Parishioner's Gospel reflection
The Lamb of God
17 January 2021: 2nd Sunday of the Year (Cycle B)
Parishioner’s Gospel
Contributor: Cecilia Skudder (Cjs)
John 1: 35-42
John stood with two disciples, as Jesus walked them by.
Staring so intensely, John gave a heartfelt cry,
“Look there’s the Lamb of God!” And they followed in His stead.
Jesus asked did they want Him? And this is what they said.
“Rabbi (meaning teacher), where do You abide?”
So Jesus took them with Him, and they stayed there by His side.
Now one of these disciples, Andrew was His name,
rushed to tell his brother, to give the message plain.
He took his brother Simon, to the Messiah he had found.
Jesus looked at Simon, and at first He made no sound.
Then He changed the name to Peter, before the Faithful flock.
No longer Simon Peter, but Cephas which means rock.
Once You saw our Peter, You changed his given name.
For Your work he was chosen, for us You’ve done the same.
We’re not here for our sake, to do as we would please.
We’re here to do Christ’s bidding, an opportunity to seize. Cjs.
John the Baptist had a major task, to prepare for the coming of Jesus and this was his opportunity to grasp the moment and identify Jesus as the ‘Lamb of God.’
Trustingly these disciples followed Jesus and one, Andrew, rushed off to tell his brother this monumental news.
His brother Simon came immediately to meet Jesus who straight away changed Simon’s name to Peter...rock.
What a life altering change in so short a time!
Faith, through the Holy Spirit, told these disciples that this was the Messiah and without argument, cynicism or hesitation, they rushed to Jesus.
What if it was each of us John had told?
Would we be so eager to rush to Jesus or would our cynicism, or pride in our own logical reasoning, hold us back?
This must be the case for so many people learning of Jesus for the first time.
We must pray that enlightenment will open up all our hearts, non-believers and believers alike to encourage a deeper relationship with Him. .
Lord we pray that our faith will grow so that we stay by Your side and loyal to Your teachings, thus showing by our example that we follow the Way, the Truth and the Life. Amen.
*****************************************
24 January 2021: 3rd Sunday of the Year (Cycle B)
Parishioner’s Gospel
Contributor: Tony Luis
Mark 1:14-20
Jesus begins his Galilean Ministry – Jesus Calls the First Disciples
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news - Mark tells us that Jesus started his Ministry only after John was arrested. Judea was John’s domain, but Galilee was Jesus’ domain. Jesus begins and ends his ministry in Galilee. Most of his Ministry, other than his death and resurrection, takes place in Galilee.
The Good News that Jesus is proclaiming is that God loves us and has made provision to save us, with his offer of salvation and eternal life. Jesus tells of a very different kind of kingdom – a kingdom that ’’is at hand’’, a spiritual kingdom that is realised when we surrender our hearts to God – a kingdom that began with Jesus’ first coming, but which will be fully manifested only in his Second Coming. Given that Jesus made the Kingdom of God such a central part of his teaching and preaching, we, as his disciples need to do the same.
Repent, and believe in the good news – the appropriate response to the coming of the kingdom is twofold: Repent and believe the good news! We tend to think of repentance as feeling guilty, but it is really a change of mind or direction – seeing things from a different perspective. Once we begin to see things rightly, we may feel bad about having been wrong for so long, but repentance starts with the new vision rather than the guilt feelings.
And believe in the good news – To believe is to be convinced that something is true – to trust it- to have faith. Belief makes it possible for people to live confidently in the midst of difficulty. Belief makes it possible to keep moving forward toward seemingly impossible goals. Belief makes it possible for us to step out into the darkness, certain that God will give us sure footing. Jesus calls us to believe in the Good News. The Bible is full of true stories of lives transformed by belief in Jesus.
Jesus calls the First Disciples – Why does Jesus call these four disciples? Why do they follow? Jesus sees something worthwhile in these four men- not necessarily what they are but what they could be. Apparently, the four men see something compelling in Jesus – something that causes them to walk away from that which is so precious to follow him. For Simon and Andrew, the sacrifice is leaving their fishing net. For James and John, it is leaving their father, Zebedee.
These men did not seek to become Jesus’ disciples. They had not presented Jesus with their CVs. It was Jesus’ initiative, not theirs that resulted in their becoming Jesus’ followers. God chooses whom God chooses since the beginning of time.
Follow me and I will make you fish for people – the call is personal. An invitation by Jesus to follow him. Jesus calls Simon and Andrew, James and John to let go of everything that they know so that they can step out onto a pathway that he will show them- a pathway that he does not define for them in advance – a pathway that they will not understand until they have walked it. That is what discipleship involves – faith to step into the unknown, trusting Christ to leads us to the right destination.
Mark makes it clear that Jesus is calling these men to an evangelic task. They, like Jesus, are to proclaim the Good News- the Good News of the Kingdom of God – the Good News of Jesus Christ. These four men will invite people to make God their King and to submit to his reign.
We too are disciples of Jesus.
Like the first four disciples, we are called, invited by Jesus to follow him and to preach the Good News.
We are also called and given so many opportunities through the Sacraments and devotion to repent and believe in the Good News.
This passage of Mark’s Gospel raises the following questions for us
How readily do we accept the generous and privileged invitation by Jesus to repent and believe the Good News?
How prepared are we to step on to an undefined pathway trusting in Jesus to guide us and lead us to our destination?
How willing are we to follow in the footsteps of the first four disciples to proclaim the Good News and become fishers of people, even if it means having to give up something or everything to do so?
