Reading 1: IS 55:6-9
R Psalm: PS 145: 2-3, 8-9,17-18
Reading 2: PHIL 1: 20C-24, 27A
Gospel: MT 20:1-16A

If we look at today’s Gospel reading of MT 20:1-16A, Jesus is telling us about the Parable of the labourers in the vineyard. This was in response to the question asked by Peter in MT 19:27: “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” Peter was asking Jesus what reward would be given to those who give up everything in their lives to follow him. Today’s Gospel reading is the response about the truth of His Kingdom.

As you can imagine, working in a vineyard, especially in first century Israel would’ve been extremely hard toil in the heat of the summer and often extra workers were taken on to ensure the work was done. We read in the the Parable today that Jesus is telling us that some of the labourers who had toiled all day, were paid the same as those who were called maybe to work only the last hour of the day.

There was envy and anger about this as the workers who had toiled all day thought they would be paid more. So why did the landowner decide to pay the full day wage to all regardless of when they started work and what is this telling us in our christian lives today?

The landowner was being fair, keeping his promise of reward and was showing mercy to the other workers.
Our Lord God has fairness, keeps his promise and has mercy. God gives his grace and mercy abundantly upon those of his choosing. “For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion’. It does not, therefore, depend on men’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” (ROM 9:15-16).
God gives His grace and mercy to those whose self-righteous works could not possibly obtain it. “We are all sinful and fall short of the glory of God” (ROM 3:23), but God’s grace is sufficient to redeem all who believe and serve his ways.

It matters not whether we are called into the Lord’s service either early or later in life to partake of His grace. The glory and praise of our salvation is His and His alone.
As Christians and children of God, we should rejoice in the service which others give to our Lord. He is faithful and will reward us as he has promised.

The message we are being given in verse 16 today, “The last will be first, and the first last,” is telling us that no matter at what stage in life we are called to His service, the reward of eternal life and salvation will be given to all who follow and serve Him. An example of this is the thief on the cross in (LK 23:39-43), whose life was limited to a moment of repentance and confession of faith to our dear Lord Jesus, and he received the same reward of eternal life as given to all the Apostles and saints.
Eternal life shall be granted to all who serve, confess their faith and who follow the ways of the Lord. This is given by the grace and mercy of our Lord and God because of his promise to all who truly serve him. This is the important message that still holds true and is relevant to our lives today.

Reading 1:EPH 4:1=7,11=13

R Psalm: PS 19:2=3,4=5

Gospel: MT 9:9=13

Today we commemorate the Feast of St Matthew the Apostle.

Today’s Gospel reading of the call of Matthew to follow Jesus is fascinating and we can learn much from it that is very applicable to our lives today.

If we look at verse 9, Jesus is walking along when he comes to a tax collector named Matthew who was sat doing his job. Jesus gives him an invitation “to follow him”, and without even a second thought, gets up and immediately follows Jesus. A simple call and a simple and immediate response. There was something in that moment that motivated Matthew to follow Jesus. We don’t know what this was, but we do know that Jesus called and Matthew immediately answered that call.

As the story in today’s Gospel reading unfolds, there is a main point which I feel is very important. This being the Hospitality of Jesus. If we look at verse 10, Jesus was sat having dinner with his disciples and many tax collectors and sinners arrived and we’re welcomed and joined in this dinner. The lesson from this is that Our Lord Jesus is comfortably at home with sinners and with outcasts on all levels and offers all his hospitality.

This is an extremely important message and lesson to each of us, because it clearly shows that Jesus shares his hospitality with us regardless of who we are, of messes and failures we have made in our past or indeed our present circumstances. Jesus does not judge us nor condemns us, he shares himself with us and also invites us to share with him.

Hospitality and love is at the very heart of God’s relationship with us=an essential spiritual gift for any church and every child of God who wants to reflect God in the local community and even thoughout the world.

God in Jesus invited those on the margins of life without judgement and in the same way, we as children and servants of God are to invite people into the home of both our church and our lives also without judgement, following Our Lord’s example, so that we can share hospitality with them and encourage them to partake in the hospitality of Jesus by sharing themselves with us.

Our God is an hospitable God of love=and we as both his church and his children should ensure just as Jesus did, that everyone feels welcome and unturned. Too many churches and Christians sadly only have a tendency to mix with their own kind, or pass judgement on others, making them unwelcome, but Our Lord Jesus’ approach is the exact opposite to this and our approach should mirror the example of Jesus. Some churches and Christians only welcome other others on “conditions” =that they will change their behaviours to fit in with their expectations, for example: “You are welcome at our table =as long as you change and play by our rules”. But the hospitality that Jesus shows is radically different and is how we should be.

