After this Many of His Disciples Drew Back

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1014

If a grandmother comes and asks, “Is the church leader here?” and you look at her and reply, “No, he’s not here,” you will be punished. Just see what happens when she asks, “Where did the church leader go?” and you answer, “Why do you ask, grandmother? We have no need for an old grandmother.” God will scold you saying, “You good-for-nothing! Where did you come from?” Denying aged grandmothers and grandfathers is the same as denying your mother and father. That is why you can only be a devoted son when you serve and support your aged parents and grandparents. (56-38, 1972.5.10)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1051

When dealing with people, you must not do it unsatisfactorily. The work of resurrection does not occur in a course that is mandatory. It has to be exciting. You must stay up at night without even realizing it is night. You discover the value of heaven only when you get to the point at which you can say, “The place where I am now is heaven.” Isn’t that right? Even with trees, unless they are completely bonded, they don’t engraft. (75-177, 1975.1.2

Jesus

10. Jesus Performed Miracles, but They Were Not Conducive to Faith

The apostles returned to Jesus… and he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves. Now many saw them going, and knew them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns, and got there ahead of them. As he landed he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a lonely place, and the hour is now late; send them away, to go into the country and villages round about and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And the disciples said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” Then he commanded them all to sit down by companies upon the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
Mark 6.30-44

When the disciples said, “O Jesus son of Mary! Is your Lord able to send down for us a table spread with food from heaven?”42 He said, “Observe your duty to God, if you are true believers.” They said, “We wish to eat of it, that we may satisfy our hearts and know that you have spoken truth to us, and that we may be witnesses thereof.” Jesus son of Mary said, “O God, our Lord! Send down for us a table spread with food from heaven, that it may be a feast for us, for the first of and for the last of us, and a sign from Thee. Give us sustenance, for Thou art the Best of sustainers.”
Qur’an 5.112-114

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”…
    Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst… Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day…”
    Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?… The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you that do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him.
John 6.25-67

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Jesus was willing to do anything for the sake of the Father’s Will… Touring with his disciples, when he saw that the people were hungry, he performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000 with five loaves and two fishes. He gave everything he could. (4:83, March 9, 1958)

Jesus did not delight in performing miracles. If you think he performed miracles in comfort and joy, you are greatly mistaken. When he felt compelled by a painful situation to show mercy upon the people, he raised his hands and cried out, “Father!” This is when the miracles took place. They took place when Jesus cried out in excruciating sadness, as if his bones and flesh were melting. Do not think that Jesus performed miracles because he liked them or was reckless.
On the hill of Bethsaida, 5,000 people waved their arms and shouted out, “Jesus, you are our Savior! You are the chosen leader of Israel!” They sought him out because they expected to obtain some benefit from him. However, after some time passed they began to see that Jesus’ standard of heart was different from theirs. They could not relate to his internal situation and ideals, which came from a different, higher realm. That was when they turned their backs on Jesus and abandoned him. Yet all the while, Jesus was giving them his utmost love. (3:291, February 1, 1959)

The multitudes that followed Jesus believed he was the Messiah and their Savior when he showed them the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Yet when Jesus was about to be killed, everyone abandoned him and scattered.
If the people who followed Jesus had understood his internal heart toward Heaven, if they had understood that he possessed a deeply penetrating heart toward God, and that he came to take responsibility for the whole of the God’s historical providence, they would have understood his predicament and followed him to the end. (3:291, January 19, 1958)

Art Has Its Limits

Numbers 4

The Lord told Moses and Aaron:

2-3 Find out how many men between the ages of thirty and fifty are in the four Levite clans of Kohath. Count only those who are able to work at the sacred tent.

Richard:  God wants us to have specific and measurable results in our ministry work.  Visionroot produces great tools to help you do that:  http://www.visionroot.org.

Mark 2

12 The man got right up. He picked up his mat and went out while everyone watched in amazement. They praised God and said, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Richard:  Miracles do happen!

Let Us Halt in Our Steps and Behold the One Who Is Protecting Us

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 8, 1959

Psalm 121

You may not be so well aware of this fact, but history is moving toward some destination. It is ceaselessly flowing toward the one unified world of the ideal. This is not an arrangement made by human beings or something human beings have accomplished. This flow moves forcefully in spite of our ignorance of it. Since it has the power to surround us, move our minds, and steer the course of our nation and world, and since we are on our way toward the world of our destination, we cannot help being a part of this great procession. You should reflect once more upon your being subject to this unalterable fate.

In this flow, where is our path heading? Is it to the left or the right? Is it vertical or horizontal? When we consider this flow, we find that we cannot boast about any self-centered success. The same thing holds true, even if we are delighted in the great world of the arts.

A person has value as the subject in sight of the entire universe in a reciprocal relationship with it. Therefore, until we can achieve the kind of success of which we can boast in the presence of the creation, there is no way we can alter that flow of the heart. The path we must walk is one. We set out from this amazing and great world of relationships and pass through a world of relationships before arriving at our destination. There we can fully manifest our original value and proudly stand in the presence of the Creator. Hence, we must understand that in their innermost hearts human beings long to be such victors and attain such joy and freedom. Continue reading “Art Has Its Limits”