Rejoicing Heart

There is another morning for every evening.

20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
21 When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world.
22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name.-John16:20-23

Nothing lasts forever. When a mother is in labor, the pain seems forever and almost 50% of her body is buried in the ground. Like her, though we find ourselves in deep trouble, in extreme suffering, or endless hopelessness and despair, yet one day, it will all end. And when it does end, there is only happiness, rejoicing and gratitude that we have surpassed the test and emerged as better persons and much stronger. Above all, we have learned and have grown closer to God.

Image courtesy: artist

Rejoicing in the Mountain

They came down happy and satisfied.

29 And Jesus went on from there and passed along the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain, and sat down there.

30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the dumb, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them,

31 so that the throng wondered, when they saw the dumb speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; and I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."

33 And the disciples said to him, "Where are we to get bread enough in the desert to feed so great a crowd?"

34 And Jesus said to them, "How many loaves have you?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish."

35 And commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground,

36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

37 And they all ate and were satisfied; and they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over.-Matthew15:29-37

When the people came up the mountain, each person is in need of something. The blind would like to see. The lame would like to walk. The maimed would like to be made whole again. The dumb would like to speak. There are others who would like to be free of their infirmities, sickness both inside and out. Not only did Jesus cured them, He gave them food to satisfy their hunger. Perhaps not only did Jesus satisfy their physical hunger but also their spiritual hunger.

Last year, I felt the feelings of the people when they went up the mountain in search for Jesus. I was broken myself and need healing and salvation. Now, I felt the happiness and joy of the people as they come down the mountain for I, myself, have been given a miracle too.

Like the people, we sometimes feel like climbing a mountain as we search for healing or answers to our questions. And once we reached the peak and been given what we asked for, we come down rejoicing. Jesus is inviting us to never stop praying and hoping for miracles in our lives. And once blessed, we should never forget to thank Him for His generosity.

Image courtesy: Walkingasturias, and artist

The one who returned

Did you forget?

11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a] met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”-Luke17:11-19

In times of difficulty, we cry aloud to God. And because we need His mercy, all the more that we are sensitive to Him or His message. Sometimes we interpreted certain things as a message from Him. Example, if a person suffers in bankruptcy, and he sees a message that says, "God will give you your heart's deepest desire," most likely the man would assume that God just solved his bankruptcy. Yes, we are so attuned to God in times of difficulty.

But, when we are joyful, in abundance or God just granted our heart's desires, we forget Him. We are so drunk by joy and gladness that we forgot about Him. We thought of the happy days ahead, the reunion with family, the bonding with friends, the welcome of community and so many things, except a little "Thank You, Lord." This happens most of the time.

Once there was a soul who came to Heaven. In a certain chamber marked "Supplication," many throngs of angels are busy. So many angels and so busy. Moving on in another chamber, the soul saw one angel. The angel is bored, sleepy and nothing to work on. The soul asked, "What is your work?" The angel said, "I'm in charge of receiving the "Thank you" messages of the people to God. Sometimes the messages come. Sometimes there's none at all."

Supposing that the nine lepers were simply following Jesus' instruction of presenting themselves to the priests. Can we say that their action is indeed forgivable since they merely obeyed? For me, a simple "Thank You, Jesus" is not so much to ask. I believe Jesus wouldn't feel disobeyed if they returned to thank Him because gratitude is the language of love also. And love is God. Supposing that the nine lepers went to Jerusalem so that the lengthy ritual of purification could begin and end as soon as possible, and the Samaritan leper did not actually need this purification ritual - being a foreigner - that's why he had the time to go back to Jesus to thank Him. Can we say that the nine lepers' actions, as well as the lone Samaritan leper's actions, explain it all? No. Being a Samaritan with no business with Jews, he can actually just go home, forget the purification and Jesus. But, he thanked Jesus. Jews are more expected to be grateful since another Jew healed them. But, they didn't. Note the difference. The one with no business with Jews, thanked Jesus who is a Jew. The nine Jews, did not thank Jesus who is a Jew.

Jesus is inviting us all to speak, think and act the language of love. The language of love - which is God - also includes gratitude. Jesus does not demand much when we express our gratitude to Him. Sometimes, all that He ask is a simple "Thank You, Lord."

Image courtesy: J. Steel (10 Lepers), various artists