[media presentation below] GospelThink Monday, January 22 MARK 3:22-30 You must beware of the evil in this world. Prayerthoughts a. There are many references to the devil or Beelzebul or demons in the Gospels. In my opinion, what is the number one evil in the world today, and what can I do about it? b. Jesus is answering the accusation that He is a demon, and speaking of kingdom and houses divided. The image is one to think about personally. Have I deliberately divided my family or acquaintances by bringing about evil in any way? c. Jesus’s words of binding up a strong man in order to take his property suggest the possibility that I have deliberately “bound” up leaders in our society by my words. Perhaps I should look at my criticisms of people in government to make sure that I am looking for the truth and not my own biases. d. Jesus makes it clear that all sins and blasphemies will be forgiven. If I want forgiveness for my sins, Jesus will give it to me. Do I feel as though I am completely forgiven of all my sins and do I thank God for His mercy? e. The sin “against the Holy Spirit” is simply giving ourselves completely to evil. I obviously am trying not to do that, given my meditation on these Gospels, but there is some evil in my life; have I sufficiently asked for forgiveness? f. My prayerthoughts…   Today, I will list the top three evils in the world in my opinion, and what I can do about them. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy  THINKING ABOUT SIN  + During this discourse of Jesus, Jesus makes an incredibly hopeful statement—           All sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.                      – there is an exception given—that only the sin against the Spirit will not be forgiven—but not one to be dwelled on because in the context of the Gospel, it means that the sin that is not forgiven is one who attributes Jesus’ healing to the power of Satan which a true believer would never do                                – so Jesus is saying in effect to us: no matter what kind of sin that our human natures get into, it can be forgiven because of our basic acceptance of Jesus into our lives  + It might be good to concentrate for a few moments on the fact that God will forgive every sin           – the reason for it is given in the theology of the letter to the Hebrews                      – Jesus offered once and for all the sacrifice of his body to take away the sins of the people                                – so that is the reason why every sin can be forgiven: Jesus accomplished that end  + Considering that every sin will be forgiven, however, a couple of things must be born in mind:           1 – there must be a proper interior disposition on our part to have our sins forgiven                      – we have to want to be forgiven,                                – and to have that, we have to really be convinced that we have sinned                                – acknowledging to God that there are faults and failings in our lives that we have to work on           2 – even as the sin is forgiven, there must be a desire to do something about it                      – there must be an effort toward that end or else we haven’t understood real forgiveness  + The talk of Satan in the Gospel is significant here           – Jesus points out the stupidity of saying that he is possessed by Satan                      – but he doesn’t deny the presence of Satan in the world                                – evil is going to work the hardest on people who are trying to be close to God           – we must be aware of the power of evil, as Jesus was, and continue to fight against it with prayer and spiritual reading   + We can rejoice because we know that every sin will be forgiven, but we have to continue to do our part. MEDIA PRESENTATION Song: “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” — Meghan Trainor featuring John Legend SINCE WE’RE NOT PROMISED TOMORROW… The Gospel LUKE 14:15-24 One of Jesus’ fellow guests … said to him, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the kingdom of God.” He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready.’ But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, ‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.’ The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.’ The master then ordered the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled. For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.’”

Gospelthink: My story says that you should not stay away from the spiritual life by making excuses to stay away. I must choose to pursue the spiritual life.

“I’m gonna love you like I’m gonna lose you. I’m gonna hold you like I’m saying goodbye wherever we’re standing. I won’t take you for granted ’cause we’ll never know when we’ll run out of time. In the blink of an eye, you could lose everything; the truth is you never know. I’ll make the most of the minutes and love with no regrets. Let’s take our time to say what we want, use what we got before it’s all gone ’cause we’re not promised tomorrow.”

There are all kinds of excuses we can make when we really do not want to do something. In Jesus’ story, the people invited to a man’s festive gathering did not want to go. They gave all kinds of excuses, but the bottom line was that they did not want to take the time necessary to visit the occasion. Placed in the context of Jesus’ Kingdom, the people were invited to the Kingdom, but they chose not to go because they had more important things to do. Meghan Trainor and John Legend’s song “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” is all about a relationship that they are experiencing. They are promising to each other that there will be no excuses offered to get out of the relationship. As they put it, their actions are going to prove that they will never cease the relationship because they will always be with each other. That is, they are “not promised tomorrow” and therefore there is only today. There is only today when the relationship is strong, saying in effect that it will stay that way, always and forever. The couple in love are saying that their commitment is not a matter of “waiting until something else happens.” It is a matter of being so strong that they are not allowing for any conditions, any excuses. It will never be a matter of “I will love you if…” Love will always be active voice—no conditional. It is saying: “I will love you. It does not matter what will happen in the future; right now I am committed to doing what we have said. We are not promised tomorrow, so it will always be today, and always be what we say.”              There are many applications for the song because all of us are involved in some kind of commitment right now. We are committed to studying or living well or working out some relationship with a friend or in Jesus’ story, being accepting of the Kingdom, or being a good married person or, a good unmarried person—whatever…. The point is that no matter who we are or what we are engaged in, the thought of commitment will come up in some way or another. When we are called to some commitment, there can be no excuses. The commitment will always be real.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, we are at times called to a real commitment in life, as with marriage or friendship or the like. Help us imitate Your Son’s understanding of commitment, thus making the commitment we make an honest one. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: True commitment to something involves giving of ourselves completely with no excuses. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. The dinner in the Gospel story is comparable to the Kingdom about which Jesus was preaching. What are some reasons why people would not want to join Jesus’ Kingdom? 2. The closing words of the parable are very hopeful in that people will be “made” to join the Kingdom. In general in your opinion, is Christianity considered to be a “hopeful” religion? Yes or no and why? 3. Text analysis: “Take you for granted.” What is the meaning of the phrase? 4. Text analysis: “Love with no regrets.” What does such love mean? 5. Analysis:  “Take our time to say what we want.” Why is communication so necessary for any relationship? 6. If tomorrow would never come, what most of all would you do today? 7. In your opinion, what do people consider “more important” than God in our world? 8. A person should promise a forever commitment only after careful preparation. What is the most important part of the preparation? 9. Because of our divorce rate, one can generalize that we often do not take forever commitments seriously. In your opinion, what is the principal reason for marriage failure? 10. Besides marriage, what are some other “forever” commitments that a young person should make? 11. What does the song “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” teach young people?