The Less Is Not The Least

…and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. Luke 21:2

Luke paints a picture of less.

Poor. Widow. Two. Small. Coins.

If that is not a case of lack of something, I don’t know what it is.

Poor is having not much. It is a state of need of enough or of more. Pockets are full of air. Bank account can’t be counted.

Widow is having no company. No hands to hold but yours. No walks with somebody. No dinner with somebody. Sleeping all alone in a cold night.

Two small coins sound like not much in her purse. Even if these metals clash, no sound will be heard from a good distance. If you drop them in a collection box, even the dropper’s ear might miss the fall.

Yet this less is not the least, for Jesus notices it.

How many times you retreated in giving because you have less? How many times you were prevented from helping because you have not much?

Does this sound familiar, “If only I have more money, more time, more resources, more skills then I can give.” Luke’s painting tells us this is a myth.

Even in times of lack, you can give back. For even in times of less, you can bless. Even in times of not much, you can do much. Even if you feel you’re small, you can give your all.

For Jesus, for Luke, for the widow and for you… the less is not the least.

Distance

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Matthew 5:1

There it is again — the separation.

That distance between the crowds and the disciples in coming near to Jesus.

In here, Jesus goes up the mountain. The crowd stays on the plain. The disciples follow his trail.

Are you part of the crowd?

• You saw the climb is stiff, so don’t bother to hurdle it.
• You were healed or fed earlier; you decide stay and rest your body.
• You heard enough insights, so keeping that distance is all right.
• You counted the time Jesus took from his walk up to his sit down and said that’s too long.
• You wanted to go up but saw only twelve men are following him closely so why take the courage, why take the risk.

Are you a disciple?

• You saw how stiff the mountain is but you also see your Master, sitting pretty, at the top of the mountain. Thus, you climb the mountain.
• Your following requires no rest: body, mind and soul. Where he is is where your heart is. His place is your place — he is your resting place.
• You thirst for more than his words, you long to be in his presence.
• You count your blessings, you don’t count the cost in loving and serving him.
• You follow with your all and on your own, your loyalty to him is not dictated by the decision of others.

How much distance you keep from Jesus defines if you’re one of the crowd or if you’re a disciple.

That Fig Tree Moment

Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” John 1:50

Here is mine – our mother bringing us to church every Sunday, where I look forward not to church but to the street foods she would buy for us after church. This is my fig tree moment. I don’t remember any of the bible readings. I don’t recall any of the priest’s homilies. I believed because a woman of faith planted a seed of belief by encouraging his children to go with her to church. It was a small thing but it was a fig tree moment.

Same as Nathanael’s.

He believed in Jesus because Jesus told him he saw Nathanael under the fig tree. It was a small thing but that started his belief in him. This guy have not seen the waves silenced yet and yet he believed. He hasn’t watched five thousands being fed from a boy’s lunch yet, yet he had faith in him.

Jesus promised him that he’ll see greater things than that and he did! Healing of the sick. Waving to the waves to be calmed. Multiplication of the bread. Feeding the hungry. Fishing bulk of fishes. Casting out demons. Dying on the cross and rising from the dead. Ascension to heaven.

Be reminded of your fig tree moment. Remember your fig tree moment. Recall that small seed which grew into a tower of faith. Look back where it all started for this is where Jesus promises that we will see greater things.

Greater things like – graduating college even coming from a large family with financial struggles, passing the board exam which you did not expect, able to teach and preach the Gospel even without formal training, offered employment after being laid off in three days, able to reach people you don’t know and you’ve not met through this blog. We can go on and on and we are not near the finish line yet.

Believing in Jesus, in small ways or big time – this is the lesson of that moment…that fig tree moment.

Greatest

An argument arose among the disciples about which of them was the greatest. Luke 9:46

Nothing has changed, right?

We still want to be the greatest…the best…the wisest. We still argue.

Have you watch the US GOP Presidential debates? Politicians raising up their seats. Putting down others’ accomplishments. Pointing to their laurels and thumbing down opponents’ honors.

Don’t go too far. Look at the 2016 Philippine would-be presidents. They serve in the same government yet they belittle whatever gains the other candidates have achieved. No one takes the back seat. Nobody has a better platform, than me.

