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frmartinshomiliesandreflections · 30 days ago

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27th October >> Fr. Martin's Homilies/Reflections on Today's Mass Readings for The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) (Mark 10:46-52): ‘Immediately his sight returned and he followed him along the road’.

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Gospel (Except USA) Mark 10:46-52 Go; your faith has saved you.

As Jesus left Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus (that is, the son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, was sitting at the side of the road. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and to say, ‘Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.’ And many of them scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he only shouted all the louder, ‘Son of David, have pity on me.’ Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him here.’ So they called the blind man. ‘Courage,’ they said ‘get up; he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus. Then Jesus spoke, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ ‘Rabbuni,’ the blind man said to him ‘Master, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has saved you.’ And immediately his sight returned and he followed him along the road.

Gospel (USA) Mark 10:46–52 Master, I want to see.

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have pity on me.” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you.” He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.” Jesus told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.

Homilies (6)

(i) Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

When we look at the way we pray, we may well find that the prayer of petition is the more frequent of our prayers. We turn to God when our need is great. This seems to be true of prayer in every age. There are one hundred and fifty prayers in the Book of Psalms in the Bible, and the type of prayer that occurs most frequently there is the prayer of petition, the prayer out of the depths of some kind of distress.

The gospels are full of people’s heartfelt prayers of petition addressed to Jesus. We have a very good example of such a prayer in today’s gospel story. It is worth reflecting upon. A blind man, sitting at the side of the road, calls out in prayer to Jesus as Jesus was leaving Jericho to travel up to Jerusalem, ‘Son of David, have pity on me’. He may have been physically blind, but he saw Jesus with the eyes of faith, addressing him with a title that was reserved for the long awaited Messiah. In his prayer, he didn’t speak politely to Jesus. According to the gospel reading, he shouted at Jesus. He may have been blind but he had a voice and he was going to use it to connect with Jesus. The crowds around Jesus reacted to his shouting by giving out to him and trying to impose silence on him. In response, the man simply shouted all the louder. Here was someone who was totally focused on making contact with Jesus. He wasn’t going to be put off by people who were trying to put him in his place. He would allow no one to come between himself and Jesus. It was his desperate need that drove him to seek out the Lord with such single-minded determination.

Bartimaeus displays the kind of persevering, prayerful, courageous faith that we all need from time to time. This vulnerable person encourages us to keep seeking after the Lord, even when those around us try to discourage us from reaching the Lord. In various ways, the times in which we live can put pressure on us to hold back from expressing our faith in the Lord. We need something of the spirit of Bartimaeus today. He may have been weak in body, but he was strong in spirit. His faith in Jesus was stronger than the efforts of people to silence him. Bartimaeus inspires us to witness to our faith, when the pressure to keep our faith to ourselves is strong.

Jesus’ response to the blind man’s cry was very different to the response of those around him. The gospel reading says, ‘Jesus stopped’. He was heading for Jerusalem where he would suffer an even greater form of exclusion than Bartimaeus was presently experiencing. It was the most significant journey of Jesus’ life, and, yet, the persistent and courageous prayer of Bartimaeus stopped him in his tracks. The Lord always stops for us whenever we turn to him in our need. He doesn’t pass us by when we call upon him. Whereas the people around Jesus tried to silence the blind man, Jesus now instructs those same people to call him over. Rather than being an obstacle to this blind man’s efforts to reach Jesus, they are to bring him to Jesus. We all have a role to play in binging each other to the Lord. We are called to support one another’s journey to the Lord, especially in times when there are so many obstacles to faith in him. Just as Jesus called Bartimaeus through those around him, he wants to call others through each one of us.

Bartimaeus’ response to the Lord’s call is very striking, ‘throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus’. The energy and vigour that he displays is an outward expression of his deep faith. In throwing off his cloak, he was throwing off his most precious possession, the cloak that kept him warm at night and that he stretched out by day to receive the coins that kept him alive. We all need something of his vigour and energy as we seek to grow in our relationship with the Lord and in our response to his call. Jesus now addresses him in a very personal way, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The answer to that question may have been obvious, but Jesus gave him the opportunity to express his deepest desire in his own words. The Lord who stops for us whenever we cry out to him in prayer always invites us to give expression to what it is we truly want in our heart of hearts. The love in his heart is open and responsive to what is deepest in our own heart.

Once Jesus healed Bartimaeus of his blindness, he invites him to go on his way. However, Bartimaeus doesn’t go on his way. Instead, he follows in Jesus’ way, along the road to Jerusalem. Having abandoned his most prized possession, he becomes a disciple, following in the way of the Lord. This is where his heartfelt prayer led him. It is where our own heartfelt prayer to the Lord will lead us too. Whenever we seek the Lord in prayer, with the determination of Bartimaeus, we too will be given the freedom and the strength to follow the Lord as his faithful disciple.

And/Or

(ii) Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

I was walking along Homefarm Road on Thursday morning and I noticed someone with a blindfold over her eyes and a white stick in her hand. She was attempting to walk without being able to see. She was being guided and helped in this by one or two other people. Because she had a blindfold over here eyes, I understood that she was not in fact blind. However, she was entering into the experience of blindness, presumably for some kind of training purposes. It is possible for us who have sight to experience what it is like to be blind for a short period of time, by having someone blindfold us for example. Yet, the awareness that our blindfold can be removed at any time limits the extent to which we can really experience what it is to be blind.

Near the end of the Second World War, an American called John Howard Griffin began to loose his sight while he was still in his twenties. He was told that his loss of sight would eventually be total. He wrote at that time: ‘The sight of a pin, a hair, a leaf, a glass of water, the faces of strangers, these filled me with tremendous excitement. I took them in and bound them up in me’. Eventually he became totally blind. In spite of this, he wrote novels, became proficient at music and became a Christian. For twelve years he lived in a world of total darkness. Then in 1957 he miraculously began to see again. A twelve year blockage of the circulation of blood to the optic nerve suddenly opened, restoring his sight. His life became one of rejoicing in the sight he had received back. He became a very famous person in the struggle for racial equality in America. He wrote a bestselling book called, Black like me, and he threw himself into the civil rights movement until he died in 1980.

John Howard Griffin shared with Bartimaeus in today’s gospel reading the wonderful experience of having sight that had been lost restored again. When Jesus asked Bartimaeus, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Bartimaeus’ response, ‘Master, let me see again’, suggests that there was once a time when he could see. Most of us will never know what it means to loose the gift of sight. It is a gift that remains with us until our death, even if it diminishes, as we grow older. Like any gift that never leaves us, it is easy to take it for granted. Rejoicing in the gift of sight comes spontaneously to those who have regained this gift having once lost it. Yet, we who have never lost this gift have as much reason for rejoicing in it. We can say with the psalmist in today’s responsorial psalm, ‘What marvels the Lord worked for us’. Among those marvels we can include the gift of sight.

When Jesus asked to Bartimaeus, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ there was only one answer he could have given, ‘Master, let me see again’. When Jesus addresses that same question to us, there are many answers we might feel inclined to give. Perhaps, in line with Bartimaeus’ answer, one answer we could give is, ‘Lord, help me to use well the gift of sight you have given me’; ‘Help me to see well, to see as you see’. There are different ways of seeing. Not everything we chose to look upon serves us well or serves others well. We also know from experience that our way of seeing can be quite limiting. A good example of that limited way of seeing is to be found in today’s gospel reading. When Bartimaeus first tried to capture Jesus’ attention by crying out, ‘Son of David, have pity on me’, many people rebuked him and told him to keep quiet. They saw this man as a nuisance. Their way of seeing him, and the words they spoke to him as a result, diminished him. Fortunately, Bartimaeus did not buy into the way other people saw him. He ignored the people who told him to keep quiet and he shouted all the louder, and in doing so he got a very different response from Jesus, ‘Call him here’. The very people who saw Bartimaeus as a nuisance were sent by Jesus to Bartimaeus to call him over. They were being invited to see Bartimaeus as Jesus saw him, not as a nuisance, but as a human being in need of help. Jesus’ way of seeing this man led to his being healed of his blindness.

The gospel reading today invites us to ask ourselves, ‘How do we see others?’ ‘Do we see them as the Lord sees them?’ The people we are tempted to see as nuisances may be those whom the Lord is calling to himself, and whom he is calling us to serve. Bartimaeus shouted loudly, according to the gospel reading, and people who shout can easily be seen by others as nuisances. Yet, when it comes to personal well-being and the well being of others, shouting can be in order. Jesus had the capacity to look beyond the shouting of Bartimaeus to the heart of the man out of which the shouting came. This is the kind of seeing that we are all called to, a seeing that sees deeply, that looks beyond what might be an off-putting exterior to the struggle that is going on within the person. This kind of compassionate seeing has its own healing power. When we see as the Lord sees we become channels of his own healing and life-giving presence to others. That is an important dimension of our baptismal calling.

And/Or

(iii) Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

I was walking in Drumcondra some time ago and I noticed someone with a blindfold over her eyes and a white stick in her hand. She was being guided and helped by one or two other people. She was entering into the experience of blindness, presumably for some kind of training purposes. We can experience what it is like to be blind for a short period of time, by having someone blindfold us for example. Yet, the awareness that our blindfold can be removed at any time means that we cannot really experience what it is to be blind.

In the gospel reading, a blind person named Bartimaeus reaches out towards Jesus in his need. Strangely, the people around Jesus, including his closest disciples, stood between this man and Jesus. Rather than revealing Jesus to Bartimaeus, they tried to prevent him from experiencing the life-giving and healing presence of Jesus. When he cried out to Jesus, they scolded him and told him to keep quiet. The story shows that those who claim to follow Jesus can often turn out to be a stumbling block for others in their efforts to reach the Lord of life. Jesus was very disturbed by the attitude of those around him. In response to the blind man’s repeated efforts to reach Jesus, Jesus said to those around him, ‘Call him here’. In response to that call of Jesus, Bartimaeus threw off his cloak, jumped up and came to Jesus. Jesus did not claim to know what it was that the man wanted, even though it must have been obvious that he was asking to be healed of his blindness. When the man approached Jesus asked him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’

The questions Jesus asks in the gospels are often worth pondering. The question, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ is a very probing question. A few verses earlier in Mark’s gospel, Jesus had asked the same question of James and John. Their answer to that question was, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right and one at your left, in your glory’. It was an answer that revealed their desire for power and position. Their request was one that Jesus could not grant. The answer of Bartimaeus to that same question of Jesus was very different, ‘Master, let me see again’. Here was a request that Jesus could indeed grant. As soon as Bartimaeus received back his sight from Jesus, the gospel reading says that ‘he followed Jesus along the road’, a road which let to Jerusalem and to the cross. Bartimaeus wanted to see again so that he could become a faithful follower of Jesus, someone who could walk in the Lord’s way, which is not the way of power and self-promotion, but the way of humble service, the way of self-giving, self-emptying. Although Bartimaeus’ actual prayer was, ‘Let me see again’, it seems that his real prayer was, ‘Lord, help me to follow you’.

The question the Lord asked of Bartimaeus, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ is asked of all of us in every generation. How we answer that question reveals something about our priorities and our values. The answer that Bartimaeus gave to Jesus’ question is one we could certainly make our own, ‘Lord, let us see again’. We may not be physically blind, but we can be blind in other ways. Like the people around Jesus in the gospel reading, we can be blind to those who are calling out to us for help. We can fail to see the presence of the Lord in those who reach out to us in their pain and vulnerability. We can also be blind to the Lord walking with us to support us in the times when we ourselves are vulnerable and fragile, just as the two disciples on the road to Emmaus initially failed to recognize the Lord walking with them, as they were trying to come to terms with their grief. We can be blind to the signs of new life that may be there beneath a very unpromising surface. We can be blind to our own failings, while being very aware of the failings of others. In contrast, we can be blind to the gifts the Lord has given us and be overly focused on our failings and limitations. Certainly, the prayer, ‘Lord, let me see’, is a prayer we can all pray, because we all struggle to see in one way or another. On this side of eternity we will always have some blind spots or other. As Paul says in one of his letters, ‘now we see as in a mirror dimly’. Yet, we have been enlightened by Christ at baptism and we walk in the light of Christ’s presence. His light can enlighten our darkness and heal our blindness if, like Bartimaeus, we keep on praying, ‘Lord, let me see again’.

This morning Coral presents herself as a candidate for baptism at the Easter Vigil next April. In doing so, she, like Bartimaeus, is reaching out towards Christ, the light of the world. We in the parish, who have been enlightened by Christ at baptism, are asked to support her as she journeys towards Christ, the light of the world. We can do this by our prayers and by our own efforts to walk in the light of Christ.

And/Or

(iv) Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A blind man was invited to attend a friend’s wedding. The couple were being married in a village church that was well known for its picturesque qualities and its beautiful grounds. The guests commented on all of this at the reception afterwards and again when the photos came back. They were struck by how well the church, the grounds and the setting all looked. When the blind man heard all this talk he thought to himself, ‘But didn’t they hear the bell?’ For him, the bell that pealed to welcome the bride and celebrate their marriage had been magnificent. The air was filled with its vibrating jubilation. He was amazed at the atmosphere of joy and solemnity that the bell created for the occasion. Everyone else seemed to have missed that part of the ceremony. Although he could not see, perhaps because he could not see, his hearing was very alert. He heard the beauty that others missed. The sounds that passed others by touched him very deeply.

This morning’s gospel reading is the story of a blind man, a blind beggar. Although he was blind, his hearing was very sensitive. The gospel reading says that he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. Although he could not see Jesus passing by, he made contact with Jesus through his sense of hearing. His finely tuned hearing to the presence of Jesus led him to using another sense to make contact with Jesus, his sense of speech. He cried out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me’. Even when people around Jesus, including perhaps some of Jesus’ disciples, told him to keep quiet, he shouted all the louder, ‘Son of David, have pity on me’. Even though he could not see Jesus, he was determined to make contact with him through his gift of speech, through his urgent prayer from his heart. His prayer was an act of faith on his part. He recognized Jesus as ‘Son of David’ which was one of the titles for the Messiah, and trusting that Jesus could heal his blindness. His making contact through his hearing and his speaking revealed that he had an inner sight. Even though he was blind, he saw Jesus with the eyes of faith. Even when he was rebuked by the crowd for confessing his faith out loud, he refused to be silenced. He had the courage to keep professing his faith, in spite of the hostility and scorn it brought upon him. This man’s courage faith and the quality of hearing, and speaking and seeing it gave rise to may have something to teach us when professing our faith publicly can invite scorn.

