Learn! Change!

We can learn from the sins of the past. We can shape our future by doing what is right now.

47 Woe to you! for you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed.

48 So you are witnesses and consent to the deeds of your fathers; for they killed them, and you build their tombs.

49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, `I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,'

50 that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation,

51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechari'ah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it shall be required of this generation.

52 Woe to you lawyers! for you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering."

53 As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard, and to provoke him to speak of many things,

54 lying in wait for him, to catch at something he might say.-Luke11:47-52

The problem with the generation of Jesus was, they believed they learned from the past (i.e. rejection of the prophets) yet they did not believe in Jesus. Ironic isn't it? The manifestation that they learned from their past was the memorial or tomb they built for the prophets. But the last prophet of the Old, but still in Jesus' generation - John the Baptist - still suffered the persecutions, rejection and cold-heartedness of the Pharisees and other leaders. The prophesied-Messiah, Jesus, also suffered the rejection, cold-heartedness and persecution of His generation.

Last night, I was watching a "Stream" segment in Al Jazeera about abortion, and it made me remember a few points. Long ago, families, especially mothers, cry when their babies were selected as offering to the gods.

And if we look back at some of the reports about ISIS, we shed tears for the men who were beheaded without any trial. Going back to the abortion issue, I winced and felt disgusted when I heard pro-abortion women speak of "safe abortion." How can an abortion be safe when there is life being killed? I was really impressed when a pro-life lawyer said that "any being with life has rights" and abortion is not just about the ladies or women only but also "about the baby/fetus in the womb." Come to think of it, if a woman demands the right to abortion, a baby/fetus actually can demand the right to live as well. If a woman has the right to ask a lawyer, a baby/fetus has the right to justice as well by virtue that the baby/fetus has life, has human features, very INNOCENT, and is a yet to come citizen. If a child cries in an alley, it melts our hearts. If a baby can cry and beg inside the womb, asking to be spared from abortion, will it not melt hearts? Why is it that it is easy to be compassionate to a soldier beheaded by the ISIS, and not with innocent babies who cannot cry loud enough inside the womb before and during abortion? Why only feel compassion to the women, and not to the baby/fetus? Abortion is very much the same with child-sacrifice. The barbarism of the past is still the barbarism of today.

They said, "History repeats itself." But we can learn from our past sinfulness, and shape our future by doing what is God's will now. The fault of Jesus' generation is seemingly their lack of comprehension about the mistakes of the past, and their rejection of the Messiah Jesus. Since His time until now, Jesus is constantly inviting us to look back in our past. Not to relish on our sinfulness but to learn from it. The cross is not just a reminder of the atrocities done to Jesus, but it is also a reminder to all of us of our indirect participation in Jesus' sufferings through our sinfulness. The more we sin, the more painful it is for Jesus. Yes, He died for our sins and through the cross, extended eternal salvation to us too. The question is, is it a ticket for us to continuously sin? Do we really have to commit sin over and over again? Can't we choose the better part?

Photo courtesy: Ezekiel's tomb, DavinaFaerie, unknown artist