What is the meaning of "Lost" ?

My Sunday Scripture 2010.10.31.

The Text: Luke 19:1-10.
He came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town. Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was; but he could not see him because of the crowd, for he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus, who was about to pass that way. When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner." But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone I shall repay it four times over." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost."

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My Reading Notes:
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What is "lost"? What is the meaning of "lost"? That means, before the "lost", we have it. If we don't have anything, we cannot lose it.

What do I have? Do I know it? Do I know that the important "thing" was lost?

And Jesus is the one to help us finding all the lost sheeps on earth.

Mission Completed or Not completed???

My Sunday Scripture 2010.10.24



Reading 1, 2 Tm 4:6-8, 16-18

As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to depart.

I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith;

all there is to come for me now is the crown of uprightness which the Lord, the upright judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his appearing.

The first time I had to present my defence, no one came into court to support me. Every one of them deserted me -- may they not be held accountable for it.

But the Lord stood by me and gave me power, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed for all the gentiles to hear; and so I was saved from the lion's mouth.

The Lord will rescue me from all evil attempts on me, and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.


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My Reading Notes:
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The words of St Paul is so appealing, I will think that is the life worth living. Before I die, if I could say the same, that must be the greatest blessing from God himself directly. The mission is completed, how wonderful. However, I can only add one point: The mission (for my part) is completed, the other mission remains to be done by my future friends, or for my next life. How big is my hope to come again and work for all projects of God?????

God will hear it

My Sunday Scripture 2010.10.17


Luke 18:1-8
Then he told them a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart.

'There was a judge in a certain town,' he said, 'who had neither fear of God nor respect for anyone.

In the same town there was also a widow who kept on coming to him and saying, "I want justice from you against my enemy!"

For a long time he refused, but at last he said to himself, "Even though I have neither fear of God nor respect for any human person,

I must give this widow her just rights since she keeps pestering me, or she will come and slap me in the face." '

And the Lord said, 'You notice what the unjust judge has to say?

Now, will not God see justice done to his elect if they keep calling to him day and night even though he still delays to help them?

I promise you, he will see justice done to them, and done speedily. But when the Son of man comes, will he find any faith on earth?'



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My Reading Notes:
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I must confess to you: Keep praying is not enough. If that you have such important wish, then you must be the one to try to carry it out, to do it yourself.

If you do have such strong motive, you pray to God, and you do it with your greatest
effort, God will hear it.

"Your Faith has saved you"

My Sunday Scripture 2010.10.10.

{The text:Luke 17:11-19)
Now it happened that on the way to Jerusalem he was travelling in the borderlands of Samaria and Galilee.

As he entered one of the villages, ten men suffering from a virulent skin-disease came to meet him. They stood some way off and called to him, 'Jesus! Master! Take pity on us.'

When he saw them he said, 'Go and show yourselves to the priests.' Now as they were going away they were cleansed.

Finding himself cured, one of them turned back praising God at the top of his voice
and threw himself prostrate at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. The man was a Samaritan.

This led Jesus to say, 'Were not all ten made clean? The other nine, where are they?

It seems that no one has come back to give praise to God, except this foreigner.'

And he said to the man, 'Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.'


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My Reading Notes:
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This is the repeated message for many times in Bible. And this time one more element was added. Faith itself includes thankfulness. If one is to have faith, no matter how small that faith is, even small as a mustard seed, that faith would save us. And thankfulness is included in the small mustard seed.

And I shall not forget: That which constituted faith, is love. Without love, faith is not faith.

If you had faith like a mustard seed

My Sunday Scripture 2010.10.3.


The Text: Luke 17:5-10

The apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith.'

The Lord replied, 'If you had faith like a mustard seed you could say to this mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea," and it would obey you.

'Which of you, with a servant ploughing or minding sheep, would say to him when he returned from the fields, "Come and have your meal at once"?

Would he not be more likely to say, "Get my supper ready; fasten your belt and wait on me while I eat and drink. You yourself can eat and drink afterwards"?

Must he be grateful to the servant for doing what he was told?

So with you: when you have done all you have been told to do, say, "We are useless servants: we have done no more than our duty." '



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My Reading Notes:
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If we had faith like a mustard seed, then we can do things. As for the reward, though that is also important for the self, but is secondary. The important thing is the aim. That is absolute important, that is what we lived for.