This man’s faith literally brought Jesus to a standstill, in spite of the fact that at this point in his ministry he was hurrying from Jericho to Jerusalem. The gospel reading says simply, ‘Jesus stopped’. Jesus’ response to the heartfelt prayers of this man was in complete contrast to that of the people around him. Rather than telling him to keep quiet, Jesus told those around him to call him over. Jesus is portrayed as the champion of those not considered worthy enough to come near to God. Again we witness the extraordinary responsiveness of this man to Jesus’ presence, to the call of Jesus. When he heard that Jesus was calling him, he first of all threw off his cloak. His cloak, no doubt, served many purposes. He sheltered him from the weather; it was his bed; it was in a sense his home. Yet, he abandoned it, and having done so, he jumped up and went unerringly to Jesus in his blindness. Nothing was going to hold him back from connecting with Jesus, not even his precious cloak. He speaks to all of us of our own need to free ourselves of the binds that stifle our faith and keep us from approaching the Lord. The question that Jesus asked him when they came face to face was not the kind of dismissive question that comes from annoyance at being interrupted, ‘What do you want?’ Rather, it was a very personal question ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ It is a question that we can all hear as addressed to each of us personally, and how we answer that question can reveal a great deal about who we are and what we value. In the passage in Mark’s gospel which immediately preceded this one, Jesus asked that same question of two of his own disciples, James and John, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Their answer revealed a self-cantered ambition, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory?’ The blind man’s answer to Jesus’ question revealed a very different heart. Aware of his blindness, aware of his disability, he asked simply, ‘Master, let me see again’. In answering his prayer, Jesus addressed him as a man of faith, ‘your faith has saved you’. He was already seeing Jesus with the eyes of faith before he received back his physical sight. Once he received back his physical sight, we are told that he followed Jesus along the road. He immediately used his newly restored sight to walk after Jesus as a disciple up to the city of Jerusalem, where Jesus would be crucified. His faith had shaped his hearing and his speaking, and now it shaped the path he would take. In this Year of Faith that Pope Benedict has decreed we could do worse than take this man as a model of faith for the year. Like him we are blind beggars who need to keep on crying out to the Lord who passes by so that we can see him more clearly and follow him more nearly.

And/Or

(v) Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A man who had completely lost his sight was invited to attend a friend’s wedding. The couple were being married in a village church that was well known for its picturesque qualities and its beautiful grounds. The guests commented on all of this at the reception afterwards and again when the photos came back. They were struck by how well the church, the grounds and the setting all looked. When the man who had lost his sight heard all this talk he thought to himself, ‘But didn’t they hear the bell?’ For him, the bell that pealed to welcome the bride and celebrate their marriage had been magnificent. The air was filled with its vibrating jubilation. He was amazed at the atmosphere of joy and solemnity that the bell created for the occasion. Everyone else seemed to have missed that part of the ceremony. Although he could not see, perhaps because he could not see, his hearing was very alert. He heard the beauty that others missed. The sounds that passed others by touched him very deeply.

I was reminded of that story by blind Bartimaeus in today’s gospel reading. Although he could not see, his sense of hearing was very keen. His hearing was attuned to the presence of Jesus. Hearing that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, he used another of his senses, his speech, to connect with Jesus, shouting, ‘Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me’. He persevered with his shouting even when the people around Jesus told him to be quiet. Indeed, the gospel reading says that he shouted all the louder, ‘Son of David, have pity on me’. Having heard that Jesus was present, he wasn’t going to be silenced. He was using his sense of hearing and his sense of speech to make contact with Jesus, to relate to him. There was another person in this story whose sense of hearing was also finely attuned, and that was the person of Jesus. He heard the shouting of this marginalized person and was keenly attentive to it. In a mirror image of the blind man, Jesus used his sense of hearing to make contact with this man and, then, used his sense of speech to connect with him. Having heard the man, Jesus spoke, instructing those around him, ‘Call him here’. The blind man’s sharp sense of hearing now comes into play again. He listens attentively to what those sent to him by Jesus had to say. When he is told that Jesus is calling him, he responds immediately to Jesus’ call. He throws off his cloak that kept him warm by the roadside, the cloak he spread on the ground for people to toss their coins into. He left his most precious possession in response to the Lord’s call and went to him. When Jesus spoke to the blind man directly, the man’s sense of hearing and speech serves to deepen his relationship with Jesus further. Jesus asks him a very personal question, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He was seeking after the desire of this man’s heart. The answer that the man gave to Jesus’ question comes straight from the heart, ‘Master, let me see again’. Immediately after gaining his sight, the gospel reading says that ‘he followed Jesus along the road’. Having used his sense of hearing and of speech in the service of his relationship with the Lord, he now uses his newfound sense of sight to deepen that relationship, as he literally becomes a follower of Jesus.

The person of Bartimaeus is someone who can speak to our own faith journey today. He uses all of his senses in the service of his relationship with the Lord, his hearing, his speaking and, eventually, his seeing. That is at the heart of our own baptismal calling, a calling that Conor is becoming more aware of as he journeys towards baptism. We are called, firstly, to listen to the Lord as he speaks to us through his word and through our life experience. Sometimes, like Bartimaeus, we will have to listen in the face of opposition. It is through listening to the Lord that our faith can grow and deepen. We then give expression to our faith through our sense of speech. Our speaking will often take the form of prayer, perhaps a lamentation out of the depths, which is the form it took for the blind man. At other times, our speaking out of our faith will take the form of witnessing to our faith before others, which is also what Bartimaeus was doing. We need courage to speak out our faith today, whether to God in prayer or in witness to others. The blind man shows us the kind of courageous faith we need today. When the people around insisted that he be quiet, that he keep his faith private, he ignored them and shouted out all the more. Finally, we are to use our sense of seeing to follow the Lord more closely. We are all blind to some degree. We all have our blind spots which inhibit us from following Jesus along the road. We need to pray for the grace to see our blind spots, and then to cry out to the Lord in the words of the blind man’s prayer, ‘Lord, let me see again’, so that we can follow more closely in the Lord’s way.

And/Or

(vi) Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Some time ago, I noticed someone with a blindfold over her eyes and a white stick in her hand. She was attempting to walk without being able to see. She was being guided and helped in this by one or two other people. Because she had a blindfold over here eyes, I understood that she was not in fact blind. However, she was entering into the experience of blindness, presumably for some kind of training purposes. It is possible for those of us who have sight to experience what it is like to be blind for a short period of time, by having someone blindfold us. Yet, the awareness that our blindfold can be removed at any time limits the extent to which we can really experience what it is to be blind.

Near the end of the Second World War, an American called John Howard Griffin began to loose his sight while he was still in his twenties. He was told that his loss of sight would eventually be total. He wrote at that time: ‘The sight of a pin, a hair, a leaf, a glass of water, the faces of strangers, these filled me with tremendous excitement. I took them in and bound them up in me’. Eventually he became totally blind. In spite of this, he wrote novels, became proficient at music and became a Christian. For twelve years he lived in a world of total darkness. Then in 1957 he miraculously began to see again. His life became one of rejoicing in the sight he had received back. He became a very prominent person in the struggle for racial equality in America. He wrote a bestselling book called, Black like me, and he threw himself into the civil rights movement until he died in 1980.

John Howard Griffin shared with Bartimaeus in today’s gospel reading the wonderful experience of having sight that had been lost restored again. When Jesus asked Bartimaeus, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Bartimaeus’ response, ‘Master, let me see again’, suggests that there was once a time when he could see. Most of us will never know what it means to loose the gift of sight. It is a gift that remains with us until our death, even if it diminishes, as we grow older. Like any gift that never leaves us, we can take it for granted. Rejoicing in the gift of sight comes spontaneously to those who have regained this gift having once lost it. Yet, we who have never lost this gift have as much reason for rejoicing in it. We can say with the psalmist in today’s responsorial psalm, ‘What marvels the Lord worked for us’. Among those marvels we can include the gift of sight.

When Jesus asked Bartimaeus, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ there was only one answer he could have given, ‘Master, let me see again’. When Jesus addresses that same question to us, there are many answers we might feel inclined to give. Perhaps, in line with Bartimaeus’ answer, one answer we could give is, ‘Lord, help me to use well the gift of sight you have given me; Help me to see well, to see as you see’. There are different ways of seeing. We know from experience that our way of seeing can sometimes be quite limiting. A good example of that limited way of seeing is to be found in today’s gospel reading. When Bartimaeus first tried to get Jesus’ attention by crying out, ‘Son of David, have pity on me’, those around Jesus rebuked him and told him to keep quiet. They saw this man as a nuisance. Their way of seeing him diminished him. Fortunately, Bartimaeus did not buy into the way others saw him. He ignored the people who told him to keep quiet and he shouted all the louder, and in doing so he got a very different response from Jesus, ‘Call him here’. The very people who saw Bartimaeus as a nuisance were sent by Jesus to Bartimaeus to call him over. They were being invited to see Bartimaeus as Jesus saw him, not as a nuisance, but as a human being in need of help. Jesus’ way of seeing this man led to his being healed of his blindness.

The gospel reading today invites us to ask ourselves, ‘How do we see others?’ ‘Do we see them as the Lord sees them?’ The people we are tempted to see as nuisances may be those whom the Lord is calling to himself, and whom he is calling us to serve. Bartimaeus shouted loudly, according to the gospel reading, and people who shout loudly can easily be seen by others as nuisances. Yet, when it comes to personal well-being and the well being of others, shouting can be in order. Jesus had the capacity to look beyond the shouting of Bartimaeus to the heart of the man out of which the shouting came. This is the kind of seeing that we are all called to, a seeing that sees deeply, that looks beyond what might be an off-putting exterior to the struggle that is going on within the person. This way of seeing someone can have its own healing power. When we see as the Lord sees we become channels of his life-giving presence to others. This is one aspect of the mission the Lord has given to each of us.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

3 notes · View notes

walkswithmyfather · 2 years ago

Text

“Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.” —Mark 10:35-40, 46-52 (NIV)

“What Do You Want Me To Do For You?” By Third Church:

“We often think of Jesus as the God-man with all the answers. However, more than any other person in the Bible, Jesus asked questions. More than 300 questions in the four gospels! Why does he ask so many questions? Sometimes he does it as a teaching tool, to help people in the process of discovering truth. Sometimes he asks questions to provoke a paradigm shift, to help people see the Kingdom of God through a different perspective. But nearly every time Jesus asks a question, he does so to engage people in a real relationship. He asks questions to his disciples, his critics, the poor, the rich, women and men, engaging them with an authentic desire to hear what people have to say. Through his questions he invites relationship. Jesus wants to know people deeply as he also invites them to know him.

Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asks this question twice in the span of 15 verses. He first asks this question to his disciples James and John in 10:36, and they respond by asking for power and glory. He later asks this question to a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, who asks Jesus for his sight. In both cases, Jesus is inviting the individuals he addresses to get in touch with the wants and desires of their hearts and to answer honestly. In both cases Jesus responds with compassion. Yet while he grants the gift of sight to Bartimeaus, he challenges the request of James and John.

These stories reveal that Jesus invites us to get in touch with the deep and desperate desires of our hearts and to name them honestly before him. Some of these desires are noble and God-glorifying, pointing us to the Kingdom. Other desires within us are tainted and distorted by depravity and pride. But by naming our desires honestly before Jesus, we come into deeper relationship with him and allow him to sort out what in us can be affirmed and what must be challenged and changed.

Read through these passages slowly and imagine yourself in the stories. Jesus is asking this question to all of us.”

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dailyaudiobiblechronological · 1 year ago

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11/2/2023 DAB Chronological Transcription

Luke:15 - 19:48

Today is the second day of November, I'm Jill. Welcome to Daily Audio Bible Chronological, where we are walking through the word of God every day in chronological order until we get through the entire Bible In a year and we're well on our way and we're within the two-month countdown Of being to our one year goal. It's so great to be here with you, so great to be on this journey with you. And I hope you're having a fantastic day. Today we're reading the book of Luke, chapter 18, verse 15, and we'll be reading through chapter 19, verse 48. This week we are reading the English Standard version. Luke 18:15.

Commentary

Let's refer to The God of Your Story today, to Talk about what happened. When Jesus ministry began, he left the Jordan River and traveled through the Judean wilderness on his way back to Galilee. And Luke's Gospel Today we found Jesus taking the same path in reverse. Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem for the final time before his arrest and the path LED through the ancient city of Jericho. A blind beggar had been sitting along the road when he heard the commotion surrounding Jesus. Upon inquiry, He realized that a healer was passing by. Obviously the blind man had no idea the weight on Jesus shoulders. No one really understood what was about to take place.The blind man began to yell. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.The crowd shunned him, but he yelled even more to get above the noise. He was desperate to get Jesus attention despite the ridicule, and it worked. Jesus had the man brought to him in a beautiful exchange take place. What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked. Lord, the blind man said. I want to see. And Jesus said, Alright, receive your sight. Your faith has healed you. The beautiful collaboration that took place on this dusty desert path outside of Jericho should affect us all on many levels. First, Jesus stopped.Jesus was on his way to a brutal death, and if we were on the same path with the same for knowledge, we would probably be more than just a little preoccupied. Second, Jesus invited the blind man to articulate his desire. And last, Jesus response to the men's healing wasn't self aggrandizing. He acknowledged the collaboration between the human and the divine, saying your faith has healed you. From this simple story, we see that God is not too preoccupied for us. He wants us to articulate our desires and share our hearts, and he intends to collaborate with us in our restoration. What makes you desperate enough to cry out, Jesus, son of David. Have mercy on me. She's listening.

Prayer

Father, thank you that you listen to us. Thank you that you are not too preoccupied. I I don't know how that can be but, There it is. We just saw in your word, That Jesus was not too preoccupied for a man, Who was desperate. Who knew his need. And you on your way to your death, Took the time for him. Thank you for such love. Thank you for such kindness. Thank you for utter compassion. And when we hear this, when we hear this story, when we hear these words and we are now aware, That you took the time, which means you will take the time. May we internalize The longing within us. May we examine that, To see if we are being as intentional, Making time, Spending time being with you. Articulating our need. Allowing you, The freedom to come. We love you. We thank you. We are thankful. We are grateful Today and every day. We pray this in the name of the Father and the Son, And the Holy Spirit, amen.

