Colossians 1:15-20
15 Brothers and sisters, Christ Jesus is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For in him were created all
things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones
or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him
and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent...
The Jews knew of the prophecy that from King David’s lineage
would come forth a King, the foretold Messiah of Israel. During the reign of King
Ahaz and all other kings of Israel
who did evil things the royalty was cut off. During the Babylonian captivity
and in exile, those born of the line of David, of royal blood went in hiding
for fear of being killed. Even though the divinic dynasty was cut off, from the
tree of Jesse, the father of King David, came forth the shoot that brought
forth the King. We remember that it was prophesied in Isaiah 11:1 And there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of
his roots.” The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 tells of this family tree. We
would find at the end of this lineage, Joseph who is the husband of Mary the
mother of Jesus. Joseph is not king but a carpenter and being Jew knew of the
prophecy as foretold by the prophet including this one from Isaiah 7:14 … the
Lord Himself shall give you a sign, “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a
son and shall call His name Emmanuel.” as spoken to him by the angel who
appeared to him. He finally understood the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel .
Isaiah is important to better understand Jesus. Joseph knew of the need for
secrecy and not to make public these things because the reigning king at that
time is Herod. He is not Jew but an Edomite who was just appointed by the Romans
to be king. He is king not for the Jews but for the Romans to collect taxes for
them. This is mainly the reason why Herod wants all male babies born at the
time of Jesus, dead. Joseph dreamed a lot of dreams and it was through them
that Joseph was able to successfully carry out his mission as the protector of
the baby Jesus. Another point of reference here is the fact that in the Old
Testament (OT) there was a foreshadowing of the Magi or Wise Men who came to
worship Jesus in the manger. It was at the time of the reign of Balak an evil
king in the OT when Balaam also a wise man from the East prophesied in Numbers
24:15,18 that there shall come a Star out of Jacob and a Scepter shall rise out
of Israel who will
dispossess Edom .
He was asked to exact a curse upon Israel but from his mouth came
forth a blessing. A star and a scepter signifies kingship. In parallel, it was
also the 3 wise men who were looking for a star that would direct them to the
newborn King of Israel who would inform Herod of his whereabouts but warned in
a dream not to go back to him in a dream. Jesus is truly our King. The Kingship
of Jesus is accompanied by many more wonderful things that we still have to
know of. In the Jewish tradition the # 3 and 7 stands for perfection and completeness.
It is somehow puzzling to know that there are 3 sets of 14 generations from the
time of Abraham to the exile to the time of Jesus. So why the #14? The
significance of the #14 stands for the name of King David which is equivalent
to 14 in Hebrew. The 3 sets of 14 stands
for perfect royalty and king that all leads to Jesus. It could also be
equivalent to 6 sets of 7. The #6 signifies the date when the beast is made or
the beginning thus the #666 which signifies the beast of all beasts. The 6 of 7
sets could mean the beginning of the 7th set. 7 is also the Sabbath. The new 7
is the new creation. Jesus is the beginning of the 7th set. Why the fuss in all
of these? It is a consolation to know that we have a God who is King. The King
of kings and the Lord of lords. We will eventually come face to face with our
Creator and God who made heaven and earth. The time is now to make a conscious
move to be in touch with this truth. It is such a waste that we don't always
realize God's presence among us. When there is nothing more rewarding than to
always be aware of God's presence and cry out to Him in joy. Whenever we are in
a relationship with someone and give our 100% into it then we can not help but
expect it to work. But there are times too when we have given our all and yet
it doesn't seem to be enough. We sometimes are bound for disappointments. When
these things happen then is really no reason to be sad for we can always go to
God for consolation whose love for us endures forever. We are all called to
become partakers and residents of the eternal Kingdom of God Elm Street " every time the girl in
this movie falls asleep, her nightmare begins and Freddie Krueger appears to
wreak evil and havoc in her life. She has to stay awake or else something
really bad happens to her and the people around her. Somehow this should make
us realize the importance of being awake, conscious and in touch with reality.
If there's one thing that we have to always be aware of, that is God has our
best interest in mind. It may not be easy to see, understand and have a grip on
this reality always especially at times when we seem down and out as in falling
flat on bed without a care in the world like dumb sleepyheads. We have to rise,
wake up and shine. We ought to always get a hold of this truth in today's psalm
and never let it leave our consciousness. We will eventually come face to face
with our Creator, and the time is now to make a conscious move to be in touch
with this truth. Our devotion to God should have no limits for He is Almighty,
All Powerful and Holy. We should remain faithful to God and never stray away
from the path where He leads us. Let us stay within the flock that God has
formed for us. When we are being cared for by God who is constantly and
consistently good, kind and faithful forever and ever then we are confident
that we are safe and secure in the fold where we belong like a flock tended by
the Good Shepherd. We should always remember that we have a God who cares for
all our needs for we belong to Him. May we all take part in the grand banquet
that God has prepared for us in heaven. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 100:1b-2, 3, 5
R: Come with joy into the presence of the Lord..
1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; 2 serve the LORD
with gladness; come before him with joyful song. (R) 3 Know that the LORD is
God; he made us, his we are; his people, the flock he tends. (R) 4 Enter his
gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise; Give thanks to him; bless his
name. (R) 5 The LORD is good: his kindness endures forever, and his
faithfulness, to all generations.
What we encounter everyday is all a part of life. It's in
fact very simple if we are to look at it from today's gospel point of view.
Sometimes we make things difficult, if we really want to follow God we just
need to be plain and simple. We just have to accept things as they are, what
can't be, can't be and do things the way Jesus would do. Whenever we go through
life we need to keep this piece of advice in mind. What's done is done. What's
past is past. We can't continue bringing up the past and ruin what's in the
present. Though, we must not forget the lessons of the past we have to move on
and do what is supposed to be done at the moment, which is to mind the present and
look forward to the best future we can work for. Another thing we are sometimes
guilty of is, judging people based only on what we see from the outside. We
tend to make our own judgments and label people although not always openly, in
accordance to our own personal standards. This should not be the case rather we
should always follow the example of Jesus as in today's gospel when He tried to
point out the importance or precedence of one thing over the other in certain
situations but at the same time did not disregard outright the importance of
the other. We sometimes make decisions and do things at one particular point in
our life that may seem hard to explain and understand for some people. In the
same way that the scribes and Pharisees failed to grasp or maybe deliberately
ignored just to brag about their being right about fasting and prayer and find
a loophole in Jesus. We are sometimes guilty of this when we tend to always
look at the negative rather than choose to build up what is right, fitting and most
essential thing to do that is being called for at the specific moment. We
sometimes have to be very discreet and always consult God in every single thing
that we do. If we always draw near to God then He will surely draw near to us
and we will find it easier to follow His voice and directions without being
dissuaded and influenced by the so called scribes and Pharisees in our own
lives that aim to sometimes confuse and mislead us or our own tendency to be
like them. In all things let the fruits of the Holy Spirit (love, peace, joy,
patience, kindness, goodness, meekness/ humility, self control and
faithfulness) and the Sacred Heart of Jesus guide and direct us when we
encounter such situations. Amen. Hallelujah!
Luke 5:33-39
33 The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples
of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the
Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Can
you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the
days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will
fast in those days.” 36 And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece
from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the
piece from it will not match the old cloak. 37 Likewise, no one pours new wine
into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will
be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. 38 Rather, new wine must be poured
into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,
for he says, ‘The old is good.’ ”
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