THE LOST SON; The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but

the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. So to them he addressed this parable.Then he said, A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me. So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his sense he thought, How many of my fathers hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers. So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son. But his father ordered his servants, Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found. Then the celebration began. Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf. The gospel reading is the popular story of the prodigal son and his loving father. The parable is a beautiful story of love, of the love of God for us. The merciful love of God is at hand. When one is lost and had gone astray, and found or has returned home, then the reason to celebrate is a must. For the lost is found and is restored in the fold.

The gospel is only found in Luke. We are all sinners and in one way or another had disobeyed God. The son in the gospel had displeased his father and his family very much when he asked from his father his share and went far way to squander the inheritance and the fortunes he got. Only then that the son realizes of his wrongdoings, his sins. It is very important to accept that one has wronged or hurt others. And the determination to correct what is good and correct. And so the son returned home to ask for his fathers forgiveness. He was forgiven and was restored in the family with his robe, ring and sandals, and a celebration where the fattened calf was slaughtered. It was a call for celebration because the father had received back his lost son, for he was dead and now had came back to life. But the jealous elder brother did not understand the feelings of the father, and the love of the father for his sons. The Lord Jesus had told this parable to the tax collectors and sinners and to the Pharisees and scribes who were questioning why the master welcomes the public sinners and dines with them. But the Lord has a different mindset for he comes not for the righteous but to those who shunned away and closed themselves to God. Today, the public sinners are very obvious, as well as the modern-day Pharisees and scribes. This is the mystery of Gods love. The Lord is always there for us in good times or in bad times, for his mercy is without end. Let us pause, pray, reflect and ask ourselves: Am I like the prodigal son? Am I like the jealous elder brother? Am I like the loving father who welcomes anyone even if he/ she had done wrong? Do I celebrate the loving mercy of God and his goodness?

Fame and fortune are fleeting, and, like the wind, they will all pass away. There is no substance to a life full of riches and empty possessions. We must, as Christians, always strive to do good; always reaching to those who need a kind word, a helpful hand, a friendly thought. These gifts are of God, and they will never fade away. The seasons of our lives hold steps in the plan God has for us. To live our lives for the Lord means taking each step as it comes; bearing our crosses of life, in order that we may accept our eternal crown of glory in heaven. Yes, there is a time and a place for everything, and only God, our Father knows what the outcome will be. His plan was carried out in the earthly life, death, and resurrection of his own Son, and it continues on in each of us. We must focus our lives on this journey with God. On the road of life with Him, God will reveal to us the proper time and place for the fulfilling of His plan. All that is required of us is to serve our brothers, and live our lives in the Light

of His Teachings; as good and true examples of His Goodness, His Mercy, and His Love. The tangible goods of this world are not all necessities for human survival, and there is no point in an excess of these things. Our inner beings, on the other hand, must seek the untouchable, i.e., the virtues that make us rich in our souls, and full of the gifts of our God, Most High. We are all, in truth, little children in this enormous world; unfortunately, many of us choose a life without God. These choices bring about actions of pride, selfishness, and feelings of superiority over others. In essence, we create the type of world we live in by the ways in which we conduct ourselves. A charitable heart will always reach out to others, granting them comfort in their time of desperation. Charity accompanies Love in our lives. If you are truly a loving human being, you are also charitable; giving of self, no matter what the cost, for the good and well-being of others. We must pray always for Gods precious gifts of love, that we may radiate His goodness to this vast world in which we live. What is today belongs to the present, but what yet to come is not known. Even with our advanced technology of today, we are still unsure of all that will be in our future. For who can predict the course of events of their personal lifetimes, or the lifetimes of others, for that matter. Our destiny, our fate, what is to come of us...all of these questions are unanswerable by our human nature. Our minds are unable to solve the mystery of Gods plans for us, but we do have the ability to live graced by the gifts of Jesus Christ. We do know this much: Jesus Christ became a man, came to earth, and preached the Good News of the Kingdom. It was our sinfulness that crucified Him on the Cross, our sins for which He bled and died. There is no greater love than this, and Our Savior bore the burden of our failures and wrongdoings in His battered, broken body. Christ broke the chains of death in His dying and rising to new life, and we, the little children of the world, now celebrate this freedom. Jesus now lives in the hearts of mankind, and He radiates his love in the hearts of those who welcome Him, and hunger for Him in their souls. You can see Him in the hearts of those who long for his goodness, and all of us have the opportunity to experience more of Him in our lives, by serving our brothers, and through prayer, and quiet time...with Him.
TEN MINAS; The parable of the ten minas (pounds, in the NRSV translation) is set in the workplace of high finance. A rich and soon to be powerful nobleman goes on an extended trip to be crowned king. Most of his