Announcements

Daily Audio Bible, That's home base. Take a look around if you haven't. That's the website, you can check it out. Plenty to do. Take a little peek at the store. There's a prayer wall if you are less comfortable calling in, but you really need prayer. Just know it's available and it is just Within the click of your fingertips that you can access and utilize that. If you would like to partner With the Daily Audio Bible, Thank you so much for your partnership for every contribution. We could not do this without you and that is the truth. If you're giving by mail, DAB PO Box 1996, Spring Hill TN 37174 or you can hit that give icon. It is up at the top right hand corner of your mobile device. Or look for the give icon at the website as well. If you have a prayer request, if you'd like to call in and pray over someone that's previously called in, you can do so 800-583-2164 or you can hit that red circle button. It's up at the top right hand corner of your mobile device as well. Make sure you hit submit, And then turn that little wheel to chronological and it will get to the right place.That's it for me today. I'm Jill. We will turn the page together tomorrow, And I look forward to it until then, Love one another.

Community Prayer Line

Hey y'all hey love you. Simone, this is Heather Fox Peak by way of Texas. Girl, I'm a fellow H town. So I remember when you first came on the DAB and I was like, man, if I lived in Houston, I would search you out and be your friend. We would be friends in real life. But more than that and most importantly, your you are my sister in Christ and you are part of the bride of Christ. You're part of the church. You're going to be at the dinner supper. You know with with Christ you're going to be at that and the glorious heaven with us when we're raptured. And I get to meet you then and I'm so excited, but I'm going to pray over you and And this job and and I know you were so thrilled about this job. I remember that you were so thrilled about it. And and I'm so sorry that things are happening, but things are happening in the healthcare system that is very hard for Christians.Things are happening in the world and it's going to be harder for us and we just got to pray about it and believe in God's promises. But I'm going to lift you up. Heavenly Father, just continue to be with with our dear Simone, our sister, continue to to just be in her life and flow through her Holy Spirit and give her joy And peace, take away the anxiety and the doubt and the fear She's She is your daughter and you've got her. And I pray that if there is another job out there for her, that she finds it, if that is your will. You know, I pray that everything happens in your will, for nothing is impossible for you, Lord, nothing is impossible. And Simone, you remember that nothing is impossible for God. So we praise and praise your name, Lord. We thank you. We thank you every day for your mercy and your grace. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

I love you, sister.Good morning, Daisy. It's Tonya calling from Suffolk. Today is October 28th. I want to lift up Kingdom seeking Daniel called in for D2. He's going to be traveling on December the first in regards of the court case. So dear Lord, I want to thank you for being on the Almighty God that you are. I'm asked the Lord God.That you just beat them there on that day. Lord God, everyone Father's gonna have a hand in this court case. Lord God, you just have your way. Father. I'm asking that your will be done, Lord God, whatever. That may be low, but we just continue to trust you, Lord God, just continue to stand on your word. And I'm asking Lord God you to protect Kingdom.Secondary as he traveled over God to be there for support log Lord God even on that day of visitation. Lord God, I'm just believing you right now that you'll be in the mist Lord God that you just give him the words to say Father you just speak through him, Lord God more of you and less of him and his trust and believe in right now.In the mighty name of Jesus, Lord God that you will be done on earth as it is in heaven, this is my prayer to you. In Jesus name. Amen. As always DABC, I love you guys, continue to be encouraged and just umm you guys just keep me in prayer as well. Out in Vegas me and my husband enjoying our honeymoon so I just thank God for.Just giving us another chance little God, just to to try to get it right. One more one more time and you just continue just to to keep us Lord God. We continue to trust you and keep you first. Lord God In Jesus name. Amen. As always the FC I love you guys and continue to be encouraged.Hide the ABC Family. This is Darrell from Hungary, and I wanted to pray for kindergarten. Katie, Katie, I was in your exact situation. The Lord has worked out a miraculous solution for my toxic and abusive marriage, and I'm just so grateful to hear that the Lord has worked in your life as well. So let me just pray for you.Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you, and I lift up Katie and your loving hands. I praise you and I thank you that even though your word talks about marriage and divorce and you teach us what to do, what not to do, but you see their situations and you made a miraculous.Solution and resolution of that situation. So we praise you for that. Lord. Thank you for being such a compassionate and wonderful Father.They're Jesus. I pray that Katie's heart, his ex husband's heart and the children's heart that are in the middle of this are going to be comforted and peace will flood their hearts and the time and prayer and faith in you are going to be.I'm creating a new normal for them where they are going to be able to function glorifying your Lord God. I know that it is possible through you, and I just pray that you know when we are peacemakers that we do glorify.If I pray that over Katie that no matter what her ex-husband would do or say, that she would still be that light and peacemaker for her and for her children and an example for her ex-husband. Also, thank you, Lord Jesus, we praise you and we thank you.In the name of Jesus I pray this Amen.

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wolint · 2 years ago

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FRESH MANNA

THIS IS MY STORY!

John 9:1-30

What’s your story? Everybody has a story! Wherever you’ve been, are coming from or going to, whatever you’ve experienced, there is a story there to encourage, lift, support, and motivate somebody to expect and believe God for their story.

As children, we sat listening to stories told with such embellishments that made our eyes like saucers and our mouths open in amazement.

But the best stories are those that aroused connection, conviction, and compassion in us as we listened. They taught and inspired us. They served as cautionary tales or models of faith for us to emulate.

What is your story? We all have a story!

The stories of the bible are worth telling and retelling, these stories teach life lessons, so we can find hope to step out in faith in the here and now, trusting the trustworthy God.

Our lives unfold as stories worth telling, stories that highlight our stumbling and sin, achievements and failures, victories, and fears but above all the need and reception of our Saviour to find forgiveness and strength.

We all have a story! You have a story! What is your story?

One song that should fill our mouths constantly is “this is my story, this is my song, praising my saviour all that the long, this is my story, this is my song, praising my saviour all that the long.”

The Bible is overflowing with God’s goodness to humanity and occasions when He put a story in their mouth.

Jesus, the author according to Hebrews 12:2 has written a story about you, what’s that story? Jesus didn’t write an autobiography of you, nor a personal story, your story is a biography of wisdom and grace written by God based on His plans for you according to Jeremiah 29:11.

Every page He writes into your story is right, He knows where every punctuation is placed. Every twist of the plot is for your benefit according to Romans 8:38.

Every new character is approved and ordained by God to be part of your story, to supply resources as He did for Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26:1-15, some characters are manpower for your story like those in Nehemiah 3.

Each new chapter in your story advances God’s purpose for your life and His kingdom, as stated in Acts 26:16.

Psalm 139:16 goes further to say God has written in His book, the story of our days yet to be lived, meaning, we’ve got stories for every day recorded for us by God.

We can look back at God’s track record in our lives to have confidence in Him today and daily. When we tell and retell our stories, stories that come from us reading and rereading the Scriptures, listening to sermons that expand on the texts, by sharing the stories with our children and grandchildren according to Deuteronomy 6:7, we keep in front of us reminder after reminder of God’s power and favour so that when we face struggles, we can look back and see, remembering our past victories, stories and be assured that God could be trusted again to give us another story.

Like the blind man, our personal stories are powerful tools for kingdom matters, in verses 17 and 25 we see the power of testimony at work, a blind beggar’s experience is all he had and it’s enough.

One thing I know he said, what do you know that fuels your story? This is my story-God is for me! What’s your story?

PRAYER: thank you Lord for putting a story in me, help me tell my story with humility and gratitude for your glory in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Shalom

Women of light international prayer ministries.

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wot-tidbits · 2 years ago

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RJ’s notes Part 77 by Shanbear16

A visit to the James O. Rigney, Jr. archives

SOURCE

A few weeks ago I was visiting family in Myrtle Beach for the first time. I figured since we were only a few hours away from Charleston I would take a trip down there to visit the College of Charleston’s James Oliver Rigney, Jr. archives. I’ve been a massive WoT fan since around 1998 and was active in online fan communities for a while. Visiting the archives was sort of like a bucket list thing for me. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow any photos (I think that restriction drops sometime in the 2030s). However, they did have a great display put up in honor of the TV show so I was able to take pictures of that. I was also able to take notes! I know there have been a couple of other fans who have posted about what they found in the archives, but I’m hoping I found a couple of things that haven’t been mentioned yet. I’m just going to kind of bullet list some things others might find interesting. Things in quotes are as they were written in the files.

In the plot summary circa 1984-1989 Egwene is spelled “Eguene”

Speaking of different names, Rand was originally Rhys al’Thor The Dragon Reborn, The Hammer

There were a lot of notes and prophecies from Le Morte D’Arthur (which is Sir Thomas Malory’s 15th century telling of the King Arthur story) including a note about “sangreal” being an alternate name for The Holy Grail.

There were a bunch of notes on Arthurian lore in general

There were also notes from The White Goddess (a book by Robert Graves published in 1948 that draws a lot on Irish and Welsh mythology. As far as I can tell Graves tries to connect poetry and mythology together somehow. I’m not sure as I’m unfamiliar with this book). Jordan made a specific note of the name Kadsuane from the book.

Also from the outline: “If the power wielder who first finds al’Thor is at some point made into a crone by the Powers of Sa’khan, she will be a perfect precursor for the hag in the Maiden-Nymph-Hag trio. al’Thor would be the means of her rescue, but not in the same book in which the disaster strikes her.” I found this really interesting because it highlights where Jordan initially wanted this story to go

He also had a note to himself asking if the number of ages should be 7 (“as in so many legends and the bible”) or 9 which would be “a number of magical properties.”

The outline also names “Nyneve Bayal” and “Thom Merilyn”

In his original description of Emond’s Field he noted that the stones from the quarry near the town were used more than 1,000 years before. Also, the ancient city that existed was not noted as Manetheran but as “Etheran”

In the original outline I couldn’t find any mention of Mat or Perrin.

The original name for angreal was “Cris”

Ogier was initially spelled “ogyr.” Speaking of Ogyr, they were initially shorter than men. They were primarily lumbermen and miners.

Lews Therin Telamon? Nah, he was originally called Jaran Telamon!

In Jordan’s notes on books 2-6 the story was originally going to go in a totally different place. Rand was going to be shipwrecked on the coast of “a blight” and he wanders. He becomes Morgase’s lover for a time (!!!!). This is what makes Galad bitter. Rand was to be taken prisoner by ��the Queen of the land where he was raised, Elyn’s mother. She wants to kill him but Elyn convinces her not to." Rand is instead blinded by hot irons and turned loose to wander as a beggar. There was a note that he would regain his sight later.

Sea Folk= “oriental/Polynesian” people in appearance

Stone of Tear was originally “Stone of Stair”

“Parts of the Arthurian Legend will be blended with Norse myth, Greek myth, and others.”

From the Memory of Light outline: a reminder to himself that “Dragon is one with the land,” “eclipse should be a central scene in the Last Battle,” and a reference to the Karaethon Cycle told by Thom in The Great Hunt chapter 26 to Rand.

Egwene was to become pregnant!

I can’t remember if this was in the book or not. Mat was to go to Tar Valon. Egwene summons Siuan. Siuan retrieves the Horn of Valere from a secret hiding spot in the study and gives it to Mat.

Aludra’s cannon was originally 3 miles long. RJ made a note that this might possibly be excessive. I personally found that note to be hilarious.

A continuity note from the 1980s says bonding is sex specific (note from me: I think he means gender here?). Men can bond women and women can only bond men. Sooooo clearly this is something that changed!

Warder weapon skill and tracking ability is not given via bonding - this is a skill the warder inherently has.

Jordan considered the name Garad Winden Marsan for Artur Hawkwing.

Here’s another one about the Ogier - there were to be tales that Ogier possess boots that allow one of them to cover ten leagues at a stride in the ways. “Jarad Farstrider (of the story)” supposedly stole (or came in possession of ) a pair of these boots.

Parry Coomb was going to be the closest village to Emond’s Field.

The following may be the absolute best thing I read in Jordan’s notes. I loved it so much I wrote the whole thing word for word:

“How many traditional fantasy elements do we have? If so, under what conditions, and in what manifestations? Giants? Elves? Dwarves? Trolls? Ogres? (no fucking unicorns, that’s for damned sure!) Dragons? Beasts of mystery and magic? Sentient animals? Sentient plants? Spirits? Gods?

No Gods

No spirits

No dragons

Beasts of mystery? Certainly, creatures of and creations of the Power

Trolls:Trollocs

Ogres:Ogyr

Giants: The Green Man might qualify. Others? Most likely not"

I went through stacks and stacks of world building notes (an example of this is a list of what each nation calls The Dark One). I also came across a stack of papers about 4 inches tall of questions for Maria Simons (continuity editor and research assistant for Team Jordan) with a few answers that she provided.

So that’s everything I took notes on! It was really neat seeing his world building and original ideas for the series. Every now and then I saw a personal note in there including a note about taking Harriet’s car to the mechanic!

I will say the librarians and staff in Special Collections were lovely (even if they had to talk me down from 45 boxes I asked to be pulled down to 20). I’m a librarian who has had some training in archives which I mentioned when I made my appointment, but nothing I looked at required special handling so I think if anyone is interested in visiting they need only make an appointment!

#wheel of time #notes #robert jordan #charleston #spoiler #a memory of light #photo #rand al'thor #egwene al'vere #ogier #atha'an miere

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tsultrimpawo · 4 years ago

Text

I have seen your religion, and I hate it.

I have heard your doctrine, and I loathe it.

Take away your empty praise songs,

your vacuous worshiptainment.

Your mouth is full of religious words,

but your proverbs are salted manure.

“The sick deserve to be sick.

The poor deserve to be poor.

The rich deserve to be rich.

The imprisoned deserve to be imprisoned.”

Because you never saw him sick, or poor, or in prison.

“If he had followed police instructions,

if he had minded the company he keeps,

he would not have been killed,”

You say in the hearing

of a man hanging on a cross

between two thieves.

“People who live good lives

do not have pre-existing conditions,” you say,

carving these words over the hospital door:

“Who sinned, this man or his parents,

that he was born blind?”

“It is the church’s job, not the government’s,”

say you fat sheep,

defending your fat shepherds,

shoving and butting with shoulders and horns,

while you foul the water,

grass,

and air,

and scatter the hungry sheep.

You watch the melting glaciers and say to the waves of the sea,

“this far shall you come, and no farther,”

as if your will could change the weather,

as if your will could be done in the heavens as it is on this earth,

as if you could drill the sky the way you drill the soil.

In your telling,

in the story of the starving of the five thousand,

there are not twelve baskets collected of left-over food;

In your story, God’s abundance becomes scarcity,

and the crowds devour each other.

“Send them into the villages to buy food,”

and let the Invisible Hand’s miracle of the free market sort them out,

the worthy from the unworthy,

while you eat the two fish and five pieces of bread

volunteered by a child.

These ungrateful poor,

the welfare queens

with their anchor babies,

stop before your disciples’ raised palms;

they hear you say,

“The Master cannot be bothered to bless your children.”

You see Hannah drunk,

and you jail her for fetal endangerment.