Jesus loves everyone, and nobody is asked to change to fulfill expectations and rules at his table. This is truly how we as servants of the Lord should be, following His example and not mankind’s prejudices and rules. We ought to be showing the same the same hospitality, love and acceptance just as our dear Lord Jesus does.

May the Lord bless you on this feast of St Matthew.

+In the Name of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Pope Francis’ recent  homily on today’s Gospel from March 2015 spoke to me.

The Holy Father writes:

“Asking forgiveness is another thing: it’s not the same as simply saying, ‘excuse me.’ Did I make a mistake? ‘Sorry, I made a mistake. But, ‘I have sinned!’ – that is different: the one has nothing to do with the other. Sin is not a simple mistake. Sin is idolatry: it is to worship the idol, the idol of pride, vanity, money, ‘my self’, my own ‘well-being’. So many idols do we have!

Jesus teaches us to pray to the Father in this way: ‘Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.’ If I am not able to forgive, then I am not able to ask for forgiveness. ‘But, Father, I confess, I go to confession ….’. ‘And what do you do before you confess?’ ‘Well, I think of the things I did wrong.’ ‘Alright’ ‘Then I ask the Lord for forgiveness and promise not to do those things again.’ ‘Okay…and then go to the priest? Before you do, however, you’re missing something: have you forgiven those who have hurt you?

This is what Jesus teaches us about forgiveness: first, asking forgiveness is not a simple apology, it is to be aware of the sin, of the idolatry that I have committed, of the many idolatries; second, God always forgives, always – but He asks me to forgive [others]. If I do not forgive, in a sense, I close the door to God’s forgiveness. ‘Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”

When I was living in Port Royal, PA I was assisting a non-denomination friend of mine with his church plant.  I knew this pastor for a while and although we didn’t always agree on theology, we respected the other’s views.  One day at a council meeting, the pastor decided that the church would no longer say the Lord’s Prayer during worship service.  Needless to say this ruffled quite a few feathers and I must admit I was shocked by such a statement.  After the meeting he and I sat for a little and chatted.  He explained to me that those in his flock did not fully understand what they were asking God.  “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”  AS WE FORGIVE!  He went on to explain that unless they are actually forgiving those who have wronged them, then God will not forgive them of their own wrongdoing.  At first I thought maybe he lost his marbles, but then I began to realize what he was saying.  There was a pretty ugly rift going on in his small congregation and those in the pews were harboring a lot of resentment against others in their church family.  Until such time as they could learn to forgive, they should not ask God to forgive them as they forgive others.  If He did, their sins would not be forgiven.  This theory is echoed again in the above homily by Pope Francis.  For God to forgive us, we must first forgive others.

Now I will admit the timing of this homily is rather ironic for me.  Lately I have been feeling used by someone close to me.  I felt wronged.  I felt anger.  As I sit here writing this homily, I am forced to not just guide you and direct you my brothers and sisters down the path of righteousness, but to look inward and examine my own faults and shortcomings.  I pray the Lord’s Prayer daily.  Often many times in one day.  Until now, however, I just rattled the words off without weighing the importance of the words.  Without realizing that I too am asking God to forgive me the same way I forgive others.  That’s a scary thought really!

“But I’m right!  I was wronged!  I don’t deserve how I am being treated!  I did nothing to this person!  I do, do, do and in the end I get hurt!”  Sound familiar?  I’m sure it does.  We all think these things from time to time.  I know I have and to be honest still do.  But God is speaking to us through today’s Gospel and through the words of Pope Francis.  Forgive!  Forgive!  Forgive!  How often?  Seventy times seventy.  Forgiveness is not easy.  It hurts.  It’s hard.  It can make us vulnerable.  To be a Christian is to be “Christ like.”  No one said it was going to be easy.  In fact, the Gospels make it quite clear it will not be.  But if we want to be forgiven of our own sins, we must first and foremost forgive those who have sinned against us.  Whether they deserve it or not.  By this act of mercy, the Lord will be merciful unto us.

Amen.

Doesn’t it always seem to happen that when we sit at Mass and listen to the readings, it is as if they are directed straight from the Lectionary to our hearts? Psalms, readings, the Gospel for the day, stories and words we have read or heard many, many times are sharpened, aimed, and strike us as if we had never encountered these messages before.