people hate him, and send word ahead that they oppose this coronation (Luke 19:14). In his absence, he assigns three of his servants to invest his money. Two of them take the risk of investing their masters money. They earn handsome returns. A third servant is afraid to take the risk, so he puts the money in a safe place. It earns no return. When the master returns, he has become king of the whole territory. He rewards the two servants who made money for him, promoting them to high positions of their own. He punishes the servant who kept the money safe but unproductive. Then he commands that all who opposed him be killed in his presence. Jesus tells this parable immediately before going to Jerusalem, where he is to be crowned king (Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, Luke 19:38), but soon is rejected by his people. This identifies Jesus with the nobleman in the parable, and the crowd shouting Crucify him! (Luke 23:21) with the people in the parable who oppose the noblemans coronation. By this we know that the people have profoundly misjudged their soon-to-be king, except for the two servants who work diligently in his absence. The parable, in this context, warns us that we must decide if Jesus is indeed Gods appointed king, and be prepared to abide the consequences of our decision either to serve him or oppose him.[1] This parable makes explicit that citizens of Gods kingdom are responsible to work towards Gods goals and purposes. In this parable, the king tells his servants directly what he expects them to do, namely to invest his money. This specific calling or command makes it clear that preaching, healing and evangelism (the Apostles callings) are not the only things God calls people to do. Of course, not everyone in Gods kingdom is called to be an investor, either. In this parable, only three of the countrys residents are called to be investors. The point is that acknowledging Jesus as king requires working towards his purposes in whatever field of work you do. Seen in this light, the parable suggests if we choose to accept Jesus as king, we must expect to lead risky lives. The servants who invested the masters money faced the risk of being attacked by those around them who rejected the masters authority. And they faced the risk of disappointing their master by making investments that might lose money. Even their success exposes them to risk. Now that they have tasted success and been promoted, they risk becoming greedy or power-mad. They face the risk that their next investments which will involve much greater sums will fail and expose them to much more severe consequences. In Anglo-American business (and sports) practice, CEOs (and head coaches) are routinely fired for mediocre results, whereas those in lower-level positions are only fired for exceptionally poor performance. Neither failure nor success is safe in this parable, or in todays workplace. It is tempting to duck for cover and search for a safe way of accommodating to the system while waiting for things to get better. But ducking for cover is the one action Jesus condemns in the parable. The servant who tries to avoid risk is singled out as unfaithful. We are not told what would have happened if the other two servants had lost money on their investments, but the implication is that all investments made in faithful service to God are pleasing to him, whether or not they achieve their intended payoff. THE MERCIFUL SERVANT;

