THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS

Once a priest announced in the Church saying, “I have a hundred dollar preaching that will last only five minutes and a fifty dollar preaching that will last about forty minutes and a twenty-dollar preaching that will last about an hour, now let us take up the collection and see which one I am going to preach.

Once a fifty-dollar, a twenty-dollar and a luni were taking to each other. The fifty-dollar said, “My master is a great man. He takes me to movie place and big malls and I am so happy to go with him”. The twenty-dollar said, “My boss is also a good man, “He takes me to the city and big stores and I am so happy with him”. Then the luni said, “My master is a good man too… and I don’t understand him because he takes me only to church”.

1. From today’s gospel, we come to know three important things such as the blessing of the believer, the blessing of the unknown believer and what will happen to those who don’t share their spiritual gifts, knowledge and understanding.

2. The blessing of the believers:

The rich man in today’s gospel represents all the Pharisees, scribes and the chosen people. They were all given blessings upon blessings. Since God Himself chose them, everything was given to them. They enjoyed freedom and life; they enjoyed riches and happiness. Nothing was lacking in their life. They were blessed with everything. They experienced perfection and absolute happiness. They were given more of everything.

As we are chosen by God through His Son Jesus, we are also given special blessings to enjoy everything. Complete bliss and enlightenment is possible for us all in Jesus Christ our Lord. And Jesus Himself became the way, truth and the life for us. We all became children of God in Jesus.

3. The blessing of the unknown believer:

Lazarus in today’s gospel represents the gentiles or all unknown believers. Even though He didn’t know about the creator God or the God of Israel, he came to the rich man or the man who practices his faith, but he refused to share God’s blessings, love and kindness. But the man waited at the door longing to know about God but the believer gave nothing to him so God himself came down and blessed him abundantly. The unknown believer became so rich in faith and began to enjoy every spiritual gift but on the other hand the rich man lost everything and was disconnected from the love and kindness of God our father completely.

Conclusion:

Today’s gospel invites us to share our spiritual knowledge, wisdom and understanding; our spiritual blessings and gifts with those who are struggling to know the Father. It is our duty to give. As we give and share our spiritual gifts, they multiply as thirty, sixty and hundredfold. Yes, when we give our spiritual blessings, they will come back to us more and thus we will have more of everything. Amen.

THE LOST SHEEP

Once a man noticed another man having a banana in his ear. So he said, “hi… you have a banana in your ear”. The man didn’t hear. So he raised his voice and said, “Hi… you have a banana in your ear” Then the man turned and said, “please speak louder, I have a banana in my ear”.
Once in a famous restaurant in Toronto… Joke.
In today’s gospel , we meet with Jesus who is full of compassion and kind, we meet with Jesus who is full of love and merciful. Yes, we meet with Jesus who finds himself among the sinners , rejected, outcasts and unwanted.
1.Once two people were asked to recite the Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want…” The first man who was a powerful orator got up and recited the whole Psalm, and then everyone stood up and clapped their hands and cheered for him. Then the other man got up and repeated the same words saying, “The Lord is my Shepherd and there is nothing I shall want”. And this time, no one cheered and they were all sitting quietly in a devotional and prayerful mood. Then the orator got up and said, “I have a confession to make, “you should know the difference between this old man and I, “I only know the Psalm and this man knows the Shepherd”.
When we get closer to Jesus our Shepherd, then we will come to know how much He loves us , though we are weak and sinful. He came to save and give life to those who went away from the love and kindness of God our father.
2. One day a sheep saw a hole in the fence and he escaped through the hole. He wandered far and forgot his way back. Then he realized that he was being chased by a wolf. He ran and ran but the wolf was kept following him until the shepherd came and rescued him. Then he carried the sheep to the fold. After that his friends, family members and others came to him and asked to nail up the fence but he never did.
This is our Shepherd… Good shepherd who give us freedom and free will to choose between good and bad and between right and wrong. When we go away from Him and fall into sin, He recognizes our weaknesses saying, “I came for the one sheep that was lost”.
For our Lord Jesus Christ, the lost sheep is also a good sheep. He never dislikes the sinner but only the sin. Let us use our wisdom and knowledge; our freedom and free will to get closer to God our Father through our Good Shepherd Jesus Christ, Amen.