Infinite Kind Of Faith

𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐘 𝟏𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟑: 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐓. 𝐁𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐓, 𝐀𝐛𝐛𝐨𝐭

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝟒𝟔:𝟏-𝟕, 𝟐𝟖-𝟑𝟎

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟑𝟕:𝟑-𝟒, 𝟏𝟖-𝟏𝟗, 𝟐𝟕-𝟐𝟖, 𝟑𝟗-𝟒𝟎 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝟏𝟎:𝟏𝟔-𝟐𝟑

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “..𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒅.” (𝒗.22) 

         About two days ago we saw Jesus choosing his elite team of 12 Apostles for a special assignment. And yesterday, we saw Jesus issuing what amounts to be a mission order for the Apostles. And today, Jesus gives the Apostles the guidelines on how they are to conduct themselves and in the way they are to evangelize.

         Perhaps we will ask why the need for a crescendo of instruction. Was Jesus trying to needle his apostles into having these instructions carved in their minds. We will try to venture a guess. Short of being repetitive, Jesus simply wanted his apostles to bear in mind the clarity of their goals and objectives and by doing so he expects the 12 apostles to stick to the plan – to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

         These instructions, however, may strike a chord of fear and anxiety in our hearts especially with the warning that the Apostles should be on guard against men as they will hand them over to the local councils and flog them in their synagogues (𝐯.𝟏𝟕). In fact, (𝐯.𝟏𝟔) alone would have unnerved an ordinary disciple as Jesus himself said: “𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔.”        

        To work in the vineyard of the Lord will not always be easy. Who said it would be? Even the first batch of disciples and or the twelve whom he named as Apostles never thought they would be in the same predicament as Jesus. They looked at him as a conquering Messiah who will deliver them from captivity by the Gentiles and to suffer persecution was the least, they could think of.

         In fact, it was on this thought of establishing a glorious kingdom that one of his kin asked Jesus to allow her two sons to sit on his left and the other on his right (𝐌𝐭 𝟐𝟎:𝟐𝟏). Had they known they would live a persecuted life, would they have followed him?

         But they did follow him, and they saw what he did in those three years that he was with them, and this became the unwritten operating manual of what they too will be going to do. In that brief span of time, he showed them the meaning of victory and the eternal reward that await those who will remain faithful to his Word.

         This was the assurance he made as he capped the Sermon on the Mount with these words: “𝑩𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆. 𝑹𝒆𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖.” (𝑴𝒕 5:11-12)        

         Again, we ask why God will lead us to live persecuted lives. God himself gives the answer in 𝑴𝒕 5:11 “𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔 – 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍! 𝑩𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕! 𝑩𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅!” Persecution builds character and it can be comforting to know that God’s greatest prophets were also persecuted. The fact that we are being persecuted only proves that we have been faithful to our calling because faithless people remain unnoticed.

         In relation to the apostles except for John who died of old age, we should not forget the fact that the Son of God also took on a human form to redeem us from our slavery to sin and death and to give us new life as the adopted children of God. The Scriptures will show us that the ultimate way to glory in the kingdom of God is through the cross.

         And Jesus didn’t quibble when he said to his disciples and he is telling us now that if we want to share in His glory, then we too must take up our cross each day and follow in his footsteps. Jesus never hesitated to tell his disciples what they might expect if they followed him.

         As disciples of Christ, we will experience difficulties from without such as what we are now experiencing in the public sector when our faith is being tested by immoral pieces of legislation and even from within as there are times when even members of our own families cannot comprehend our faithfulness to the Word (𝐯.𝟐𝟏).        

        Persecution, however, leads people to spiritual maturity. Thus, we must accept all the trials we face in life as part of the refining process that cleanses us of all the impurities that have infected our souls and prepares us to meet Christ. The trials that we experience in life help us to grow to be the kind of people that God wants us to be.

         In this age we live in, we are still being called by God to pursue a life of faithfulness to his Word and to be a witness to the transforming power of his love. The message remains the same – to leave the imprint of the life of Jesus into the fiber of our own lives and we can do this by either proclaiming orally or writing about the Good News to others, by our actions such as accepting shepherding assignments, going on mission and, in our decision to turn our lifestyles into a reflection of the life of Jesus.

         In 𝐉𝐧 𝟖:𝟑𝟏 Jesus said: “𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔.” To hold on to his teachings is to listen to him and to follow him. To be persecuted is not exactly the message that we prefer to hear. But lest we forget, the message of Jesus is anchored on the eternal joy that He brings but which we can only enjoy if we will follow in his footsteps by also laying down our lives for others.

         We may feel ill-equipped as of now, but Our Lord gives us sufficient grace to follow him and to bear our cross with courage and hope. It is for this reason that we “𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐦. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞, 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.” (𝐋𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐅𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐢)            

         It is in this light that we must have the kind of faith that will last for through it we will realize that while living for God often brings persecution, it will also provide us with the opportunity to proclaim the Good News of salvation to the world around us and those who will endure to the end will be saved (𝐯.𝟐𝟐). This is the true joy and victory that Jesus promised and which his Apostles and many of the Saints found. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 11, 2025)