Peter sounds like that eager student hopingand expectingto gain approval from the teacher. Peter assumes that all of the other people would only be willing to forgive once or twice. After all, we dont want to be a doormat and let people take advantage of us. So when Peter asks, as many as seven times?, he is expecting Jesus to pat him on the head and compliment him on his generosity of spirit. Picture Peters face when Jesus tells him that seven times isnt anywhere near sufficientit is more like seventy-seven times. He is crestfallen. Seventy-seven? It is easy to miss the depth of Jesus response if we focus on the numbers. Peter was thinking that getting to seven would be hard, but eight would be too many. In response, Jesus tells Peter he isnt even close. But Jesus isnt really saying that when you get to time seventy-eight, you then have permission to be unforgiving. Rather, Jesus tells Peter that if you understand the depth of Gods forgiving love, and respond with forgiveness, you will no longer be counting how many times you need to forgive. Forgiveness for a Christian is a way of life rather than merely an occasional event. It reshapes our thoughts, our actions, and our emotions. After answering Peter, Jesus then proceeds to tell a parable about an unforgiving servantsomeone who receives forgiveness for an extraordinary debt only to then go out and hold someone else accountable for a much smaller debt. The parable is straightforward to understand, yet hard to embody. Given what God has done for us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, forgiving us of all of our sin, it would be inconceivable for us not to forgive our brother or our sister from our heart for much smaller sins. Yet in practice, it happens all of the timeperhaps because we havent really absorbed the extravagance of Gods forgiving love, and because people do habitually continue to sin against us (and we against them). Yet, even when it is challenging in specific circumstances, we are called as Christians to make forgiveness our way of life, for all of our life.

ECCLESIASTES; Fame and fortune are fleeting, and, like the wind, they will all pass away. There is no substance to a life full of riches and empty possessions. We must, as Christians, always strive to do good; always reaching to those who need a kind word, a helpful hand, a friendly thought. These gifts are of God, and they will never fade away. The seasons of our lives hold steps in the plan God has for us. To live our lives for the Lord means taking each step as it comes; bearing our crosses of life, in order that we may accept our eternal crown of glory in heaven. Yes, there is a time and a place for everything, and only God, our Father knows what the outcome will be. His plan was carried out in the earthly life, death, and resurrection of his own Son, and it continues on in each of us. We must focus our lives on this journey with God. On the road of life with Him, God will reveal to us the proper time and place for the fulfilling of His plan. All that is required of us is to serve our brothers, and live our lives in the Light of His Teachings; as good and true examples of His Goodness, His Mercy, and His Love.

The tangible goods of this world are not all necessities for human survival, and there is no point in an excess of these things. Our inner beings, on the other hand, must seek the untouchable, i.e., the virtues that make us rich in our souls, and full of the gifts of our God, Most High. We are all, in truth, little children in this enormous world; unfortunately, many of us choose a life without God. These choices bring about actions of pride, selfishness, and feelings of superiority over others. In essence, we create the type of world we live in by the ways in which we conduct ourselves. A charitable heart will always reach out to others, granting them comfort in their time of desperation. Charity accompanies Love in our lives. If you are truly a loving human being, you are also charitable; giving of self, no matter what the cost, for the good and well-being of others. We must pray always for Gods precious gifts of love, that we may radiate His goodness to this vast world in which we live. What is today belongs to the present, but what yet to come is not known. Even with our advanced technology of today, we are still unsure of all that will be in our future. For who can predict the course of events of their personal lifetimes, or the lifetimes of others, for that matter. Our destiny, our fate, what is to come of us...all of these questions are unanswerable by our human nature. Our minds are unable to solve the mystery of Gods plans for us, but we do have the ability to live graced by the gifts of Jesus Christ. We do know this much: Jesus Christ became a man, came to earth, and preached the Good News of the Kingdom. It was our sinfulness that crucified Him on the Cross, our sins for which He bled and died. There is no greater love than this, and Our Savior bore the burden of our failures and wrongdoings in His battered, broken body. Christ broke the chains of death in His dying and rising to new life, and we, the little children of the world, now celebrate this freedom.

Jesus now lives in the hearts of mankind, and He radiates his love in the hearts of those who welcome Him, and hunger for Him in their souls. You can see Him in the hearts of those who long for his goodness, and all of us have the opportunity to experience more of Him in our lives, by serving our brothers, and through prayer, and quiet time...with Him.