In Luke 9:18-20:Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’
They answered, ‘John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.’
He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’
Jesus is asking us the same thing today
Jesus is not interested on what your parents say about Him, what your parish priests say about Him, what your friends say about Him.
Jesus is interested in you. Today He is asking each one of you, "who do you say that I am?"
Do we dare to say, "You are the Messiah, Son of The Living God"? Do we say it from our heart? Or do we say it because our parents said so? Because our friends said so? Or because our parish priest said so?
I am convinced that no amount of hearing or reading stuffs about theologies, how Jesus saves us, about repenting and believing in the good news, will be able to touch any of us here.
Only our own experience of Jesus can touch our hearts, how we have experienced the mercy and love of Jesus.
Right now, try to recall a time when you felt really depressed with your life.
Did you get angry at your friends? Did you experience losing your peaceful life because you refuse to forgive? Did you say to yourself , "I do not need anybody. I do not want to be hurt anymore so I might as well just close myself?" Did you console yourself with pornography, games, or other addictions to sustain you in your loneliness, which makes you slowly forget how to love?
At those times, remember that Jesus is always there. He loves you as you are.
In the presence of Jesus, your past mistakes and your sins don't matter anymore. He has paid for them on the cross 2000 years ago. Believe that you are free, no longer enslaved to the chains of sin.
However, to be free without Jesus is impossible. It's like you just escaped from a prison. After the news spread out, the prison guards would stop you with all their might. They would dispatch spotlights, helicopters, watch dogs, everything to get you back and keep you imprisoned.
In the midst of your worries, Jesus comes to offer you a lift. But He needs your approval. Would you follow Him and be free? Or would you rather go back to the prison of sin?
Would you take pride and say, "I can do this by myself," or be humble and say to Him, "Lord Jesus, I cannot go through this alone. Please help me."
If you choose to be humble and let Him help you, then congratulations! You just started a personal journey with Jesus; a journey of truth and righteousness, where you will be facing a lot more troubles.
Yes, a lot more troubles, since your focus now is not to please humans, but to please Jesus. Yes, You might find a hard time to keep up with His standard. Then people might mock you, "Since when are so holy yah?" You might be troubled and depressed. Moreover, you'll keep falling. Not once, but a lot of times, over and over again.
But why do we keep getting up and follow Him?
Let us take a look at His disciples' lives: Simon Peter and Judas Iscariot.
Peter is so blessed. He baptized thousands of people, he becomes the first pope, he was given the key of heaven, and his life inspires a lot of people until today.
on the contrary, Judas killed himself, and we might still be condemning him by today.
What is the difference between them?
They are both great sinners. They both betrayed Jesus. Peter, by denying Him. And Judas, by selling Him. The difference lies in the choices they made. Peter chose to keep following Jesus, believing in His mercy and love; so he became as we have heard today.
I believe that if Judas did the same, not to live in guilt and kill himself, he could have been a saint by today; to be as great as God wants him to be.
Same things apply to us. The difference lies in our decision.
So reject sin. Choose Jesus instead :)
Amen.
Only our own experience of Jesus can touch our hearts, how we have experienced the mercy and love of Jesus.
Right now, try to recall a time when you felt really depressed with your life.
Did you get angry at your friends? Did you experience losing your peaceful life because you refuse to forgive? Did you say to yourself , "I do not need anybody. I do not want to be hurt anymore so I might as well just close myself?" Did you console yourself with pornography, games, or other addictions to sustain you in your loneliness, which makes you slowly forget how to love?
At those times, remember that Jesus is always there. He loves you as you are.
In the presence of Jesus, your past mistakes and your sins don't matter anymore. He has paid for them on the cross 2000 years ago. Believe that you are free, no longer enslaved to the chains of sin.
However, to be free without Jesus is impossible. It's like you just escaped from a prison. After the news spread out, the prison guards would stop you with all their might. They would dispatch spotlights, helicopters, watch dogs, everything to get you back and keep you imprisoned.
In the midst of your worries, Jesus comes to offer you a lift. But He needs your approval. Would you follow Him and be free? Or would you rather go back to the prison of sin?
Would you take pride and say, "I can do this by myself," or be humble and say to Him, "Lord Jesus, I cannot go through this alone. Please help me."
If you choose to be humble and let Him help you, then congratulations! You just started a personal journey with Jesus; a journey of truth and righteousness, where you will be facing a lot more troubles.
Yes, a lot more troubles, since your focus now is not to please humans, but to please Jesus. Yes, You might find a hard time to keep up with His standard. Then people might mock you, "Since when are so holy yah?" You might be troubled and depressed. Moreover, you'll keep falling. Not once, but a lot of times, over and over again.
But why do we keep getting up and follow Him?
Let us take a look at His disciples' lives: Simon Peter and Judas Iscariot.
Peter is so blessed. He baptized thousands of people, he becomes the first pope, he was given the key of heaven, and his life inspires a lot of people until today.
on the contrary, Judas killed himself, and we might still be condemning him by today.
What is the difference between them?
They are both great sinners. They both betrayed Jesus. Peter, by denying Him. And Judas, by selling Him. The difference lies in the choices they made. Peter chose to keep following Jesus, believing in His mercy and love; so he became as we have heard today.
I believe that if Judas did the same, not to live in guilt and kill himself, he could have been a saint by today; to be as great as God wants him to be.
Same things apply to us. The difference lies in our decision.
So reject sin. Choose Jesus instead :)
Amen.
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