Today’s Alleluia verse:

God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ

And entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Let’s say I read this a year ago, which I probably did…OK, glad to be informed of this…all part of the ongoing message of the Bible…tuck it away with the other interesting things I’ve read.

But today, when it’s coupled with the readings from Ezekiel and Romans, the 95^th Psalm, and the Gospel of Matthew, it takes on a new and definitely hortatory message: “Get up, get out, and get cracking!”

So much for sitting in the pew, listening to the Mass, relaxing on a Sunday morning!

I’m reminded of a discussion I had with my mother many years ago. I must have been around 12 years old. (Yes, before electricity was discovered…and the wheel…) She told me that we don’t go to Mass and just sit there. We don’t “attend” Mass. We don’t listen to the Mass. She told me and my siblings that we “assist” at the Mass, an active verb, indicating that we are as much a part of the action as the priest and the altar boys. We were not an audience, but players in a sacred rite of worship and praise.

And every so often, from that time on, she would ask us if we had assisted at Mass that Sunday. I wish you all could have met her. She was something else!

So what are we being asked to do on this Twenty third Sunday of Kingdomtide? I think there’s not much gray area here. It’s pretty black and white. And we really don’t have much choice in the matter.

Ezekiel says it right off: “You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel.” And although this was written about 2,500 years ago, do you really think it does not apply to you, or to me, right now, today?

Now let me ask, are today’s readings just orders for us to get our kit together and hit the road, like Saint Dominic? We are assisting the priest as she performs the rites in memory of Jesus. So in one way, we are told this isn’t just an hour long-show we’re attending. No, today of all days, we are reminded that if we love our neighbor as ourselves we really have to do more than just wish him or her well. Love is an active verb.

Now Martin Luther, and those who ascribed to his new revelations, came up with the realization that to be saved, to be justified, all we had to do is accept Jesus Christ as our lord and savior and believe that he came to earth to save us. “That is why faith alone makes someone just and fulfills the law…. Faith is that which brings the Holy Spirit through the merits of Christ.”

Luther was reacting to the corrupt practices of the Medieval Church which was selling indulgences and, he thought, preaching false doctrine in order to keep control over all Christians.

His preaching and writings on what has been called “sola fide”, by faith alone, is the theological doctrine that distinguishes most Protestant denominations from the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, and led to the variety of “Christian” beliefs that we find today all over the world. Discord, anger, rebellion, and bloodshed, all over two Latin words.

And so, we can find today discussions that say, from one extreme, that even the worst kind of sinner, as long as he or she “believes”, is forgiven and justified, to the other extreme that only those who commit their whole lives to good works are saved.

And so we can interpret today’s readings from one extreme to the other. And many have. But there is at play here just the age-old quest for power, for a desire to control others…to be the one in charge. “Do it this way, or you’re fired!” And to what end? What do we get if we rule the roost?

Now let’s go back and consider again the Alleluia from today:

God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ

And entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Entrusting.

Once again, we see that God is not the terrifying presence from some concepts in the Old Testament. God is within us. And part of us. And that still, small voice within.

We are partners with God in the ageless quest to bring us all to peace and love. And yes, though we recognize that we are “children of God” we also know that we are, by our intelligence, our compassion, and our calling to the Order of Preachers, that we are entrusted with the message of reconciliation.

So for me, and perhaps for you, today’s readings are like what sales organizations schedule for their sales crew: a quarterly motivational conference that gets us back on track and gives us a boost for the serious work of preaching the good news of salvation to all the world. Let’s go out and close some deals!

Lord, help us in our efforts to show the world your love and compassion. Let your good spirit flow over us and help us to bring solace to our troubled times.

Amen.

23^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (10/09/17)

Open our ears, O Lord, to hear your word and know your voice. Speak to our hearts and strengthen our wills that we may serve you now and always. Amen.

When I read the Gospel reading for today in preparing for this homily I was struck with how pertinent it is to some events that have taken place in my life recently and I am sure that when you heard it many of you may have been struck with similar feelings.

Throughout our lives I’m sure that all of us have been confronted with situations where we have felt wronged by others, or where we feel others have sinned against us. From observation, when hurt it seems to be human nature to let it be known to the multitudes that we’re not happy. I’ve seen many a person spread their discontent amongst others and attempt to turn them down the path that they are treading. However, in the reading we have just heard, the righteous Christian needs to curb the natural desire for sympathy from others and support for our position. Christ gives His followers a totally different path to follow that consists of three straight forward steps.

