Look to the Horizon

~~~ Micah 2:1-5 ~~~ Psalm 10 ~~~ Matthew 12:14-21 ~~~

...he withdrew from that place.

Jesus had no one to look out for his safety.
When he enters the town it seems the Pharisees
 are busy plotting against him.
It is discouraging that they had nothing
 better to do with their time,
no better way to use their resources than for evil.

We often see this same mentality in times of war,
but here we have only one person, Jesus.
Why would they need to spend so much energy on this except out of fear.

Jesus does what he had to do in order to keep himself safe;
he in effect goes underground.
He goes into hiding, but he does not cease to heal
 those who followed him.

He does make one important request.
He asks them not to share his whereabouts.

Today we might become suspicious if someone acted the way Jesus did.
We wonder about keeping secrets. We would ask questions.
But for Jesus this was all part of the Divine plan;
his time had not yet come.

We see Jesus at the beginning of his ministry telling his mother
his time had not yet come at the wedding feast.
Now his actions of retreating and his warning of silence
tell us his time to die had not yet come.

Jesus had so much more to do...he was not finished.
He is shielded by the Spirit from harm.
The prophets had foretold....

...a smoldering wick he will not quench,
until he brings justice to victory.
And in his name the Gentiles will hope.

The very presence of Jesus brought hope to hundreds,
 even thousands of people.
Today we are still being blessed with hope.
Jesus is the reason we have hope.

The wicked can gather behind closed doors to plan their evil deeds.
But in the end, it is our hope in the Lord that saves us.

The very same hope that those who flocked to him
held firmly in their hearts.
They came in hope that he would cure them.

The Pharisees, however, had no hope in their hearts
as they plotted the death of Jesus.
They were blinded from seeing what could have been better.
Hope is about the future and the Pharisees were caught within themselves.

Sometimes we too may be tempted to be trapped within ourselves.
Our faith teaches us to look to the horizon,
where hope is strong and bright.
Hope is not shrouded in darkness.
Hope is in the dawn of a new day.

May you be blessed with hope when you are in most need.
Jesus withdrew, but he did not turn anyone away.
He kept their hope alive.
~~~Peace~~~

Hide and Seek

~~~ Feast of the Immaculate Conception ~~~

 

~~~Genesis 3:9-15, 20~~~Psalm 98~~~Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12~~~Luke 1:26-38~~~

 

"Where are you?"

Here we are naked and hiding in the Garden of Eden... 

 

God is looking for you just as he looked for Adam and Eve that day in the garden.

He has chosen us to be his own.

Why would we feel the need to hide from him?

We would be foolish to even think that we could hide from God,

but nonetheless he calls out to us.

 

He wants us to come to him.

He want us to understand that even in our nakedness

we have no reason to hide from him.

 

Typical of our weak human nature Adam tries to give God excuses.

He tries to shift the blame from himself.

I have come to the realization in my old age...

no one else is to blame for our poor decisions.

 

Adam was the first to play the blame game...

the woman made me...

"The woman whom you put here with me--
she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it."

 

The woman quickly catches on to this game...

"The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it."

We frequently try to escape the consequences of our behavior.

 

It is impossible to win playing hide and seek with God.

He always wins...he can always find you no matter where you

try to hide.

 

He asks the question

"Where are you?"

hoping that you will come forward and come to him yourself.

 

God has given us everything that we could imagine to ask him for

including every spiritual blessing.

He chose us to be holy without flaws,

but our pride gets us into trouble.

It is pride that causes us to eat from the forbidden tree.

Once we have eaten the fruit we discover how silly it was for us

to think that what we wanted was more important than

what God desires for us.

 

Only nakedness before God can heal the soul from the

torment of pride.

In order to come out of hiding we must strip ourselves of pride

and stand before God as he created us to be in the Garden of Eden.

 

 

We have been adopted through Jesus

"...in accord with the favor of his will,
for the praise of the glory of his grace
that he granted us in the beloved."

 

Wherever you are  hiding; come back into the garden.

Join in the celebration...

dance around the tree of life singing his praises.

 

The light of the Lord shines down on the tree it bears fruit for the Lord.

There is no reason to hide...

You have been given unconditional love.

With this unconditional love comes mercy and forgiveness.

 

Nakedness before God reminds us of our need

to trust in his providential care.

Will you come out of hiding when God asks,

"Where are you?"