Monday we looked at the choice the Israelites made in choosing to have a human king. The first three kings, Saul, David and Solomon had their good and bad points. The kingdom of Israel degraded into civil war and divided after that. Northern and Southern Israel were ruled by a succession of evil kings (and one queen) until both were conquered by foreigners. The rejection of God as their King cost them everything - even their country. God did not force himself on the Israelites. Using their free will, they chose human leaders and suffered the consequences about which God had warned them. We use our free will every day, and we too either gain the advantages or suffer the disadvantages of our choices. For reflection: What major decisions/choices am I facing? What might the long-term benefits or consequences be? Let us pray. Father, I am not able to see as far down the road as you. You know better the advantages and disadvantages of the decisions I am facing. Impart your grace and grant me wisdom. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise" (Psalm 111:10).
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Saul went quickly from a persecutor to being persecuted. After learning from the disciples in Damascus about Jesus and his message of healing, forgiveness and the kingdom of God, he himself began to preach. The local Jews plotted to kill him but Saul made the first of many miraculous escapes in his life. His disciples get him out of the city by letting him over the town wall in a basket (Acts 9:19-25). For reflection: When has God helped me to escape from a bad situation? When has God used me to help someone escape from a bad situation? Let us pray. Father, thank you for the times you have protected me and saved me. You are my protector Brave Ananias went to pray with Saul at the Lord's direction (Acts 9:10-19) and Saul was healed of his blindness, both physical and spiritual blindness. Saul was actually the enemy of Ananias when Ananias went to pray with him. Jesus asked Ananias to go pray for the healing of his enemy. So Ananias was living out Jesus' teaching from Matthew 5:43-45. "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." Loving and praying for our enemies is one of the hardest things to do that Jesus taught. I have heard quite a few Christians pray against their enemies, rather than praying for them. But Jesus didn't say pray against them; he said pray for them. Perhaps Paul was remembering what Ananias had done for him when he wrote to the Romans: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. . . . If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head" (Romans 12:14-20). For reflection: Who are my enemies? How have I been treating them? Let us pray. Father, I ask your blessing on (my enemy). Help me to speak kind and loving words and to follow your lead in what I should do for them. If I can help lead them closer to you, please show me how to do that. And please forgive me for the way I have treated them in the past. How did Philip witness to the Ethiopian man (Acts 8:26-40)? Being divinely guided to meet this man, how did Philip proceed? First, he began from where the man was. The man happened to be reading from Isaiah. So Philip knew the man was a Jewish believer. If he got to know him at all, which he must have or we would have no details in this account, he found out that he had traveled all the way from Ethiopia to worship in Jerusalem. So the man is a devout Jew. Philip starts the witnessing conversation with the passage from Isaiah that the man is reading. Second, from that starting point he led the conversation around to Jesus and the good news that the Messiah had come. We don't know exactly how long this conversation lasted. Possibly it lasted several hours. Even so, it was a "quickie". In only one meeting, Philip brings the Ethiopian to belief and even baptizes him. Philip's divine appointment led another person into the kingdom in one day. No doubt the man went back to Ethiopia and told others what had happened. So the Gospel spread even further from that one encounter. Earlier this year at my regular appointment with my hairdresser Thomas, I noticed that he had a large lump on his right wrist. I asked him what was wrong. He said it was a type of tendonitis and that it was so bad he was only cutting hair for two people a day. He had rescheduled all of his other customers with other hairdressers in the salon. He didn't know what was going to happen or how he would continue to support his family. His wrist was not getting significantly better with therapy. Knowing that Thomas is a believer in Jesus, when we finished I asked if I could pray for healing of his wrist. He took me into a small room in the salon and we prayed for a minute or two. Twice it felt like electricity passed between us. When I returned for my next appointment, Thomas's wrist was healed and he was back to cutting hair all day long. This was not a divine appointment, but a regular appointment, used for divine purposes because I was able to step out in faith. I didn't know if Thomas would be healed, but I knew prayer wouldn't make it any worse! I met Thomas where he was - in need of healing. Jesus took it from there. For reflection: Have I missed opportunities to meet people's need for God, for healing? What is holding me back? Let us pray. Holy Spirit, I don't want to miss any more opportunities that you provide. I give you my fears of reaching out to others, of being rejected, of not knowing what to say. I don't want those fears any more. In our examination of Jesus' appearances after his resurrection, we have not paid much attention to what Jesus said during that time. Obviously just as the Gospel accounts vary in the number of appearances of Jesus, and to whom he appeared, they vary in what Jesus said. A common thread, though, is "Peace" or "Fear not". No doubt it was a fearsome thing to have Jesus appear to you individually or in the midst of a group. Or perhaps he said that because they were hiding in fear. When he walked with the two people on the way to Emmaus he explained the Scriptures to them and how they applied to him (Luke 24:27). John has Jesus breathe on the disciples to impart the Holy Spirit and send them out. "'As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.' And with that he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven'" (John 20:21-23). But Matthew has Jesus say something similar earlier in his gospel (Matthew 16:19, 18:18). In most of the post-resurrection accounts, though, I think the emphasis is on the fact that he appeared, proving he rose from the dead, and that he ate and drank and spoke to show that he is truly alive. He was publicly executed, yet he lives. He was buried, yet he lives. Even death cannot hold him down. For reflection: If even death cannot hold Jesus down, what is holding me down? Let us pray. Jesus, I repent of being afraid of you and being afraid of others. I repent of (whatever is holding me down). Please forgive me. I want to experience the freedom of being raised from the dead with you. Be with me now as you were with your disciples then. He's not a shape shifter either. When Jesus appears in different guises in his post-Resurrection appearances, he does not appear as a dog or an owl or a newt. He appears as a person. He is able to fix breakfast and walk side-by-side with others. He is not a ghost. Thomas is able to touch Jesus' wounds. Jesus eats fish. He is not a vampire who feeds on other people; he feeds them. He is not a zombie walking around in a psychotic state; he has a will of his own. His body was not stolen by the Jews or the Romans. We don't have a mass hallucination that has continued in belief until today.
