Jesus told his disciples before He was crucified: "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lays down his life for hid friends" (Jn.15: 13). The Greek is much stronger: "No one has greater love than the one that sacrifices his soul for his friends." The text implies that such a friend will go to hell to save his friends. These were the strongest words Jesus spoke and they indicate how important the soul of a human being is in the eyes of God. Jesus set the example himself and His sacrifice became the heart of Christianity. Christians are called upon to give their lives and not take lives (Mt.16: 24-28).

Jesus once said, "he who is not scandalized because of me, is blessed"(Mt.11: 6). Our English versions have "not offended in me" or "not fall away because of me." John the Baptist may have been offended and may have lost faith in Jesus; but the issue may have been much more serious. It seems to me that John felt he was being ridiculed and ashamed of a Messiah that was not delivering him from jail. He felt that he was being scandalized because he had great hope in Jesus. John had become confused and uneasy to be identified with Jesus.

Our English translation has Jesus tell his disciples: "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt.5: 48). It is a bit strong for ordinary human beings. The two Greek words "teleioi and teleios" are much milder. Martin Luther used the concept of completeness or fullness. The Greek does not mean that man can be as perfect as God is, rather it means that man can lead a whole or complete life that is acceptable to God. Man completes himself in what he does for God. He cannot serve God with his spirit and not with his body. Unfortunately, the body cannot keep up with the spirit.

For centuries the Jewish people waited for the Messiah and when God sent them a person and the messenger to announce Him, it is the messenger who wants to know, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else" (Mt.11: 3)? This was not just the Baptist's feeling but for most of the people, including Jesus' disciples. Jesus had put all of them in doubt. It would take some time for the new religion to take shape and make sense. Why did the work of Jesus become dubious?

The encounter between David and Goliath was and still is provocative (I Sam.17). It was then and even more so today about killing the giant. The Philistines negotiated from strength and the Hebrews from weakness. Samuel implanted into David the idea that he was special and that he was in league with Jehovah. He therefore could challenge a giant and defeat him. It was not Jehovah that made the sling and threw the stone that knocked out Goliath. It was David, believing that God was with him.

Isaiah was instructed to tell his people, "You hear but do not understand; you see but you do not grasp. It is because you have hardened your hearts, plugged your ears and closed your eyes so that you do not have to repent and be healed" (Isa.6: 9-10). Jesus appealed in like manner to His generation nearly 800 years later (Mt.13: 13-15) and added that He had come to heal them (Jn.12: 40). The same blindness that had fallen over Isaiah's generation (29: 10) was plaguing Paul's generation (Ro.11: 8, 10). Are we, in the Twenty-first Century, plagued by a similar blindness?

It is the order in which things occurred. It is basic to studying and understanding the New Testament. When we turn to the New Testament in the Bible, we meet the Gospel of Matthew and assume that it was written first. In reality, Paul wrote first, the letters to the Thessalonians and ended from prison with Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and two letters to Timothy. He became a Christian while on the road to Damascus. He was introduced to Ananias, a disciple of Jesus. Next, he sought out his cousin Barnabas in Jerusalem, who introduced Paul to Peter and the leaders (Ac: 9). He spent some 14 years in isolation searching the Old Testament so he could defend Jesus as the Messiah (Gal.1: 11-2:5). At that time, the written Gospels were still in the making. Paul motivated his companion Luke, a physician, to write the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. His disagreement with John Mark may have triggered the writing of the Gospel of Mark (Ac.13: 13). Scholars regard Mark as having been groomed by Peter (Ac.12: 12). It is believed that Jesus had his last meal in his mother's home and that he also knew the Lord.

Recently, our Pastor characterized the older brother of the Prodigal as being worse off than his lost brother. It reminded me of the days of my youth. I was always a Christian and a believer; yet, I felt lost. I, too, could not make out with my father and left home three times. My need was not for being saved again, but for being merciful so that I could receive mercy from my father. It would take me a decade to learn that lesson. This was precisely the problem of the older son. He was not lost, neither were the 99 pennies or the 99 sheep (Lk.15). He, like so many Christians - myself included, found or find it difficult to forgive those that left us holding the bag and then show up as if nothing has ever happened. Forgiveness is the second most important message regarding the Prodigal. No one can be reinstated into the family without forgiveness. For that reason, the father pleaded with the older son (Ja.5: 19-20).

It is the inherent ability in us to bounce back or recover from what is humanly possible and lead our life in a totally different direction. John offered the following, "Children, with God in you, you have already overcome; for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (I Jn.4: 4, Greek).

The tinny ant said to the man, "to understand us you must become one of us." The man replied, "that is impossible and it is beyond our ability." "That is strange," countered the ant. "You can fly to the moon and explain how the world came into being. You used natural phenomena, like wind and earthquakes, to account for Noah's flood and the Exodus. Yet, you cannot communicate with us? In reality you humans are as limited in your world as we ants are in ours. There is no difference between your human hill and our anthill. Is there?"