BEING FIRST
GOSPEL READING : Mark 9. 30-37

I imagine how many teens and even adults have started dreaming to become famous like BOLT the Jamaican sprinter since they saw him winning medals upon medals at the London 2012 Olympics. But that would not be so easier than becoming a Bill Gates the first richest man in the world. Becoming first does always require wisdom and efforts, time and sacrifices, but also testing through many unexpected situations. Being first in this world has never been an easy obtained gift but a tough struggle. Glory! Glory! is the very dream and concern of man.

Jesus had just healed a young boy with an evil spirit and while walking down to Capernaum with his Disciples, He told them that He was going to be betrayed into the hands of men, and be killed, but would rise after three days. “But they did not understand what He meant and were afraid to ask him about it.”(Mark 9:32, NIV).

That’s how men usually react in many situations. They never take time to understand neither God’s Truths nor His plans nor His appeals to a particular problem to be solved. Instead of going to God for needed explanation, men start discussing and arguing about their own concern for glory! What Peter and the other Disciples were arguing about had no relation at all with the healing of the boy neither with an evil spirit nor with Jesus being betrayed and killed and rise. Incomprehensible! Unbelievable!

“Oh! You want to be first, asks Jesus? Here’s my free eternal project for all those who want to be and remain eternally FIRST: “If anyone wants to be FIRST, he must be THE VERY LAST, and THE SERVANT of all.” Strange! Would say any modern scholar! How can FIRST be equal to VERY LAST? For men, first is first and last is last, while for God, FIRST is LAST and VERY LAST is FIRST. The Apostle Paul understood earlier this Truth that “the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” (I Corinthians 1:25, NIV). Yes, because the VERY LAST is the rear seat where the very humble sit waiting for God’s plan to come upon them. That’s where the invalid of Bethesda had been lying for thirty-eight years, having no favor to get someone to help him plunge into the pool when the water was stirred by an angel. The VERY LAST is the seat for SERVANTS OF OTHERS, SERVANTS OF ALL! Servants of All are rare to find in this over proud world.

But the most touching teaching Jesus gave his Disciples on that day was the one about welcoming a little child in his Name: “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my Name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the One who sent me”(Mark 9:37, NIV).

Bishop, Dr Justin Baransananikiye
President,
CHRISTIANS STRENGTHENING CHRISTIANS
http://iprayforyou.worthyofpraise.org
http://christiansstrengtheningchristian.doodlekit.com/blog

YOUR SOUL AND MY SOUL
GOSPEL READING : Mark 8. 27-37

Knowing who Jesus is, is one thing. Accepting the mandate He has been entrusted as Jesus is another thing. Peter had the privilege to DISCOVER and KNOW who Jesus was: the CHRIST. He was prepared to accept everything about Him, powerful sermons, miracles, healings, crowds searching for Him, etc. But one thing he didn’t accept was that the Son of Man would suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of law, and be killed. This made Peter dare to rebuke The Master and try to convince Him of making a terrible mistake!
Most of the Christians will tell you Jesus is the Son of God but not all believe He died and rose and went back to the Father in heaven and that He will return to Earth and rapture the Believers. They’d rather prefer Karl Marx and Engels’ teachings than making “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life”(John 3:16) a vision and a rule for their life. They’d rather spend lots of money subscribing to 10 different newspapers and always observe the horoscope and quotes from well-known philosophers than buying a cheap Bible and meditate daily the Word of God that gives life to men. Yet, Jesus’ mandate to Earth was made clear since Isaiah’s days about 800 years before He was born: “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering…But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by his wounds we are healed…He was assigned a grave with the wicked…After the suffering of his soul, He will see the light of LIFE and be satisfied”(Isaiah 53:3, 4-5, 9, 11). Who then was right to rebuke the other? Was it Peter or Jesus? Who had his belief and feet correctly standing in the things of God? Of course, Satan didn’t want Jesus to bear men’s sins at the Cross and die and rise to life again to GRANT US ETERNAL LIFE.
“Peter! you must also die to your unbelief and sins, you must die to your pride and selfish, you must die to trusting your capacities and your reasoning, and then rise again to Eternal Life. That’s the requirements to be my follower.” I also believe that today many lives in this world would be changed IF PEOPLE COULD SIMPLY ACCEPT TO DIE WITH CHRIST.

In 1984, I was invited to preach at a remote parish of a Free Methodist Church in Kabezi about 15 km South of Bujumbura the capital of Burundi. The Pastor had told me that the congregation there was so terrified by a sorcerer, a witch doctor, member of his congregation who had made big fortunes from lying that he could heal various illnesses while people continued to die in his hands. I didn’t know that person before. But while I was preaching, a strong and tall man stood from the rear bench in the little chapel and begun to defy me. Suddenly, he flied slowly like a big eagle above the heads of people in the chapel and headed towards the pulpit. I was afraid but didn’t run away. He came and banged against the pulpit which was built with strong bricks and cement and fell down. I didn’t worry about him and continued with my sermon.

