Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Mark 8:31-33

Previously, Peter had proclaimed that Jesus was the Christ. In Jesus’ time, the people had suffered one oppressive regime after another. They exhausted all human efforts to overcome the tyranny. Cruelty and injustice had become the norm for them. However, the people knew that the Christ would change this scenario for eternity. After Him, suffering and injustice would be history.

We can understand how disappointed Peter must have felt when Jesus predicted the future that awaited Him. There was no mention of political takeover. The world was going to remain as it was. The Christ was to suffer, just like the oppressed and humiliated. It wasn’t exactly what the people wanted to hear. If we are honest, it is not what we want to hear as well. Jesus was supposed to be the answer to all of life’s problems. There was nothing else after Him. If He is not going to change the order of things, then who is going to do it? Peter felt that it was his duty to redirect the Christ to do what he believed was necessary, an attitude that is still prevalent today. It is a satanic one according to Jesus. Even then, we still persist on holding onto to it. We still believe that we can guide the Christ in His actions in this world.

A couple weeks ago something tragic happened. It left me feeling rather revolted and somewhat bitter. In reality, it is not that interesting because evil is dreadfully boring. Wanderson was falsely accused of something serious. I know that he was completely innocent because he was with me. He was standing next to me when it happened. We were watching a cultural presentation together. It was a Chinese lion dance in honor of the Lunar New Year. Growing up in Singapore, this was one of my favorite cultural spectacles. I invited the teens to watch with me. It was a good educational opportunity, plus I could share one of my favorite childhood experiences with them. Bruno and Guilherme were with us. Usually, the young people would avoid watching such events. They usually think that the rest of people dread their presence in the midst of them. However, today, they were with me. They felt safe.

The presentation was mediocre and somewhat unintentionally humorous. Wanderson was making some funny remarks about it. Then, for no apparent reason, a young man approached and punched him in his back. It was so random that we thought maybe it was a friend fooling around with him. The young man said something that visibly upset Wanderson and he left immediately. We were little confused. Then we overheard the man telling his friends that we were a suspicious bunch too. Bruno confronted the man, who recoiled. He was trying to intimidate us for some reason. We were still little disoriented. The young man grabbed his wife and went to two policemen who stood close by. He claimed that Wanderson had sexually assaulted his wife. The officers took out their guns and approached Wanderson. Needless to say, he was manhandled and handcuffed. Throughout this time, the poor boy was pleading to the police saying that he had done nothing. We went to his defense. The officer told me that I could be his witness but if they proved Wanderson was guilt, they would arrest me for being an accomplice. To be frank, I was afraid to get into the patrol car where I knew more injustice and violence awaited me. To my surprise, Bruno offered to be taken with Wanderson but the police ignored him and drove off.

Everything was resolved in a few hours. There were surveillance cameras and high tech finger print detectors involved. Wanderson was no where near the woman and his prints were not on the woman. I knew this already because he was standing next to me. The woman did not even know what was going on until her husband told her she was supposedly assaulted. There was nothing that provoked the incident except hatred and prejudice. The man could not handle the presence of poor homeless youth enjoying a public event. Bruno and I noticed that this man had a religious t-shirt on which had a biblical verse about Jesus. Apparently, he believed in the Christ but not in His love and grace.

At the end of the day, the couple went home without any consequences. Wanderson was released immediately but suffered public humiliation for no rhyme nor reason. He came back and went on with life as usual. He has grown accustomed to this kind of treatment. Bruno told me that this happens all the time. People can say all kinds of lies against them and they can’t say anything in their defense. None of them have any criminal record but they are always treated as if they are guilty before proven innocent. Bruno asked me why is the norm. I had to restrain my instinct to say that this wasn’t the norm. It would be an utter lie. This is how things operate here. One side has the power to dominate and humiliate while the other is helpless and has to endure everything that is at thrown at them. I came home feeling a little sad and very angry. I wanted God to do something. I was on the side of Peter. I wanted to rebuke God for not changing the way the world functions.

It was obvious to Peter. Things cannot go on as they are. Jesus never disagreed with Peter. However, He was not going to participate in the evil system to change it. He did not come to improve things. This would require Him to work in partnership with sin. This was the proposal of the devil in the desert. It was a partnership that came with a price.