What do we have? Infinitely creative God chose to take on human life and exist as we do. He ate and drank, partied and mourned, worked and rested. He was elated then deflated. He was praised then betrayed. Why does it matter? Belief in Jesus Christ depends on his resurrection from the dead. As St. Paul says (1 Corinthians 15:14-17), "If Christ has not been raised . . . we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. . . . And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile." Traditionally we say that Christ appeared to people for 40 days after his resurrection. A week from now it will be 40 days. That's why we have spent so long looking at the resurrection appearances - so that we could experience the length of time that he continued to appear in person to people. We are not quite finished yet. We have a few appearances remaining. Stay tuned. For reflection: Books, TV and movies portray the various powers that superheroes possess. What supernatural powers do I need to be a superhero for God? What villains are after me? How can I overcome them? Let us pray. Father, All-Powerful, all true power comes from you. Thank you for the gifts of your Holy Spirit. Thank you for wisdom and understanding, knowledge and faith, healing and miracles. Thank you for being with us always. Continuing with our story of Jesus fixing breakfast on the shore for the disciples who have been fishing, we come to the well-known talk that Jesus has with Simon (John 21:15-19). Three times Jesus asks Simon, "Do you love me?" Three times Simon Peter answers, "Yes, Lord." Jesus instructs him to "feed my sheep." Aside from the fact that these three questions parallel the triple denial of Jesus by Peter, what else might they signify? To me they show that although Peter failed Jesus miserably in his hour of need, God's call on Peter's life still remains. Peter's failure did not negate the call of God on his life. God has not given up on Peter. Jesus then says to Peter here at the end of the gospel the same thing he said at the beginning, "Follow me." But now Peter knows what "follow me" entails - persecution, being an outcast, danger, trials and death. Peter had already passed one small test since his denial and Jesus' resurrection: he fished on the other side of the boat when Jesus told him to. Now Jesus gives him a much bigger task: follow me and feed my sheep. For reflection: My failure does not negate the call of God on my life. Let us pray. Lord, I may not always be successful, but I want to be faithful. Don't let my failures keep me from trying to what you call me to do. Like a commercial in the midst of your favorite TV show, today we come to a pause in John's stories of the resurrected Christ. Thomas has seen and touched and believed. In response Jesus said to Thomas, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29). Here John inserts his commentary: "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:30-31). John wrote his account of Jesus' life so that we, who have not seen Jesus, who have not witnessed his miracles, who have not touched his wounds, might believe, and in believing gain eternal life. For reflection: Jesus said to Thomas, "Stop doubting and believe." What is my answer? Knowing what befell Jesus and what would happen to his disciples because of this belief, where do I stand? With Thomas, let us pray: My Lord and my God! When Jesus appeared to the disciples, showed them his wounds, and ate fish as proof that he was alive, somehow Thomas was not with them. Despite the eyewitness accounts of the others, Thomas was not convinced that Jesus had risen. "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it," Thomas exclaimed (John 20:25). Fast forward a week. All of the disciples had locked themselves into the same house as before, but this time Thomas is present. Jesus once again materializes before them and says, "Peace be with you!" Jesus knows what Thomas has said about touching him, so he urges Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." For reflection: Watch this video from tale2tell (under 7 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPO2unN31lc As we continue to examine the appearances of Jesus after his resurrection, we see Jesus confirms the story of the two travelers by appearing to the whole group of disciples in Jerusalem while they are still talking about these mysterious happenings. Jesus simply appears among them (Luke 24:36; John 20:19; Mark 16:14) even though they are in a locked room for fear of reprisals by other Jews. Thinking they are seeing a ghost, they are both startled and frightened. Jesus tells them not to be afraid and shows them the wounds on his hands and his feet. "Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have" (Luke 24:39). In their amazement they still do not believe, so Jesus eats some broiled fish to prove to them that he is real. For reflection: When have I locked myself away because of fear? What does/did it take to prove to me that Jesus is really risen from the dead? Let us pray. Jesus, I want to put away my fear of others and my fear of you. I want to believe that you really rose from the dead and not care what others think of me because of that belief. |
AliceI started this website and blog on May 1, 2012. I am a Catholic who has been in ministry for many years. I first developed what I would call a close relationship with Jesus in the early 1970s. Ever since then I have been praying with people for healing and other needs. It is because I have seen so many of these prayers answered that I am so bold as to offer to pray for you individually through this website and phone line. Archives
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