The Word God Spells

John 12: 44-50
Acts 12: 24 — 13: 5 / Ps 67: 2-3, 5, 6 and 8

I came into this world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.
(John 12:46)

The Light of Truth is God’s gift to man,
The Word made flesh, His beloved Son;
Believe His words are the Father’s plan,
As the Father and Jesus are One.

Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” (John 12: 44-50)

John 8: 21-30
Nm 21: 4-9 / Ps 102: 2-3,16-21

…you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.
(John 8:21)

Lord Jesus, this is my reflection:
As a process of my redemption.
Let me share in your crucifixion
Thru my trials and tribulation.

Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?” But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.” “Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been claiming all along,” Jesus replied. “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.” They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” Even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.

Reflection

Jesus said to the Pharisees and the scribes, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin.” If they were truly well-versed in Scriptures, they would have remembered the words of Jeremiah (29:13): “And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” The only problem was that the Pharisees and scribes did not seek God with all their heart. Instead, they had been more concerned with displaying their own self-righteousness.

Even as Jesus kept warning them: “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins,” they were still blind without faith, asking Him, “Who are you?” All this time, Jesus had been performing so many miracles in their midst, and yet these religious leaders, fearful of losing their influence over the Jews, chose not to accept Him as the Messiah. They were so self-righteous that they even sarcastically implied that Jesus must be going to hell by saying “Will he kill himself?” when Jesus said “Where I go you cannot come.” Suicide for the Jews was the surest way to go to hell.

Many people today are in danger of falling into the same trap of self-righteousness that the Pharisees and scribes had doomed themselves into, dying in this sin. It is not only in denying the divinity of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior; it is also in denying the existence of hell, feeling smug in the thought that they have a place reserved for them in heaven. This is the most cunning deception of Satan — to make people believe that there are no devils, and therefore there is no hell. Anyone who falls into this lie is making a liar of our Lord Jesus, Who emphatically taught us that we will all be judged according to our choices: those who do not listen to His Word “will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Mt. 25:46).

Dear God, we choose to heed the warning of our Lord Jesus in the Gospel, and we believe every word that He has spoken to be the eternal truth. As we meditate on His cross, we are reminded of how He sacrificed His life for our salvation, and we are encouraged to take part in spreading His Good News of salvation to others. Amen.

Luke 17: 26-37
Wis 13:1-9 / Ps 19

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.
(Luke 17:33)

No one knows the day it’s coming,
The least we can do is prepare.
What our Lord today is saying:
Repent, have faith and don’t despair.

“As it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. Similarly, in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building; on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the housetop, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” “Where, Lord?” they asked. He replied, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.”

Reflection

In the days of Noah, just before the great flood came, as in the days of Lot before Sodom and Gomorrha were consumed by fire and brimstone, people were going about their lives, without thought of the impending holocaust that would come upon them. Similarly, our Lord gives us fair warning that the Great Retribution will come and be upon us when we least expect it, when most people are not prepared. Who can prevent it? With the proliferation of atomic bombs in the hands of radical states, how sure are we that we can wake up to a normal life tomorrow? Only the prudent and wise among God’s children are unperturbed and well prepared. They will not be shaken who follow the will of their Maker. But alas for those unprepared for the sudden strike of disaster.

Jesus was declaring a prophecy that calamities will strike as a matter of course. The point is, how prepared are we to meet them? Our material concerns dim our view of the real LIFE ahead, even as we know that this life is temporal. We are no different from “the birds in the air and the flowers in the field” that are there today and gone tomorrow. And yet, in a way we also differ, because we are more foolish — with all these cravings for material possessions, these aspirations for prestige and power, which are all but “chasing of the wind.” Our propensity for the best that life can offer often blunts the faint voice that calls for a more eschatological perspective. Our Lord Jesus’ fellowship should be our main objective, His Father’s will our life’s sole directive. Our Lord said, “Whoever seeks to preserve his life (only for himself) will lose it, but whoever loses it (for the sake of others) will save it” (for eternal life).

Death has surely come to those who have not found Life in Christ, even if they are still alive. No wealth, fame or power on earth can ever be more important than the promise of spending eternal bliss in God’s kingdom. Utopia in this life is an illusion, because, as 6,000 years of human history has borne out, man has never achieved happiness, prosperity, peace and all the good things in life through his own efforts. In fact, unless more people on earth come to believe that the Word of God provides the solution to an ideal world order, this planet and its civilization may soon end in a cataclysm far worse than Sodom and Gomorrha and Noah’s flood combined.

Help us, dear God, to keep Your Word always the focus of our life. Amen.

Matthew 13:24-30
Ex 24:3-8 / Ps 50

First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.
(Matthew 13:30)

God sends the sun after the rain,
To let the weeds grow with the wheat.
Don’t be afraid of Satan’s gain,
Christ has prophesied his defeat.

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ”

Reflection

Most, if not all of Jesus’ parables are also prophecies, the reason why they apply as well to all generations. Jesus is telling us in today’s Gospel that God only desires good people of faith to establish His Church, but His enemy, Satan has undermined the plan of God by infiltrating the ranks of the faithful with his own minions. These are the weeds, or darnel that Satan has sown among the wheat. Often, we cannot tell that these infiltrators are from the other side, because they are even well versed in the sacred Scriptures, or may even be members of the clergy itself!

