Ross Dizon

Crucible That Tests Our Hearts

Jesus is the only one that his disciples need to know and speak of.  From the cross, he proclaims that those who are his go through the crucible.  They thus get to be just like him. “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, but the one that tests...

Cut off from Us All Self-Sufficiency

Jesus is “God-with-us.”  And that is why disciples should not cut off God and their neighbor from their lives. The man whose life is one of luxury and show is very rich:  stylish clothes, lavish banquets.  He is cut off, for sure, from the beggar; the two are worlds...

Money That Is Not Deemed Righteous

Jesus teaches us to worship the Father in Spirit and truth.  He also warns us that we cannot serve God and money. Jesus frets till he serves to the utmost and gives up his body and sheds his blood to save us.  Those who trample on the poor, on the other hand, fret...

Bother Those of Strict Observance

Jesus shows us God who is rich in mercy.  He welcomes sinners and eats with them.  This does bother not a few folks. Maybe the Pharisees and the scribes think Jesus likes to bother them since they are the guardians of the law.  For he stands up to them when they tell...
Happy and Glad Followers of Jesus

Happy and Glad Followers of Jesus

Jesus shows us by words and deeds what true happiness is.  That is because he wants us to be happy and glad to the fullest. Jesus proclaims happy the wretched in the eyes of the world.  That is to say, he breaks the mold:  he announces a counterculture; he fosters...

Happy and Glad Followers of Jesus

Deeds, Indeed, and Not Just Words

Jesus embodies the truth that good deeds are love and not good words and reasons.  Do we really live up to this truth? We are often encouraged to love God (SV.EN XI:32).  “But let it be with the strength of our arms and the sweat of our brows.”  That is to say, love...

Happy and Glad Followers of Jesus

Trap Is All It Is, There Is No Doubt

Jesus probes the heart and searches the mind.  That is why those who seek to catch him and set a trap for him fall into it themselves. The Pharisees and their followers are against the payment of taxes to Caesar.  The Herodians, on the other hand, are for it.  But it...

Happy and Glad Followers of Jesus

Guests at the Kingly Wedding Feast

Jesus is the fullness of God’s revelation.  And so through him, we get to know fully that God wants us all to be his pleasing guests. As it turns out, those who are to be the guests at the start are not worthy.  And that is why the king thinks it fit to turn into...

Happy and Glad Followers of Jesus

Trustworthy and Fruitful Tenants

Jesus embodies the trust to the extreme that God puts in us.  And such trust lifts us up so that we become fruitful, trustworthy and ready to give God the fruit that is due him. God must surely take us to be trustworthy.  Or he would not lease us his vineyard.  That...

Happy and Glad Followers of Jesus

Bond with God and with Human Beings

Jesus Christ embodies the genuine bond with God and with humans.  Through him, fully revealed and done is the will of God. Jesus tells a parable to the chief priests and the elders of the people.  Even we who live today understand it easily.  That is because it is...

Happy and Glad Followers of Jesus

Equal Treatment of Everyone in Need

Jesus is the one who reveals God.  This God is good to all and makes equal those who do little to those who do much. The God that Jesus reveals is very good.  Equal to the landowner who goes out five times to hire workers, God gives livelihood to those who need it....

Happy and Glad Followers of Jesus

Seventy Times Seven: to Live Is to Forgive

Jesus fulfills the law and the prophets.  That is why he corrects Peter and says that we have to forgive seventy times seven. We say, “Three strikes and you are out,” though we hear, too, “One is enough, two is too much.”  So, seven is not a mean thing.  If it seems...

Happy and Glad Followers of Jesus

Agree and Disagree in the Church

Jesus is in our midst as we gather together in his name.  It is due to him that we agree with one other and with our Father in heaven. It is enough that two agree, that two or three gather....  So, in the first place, we do not need a megachurch.  Nor is it needed, in...

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