One of the most pleasant and refreshing pictures of Jesus I have seen is the one of Jesus walking while carrying a lost sheep over his shoulders. It shows a close bonding between a man and his sheep, between man and animal, between man and nature. Now I suppose the artist has based his master piece on this parable in the bible:-
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them- what do you do? You leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it. When you find it, you are so happy that you put it on your shoulders and carry it back home. Then you call all your friends and neighbors together and say to them “I am so happy I found my lost sheep. Let us celebrate! In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent” – Luke 15: 4-7.
Jesus was a great Teacher. If he is right then, from the parable above:-
a. There is a God.
b. We are sinners.
c. We are lost.
d. There is a heaven.
e. God is consistently looking to bring us back to His Kingdom.
f. There will be great joy in heaven when one sinner repents.
g. God loves the sinner and seeks the sinner vigorously.
How often do our lives revolve around status oriented accumulation and conspicuous consumption? How often are we daily massaged by a hyperactive consumerist vision to see and measure everything in life in terms of money – even time is now considered money. If we do not have enough money we feel inferior, mediocre- unhappy and a loss of self esteem. We worry about how to pay the bills and lose sleep. We get irritable, annoyed, intolerant and restless. We cannot see clearly as we are blinded by our wrong vision. We are truly lost sheep when we live for the trinity of money, sex and power. Jesus taught that anxiety about this trinity is a waste of time and distracts us from what matters most – the bringing about of the kingdom and the righteousness of God which will bring all round true happiness, satisfaction and rejoicing in the world. This is the true ideal of life, and ideal we must strive for at all costs even at the price of death. And how do we enter into this Kingdom here on earth? By following the values taught by Jesus:-
Be humble and thirst for truth and righteousness, be merciful, be pure in heart, be a peacemaker, be willing to joyfully suffer persecution and insult for doing what is right.
Be the salt and light of the world – by doing good works.
Do not hate or indulge in anger, but instead seek to reconcile.
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them- what do you do? You leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it. When you find it, you are so happy that you put it on your shoulders and carry it back home. Then you call all your friends and neighbors together and say to them “I am so happy I found my lost sheep. Let us celebrate! In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent” – Luke 15: 4-7.
Jesus was a great Teacher. If he is right then, from the parable above:-
a. There is a God.
b. We are sinners.
c. We are lost.
d. There is a heaven.
e. God is consistently looking to bring us back to His Kingdom.
f. There will be great joy in heaven when one sinner repents.
g. God loves the sinner and seeks the sinner vigorously.
How often do our lives revolve around status oriented accumulation and conspicuous consumption? How often are we daily massaged by a hyperactive consumerist vision to see and measure everything in life in terms of money – even time is now considered money. If we do not have enough money we feel inferior, mediocre- unhappy and a loss of self esteem. We worry about how to pay the bills and lose sleep. We get irritable, annoyed, intolerant and restless. We cannot see clearly as we are blinded by our wrong vision. We are truly lost sheep when we live for the trinity of money, sex and power. Jesus taught that anxiety about this trinity is a waste of time and distracts us from what matters most – the bringing about of the kingdom and the righteousness of God which will bring all round true happiness, satisfaction and rejoicing in the world. This is the true ideal of life, and ideal we must strive for at all costs even at the price of death. And how do we enter into this Kingdom here on earth? By following the values taught by Jesus:-
Be humble and thirst for truth and righteousness, be merciful, be pure in heart, be a peacemaker, be willing to joyfully suffer persecution and insult for doing what is right.
Be the salt and light of the world – by doing good works.
Do not hate or indulge in anger, but instead seek to reconcile.
Do no lust or be sexually unfaithful in your heart.
Do not presume to make vows but have simple speech, where yes means yes and no means no.
Do not get revenge, but find a creative and non violent ways to overcome evil done to you.
Love your enemies, as God does and be generous to everyone as God is.
Give to the poor, pray and fast secretly.
Don’t let greed cloud your outlook but store up treasure in heaven through generosity.
Don’t worry about your own daily needs but instead trust yourself to God’s care (have faith) and seek God kingdom of righteousness first and foremost and vigorously.
Do not presume to make vows but have simple speech, where yes means yes and no means no.
Do not get revenge, but find a creative and non violent ways to overcome evil done to you.
Love your enemies, as God does and be generous to everyone as God is.
Give to the poor, pray and fast secretly.
Don’t let greed cloud your outlook but store up treasure in heaven through generosity.
Don’t worry about your own daily needs but instead trust yourself to God’s care (have faith) and seek God kingdom of righteousness first and foremost and vigorously.
Don’t judge others but instead work on your own blindness.
Go to God with all your needs, knowing that God is a caring Father.
Do to others as you would them do to you.
Don’t be misled by religious talk, what counts is actually living the teaching.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal but store yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.
You cannot serve two masters; you cannot serve both God (truth and righteousness) and money.
Renounce. Forget yourself, take up your cross follow the teachings.
Go to God with all your needs, knowing that God is a caring Father.
Do to others as you would them do to you.
Don’t be misled by religious talk, what counts is actually living the teaching.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal but store yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.
You cannot serve two masters; you cannot serve both God (truth and righteousness) and money.
Renounce. Forget yourself, take up your cross follow the teachings.
He who loves his life will lose it. He who loses his life for the sake of the Kingdom will find it.
And the great Teacher makes this promise:-
“Therefore take no THOUGHT, saying “what shall we eat” or “what shall we drink” or “what shall we wear” (for all these things to the Gentiles seek) for your Heavenly Father knows that you need these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things WILL be added to you”- Matt 6: 31-33.
Now the great but pauper artist Vincent Van Gogh had this to say about Jesus:-
Christ alone... has affirmed as a principal certainty, eternal life, the infinity of time, the nothingness of death, the necessity and the raison d'être of serenity and devotion. He lived serenely, as a greater artist than all other artists, despising marble and clay as well as color, working in living flesh. That is to say, this matchless artist... made neither statues nor pictures nor books; he loudly proclaimed that he made... living men, immortals.
I am convinced, like Van Gogh, that if we repent from the errors of our ways and live the teachings of Jesus, if we would make his words, so to speak…our flesh (‘and the word became flesh, full of grace and truth- John 1:14), we would have true peace of mind and we would become living men… immortals. Then there will be great rejoicing and celebration in heaven.
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