Especially at a time when we know that the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few!
Parishioner’s Gospel
Contributor: Cecilia Skudder (Cjs)
John 1: 35-42
John stood with two disciples, as Jesus walked them by.
Staring so intensely, John gave a heartfelt cry,
“Look there’s the Lamb of God!” And they followed in His stead.
Jesus asked did they want Him? And this is what they said.
“Rabbi (meaning teacher), where do You abide?”
So Jesus took them with Him, and they stayed there by His side.
Now one of these disciples, Andrew was His name,
rushed to tell his brother, to give the message plain.
He took his brother Simon, to the Messiah he had found.
Jesus looked at Simon, and at first He made no sound.
Then He changed the name to Peter, before the Faithful flock.
No longer Simon Peter, but Cephas which means rock.
Once You saw our Peter, You changed his given name.
For Your work he was chosen, for us You’ve done the same.
We’re not here for our sake, to do as we would please.
We’re here to do Christ’s bidding, an opportunity to seize. Cjs.
John the Baptist had a major task, to prepare for the coming of Jesus and this was his opportunity to grasp the moment and identify Jesus as the ‘Lamb of God.’
Trustingly these disciples followed Jesus and one, Andrew, rushed off to tell his brother this monumental news.
His brother Simon came immediately to meet Jesus who straight away changed Simon’s name to Peter...rock.
What a life altering change in so short a time!
Faith, through the Holy Spirit, told these disciples that this was the Messiah and without argument, cynicism or hesitation, they rushed to Jesus.
What if it was each of us John had told?
Would we be so eager to rush to Jesus or would our cynicism, or pride in our own logical reasoning, hold us back?
This must be the case for so many people learning of Jesus for the first time.
We must pray that enlightenment will open up all our hearts, non-believers and believers alike to encourage a deeper relationship with Him. .
Lord we pray that our faith will grow so that we stay by Your side and loyal to Your teachings, thus showing by our example that we follow the Way, the Truth and the Life. Amen.
*****************************************
24 January 2021: 3rd Sunday of the Year (Cycle B)
Parishioner’s Gospel
Contributor: Tony Luis
Mark 1:14-20
Jesus begins his Galilean Ministry – Jesus Calls the First Disciples
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news - Mark tells us that Jesus started his Ministry only after John was arrested. Judea was John’s domain, but Galilee was Jesus’ domain. Jesus begins and ends his ministry in Galilee. Most of his Ministry, other than his death and resurrection, takes place in Galilee.
The Good News that Jesus is proclaiming is that God loves us and has made provision to save us, with his offer of salvation and eternal life. Jesus tells of a very different kind of kingdom – a kingdom that ’’is at hand’’, a spiritual kingdom that is realised when we surrender our hearts to God – a kingdom that began with Jesus’ first coming, but which will be fully manifested only in his Second Coming. Given that Jesus made the Kingdom of God such a central part of his teaching and preaching, we, as his disciples need to do the same.
Repent, and believe in the good news – the appropriate response to the coming of the kingdom is twofold: Repent and believe the good news! We tend to think of repentance as feeling guilty, but it is really a change of mind or direction – seeing things from a different perspective. Once we begin to see things rightly, we may feel bad about having been wrong for so long, but repentance starts with the new vision rather than the guilt feelings.
And believe in the good news – To believe is to be convinced that something is true – to trust it- to have faith. Belief makes it possible for people to live confidently in the midst of difficulty. Belief makes it possible to keep moving forward toward seemingly impossible goals. Belief makes it possible for us to step out into the darkness, certain that God will give us sure footing. Jesus calls us to believe in the Good News. The Bible is full of true stories of lives transformed by belief in Jesus.
Jesus calls the First Disciples – Why does Jesus call these four disciples? Why do they follow? Jesus sees something worthwhile in these four men- not necessarily what they are but what they could be. Apparently, the four men see something compelling in Jesus – something that causes them to walk away from that which is so precious to follow him. For Simon and Andrew, the sacrifice is leaving their fishing net. For James and John, it is leaving their father, Zebedee.
These men did not seek to become Jesus’ disciples. They had not presented Jesus with their CVs. It was Jesus’ initiative, not theirs that resulted in their becoming Jesus’ followers. God chooses whom God chooses since the beginning of time.
Follow me and I will make you fish for people – the call is personal. An invitation by Jesus to follow him. Jesus calls Simon and Andrew, James and John to let go of everything that they know so that they can step out onto a pathway that he will show them- a pathway that he does not define for them in advance – a pathway that they will not understand until they have walked it. That is what discipleship involves – faith to step into the unknown, trusting Christ to leads us to the right destination.
Mark makes it clear that Jesus is calling these men to an evangelic task. They, like Jesus, are to proclaim the Good News- the Good News of the Kingdom of God – the Good News of Jesus Christ. These four men will invite people to make God their King and to submit to his reign.
We too are disciples of Jesus.
Like the first four disciples, we are called, invited by Jesus to follow him and to preach the Good News.
We are also called and given so many opportunities through the Sacraments and devotion to repent and believe in the Good News.
This passage of Mark’s Gospel raises the following questions for us
How readily do we accept the generous and privileged invitation by Jesus to repent and believe the Good News?
How prepared are we to step on to an undefined pathway trusting in Jesus to guide us and lead us to our destination?
How willing are we to follow in the footsteps of the first four disciples to proclaim the Good News and become fishers of people, even if it means having to give up something or everything to do so?
Especially at a time when we know that the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few!