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Lent

‘Not seven times, but I tell you 77 times’

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In case you have not noticed, Christianity is a religion in which the sinners have all the advantage. They can step on your feet fifty times, and you are supposed to keep smiling. They can talk bad about you every time you leave the room and it is your job to excuse them with no thought of getting even. The burden is on you, because you have been forgiven yourself, and God expects you to do unto others as God has done unto you.

In all the gospels, only two women make him change his mind

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Matthew’s account of Jesus’ public ministry confines him to the territory of Israel, the immediate object of his mission.

Jesus declares more than once that his God-given mission is “only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” In this instance, when Jesus approaches the northern border of Israel with that of Tyre and Sidon, things change. A gentile woman crosses over the border and pleads with Jesus to heal her ill daughter.

The end time

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In reading Matthew’s Gospel, it is a huge help to know he is writing for the Jews, but applicable for all. In his Gospel, a series of amazing signs accompany the death of Jesus. Darkness comes over the whole land for those hours from noon until His death. (Matthew 27:45)

The veil of the Temple sanctuary tears from top to bottom (Matthew 23:51), an earthquake fractures rocks and opens the tombs of the Saints outside of Jerusalem (Matthew 27: 51-52). The bodies of the dead are restored to life, and they make their way to Jerusalem and appear to many. (Matthew 27:53)

What are you looking for? Whom are you looking for? What are you living for?

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So we ask, what gives my life meaning? What is my focus? Two very important questions. How so? Our lives are shaped by the end one lives for. It has been written, that in the measure we desire him, we will find him. The things we love tell us what

Forgiveness

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Forgiveness is the beginning, the middle, and the end of the whole Gospels.

Forgiveness received and given breaks our meritocracy of quid pro quo thinking. Apparently hate is here to remain. Jesus obviously saw our need to be saved from our hates we harbor towards one another. First he had to expose the lie and illusion of hate, then love could show itself—and it did. How so?

He not only gave us textbook answers, but he personally walked through the process and said, “Follow me.”

Oh yes, the Jonah story

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The Assyrians were mean, violent, nasty and oppressive. They made life miserable for the Israelites year after year. Jonah was an Israelite and Jonah is told by God to take a message to the great city named Nineveh in Assyria. Jonah reflects— Assyria—our hated enemy and you God want me to go to the center of the beast and do something good for them? Seriously? No way!

How does one really love God?

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Christianity has emphasized that we should love God. This makes sense, but do we really know how to do that? What is clearly made known by the mystics is an overwhelming experience of how God has loved us! It is made clear through all their writings--and I do mean all--that God is forever the aggressive lover, God is the protagonist, God is the one who seduces us out of our unworthiness. It’s all about initiative. Then the mystics try to desperately pay back, to offer their lives back to the world, to the poor, the rejected and then back to God. Love is repaid by love alone!

Did you know?

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Lent is a religious observance within the Christian liturgical calendar that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends six weeks later. During Lent, millions of Christians across the globe make sacrifices, including abstaining from eating meat on certain days during Lent. It is tradition for Christians to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday, which marks the official beginning of Lent, and many also abstain from eating meat on Fridays throughout Lent. According to the Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis, the practice of avoiding meat on Fridays during Lent stems from Christians’ belief that Jesus Christ sacrificed his flesh to atone for the sins of mankind. In recognition of that sacrifice, millions of Christians do not eat flesh meat, which includes the meat of mammals and poultry, on Fridays throughout Lent. Fish is not considered flesh meat, so many Christians consume fish on Fridays during Lent.