Like Haman, you hide behind the skirts of the king;

you make laws and pay bribes

that allow vigilante violence

and private discrimination

against those you hate,

sheltering underneath plausible deniability.

“It’s not a Muslim ban,” you say one day.

“It’s about religious liberty,” you say another.

This Bible you wave, this word you claim,

it is sharper than any two-edged sword.

You wield it poorly; it slices you on the backstroke.

You know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.

You tie up heavy yokes for others

whose burdens you do not bear,

but you will not lift a finger to help them.

To some you say, “Do not marry, but burn.”

You lock them out of the kingdom of God.

You cross sea and land for your missionary work,

and teach others to be as hateful as you.

Your kingdom is not the public park of Zechariah,

where children play in the streets

and old men and women lean on their canes for very age.

It is not the land where every fearless household

has its own vine and fig tree,

their own means of production and shade for their rest.

It is not the land where everyone has a home.

Your kingdom is the one with gates,

where homeless beggars have their sores licked by dogs,

where people who have the audacity to grow old

pay a premium for their insolence.

Like Ahab, you covet all the vines, all the fig trees,

letting your domain stretch as far as your eye can see,

adding house to house and field to field

until, in your gentrified land

there is room for no one but you and yours.

Like Pharaoh, you call those who refuse you “Lazy, lazy.”

You build walls, and walls, and walls, and walls,

and you stuff your ears to the sound of protest songs

that will shake those walls down.

I have seen your christ, and he is my antichrist.

He is the herald of a violent god,

a god of fertility but not fruitfulness,

a god of embryos but not emancipation, pro-birth and anti-life,

a god of war and retribution but not of justice,

a god of order but not of peace,

a god of might but not of mercy,

a god of marriage but not of love,

a god of sex but not of pleasure,

a god of platitudes but not of wisdom,

a god of work but not of sabbath,

a god who demands sacrifice from the poor but luxury and reward for Pharaoh.

Your religion is the religion of pyramids pointed heavenwards,

towers built to reach the heavens.

Supported by their flat base, built by slave labor,

they are stable monuments to wealth and death.

You fill their secret rooms with gold so that

in the afterlife,

you may cross to paradise

on the backs of the oppressed,

and live in forgetful pleasure for eternity.

Your gilded gospel is rusty ruin.

You are why the ancient Hebrews

seldom talked about an afterlife,

weary as they were of working

for Egypt’s dead heaven.

Your idols and your religion

are why those slaves left the yoke of heaven,

the land of binding,

for a wide wilderness,

for a nameless, faceless God

who told them they—even they—

were made in God’s image.

You are why your churches are empty

of those who love and believe in freedom.

You are why the Gentiles blaspheme the name of God.

You are the reason for the Exodus.

And if you pursue, may God throw you into the sea.

And the horse you rode in on.

References:

Amos 5:21-24

Luke 14:34-35

Matthew 25:31-46

Luke 23:33

John 9:1-12

Ezekiel 34

Job 38:11

Matthew 13:14-21

Matthew 19:13-15

1 Samuel 1:12-20

Esther 3:8-11

Hebrews 4:12

Matthew 22:9

Matthew 23:13-26

1 Corinthians 7:9

Zechariah 8:4

Micah 4:4

Isaiah 65:21-25

Luke 16:19-31

1 Kings 21

Isaiah 5:8

Exodus 5:17

Joshua 6

Genesis 11:1-9

Exodus 15:21

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aspiringplato · 5 years ago

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A Contrast and Comparison between the Themes of the Bible and the Odyssey

Any work that claims to be a contrast and comparison, must, by definition, consist of an examination of the similarities and differences of whatever it is that is being contrasted and compared. Thus, the following paragraphs shall be composed of such, with each considering a different theme from the Odyssey, and its counterpart from the Bible. It should be noted that this essay does not attempt to prove the validity of the biblical standard, but simply accepts it as a given.

To commence, then, the first theme to be addressed, as it is a rather imperative one, is that of the cultural standard employed by characters in The Odyssey versus the objective standard found in the Bible. In the Odyssey, the standard by which both the characters and the author operate is quite cultural, but accepted as completely valid. One provable way in which one can conclude The Odyssey’s standard to be subjective, is to simply consider that there is an entirely different moral standard applied to females than that which is applied to males. Consider, for example, that Odysseus practices marital infidelity on multiple occasions, and it is thought to be perfectly normal by everyone. When Agamemnon’s wife, Klytaimnestra, however, commits adultery, she is considered by all to be a most despicable and deplorable human being, and is given the death penalty as a result. In addition, the day she is killed is declared a festal day by her son, Orestes. Another cultural standard, which is actually a good one (as opposed to the previous) found in the Odyssey would be the excessive hospitality shown to strangers by anyone considered respectable. The suitors, for instance, were considered base, uncultured, and completely lacking respect for the gods, because they treated a stranger, who was indeed Odysseus disguised as a beggar, poorly. Thus, the cultural standard found in the Odyssey has both good and bad aspects, but is by no means objective. The standard found in the Bible, however, is indeed objective, and applies to everyone regardless of race, class, gender, or anything else. Marital fidelity, for instance, is supposed to be practiced by both male and female parties, not exclusively female. Murdering and avenging oneself is also wrong, according to the Bible. In the Odyssey, however, murder if given provocation, is considered “justified”, and revenge, an honorable pursuit. An example of this would be Odysseus�� slaughter of the suitors, which was indeed provoked, but was still murder, and is therefore wrong. This was also revenge, since the suitors had been feasting on Odysseus’ cattle without permission for years, living in his home, and attempting to court his wife.

Not all themes of the Odyssey are bad, or morally wrong, however. Bravery is one of the most prominent themes, and is indeed one found in the Bible. However, bravery in the Bible is both similar to and quite different from bravery in the Odyssey. Bravery in the Odyssey is partially due to Odysseus’ (and indeed other characters) faith in themselves, and partially in Athena. An example of this would be when Telemakhos asks Odysseus what they are to do, being outnumbered by the suitors, and Odysseus replies that first they must prove their bravery, before Athena will aid them further. An example of bravery in the Bible, however, could be found in Judges in the story of Deborah and Barak. Barak is too afraid to lead the men in to battle, and thus Deborah has to lead, and, as a result, God says the glory of the battle (at least the human aspect) would go to a woman. Deborah’s bravery was different from Odysseus’ in the sense that she was brave solely due to her faith in God, whereas Odysseus’ bravery was at least half due to his faith in himself.

A third theme found in the Odyssey is Goodness as an accomplishment, rather than as a given. A main theme of the Bible is human failing in a moral sense. When one fails something, it has usually been expected that one at least had a chance at succeeding. Likewise, in the Bible, God created humans with freewill, but free from sin (that is, lacking a sin nature). Humanity therefore had a chance to succeed, and indeed it was expected of them. There was only one temptation in the Garden of Eden, and it should have been reasonably doable to avoid sin completely. However, humanity did not (avoid sin, that is), and thus failed, in the moral sense. But, as has been seen, it was quite possible for humans not to sin, and therefore Goodness on the part of humanity was a given, not an accomplishment. In the Odyssey, however, being more moral than the typical person (who was by no means exceptionally good), is considered quite an achievement. This is evidenced by multiple scenarios, the most prominent of which is the fact that Odysseus, who is by no means exceptionally moral, forgiving, or kind, is held up as a standard of human goodness by the Greek pantheon, and is indeed favored by them for this (among other things, of course). Thus, there is quite a gap between the view of Goodness presented in the Odyssey versus the view of Goodness found in the Bible. This is another example of the cultural standard/objective standard issue.

The next theme to be considered is straightforward Nationalism found in the Odyssey versus the digression from Nationalism to Globalism in the Bible. The biblical theme is, once again, quite similar in some respects and quite different in others. Consider first the ways in which the two themes are similar: Nationalism in the Odyssey is just general nationalism, and is demonstrated not only in how various city-states and Heroes rallied together to sack Troy (that actually happened in the Iliad but is mentioned multiple times), but also in Odysseus’ complete pride in, love for, and longing to return to, Ithaca (his homeland). Now, the theme in the Bible is similar in two ways: first, with literal, human nationalism practiced by every nation mentioned in the Bible, but especially by Israel, in the Old Testament. And second, with “nationalism” in regard to the Kingdom of God. In the New Testament, every biblical author or serious Christian character, practices divine nationalism. As for the digression to globalism, however, that occurred with respect to literal nationalism and the issue of salvation. In the Old Testament, it was mainly the Jews who were offered salvation by God, but by the New Testament, Grace, not just the law, is extended freely to all, regardless of race, class, status, or the like. This is the aforementioned digression into “globalism”.

Yet another theme to consider would be the theme of Revenge versus the Biblical theme of Grace and Forgiveness. One clear example of revenge as a theme of the Odyssey is when Polyphemus prays to Poseidon, asking him to destroy Odysseus for blinding him in his escape, and Poseidon grants his request. A more memorable and indeed more imperative example of Revenge as a theme of the Odyssey would be Odysseus’ slaughter of the suitors. However, the themes of Grace and Forgiveness are quite opposite of this, and in the Bible God clearly states “Revenge is mine…etc”. Additionally, Jesus instructs multiple times to forgive, and to extend grace to one another.

Finally, the last theme to consider would be Self-control in regard to one’s anger. Indeed, the reasons behind this theme in the Odyssey and the Bible are quite different; however, the theme itself remains identical in each. In the Odyssey, Homer says multiple times in the closing books that “Odysseus checked his anger…etc”. This self-control gets him quite far, and ultimately gets him what he wants. Additionally, in book 24, Athena instructs Odysseus to control his anger, lest blood be unnecessarily shed. In the Bible, in James and some of the Pauline Epistles, it instructs the reader to control one’s anger, or at least any expression of it, at all time. Jesus even states that one should eliminate it completely, for “You say, ‘Do not murder’, but I tell you, if one is angry at another in his heart, that one has committed murder”. Thus, this theme of the Odyssey coincides with a theme of the Bible, if imperfectly. It’s concurrence with the theme of Anger-control in the Bible is imperfect the sense, that, Odysseus was simply controlling his anger for an ultimately bad purpose, whereas in the Bible, one is to control one’s anger, not only for the practical benefits, but to avoid sin. Odysseus’ aim in controlling his anger was to sin in a more orderly manner, which indeed is no better.

To conclude, the main themes that can be contrasted and compared from the Bible and the Odyssey are first, a cultural standard versus an objective standard. Second, it is bravery found in both, and the similarities and differences between them. Third, it is the idea of Goodness as an accomplishment versus Goodness as a given. Fourth, there is straightforward Nationalism in the Odyssey versus the Digression from Nationalism to Globalism in the Bible. Fifth, there is revenge versus Forgiveness, and finally, there is the concept of anger-control in both.

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scotianostra · 5 years ago

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On July 12th 1803 Rev Thomas Guthrie, founder of the Ragged Schools, was born in Brechin.

The 12th child and sixth son of David Guthrie and Clementina Cay, his father was a merchant and banker in Arbroath, and Provost in the town of Brechin for many years. His grandfather, a farmer, was a devout man, who lived till eighty seven years of age. The grandparents` house was something akin to a church shaped as it was by the fervour in which grandfather conducted family worship and the saying of grace at meal times. He was a very kindly man and spoilt his grandchildren, contrasting somewhat with the grandmother who was a disciplinarian and had a stern regard for what she perceived as her religious duty.

The young Thomas was a precocious child and preferred reading his books rather than playing with other children. He went to Edinburgh University at the age of 12 where he spent his time in literary and philosophic studies for four years, four as a divinity student, and a further two years on surgery and anatomy. He completed the eight year divinity curriculum by 1825 - two years before he could be licensed as a minister, and was able to spend the time at the Sorbonne in Paris.

For a while he managed a savings bank (previously operated by his father and a brother) for his parishioners as had the Rev. Henry Duncan of Ruthwell who started the savings bank movement in 1810. In 1829 he was appointed to the Parish of Arbirlot near Forfar where he introduced a special church service for children every Sunday afternoon. He soon became a “pictorial” preacher, illustrating his sermons with events in common life that were familiar to the people.

He also started a village library, all of which enhanced his growing reputation. The Rev Thomas McCrie spent a day with Guthrie and is said to have observed that “he will not be long there”, meaning men of talent were soon called upon by others. So it was for the Rev Thomas Guthrie..

In 1837, Guthrie was invited to be minister at the Old Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh where he saw at first hand the “ragged children” who lived by begging and stealing amongst the poverty and squalor of the Old Town in which his church was set. He had probably heard of “Ragged Schools” which had been set up in England in 1820 and around the same time, Sheriff Watson in Aberdeen had formed his “Industrial Feeding School” in 1841. Guthrie converted a room beneath the church for the making of soup and porridge and he soon had his first class. Within a year there were three Ragged Schools in Edinburgh with an attendance of two hundred and sixty five children.

In 1847, Rev. Guthrie began his campaign with a pamphlet entitled “Plea for Ragged Schools” which spoke of

“bloated and brutal figures, fierce looking women, and many a half clad mother, shivering in cold winter, her naked feet on the frozen pavement, a skeleton infant in her arms.” The pamphlet went on to say,

“Dashing in and out of the closes careering over the open ground engaged in rude games, arrayed in flying drapery here a leg out and their an arm, are crowds of children; their faces tell how ill they are fed; their fearful oaths tell how ill they are reared.”

“These Arabs of the city are as those of the desert, and must be broken in to three habits - those of discipline, learning and industry, not to speak of cleanliness.”

Ragged Public subscriptions raised over £2000. and he was able to take seven boys as pupils at the Ragged School in Free St. Johns Church. Further premises were opened in Ramsay Lane, where over the entrance is a carved bible with the text “Search the Scriptures”.

The prime rule of the schools was to reclaim the children from destitution and train them to earn an honest living. They were well fed and educated about cleanliness, godliness, reading, writing and taught skills including cobbling, tailoring, and cooking. By doing jobs for local shops the children were able to earn a small wage and were instilled with “the value of a penny earned.”

Over 500 children passed through the schools in their first year. The effect of his efforts, it is said, was to clear the streets of young beggars and reduce the number of children held in prison by three-quarters - a phenomenal success story. Guthrie was also involved with other good works including the Board of the Royal Infirmary; a Home for Fallen Women, the Blind Asylum and a House of Refuge. He was also involved with the Temperance legislation and produced a booklet “ The City, its Sins and its Sorrows” that ran to 50,000 copies when published. His efforts led to changes in 1853 to the licensing hours for public houses and closed them completely on Sunday.

In 1862 he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, for whom he worked most diligently on behalf of the Manse Fund, and saw the provision of very many manses throughout the country.

