Napoleon once said that he could command armies because they feared him; thus, they are forced to fight for Napoleon. But Jesus neither compelled nor forced any of his followers to follow him or die for him; and still even now, after 2000+ years, millions of men are willing to give their life for him. The point here is this: Napoleon’s words did not compel his soldiers to fight for him out of loyalty but out of duty. Christ’s followers were loyal to him because his words were trustworthy; that is, they were true! They were true because Jesus had no contradiction between his words or actions. What makes the words of Christ remain forever is not the words themselves, for words alone are useless, even Christ’s; but Christ matched his words with his actions, which made his words true and in turn they remain forever. That is why in the Gospel reading were hear that “heaven and earth will pass away but the words of Christ will remain.”

In the Gospel Reading today Jesus teaches us that if someone hits us on the right side of the face we should offer the other side as well.

In the Gospel Reading today Peter is walking to Capernaum. While on his way he encounters some tax collector who asked him, ‘does your Master pay the temple tax.’

A straightforward reading of today’s Gospel passage would lead us to believe that if we pray for something, we would receive that from God. “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, and knock and the door shall be open to you.” (Luke 11: 9-13)

Are you a hypocrite? As Christians, this is something we all think about; or, in fact, we might have been called a hypocrite by someone; or considered ourselves to be a hypocrite a few times in our life.