7 Deadly Sins – GREED (History Channel clips) 10

Colossians 3:1-6 (New International Version)

“1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.”

I have chosen this forum to become an avenue to reflect on the readings of the Sunday Lectionary. Many people believe that those of us of a catholic persuasion can only preach, teach and read from the Lectionary, not so. Therefore I have chosen to depart some from the prescribed Sunday Lessons to bring a different lesson.

Sunday, February 7 will be almost a National Holiday here in the United States, Super Bowl Sunday! Yes, people will grill even in the chill of winter, eat, drink and be merry. Sounds familiar?

This year brings the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints to clash in the field where blood, sweat and tears are shed, as well as millions of dollars to see grown men playing.

The New Orleans, Louisiana Saints are the underdog. For years they were an embarrasment for the National Football League (NFL) and even to the very people of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana. Having lived in Louisiana for more than ten years I remember well that people were so embarrassed of their team that the few that attended their home games will even wear paper bags over their heads as a sign of the shame they bear over their always losing team.

That began to turn around after hurricane Katrina. The Saints lost their home arena, the Super Dome and left their city as an itinerant Methodist minister to deliver the news of a devastated city that was seeking hope and help.

Louisiana is a different place, having been a Spanish and French colony the mixture of traditions, languages and culture has produced a mixture that we might as well called “The Gumbo of the United States.”

Among that particular differences of the people of Louisiana that we find is their expressions. There is their famous “Ya’ll”, “I am fixing to go to, do or act on anything.” In Louisiana there are always fixing something and after so many years there I must say that I spend a good time “fixing” something too. One of those expressions they have is “WhoDat?”

“WhoDat?” became a chanting of victory to the Saints fans who became the “WhoDat Nation.” Once their beloved, and now winning, New Orleans Saints clinched the oportunity to enter the Super Bowl, I was there by the way, shirts, bumper stickers, caps and all kind of paraphernalia pop up with the expression “WhoDat?” That is until the NFL step in and said: don’t dare, we own the rights to the expression “WhoDat?” And I asked myself since when?

Then I realized that this is just the NFL claims were just an expression of good old fashioned GREED! And the Bible says that greed is nothing but idolatry, the most despised sin before the One God. A dear brother and I were talking about capitalism and he stated to me that there is nothing wrong about capitalism since he holds to the very traditional view that capitalism is nothing else but the freedom to own property. Well, that sounds wonderful but it only takes two minutes of TV commercials in this Country to realize that capitalism has become more than owning property but owning all we can, as much as we desired no matter the consequences or the means. And people wonder why our entire economy almost collapsed. My mother is use to say, paper will hold anything that you want to write on it. This is not the case of credit cards, unsecured loans and sub-prime mortgages. I am not an economist but I can recognized sin and the main instigator of it.

Well I will remind you of what the Second Lesson for today teaches

1st Corinthians 15:3 (NRSV)

“For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.”

We need to repent from our sin of greed that is idolatry and realized that “WhoDat” belongs to people of Louisiana and certainly not to the NFL.

I Know That My Redeemer Lives (Jesus Christ)

Luke 4:21-32
“In the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus read from the book of the prophet Isaiah, and began to say, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority.”

I do not know of any major religion that outright denies Jesus, they just undermine or underestimate whom He really is. Some will say He was a good teacher, others that He was a prophet and still others would say that He was just another philosopher, but deny Him? No, that is just not going to happen.

The challenge the Jesus faces in this scripture is that his very own would not ascribed to Him the position and authority He really held, even after seen Him performing miracles. And I believe that today we face the same predicament.  As Christians, the people of Christ, His people, do we really believe whom he really is or do we just pay Him our lips service.

We do not get along as a family of believers. We have taken the Church Catholic and divided it into thousands of pieces and then we claim: “But we are united spiritually.” People are reluctant and hesitant to believe our message because we ourselves are not really sure of whom Christ really is.

If He is my savior, well then I should not live my life in fear. If He is the Christ, then I should not be hopeless. If He is alive, then why not go to Him first instead of last. If He is God then I should not fell helpless.

There are many who like Christ, they just do not like Christians. In one of the most vibrant passages of the Bible is asked by Pilate on the Gospel according to St. Matthew 27:22

“Pilate said unto them, “What shall I do then with Jesus, who is called Christ?”

The challenge that Pilate faced was that it was not for others to decide this, it was for him to decide about Christ and what he was going to do with Him. My question to you is Whom is Christ to you, the son of Joseph, a  prophet, a teacher, a good philosopher or the Living Risen Lord?

If  He is our Living Risen Lord, let us act as such and worry not about the petty stuff that we are often concerned with in our parishes. Let us go out into the world to serve God by serving others.

Mercy Me – Word of God Speak (w/ lyrics)

Luke 4:14-21 (NRSV)

“Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

As some of you may know my full time ministry is that of Chaplaincy Administrator with the United States Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons. When I first began this ministry in late 2008 I really struggled understanding my ministry as “real ministry”. Answering to inmate complaints, chaplains inquires, interview of new applicants, etcetera, did not compare to the ministry of word and table I was used to. I cry out to God and asked Him so many times, “let me go back to the men that I so much love and care for.” The answer was absolute silence and I kept “enduring” my ministry as a “good servant.”