Guthrie retired in 1864 and died on February 23, 1873, in St. Leonards on Sea, in Sussex, surrounded by his wife and eight of their ten children. He was interred in Edinburgh on Friday February 28, 1873, with his funeral procession watched by 30,000 bystanders. 230 children from the Original Ragged Schools attended the graveside and sang “There is a happy land, far, far away”.

A fitting epitaph surely are the words of a little girl from one of the schools:

“He was all the father I ever knew.”

#Scotland #scottisih #educators #minister #History #Edinburgh

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gloves94 · 6 years ago

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Flowers of Glass [10/10]

Warnings: Suggestions of violence.

Pairings: Thomas Shelby x Pious! Reader Back to [CHAPTER 1] Summary: Reader is a devout Catholic. Her innocence and modesty make her untouchable to all of the men of Birmingham. However- is she really untouchable to all of the men in Birmingham?

My fanfiction: M A S T E R L I S T

Chapter [10] - Loaded Gun

With a mind sunk deep in devout prayer.

Mrs. Shelby was currently kneeling in the front pew of the church. She no longer wore her pristine white veil.

Instead, she kneeled and she prayed, she prayed and prayed and prayed.

She thought of Tommy, her dear husband, and she prayed for his soul. He was a good man. She knew it deep inside of her aching heart.

Often times Aunt Poll would join her in prayer. However, this time she was alone.

The cloudy skies cast a dull light which reflected through the church's colorful stained flowers of glasses on the windows.

Despite it being early in the morning the temple was empty.

Deep in devoted worship, she didn't hear the echoing footsteps entering the House of the Lord...

Mrs. Shelby had initially been so hesitant to marry the man. She didn't belong in his world tainted by malicious lies and deathly violence.

Neither did their child…

But did she have a choice?

Her child needed a father and his father needed him, and well- despite his occupation… Thomas had been a good man to her. A really good man.

It had led her to ponder on the philosophical question of what made a man: his job? The way he did his job? Or was it his character?

Meditating upon the Words of the Bible she came to a conclusion. God's Word, the Holy Book, was a book of love.

The greatest commandment was to "Love thy neighbor as thyself." She pondered long and hard on those words. Arguably God's first miracle towards humanity had been to give Adam, the first man, his equal, a wife, a person to love: Eve.

She would be the Eve to his Adam as he would be hers.

When reaching the front of the altar her eyes wandered to look at his pocket watch. She eyed the thin golden chain he had fashioned for it.

It was her rosary cross, the one he had once ripped from her heart in a dark alley.

Now he would always have a piece of her with him.

The day of her wedding she made a pact with God.

He had, and would always have her uncouth devotion, God that is.

In exchange, she only asked for him to save her husband's soul.

The pious woman was surprised at how her life changed when she married into the Shelby family. She spent a lot of time with Aunt Poll who was the family's matriarch. She liked to think of it as grooming.

Mrs. Shelby learned from her very quickly. Aunt Poll taught her what to do, what not to do, what to say, what not to say. They would often pray, run errands or simply enjoy each other's company. Ada would join them sometimes. And when Mrs. Shelby wasn't preoccupied with familiar tasks or running errands she could be found attending the needs of the family's wounded soldiers. An activity that part of Thomas detested, yet was thankful for.

Often times Tommy would miss dinner. Mrs. Shelby would tire of waiting for him with a full plate of cold food. After some time she decided to call it quits.

She could feel him slither into the sheets at the crack of dawn, his weight dipping the mattress. However, she wasn't one to question her husband's matters or his where-have-been's. Something that Aunt Poll had made very clear to her…

He would hold her tight and bury his face in her nest of hair. She could sometimes hear him mumbling something about "the drills…" in his sleep.

xxx

"What?" She would ask gently shaking him awake.

She had grown used to Tommy's odd sleeping habits. His tossing and turning, his sleeplessness, the mumbling, stirring and even sometimes the screaming.

"Tommy, wake up!"

"You're here." He would sigh as his arms found his way around hers. "You're here…" He would breathe into her skin.

xxx

Time passed.

Tommy's business grew with time.

The Peaky Blinder's territory and infamy spread through Birmingham and further like the plague. There wasn't a person who didn't know who the Shelby's were or would dare touch them with a ten-foot pole.

Tommy's job was to take care of the family business. Hers to take care of him.

Despite it all, their marriage was no bed of roses.

Being married to Tommy Shelby sometimes included unpleasant encounters. She felt as if every night it was something different.

Sometimes he would arrive home covered in something or someone's blood.

Other times he was wounded: shot, cut, bleeding, tortured, ill.

At times he was even high out of his mind. Even tho he had promised he would stop.

The stress of caring for the man who had her heart had caused strands of her hair to begin to turn grey regardless of her young age.

Their marriage could've been called a lot of things- ordinary definitely wasn't one of the words she would use.

xxx

"Now you've seen me."

He said to her the first time she caught him fumbling around the bathroom as he washed foreign blood of off his pale skin.

"Please stop," she would cry into his bare shoulder as she cleaned his wounds. It was beginning to take a toll. The sleepless nights, the stress, the fear or her husband not returning to her any day.

She almost felt as if any day could be the last.

She pleaded to her husband to take another office. She would not care if it was work in the mines or even in the docks. It was probably safer than having him stroll the streets with a target on his back as the leader of the Peaky Blinders.

"You knew the kind of man I was when you married me," he would say gruffly.

At loss of words, she remained silent.

xxx

Other peculiar instances that occurred after her marriage to Thomas would be when she would attend the market to run errands.

xxx

"Could I have some eggs?" she asked one of the vendors once kindly.

"None for ya," the man spat gruffly.

"I know ya. I seen ya. You're that whore- bearing a creature without God's blessing."

Cross. Upset, yet without another word she turned and left the store. She held her tongue and decided to forget about the incident.

The next morning... Mrs. Shelby awoke to the man banging on her doorstep at sunrise.

"I-I am so sorry. I wish I had known! I meant no disrespect! Here-Here!" He cried out as he handed the woman a basket full of fresh eggs to her.

He wore a black eye and appeared and was dressed in dried blood from the former night.

Many teeth gaps appeared in his grim expression, his mouth swollen.

xxx

After that-

Whenever Mrs. Shelby entered a place, Mrs. Shelby got what she wanted.

People began dodging her in the street. Vendors would hand her free cheese, free produce, fresh and hot bread right of the oven. Even the lame and beggars would cringe whenever she approached them to give charity.

Rooms would clear the moment she set foot in them. All falling silent at the presence of the woman.

Aunt Poll would mutter that the people had grown more afraid of disrespecting her than of Tommy himself. God knows what the people of Birmingham had heard.

Rumors were whoever dared lay a hand on Mrs. Shelby would loose more than a hand, and whomever dared even look in her direction would be made a blind man.

Once- a religious man made the mistake of approaching her one Sunday outside of the church. He had meant no ill, yet there was Thomas. Outside, patiently waiting for his wife to finish her worship.

Mass had never been his cup of tea.

Without a word he simply approached her and claimed her. He took in her elbow and with a subtle hand on her back simply lead her away, his jaw was tight as he glared at the foreigner.

Mrs. Shelby simply smiled at her husband and took his hand in hers as they returned home.

Yet- despite it all… Thomas was a loving man to both her and their child. Their small home was filled with familiar laughter, breakfast food fights and bedroom pillow fights.

Some nights Mr. Shelby and his wife would dance to the latest swing jazz on their living room stereo. When Tommy returned from out of town trips it was always nice.

He would arrive with a toy hidden behind his back to surprise his son with. The child would exclaim and clap his hands in excitement at the surprise.

His wife would hold a hand to her heart simply relieved to have her husband home once again.

He would also have a treat for her, rare gems, pearl necklaces, African diamonds imported from the bloody mines of El Congo.

However, she was simply happy to have him back.

She would embrace him tightly every day.

Rain or shine. Shedding away her sadness or anger she would swallow her pride and embrace the man who had given her everything.

After all, any day could be their last.

...They stopped behind her.

The footsteps that is. A pregnant silence followed. A dropped pin could be heard in the temple.

An arm raised.

A loaded gun aimed.

Threatened. Her eyes shot open.

Holding her breath she mumbled her final prayers. Realization washed over her consciousness.

She begged God to forgive and save her husband's soul one final time.

Despite the darkness that Tommy carried within him, there was also good. He had done well. He had done good…

She kept a beaded rosary wrapped around her palms.

Wrapped safely around the white, pearly rosary was a loaded gun held tightly in her stiff hand.

Her finger itched against the burning trigger.

the end.

FIRST: [1] The Untouchable Woman

PREV: [9] Addiction

TAGS: @i-love-superhero @savemesteeb @hollabackhollagram

AN: What did you guys think of the ending? Let me know in the comments below! (Please don't shoot me (lol) it's up to the interpretation of the reader. Was Mrs. Shelby shot? Or did she shoot first?) Funfacts about the story: -The ending of The Godfather (the book) inspired me to write this final chapter. - I named (Name) reader “Maria” in my head. - I’m barely in S2 of Peaky Blinders 💀

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pope-francis-quotes · 6 years ago

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18th November >> Let us ask for the grace to open our eyes and hearts to the poor in order to hear their cry and recognize their needs. #WorldDayofthePoor @Pontifex

Pope Francis

Messages

World Day of the Poor

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

SECOND WORLD DAY OF THE POOR

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 18 November 2018

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him

1. “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him” (Ps 34:6). The words of the Psalmist become our own whenever we are called to encounter the different conditions of suffering and marginalization experienced by so many of our brothers and sisters whom we are accustomed to label generically as “the poor”. The Psalmist is not alien to suffering; quite the contrary. He has a direct experience of poverty and yet transforms it into a song of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. Psalm 34 allows us today, surrounded as we are by many different forms of poverty, to know those who are truly poor. It enables us to open our eyes to them, to hear their cry and to recognize their needs.

We are told, in the first place, that the Lord listens to the poor who cry out to him; he is good to those who seek refuge in him, whose hearts are broken by sadness, loneliness and exclusion. The Lord listens to those who, trampled in their dignity, still find the strength to look up to him for light and comfort. He listens to those persecuted in the name of a false justice, oppressed by policies unworthy of the name, and terrified by violence, yet know that God is their Saviour. What emerges from this prayer is above all the sense of abandonment and trust in a Father who can hear and understand. Along these same lines, we can better appreciate the meaning of Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3).

This experience, unique and in many ways undeserved and inexpressible, makes us want to share it with others, especially those who, like the Psalmist, are poor, rejected and marginalized. No one should feel excluded from the Father’s love, especially in a world that often presents wealth as the highest goal and encourages self-centredness.

2. Psalm 34 uses three verbs to describe the poor man in his relationship with God. First of all, “to cry”. Poverty cannot be summed up in a word; it becomes a cry that rises to heaven and reaches God. What does the cry of the poor express, if not their suffering and their solitude, their disappointment and their hope? We can ask ourselves how their plea, which rises to the presence of God, can fail to reach our own ears, or leave us cold and indifferent. On this World Day of the Poor, we are called to make a serious examination of conscience, to see if we are truly capable of hearing the cry of the poor.

To hear their voice, what we need is the silence of people who are prepared to listen. If we speak too much ourselves, we will be unable to hear them. At times I fear that many initiatives, meritorious and necessary in themselves, are meant more to satisfy those who undertake them than to respond to the real cry of the poor. When this is the case, the cry of the poor resounds, but our reaction is inconsistent and we become unable to empathize with their condition. We are so trapped in a culture that induces us to look in the mirror and pamper ourselves, that we think that an altruistic gesture is enough, without the need to get directly involved.

3. The second verb is “to answer”. The Psalmist tells us that the Lord does not only listen to the cry of the poor, but responds. His answer, as seen in the entire history of salvation, is to share lovingly in the lot of the poor. So it was when Abram spoke to God of his desire for offspring, despite the fact that he and his wife Sarah were old in years and had no children (cf. Gen 15:1-6). So too when Moses, in front of a bush that burned without being consumed, received the revelation of God’s name and the mission to free his people from Egypt (Ex 3:1-15). This was also the case during Israel’s wandering in the desert, in the grip of hunger and thirst (cf. Ex 16:1-6; 17:1-7), and its falling into the worst kind of poverty, namely, infidelity to the covenant and idolatry (cf. Ex 32:1-14).

God’s answer to the poor is always a saving act that heals wounds of body and soul, restores justice and helps to live life anew in dignity. God’s answer is also a summons to those who believe in him to do likewise, within the limits of what is humanly possible. The World Day of the Poor wishes to be a small answer that the Church throughout the world gives to the poor of every kind and in every land, lest they think that their cry has gone unheard. It may well be like a drop of water in the desert of poverty, yet it can serve as a sign of sharing with those in need, and enable them to sense the active presence of a brother or a sister. The poor do not need intermediaries, but the personal involvement of all those who hear their cry. The concern of believers in their regard cannot be limited to a kind of assistance – as useful and as providential as this may be in the beginning – but requires a “loving attentiveness” (Evangelii Gaudium, 199) that honours the person as such and seeks out his or her best interests.

4. The third verb is “to free”. In the Bible, the poor live in the certainty that God intervenes on their behalf to restore their dignity. Poverty is not something that anyone desires, but is caused by selfishness, pride, greed and injustice. These are evils as old as the human race itself, but also sins in which the innocent are caught up, with tragic effects at the level of social life. God’s act of liberation is a saving act for those who lift up to him their sorrow and distress. The bondage of poverty is shattered by the power of God’s intervention. Many of the Psalms recount and celebrate this history of salvation mirrored in the personal life of the poor: “For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; and he has not hid his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him” (Ps 22:24). The ability to see God’s face is a sign of his friendship, his closeness and his salvation. “You have seen my affliction, you have taken heed of my adversities… you have set my feet in a broad place” (Ps 31:7-8). To offer the poor a “broad space” is to set them free from the “snare of the fowler” (Ps 91:3); it is to free them from the trap hidden on their path, so that they can move forward with serenity on the path of life. God’s salvation is a hand held out to the poor, a hand that welcomes, protects and enables them to experience the friendship they need. From this concrete and tangible proximity, a genuine path of liberation emerges. “Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society. This demands that we be docile and attentive to the cry of the poor and to come to their aid” (Evangelii gaudium, 187).

