RADICAL SAYINGS AND CHOICE

The sayings and teachings of Jesus are hard. His disciples were shocked to hear His bread of life discourse. They said, “Who can accept it?” And many of them left and no longer accompanied Him. There are many hard  sayings of Jesus that He left us. “Love your enemies, pray for your persecutors, forgive your brother not seven times but seventy times seven, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me, if you want to be the greatest be the slave of all.” These are hard sayings because they require grace from the Holy Spirit. With man it is impossible but with God everything is possible. God wants us to be like Him, to participate in His good governance of the world. He wants us to make His love shine in our lives because love alone is eternal. Where there is love, there is God. And Jesus defeated evil, sin and death by the power of God’s love. And that is the Holy Spirit, the love that connects the Father and the Son, the divine power. Love is the only true power in the world. The Word of Jesus is the only true power, the power of truth and the power of love. Many of the  disciples of Jesus returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied Him. They returned to their old blindness, ignorance and darkness. They no longer shared Jesus’ life and light. When our journey becomes tough and rough, we are tempted to give up. Thus, we need the Bread of life, Jesus, our strength, nourishment, sustenance and aid in times of trials and sufferings. Like Peter we need to manifest our confession  of faith. To whom shall we go? You have the Words of eternal life. We need to make a radical choice to follow Christ, the supreme good, absolute treasure and essential life. That choice will lead us to God’s kingdom because God wants us to live with Him  forever. And that choice is not a one time event. It is a choice that we make everyday and must be manifested in our actions