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Gerry Gutierrez' Update
Your Sunday meal in case you are not fed from the pulpit. “What do you think*?” “Jesus endorses his servants.” Just as the
Father came down from heaven on the Mountain of Transfiguration to approve,
certify, accept, and endorse Jesus and his message saying, “Listen to Him,” in the same
way Jesus also stands by John the Baptist to approve, certify, accept, and
endorse John saying, “no man born of women is greater than John.” Jesus endorses
and speaks highly of John and Elijah because they had no agenda of their own
for their lives but to serve the Lord. Jesus and his servants are one and the
same in their message. “What do
you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first
and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ “ ‘I will
not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the
father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will,
sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the
two did what his father wanted?” “The first,”
they answered. Jesus said to
them, “Truly I tell
you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God
ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you
did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the
prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and
believe him. “A man is
his message.” There
are only two responses to the message. “Yes, I will.” or “No, I will not.” Neither
of these answers is worth taking it seriously without obedience, which is the
incarnation of belief as the shadow follows the reality. “Faith without
works is dead.” Just as reality without a shadow does not exist. Our
Gospel is not a Gospel of confession or profession of faith for the forgiveness
of Sin. NO! Our Gospel according to scripture is a “Gospel of REPENTANCE for
the forgiveness of sin”. Jesus does not speak highly of the Son who said,
“YES I will” but does not do it. Jesus speaks well of him who said NO I will
not, but repents and obeys. Jesus masterfully
calls the attention of his listeners of that time, our attention today, and
that of posterity by shifting our eyes from him toward a proven servant so
highly steamed that was John the Baptist, who like Elijah the prophet were
bruised reeds and smoldering wicks, lonely and deep voiced preachers of the
wilderness. These
eccentric creatures were both attractive and despised at the same time. One was a honey
and locus eating (diabetic?) straight talking man that was first imprisoned as
with “Gag orders” by the powerful of the land and later decapitated at the
request of a woman who hate him for his integrity. The other man was
a “brave and courageous” prophet who challenged, defeated, and killed hundreds
of prophets of Baal but ran from a wicked women that
wanted to kill him. He was a hungry prophet that survives by becoming the
friend of a widow “as some might say a free loader” but he actually was a
blessing to the widow and save her only child by praying him back from death. Jesus loves very
much his “Irregular” servants. Sometimes people confused Jesus with Elijah and
John the Baptist. The family resemblance must and should be there because
it is “in our genes.” Never mind if people dislike you because of your
message or the way you are and the way you speak so long as they hear the
message of Jesus through you. “Go ye and do likewise.” We are not in a
beauty contest. It is better that people dislike us or even vote against
us but end up loving Jesus than people loving us and end up disliking Jesus. We cannot please God
and men at the same time. We must seek the approval, acceptance, and
endorsement of Jesus to our message by being full of faith in a childlike
manner and all the other things will take care by themselves.
“People will know
we are followers of Jesus by our love and faithfulness.”
PS. Elijah’s work
pleased God that he did not allowed him to see death that took him to heaven in
a chariot of fire, to later return in John the Baptist and on the Mountain of Transfiguration.
(First frequent flyer between heaven and earth?)
This is my grandson Simeon a good prayer partner since he learned
how to talk. I am starving for his Fellowship.
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