5. I find it moving to know that many poor people identify with the blind beggar Bartimaeus mentioned by the evangelist Mark (cf. 10:46-52). Bartimaeus “was sitting by the roadside to beg” (v. 46); having heard that Jesus was passing by, “he began to cry out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me’” (v. 47). “Many rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but he cried out all the more” (v. 48). The Son of God heard his plea and said: “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Master,let me receive my sight” (v. 51). This Gospel story makes visible what the Psalm proclaims as a promise. Bartimaeus is a poor person who finds himself lacking things as essential as sight and the ability to work for a living. How many people today feel in the same situation! Lack of basic means of subsistence, marginalization due to a reduced capacity for work, various forms of social enslavement, despite all our human progress… How many poor people today are like Bartimaeus, sitting on the roadside and looking for meaning in their lives! How many of them wonder why they have fallen so far and how they can escape! They are waiting for someone to come up to them and say: “Take heart; rise, he is calling you” (v. 49).

Sadly, the exact opposite often happens, and the poor hear voices scolding them, telling them to be quiet and to put up with their lot. These voices are harsh, often due to fear of the poor, who are considered not only destitute but also a source of insecurity and unrest, an unwelcome distraction from life as usual and needing to be rejected and kept afar. We tend to create a distance between them and us, without realizing that in this way we are distancing ourselves from the Lord Jesus, who does not reject the poor, but calls them to himself and comforts them. The words of the Prophet Isaiah telling believers how to conduct themselves are most apt in this case. They are “to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke… to share bread with the hungry and bring the homeless and poor into the house… to cover the naked” (58:6-7). Such deeds allow sin to be forgiven (cf. 1 Pet 4:8) and justice to take its course. They ensure that when we cry to the Lord, he will answer and say: “Here I am!” (cf. Is 58:9).

6. The poor are the first to recognize God’s presence and to testify to his closeness in their lives. God remains faithful to his promise; and even in the darkness of the night, he does not withhold the warmth of his love and consolation. However, for the poor to overcome their oppressive situation, they need to sense the presence of brothers and sisters who are concerned for them and, by opening the doors of their hearts and lives, make them feel like friends and family. Only in this way can the poor discover “the saving power at work in their lives” and “put them at the centre of the Church’s pilgrim way” (Evangelii Gaudium, 198).

On this World Day, we are asked to fulfil the words of the Psalm: “The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied” (Ps 22:26). We know that in the Temple of Jerusalem, after the rites of sacrifice, a banquet was held. It was this experience that, in many dioceses last year, enriched the celebration of the first World Day of the Poor. Many people encountered the warmth of a home, the joy of a festive meal and the solidarity of those who wished to sit together at table in simplicity and fraternity. I would like this year’s, and all future World Days, to be celebrated in a spirit of joy at the rediscovery of our capacity for togetherness. Praying together as a community and sharing a meal on Sunday is an experience that brings us back to the earliest Christian community, described by the evangelist Luke in all its primitive simplicity: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers… And all who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:42.44-45).

7. Countless initiatives are undertaken every day by the Christian community in order to offer closeness and a helping hand in the face of the many forms of poverty all around us. Often too, our cooperation with other initiatives inspired not by faith but by human solidarity, make it possible for us to provide help that otherwise we would have been unable to offer. The realization that in the face of so much poverty our capacity for action is limited, weak and insufficient, leads us to reach out to others so that, through mutual cooperation, we can attain our goals all the more effectively. We Christians are inspired by faith and by the imperative of charity, but we can also acknowledge other forms of assistance and solidarity that aim in part for the same goals, provided that we do not downplay our specific role, which is to lead everyone to God and to holiness. Dialogue between different experiences, and humility in offering our cooperation without seeking the limelight, is a fitting and completely evangelical response that we can give.

In the service of the poor, there is no room for competition. Rather, we should humbly recognize that the Spirit is the source of our actions that reveal God’s closeness and his answer to our prayers. When we find ways of drawing near to the poor, we know that the primacy belongs to God, who opens our eyes and hearts to conversion. The poor do not need self-promoters, but a love that knows how to remain hidden and not think about all the good it has been able to do. At the centre must always be the Lord and the poor. Anyone desirous of serving is an instrument in God’s hands, a means of manifesting his saving presence. Saint Paul recalled this when he wrote to the Christians in Corinth who competed for the more prestigious charisms: “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’” (1 Cor 12:21). Paul makes an important point when he notes that the apparently weaker parts of the body are in fact the most necessary (cf. v. 22), and that those “we think less honourable we invest with the greater honour, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require” (vv. 23-24). Paul offers the community a basic teaching about charisms, but also about the attitude it should have, in the light of the Gospel, towards its weaker and needier members. Far be it from Christ’s disciples to nurture feelings of disdain or pity towards the poor. Instead, we are called to honour the poor and to give them precedence, out of the conviction that they are a true presence of Jesus in our midst. “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40).

8. Here we can see how far our way of life must be from that of the world, which praises, pursues and imitates the rich and powerful, while neglecting the poor and deeming them useless and shameful. The words of the Apostle Paul invite us to a fully evangelical solidarity with the weaker and less gifted members of the body of Christ: “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together” (1 Cor 12:26). In his Letter to the Romans, Paul also tells us: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly” (12:15-16). This is the vocation of each of Christ’s followers; the ideal for which we must constantly strive is ever greater conformity to the “mind of Jesus Christ” (Phil 2:5).

9. Faith naturally inspires a message of hope. Often it is precisely the poor who can break through our indifference, born of a worldly and narrow view of life. The cry of the poor is also a cry of hope that reveals the certainty of future liberation. This hope is grounded in the love of God, who does not abandon those who put their trust in him (cf. Rom 8:31-39). As Saint Teresa of Avila writes in The Way of Perfection: “Poverty comprises many virtues. It is a vast domain. I tell you, whoever despises all earthly goods is master of them all” (2:5). It is in the measure in which we are able to discern authentic good that we become rich before God and wise in our own eyes and in those of others. It is truly so. To the extent that we come to understand the true meaning of riches, we grow in humanity and become capable of sharing.

10. I invite my brother bishops, priests, and especially deacons, who have received the laying on of hands for the service of the poor (cf. Acts 6:1-7), as well as religious and all those lay faithful – men and women – who in parishes, associations and ecclesial movements make tangible the Church’s response to the cry of the poor, to experience this World Day as a privileged moment of new evangelization. The poor evangelize us and help us each day to discover the beauty of the Gospel. Let us not squander this grace-filled opportunity. On this day, may all of us feel that we are in debt to the poor, because, in hands outstretched to one another, a salvific encounter can take place to strengthen our faith, inspire our charity and enable our hope to advance securely on our path towards the Lord who is to come.

From the Vatican, 13 June 2018

Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua

Francis

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dailyaudiobiblechronological · 3 years ago

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11/2/2021 DAB Chronological Transcription

Luke 18:15-19:48

Today is the second day of November, I'm Jill. Welcome to Daily Audio Bible Chronological where we are walking through the Word of God every day in chronological order until we get through the entire Bible in a year and we're well on our way. And we're within the two months countdown of being to our one year goal. So great to be here with you. So great to be on this journey with you. And I hope you're having a fantastic day. Today, we're reading the Book of Luke, chapter 18:15, and we'll be reading through chapter 19, verse 48. This week we are reading the English Standard Version, Luke 18:15.

Commentary

Let's refer to The God of Your Story today to talk about what happened. When Jesus Ministry began, he left the Jordan River and traveled through the Judean wilderness on his way back to Galilee. In Luke's gospel today, we found Jesus taking the same path in reverse. Jesus was making his way to Jerusalem for the final time before his arrest, and the path led through the ancient city of Jericho. A blind beggar had been sitting along the road, when he heard the commotion surrounding Jesus upon inquiry, he realized that a healer was passing by. Obviously, the blind man had no idea the weight on Jesus shoulders. No one really understood what was about to take place. The blind man began to yell, Jesus Son of David, have mercy on me. The crowd shunned him, but he yelled even more to get above the noise. He was desperate to get Jesus attention, despite the ridicule and it worked. Jesus had the man brought to him in a beautiful exchange take place. What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked. Lord, the blind man said, I want to see. And Jesus said, all right, receive your sight. Your faith has healed you. The beautiful collaboration that took place on this dusty desert path outside of Jericho should affect us all on many levels. First, Jesus stopped. Jesus was on his way to a brutal death. And if we were on the same path with the same for-knowledge, we would probably be more than just a little preoccupied. Second, Jesus invited the blind man to articulate his desire. And last, Jesus response to the man's healing wasn't self aggrandizing. He acknowledged the collaboration between the human and the divine, saying, Your faith has healed you. From this simple story, we see that God is not too preoccupied for us. He wants us to articulate our desires and share our hearts. And he intends to collaborate with us and our restoration. What makes you desperate enough to cry out? Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. He's listening.

Prayer

Father, thank you that you listen to us. Thank you, that you are not too preoccupied. I don't know how that can be, but there it is. We just saw in your word, Jesus was not too preoccupied for a man who was desperate, who knew his need and you on your way to your death, took the time for him. Thank you for such love. Thank you for such kindness. Thank you for utter compassion. And when we hear this, when we hear this story, when we hear these words and we are now aware that you took the time, which means you will take the time, may we internalize the longing within us. May we examine that to see if we are being as intentional, making time, spending time being with you, articulating our need, allowing you the freedom to come. We love you. We thank you. We are thankful. We are grateful today and every day. I pray that in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

Announcements

Daily Audio Bible that's Home base. Take a look around. If you haven't. That's the website. You can check it out. Plenty to do. Take a little peek at the store. There's a prayer wall if you are less comfortable calling in, but you really need prayer, just know it's available and it is just within the click of your fingertips that you can access and utilize that if you would like to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you so much for your partnership for every contribution. We could not do this without you. And that is the truth. If you're giving by mail DAB PO Box 1996, Spring Hill, Tennessee 37174. Or you can hit that Give icon. It is up at the top right hand corner of your mobile device. Or look for the Give icon at the website as well. If you have a prayer request, if you'd like to call in and pray over someone that's previously called in, you can do so 800-583-2164. Or you can hit that red circle button it's up at the top right hand corner of your mobile device as well. Make sure you hit submit and then turn that little wheel to Chronological and it will get to the right place. That's it for me today. I'm Jill. We will turn the page together tomorrow and I look forward to it until then. Love one another.

Community Prayer Line

Hello, this is Faith Walker of Tennessee. I am calling in today with a prayer request. I guess you will call in a Mother's Heart of prayer for my two sons who are needing employment. One of my sons was released from his job and he has a family and he's been seeking employment. Just as you pray for him, that he will find the job that God has for him so that he can provide for his family. And my second son, who is trying to go for a promotional move, another position in Ministry that he really believes this is a season for him to apply for. And he was very encouraged about until just this week and it just seems impossible because of the competition that he's up against. So we're just believing God, that what you have said will come to pass. And this is your will that we, whatever your will is that we will be able to walk in that I have that faith to believe the impossible. And he's standing as well. He's encouraged me. I'm trying to encourage them, but I need encouragement today. So please pray with me for my family. As a mom, it can be really happy when you're praying for your children. I love you guys. I appreciate this community. Appreciate that. I can call and I can ask for prayer because I know this community. Prayers move mountains, God bless. Have a good day.

Hey, DABC family, this is Justine. I just asked for you guys to pray for a friend of mine. His name is Gabe. He's undergone some surgery for a dissected aorta that occurred this evening. He's got two younger girls and a wife, and you guys would pray for healing for him and safety and also for comfort for his family. I just asked that you would lift him up from prayer and he would be okay. Thanks again. Hello.

This is Hallelujah even here, from Nebraska. This prayer is for Kelsey from North Carolina. Kelsey, dear friend, I fervently pray for you for your addiction that you are trying to overcome, that you have been struggling with for years. I know, Kelsey. I know the Lord is with you. He's with you now, and that's who will be waiting for you on the other side. Kelsey, you can do this. Surrender it all to him. Not every day. Every moment. Every moment you're struggling with that addiction. Kelsey, he will be there for you. He is there for you. I pray, dear Lord, and I lift Kelsey up to you. You are with her. Give her strength. Give her someone who will help her bring someone into her life. Lord, Kelsey, I lift you up. Dear friend. Amen.

Hi, this is Creative child in Texas and I'm calling on behalf of my father. He is 87 years old and at the age where he signed out live his generation of the family. Last month he lost his favorite cousin due to a heart attack, and this Sunday he lost another cousin that was raised as a brother for him. His grandmother had three children, one died at a young age with no children, and the other two only had one son each, and they were raised as brothers. So, I am asking for prayer for my father to be able to deal with the situation at hand and to be able to survive and be able to deal with the loss of his family members as they get older. I'm hoping that he stays alive as long as his mother did, which was 103 years old and she saw the whole generation leave and still kept a sun shiny disposition. So I'm praying for the same for my father. If you can just give him shout out in your prayers. I truly believe that it would help him. I ask this name of Jesus Christ. Cecilia Emmanuel. Thank you very much. Thank you, Jill, for this Ministry. And I'm praying for the rest of you all. Bye.

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dailyaudiobible · 3 years ago

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5/17/2022 DAB Transcript

1 Samuel 20:1-21:15, John 9:1-41, Psalm 113:1-114:8, Proverbs 15:15-17

Today is the 17th day of May, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today, as we dive in and take the next step forward together in the Scriptures. And that next step forward is gonna lead us right back to the place where we left off, which happens to be in the Book of first Samuel, where we are watching the intertwining of lives, between King Saul and this new national hero, who is risen up to prominence because he killed the giant. His name is David. David's presence and actually even his goodness, which has attracted the attention of the people, is very much unsettling Saul who pretty much wants David just out of the picture, just dead. And so, we’ll pick up that story. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week, first Samuel 20 and 21.

