Herod and Jesus [ Luke does not record the Baptist's death; instead, he prepares the reader ('he was anxious to see him') for the subsequent meeting of Herod with Jesus. - 23:8-12 -]

Meanwhile Herod the tetrarch had heard about all that was going on; and he was puzzled, because some people were saying that John (John the Baptist) had risen from the dead, others that Elijah had reappeared, still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life. But Herod said, 'John? I beheaded him. So who is this I hear such reports about?' And he was anxious to see him. - Luke 9:7-9 -

The return of the apostles. Miracle of the loaves

On their return the apostles gave Jesus an account of all they had done. Then he took them with him and withdrew to a town called Bethsaida where they could be by themselves. But the crowds got to know and they went after him. Jesus made them welcome and talked to them about the kingdom of God; and he cured those who were in need of healing.

It was late afternoon when the Twelve came to him and said, 'Send the people away, and they can go to the villages and farms round about to find lodging and food; for we are in a lonely place here.' Jesus replied, 'Give them something to eat yourselves.' But they said, 'We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we are to go ourselves and buy food for all these people.'

For there were about five thousand men. But Jesus said to his disciples, 'Get them to sit down in parties of about fifty.' They did so and made them all sit down. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven, and said the blessing over them; then he broke them and handed them to his disciples to distribute among the crowd. They all ate as much as they wanted, and when the scraps remaining were collected they filled twelve baskets. - Luke 9:10-17 -

Peter's profession of faith [ Luke has left out a whole section of Mark (6:45 - 8:26).]

Now one day when Jesus was praying alone in the presence of his disciples he put this question to them, 'Who do the crowds say I am?' And they answered, 'John the Baptist; others Elijah; and others say one of the ancient prophets come back to life.' But you,' Jesus said 'who do you say I am?' It was Peter who spoke up. 'The Christ of God' he said. But Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this. - Luke 9:18-21 -

First prophecy of the Passion [ This prophecy is to be followed by several others, 9:44, 12:50, 17:25, 18:31-33. Cf. 24:7,25-27. Luke omits Peter's protest and his rebuke by Jesus, Mark 8:32f.]

'The Son of Man' Jesus said 'is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.' - Luke 9:22 -

The condition of following Christ

Then to all Jesus said, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross everyday and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it: but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it.

What gain, then, it is for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self? For if anyone is ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. - Luke 9:23-26 -

The kingdom will come soon

'I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.' - Luke 9:27 -

The transfiguration [ One of the narratives in which Luke most widely differs from Mark. It is clear that Luke had his own source of information (John?).]

Now about eight days after this had been said, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James went up the mountain to pray. As he prayed, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightning. Suddenly there were two men there talking to him; they were Moses and Elijah appearing in glory, and they were speaking of his passing which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem.

Peter and his companions were heavy with sleep, but they kept awake [ Preferable to 'they woke up.'] and saw his glory [ The glory of his future coming, 9:26.] and the two men standing with him. As these were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, 'Master, it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah.' - He did not know what he was saying.

As he spoke, a cloud came and covered them with shadow; and when they went into the cloud the disciples were afraid. And a voice came from the cloud saying. 'This is my Son, the Chosen One. [ Var. 'the Beloved' cf. Matthew and Mark. The titles 'Chosen One.' cf. 23:35; Isaiah 42:1, and 'Son of Man' alternate in the Parables of Enoch.] Listen to him.' And after the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. The disciples kept silence and at that time, told no one what they had seen. - Luke 9:28-36 -

The epileptic demoniac

Now on the following day when they were coming down from the mountain a large crowd came to meet him. Suddenly, a man in the crowd cried out. 'Master,' he said 'I implore you to look at my son: he is my only child. All at once a spirit will take hold of him, and give a sudden cry and throw the boy into convulsions with foaming at the mouth; it is slow to leave him, but when it does, it leaves boy worn out. I begged your disciples to cast it out, and they could not.'

'Faithless and perverse generation!' Jesus said in reply 'How much longer must I be among you and put up with you? Bring your son here.' The boy was still moving towards Jesus when the devil threw him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and cured the boy and gave him back to his father, and everyone was awestruck by the greatness of God. - Luke 9:37-43 -

Second prophecy of the Passion

At a time when everyone was full of admiration for all Jesus did, he said to his disciples, 'For your part, you must have these words constantly in your mind: The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men.' But they did not understand him when he said this; it was hidden from them so that they should not seeing the meaning of it, and they were afraid to ask him about what he had just said. - Luke 9:44-45 -

Who is the greatest

An argument started between them about which of them was the greatest. Jesus knew what thoughts were going through their minds, and he took a little child and set him by his side and then said to them, 'Anyone who welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the least among you all, that is the one who is great.' - Luke 9:46-48 -

On using the name of Jesus

John spoke up. 'Master,' he said 'we saw a man casting out devils in your name, and because he is not with us we tried to stop him.' [ Var. 'we stopped him.'] But Jesus said to him, 'You must not stop him: anyone who is not against you is for you.' - Luke 9:49-50 -

IV.  THE  JOURNEY  TO  JERUSALEM

THEOLOGY? ISN'T THAT THE STUDY OF RELIGION? SO, WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH ME? ISN'T IT CONCERN PRIESTS, THEOLOGIANS AND THE VATICAN?