Let’s go nearer. Look at your Facebook newsfeed. One friend or maybe you are better than other friend. The other friend comment back and says he/she is greater than that one friend. “Mababaw ka dahil AlDub fan ka, malalim ako dahil napanood ko ang Heneral Luna”. So, when does watching a movie make you a better person? “Malungkot ang mundo mo dahil ayaw mo sa AlDub.” Happiness is to each his own, di ba?

Well, it’s in our nature to want to be great, to be better than somebody else. Everybody has this thirst to be the best and to be the wisest. Even the nearest persons who walked with Jesus, who ate with him and who talked to Jesus face to face had the same fervor. This hasn’t changed and is happening around us – we are the greater church, we are the better congregation, we are the holier community. And just like us, they argued about this.

The same book provides the key to be great – be the servant (For the one who is least among all of you is the one who is greatest. Luke 9:48). You don’t have to push the person beside you to the lower level when you climb the higher step. Compliment rather than compete. Work together rather than being at war against each other. Understand before being understood. Focus on the strengths of each other and improve on each others’ weaknesses. Lift up, not tear down.

Nothing has changed. If you want change, may be you may want to start with yourself. Be the least. Be the servant.

Touch

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. Mark 10:13

It was the right time – the children came into the picture when the discussion was about divorce.

I wonder why the disciples have to stop them. May be because the twelve saw these children have no need for it. They may be healthy as raging bulls so no healing session. Their faces may have shown satisfaction so there’ll be no feeding outreach. They have no prayers to murmur so no answers were to be scheduled.

I wonder, if my assumptions are true, if we can come to him like these children. No intercessions to pray. No requests to be raised. No healing is on the want or need list. No stomachs rumbling due to emptiness. Just come to be touched.

All you may want is for his touch. His hand on your head and that would be enough. For those hands sculptures the universe, shaped the lands and the seas. Those hands waved to silence the waves. Those two hands fed the hungry thousands. Those hands broke the bread will be broken soon. Those hands who hammered a nail in the carpentry shop are the same hands which will be nailed on a tree for our sake.

Come to him for his touch and more than his touch, he gives you blessings.

Come to him for his touch and more than his touch, you will be embraced.

Come to him like a child and be touched – it’s always the right time.

Boxing God

Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. John 6:15

The crowd boxes God with their limited insights.

The crowd wanted to do things on their own route. This crowd has its own plan but this is not God’s plan– force Jesus to be king, a political king. Not king of heaven and earth but a king by their own dictionary. Who does not want to be a king? But Jesus is more than an earthly king, he is Lord and Savior. He is further than a ruler, he came to serve.

You may define him by your bounded understanding. You might expect present proceedings to be the same as past experience but God does not live by fences and property lines. Yes, he is the same God, but don’t limit him because you saw him work in this way.

We boxed God. When we  immigrated, we fixed our eyes that God will work the way he worked in our mission work. We set out to build a prayer group/community the way God has established our group in the past. Obviously, this is our experience so this is our expectation. But God can’t be boxed. He showed us that he can build on a different route. He presented his power in another direction. He utilized us in ways we are not accustomed. He put us in places we’ve never been before, never familiar to us. God showed himself in an un-experienced and unexpected manner.

You can expect that he is the same God. Loving. Faithful. Full of mercy. Forgiving father.

However, don’t expect the same route when following or serving him. He knows various roads going to his kingdom. Don’t limit him. Don’t box him. Don’t force him to your own familiar way.

After all, God’s gifts are not boxed. So is he.

Humility (written by a 12 year old)

When Humility walks into the room, the walls rejoice, greeting her with endless joy. Humility appreciates, but doesn’t want anyone to notice, blocking it out. Praise isn’t what she came for. Humility blends in, just seeming like thin air. Going one by one, she studies each person, only taking a short second to check. You’d think she’d be somewhere else, maybe at a party, or a fancy gathering. But she isn’t. Humility doesn’t choose to bask in her glory, to take it all in, and take what she wants. Instead, Humility gives it all away. All of her gifts and most beloved treasures, simply gone in a blink of an eye. Humility has nothing, but gives everything. She gives her love. That boy who no one ever talks to, the outsider, she laughs with him. That old beggar on the street that you always pass by but never noticed before, she’s sat next to him. Even those kids that make fun of everyone, even Humility herself, well, she doesn’t hate them. Humility loves them. She cares for them. Humility pours her heart out to them, and doesn’t stop. Humility uses up all her energy and power to help-and yet is never tired or weak, and keeps going throughout the night. Humility never needs a reason to help someone, whoever they might be. What Humility does know is that she wants to help, to be that outreached hand, and to be that sign of hope.