Commentary:

Okay so, in the gospel of John, Jesus has performed another miraculous sign, this one, the healing of a man who had been born blind. So, not who had become blind but who had always been blind since his birth. And so, this man had sort of been begging, just asking for any kind of contributions people give along the way, as he sat in different locations to well, to beg. Jesus comes along and heals this man by spitting in the dirt and making mud and wiping it out of his eyes and telling him to go to the pool of Siloam and washing it off and wash it off. So, the man goes to the pool of Siloam, washes his eyes off and he can see. And so, there are people that knew him as a beggar, going isn’t this the beggar, like were you faking all along, can you see, all of this stuff is going on, but the man is defending, no it's me, it's me, I was blind, I can see. I’m not somebody who looks like that guy, I am that guy and I can see. And so, that ends up being brought to the attention to the Pharisees who starts to dismantle the story because the story is not congruent with their understanding, theologically or traditionally. This Sabbath is a day that work isn't supposed to be done, miracle working is work or healing is work so, they have determined and so, anyone who attempts to do this is breaking the Sabbath and that is something that Jesus does on a regular basis. And so, they’re talking to this guy and questioning and wanting to…wanting to know the whole story and what are the details and how this and how that and then they tell him, basically this guy is a sinner, this occurred on the Sabbath day, that is breaking the law of God, even though it was the religious leaders that interpreted it this way. So, the person who can see now is a bit perplexed, is even a little bit sarcastic in his dialogue, which eventually gets him thrown out of the synagogue but he asks a simple question. How can a sinner do such a miraculous sign? Like, I was born blind and I can see. How could someone that God does not favor, how could this even happen? It doesn't make any sense. So, the Pharisees are questionings some more specifically, what did He do to you? What were the steps, exactly what did He do to make you see? Because they're convinced that Jesus is a trickster. And then, maybe thinking that this man is a plant, is actually a disciple of Jesus, who was faking like he was blind and had been able to see all along. So, they call this person's parents in for questioning. Now, at this point, the blind man, the former blind man is an adult and so his parents don't want to speak on behalf of their son because they're afraid of being outcast and thrown out of the synagogue, thrown out of society. And so, they attest to the fact that yes, this is our child, and yes, indeed he was born blind, that is a fact, that is the truth, how it is that he can see at this point is a question you'll have to ask him. He's an adult and we don't know the answer. And so, then they go back to the formerly blind person with an accusation, we know that Jesus is a sinner, they tell him, and the man answers back really brilliantly actually, that's like, that's your territory, like you guys are the religious leaders. Whether He's a sinner or not, I don't know that I know the answer to that, or can judge that, what I do know though is that I was blind and now I can see. So, the religious leader’s kind of continue on and reaffirm their allegiance to Moses and the Mosaic law. And how they know where Moses came from, but Jesus, they don't know where Jesus came from. And the man really answers brilliantly again, basically saying, how can you not know where he comes from, he opened my eyes, I have been blind since I was born and now, I can see and you don't know where this person is from. Insinuating basically, how could He be from anywhere else but God. Who else deserves the glory for this miracle, who should we worship, because this doesn't happen every day. Eventually, they dismiss the formerly blind person and eventually Jesus runs into him and they have a conversation. And Jesus tells him, I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will have their eyes open and be able to see and those who do see will not be able to see. And of course, Jesus is referring to spiritual sight or insight, being able to see what God is doing, what is happening and to be able to see his intentions in this world. Jesus is opening the eyes of the people, in some cases, miraculously, physically, opening their eyes, as is in the case of the miracle that we read about today, but also opening up their spiritual sight to be able to see that there is another way to look at this, that there is another way to live fully, appreciative and humbled in the fact, that we are utterly dependent upon God, instead of that we are our own God and we’ll make our own decisions. Of course, there’s still some Pharisees around hearing all this and so there like, you think we’re blind? You think, are you calling us blind? Jesus is like, if you were blind then, then it wouldn't be a problem, it wouldn't be sin, but you are claiming that you can see and you can't see what God is doing right in front of you because it doesn't fit into your theological framework and it especially doesn't fit into the traditions that you have established. You lost the plot of the story; you’re missing the point. It's funny how we can read this in the Gospels and see it so clearly, but when we look in the mirror, we can’t always see our own blindness. And about the time that we think we are seeing, we begin to realize that we still have blind spots. And like the Pharisees, often times we’re falling back onto our traditions, what we have been told we’re supposed to do and believe, not that those things are bad, but we’re falling back onto those things, to give us sight. When there is only One, who can make us see.

Prayer:

And Jesus, we declare that that is You and only You and without You, we are blind, we are wandering around in the dark, feeling among the shadows, trying to find where we’re going. But with You, we can see and we want to see. And so come, Holy Spirit into the places where we have blind spots or blindness in our lives, especially in our relationships and in our interactions with our fellow brothers and sisters and in our hearts and our lives, our spiritual lives, open our eyes so that we can see what's going on around us and live from that place. We pray this in Your precious name Jesus, in Your name we ask. Amen

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it��s the website, it’s where you find out what's going on around here, as I say most every day, the app does that as well. So, you can get the Daily Audio Bible app from whatever app store works with the device that you use and check that out. Check out the Community Section, that is where to get connected. Check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are a number of categories in that Shop and they all pertain to the Daily Audio Bible in our journey that we’re on, whether that be reading materials to take the journey deeper or things to listen to, things to journal with, our Wind Farm Coffee and Boutique Tea, or the entire Global Campfire line of wearables. So, check…check it out, check out the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if the mission that we share, to bring the spoken word of God, read fresh every day and offered freely to whoever will listen, anywhere on this planet, any time of day or night and to continue building community around that rhythm so that, as we take this journey, we know we’re not alone. It's not just a solitary devotional journey through the Bible. It's a year of our lives together, as the Scriptures wash over us each and every day, informing our lives and changing us from within. If that is meaningful to you and life-giving than thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you're using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And of course, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that's little red button up at the top, or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today, I'm Brian, I love you and I'll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hello DAB, my heart is breaking. Oh my, it’s Friday the 13th, out of all days. Friday the 13th and as I was listening to a lady who called in, she was so over joyed about Owen calling in, cause she was expressing her heart to him. As she was speaking, God finally gave me my DAB name. I’ve been listening for a good while and this year, I promised myself that I would listen every day, all year. And I called in before but I always say, God, it doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t feel right, what’s my name, I used to say, I don’t have a name like everybody else. And as she was talking, God put in my heart. I’m God’s Butterfly. I just wanted to share that cause my heart is overjoyed. And I know exactly what He means when He says that I’m His butterfly. He knows my name. Well hello DAB, I’m God’s Butterfly and I don’t know if I’ll ever call in again. I’ve used other names before, I’ve used my real name, I’ve used other names but I know this is who I am. God’s Butterfly and I love my Father. And I love each and every one of you.

Hello DAB family, this is John from the UK. Just an update about my daughter Hannah, who I’ve asked you to pray for and thank you for those that have. She was admitted to hospital with an eating disorder. She was discharged and then got to the point of being dangerously ill, readmitted and had a feeding tube, that basically saved her life. So, she had 7 weeks, no, that was about 10 weeks on the tube and basically, she…she has just been discharged and now back home. But unfortunately, her anorexia is as strong as ever. So, just asking for your prayers about the next step. It would be lovely to be able to make it work at home. I just pray about this, _ she, doesn’t want to be around she’s in a __ and so we’re able to, she’s joined into that prayer, my wife and I. So that’s a plus. Like I said, she did give her heart to Jesus last summer. So, if you could pray for my daughter Hannah, for the next step, for help recovering from anorexia. Thank you all for your prayers and bless you all. And I love listening to all your prayers and I love listening to the Daily Audio Bible so thank you, Brian and the whole Hardin Family. Bye bye, from John from the UK.

Hi DAB family, this is Lily or God’s Girl from Bakersfield, CA. So, I’ve been asking for prayer for my daughter Logan who has been in labor since Wednesday and so today is Friday night and they’re taking the baby c-section. So, I’m asking for prayer for strength. I’ve had to do life pretty much on my own with my babies because my husband has bi-polar and unfortunately couldn’t handle the stress of life or challenges. And so, although I love him dearly, I’ve had to do life, pretty much on my own in raising of our children. And so, I know through it all I’ve always had God to strengthen me but at this moment I’m just worried and I shouldn’t

Hi, my name is Amy and I’ve been listening for about two years but this my first time calling. I just wanted to share my story. About two years ago in the beginning of 2020, I was learning how to make sour dough bread and just like everyone else, with the pandemic, but then I was listening to Exodus one night and it said that the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up on their cloaks. And I thought, oh my goodness they’re making sour dough back then and for those of you who don’t know, there’s this rhythm to making bread, this old biblical way. You mix, you stretch and fold, there’s a lot of rhythm to it. You save a little bit of dough from the time before you bake and then you start the process over. So, there’s this, it’s very rhythmic. And I hear Brian use that word a lot in our listening to the Bible every day. So, when Jesus says, I’m the bread of life, which we just heard in John, I think He’s also saying, that He wants to be in the rhythm of our daily lives, not just that He’s spiritual food, He wants to be in our everyday. And I think when he had the, we also see this in the Old Testament. God had the Israelites gather manna daily and that was teaching them to look to Him daily because we have this personal, hands-on God. So anyway, Brian and Hardin Family, thank you so much for this rhythm for us getting to listen to your word every day.

Good morning DAB family, this is Thankful and Still and I’m lifting up God’s Yellow Flower. Today, Lord, I just bring God’s Yellow Flower before you and I pray that You bless her with healing post-surgery. And I pray also that You would help to provide the care that she needs during her healing process as well as her son, while he needs care as well. And I pray that You give them peace and comfort and that they would rely on You during this time and that You would surround them with Your Holy Spirit and Your angels, Lord, in Jesus’ name. And I want to give thanks and praise to the Lord for a very successful court hearing with my ex-husband. And so, I just praise God. Like, the best outcome that could have been, came and issues of the past were, like, I guess you could say that we buried the hatchet and things just went so ideal. And I think both of us had a real sense of peace and I pray that this bringing healing in our family. Especially with our…our children. And even extended family, that there would just be peace after many years of strife and contention. Not always outward but just a mistrust and not knowing people’s intentions. So, I’m just really excited and happy. I’m kind of, it hasn’t sunken in yet because it’s been such a long journey, you know, almost nine years of in-and-out of court and stuff. So, those of you that have court hearings and litigation, just know that God is in the middle of it all. And as hard and as desperate a situation may seem; God knows and He has a bigger plan than we can imagine. So, just go forward step-by-step allow God to hold you and guide you. Have a great day.

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pastorcowboy · 6 years ago

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Matthew series: a real faith tester

Matthew 15: Lessons in Faith Part 2

It’s impossible to comb through Matthew and understand it fully. Sure, you could say it’s just writing. Yet, every time I read it there is a different slant, layer, and deep meaning. I believe it is brilliant writing. I feel that the testing of Jesus in Matthew 4 is partially a template for the whole book. Again, in chapter 14 Jesus is tempted by being weary like he was in the desert temptation. Here in chapter 15 Jesus seems to be tempted with authority just like he was in the desert. It’s interesting that Jesus responds the same way too. He uses the Old Testament as his weapon.

I have said before that Matthew is sort of a guide book for new Christians. You have been schooled so far on who Jesus is and what he believes. In these chapters 14-17 Matthew is training you on how to defend your faith. Your faith will be tested. Jesus is said to have endured the testing himself so that he could empathize with us. These chapters show us that. Jesus was tested with being weary. He was tested in faith to help others. In this chapter he tested with authority and knowledge.

Does Jesus respect tradition? Our test in Christianity will land within the realm of tradition most of the time. Will we follow men and their interpretation of the Bible? Will we do Christianity their way or God’s way. This is certainly not an easy topic. Church is supposed to be a place of happiness and friendship. It is, except at times people get in the way. There is pride, jealousy, and fear of losing power within religious walls. People build rules that go beyond what the Bible intended. This chapter talks about that. Jesus gives his take on it. The Bible needs to be part of your Christian training. Not so much to know the truth but to defend your truth in Jesus. Do you know your Bible?

Matthew 15:3 “Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?”

Isaiah 29:13 “The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

Traditions. We have many traditions. We hold the door for someone. We put a penny in a well. We throw salt over our shoulders. If it’s December I think of Christmas. If it’s October I think Halloween or thanksgiving. We all have various things we call traditions. I have hash browns and eggs every Saturday morning. It’s tradition. It is also in honor of my grandparents that made breakfast for me. I believe that Jesus did like traditions. He had conflicts with the religious rulers because they were using tradition as a club. It honored their institution and not God. What are your traditions?

Matthew 15:3 “Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?”

Deuteronomy 16:10 “Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the LORD your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the LORD your God has given you.”

Matthew 15 sees Jesus in the mist of his ministry life. He is traveling, teaching, having disputes with the religious rulers, and deep discussions with the faithful. Within all that is the miracles. Who is Jesus? Well, if he is God, then he might know something of the Bible. He might preform acts that are seen as miracles. He may also want to establish his kingdom on earth. Jesus is building something here. I believe Matthew saw that in the life of Jesus. His book is building our faith through knowledge and examples. I also believe Matthew is warning us on the pitfalls of religion.

In some ways this chapter spells it out. When we put religion first. When we put our beliefs first. We tend to put us first. What really happens is that the world around us fades away. We don’t see people in need. We don’t hear what people are really saying. Look at this chapter. Jesus is on the road. The noise of the religious scrutiny is all around him. He heals people. Jesus teaches. He is interested in the well-being of others by feeding four thousand. Throughout this chapter the religious rulers and disciples are off track. Jesus stays steady and sure in his mission.

Matthew 15:19-20 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

Isaiah 29:13 “The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.’

Read Matthew 15. Also read Matthew 4 again. Read Nehemiah 6. It is encouraging to see others try and focus in the mist of trouble.

1. There is a reason the Pharisees questioned Jesus about ceremonial washing. Some people think baptism is a New Testament thing. Washing the body to be clean or renewed is not foreign to Jesus. The question was legitimate. It’s fascinating that Jesus does not address this issue. Instead, Jesus does the Jesus thing. He poses another question. Matthew 15 is testing our faith. How is that? Really, he is training us on what not to do.

Jesus confronts the religious rulers by asking them a deeper question. All throughout the Gospels Jesus always responds to attacks with another question. This time he is pressing the religious men to examine their devotion to the original law. Do they honor their mother and father? There are the Ten Commandments. They are famous. If you read further into the Bible, there are many other suggestions or laws of God. A legal system was set up by Moses.

What is forgotten is that the commandments are a lifestyle on how to treat people and God well. Obviously, people like making laws. God likes making a lifestyle. Honor your mother. Honor your God. Honor your neighbor. This section of Matthew 15 is sad. Matthew 15:19-20 tells his disciples plainly what we do with our mouths and hearts. Laws try and make us look good, but our hearts are not that good. I can wash my hands clean, but can I have a clean mind and heart? To be a Christian is to work on the inside rather than the outside.

Matthew 15:9 “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

Exodus 30:21 “They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die: it shall be a perpetual ordinance for them, for him and for his descendants throughout their generations.”

2. I love friendly banter. What I mean is a comical conversation with true meaning. Jesus believes in his mission. He wants to stay focused. I suspect it comes across as arrogant or cold. God is on point to get his kingdom started. He has the look. Along comes a woman from Canaan. If you knew these people then you would know their superstitions. They sought out the spiritual. Yet, this woman is smart and witty. Jesus is too.

