Breakfast with the Word Friday 25th Week Ordinary Time of the Year B
A crowd is a group of people who gather together in a particular place for a singular purpose. Sometimes the crowd gather to watch, to protest or to listen to someone. In a field of play, the crowd are those who only watch things happen. They are not necessarily part of the game.
The crowd comes to clap, shout, sing praises, and even criticize those who are in the game. They always have different versions of what to say on whatever happens.
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The Crowd
In today’s gospel, the crowd indicates the other people who are not among the closest companions of Jesus. They are neither the disciples nor apostles of Jesus, they only follow Jesus wherever He goes.
The crowd follow Jesus with different intentions, some come for healing, some for a miracle, some come to eat, while some come only to find something against Him. There are those who also come to Jesus in order to listen to Him.
When Jesus talks to His Disciples
Jesus talks to the crowd sometimes in parables but to His disciples, He teaches in plain terms. The best way to truly come to a knowledge of Jesus is to be His closest companion. In essence, we become the crowd when we are not in a personal or close relationship with the Lord. This is when we become only churchgoers, ordinary members or only come to Jesus for an intention and still go back to remain the way we are .
Let us take some points from today’s reading:
Jesus and the Crowd
Jesus knew quite well that the crowd has been following Him around all this while and He intends to know; “this crowd that has been following me, what do they think I am?”. The disciples give Jesus different answers.
Interact Positively
The first point here is that sometimes those who are close to us know what people say about us than we do. The disciples must be interacting with the people that made them know their opinion of their Master. Sometimes it is good to interact with those who stay close to us, those who work for us or serve us, there are things they know that we do not know ourselves. Never belittle them.
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Lack of True Knowledge
Secondly in their answer, the crowd was referring to Jesus as Elijah, John the Baptist or like other prophets, a sign that they do not have a true knowledge of the personality of Jesus. And this is why they changed from being an associate during the lifetime of Jesus to be his accuser and tormentor at the time of His death.
There was a time the crowd even wanted to make Jesus king (John 6:15). They shouted Hosanna for Him (John 12:13) but at the time of suffering they all shouted crucify Him (Luke 23:21, Mark 15;13).
They do this because they lack that deep knowledge of Who Jesus is. When we belong to the crowd, our knowledge of Jesus will be limited to what we hear about Him and cling to vague ideas of who He is.
Because our knowledge of Him is not deep-rooted, we might see Him as not real, and when problems come, we turn back to blame Him for our problems and even lose faith totally in Him.
Sign of True Faith
The Jews expected a Messiah that would ride on horses, with troops of soldiers following him, to fight and conquer their enemies. The way Jesus was living was very far from people’s conception of how the Messiah would be.
Peter confesses who Jesus is because He is one of the inner caucus; a close companion of Jesus.
For Peter to see how simple and poor Jesus was and yet confessing Him as the Messiah is a sign of trust and faith.
So, when we truly come close to God, we would trust whatever He does whether good or bad and whether it becomes easy or difficult. Our faith in Him remains strong. Let us always be His closest companion.
The Crowd’s Opinion
People’s opinion about Jesus is not who Jesus is. They were only left on the level of imagination. This also teaches us not to easily conclude on the personality of any person whenever you hear something about him or her.
Do not get angry, hate or fight any person because of what you hear about him or her. It may not be truly who the person is. Sometimes, it is good to go close to the person and know his own side of the story. It is when you come close to people that you will truly know them.
The Opinion of the Crowd
When you look at the gospel, one can understand that the crowd has different conceptions about Jesus. Let us always know that people will always have different notions and versions of you both good and bad.
Do not depend on people’s opinion of who you are. And do not give the crowd the chance to give you a personality that you are not. You know your true character, always stand out of the crowd.
When you follow the Crowd
Sometimes when you follow the crowd, you lose your worth. Robert Kiyosaki the great financial tutor says “No one achieves great things by following the crowd. Have a spine. Strike your own path, because you are not them.”
May God bless you beloved and give us the grace to remain close to Him. May He give us the strength to conquer our challenges. Amen.
Remember today is Fr. Sanctus Birthday pray for him and wish him well.
Happy Birthday Fr. Chysanctus Okeychukwu
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AMEN. Happy birthday fr,the anointing of God upon your life will never run dry, keep winning.
Father help me to know you personally and not be in the crowd in Jesus name. Amen
Amen
Amen
Happy birthday padre. May the Lord shine His divine light on you, may He endow you with every spiritual, physical, mental, psychological and financial blessings that would help you live an extraordinary life of a child of God……….. Happy birthday Fr Chysanctus Okey . I wish you well
Thanks Padre, happy birthday to you and remain blessed always.
Amen
For me, I call HIM MY SAVIOUR👌
Amen 🙏.
Amen,Happy birthday father May God protect bless and keep you safe and healthy,thank you for everything father,for your prayers,and stay blessed with lots of love,enjoy your special blessed day🎂🎉🎊
Amen
AMEN 🙏 thanks for this teaching
I pray always to be the Dower of the word AMEN 🙏
Happy Super Birthday 🍟Padre
May GOD continually BLESS and give you the Grace to continue in His vineyard always all the days of your GLORIOUS life AMEN 🙏
Amen 🙏
Happy Happy Birthday to you father Sanctus Mario
May God continue to strengthen you as you work in His vineyard, , shepherding His flock all to His Glory. – Amen 🙏
Amen
AMEN
Happy birthday Fr Santus. Wishing you may more happy and fruitful years ahead in good health of mind and body Amen!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Amen! Thank you Jesus for another opportunity to be in your presence this morning in Jesus most powerful name I pray Amen.
Amen, remain blessed Bro.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FR., WISH YOU LONG LIFE AND PROSPERITY IN GOOD HEALTH OF MIND AND BODY IN JESUS NAME, AMEN
Amen 👏
May God continue to help us stand up tall out of the crowd and be our real self without being fooled by anyone.
Happy birthday anniversary to you our great priest and brother, May God continue to bless you in his vineyard and grant you all it takes to shepherd his flocks entrusted to your care both now and forever more… Amen 👏.
Amen! Happy birthday father wishing you God’s blessings and favours as you celebrate your new age.🎂🥂
Amen
Hbd fr
Amen.
Happy birthday Fr Sanctus. May the grace of God continue to abide in your life and the anointing poured upon you be renewed daily. Amen. A happy new age
Happy birthday Padre! I pray for many more of God’s Grace, wisdom and Blessings now and always… Amen… Cheers to greater and more successful years ahead🎊🥂🎂
Amen
Amen. Happy birthday Father, may God continue to keep, bless and protect you. May your oil of grace and anointing never run dry in Jesus name Amen
Amen.
Happy birthday Padre
May God bless your new age as you celebrate today and may he continue to strengthen you as you work in his vineyard. Amen
Amen
Amen.Happy birthday Fr Chrysantus Okechukwu Ugwoegbu.May God give you more wisdom as you serve in His vineyard and more beautiful years ahead Amen.
God give me grace to remain close to you
Amen and Happy birthday Fr. May God see you through in all your endeavors…
Amen.
Happy birthday my dear birthday mate.
God bless you Father Okey, today and forever. Amen
AMEN AMEN &AMEN.
Amen
Happy birthday Fr Sanctus Mario. May the Lord bless your New age and also grant you many more birthdays to celebrate through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen. Age gracefully Father. 🎂🥂🍾🍷🍾🍹🍹
Amen.
Happy birthday padre
God bless and keep thee 🙏
God please give me strength to conquer my challenges, Amen and Amen.
Happy birthday Fr Chrysantus Okechukwu. May God continue to strengthen you and give you more of His grace. Amen
Amen. Happy birthday Padre. More grace in the Lord’s vineyard Amen.
God bless you too
Amen!
In relation to today’s soul enriching package, it’s only God that fully knows everyone. And it is only His view about anyone that can be 100% correct. Thus we should always prefer God’s view to man’s often biased or exaggerated (in some cases) about us. And in effect, we must be very careful so as not to ever allow such sadistic or sycophantic opinions of the latter to stop us from leaning on God and His Holy Will alone.
Indeed, it can be even eternally fatal to prefer/choose to fit into man’s imperfect views for whatever reason (s)…
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Heavenly Father ,give me Grace to always remain close to you & also give me strength to conquer all challenges in life,Amen.
Amen 👏 Happy birthday to you Fr.May the Grace of God be more sufficient for you to shepherd his flock..Amen
Thank you Father
Happy birthday to you, Father. I pray for more wisdom and knowledge and understanding of God and his continuous guidance and protection
Amen
Age gracefully
Amen, May God continue to use as his instrument of winning souls Amen.
Happy birthday to you father,may you be bless always,may Jesus always give me the grace to always trust in him in all situation Amen especially at this trying time that I just lost my dad Amen may his soul rest in peace 🙏
Amen. Remain blessed, fr
amen
AMEN
Amen
Amen, thank you Fr.
Happy Birthday Padre, more grace to you. Age gracefully
Amen.
Happy birthday Padre
Happy birthday Father Sanctus. May God continue to bless and strengthen you.
Lord I ask for the grace to know you more Amen.
Happy birthday to fr. Chysanctus okeychukwu, may God bless your new age with long life in good health, protect you from dangers and from evil, Grant you more grace and strength to continue with the good works He is doing in the lives of people through you Amen.
Happy birthday once. More padre, may our blessed mother Mary continue to intercede for you
Thanks and God bless you
Happy birthday dear Father May God continue to bless and strengthen you 🙏
Amen
Happy birthday and God bless you richly
Amen. Remain blessed.
Amennnnnnn. Happy birthday Padre, wish you many happy returns in good health Amen
Happy birthday fr
Amen.
Happy birthday father may God perfect all that concerns you.
Amen Fr
Happy Birthday Fr. God bless you abundantly. Amen
Amen and Amen, so shall be in our lives in Jesus mighty name Amen. Fr. Congrats once again. More grace to ur new age. Amen.
Thank you, for showing us how to be a true companion to you and helping us to always stand out among the crowd through Christ our Lord, Amen.
May God bless and keep you for sharing this insightful reflection.
May the wealth of Wisdom never depart from you. Remained Blessed.🙏🙏
Amen!
Amen
Amen Amen Amen.