The devil said to Jesus, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written,‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ Matthew 4:9-10

Jesus came to establish the New Creation. The Old is incompatible with the new. The former does everything from top down. God chooses to establish the New Creation among those who are humiliated and oppressed constantly. We want a Christ who comes wielding with power and might. Jesus reveals to us a suffering servant. God chooses to establish His Kingdom from the perspective of those whom the world neglects and rejects. The New Creation begins here and it is well established here. However, we are not going to see it until we give up our idea of how things should function and allow God to reveal His ways to us.

Bruno had a similar experience. He was taken to the police station falsely accused of something which never happened. The commanding officer found nothing incriminating and it was clear that Bruno was innocent. He reprimanded the officers. He demanded that they release him immediately. However, the arresting officers took him to a hidden corner in streets and beat up before letting him go. Bruno said that he did not mind the unjust beating that he received. This always happens. However, he was happy at least one person recognized that he was falsely accused. He was satisfied with this. I would have demanded more. Then again, I live in a different world where I am fed with lies on how this world functions. Our homeless youth see a different reality. It is closer to what Jesus experienced. Perhaps, they see the Kingdom of God in a different light. Maybe, I am the one who needs to leave my “satanic” ideas of how the Christ should act in this world and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to me through these young people.

The New Creation is here. We may never see it if we insist on looking for it in the old.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-20

It wasn’t exactly strange but definitely unusual in these strange times. Our Sunday afternoons are spent reading the gospel of Matthew together with Felipe in a “park”. This “park” is really a highway which is closed on the weekends and the residents of this city treat it like a “park” even without the trees, benches and anything that actual parks possess. We are a people desperate for any space to walk and just hang out in small groups without violating the restrictions. This is where our tiny church meets to study the Bible and pray. There is always a large movement of people in this place and strangely, we never ran into our friends for the past year. However, on Sunday, we ran into two friends on two different occasions. One in particular had expressed a keen interest in participating in our little church. However, the pandemic got in the way of her plans. It was nice to finally introduce her to Felipe. Surprisingly, he did not seem to be awkward or reserved like most of our homeless youth when they meet someone outside their circle. It shows how much he has grown over the past year. For a moment, I had a glimpse of all our friends from different worlds coming together to share a meal in our home. It is going to happen one day.

Our friend wanted to see us the next day. We met outside in an open space not far from our home. She was overjoyed to see us. It has been a year since she talked and laughed with her friends.
She works in the medical profession and everyone around her is going through a stressful time. After work, they just want to go home. They don’t have an outlet to share and talk with anyone. It has been a lonely and depressing year for her. Our conversations zigzagged around countless topics and then finally rested on the subject of Lent. Our friend is an agnostic. She was brought up in a pentecostal church and spent much of her youth actively involved in its religious programs. When she started working in Jewish social center for people who have suffered trauma, she saw that things which she was taught in church did not match up with the reality she faced. She found herself slowly drifting away from her faith. However, she never ceased to be interested in God nor religion. In fact, our conversations often times ended up on the subject of God.

Even though this is a predominantly Catholic society, our friend never heard about Lent until recently. She is not the only one. Most people here think that Ash Wednesday is the end of Carnaval and not the beginning of the Lent. The Protestant churches consider everything Catholic suspicious. They avoid adopting any of its traditions. Her Catholic friends were quite disappointing too. They told her that Lent was about giving up alcohol or chocolates. In many places, people talk about Lent in this way. It is an impoverished idea of a great tradition. Fortunately, our friend sensed that there was something more to it. She asked us about it. For her, the idea of having a special time or period consecrated for something specific was appealing. She wanted to know the purpose of this special season.

The Bible has many examples of periods of fasting. However, it is never about giving up food. God does not delight in depriving us of our natural sustenance. On the hand, we spend a great deal of our time on food; preparing, thinking about it, organizing our day around our meals. Fasting does free up our time. Lent is about consecrating our time to reflect.

We begin Lent with the story of Jesus going into the wilderness. Before this, He was a carpenter; His time and energy and identity were contained in this role. In the wilderness, He was free from everything. He had time to reorganize His priorities. He needed time to change His mindset from being a carpenter to someone whom God had called Him to be. We need forty days every year remind ourselves of our vocation.

Every year is different. Therefore, we cannot apply what we did in the previous years to this year. We have a Pandemic. It is not going to end soon. In fact, in many ways it can help us go beyond our superficial Lenten practices. The situation has deprived us of many of favorite activities. Most of us have given up way more than chocolates this year. Many have lost friends and families. I have lost some friends this year and never had the chance to say goodbye to them. Many are isolated and lonely. Many are afraid with no one to console them. The political situation is moving from bad to worse. No one can say that things are getting better, even with the vaccine around the corner for some. We are living in the wilderness. When Jesus came out of the wilderness, He became a healer. Remembering the story of His temptation, Jesus was given the choice. He could have walked the way of the devil. The devil’s arguments were reasonable. Jesus listened to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

During the past year, names of many came popping up. Some of them are our homeless youth that we haven’t seen for more than a year. There were many that were once dear friends who left a distinctive mark in my life but unfortunately time and space have kept us apart for many years. I often wondered if they were fine or how they were dealing with this time. It never occurred to me that perhaps they were brought to my memory because the Holy Spirit wants to use me as an instrumental of healing. Maybe they can bring healing to my soul too. This Lent I am going to listen to these gentle promptings of the Holy Spirit. Many times I have disregarded them, considering them to be fleeting thoughts because I was busy with my life here. I was very concerned about the state of the world. I was disturbed by the political situation. I was occupied with things that I was powerless to change. Thankfully, Lent is here. I am given the chance to reorganize my priorities. For Jesus, healing and restoring souls was His priority. Lent is about following in the footsteps of our Lord.

We were able to spend just an hour with our friend, mostly because it was getting dark and she had a long bus journey home. It was a short time after a year of absence. However, there was a sense of healing in our souls. Our meeting with our friend has made me realize that our simple and genuine contact with another human being brings so much joy to our souls. It doesn’t take much to bring joy into someone’s life. All we need to do is to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit who brings names of people to our attention. People who might feel forgotten but a simple note or a phone call might bring them the joy and healing they need. I haven’t paid attention to the Holy Spirit. Lent is giving me a chance now. I am going to start looking for the people whose names pop up in my my mind. Maybe we will never restore the friendship we once had. However, this is not the priority. It is just important for them to know that their lives have left a permanent mark in our souls. The love which they shared with us has an eternal place in our hearts. Knowing this in a time where uncertainty reigns helps us to anchor ourselves in what is the most important treasure in this world.

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. Mark 1:29-31

Everything Felipe knew about Jesus was from the movies. The many religious movies he watched confused more than enlightened him. For the longest time, he believed David was one of the twelve apostles. He also thought that Joseph, Jacob’s son who became the Pharaoh’s chief counselor, and Mother Mary’s husband were the one and the same. We started reading the gospel of Matthew together for about a year now and it dawned upon him that the movies presented an impoverished version of the gospel. One thing which impressed him was the number of healings and miracles in the gospels. He was under the impression that Jesus only did an handful of miracles because in the movies he watched only depicted a small array of miracles and healings. He was confused as to why they limited themselves to these when the gospels related so many.

It was the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law that started this conversation. I told him that this story was recorded in three gospels. Since we are planning to read all the gospels together, I just thought that I should prepare him to read this again. Apparently, three evangelists considered it to be an important event which everyone needed to know. At the same time, there is hardly any information. The woman’s name is not even mentioned. We can make some assumptions. She lived with Peter which implied that she was a widow and did not have any sons. Someone like her had very little space in society back then. In a way, she would be considered as someone who had already served her purpose in life. It sounds cruel because it was a cruel world then and not much different from the present one. I suppose that it is just in our fallen nature to treat people as a means to an end. Regardless of all this, the disciples told Jesus about her illness. They wanted her to be well. She was someone special to them and Jesus elevated her even more. She became one of the first people whom he healed.

Her healing did not give her a celebrity status. It just permitted her to serve them. The person who serves is usually the one prepares the meal too. In cultures where food is eaten with hands, there has to be someone with clean hands to make sure everyone gets enough to eat. Consequently, this person is privy to the dinner conversations. Therefore, only trustworthy people can serve at the table. Jesus did not just heal her. He restored her privileged status in the family. It may not sound like a great deal to modern ears. She was living in an ancient time with ancient standards.

As Felipe listened to this story, we could see that he was trying to grapple this concept. Suddenly things were beginning to make sense to him. His life in the streets was a life of anonymity but he never minded it. He liked being anonymous. It was being abandoned that he detested. It was good news for him that this woman was never named. It wasn’t relevant. We did not need to know her name. Besides, it would be meaningless to us. Despite being nameless, nothing can change the fact that Jesus held her hand and lifted her up. God visited with her; a widow without not much prospect in the eyes of the world became one of the first people that Jesus touched and healed. She represents all the anonymous people who labor day in and day out without expecting any recognition. Perhaps, Peter’s mother-in-law’s anonymity is good news for these people. They did not need to be the squeaky wheel in order to get God’s attention. He recognizes and knows them in their quiet existence. For Felipe and I would say, most of our homeless youth, this is the most important thing.

I have read this passage countless of times. I never stopped to ponder on it. I used to think that it spoke very little to me. It is because I come from a world where my idea of the gospel is contaminated with complicated ideas of grandness and fame. I like stories where an unknown person rises up to become a hero that saves hundreds. There are people like that in the world. They are few and far between. Moreover, their stories are meant to entertain us. They claim to be inspirational. In reality, they just entertain and maybe provide some material for our fantasies of grandness. Peter’s mother-in-law was like the majority of people in the world. We see her in the thousands walking past us as we go to meet the children and teens. They are the grandparents of many of our children and teens, the only ones who gave our children and teens any attention in their households. The person who keeps our apartment building clean is one of them. She lives a quiet existence. She works silently and is almost invisible. It doesn’t mean she is unnoticed. We chat with her whenever we get the chance. Recently, she hasn’t been to work for a few days. We sense her absence even though someone else has taken her place. I doubt that many people noticed her absence. She is like the most of us. Besides our friends and families, the world won’t miss us when we are gone. There is nothing sad nor tragic about this. We don’t need the whole world to know of us. Not all of us are meant to be like the famous saints and heroes. Besides, Jesus did not seek saints and people with great potential. He sought people like Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus is not the savior of people of great influence or power or potential. He is the messiah of those whom the world regards as mediocre. Jesus did not expect Peter’s mother-in-law to do “great” things. It sufficed that she served them at the table.

No one is going to write books and make movies of people like this woman. If they did, it wouldn’t be her story. It would be a fictitious one made to look spectacular. Something the gospel writers avoided. They wanted her to connect with the vast majority of the people in the world. Most of us are not charismatic. We are just ordinary people pressing on to do what is before us. Jesus was among people like us more than the people of great potential in His time. He chose apostles that no one would consider to be leadership quality. He never told them to be leaders. He asked them to be servants and healers. Most of them lived out their existence quietly. There were twelve apostles and we hardly know what most of them did. Jesus seems to favor these ordinary people. They are present everywhere among us. They are the ones who stop by their neighbors when they are not feeling well. They bring soups to recent widows or widowers as they coping with the pain of their loss. They are the ones who invite their lonely friends to spend the holidays with them. They serve at the tables in the homeless shelter. They care for the stray animals in their neighborhood. They are just ordinary people who are too plain and normal for the world to pay any attention. Maybe they might lack ambition to be anything else than the ordinary. The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law tells us that Jesus knows these people and He is present among them. He is their Shepherd.

I am grateful for this story. I am grateful that three evangelists had the wisdom to include it in the gospels. Now, I know where to look for Jesus. He is not among the people society has deemed influential. He is just outside my apartment right now with the lady that makes sure the floors are clean. He is with Felipe and the teens in their anonymity. Therefore, if I want to hear and see our Lord, I better be attentive to these ordinary people. They might have the words of Life. I paid attention to Felipe and he brought the mother-in-law of Peter alive to me.

They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. Mark 1:22-26

Jesus was in his hometown. We can imagine that it was a place where everyone knew everyone. Jesus had been with them since he was a lad which explains their confusion. They could not figure out how he gained such wisdom and understanding. The scribes and teachers of the Law can prove their authority. It is usually derived from some school or master. However, Jesus was just a mere carpenter’s son and yet, the words He spoke set their hearts on fire. Even the religious leaders and the Pharisees sensed it. They said that His authority was from the devil. This is quite the standard reaction from religious authorities. Today they would say that he is a heretic. Despite their strong accusations, the people knew something was different. Jesus’ words stirred up their faith. He made them feel that God was once again walking among them. It wasn’t just wishful thinking. His words made everything seem real. They had authority but at the same time, it was different.

I asked our youth, specifically, Bruno, Guilherme, and Felipe what images come to their minds whenever they hear the word, “authority”. They said almost unanimously that it was a figure of violence and restriction. I realize that for them, it won’t be good news if I told them that Jesus spoke with authority. It might taint their idea of Jesus. We did not want them to lump Jesus in with the rest of the authoritative figures in their lives.

Strangely, we can sense this sentiment in the scriptures too. They used the word, “authority”, reservedly. It is often accompanied with the phrase, “it was unlike anything they had seen before”. The people of Jesus’ time saw soldiers of the Roman Empire with their imposing presence in their land. They heard religious leaders with their self-righteous dominance of the religious narrative. The women were subjected to the authority of a patriarchal society. It was also a time of slavery. Like our homeless youth, all these people must have had similar ideas of authority. Most likely they never imagined anything that could free them from the burden of worldly authority. They never thought it was possible to be free from the yoke which life had imposed upon them. Then they heard Jesus. They did not have a proper word to explain what they felt in their hearts. They used the word, “authority”, but it was unlike the authority they had experienced until then. I realized that our children need to experience what these people experienced before they can imagine the authority of Jesus.

It is interesting that the demons of the possessed man wanted to know whether Jesus was going to destroy them. It is such a violent word. Well, violence is the language of this world’s authority. When I was young, teachers were allowed to hit their students. I suffered many times the wrath of the teachers in my school. They weren’t particularly wicked. I did challenge their authority and they attempted to impose it. I wasn’t traumatized. I just accepted it as normal. This was the way authority was exercised. Over the years, people tried to convince me otherwise. I almost believed them until I went out into the world. Every time I see a person of authority, they are surrounded with tools of violence, be they weapons or words. They always have the last word whether they are right or wrong. Violence is used to make the person subjected to feel small and insignificant so they would submit. Life becomes easier when we accept this fact. The demons in the gospel reading asked Jesus if He was going to use the same weapons of authority. Not just the demons, today many want God to use the same methods to silence those they perceive as enemies of God. When faced with a situation of chaos, we want to use the force available to overcome this chaos. Jesus was different. His authority was not one of destruction. Using it, He restores and reinstates what was destroyed or stolen. There was no violence in His confrontation with the demons. He refused to respond with violence, not just on this occasion but throughout His life. Jesus chose to focus on the man whose life had been destroyed by these demons. He was more concerned in restoring the victim’s peace and dignity than attacking and destroying the demons. Very often people who fight demons end up using demonic tools and eventually they become just like the ones they are fighting to overthrow. Perhaps this was the hope of the demons when they challenged Jesus.

Not much has changed since this confrontation in the gospel. Demons are still touting the disciples of Jesus to succumb to their idea of authority; one that destroys and attacks. They present it to us in a sophisticated way. Just like in the gospel reading, they make it known that Jesus is the Lord and at the same time they tempt Him to do things their ways. When we started this ministry, we heard these voices tempting us. Demons have many spokespersons. They like to tell us that we are doing a good job and then proceed to give solutions to homelessness without taking into account the homeless youth. As if, they are not people but things to be pushed around and forced to do what people from “so-called above” think is best for them. Sometimes the problem is not the superficial cause. There is a person who needs to be healed and restored. Jesus looks at this person first and not at the problem. More often than not, when we read about people coming to be healed by Jesus, He always asks first whether they have the faith to be healed. Faith is not something we conjure up within ourselves. However, it is something in us and with the right authority can be awakened. This is why Jesus was different. His love awoke hope in the hearts of the people. He wanted the people to come to Him because they sensed in their hearts the possibility of being healed.

The authorities of this world like to give quick and easy solutions achieved through violence in the broadest sense of the word. However, the authority of Jesus is different, healing and restoring. It is one more concerned about the victim than actually destroying the enemy. The enemy will always be in this world because it is their domain. Jesus did not send His disciples into the world to change the world. He sent them out to heal and restore people who have suffered much by the abusive and manipulative authority in their reality. The authority of Jesus appeals to these people. The rest of the world tries to do what Jesus strongly advised against doing,

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” Mark 2:22

I don’t think we can actually convince our youth that there are different ways of looking at authority in this world. They will never believe us that an authoritative figure can be good and loving when all they have received from them are violence and abandonment. They need to meet with the One who would heal and ensure their souls that He will be their Shepherd. They need to see for themselves that He is different. I believe that He uses many people to reveal His presence to these youth. They are sheep without a pastor and therefore, they become Jesus’ priority in this world. His authority compels Him to be present with these. It is our prayer that we are one of His instruments. It seems like it is happening. However, it is always incumbent on us to remember that His authority is different. This alone makes the world of a difference in the lives of those to whom we minister.