On two occasions, I have had the unforgettable experience of meeting two of these darnels that our Lord prophesied would come to deceive many of His followers. The first one was a Baptist pastor who was also the municipal mayor of a coastal town where our company tried to establish a trading company. We needed a general agent for the barter of rice with copra and other agricultural products, and decided to make him our partner because of his influence and perceived integrity, being a man of God’s Word. He was always quoting passages from the Bible, and could cite any verse from memory. Having won our confidence, he was able to advance a big amount of money to buy corn and copra, which he sold behind our backs. Only our diligence to audit his operations prevented our company’s near bankruptcy.

The other weed I encountered was also a man of the cloth -– in fact a Catholic priest who celebrated a necrological mass for a brother Mason. Instead of extolling the virtues of the deceased in his homily, he gave a tirade on why the Church was wrong in its views about Masonry, and even boasted about his membership in that secret society. Short of saying that he was excommunicating himself, the faithful in that congregation was at a loss whether to receive communion from him or not.

As Jesus predicted in today’s Gospel, the weeds in the Church may be thriving, but their day of judgment will come when they will be bundled up and thrown into the fire. In the meantime, we must be firm in holding fast to our faith to resist them.

Most loving Lord of the harvest, You know all the seasons for sowing and reaping, as well as the conditions for our healthy growth; we put our trust in You. Do with us as You will, fully confident that we will be part of the great harvest in Your kingdom. Amen.

Matthew 7: 1-5
Gn 12:1-9 / Ps 33:12-13,18-19,20,22

Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, & the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.
(Matthew 7:1-2)

In judging, give the credit due,
The weak deserves some merit too.
The less of prejudice in you,
The more the love of God shines through.

Jesus said, “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye but do not perceive the beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a beam in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)

Reflection

Being a judge in our country’s trial courts can be a daunting task that requires a fair amount of intelligence, hard work, patience, courage, prudence, and integrity. It is a grave responsibility because our judges know that one day, they will also be judged for all the decisions they handed down affecting the lives of other people.

Our eldest brother is a judge in a regional trial court. All of his nine surviving siblings hold him in high esteem for his keen sense of fairness and his proven integrity. His example gives hope that most of our honorable ‘men in black’ uphold the same ideals in our judicial system, notwithstanding some rumours to the contrary.

One such judge who handed a fair and favorable decision changed the life of a young member of our brotherhood from Cagayan de Oro city. Bro. Jun shared how one day, while he was still in college, a tragic vehicular accident scarred his growing years. He was driving in the rain when a woman suddenly ran across his path to flag a passing jeepney. Bro. Jun and his companion rushed her to the nearest hospital, but she was declared dead on arrival. The cause of death was severe hemorrhage from hitting her head on the pavement. His parents negotiated with the family of the victim to compensate them financially for their loss, but the amount the bereaved husband demanded was beyond what Bro. Jun’s parents could raise. The case went to court. After two years, the presiding judge decided that Bro. Jun was innocent of the charges filed against him (homicide), because there was no intent to kill.

We had invited my brother judge to the BCBP breakfast fellowship where Bro. Jun gave this life testimony. Later, I asked my brother how he would have decided if he had been the judge in that case. Not being aware of all the circumstances in the case, he could not give his personal opinion, but he said he would have admonished the driver of the vehicle and his parents to be magnanimous in victory and compensate the family of the victim with their original offer. Indeed my brother showed that our sense of justice must always ruled by compassion.

Grant us the grace, Lord, to be more compassionate in judging those who are prejudiced against us, even if we know we are in the right, just as You have been compassionate to us in our sinfulness. Amen.

Luke 6: 36-38
Dn 9:4-10 / Ps 79

For the measure with which you measure, will in return be measured out to you.
(Luke 6:38)

The good in some we may discount
If we always tend to criticize;
We all shall be called to account
At the judgment seat of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.” (Lk. 6:36-38)

Reflection

After teaching His disciples how to treat their enemies, Jesus next taught them how to treat their own friends who have offended them or behaved wrongfully. And His message consisted of: mercy, forgiveness, generosity and discernment. First of all, our Lord cautions us not to be judgmental. To be able to reject all kinds of injustice and unrighteousness, we must learn instead how to be discerning of what is good and evil. Through faith in God’s justice, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will be able to determine what is right and wrong. Then we can teach, encourage and rebuke with authority. But it is always in humble supplication and a heart predisposed to mercy that we will receive this gift of sound judgment. Jesus told His disciples, “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I am sorry,’ forgive him.” (Lk.17:3-4) We must never tolerate what is wrong, but we must always be predisposed to forgive the repentant wrongdoer.

Sis. Baby told of a trying period in her student days when she was wrongly judged by her religious superiors of having stolen the money of a classmate. She never told her parents about it, and decided to suffer the humiliation and punishment alone. But young as she was, she firmly believed that the truth would prevail, and soon enough the real culprit, another classmate with a problem of kleptomania admitted to the felony. Sis. Baby never harbored any bitterness, but graciously accepted the apologies of her superiors, her faith in God’s mercy fortified in her early years.

During this season of Lent, let us seek to form a more merciful heart, rather than a judgmental one; let us be predisposed to forgive rather than condemn; and let us give of ourselves with compassion, without counting the cost. If we can do all these, then we will have made Lent more significant, and our merciful and forgiving Father in heaven will surely pour out His immeasurable generosity into our life. This is our Lord’s firm and dependable promise.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for teaching us that there is only one standard by which we can judge others, and that is by judging our own motives. During this short period of Lent, may we be constantly reminded to cleanse our hearts and minds of all negative attitudes, and abide always in Your words to be merciful, forgiving, generous and kind to everyone. Amen.