Firstly, if we’re offended we need to go to the person who offended us and talk to them about it. No mention is made of talking to others first, no mention of gossiping or spreading your hurt, instead just a simple civil conversation. It should be the hope of every Christian that through our filial bonds any ill feeling can be resolved in this way; that hearts can be open enough to love to both give an apology and to accept it.

In my mind a key component of this step is to invite God into the conversation; before you go to talk with someone whom you feel has wronged you time should be spent in prayer. We should approach God and ask Him to not only soften the offender’s heart, but to soften our own so that we may be aware of our own role in this process and be ready to listen with a Christlike ear to what’s said. However, as I’m sure you’re aware these things aren’t always so easily solved and so Christ gives a path to follow is this conversation does not bring the satisfaction we think is needed.

The second step in the process of healing the wounds of wrongs or injustices once private civil conversation has been exhausted is to go to one or two friends, tell them of the situation and ask if they will come with you when you talk to the one who has offended you. Again, Christ doesn’t say to talk far and wide or to convince others of the righteousness of our cause; He simply states that we need to take one or two people with us. If the people we take aren’t to support us and “back us up” what are they for? The Gospel today is clear, they are there to listen, to hear both sides, and to bear witness to what was said if further steps to resolution need to be taken. As the scripture says the truth of things need to be established through two or three witnesses, not on the word of one individual against another.

Something that I think is essential to point out about this step is that its purpose is further conversation between the one who feels offended and the supposed offender; it isn’t an opportunity for the witnesses to pass judgement or force an apology. Like the first step this second is based on filial love and affection, on Christian virtue. Love and the Spirit should always be our guide.

If there is no resolution through this conversation with witnesses then the Gospel tells us that we need to take our complaint to the Church. I wonder, does this mean that when we go to Mass we need to tell everyone that person X has hurt us and that they’re a bad person? I would certainly hope that no one reads this scripture this way! Correction of sin and wrongdoing is always a very private matter. Instead to “take it to the Church” means going to talk with our Parish Priest or another official in the Church and seek their assistance in this matter. This of course should be a final step after all other options have been exhausted. Why is it so essential that every effort has been made to reconcile before bringing the Church into the difficulty?

The clue to this answer is in the phrase that follows Christ’s advice to involve the Church; He says:

“If he refuses to listen even to the Church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.”

This may seem like a very innocuous phrase to you and I but for the first century Jews that Christ was talking to this was a heavy sentence. If you were a Jew living at the time one of your many concerns was with purity, both ritual purity and moral purity. It was essential for you that you not be contaminated by the sin and wrongdoing of others; as a faithful Jew you would not want to be associated too closely with the Gentiles (non-Jews) or those Jews in league with Gentiles, such as the Jews employed by Rome to collect their taxes. So Christ is telling us that if our cause is judged righteous by the Church and an offender is not willing to accept their wrong and reconcile then they are to be treated as outsiders; in other words, that we should put them out of our mind and move on.

Wow, what a sentence! But, does this mean that we to stop loving the person or hoping that repentance and reconciliation may occur at another time? Of course it doesn’t; if I know anything about God it is that He is full of love and mercy and always wants us to be likewise. What Christ is asking us to do is not to dwell on the issue. Instead He wants us to move on and get on with life and not to spread hate or draw others away or down into what could turn into our own pits of despair and discontent.

It’s my prayer brothers and sisters, that as followers of Christ, we can keep ourselves from spreading rumours, even if they are true. Christ has given us a righteous process for dealing with the wrongs of others done towards us and it does not include drawing others into the situation.

Please join me as we pray:

Father in Heaven, we ask that you may always be with us to heal our hurts and open our hearts to your righteous process of justice. May our tongues not lead us into sin and offense against you or our brethren and sisters. May our hearts always be open to your love and may we extend the love that you show us to every one of your children. We ask this of you in and through the name of your beloved Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable to you O Lord, our God and our Creator. Amen.

Today, I want to start by expressing a special gratitude that I feel towards our Blessed Mother. She stands as a special example to me of the life that I should lead as a Christian; a life of total willing submission to the will of God. Something that I pray that I, and all of us, may live up to in some small way.

Today is a very unique day in the Church calendar, not only because it is a day that we celebrate the life and work of the Blessed Mother but also because it is one of only three birthdays celebrated on the Church year. The other two births that we celebrate are those of John the Baptist and our Saviour Jesus Christ. It should be evident immediately as to why we celebrate Christ’s birth, that event that heralded to opening of salvation to mankind. However, why do we celebrate the birth of both the Blessed Mother and John the Baptist?

The traditions of the Church hold that all three of these individuals, The Saviour, The Blessed Mother and John the Baptist were both born without the mark of original sin. Jesus Christ, being God himself in human form could not sin and so was obviously free from the sin of our first parents in Eden goes without question. Which leaves us to ask why are our Blessed Mother and John the Baptist also considered to be have saved from original sin? Consider the mission of these two individuals. Of all of those found within the Bible these two figures stand as central to the saving mission of Christ, John the Baptist as the herald of the coming Saviour and the Blessed Mother as the willing vessel of the God-Man Christ, the very Mother of God. I like to think that God looked upon these two great individuals and the mission that they would have to undertake and knew that he could strengthen them by removing the mark of original sin from their births.

At this point I am sure that some of you are sitting there thinking, “If today is about the Blessed Mothers birth, then why was the Gospel about the birth of Christ?”

I am sure that the answers for this are many and varied; however in my mind I take the view that the Scriptures are silent on the life of Mary before her betrothal to Joseph. For information surrounding the early life of the Blessed Mother we need to look to works outside the scriptures such as the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary (translated from the Hebrew by St. Jerome, A.D. 340-420), the Protevangelium of St. James (dated to ca. A.D. 125) or the writings and visions of various mystics throughout the life of the Church. While these works may be of benefit to the faithful they are not works sanctioned by the Church and so are not appropriate for reading here within our sacred rites. For this reason, the Church chooses to offer us a portion of scripture that brings to our minds the significance of the Blessed Virgin in the economy of salvation and just why it is important for us to celebrate and venerate her whenever we can and by doing so, give glory and honour to God in His great works.

I imagine that throughout her entire life the Blessed Mother was being prepared by God to accept the call that he would give to her through the Archangel Gabriel. Can you imagine being a young, engaged woman having an angel of God come to them and announce that they would bear the Son of God? What an awesome and overwhelming experience! I’m not sure how I would react, but I get the feeling I would be brought to my knees and made a quivering mess…is this what happened to Mary though? It certainly wasn’t she boldy accepted the will of the Lord for her life and prepared to receive the Son of God within her sacred womb.

Can you imagine being St Joseph her betrothed? He gets told that his fiancée is pregnant and that the child is God’s! I know that I would have found it hard to believe; I would have doubted and suspected my fiancée of being unfaithful. Is this what Joseph did? Today’s Gospel reminds us that it sure was! The reading indicates that Joseph thought that the Blessed Mother was guilty of a grave crime and was prepared to cancel their engagement by divorce; it was only the intervention of an Angle that changed his mind.

Can you see the difference in St Joseph and the Blessed Mother’s responses to God’s message? Mary’s was a willing and unwavering yes while St Joseph’s was one of doubt and fear. There is something supernatural about Mary’s response. And it is this response that indicates to me the unique place that Mary holds in the economy of salvation, it points us to the truth of her freedom from Original Sin and the extra strength that she had from a life of preparation by and devotion to God. It is for this reason that I look to Mary as my Mother, why I pray for her counsel and her intercession, why I ask for her blessings on my endeavours, and why I strive to live a life lead by the example of her life. I want to be able to stand before the judgement seat and be able to see that I was guided by the most holy mortal person to ever walk upon the earth, that I strove to not only honour them but to emulate their life as best I could.

It is my prayer that we may all look to the Most Holy Blessed Virgin Mary as our guide and example. As Catholics we should be able to boldly proclaim that we hold the ancient faith of the early Church concerning Mary, we should boldly proclaim her as not just a woman but as the very Theotokos, the Mother God!

Let us pray a prayer written by St Anselm in honour of the Nativity of the Blessed Mother:

Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O sacred Virgin; give me strength against thine enemies, and against the enemy of the whole human race. Give me strength humbly to pray to thee. Give me strength to praise thee in prayer with all my powers, through the merits of thy most sacred nativity, which for the entire Christian world was a birth of joy, the hope and solace of its life.

When thou wast born, O most holy Virgin, then was the world made light.

Happy is thy stock, holy thy root, and blessed thy fruit, for thou alone as a virgin, filled with the Holy Spirit, didst merit to conceive thy God, as a virgin to bear Thy God, as a virgin to bring Him forth, and after His birth to remain a virgin.

Have mercy therefore upon me a sinner, and give me aid, O Lady, so that just as thy nativity, glorious from the seed of Abraham, sprung from the tribe of Juda, illustrious from the stock of David, didst announce joy to the entire world, so may it fill me with true joy and cleanse me from every sin.

