At the beginning of His public life Our Lord Jesus object was by miracles, teachings, and the fulfillment of prophecies, so to attach His Apostles to Himself as to forestall outside pressure and the natural rebellion of the flesh against Himself as the Suffering Servant. But even when they had become devoted to Him and had accepted Him as the Messiah and the Son of God, they shrank from the idea of the Crucifixion, even when Jesus said it would follow by the Resurrection.

They were all like little Indians, each one wanting to be the chief. The darkness into which His death cast them was another proof of how little prepared they were for the scandal of the Cross. It was no wonder that Our Lord Jesus did not speak more often about His Cross, for the little they did hear, they did not want to hear or else they misunderstood.

There is still much that I could say to you, but the burden would be too great for you now. - John 16:12 -

To prepare their souls for His lifework and also to indicate the conditions under which others would enter into His Kingdom, the Savior among other subjects dilated particularly on purity and poverty. Unregulated sex could become lust; unregulated desire for property could become avarice.

The subject was occasioned by the Pharisees who came to ask Jesus if it was right for a man to put away his wife for any reason whatsoever. The reason why the Pharisees presented this question was because of a dispute between two rival schools of Jewish theology, namely, the school of Hillel and that of Shannai. One school held that divorce could be granted on trivial grounds; the other required evidence of serious sin before it would approve of divorce. The question was further complicated by the fact that divorce in those days was becoming very common; the Romans, who were masters of the country, practiced it openly and flagrantly. Furthermore, Herod, the ruler of the country under Rome, was living with his brother's wife and had murdered John the Baptist.

Jesus, the Divine Savior in answer to their enquiry reaffirmed what He had already said on the Mount, and also what was held from the beginning as regards husband and wife.

It follows that they are no longer two individuals: they are one flesh. What God has joined together, man must not separate. - Matt. 19:6 -

When the disciples had heard the full remarks of Our Blessed Lord on this subject - though some perhaps were married, including Peter for certain - they went to the opposite extreme and concluded:

It is better not to marry. - Matt. 19:11 -

Here the Savior answered that because there were infidelities in some marriages, there must be others which would balance the excesses of the flesh, there must be those who will forgo even the legitimate pleasures of the flesh; if there are deordinations in the pursuit of property, there must be some who will voluntarily practice poverty; if there are some who are proud, there must be others who will not even insist upon their own rights, but will make reparations for acts of pride by humility. Our Lord Jesus told the Apostles that it ought not be thought that it was better not to marry. Rather He said:

That is something which not everyone can accept, but only those for whom God has appointed it. For while some are incapable of marriage because they were born so, or were so by men, there are others who have themselves renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven. Let those accept it who can. - Matt. 19:11-12 -

Celibacy is recommended as a wiser way, but is not required of the majority. Later on, Peter left his wife in order to preach the Gospel. When Our Blessed Lord Jesus recommended celibacy, it was very likely that the disciples were not thinking of it as applied to themselves, but rather were objecting to the severity of the Master's teaching on the ground that it would deter men from entering marriage. His answer shows that they understood His meaning.

Their error was in failing to  realize to what sacrificial heights Jesus would summon men for the sake of His Kingdom. He Who founded society and Who knew the compulsions of the sex instinct, nevertheless made room for a few who would be celibates. Some are born eunuchs; others, like Origen, have wrongly made themselves eunuchs; but there is a third class, those who, not by any physical act, but an act of willful self-denial and self-abnegation, have set aside the pleasure of the flesh for the joys of the spirit; it is these He called eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven. Later on, Saint Paul, hearing of this doctrine, wrote:

I want you to be free from anxious care. The unmarried man cares for the Lord's business; his aim is to please the Lord. But the married man cares for the worldly things; his aim is to please his wife, and he has a divided mind. - 1Cor. 7:32-33 -

Marriage is honorable; at no point did Our Savior say that it blotted out the spiritual sense, or man's relation with God; but in celibacy or virginity the soul chooses Him as its exclusive Lover.