He Understands

As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. Matthew 14:13

He has been where you are.

He takes a time out. He separates himself from the flock. He goes alone. After all, he is human. Knowing how precious John is to him, he may have felt in his heart the feeling you may have felt when someone dear to you past away or went away. Sadness. May be despair. Feeling of losing somebody you love, you value. May be the thought that you will never see that face again. May be the thought that you will never hear that voice again.

This is why this passage is so much important for you and me.

For us to know that Jesus had the same feeling. For us to know that we are not alone when we feel this way. For us to know that he has been there. For us to know that he understands our feeling of being abandoned. That he understands our agony. Our need to be alone. Our need to take some time out. A time to cry and may be celebrate the memories of your loved one. A moment to trace the moments with that somebody.

And because God understands, he knows how to comfort you. He knows how much strength and time you need to recover. He knows the path how you will recover. He knows whom he will send for you to lean on. He knows where to bring you to so you can muster yourself altogether. He knows when to give you whatever you need to stay in the valley and whatever you need when you emerge out of it.

So go ahead. If you need to take some time alone by yourself, take it. Jesus did. He understands.

Thank You, Ninety-Nine!

What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? Luke 15:4

You were in the desert. And you stayed, not strayed.

For me to be found, the shepherd leaves you in that barren place. No fences but you remained firm. No boundaries but you kept your feet from wandering. The shepherd found me as I’m lost, and he found me because you were steadfast. You held your ground even in the desert.

I left because of that desert — a place where I don’t want to be.

• A desert of unemployment.
• A dry land of an exhausting disease.
• A barren married and family life.
• An unfruitful church or community.
• A dead end friendship or relationship.
• A financial struggle which gave me dryness.
• A career without a direction.

But here you are, still in the desert, when we came back. Still in the desert but you’re still faithful. Still in the desert and you’re still constant. Still in the desert but you’re still loyal. Though it seems he left you in that desert, you still hindered his voice. You still followed his words. You lived as if he is leading you.

As I come back to the flock, I know I can make it through the desert for the shepherd is with me and you are with me. His grace and your shining example will light my path. Side by side, I will walk with your inspiration. I will follow your footsteps and I will mirror your faithfulness. I will step in your shoes and I will run the race with your consistency.

I know I have to thank the shepherd mainly for finding me. I also know I have to thank you for him to find me.

Thank you, Ninety-Nine!

Light Up A Candle

No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Luke 11:33

Praise lights each candle.

That’s our daughter. Our daughter serves as an altar server this given Sunday. We arrived early for her to prepare some things for the worship service. She dresses up with her altar gown and walks out from the back door to light each candle in the altar and in the church. She goes to the ones at the altar and she goes to the candles at the back of the church. If there would be other candles, she would not miss them. She goes to smaller candles, and to bigger or taller candles. If the light from a candle is suddenly blown by, she goes back to bring light to that candle. Though the light from each candle would be covered by the ceiling’s electric lighting, the candles continue to provide that certain light which only them could give throughout the service.

Then the light struck my heart.

This is the call of Jesus when we bring out the light. To light up one another. To bring the light to each person. To your spouse. To your daughters and sons. To your friends. To your office mates. That when you go to a certain place and as soon as your presence is felt, your words and actions lights up each person’s heart. That when you enter any door, you share the light of Jesus to others. Share the light to the people who have been standing there and needing of “how are you doing?”, hugs, love, affirmation and encouragement. Share his light to the people whose lights may have been extinguished by trials, marital problems, job concerns, unemployment, broken friendships, or doubt of God. Go back to the person whose light may have been blown by personal difficulties or financial challenges. 

Some of us may be like the ceiling’s lighting. These are leaders, pastors or teachers. Most of us may be like candles. They prepare what is menial, they are always at the background serving with all their hearts. But both type light the church. Both type can provide everlasting spark in the heart. So, you may have a small service or a small candle, what is important is you use it to light others. No matter how small your role is, God has put the light in you so it must be shared and not kept.  You have a unique God-given light or personality or gift that you alone can reach out to a certain person or group.

At the end of the service, Praise goes to put out the light in each candle. Hopefully, we won’t do the same, to your’s or to others’. For the light of Jesus goes on and on and on and on…His light won’t melt you but build you.

So move forward my friend…light up another candle.