warrioronthehorse-blog

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 19

A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” 

--

Should we not all have hope from this story of Zacchaeus? A ruler was saddened because, even though he was able to follow the commandments in theory, he was unable to give up everything to follow God. He was bound by the love of money, by service to Mammon. 

Although Zacchaeus had a bad reputation, he had this stirring in his heart to know God, and he put that into practice, by climbing a sycamore-fig tree to see Him. God did not reject a sinner such as Zacchaeus, but said to him, “I must stay at your house today.” 

Society could not understand God, because of their fallen nature. But Zacchaeus, who has come to notice Christ as God, was willing to give all he had to the downtrodden, to those who had absolutely nothing. 

This man, too, is a son of Abraham. The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost, not the righteous. There is more rejoicing in heaven over a sinner who has come to know the Lord than in ninety-nine righteous men. Because no one, not one, is righteous before the Lord. 

Because evil should not be made intelligible, it falls unto us not simply to use words to provide a descriptive understanding of evil, but to use our lives to fight against evil at every step of the way. We do so not simply through acts of compassion and charity to our fellow man, but in helping one understand that it is through God alone that one finds salvation. Our lives are the argument; people do not look at what we say, but they look at what they see, metaphysics underpins ethics and vice versa. 

The point is not to look at the world and to seek to rationalise it, but to look only at God, for it is through God alone that everything is possible. 

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 18

“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

And a ruler asked him [Jesus], “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and. come, follow me.” But he heard these things; he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

. . . Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” 

--

The point is that one does not enter into the Kingdom of God through deeds. The ruler had erred from the very moment he asked Jesus, “what must I do to inherit eternal life.” 

What about Jesus’ response then? “No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments . . .” As Paul would say in the Book of Romans, the Law and the Prophets were given unto us not so much so that we could find eternal life through these means, but because we were to know the Law and our inadequacy before the Law. Christ had already demonstrated this by placing the conclusion - “No one is good except God alone.” - before the premise: “You know the commandments.” And when the ruler erroneously believed that he could do this, that he could earn his way into heaven, then to whom much is given much more will be demanded: Christ asked that he “sell all that [he] has and distribute to the poor . . . and follow [him]”

Not only did the ruler’s sadness demonstrate that he was in thrall to Mammon and therefore not in obedience to God, for you cannot serve both God and money, but it also revealed his sinful nature for all to see. That was the entire point: that man might come to know the full extent of his inadequacy before a holy and righteous God. And yet, ‘what is impossible with man is possible with God.’ As we serve a God for whom all things are possible, it is likewise all too likely that God could find a way past our innately sinful nature to provide us with eternal life. 

That is, to give up all there is in this world to follow Jesus Christ. While it is written that “no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God . . . will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life,” perhaps the gift to be received is not so much an earthly one doomed to perish and decay, but a heavenly one - Jesus Christ himself - that will last through the test of time.

--

Like the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, the Law was given unto us so that we may know the full extent of our unrighteousness before the Law. But the Law alone does not promise salvation. Christ Jesus, having come down from heaven unto earth, has fully accomplished all there is in the Law on the one hand, while dying for our sakes as a righteous sacrifice on the other. He died for the propitiation, the redemption and the justification of our sins. He is both the justifier and the justified, the agent and the subject.

You cannot work your way into salvation. Only he who is able to receive the Kingdom of God like a child will be able to receive it. 

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 17

“On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.” 

--

In the 1818/1819 work, The World as Will and Representation, the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once remarked on the essentiality of disillusionment: the world around us is a merely illusory one, in the plane of what he calls “phenomena,” while the will to live is only that which is true. It falls upon human beings therefore to look past the deceptions of the world of phenomena, to concentrate their efforts wholly on that which is truly important, the will. 

While there are clear differences between Schopenhauer and Christ, the injunction to be vigilant, to look past the things of this world, is a similar one. He who seeks to keep his life will lose it, but he who loses his life will keep it. 

The world around us may seem uncaring, wicked, and vile. As it was in the days of Noah, and the days of Lot. But when the Son of Man rises again once more, justice will be dealt to the world, with half of mankind heading to the place where “the vultures will gather,” and with the other half earning salvation. 

It made me think: what are we striving towards? What do we desire? Do we desire the things of this world, the deceptiveness of the realm of phenomena in Schopenhauerean language, or do we look past this world towards the truth, God’s heavenly kingdom? 

Of course, it is difficult to live in this world while being apart from this world. It is nearly impossible to keep that state of detachment, to look past the illusory and yet all too tempting nature of that which is placed before us. But therein lies the place of God: what we cannot do, He can do. 

“If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” Is this injunction of Christ a metaphorical one? Or literal? In an age of disenchantment, have we become so thoroughly disillusioned that we can no longer take Christ as his word, that he sometimes means precisely the seemingly outrageous things that he says?

We look at the things of the world to gleam God from them. They are all right in part, but wrong in others. After all, Schopenhauer had no God and did not believe in God, perceiving the Bible merely as an instructive fable meant to instil in individuals a concrete knowledge of an abstract principle: the denial of the will to live. And it is worth noting that because it is not the truth, Schopenhauer could not live it but had to become a hypocrite who did not practice what he preached, as Kierkegaard so aptly observed. 

As Christians, where did we come from? And what ought we to do in this life? Where do we go after we die? We believe in God, who revealed Himself through the very image of His Son, Christ Jesus. We know His commandments: to love God, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself. We know and believe that there is a heaven, where one is connected eternally with God, and a hell, where one is separated from God forever. The point is not so much the fire and brimstone, the suffering and woe that comes from Hell, but if God is love and all that is good in this world, and if one rejects Him, then there can be nothing left but an eternal, unceasing void. In other words, Hell is wherever God is not.

But Schopenhauer was right in other aspects: that ethics is simply metaphysics put into action. We know the way, the truth, and the life: that which is revealed to us by Christ Jesus. Because we know this, we can confidently act in a manner that is His, as His people. 

If we were to ask anything of God, it would be this. Let us keep our eyes on the things which are truly important, on Him and Him alone. Let us not be swayed by the temptations of this world, that which is false, but on the truth that only Christ Jesus can give. And, most importantly of all, help us to regard one another as being made in God’s image, that in spite of all our differences, we are from the same Creator, and that should rightfully inform the way in which we treat others in this world. 

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 16

The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?  And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. 

You cannot serve both God and money. The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.

--

You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight. 

Shrewdness in and of itself is not wrong, just as money in and of itself is not wrong. What is wrong is the fundamental fact of becoming a servant of money - of devoting each and every one of your actions with the aim of increasing one’s riches. 

What then is the value of money? To win for oneself friends in the world, such that when it is gone, one will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. It is a fact that, like other resources that God has given unto us, money is meant not so much as an end to itself, but as a means to the publicising of the kingdom of God. 

The most important thing: God looks at the heart, first and foremost. Whereas people can notice only the external act, God can see through to the innermost motivations of the individual. 

--

‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from the dead.’ 

Again, it is not so much what is being seen, but the heart of the one doing the seeing. All that needs to be made manifest has already been done so through the Moses and the Prophets, in other words, the Old Testament. 

--

How much do I actually esteem God’s word? I am sluggish, reluctant, pursuing it somewhat as a routine act. But do I not grasp that I am dealing not so much with the things of the world here, but with the very maker of the world? 

All that needs to be said has already been said, both in the Old Testament through Moses and the Prophets, and in the New Testament, through the word of Jesus Christ and those who come after him. 

How much have you been a steward of God’s resources? You worry about infringing upon the freedom of others, about respecting their rights as a human being, but are you merely engaged in self-deception? Other people may look at the things outside, but God looks at the heart. 

--

Are the things you’re worrying about important? 

What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight. 

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 15

“I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” 

“I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” 

“We had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found.”

--

What is God saying today? He spends time with the tax-collectors and the sinners, while saying at the same time that unless we give up everything and follow Christ, we shall never come to know the kingdom of God. 

Can we believe - do we believe - that this God of ours is not only all-powerful, but all-good? He cares deeply for the welfare of each and every human being, for He loves them and is love. For Christ, this principle that God is love and all-merciful is so important that he stresses this idea, over and over again, through different parables. 

This baffles our minds. How can it be that we are demanded to give up everything to follow God, and yet, have it be easy? And how can it be that we are not so much giving ourselves up to an unfeeling tyrant, who commands that which is right because He said so, but who very clearly and carefully has our welfare in mind? Not only that for the prodigal son, but also for the older - God loves and cares for them all.

God is love. Love always seeks the betterment of the other, never itself. The Father gestures towards the Son, the Son gestures towards the Father and the Spirit, and the Spirit gestures towards the Father and the Son. Love is unselfish and can bear any and all things. We were created not for any insufficiency on God’s part, but out of his overflow, so that we may praise and worship His name on High. While God has to judge all of us rightly for prioritising and choosing the created beings over the Creator himself, He nonetheless loves us enough to send His one and only Son to die for our sakes.  And there is, indeed, more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent. 

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 14

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even their own life - such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” 

--

In a way, the poor and the humiliated would find it easier to follow Jesus Christ because they already have nothing to begin with. But for the rich, the learned, the wise, the intelligent (according to the standards of the world), it entails not only adopting the Way of the Cross, but prior to that, giving up everything that is not of the Cross. 

Looked at from that perspective, all that we have becomes not simply a blessing from God, but, were it to overtake the status of the Creator in our hearts, also an impediment towards knowing Him. 

Moreover, Christ’s very statement goes against all boundaries of conventional reason, that is, to love your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and their own lives. Not only is it utterly unthinkable, but from the perspectives of the listeners, almost blasphemous. 

--

“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil or the manure pile. It is thrown out.” 

--

We are too entangled in the ways of the world, such that we cannot see beyond it, to what truly provides us with happiness. And we say that we want to know the Christ on the one hand, but on the other, we want to know him on our terms, not on the ones that he has chosen to reveal himself to us. 

Truly, it is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 

We know what we must do, yet we do not do as we ought to do. But as we move increasingly towards Christlikeness, may it be ever so clearly revealed to us the path that we must walk, not in an abstract way, but in a real and practical sense. 

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 13

“What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” 

“To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” 

--

“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you came from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ . . . And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.’”

--

The kingdom of God may be innocuous at first - “a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden” - but someday, it will “bec[o]me a tree,” with the “birds of the air [making] nests in its branches.” There is a profound importance to each and every moment, it seems. The smallest word, the simplest gesture, could be that very moment where and when God moves. 

Childlike faith. Unless you change and become like little children, you will never see the kingdom of God. For God reveals Himself to the lowly and the humble in order to shame the wise. 

What is the ultimate foundation for our actions? Let us “strive to enter through the narrow door.” “For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” We pursue our various actions, thinking that they will make us happy. But it is the transcendent law of Christ alone, the kingdom of God, that can truly redeem the world. 

We were sent not so much to huddle together, but to be a light onto the world, to be the answer for a world that has no answer. “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden . . . In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” 

--

Having come face to face with the kingdom of God, having allowed it to transform your life, you reveal it to others by means of your life - your life itself becomes an argument that you use before others. 

Remember that we are all made in the likeness of God, that it is impossible to love God, whom you have not seen, if you do not love your brother, whom you have seen. Yet, we love our brothers and sisters because we love the God who have made them in his own image. 

--

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 12

“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell.”

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes . . . Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very thing, why do you worry about the rest?”

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

--

It’s true - I have been overcome by life. I have done nothing but watched as a passive spectator as I have tossed to and fro by the waves, finding no stable ground for myself. 

I crave things, but dare not say. I desire to do God’s work, but fail at doing them. What I want to do, I do not do, and what I do not want to do, I do. I am mired with all sorts of worries, anxieties and doubts about the future. Not only does it destroy my enthusiasm for it, but it also destroys any lingering enthusiasm I have left for the present. I look at the world around me, and I am conscious of my differentness. People are moulding themselves into the same individual: a hardworking member of society, a domestic family, perhaps affiliated to some measure of organised religion, pursuing an idyllic bourgeois existence. But I have nothing. I can do nothing, but watch. 

What can I do? What must I do? What does the Bible say, “[s]ince you cannot do this very thing [add a single hour to your life,] why do you worry about the rest?” 

Faith presses in when worry fades. Instead of material satisfaction, instead of academic glory, what has God sent me here to do? I was saved then. I had a role to play there, just as I do now. 

Believe, and you can overcome the world. 

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 11

“Which of you has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his imprudence he will rise and die him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 

--

“Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? But give as alms these things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you. 

But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. Those you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over from them without knowing it.”

“Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs . . . Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” 

--

Sometimes you learn what to be from what not to be. 

Can you even imagine the audacity to come face to face with the very person who made the world, for Him to tell you “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” For God, the one whom everything is possible to make this claim, it implies that he is nothing but serious about this. 

My heart is distracted, O God. I think nothing but carnal pleasures, but ways to increase my standing in fame, social status and glory. But beyond these matters of the flesh, help me, O Lord, to be able to differentiate between that which is right and that which is yours. Like Solomon, I wish a discerning mind, to be able to penetrate deeply into the essential matter of things with astounding clarity, and to be able to tell apart the ways of God from the ways of man. For all too often we are distracted by all manner of false knowledge. We think we know, when it is nothing more than our deluded dreams and visions that we place as evident in our minds. 

Lord, I ask that you please disclose yourself to me, so that I may know the truth with all the certainty of my heart, and to have confidence in that truth. One that is rooted in knowledge, yes, experience, yes, but also the truth - the real and unchanging knowledge of things. It is a knowledge that pierces, that goes beyond the merely natural, into the supernatural. One that grasps at the innermost desires and temptations of the human heart. 

Lord, let me not be distracted from following your will by the matters of the flesh. Let me not be anxious about these earthly things, for you know that we need them, and we can place our confidence in you, who already care deeply about every living creature that you have placed in this world. Lord, you mock the proud and the arrogant, but you raise up the humble and the lowly into your midst.

I pray that for your aid, O Lord, that I may be teachable and to not think that I have already ascended to all the knowledge that there is in the world. 

--

You have clearly shown us how not to be a believer also. You accused the Pharisees of having “cleanse[d] the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside [they] are full of greed and wickedness.” You mock mere religion, that does not satisfy you, but what you desire is true and honest offering arising from the inward states of our heart. 

You accused the lawyers of “load[ing] people with burdens hard to bear,” those who “do not touch the burdens with [any] one of [their] fingers.” Those who simply come to an easy answer on important questions like the problem of evil - how to reconcile the presence of an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God with the real state of the wretched world - without caring about the real effects that it has on every man. That is, our entire state of being in itself should be an argument, an outward manifestation of an inward faith, the world cannot see you, but it can see us, who are your followers. And a student is not higher than his teacher in that regard. 

That is to say, one who follows the way of Christ is one who believes in it fervently with every manner of his being, who does the law not so much because it is demanded of him, but because it is what he genuinely loves. Unless Kant, who preached the importance of an imperfectly “virtuous” man disinterestedly pursuing the moral law even though he is filled with all manner of natural impulses towards self-gratifying actions, we do not begin with the pursuit of goodness, of God’s law, but with the inner conversion of the heart. It does not come while we are “trying” to be good, but it stems from above, outside of our reach. 

Let us not simply rest easy with answers to our questions, but feel committed, at the same instance, to live out these same questions. Let us regard the pains and ills of each and everyone of our brethren as seriously as if they were ourselves. 

O God, this is real life, this is life that goes beyond the boundaries of theory that is merely gray. The real battle is not to be fought within the schoolrooms, but outside, within the world. 

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 10

“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 

--

Jesus said: “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Which is to say, we cannot know God the Father on our own merits. We know Him through God the Son, that is, Jesus Christ, and “anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” This statement naturally implies that there are those - “the wise and understanding” - that God has chosen not to reveal Himself to, instead choosing to show Himself to meek “little children.” 

Moreover, God the Son is the perfect self-revelation of God the Father on Earth. We humans often wonder what God may be like, or seem like, and we cannot conceive of such a holy being with our feeble understanding. For that reason, therefore, God has chosen to show Himself to us, no longer through the prophets as it was in the days of old, but through His beloved Son, the Christ.

As pride is in itself odious to God, a mistaken sense of self-aggrandisement, a inflated sense of oneself in the world, God has precisely chosen to reveal Himself to the meek and the lowly as a means of shaming those with hubris.  

--

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 

But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” . . . “But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.” 

--

The importance of compassion. Without a doubt, there is evil in the world. Men harm one another, due to their innately fallen nature. They fail to recognise one another as human beings, as ends in and of themselves, but merely. conceive of other people as instruments to be utilised to satiate one’s natural inclinations, one’s self-love. Not only do they harm one another physically, but they also do so spiritually, that is, remove the characteristic of humanness from one another - which is why, when we are faced with the suffering of another human being, we are all too able to walk away, deeply apathetic. 

We do not conceive of others as a being like ourselves. We are solipsistic, and conceive of ourselves as uniquely special, and more deserving of better treatment than anyone else. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, this occurs to the priest and the Levite, members of traditional society. It is not so much a conscious disregard for suffering that they display, but an unconscious one, having become habituated to the evil that goes on in the world, and the sense of separation between one another as human beings.

But the Samaritan in the story, regardless of the religious differences with the Jew, does not conceive of the Jew as a Jew. Instead, he saw him first and foremost as a human being, like himself. Therein lies the true meaning of “loving your neighbour as yourself.” If we are all made in the likeness of God, then we are all deeply connected as human beings, regardless of our realisation of this fact. That is to say, the care and concern which we show for ourselves should translate into the care and concern that we ought to have for every single human being. And as Kant says, God is not so cruel as to demand that we are obligated to carry out a duty that we cannot do. It implies that with the right understanding, the proper change of heart (which only God Himself can provide), we will be able to love one another as we do ourselves. 

“We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4: 20 - 21) 

We love our brother because, like us, he is made in the likeness of the Divine. But we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we hate our brother, whom we have seen. 

Perhaps then it falls upon us not so much to make characteristic, logical claims about human nature, but to resist the urge to do so. The human being is not primarily defined by logic, or power, or the will. The human being is a miraculous being - an end unto himself, undeserving of any dissection by and from the mind. Let us not love one another in word and talk but in deed and truth. 

--

“Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” 

--

There are deeper and more important things to be concerned with than the affairs of the world. For what profit a man were he to gain the world but to lose his soul? And yet, many do not see that, and become increasingly like one another as a means of gaining the world, which they do not. In the very final instance, they wind up losing both the world and themselves. 

It is through Christ alone that we can comprehend the truth of the world. God has not left us with abstract commandments to follow, or mere doctrines to repeat, but a perfect realisation and representation of his divine self, with the injunction, “take up your Cross and follow me.” 

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 9

And [Jesus] asked [the disciples], “Who do the crowds say I am?” And they answered, “John the Baptist. But other says, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” 

And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” 

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” 

--

John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.” 

--

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” 

--

What does it mean to be a follower of Christ, in Christ’s own words: 

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” 

Just before, Christ gave a succinct explanation of what the Son of Man has come down onto Earth to do: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

Taken altogether, does it not show that just as Christ Jesus, the Son of God, God’s own self-revelation, has come down to “suffer many things . . . and be killed, and on the third day be raised,” we are to “deny” ourselves and “follow” Christ daily. Not only are we to act in the manner of our master, even risking death for His sake, but it suggests that this is the only way to gain true, everlasting life. There is a paradox here - it suggests that man’s usual self-preservation instinct is faulty, that his ways of saving his own life is ironically that which leads him to death, but by following Christ Jesus, even at the expense of his earthly life if need be, he “will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” 

In Kant’s own words, it reverses the instinctual corruption in human nature, as a result of choice, by restoring the proper order of things, God’s moral law over our corrupt self-love and natural inclinations. Genuine religion leads us to choose God of our own volition, and in so doing, come to the ultimate fulfilment of our self in so doing. This is what it means to have the Bread of Life and drink from the River of Living Water. 

--

Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.

No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

Christ alone is the self-revelation of the living God. We can have no other Gods but Him, that is, He must take precedence over each and every one of our actions. It is to say, in direct contrast to Lot’s wife, that we have placed the world solidly behind us, and that we are moving forward to the cross. The singular act of Christ on the Cross has saved us from our sins, and it implies that each and everyone of us ought to demonstrate outwardly what we have experienced as an inward truth.

Is faith nothing without experience? You have seen, and therefore, you have believed, but blessed are the faithful who have believed without having seen!

--

Lord, I cannot accomplish the Christian life on my own. And You are aware of that, for that is why You have sent your Holy Spirit down to aid us. Help us to see that Christ has come down to rescue man from their sins. Help us to see that Christ demands precedence over all things. Help us to see that the law is made in such a way that we cannot fulfil it through our earthly strength, that we require divine intervention to help us to see rightly. You alone are the one who has made the heavens and the earth. You alone are the sovereign God, Lord of all. And yet, you did not rest easy on your throne in heaven. Christ Jesus, your ultimate self-revelation, has come down to suffer along with wretched man, to show them the way. Just as sin and death has come into the world through one man, Adam, so have salvation and the kingdom of God. Amen. Amen.

Struggle. It may well be the case that there is always a struggle between our natural predisposition for good, our instinctual awareness of our conscience, and our propensity towards evil, as a result of a corruption in our decision-making mechanism. But that is why we cannot save ourselves, we require a divine power from above to save us.

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 8

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.

Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”

--

To have a root is to not only listen to the word of God, but to put it into practice - the more one puts it to action, the more one realises both his insufficiency and the greatness of a God for whom everything is possible

Are they not the same thing in the very last instance? You worry because you desire pleasure, riches being amongst them. And this is what you set your mind on, not the things above. In that sense, although you have the seed, you remain unflourished and unmatured.

Note that Christ, in this case, demonstrates not only the farmer who sows the seeds of God, but also the believer who puts the word of God to action

--

“No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen.

Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them

--

How is it possible to hide the fact that you’re a Christian? Or, how do you accomplish God’s purposes without violating human freedom? Or, is this merely an excuse that we give in order to not do God’s work? Remember the parable of the servants - whoever has will be given more, whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken away from them

If we consider it to be the case that God has full knowledge of those who are His and those who are not His, then why worry about being a light?

--

“The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.”

--

In a way, are we not all the man with demons? When Christ first came, we told Him to leave us; we were content in our wretchedness and could envision no better future. But when Christ cast out Legion from our hearts - the demons of pride, wrath, and sin -, we cannot held but be in awe of the God who alone can save.

--

“While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.” Hearing this,

Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”

--

While God revealed Himself to us in the shape of His Son, He also demonstrated His sovereignty over Heaven and Earth, the fact that for God, nothing is impossible. Just as Sin and Death entered the world through one man, Adam, salvation came to the broken world through Christ: “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”

Being not of the world, He nonetheless came into the world - to preach the Word of God and to die for our sakes, so that anyone who hears and who believes will be saved. That is why Alyosha is our hero - having properly understood what it meant to be a warrior of Christ, that is, to stand beside struggling man who have yet to know the truth, while pointing them towards something Higher. It is not something to be rationally known, but to be supernaturally experienced - only God alone can change the hearts of man.

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 7

As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. 

--

“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” 

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in king’s courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet . . . I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

--

“I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven - for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 

--

At Bible Study yesterday, someone said that one should always ask this while reading the gospels: what does this tell me about Jesus, the Christ?

From these few excerpts in Luke 7, I see Jesus as the Christ, the Saviour of the World, the one who has come to make all things right. While reading these passages this morning, my heart was moved, my spirit was decidedly shaken. How could it not? Imagine being at that moment in history, when evil and suffering was commonplace. Imagine being at that moment as an Israelite, conquered and suffering under the yoke of the Roman Empire and the tax-collectors. How despondent, how angry, how much despair must one have felt? 

Imagine being that woman, for whom life has ended with the death of her beloved son. Imagine suffering evil so senseless, that the world can no longer make sense. The religious men may say, “your son is punished for sinning against God,” or “This makes sense in totality, for God has willed it to be so.” But what is the image of God that we see here? It is not an uncaring one, high up on his Heavenly throne. Instead, it is one that has “compassion” on suffering and afflicted mankind. Not only did Christ tell her not to weep, he also went forward to tell the young man to arise. For a woman who has nothing, for a woman who has had everything ripped out from her, how else could she interpret this event but a sign that for God, everything is possible? And this is a God who takes pity on the sufferings of his people. This is a God who grieves deeply at the sight of evil, who cares deeply for suffering mankind and has come to save them from their sins. 

Evil is not built into the fabric of the world, but a decided problem. And it is not to be ended by human hands, but by God and God alone. 

God has come down to make “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers [be] cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up.” The God of the Gospels is not a faraway one, but one who cares deeply about the state of the world. 

And we, as Christians, that is, followers of Christ regardless of denomination, can love much because we have been forgiven much. The world does not know Christ necessarily, but it does know us, and it falls upon us to be the image of the living Christ until his resurrection. And how shall we regard the evils of the world? 

As Christ did: to take compassion on the senselessness of the world, to comfort those who are grieving, and to remind them of the hope that they can have in Christ Jesus and in Him alone. We believe in a Saviour who knows evil not on an abstract level, but he knows the consequences of evil firsthand, crucified even when he has done no wrong. And in the face of the evils of the world, Jesus Christ alone stands strong. He says, “arise,” and the one who believes in Him leaps from despair into everlasting hope. 

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 6

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people 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 ancestors treated the prophets.

--

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you . . . love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 

--

The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. 

--

As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my word and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. 

--

I woke this morning with a clammy feeling in my heart. It was Sunday, which meant that I had to go back to school the very next day. I haven’t felt this in a long time, perhaps since the beginning of sophomore year. But then, I asked myself, am I fearful because I have too much to lose in school? Am I like the rich man who is dragged down by all the riches of the world, unable to find peace in his heart?

What does Christ say? Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the Kingdom of God. Blessed are those who hunger, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are those who are hated by the people, who are rejected by them as evil, for Christ’s sake. Man places undue attention on earthly rituals which have no meaning in themselves. The Pharisees regarded the Sabbath as an end unto itself, without realising that the Sabbath was made for the Son of Man, not the other way around. 

The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like the teacher. When I first became a believer, a Christian (in the sense of a ‘follower of Christ’), I came away with a profound knowledge that I was sent here not so much to gain good grades, or to succeed in a worldly sense, but simply to be saved by God. He who controls all things in Heaven and in Earth has designed to take pity on me - to recognise me as a being worth saving, in spite of my unrighteousness. It was not as though I was better than any other sinner - why did he save me, when so many people had fallen away to the philosophies of the world in Yale-NUS? 

Why? What is the reason for things? I don't know. I cannot know. All I know is this singular truth - that Christ has come down for our sakes, and whosoever believes in Him will be saved. But the world is evil, and it does not recognise him. So those who follow Christ, with all of their heart, will be regarded by the world as evil. 

Can we imagine Christ in the world today? He would not be for mere religion, but be against it, just as he was with the Pharisees. I am not saying that he would be against the Church, for the relationship between the Church and Christ is like that between a bride and her bridegroom. But Christ would be decidedly against a religion of mere form, lacking completely in substance. It is not simply a good Bible exposition, or bright lights and good music, that we are saved. It is by the word of God alone - it is through Christ alone that we are saved. 

The world says many things: follow your passions, satiate them at the cost of another, it is none of your business whether another lives or dies. But the Christian is explicitly told to love your enemy, just as He had loved you first. If someone slaps you on one cheek, give him another also. Love God, and love your neighbour. Just as God took pity on you, take pity on your fellow man, so that they may be reminded of Christ Jesus when they look at your example. 

The most important things cannot be seen with the eyes, but wholly felt with the heart. 

--

There was another person, who was birthed in a Catholic background but fell away. But out of the Christlikeness of her best friend, she soon came to see that Christ alone is Lord, and came out of her crisis of faith. It was as though God was reminding me of my purpose here in Yale-NUS through this example. 

The world will persecute us, it will call us evil, just as it called Him evil. But the Lord tells us that whosoever follows Him, great is their reward in Heaven. It is not that we are doing this merely for a reward, for that would be the principles of the world abstracted to the heavenly realm, but that we would come to see that it is only Christ Jesus who is important, that He alone can satisfy. 

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 5

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” - he said to the man who was paralysed - “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” 

--

After this [Jesus] went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” 

--

And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The day will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, “The old is good.” 

--

God is not like us. Never has been, and never will be. We are made in His likeness, but we are only a frail imitation of His being. Knowing God is proper knowledge to know a real person, not to practice mere religion (form without proper substance), not being a functional atheist (you say that you are a believer in Christ and yet it does not show in one’s actions and words), and having God disclose himself to you.

All these qualities are embodied in the proper personhood of Christ Jesus. Look at the case of Levi, the tax collector. Jesus, a real person, came up to Levi, and said, “Follow me.” There was an invitation on the part of God to man, for man to know Him and to leave all else behind to follow Him. 

The Pharisees, on the other hand, were practicers of official religion and thought themselves righteous men on that account. In a way, they are very much similar to us. Like the Pharisees, we think ourselves “holy and righteous” because of our “religious” practices, and ask Christ, “Why is this person here with me in Church? I am better than him,” not knowing that such arrogance is detestable to God. 

It fails to show in their ways and in their thoughts. Underneath a seemingly “proper claim” - “Who is this who speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” - is fierce disbelief and questioning. 

Take heart, we who are sinners. Christ did not come for the “righteous,” who are odious to Him, but the wretched, those who are clearly aware of their need for Him. Christ is a real Being, existing outside of ourselves, and he wishes to disclose Himself to all of us. But let He who has ears to hear hear!

God loves man so much so that He gave his one and only Son to perish for our sakes. And whosoever believes in Christ Jesus will be made righteous through faith, and be delivered from his sinful nature. But, like Levi, it entails leaving everything and following God. It entails being in the world but not of the world.