The congregation stood up as they thought he was dead and some ran out fearing vengeance from his evil spirits. As I concluded my sermon, the man woke up and sat down and watched the congregation around silently. He stood up and asked for prayer. I invited the congregation to join in prayer for him after what the sorcerer said: “I now understand that I have been wrong all my life long, lying, killing, stealing, and thinking I was a god. But Jesus is the only true God I want to serve.” Later I was told that he repaid everything he had taken from people and became poor and humble. Yes, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

May the peace of God be with you.

President,
CHRISTIANS STRENGTHENING CHRISTIANS
http://iprayforyou.worthyofpraise.org
http://christiansstrengtheneingchristian.doodlekit.com/blog

THE POWER OF HUMILITY
GOSPEL READING : Mark 7. 24-37

Jesus Christ the humble leaves the crowds of Gennesaret and moves to the Mediterranean coast where He hadn’t preached the Gospel before hoping that He wouldn’t be seen nor discovered by the very busy traders of these thriving cities of the Antiquity. He enters a house, certainly a humble one and makes no publicity, no TV shows, nor appearances in newspapers editorials, anything to gather attention around him. Silence! While there, a foreigner woman, a Greek woman, a humble mother who had certainly heard about Jesus ‘miracles in Galilee and Decapolis, was also informed about his entry in the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. Her little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit. She certainly could no longer sleep for nights. Pharisees in their Synagogues had certainly no solution to help her. She suffered solitude, was abandoned, humiliated, rejected, stressed, hopeless, but on that very day she believed Jesus could put end to her ordeal as He has done with the man with an evil spirit in the region of Gerasenes (Mark chap. 5). So, she decided to go on searching Him until she found Him and fell at his feet begging Him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

Unfortunately, “First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs”, She was told by the One She had taken as her latest hope! “Don’t you know you are a dog?” Anybody could imagine himself going through such a disappointing experience losing consequently all hope but this tough woman hero didn’t. “Yes, Lord, you’re right; I am a dog, a big dog! She replied. I am not allowed to sit on a chair next to the children and share their delicious meal. I know where my place is: under the table! And, please do remember that none of the children has ever been and will never be seated under the table and eat crumbs. Lord, Lord, give me my crumbs. I am here to beg for crumbs! And the miracle was accomplished for her daughter. THE POWER OF HUMILITY!

In 1972 during the horrible massacres of the Hutus in Burundi, I was also targeted just like the many other students who were savagely killed. The Kibimba Quaker High school I attended was located in the mountains of Gitega 80 km far from my home in Bujumbura. We left school on June 28 and yet en route, some of our schoolmates were extracted from our van by the police and taken to the execution site. As I got home, my mother said I couldn’t spend the Summer holiday there since all my friends around had already been killed. So, early the next morning, Mum took me and we walked more than 35 km on foot to reach the border between Burundi and the D.R. Congo. She had helped me to put on rags and carry on my head a worn basket containing some cassava pieces as to distort myself and appear like a poor person going to the market. We reached the little village of Gatumba at the border with the Congo and fortunately I met a friend of mine who had escaped from being killed at a high school in Bujumbura. He had also distorted himself. We went through a plantation of cotton where we met the state milicia. They looked at us and said, “You, dogs where are you going? We replied humbly that we were poor farmers going to sell our cassava to the little Congolese market there at the border. They allowed us to continue and we could cross the border safely.
While refugees in the D.R Congo, we had nothing to eat. Every morning we decided to go at a market rubbish dump where we found various peelings to eat. People finally called us “The dogs from Burundi” and we were so happy to bear that humiliating name. The essential for us was to get something to eat. Yes we were humble big dogs who could survive that way in a strange land. Praise God! I recently met again my friend with whom I shared this long journey as refugees to the Congo. He has been the Burundian Ambassador to Egypt since 2006. He said “Justin, do you remember our story in 1972 in the Congo?” THE POWER OF HUMILITY!

May the peace of God be with all of you !

Bishop Justin BARANSANANIKIYE, DD, DMin
President,
CHRISTIANS STRENGTHENING CHRISTIANS
http://iprayforyou.worthyofpraise.org
http://christiansstrengtheneingchristian.doodlekit.com/blog

FAITHFUL FOREVER TO JESUS.
GOSPEL READING : Luke 9 : 57-62:

A MAN WHO LAID EGGS

Did Mr. Kasuku really lay eggs? Nobody knew. But the truth is that some day he imagined a testing trap and it really worked. Mr. Kasuku went to the market and bought an egg and brought it secretly in his room. The night came and as usual he slept there with his wife. Early the next morning before he left, he told his wife and said: “Darling, I have laid an egg, come and see here it is under the blanket !”
– An egg, his wife shouted ?
– Shuut! Yes an egg. DO NOT TELL ANYBODY ABOUT IT. It is a secret for you and me.

