The Coming One

Gospel of Matthew 11

After Jesus had finished giving directions to his twelve disciples, he left that place in order to teach and preach in their towns. 2 Now John had heard in prison what the Christ was doing, and he sent a message by his disciples, 3 And asked: “Are you ‘The Coming One,’ or are we to look for someone else?” 4 The answer of Jesus to the question was: “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind recover their sight, and the lame walk; the lepers are made clean and the deaf hear; the dead, too, are raised to life, and the gospel is told to the poor. 6 And blessed is the one who finds no hindrance in me.”

7 While these men were going back, Jesus began to say to the crowds with reference to John: 8 “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed waving in the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man richly dressed? Why, those who wear rich things are to be found in the courts of kings! 9 What, then, did you go for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet.”

10 “This is the man of whom scripture says: ‘Behold, I am myself sending my messenger before thy face, And he shall prepare thy way before thee.’11 I tell you, no one born of a woman has yet appeared who is greater than John the Baptist; and yet the lowliest in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the time of John the Baptist to this very hour, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For the teaching of all the prophets and of the law continued until the time of John; 14 And, if you are ready to accept it, John is himself the Elijah who was destined to come. 15 Let those who have ears hear.

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The Meaning of The Lord’s Prayer

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16 But to what shall I compare the present generation? It is like little children sitting in the market–places and calling out to their playmates: 17 ‘We have played the flute for you, but you have not danced; We have wailed, but you have not mourned.’18 For, when John came, neither eating nor drinking, men said ‘He has a devil in him’; 19 And now that the Son of Man has come, eating and drinking, they are saying: ‘Here is a glutton and a wino, a friend of tax–gatherers and sinners!’ And yet wisdom is vindicated by her actions.”

20 Then Jesus began to reproach the towns in which most of his miracles had been done, because they had not repented: 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For, if the miracles which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 Yet, I tell you, the doom of Tyre and Sidon will be more bearable in the day of judgment than yours.”

23 “And you, Capernaum! Will you ‘exalt yourself to heaven’? ‘You shall go down to the place of death.’ For, if the miracles which have been done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing to this day. 24 Yet, I tell you, the doom of Sodom will be more bearable in the day of judgment than yours.”

25 At that same time Jesus uttered the words: “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that, though thou has hidden these things from the wise and learned, thou has revealed them unto babes. 26 Yes, Father, I thank thee that this has seemed good to thee. 27 Everything has been committed to me by my Father; nor does anyone fully know the Son, except the Father, nor fully know the Father, except the Son, and those to whom the Son may choose to reveal him.

28 Come to me, all you who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest! 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly at heart, and ‘you shall find rest for your souls’; 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

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To read Chapter 12 of the Gospel of Matthew, please go to: The Wisdom of Solomon

Gain fresh insight into the Lord’s Prayer. Read our free online book The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life. The prayer’s hidden teachings will enrich and inspire you. Click the following link to begin reading the Living Hour Book now: The Lord’s Prayer.

Browse the entire Gospel of Matthew here: Gospel of Matthew

On the Road with Jack Kerouac – God is Pooh Bear

Towards the very end of Jack Kerouac’s classic novel On the Road, he writes several memorable lines, which he read famously on The Steve Allen Show in 1956. One passage is as follows:

“In Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars’ll be out, and don’t you know that God is Pooh-Bear?…

The comment that God is Pooh-Bear has caused a lot of confusion over the years, with many people claiming that Kerouac thinks that God is a fiction. But to believe that Jack Kerouac felt that God was a figment of our imaginations is to terribly misread him. The so called “King of the Beats” felt God intensely, within each and every hobo, wino, and hard-luck soul he met.

Kerouac defined being “beat” as being reduced to the essentials. But what does that really mean? And why was Kerouac so attracted to people who were beat? Those who have read Benjamin Hoff’s Tao of Pooh probably have an intimation of the answer. In Hoff’s book we learn how Winnie the Pooh is symbolic of the sage who lives in the immediate moment.

When we are reduced to the essentials (beat) we have no choice but to live inside the immediate moment, and thus are close to God, as is revealed by Jesus’s parables of spontaneity. Close to God, though, does not translate to Being with God. For that to occur we must let charity, patience, and love drive our actions rather than the demands of the ego.

We must throw ourselves into the spontaneity of Christ (our true selves), as so often Pooh does in service to his friends and neighbors, without ever giving it a second thought.

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Gain fresh insight into the Lord’s Prayer. Read our free online book The Lord’s Prayer for Daily Life. The prayer’s hidden teachings will enrich and inspire you. Click the following link to begin reading the Living Hour book now: The Lord’s Prayer.

To read about William Butler Yeats and Christ’s Second Coming please go to: Jesus’s Second Coming.