Just as sex is a God-given instinct for the prolongation of the human race, so the desire for property as a prolongation of one's ego is a natural right sanctioned by natural law. A person is free on the inside because he can call his soul his own; he is free on the outside because he can call property his own. Internal freedom is based upon the fact that "I am"; external freedom is based on the fact that "I have." But just as the excesses of flesh produce lust, for lust is sex in the wrong place, as dirt is matter in the wrong place, so there can be a deordination of the desire for property until it becomes greed, avarice, and capitalistic aggression.

In order to atone, repair, and make up for excess of avarice and selfishness, Our Blessed Lord gave a second lesson in self-sacrifice to His Apostles. The occasion of the first lesson on purity was a pharisaical question about marriage; the occasion of the second was an enquiring young man. Our Blessed Lord had a chance to win him as a follower; but when Jesus spoke of the Cross, He lost him. The young man wanted the prize, but the cost was too great. The youth who came was rich and also a synagogue official. The desire to be associated with Our Lord Jesus was manifested by the fact that he came running to Him and fell at His feet. As regards the uprightness of the youth there could be no doubt; his question to Our Lord was:

Master, what good must I do to gain eternal life? - Matt. 19:16 -

Unlike Nicodemus, he did not come at night, but openly avowed the goodness of the Master. The youth believed that he was not very far from the great attainment of eternal life; but all that he needed was just some further instruction and enlightenment. Jesus, the Savior pointed to the fact that men knew enough, but they did not always enough. And lest the young man rest in some imperfect idea of goodness, the Lord asked:

Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. - Mark 10:18 -

Our Lord was not objecting to being called good, but to being taken merely as a good teacher. The young man had addressed Him as a great teacher, but still as a man; he had admitted goodness, but still on the level of human goodness. If Jesus were merely a man the title of essential goodness would not belong to Him. There was hidden in His answer an affirmation of His Deity; God alone is good. He was, therefore inviting the young man to cry out, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God." The young man admitted that he had kept the commandments since his youth. With that Our Lord fastened His eyes on him and conceived a love for him. When the young man asked:

Where do I still fall short? - Matt. 19:20 -

Our Lord Jesus answered:

If you wish to go the whole way, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and then you will have riches in heaven; and come, follow me. - Matt. 19:21 -

There was no condemnation of wealth here as there was no condemnation of marriage in the previous enquiry; but there was a higher perfection than the human. As a man might leave his wife, so also a man might leave his property. The Cross would demand that souls give up what they loved most and be content with the treasure in God's hands. One may ask why did the Lord ask for such a sacrifice? Jesus, the Savior allowed Zacchaeus the tax collector to keep half his goods; Joseph of Arimathea, after the Crucifixion, was described as rich; the property of Ananias was his own; Our Lord Jesus Christ ate in the home of His wealthy friends in Bethany. But here it was a question of a young man who asked what was still wanting in the way of perfection. When the Lord Jesus proposed to him the ordinary way of salvation, namely, keeping the commandments, the youth was dissatisfied. He sought for something more perfect; but when the perfect was was proposed to him, namely, renunciation:

When the young man heard this, he went away with a heavy heart; for he was a man of great wealth. - Matt. 19:22 -

There are degrees in the love of God, one common and the other heroic. The common was the keeping of the commandments; the heroic was renouncement, the taking-up of the cross of voluntary poverty. The earnestness of the youth vanished; he kept his possessions and he lost the One Who would give him the Cross. Though the young man kept his possessions, he is described as going away "sorrowful." When the young man left, Our Lord Jesus said to His Apostles:

How hard it will be for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God... It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. - Mark 10:23-25 -

Our Lord Jesus then turned to His followers whom He had called to the perfect way, and made use of this incident to speak to them of the virtues of poverty. Just as the disciples before had wondered if anyone should ever marry, now they wondered how anyone could ever be saved. The disciples were "astonished" and asked:

They were more astonished than ever, and said to one another. Then who can be saved? - mark 10:26 -

One wonders what thoughts circulated in the brain of one of the disciples, who was even then pilfering from the bag what was intended for the poor. The disciples were those who had at least implicitly associated riches with the blessings of heaven, just as in modern history there have not been wanting those who held Divine favor was always known by economic prosperity. The rich come to the top because God had blessed them, it is said, and the poor go to the bottom because God does not favor them. Now, to be told that wealth was a hindrance to the Kingdom Of God, was in another form the "scandal of the Cross."