These two engage in a battle of wittiness. She asks for help from Jesus because she had heard he was spiritually powerful. Jesus is on mission. He is here to train these twelve Jewish men to build the kingdom. Jesus has no time for religious nuts. Verse 26 I quoted below is a harsh statement in my mind. She begs for help, but he ignores her. We pass beggars all the time don’t we. They become annoying. This woman does not stop. Jesus tries to use the bread of life statement. She does not give up.

I feel Jesus is prodding her to respond. I bet she had sought help from idol images, priests, and who knows what. Jesus calling her a dog is tempting her to flee away. Yet, she responded with a very witty answer. Even the dogs eat the crumbs from the bread. Jesus was impressed so he healed her. I will point out two thoughts here. One is that the disciples don’t listen. They want her gone. I get it. Religious nuts can be annoying. Secondly, Jesus patiently allows this woman to make a choice. How bad does she want God’s help? Jesus drove her to be willing even to the point of eating the crumbs of God. That is desire. Are we willing to take the time to listen to people and push their faith forward?

Matthew 15:26 “He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs."

Jerimiah 15:16 “When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, LORD God Almighty.”

3. What does God see? I know a song called “what if God was one of us” by Joan Osbourne. What if? This chapter answers that. Jesus is on mission to do his fathers will. He is focused and unwavering. The religious men see the law. The disciples see hungry people that they can’t help. Jesus sees a chance to teach, feed, and cure. Jesus sees the essence of the law. Honor those around you. Jesus sees faith stumbling and growing. Those are the things God sees.

Matthew is using his book to grow our faith. That word is sprinkled throughout this book. Jesus mentions “your faith has healed you”; “ye of little faith.” The point is not to bash our faith. The point is not to be tested. The point is to move us to look beyond ourselves. He asked the Pharisees to look beyond their laws. He asked the disciples to look beyond what they see. I feel Matthew is training us to see what God sees.

Matthew 15:31 “so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.”

1 Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

4. Sometimes we praise a writer for how they construct their story. Oh, that was smart or clever of Steven King or Ernest Hemmingway. Do we give Matthew enough credit? It’s easy to overlook his message. We are reading the story of Jesus. The problem is that it’s not a story. This is not a time line. This book is a snapshot of the whole 33 years of Jesus life. There are gaps and holes. Things we never get to see or hear about. What was Jesus like at home, in school, or at work?

That is why I say this is not a story. A story has a beginning and a conclusion. Sure, Jesus was born and died. Yet this is open ended. We are told he was born. Jesus dies but is raised to life. Eternity means the story never ends. I think Matthew is giving us a message more than a story. Just look at chapter 15 again. The Pharisees come from Jerusalem to pick on Jesus devotion to Judaism. The Canaanite woman comes from a land of idols seeking healing. The disciples are blind to what is really happening. All they see is annoying women and hungry people. Matthew is showing us bad religion. People that see their own faith and their own needs. Look deeper. See more. Listen harder. God just might be showing us something we are unwilling to see, hear, and help that is beyond religion.

Matthew 15:32 “Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.”

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

What it all means?

Matthew is training us. It’s a shame if we only see the story. It’s a shame if we only preach on the famous verses. Verse 26 is hard learning. Why does Jesus call her a dog? Verse 3 has Jesus arguing with the religious rulers. I know that churches guard traditions. I also know they swing the other way. I know a church called “true Jesus.” Compared to the untrue churches of Jesus? I know churches that call themselves undenominational. They break from tradition I guess. What does it all mean?

I feel that many of these places read the Bible looking for meaning. They are looking for themselves within the words. What they miss is the meaning and words of Matthew and Jesus. This chapter is not just about Jesus. This chapter is not just about witty verses, miracles, or feeding 4 thousand. Do you know how many books are written on “if” the feeding of five thousand or four thousand are the same story. Maybe, just maybe, they were accounted for to get our attention. Faith means miracles can happen. Faith means we can provide when all seems impossible. Religiously speaking: what do you really have faith in?

I know a man who believed the notes written in his Bible were scripture. He refused to believe they were just comments by another writer about his Bible. Why? In his church they used those quotes so much that they became bigger than the Bible itself. In a way, they trained him to read the notes. Follow the notes. Believe the notes. The true word of God was being ignored. That is what this chapter means. Making Jesus ministry more than it was, is a crime. The message is plain. What God wants done is there before us. Most of the time we are too busy creating religion to see what needs to be seen.

Matthew 15:28 “Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.”

Romans 1:17 “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

#matthew #faith #test #god #jesus

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mylordmyfriend · 4 years ago

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Not Just A Bible Character ‘Bartimaeus’

Most of us these days have little to complain about, but poor old Bartimaeus not only was blind, but he was also a beggar.

Bartimaeus had needs, He had lost his sight. Bartimaeus case was more pitiful than that, because as some think his name indicated, the blind son of a blind father.

Bartimaeus sat by the road into the city, where a lot of people would pass. This was because He was also a beggar. Batimaeus didn’t have much going for him, but he did have a determination about him.

It was good that he was still able to hear, for in all probability, upon hearing the noise and clamor of the people following Jesus, his curiosity led him to inquire the cause of the commotion.

Bartimaeus as soon as he heard the commotion in the crowd following Jesus, he began to cry out. He must have heard the stories about Jesus, and believed that Jesus was able and willing to restore his sight.

The evidence of his belief, comes in his cry “Jesus Thou Son of David”. This gives evidence that he believed Jesus to be The Messiah, who was to come to the world, unto whom the Lord God was to give the throne of His David and whose kingdom there was to be no end.

This prophecy was foretold in Isaiah Chapter 35 verse 5:

“Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped”.

Bartimaeus cries out of the needs in his heart, “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me”.

In response to Bartimaeus faith and knowing the scripture, Jesus heard, Jesus responded, and Jesus heals him.

Not much is said about Bartimaeus, but what was said we can find in Mark 10 versev46 to 52. Batimaeus son of Timaeus who called out to Jesus as He left Jericho on His final journey to Jerusalem, Jesus healed a blind man.

Batimaeus had Faith and he recognized The Messiah, thus we include him as a person of faith, Hope for us all, Faith of an ordinary person.

God Bless.

O F J.

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movieswithkevin27 · 7 years ago

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M is a film that requires no introduction. On many lists that attempt to put together the “best films ever made”, M is a film that always seems to feature prominently. Directed by the legendary German filmmaker Fritz Lang, M was his first sound film after having previously made his name in silent cinema with this certainly being quite evident as long stretches of the film go by without any sound at all or with simply no music. This leads to M feeling almost like a silent film with sound (if that makes sense at all), as Lang - along with many of his contemporaries - was still unsure of how to deal with sound in film and thus this led to an often noticeable lack of music in films coming shortly after the advent of sound films. M embodies this and, yet, might be the finest film to come from this era of confusion. A masterful psychological thriller with gorgeous German expressionist cinematography, a brilliant performance from Peter Lorre, and brilliant social critiques, M is a film that thrills, terrifies, and paints a chilling picture of the world around us.

As with any film by Lang, the film’s cinematography is gorgeous in how it captures the streets of this quiet German town that has wracked with fear over the constant child murders that has led to much speculation and investigation as to its culprit. Often set during the night, the dark streets of this town are left with nothing more than the street lights as a light source. This is even more true when the action is set indoors as the mysterious Hans Beckert (Peter Lorre) hides from the night watchmen or from the furious gang seeking his apprehension. Constantly lurking in the shadows or being captured in profile, Beckert is a man whose fan we know but is one that is often obscured or hidden away. Instead, it is his victims who stand at his side whose faces we see clearly. As they bound about all happy about getting a balloon or some candy from Beckert, this sadistic killer looks around or turns his back to the camera. This changes by the film’s finale where Lorre is consistently facing the camera as his trial occurs, but before then, his lack of visibility created this mysterious aura about him, especially in the first time we see him as Lang uses just his shadow cast over a wanted poster to introduce the audience to the character. Visually, one of the standout moments comes with an aerial shot of Beckert running the dark streets frantically in an attempt to escape the beggars who have tasked with locating the murderer. Running for his life only to find his every possible escape blocked off by these men, he is forced to run into a building which leads to a thrilling and gripping chase sequence both in and out of the building. The moment is a real highlight in the film with the shot being just the cherry on top to the masterful display of tension and thrills demonstrated by Lang in the moment.

However, in discussing the film’s visuals, it is impossible to not mention the reliance upon mirror reflections. Often times, Hans is looking into a window or just a mirror and we see both his profile and his reflection. The significance of this does not come into play until the finale. Captured by the crime underworld who views him as a liability and a threat to their business with the cops raiding clubs run by the gangsters on a nightly basis to find the murderer, Hans is brought to their secret hideaway for trial. Surrounded by the gangsters, the club patrons, and the beggars, Hans is forced to face a literal court of public opinion which is inclined to find him guilty. Pleading his case, Lang uses Hans as a means to discuss the concerns in the world regarding mental health. It may be 1931, but Lang showed a great understanding and compassion for those suffering from mental illness, as is the case with Hans Beckert. He kills young girls, but has no recollection of doing so and is appalled by what he has done, but what he does it out of compulsion. Can one really be made to hang for the chemical imbalance in their brain or should they be turned over for treatment instead? It is a worthy question and it is one that Hans poses to the court of public opinion as he describes the way in which he tries to outrun himself. He lives in the shadow of himself and also feels himself following him around every corner and down every alley. He, in many respects, is a Jekyll/Hyde character who is a normal everyday person until a switch flips - a switch that is always there - and he becomes a sadistic killer who preys on young girls. The mirror shots used by Lang perfectly hint at this as they show his fractured sense of self that has become divided by the Hans Beckert that has already been rehabilitated by doctors and the Hans Beckert that is compelled to kill to satisfy his most depraved urges. He is a despicable figure, but one that is deserving of an unexpected level of sympathy for how even he agrees that his actions are heinous but pleads that he would never do it if he were in control of his own actions.

Thematically, the film shows a few concerns that Lang has with society. Seeing the rise of the Nazi Party - one that would see Lorre flew Germany just two years later - he was beginning the rise of the persecution culture that was prevalent in Germany and led to the Holocaust, in which scapegoats were sought for the ills of society and Jews, homosexuals, the mentally ill, and the handicapped, were the unfortunate targets. In this film, Lang shows the dangers of this culture in the search for the child murderer. With the police receiving about 1600 reports about the killer with conflicting witness statements for every single report they have received of the killer’s whereabouts or even just the color of a hat a missing girl was wearing, the police’s job has become incredibly difficult. Random men are attacked in the streets and accused of being the killer. They are brought in the police station or just have their lives threatened by the angry onlookers who are certain they have found the killer as the guy innocently asked a little girl where she lived. It is a terrifying display that gives the film much of its tension as you can feel the paranoia of this town bubbling over to the point where it is not just imperative to capture this killer to protect the children he may kill. It is also imperative to find him to just end this insanity that has led to everybody near a child becoming a suspect.

However, the same idea is shown and expanded upon as Hans is captured by the gangsters and beggars. Bringing him to their hideaway to face trial by the angry mob that is the court of public opinion, this is obviously not a fair trial. He is guilty, yes, but they have loose shreds of evidence, the letter “M” on his shirt from a guy who saw him with a little girl, and the fact that he ran as their chief pieces of evidence that are thrown at him and used to condemn him to death at the hands of the mob. These are circumstantial at best until he admits his guilt, but they show the danger that can ensue. The public is not a position to judge guilt without actually hearing proper evidence or having been there, as they simply do not know. They rely upon conjecture and hearsay to form their opinion without actually thinking about the evidence, whether it makes any sense or not, and simply approaching the situation rationally. Instead, it is insanity that rules the day and leads the charge with everybody so angry that they seek to find somebody to accuse. In this case, Hans is guilty but the other men accused were not and yet they had their names dragged through the mud in the name of fear. The same occurs everyday, especially now that all of these sexual assault stories have come out. Many of the men accused are guilty, but it is out of fear of the innocent ones of the bunch that we must wait to hear all of the evidence - even the defense’s evidence - before coming to a conclusion in a court of law and not in the court of public opinion. The public’s aim is simply too off-center and leads to too many people catching a bullet that should have been meant for somebody else, with Lang’s film being extremely concerned about this element in particular. However, he similarly questions why the public believes they can judge these criminals. In this case, the gangsters have killed people themselves in the past, yet they feel as though Hans’ crimes are worse. How can they be so arrogant and unaware of the trauma their own actions have caused in the past? It is not just mob justice, but an example of how “an eye for an eye makes the whole blind” and “let he who is within sin cast the first stone” as shown in Hammurabi’s code and the Bible, respectively. These are people throwing hatred and judgment while they have skeletons in their own closet and are not without their own demons in the past. The court of public opinion is not just dangerous, but also hypocritical in Lang’s eyes as he uses a court of gangsters as a bit of hyperbole to demonstrate quite obviously the ills people possess in their own character and yet still try to judge the actions of others while giving themselves a pass for the same action. Even more, Lang ends the film by demonstrating the pointlessness of these actions. As his verdict his read, a mother sits crying and looks right at the camera, begging for people to not be like the people in this film. Killing Hans will not bring back the girls, nor will they bring any peace or comfort. Vengeance is not the answer, rather compassion and understanding are the gateway to feeling a sense of closure.

Acting-wise, M is pitch perfect with a stunning lead role from Peter Lorre. For one of his first bits of film acting, he demonstrates his impeccable talent as he pleads for his life from this court of public opinion. Begging for mercy and for their understanding of the mental issues he suffers from, he gets down on his knees, shouts, and begs. It is a stunningly emotive and emotional performance in this moment in which Lorre really knocks it out of the park in communicating authentic and raw emotion that never feels too much or poured on too thick. Instead, it really resonates and makes every word from the script land with great resonance. Lorre’s strong performance, as always, relies greatly on his very expressive face as, for much of the film, he is silent. As he hides in the attic of this office, we are left with the dark figure of his body with just his eyes and face there to show his panic about possibly being seen. His face in the mirrors or as he looks panickedly over his shoulders to make sure nobody sees him stalking young girls is similarly demonstrative of his incredible physical performance with his closing monologues demonstrating his incredible spoken performance. It is a truly rounded turn from Lorre that shows great understanding of the craft that, for many, would come after years of being in films. However, he demonstrates just how far having learned the craft on the stage that can take an actor.

M is a brilliant work and is one that was long overdue for me to finally watch. It is not just an influential work, but rather one that resonates greatly to this very day and has demonstrated great staying power with gorgeous cinematography, tremendous direction, excellent acting, smart themes (that are still relevant), and a thrilling plot that keeps audiences more than engaged. It is a film with practically no flaws whatsoever, which is truly a rarity.

#1931 movies #1930s movies #m #m movie #fritz lang #film analysis #film reviews #movie reviews #peter lorre

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