THEOLOGY HAS LITTLE TO DO WITH ME, HASN'T IT?

Most of us think that theology is the concern of specialists, an academic subject that has little to do with lay person. Yet, the Christian theology that we accept today has its roots in the faith experiences of the Hebrews' search for God, their reflection on those experiences and their response to Him.

As Rev. Fr. Michael Amaladoss SJ, the Assistant to Father General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach SJ, responsible for Dialogue and Ecumenism (May 1992-...) puts it, "Faith looks, not only backward to God's saving and powerful presence in history, but also to the future that God invites us to create in the power of the Word and of the Spirit. Theology is therefore not an abstract philosophical elaboration of eternal verities reserved to a few expert professionals. It is a discerning search for God in the here and now of history that is the concern of everyone".

In this sense, theology must be the concern of every Christian and more so of every Christian in Malaysia.

It is the recognition of the Malaysian situation, specifically that of Saint Francis Xavier's Church (Petaling Jaya, Selangor.), that has prompted the central argument in Theology of Shoes-off, an initial effort on the part of Rev. Fr. Joseph (Jojo) Fung SJ to identify the elements that could form our very own Malaysian Theology.

Rev. Fr. Amaladoss SJ has this to say about Theology of Shoes-off. The flowering of local theology is a sign of the rootedness and maturity of a particular Church. So I am glad to welcome and introduce this pioneering effort by Rev. Fr. Joseph (Jojo) Fung SJ to develop a Malaysian theology of "Shoes-off".

BY REV. FR. JOSEPH  MATTHEW  FUNG  JEE  VUI  ( JOJO ) SJ, was the Parish Priest of SFX Church (Petaling Jaya, Selangor.) from 1988 to 1992.


"EACH ONE OF US, HOWEVER, HAS BEEN GIVEN HIS OWN SHARE OF GRACE, GIVEN AS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ALLOTTED IT. IT WAS SAID THAT HE WOULD:

             WHEN HE ASCENDED TO THE HEIGHT, HE CAPTURED PRISONERS,
             HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.

WHEN IT SAYS, 'HE ASCENDED,' WHAT CAN IT MEAN IF NOT THAT HE DESCENDED RIGHT DOWN TO THE LOWER REGIONS OF THE EARTH? THE ONE WHO ROSE HIGHER THAN ALL THE HEAVENS TO FILL ALL THINGS IS NONE OTHER THAN THE ONE WHO DESCENDED.

AND TO SOME, HIS GIFT WAS THAT THEY SHOULD BE APOSTLES; TO SOME, PROPHETS; TO SOME, EVANGELISTS; TO SOME, PASTORS AND TEACHERS; SO THAT THE SAINTS TOGETHER MAKE A UNITY IN THE WORK OF SERVICE, BUILDING UP THE BODY OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

IN THIS WAY WE ARE ALL TO COME TO UNITY IN OUR FAITH AND IN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE SON OF GOD, UNTIL WE BECOME THE PERFECT MAN, FULLY MATURE WITH THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST HIMSELF.

THEN WE SHALL NOT BE CHILDREN ANY LONGER, OR TOSSED ONE WAY AND ANOTHER AND CARRIED ALONG BY EVERY WIND OF DOCTRINE, AT THE MERCY OF ALL THE TRICKS MEN PLAY AND THEY CLEVERNESS IN PRACTISING DECEIT.

IF WE LIVE BY THE TRUTH AND IN LOVE, WE SHALL GROW IN ALL WAYS INTO CHRIST JESUS, WHO IS THE HEAD BY WHOM THE WHOLE BODY IS FITTED AND JOINED TOGETHER, EVERY JOINT ADDING ITS OWN STRENGTH, FOR EACH SEPARATE PART TO WORK ACCORDING TO IT FUNCTION. SO THE BODY GROWS UNTIL IT HAS BUILT ITSELF UP, IN LOVE." - EPHESIANS 4:7-16 -

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Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless. 

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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 -