In Luke 6:17-26 we have the blessings and woes.  Much has been said about the blessings, also known as the beatitudes, but let's look at the last one of those and the last one of the woes.  "Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.  Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.  For that is how their fathers treated the prophets" (Luke 6:22-23), and "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets" (Luke 6:26).
  Jesus is not speaking of the accolades that come with hard work and success in life which can be richly deserved.  A person isn't awarded a Nobel prize without great accomplishment.  Whoever wins a medal at the Olympics has worked long and hard and given up all other pursuits.  That type of acclaim is not the subject of the blessings and woes in Luke 6.
  No, Jesus is saying, "Woe to you who are yes men to kings and presidents, who lead people away from God rather than toward God."  He is saying, "Blessed are you who truly speak the word of God."  If we speak the word of God, we may well put ourselves in danger and suffer for it.  For an example, we need only look back to our discussion of Elijah speaking God's word to King Ahab.  Elijah had to go into hiding and be fed by ravens while the false prophets of Baal were feted at the King's court.  Elijah spent years living with the widow while Ahab actively hunted him in order to kill him.  But God kept Elijah safe.  Elijah didn't feel blessed at the time, nor did he rejoice, but I'm sure his reward in heaven was great.
  For Reflection:  Have I ever had to stand up for what was right?  If so, how did I do?
  Let us pray.  Jesus, I admit it's not easy to stand up publicly for your word and for what is right in your eyes.  Still, I trust that when I do you will be with me and will give me the words to say.  Help me to rejoice in insult and rejection on your behalf.

  We are looking at how Jesus began to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah which he read in the temple in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21).  He has been preaching the good news to the poor (financially poor and spiritually poor), he has been healing people and working other miracles.  Now it is time for him to choose a team who can help him with doing this work of God.
  Alone Jesus cannot cover enough ground, even in one country, to make a big difference and spread the word as far as he wants it to go.  He needs help (Luke 6:12-16).  His next step is to spend the night in prayer.  That's a long time to pray about one thing.  I don't know about you, but I don't very often spend the night in prayer.  But as you read through the Gospels, you see that Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer, often late at night or early in the morning when he could get away from the crowds.
  After the night of prayer, Jesus didn't choose just any 12 men.  He chose from among those who had been with him consistently, who knew his basic message, and who had seen his miracles.  Even with the choice of Judas, who ultimately betrayed him, I believe he selected the men his Father wanted him to name.
  This short passage can  teach us a couple of things:  the importance of prayer before important decisions, or developing a team rather than trying to go about God's work alone.  But it also causes me to think about those who were not chosen.  What happened to them?  Were they fine with Jesus' selection or were they jealous and disgruntled?  What did Jesus say to them to smooth things over?
  For Reflection:  Have I been passed over, not chosen for a team before?  Was I the last one chosen for a team in school?  Was I turned down for a date?  Was I passed over for a job?  Let us forgive the person(s) who did not choose us and pray a blessing for them.
  Let us pray.  Jesus, there have been times when I was not chosen, when I was overlooked.  I choose now to forgive that person(s) for not choosing me.  And I ask you to heal the memory of the rejection in me and pour out a special blessing on that person today.

  It's doubtful that Jesus healed people on the Sabbath just to tweak the noses of the Jewish authorities, but he certainly did not shy away from healing on the Sabbath in their presence.  The healing of the man with the shriveled hand is told amidst a series of stories where Jesus confronts the religious leaders.  The account in Luke 6:6-11 specifically tells us that Jesus knew that they were watching him to see what he would do and even knew what they were thinking.  So when Jesus asks them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" they can't deny that he has them pegged.
  But there is a second reason they can't answer.  Jesus has framed the question differently than they would have.  To them, the issue was that Jesus was practicing his profession (healing) on the Sabbath which was forbidden.  But Jesus puts his healing in terms of good and evil.  They could hardly reply that it was forbidden to do good on the Sabbath.

