

Mt 13:18-23 Seeds That Grows

Mt 13:18-23  Seeds That Grows

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Jesus said to his disciples:  “Hear the parable of the sower…The seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

We all look for excitement while we all appreciate what’s common.  What’s common is what is very stable.  For example, in order for a seed to grow it must fall on rich soil; take root; and persevere in times of trial. 

The Lord knows human nature as well as he knows plants.  Without stability; without roots; without Christ, we have little to no chance of surviving like humans and living like saints. 

Yesterday, I saw a very disturbing video of a nine-year old boy in a daycare center that viciously punched and kicked other children while they were waiting for a parent or guardian to pick them up.  He attacked children as little as nine-months old!  He knew what he was doing.  He actually waited for the day care assistant to turn her back before he ruthlessly attacked the children.  At one moment, he positioned a little girl, turned his head to make sure the assistant wasn’t looking, and kicked the little girl in the back.  When the assistant turned to see what had happened, he cleverly went over to the baby and picked her up, giving the appearance that he was consoling her.

Let me guess:  He has “mental health” issues, right?  He needs to be medicated.  Health officials should have informed the daycare center that he was capable of doing great harm to others.  They should be held liable for not predicting this type of behavior.  Or maybe the answer (or solution) is that he was born evil.  Some people get more of original sin than others.  Original sin affects the genetics of a person, right?  WRONG!

What’s wrong with our kids today?  What’s changed, other than time?  Have their bodies evolved?  Do they no longer need two arms but three?  Do they see from their ears and hear from their eyes?  Are they no longer born with an umbilical cord, like the first humans?  Kids do not evolve, they grow.  There is a difference.

What’s changed is the following:  they no longer have any type of roots; that is, they have little to no stability; little to no responsibility; little to no morality.  Man has not evolved with time, but marriage and family have, and they have left everyone behind, especially their children, our future.

Far too many of us will do whatever it takes to be happy, even at the expense of those who depend on us.  We will do whatever makes us happy but not whatever it takes for our children to be happy.  Sometimes the two coincide.  Many times they don’t.   

Evolution can be a great thing.  It can also be a lousy thing.  Supposedly we have become stronger over time, but so have viruses and bacteria.  Whatever gains we made with our minds, we’ve definitely lost with our hearts.  We have evolved into thinking that a child born out of wedlock is worse than a child being born.  Kids that know this think about this and grow up with this.  They value their comfort level much more than their sense of honor, duty and responsibility.

Human nature has not changed with time.  We still need to eat.  We still need to sleep.  We still need to be taught order, discipline, stability, responsibility and morality.  We still need someone to take care of us when we are vulnerable and someone to love us always.  If we take a beautiful tree that has been firmly planted in the ground and uproot it to move it, watch out:  chances are it will die. 

That’s what’s happening to our kids.  They don’t have a family that will love them so they find a family in a gang, prison or cult.  They have no one to spend hours with so they text, tweet, chat, and Facebook.  They don’t have a sibling as a friend so they find a sibling in a friend.  They don’t have a mother or a father to love them so they find a boyfriend or a girlfriend that will.  They don’t have someone that will teach them, discipline them, help them, tough-love them and be honest with them, so they find a mother or a father in a coach, teacher, social worker, priest or neighbor. 

But what eventually ends up happening is that they find out just how inhumane they really are.   They are not human.  They are like an artificial plant; no leaves, no roots, no soil.  And we are content with it, as long as we can get by with it.

Although the world around us may evolve over time, plants still need what they have always needed since the dawn of time. 

Although marriage and family may evolve in name and over time, children still need what they have always needed since the dawn of man. 

The lack of it will be ever more noticeable (and shocking) over time.