Pray for me, O Virgin most prudent, that the gladsome joys of thy most helpful nativity may put a cloak over all my sins.

O holy Mother of God, flowering as the lily, pray to thy sweet Son for me, a wretched sinner. Amen

MT 16:21-27   

Jesus began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly
from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
He turned and said to Peter,
“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Then Jesus said to his disciples,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”

In Matthew 16:21-27 we hear Jesus tell his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem to complete his God-given mission to save the world by dying on the cross. This naturally comes as a shock to his disciples. After all, why would God send someone to something as ungodly as dying. Could there be another way for God to accomplish his goal, rather than having his only son suffer a gruesome fate? If dying was necessary, couldn’t it be done on the battlefield instead of a cross? Quick and easy, not long, drawn out, and filled with suffering. It is no wonder that Peter rebukes Jesus, since Peter was a fisherman who believed Jesus but could not comprehend the true purpose of Jesus’ mission here on earth.

Peter thought that the Messiah would be a military ruler who would drive out the Romans and restore Israel to the glory days of the reign of King David.  Peter rebuked Jesus because he took seriously his new role as the rock on which the church was built. He took this role so seriously that he thought he had a responsibility to make sure that Jesus’ ministry would eventually be successful, and thought it was his duty to rebuke Jesus, but Jesus puts him in his place . His place was behind Jesus as a follower, a role we too have to play.

Peter like Satan tried to deflect Jesus from the way of god just as Satan tries to deflect us from God’s way today. Satan likes to put traps in our path, and because he is smart he knows that the best time to trap us is right after some great victory when our guard is down.  In Peter’s case it was just after Jesus told him that he was going to be the rock that the church would be built on.  Just as in our lives, when we experience a victory, whether it is financial, emotional, or physical, there sometimes is an obstacle that follows. Satan wants us to follow the wide smooth road that leads to worldly things and sin. Jesus followed (as should we) the narrow rough road of life serving the Father.

Jesus wasted no time in dealing with Satan and neither should we. Peter had fallen for Satan’s temptations of allowing his thoughts to turn inward to himself and his worldly desires. So Jesus moved quickly to stop Peter’s wrong way of thinking. As an example, we should never allow thoughts of pride or sin to linger, we must stay focused on the path of righteousness and ask God to reveal His perfect will to us. When these thoughts do enter our heads we should do as Jesus did and say “Get the behind me Satan”

Jesus knew that the road he would have to travel would lead to self-denial and the cross, and he urged his followers then just as he urges us today to be prepared to pay the price and suffer the consequences if we want to follow the same path in life. One example is how Jesus repeatedly told his disciples of the suffering that awaited him in Jerusalem, but they really didn’t fully understand until after the resurrection. However after they saw the resurrected Christ, they knew He was the Savior.

We take up the cross of Jesus any time we suffer in some way for identifying with Him and His cause. “Cross bearing” does not always include affliction or persecution in general. It may mean denying what we deeply desire in order to do the will of God. When we obey Him, we position ourselves for great blessing and when we disobey him we open ourselves to the bidding of Satan.

When Jesus said that those who want to save their lives will lose them and vice versa, he was right. Our world is full of examples of people who have sold their souls by using sex, drugs, money, careers, possessions or alcohol to find happiness in life, only to be disappointed. Whatever a person is or becomes in his outward life, the particular quality of his or her soul will be the deciding factor in how he or she lives and how others experience him or her.

Jesus saves us by his death, by overcoming once and for all the power of sin. Sin no longer has a death grip over us. Christ makes it clear that God will forgive the sin that we confess and from which we repent in the sincere desire to renew our lives. Christ makes us realize that we are the most precious creatures in creation-creatures worth dying for.

As Jesus said, death lurks in the darkness of life. Whatever we hope to find outside of God’s plan proves elusive and temporary. Only by walking with Christ on the path of goodness will we find security and contentment we are seeking. If our lives are more important to us than our faith, our lives will be over.  If our faith is more important to us than our lives, we will be rewarded with eternal life. Our Christian life involves sacrifice because Jesus must come first in our lives. We are to be like Jesus-selfless and obedient, even to the point of death to self and life in Christ.

Heavenly Father, give us the strength to take up our crosses and follow you, give us the wisdom to drive around Satan and all his temptations while cruising down the rough and narrow road of life, guide us onto the path toward salvation and righteousness. Amen