  For Reflection:  There are often many ways to approach an issue, a question, a problem.  Do I seek out the opinions of others on what approach to take?  The counsel of someone wiser in the ways of God can be of tremendous benefit.
  

  When the brook dried up from which Elijah had been drinking (because of the drought which Elijah had predicted), God led him to a widow in a town on the coast (1 Kings 17:7-16).  The widow and her son were also suffering from the drought.  When Elijah asked her for food, she told him of her dire circumstances - she was preparing her last meal.  Elijah asks her for bread anyway.  Then he makes her a promise from God:  "The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land."
  And so it was.  Elijah lived with the woman and her family while God kept his promise.  The widow was not an Israelite, but a woman from the area where Jezebel was from.  God had sent Elijah to a foreigner, you might say into the enemy's camp, someone who owed an Israeli prophet nothing.

  For Reflection:  God blessed this woman and her family for sharing their last meal with a visitor, a foreigner.  Elijah had traveled a long way and was no doubt dusty and dirty.  He'd been living outdoors for a long time without human companionship.  A widow, who should have been afraid of him, takes him in.  It is surely God at work to lead Elijah to such a woman and for that woman to open her home and hearth to Elijah.
  Let us pray.  Jesus, if you led someone to my door I hope I would be as welcoming.  There may not be anyone knocking on my door, but there are many refugees in the world today.  How should I respond?  What is my responsibility?

  Now we come to that hated word: submit.  People today do not like the thought of submitting to someone else.  So let's face it and see what it says.
  First, "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Ephesians 5:21).  People who are submitted to Christ, who reverence the Lord, should be able to submit to one another.  In all kinds of relationships decisions need to be made.  Sometimes all parties agree, sometimes they don't, and one party goes along with the other's decision.  The level of submission required depends on the importance of the decision.
  One common place that Christians live this out is in their local church congregation.  How much talk (gossip) goes on over church decisions?  Let's be honest.  Lots of decisions are rehashed for months and years.  This does nothing to build up the body of Christ, and, in fact, tears it down and ruins our witness.  We must learn to use discernment about what matters are really important enough to have a public disagreement about.
  
  For Reflection:  We are to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.  Christ first love us.  He loved us when we were not submitted to him.  If he can do that, can we not love others who love him and submit to others who submit to him?

  Let us pray.  Jesus, you loved me even when I had no knowledge of you.  You submitted your life to the cross for me before I was born.  Help me to submit my life to you.  Grant me discernment about submitting to others out of reverence for you.
  

  As we grow in maturity in Christ there are things we must "put off" according to Paul.  Since Paul is fond of lists, let us list here the things we are to put off:  your old self, deceitful desires, falsehood, anger, stealing, unwholesome talk, grieving the Holy Spirit, bitterness, rage, brawling, slander, malice, sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscenity, foolish talk, coarse joking, darkness, drunkenness (Ephesians 4:17 - 5:20).  
  Paul gives, of course, another list of what we are to "put on": our new self, righteousness, holiness, truth, wholesome talk (psalms, hymns and spiritual songs), kindness, goodness, compassion, forgiveness, love, thanksgiving, light, understanding, the Spirit.
  Many of these have to do with our words, what we say to one another.  As James says in his letter, if we control the tongue we control the entire person (James 3:1-12).  If we change the way we speak, we will change the way we act.

  For Reflection:  If we don't find ourselves more in the second list from Ephesians than the first, can we find a way to immerse ourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs?
 Let us pray.  I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly. . . .  I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.  I do not conceal your love and your truth . . . .  (Psalm 40: 9-10).

  There are some arguments against healing by Christians.  The first is that healing was meant for the early years of the Church in order to give weight or proof to the Gospel but it was not meant to continue and is not necessary now.  (Again, I give only the briefest summary here.)
  My response is that healing never completely died out in the Church and the Gospel still needs to be preached with signs and wonders.  People still get sick today and seek healing.  God still heals today.
  The second argument is that it is not always God's will to heal.  There are a couple of responses to that.  If we don't know whether or not it is God's will to heal someone (and, as I pointed out before, Jesus healed everyone who came to him in faith asking for healing), why not pray until we know God's will and then pray in accord with what we have discerned of God's will?  That way we are praying in accord with God's will.  
  God does not "put" any sickness on us; God does not make us sick. God is all good.  Jesus came that we might have life to the full, abundant life (John 10:10).  Nowhere does Jesus say, "My Father gave you this sickness so that you could learn ...."  

  Let us pray.  Father, show us your will regarding healing today.  Show us what it means to have life to the full, to have abundant life.

 Following God is seldom easy.  We can look to the record of the prophets in the Old Testament and Jesus' closest disciples in the New Testament. Only John seems to have died of old age.  Following God's directives, doing what Jesus told them to do, got them killed.  It is the same today in many places in the world.
  Sometimes those who follow Jesus do, or want to do, the wrong thing.  When Peter cut off the ear of the servant of one of the men who had come to arrest Jesus, Jesus healed the man's ear.  Even in a time of high stress, Jesus showed compassion and offered healing.
  Another time Jesus had to rebuke James and John.  When they had been refused hospitality in a Samaritan village (another case of no room in the inn?), they asked Jesus, "Do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?" (Luke 9:54)  Calling down fire from heaven seems like an extreme response to a small rejection, and certainly Jesus tells them they are out of order.
  But what else does that question indicate to us?  That they believed they had the power to call down fire from heaven.

  For reflection:  Jesus never called down fire from heaven, as far as we know. What made James and John think this was possible and appropriate?  Is there a time when this might be appropriate?
  Let us pray.  Lord of Justice, Lord of Mercy.  You who want all people to be saved and none to be lost, help us to curb our baser instincts and listen to your guiding wisdom.  Help us to know how to use the power that you give us to increase your Kingdom on earth.

  "O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart" begins the sixth O Antiphon.  Since we looked at the kingship and Kingdom of God in November and December, we won't spend much time on it today except to say that he is not the usual type of earthly king.  The Israelites expected a king in the mold of David who would wage wars against their enemies.  Isaiah says, "Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.  For to us a child is born, to us a child is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever" (Isaiah 9:5-7).
  Our God is not a God of war, but a God of peace.  His weapons, our weapons, are spiritual because people are not our enemy.  Our enemy, God's enemy, is Satan and his works.  When we complete the defeat of Satan, full peace will be restored in the Kingdom of God on earth.  Our weapons are prayer, forgiveness, reconciliation, healing, salvation, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 13). All of these destroy Satan's stronghold and deliver people into the Kingdom of God.  For God wants everyone to be saved and to join him in his Kingdom.

  For Reflection:  Have I slipped into the mindset of considering any person to be my enemy?
  Let us pray.  Jesus, you are Messiah, King, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God and Prince of Peace.  The government of justice and righteousness is on your shoulders.  Change my mindset and give me eyes to see my true enemy.  Let me be a warrior using your weapons to bring peace and justice.

  "I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open."  Isaiah spoke these words (22:22) some time around 700 BC, long before Jesus was to be born.  Yet Isaiah saw a distant future, a different time.
  "O Key of David" brings us to the fourth of the O Antiphons.  Jesus came to open prison doors and set the captives free.  He came to open the gates of Heaven and to close the gates of Hell.  The key to each is on his shoulders as the kingdom is on his shoulders, as the beam of the cross is on his shoulders, as life and death, judgment and justice are on his shoulders.  He not only carries the key, he uses the key, he is the key.

  For Reflection:  What things that have been locked away need to be opened?  Who in my life do I need to set free?
  Let us pray.  O Wisdom, O Lord, O Flower of Jesse, O Key of David, you are the key to healing, to freedom, to wholeness.  Open my mind to your wisdom.  Let it take root and flower in me that I might follow in your footsteps by opening doors and setting captives free.