The Apostles knew that they had given up their boats and their fishing nets, little enough though they were; but still they did not quite feel themselves sufficiently free from avarice to be safe. It was this Divine prodding of their conscience that made them wonder about salvation, as on the night of the Last Supper everyone would ask: "Is it I?" As the Divine eyes were fixed on them, they wondered about the state of their souls. The Divine Master did not tell them they were judging themselves too strictly. In answer to their question about salvation:

Jesus looked at them, and said, For men this is impossible, but everything is possible for God. - Matt. 19:26 -

Because a camel cannot pass through the eye of a needle, it would be too severe to say that the same impossibility stands in the way of a man's salvation; for there is always the Divine possibility.
Peter's, once again acting as spokesman of the Apostles, demanded some further elucidation of this economic problem of giving up property. He had heard Our Lord Jesus speak of the greatness of the reward reserved for those who followed Him. Knowing that they had left their business by the sea in order to follow Him, Peter asked:

We here have left everything to become your followers. What will there be for us? - Matt. 19:27 -

The Apostles evidently had not left much as the rich young man would have abandoned; but it is not the quantity that one leaves that matters, but rather the fact that one has left all. Charity is to be measured, not by what one has given away, but by what one has left. In both cases, neither would have had anything left. Those who choose Christ must choose Him for His own sake, and not for the sake of a reward. It was only after they had completely committed themselves to following Him that Jesus spoke of compensation. He had recommended the Cross; now Jesus would speak of the glory which would be its inevitable consequence:

I tell you this: in the world that is to be, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne in heavenly splendor, you my followers will have thrones of your own, where you will sit as judges of the twelve tribes of Israel. - Matt. 19:28 -

The Lord Jesus Christ bade them look forward to a great regeneration, to a Divine new order of things. The Son of Man Who would have the Cross on earth would have His glory in heaven.

As for them, they were to be the foundation stones of this new order. Israel had been founded out of the twelve sons of Jacob; so too His new order was to be founded on these twelve Apostles, who left all for Him. In this new Kingdom, a peculiar glory would be given to them as patriarchs of the new order. John, who was among them at the moment, later on would write:

The city wall had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. - Rev. 21:14 -

Elaborating on the idea of reward for those who gave up their possession, Jesus said:

I tell you this: there is no one who has given up home, brothers or sisters, mother, father or children, or land, for my sake and for the Gospel, who will not receive in this age a hundred times as much - houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and land - and persecutions besides; and in the age to come eternal life. - Mark 10:29-31 -

"Persecution" was thrown into the account of the rewards, not as if it were a loss, but a gain. The hundredfold reward would come not so much in spite of persecution, as on account of it, If they were faithful unto death, they would receive the crown of life, for the afflictions of this world were not to be compared with the joys to come. Thus did the Master brand Calvary into their flesh and their possessions, telling the Apostles to forsake that which others desired to keep. Peter, who had asked what he would get out of giving up his boats, had already been told that he would be the helmsman of the bark of Peter, or the Church. But that day, when Our Lord Jesus spoke of blessings and tossed in "persecution" as good measure, Peter never forgot. Later, in the midst of joys and persecutions, he wrote it down:

It gives you a share in Christ's sufferings, and that is cause for joy; and when his glory is revealed, your joy will be triumphant. - 1 Peter 4:14 -

                                                                        Page 1
If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -