{"id":7254,"date":"2021-09-19T14:58:41","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T04:58:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=7254"},"modified":"2021-09-24T21:26:12","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T11:26:12","slug":"think-big","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/think-big\/","title":{"rendered":"Think Big"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Think Big<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapted from a sermon by Fr David Shehata<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Luke 10:21-28<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are called to think big. To look at the bigger picture\nand not just the mere visible steps before us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seventy disciples were sent out to preach, to do miracles and amazing things. They returned with great joy, saying even the demons were subject to them in His Name. The Lord responds by telling them to think even bigger than this; “Do not rejoice at this, but rather, rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”<\/em> This is the bigger picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then hear a lawyer pose a question to the Lord. The topic\nof heaven has been raised and we should rejoice because there is a place for us\nin heaven, but what must we do to inherit the Kingdom? The answer to this is\nsimple \u2013 \u201cLove the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,\nwith all your strength, and with all your mind,\u2019 and \u2018your neighbour as\nyourself.\u2019 \u201d<\/em>  (Luke 10:27).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawyer then asks, \u201cwho is my neighbour?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an important question for us also. Many times we\nknow and are fully convinced that to attain salvation we must love God. We love\nour Lord with all our heart, mind and strength. Sadly, the following part can\nbe missed- to love my neighbour as myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Lord describes my neighbour, He uses the parable of the good Samaritan. In this parable, a man is found on the street, he is robbed, beaten and left for dead. Three people are given the opportunity to show love to this man. The first is a priest and the second is a Levite. Both pass by without giving the man much notice. The third is a Samaritan that sees the man, has compassion upon him, bandages him and ensures he is restored back to health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After telling this parable, the Lord then asks, \u201cSo which\nof these three do you think was neighbour to him who fell among the thieves?\u201d <\/em>(Luke\n10:36). The answer to this question is the one who showed mercy. Our Lord then\ninstructs the lawyer, and us who hear this interaction, to go and do likewise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having compassion on my neighbour, my brothers and sisters is something extremely important in our lives. Having compassion is pivotal in the life of the Christian. If you and I want to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, if we want to spend our eternity in Heaven, then we must have compassion. To further emphasise we must exercise compassion in our forgiveness for those who have wronged us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes I may think, \u201cYes, I can forgive most things,\nbut you don\u2019t understand the hurt that this person has caused! This is the only\nthing I cannot forgive\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we feel this way, we can look back on how St Peter\nreflected upon forgiveness. Thinking he had done exemplary work, he questioned\nChrist saying, \u201cLord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I\nforgive him? Up to seven times?\u201d <\/em>(Matthew 18:21). As if to say, that he forgives\nso much already, not just once or twice, but even up to seven times. As if the\nLord would be impressed by the height of his virtuous forgiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord brings him back down to earth with His response; \u201cI do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven<\/em>.\u201d You can imagine the disheartened look on St Peter\u2019s face when he hears this. It is not just up to seven times, but to the point where you can no longer count how many times you have forgiven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continues on with a parable to describe the Kingdom of\nHeaven. There was a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. There\nwas one that owed ten thousand talents and was unable to repay the king. He\nbegged for forgiveness and the king was moved with compassion and freely forgave\nhis debt. He released and forgave the entire debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incidentally, the servant was owed one hundred denarii by a\nfellow servant. Having seen the king just be moved with compassion for his own,\nmuch larger, debt, the servant imprisons his fellow servant. The king hears\nabout this and says, \u201cYou wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt\nbecause you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow\nservant, just as I had pity on you?\u201d <\/em>(Matthew 18:32-33).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus explains the concept of forgiveness in this manner. The\nlesson here is, \u201cSo My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you,\nfrom his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses<\/em>\u201d (Matthew 18:35).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is extremely real for each of us. We must love and we\nmust forgive. We must understand why we forgive. Psychology teaches us that\nthose that hold on to grudges, every time we remember why we are upset with someone,\nthose old wounds are reopened as if they just occurred. When we forgive others,\nit grants us freedom. Those that forgive others tend to be happier people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a Christian perspective, I do not forgive others\nbecause they deserve it, but because I, myself have been forgiven. The Lord\nmakes it clear that we need to forgive for the debt that was freely paid for our\nown sins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I want to inherit the Kingdom, I must first remember the\nLord freely forgave me, and I show my thanksgiving for this by forgiving those\nthat do wrong to me. Even though they do not deserve it. When we do not\nforgive, we hold ourselves captive and relive the pain time and time again. The\nreality of this is a psychological prison. Ultimately, I am trapped, and I am\nhurt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do I truly love my neighbour as myself? Do I truly show compassion\non my neighbour? Do  I serve and do I\nwant others to do even better than myself? To answers these questions honestly,\nI must reflect upon my tolerance and acceptance of those around me. Am I able\nto consider them? Do I avoid those that I consider to be difficult and annoying?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St Gregory of Nazianzus once said, \u201cmy love for God is equivalent to the person I love least.<\/em>\u201d This is the measure for which I love God. Even if I think I love God but cannot tolerate any single person in my life, I am fooling myself. We must see Christ in everyone around us, for they are all created in His image and likeness. I judge others not by their actions, but by their intentions. In the same way, I can look at my own actions, and give myself reasonable intention, I display this same benefit of the doubt to others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I keep the Word of God close to my heart, and I do not let\nthe world come in between me and my Love for God. Read the Psalms and keep\nthese words close to your heart. We pray that our hearts are full of\nforgiveness so we may love our neighbours as we love ourselves. Every time I\npray, I can truly say, \u201cforgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass\nagainst us.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think Big Adapted from a sermon by Fr David Shehata Luke 10:21-28 We are called to think big. To look at the bigger picture and not just the mere visible steps before us. Seventy disciples were sent out to preach, to do miracles and amazing things. They returned with great joy, saying even the demons … Continue reading “Think Big”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7254"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7261,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7254\/revisions\/7261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}