Reflections of a beloved son

“Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.” Matthew 12:1 When Jesus and His disciples were traveling on the road, His disciples got hungry and so they plucked some grain to eat. The Pharisees got on their case and asked Jesus why His followers were doing things that went against the law. Picking the grains was not unlawful it was doing it on the Sabbath that was unlawful. But the Sabbath was made for man not the other way around. The whole point of the Sabbath was to rest in the Lord to praise Him and thank Him for all that He has done in our lives, and here the disciples were with Jesus, walking with Him – they were resting with the Lord, doing what was intended for the Sabbath. Sometimes we can get caught up in the fine details and lose sight of the bigger picture. When we nitpick the small things we forget the important things. The important thing is that we rest in the Lord on the Sabbat...

“Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus,  and when they saw him  they begged him to leave their district.” Matthew 8:34 When Jesus did the people a favor by driving the demons out and into pigs, the people were unhappy and asked Him to leave. Instead of rejoicing that evil has been driven out the people were worried and upset over losing pigs, which probably did cost them some money and food. What are the priorities here?   What are the priorities in your life? For the people in the Gospel passage material wealth was more important than their spiritual and overall well being. They would rather have had demons among them than to have lost some profits. If we have our priorities out of order our lives will also be out of sorts. This is an invitation to evaluate your priorities. Where does God stand in our lives?   You are first in God’s list.   How about you?

When Jesus went to His friend, Lazarus' home his two sisters, Mary and Martha played host.  Martha was busy cleaning the house and preparing foods while Mary was entertaining and keeping Jesus company.  Martha seemingly got a bit annoyed and asked if Jesus was going to tell Mary to help her.  Jesus said "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.  There is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her."  Our Lord validates Martha in what she was doing, but also challenges her to see things a little differently.  It is important to clean the house and prepare the food, but it is also important to be with your guest - the entire reason for the cleaning and cooking.  Jesus wasn't saying to abandon the cleaning and cooking, but maybe to prioritize more accordingly.  I often find myself doing the same thing - tidying up the house, washing the dishes, clearing the table, etc, and no...