The Poor widow's mite part 11 I assure you this poor widow has put in more than all the rest." Luke 21. 3. (Part 1 dealt with the attitude of the Jewish People and the call from Jesus to change the attitudes of the Jewish people .) During the life time of Jesus, people gave alms to be noticed and they Preferred seats of respect at banquets and prominent places where people gathered. . Jesus had harsh words about the leaders of that time who went around inviting attention to themselves. I am not criticizing the public relation's aspect in human nature where in leaders have the capabiity to withstand tense situations an ordinary person might fail to handle. They might be able to maintain a cool disposition in the midst of troubles. The point here is an attitude of inviting attention to themselves to satisfie their selfishness. Jesus addressed such pretentious Godless people as brood of wipers. They didnt care about people. Their concern was to please themsleves. All they thought about was their own preferences and satisfaction. They were materialistic and yet looked very spiritual. Jesus had the ghuts to call them white washed tombs People walked with them unaware of their capriciousness and fall into traps and or destroyed. Jesus couldn't compromise with such people and their attitudes. Jesus called them to change their life styles. Jesus asked them to turn away from sins and return to God. No wonder they crucified jesus. Jesus asked those selfrighteous people to change their Spirituality. The Spirituality of Jesus was different from that of the ordinary Jew. The ordinary Jew was proud of their heritage. They claimed that their father was Abraham and they thought that Heaven was their birthright, just being born as a Jew. From my understanding the Jewish people formed an exclusive community and it was enough to be born into the Jewish community to be saved. I think similar attitude is evident among Christian communitties. People think that just by Baptism, salvation was effected and no one other than catholics will be saved was an erroneous attitude the people held for many centuries. I think the same attitude is prevelent among people. My intention is to or not to criticize their position, rather to communicate the idea that Jesus was not so pleased with such attitudes among the Jewish people. If Jesus is against who could be for such a spirituality? Jesus wanted a thorough change in attitude, commitmant and Spirituality. When I mention Spirituality it is multi-faceted. But all the angles could be focused on a single challenge and that is the ability to be focused on God. When one generates within himself or herself the capability to be focused on God, to be tuned to God, God's Spirit will lift such a person and the Triune God will find an abode in such a human kind. Coming back to the offering of the Widow , she offered everything she had. Giving everything to God pleases God. Giving everything to a person pleases a human being. Much more than that, God will be plesased when we offfer everything to God. God wants us to love God with all our strength and with all our might and we are invited to love the others as we love ourselves. I think the whole law and prophets is based on this love offering. To be Continuesd in part 111 Fr.Thomas Mathew California July 20/2001. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ********************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] To know more about Jesus Youth, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org **********************************************************************