Then our pastor taught a Bible Study of the tri-fold ministry of Christ as Prophet, Priest and King. OK, nothing new here, I said and then he proceeded to elaborate on the fact that prophet was one with passion, the priest one with compassion and the King, well the King was the one who made things happen, the administrator. Even at this point I still thought, OK, and what else is new? And then my pastor said “Just imagine, administrators with a passion of prophet and the compassion of a priest.” And then it hit me and I had this overwhelming sense of conviction that I had been “crying like baby when I couldn’t behave like a man.” This is what my mother would say and as always Mom was right.

Todays passage is an extraordinary one, as a good  and godly administrator Jesus lays out his plan of action and strategy. He makes it clear to all what is He all about. He is not here to change a single letter of the law, He was here to make sure that it was fulfilled. His message would be one of hope, help and liberation.

Several years ago a dear friend and fellow minister in the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Craig Smith, told me that the effectiveness of my ministry as a prison chaplain rested on the fact that I was moved not by the plight of the men but by their potential. This was the Jesus model, he certainly was not moved by the plight of the poor, the ill, the incarcerated but rather He was moved by their potential.

Having finished His reading of the Prophet Isaiah, Jesus sat and proclaimed that He was the fulfillment of this Scripture. Jesus, the Living and Risen Messiah, the Christ.  He is the fulfillment of all Scriptures, He is THE WORD of the Living God among us and what is left for us to do is to be His body. Willing to do whatever it takes to bring to people the message of hope, help and liberation. Yes we are all different, we all have different denominations, we are all different parts of the body but like St. Paul would say to the Corinthians: “Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”   Therefore, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.”

The most beautiful rendition of Ave Maria I’ve ever heard

John 2:1-11 (NRSV)

‘On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.’

Too often in our Protestant traditions we tend to ignore, disregard or even dismiss the ministry of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the first one to receive the Gospel. The Gospel for this Sunday recalls the story of the Wedding in Cana and from it we can learn some valuable lessons that Mary teaches to us.

First is that we can bring anything to Jesus. No matter how trivial, how simple or how complicated the matter is the bottom line is that we can bring any of our challenges to Jesus with the confidence is that in Him we find  a High Priest that understands our needs and can identify with our struggles. What is on your mind? What is consuming you? What is the biggest challenge that you are facing? Rest assure that you can bring them to Jesus, not only He will listen, He will also act!

The second lesson I learn from Mary is what she stated to the servants of the house: “Do whatever he tells you.” You see, once we come to Jesus and bring to Him our challenges then is up to us to follow His advise or not but it is only when we do what he says that we find true joy and victory. And keep in mind that I said joy and not happiness because happiness depends on whatever happens and joy is the fruit of the Spirit of God in our lives. And victory, victory does not depend on how much we accomplish and how much we have but rather on how faithful we are to His commands.

The final objective of Mary was accomplished, Christ was revealed and glorify! What is the objective of what you do? Is it to revealed and glorify Christ? Because is that is not our main objective we just simply are wasting our time.  As we watch in news the tragedy of Haiti unfolding before our eyes the question is not only if we are going to bring this matter to Jesus but if we are going to do whatever He ask us to do?

To bring care, concern and help to that poor Country is not the responsibility of the government, is our responsibility because after all what Paul says in 1st Corinthians 12:1-11 is what matters here, that God, in His wisdom, empowered the Church with a variety of gifts for the “common good.”

Many will say: “What would Jesus do?” Mary’s answer is :”Do whatever he tells you.” The answer is clear, what is not clear is your decision to act or not to make Him known and to glorify Him. Mary knew the answer to the predicaments around her, if you do, go and tell others: “Do whatever he tells you.”

Your servant,

+Jesus-Manuel

Acts 10:34-38(NRSV)

“Peter began to speak to Cornelius and his relatives and close friends: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ– he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”

On this First Sunday of Epiphany we celebrate the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism. This is quiet a remarkable moment in the history of the Church. Our Lord Jesus comes to his cousin John the Baptist to be baptized. John’s reaction is one of extreme humility, up to this point John has been the protagonist, the man to whom the masses came to hear and now here comes his younger cousin not only to be baptized but also to become the center of the Gospel Story. In other words, John took a backseat to his younger cousin. This act of selfless humility of John is indeed essential to the message of the Gospel.

This is what Peter discovers on his encounter with Cornelius and his family and realizes that God is not the God of one particular group of people but rather that He is trying to reach every nation, tribe and language. And that he needed to take the back seat and allow the Gentiles to enter the scene of the Gospel Story.

I believe that as long as we remain divided, in some places because our racial differences, in others because of our tribal differences and even because: ‘That people speak “broken” English.’ As long as this is our attitude, our message will lack credibility and power.

Peter’s message and actions spread like wild fire because of what he was willing to do, go to those of a different ethnic, racial, language and even religious background to tell them about the Risen Christ. What are you willing to do? Are you willing not only to reach accross the aisle but even across the street or the train tracks?

Jesus’ prayer was this:

John 17:23 (New Living Translation)

“23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.”

The world will only believe, when we are willing to humble ourselves, set aside our petty differences for the sake of the greater cause of the proclamation of the Gospel. This proclamation of the Gospel will lead to the following:

Matthew 24:14 (New International Version)

“14And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

If we want a quick return of our Lord, we must be willing to be united so the world may believe. What are you willing to do about this?

We Have Come Into His House