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 4

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” 

The devil led him to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendour; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.” 

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: 

“He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully: they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a  stone.” 

Jesus answered, “It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”” 

--

Just as in The Book of Genesis, the devil strikes first by sowing seeds of doubt. “If” is his favourite word: “If you are the Son of God . . .” 

What does it mean to doubt? It means to question, it means to lose confidence in God. Whether it be material needs, or the desire for power, or the need for a miracle, to prove one’s identity, sin begins with doubt. I do not believe in God’s provision, and so, I take matters into my own hands to make things better for myself. 

How does Christ answer the devil? From the word, “It is written . . .” What does it say about how to overcome the temptations of the Enemy, he who is prince of this world? It goes back into a firm knowledge of God’s Word. For one can only have confidence in a God that one knows about. 

Jesus knows that what man needs is not so much earthly bread, for they still hunger and thirst regardless, but the bread of Life and the river of living water. Jesus knows that what man needs is not so much to be glorified in himself, but to be glorified in his right worship of God. Jesus knows that what man needs is not so much a self-made miracle, but one that comes only and solely from the Lord - one is beholden to the Lord, and ought not to put Him to the test. 

The road to Sin therefore begins with doubt. Did God really say not to eat from the tree of Knowledge? Doubt leads to disbelief, which leads to a heart of rebellion. I’m not sure, so I’ll take matters into my own hands. If I can’t be sure exactly of what God is saying, then I’ll do as I please. 

But what is the road of Salvation? A firm knowledge in God’s laws, a firm knowledge of God’s character, a firm knowledge of God himself as revealed through divine revelation. I can have confidence in God because I know Him. 

--

Let me not doubt God’s character, nor His provision. It is not necessarily that whatever is, is good, but I have a hope in future salvation - that it will all be made right on the Day of Judgment. And perhaps it is this hope in a God that we know, that we believe in, which makes all the difference. 

[warrioronthehorse-blog]

Luke 3

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

--

“Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

--

And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptised and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorised to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, “I baptise you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 

--

“Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise,” “Collect no more than you are authorised to do,” “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages,” “To love your neighbour as yourself.”  

The commandment which Christ gave to all is this: let he who has ears hear! It falls upon us to take up our cross, and to follow Him. It falls upon us to love God, and to love our neighbour as ourself. (Even though by our earthly flesh, we cannot.)

We love God, who made us the way we are. And because we love God, we love also Man, whom God has made in His own likeness. 

It falls upon Christ and Christ alone to “clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn . . . the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 

I do not believe in the theodicy articulated by Pope in Essay on Man; whatever is, is not right. Such a view ignores our present sufferings, it ignores the struggles of Man against his very nature, all the evils in the world cannot simply be redeemed with proper understanding - it calls for right action. Voltaire is surely right to say that the world, as it stands, appears not to be made by a omnipotent and omnibenevolent God. On one level, God does not operate on categories known to Man. He is greater than our feeble ideas of ‘good,’ of ‘evil.’  But on the other, there is genuine suffering in the world, one that will be redeemed when the Saviour comes upon the world to establish the proper order of things. We were once whole, but we have now fractured into a thousand different shards. 

Christ is exactly that hope of recovery. It is through Christ and Christ alone that we can be made whole once more. The world tears at you from all sides, for how can the world, which is in itself not whole, know what the whole is? 

We who were once whole, were cast out from the Garden of Eden as a result of our ignorance and defiance against the whole that is ordained by God. We move around the world aimlessly, we attempt to recover that which we have lost but to no avail, we are desperately calling out for a Redeemer to make us whole once more. And yet, when He whom our hearts have longed for has arrived, we do not recognise him, but, owing to our incomplete nature, have crucified him for our own purposes. 

He who was whole knew exactly that which had to be done in order to make Man whole once more. All we had to do was to believe in Him, that He was our Lord and Saviour, that He was sent down from heaven to raise Man back into the state that he once had, but had lost. 

In Christ, we are made whole once more. Apart from him, we can do nothing, and are feeble reeds meant to be discarded. 

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Lord, be there with me. My heart calls out to you - you once said, “blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness’ sake, for they shall be satisfied.” 

We who were once whole, are made whole once again in Christ Jesus, and will fully come into our glory when the Saviour comes again. Until then, it falls upon each and every believer to behave as John the Baptist did, to be the lone voice in the wilderness that calls out: “Love your neighbour as yourself!”