STRONGHOLD!

Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9

That same day, Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the shore, and he told them many things in parables.

He said, 'Listen, a sower went out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up at once, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Anyone who has ears should listen!'

***

Choose to See

Gospel, Matthew 11:25-27

At that time Jesus exclaimed, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children.

Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do.

 
Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

***

Pick Up Your Sleeping Mat

Gospel, John 5: 1-3, 5-6

After this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem next to the Sheep Pool there is a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew, which has five porticos; and under these were crowds of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed.

One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in that condition for a long time, he said, 'Do you want to be well again?'

'Sir,' replied the sick man, 'I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets down there before me.'

Jesus said, 'Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around.'

The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and started to walk around. Now that day happened to be the Sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, 'It is the Sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.'

He replied, 'But the man who cured me told me, "Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around." '

They asked, 'Who is the man who said to you, "Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around"? '

The man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared, as the place was crowded.

After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, 'Now you are well again, do not sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.'

The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. It was because he did things like this on the Sabbath that the Jews began to harass Jesus.

***

"Pick up your sleeping mat and walk."

Where are you right now? At the library? Internet Shop? Boarding house? Your house? Canteen? Office? On your bed? Restaurant with free wifi?

Today's gospel reminds us that no matter where we are right now, God wants us to pick or fix up our own sleeping mat and walk. And when I say "sleeping mat," I am referring to our own worries, problems and all. And when I say "walk," I am referring to the act of spreading, shouting and proclaiming His greatness, His victories, His mighty, His love for us unto the world.

Just as Jesus Christ healed the old man who is paralyzed for 38 years, He has also healed and saved us from our sins and problems which paralyzed and prevented us not to be grateful for how many years also. God wants us now to be braver as much as we can.

Be brave. Be healed. Pick up your own "sleeping mat." Stand firm with faith. Walk. Proclaim His love. :)