The next day, Mr. Kasuku did the same. He bought an egg from the market and brought it secretly in his room and the next morning before he left, he showed his wife the second egg he had laid. Then his wife said: “Darling, tell me now. What do you plan to do when you’ll have laid many more eggs?
– I’ll tell you when the time comes. Just keep it a secret for you and me.

Kasuku’s wife had a friend in the village. Two days later they met in the plantations and seated together talking. This woman told Mrs Kasuku how her husband was mistreating her and beating her every day since he got a second wife. So, Kasuku’s wife replied: “Oh,My friend, since you dare to tell me a so great secret I’ll also tell you something secret about my husband and me, but DO NOT TELL IT TO ANYBODY: My husband lays eggs.”

The next week, Mr. Kasuku went to the cabaret he used to hang about and when people saw him coming in, they all immediately moved away from him and left him alone at the desk. He then asked the waiter there why nobody no longer wanted to sit next to him but he received no answer. Soon, as the waiter went to serve these people with more beer, they all shouted loudly and said: “Never welcome that man any more in this cabaret otherwise we’ll all stop coming here!”
– Why, the waiter said ?
Everybody laughed again and said : “Didn’t you know that Mr. kasuku lays eggs ?”
– Eggs, the waiter exclaimed, A man Who lays Eggs?

Kasuku left the cabaret quickly and returned back home. He took a long eucalyptus stick and struck his wife seriously before he kicked her off his house forever accusing her for having told out secrets about their life. Strange, isn’t it ? But, does this true story have something special to teach us as faithful followers of Jesus?

Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the service in the Kingdom of God.”(Luke 9:62, NIV). Yes, LOVE cannot be TRUE LOVE without faithfulness. For God so LOVED the world that He gave His Son to die on the Cross as the eternal symbol of His Faithfulness to his plan to save men from the bondage of sin. Dear Brethren, one thing is true no matter what trials and temptations Satan pours on us day by day: he knows that whenever he sees the Cross of Jesus, he himself tells his mind that “God is Faithful To His Plan Of Salvation!”. Unfortunately, “Men have not responded with Faithfulness to the Holy Faithfulness of God”. And this has continually hurt the heart of God.

Whenever we break down the holy commandments of God, we are breaking down publicly the secrets of the House of God and saying : “God does not prohibit Sin !”. Whenever we lie, we are telling out in the streets of this world that “Lies are permitted in the Holy House of God”. Whenever we hate our neighbor, we are crying loudly at the crossroads of this world that “God is not Love!”. Are we on the left or on the right side of Jesus?

In Christ’s Love,

Bishop, Dr. Justin Baransananikiye
President,
CHRISTIANS STRENGTHENING CHRISTIANS,
http://iprayforyou.worthyofpraise.org
http://christiansstrengtheningchristian.doodlekit.com/blog

GOSPEL READING : John 12:1-8:
JESUS’ GREAT LOVE TOWARDS A HYPOCRIT!

In the Burundi former tradition, when a man got married and it happened that his wife was found sterile, he had the right to return to his in-laws family and be given his wife’s young sister. No matter whether they loved each other or not. But the man would not divorce the elder wife. Could we call that true love or hypocrisy?
I usually take time to represent myself this moving tale about a Cobra and a Partridge which lived closely to each other and shared whatever they got as food. Despite that fact, the Partridge suspected the Cobra to be swallowing its eggs from time to time but there was no proof. Hence, one day the Partridge asked the Cobra:
– Oh, dear friend, Cobra, though you say we are friends, I am afraid of you whenever we are talking because I really suspect you for swallowing my eggs. So, could you open your mouth and allow me to look in your gullet ?

The Cobra accepted and the Partridge had a look in its gullet where it saw a little door and said :
– Mr. Cobra, what I was thinking about you is true. You really have a little door opened in your gullet and that’s the way my eggs go through and where I’ll probably end my days.

The Cobra replied and said: “No, dear friend. I love you so much and I can’t treat you that way”.

Later, the forest that was next to the bush where the two beasts lived burned and the Cobra said to the Partridge :
– Oh, dear, I am afraid of the fire because the bush where we live is connected to the forest that is burning. So, please, since you can fly quickly, could you take me and help me escape from the fire that is approaching?
– Of course, my friend, the Partridge replied. Get quickly around my neck and I’ll fly immediately.

And so the Partridge flied quickly taking the Cobra very far to a nice plain where it landed. Then the Partridge asked the Cobra to get off its neck because there was no more danger. Unfortunately, the Cobra refused and continued to suffocate the Partridge. The Partridge insisted again in vain and finally cried: “Didn’t I tell you that you had a little door in your gullet and that you had evil plans towards me?” While discussions continued between the two, a group of people who were returning from working to put out the fire in the forest came that way. The Cobra heard them and afraid, it got off the Partridge’s neck and tried to escape. Unfortunately, these people saw the Cobra and stoned it till it died before the little door in its gullet had swallowed the Partridge.

Dear Brethren, Let’s pour on Jesus’ feet the precious perfume of OUR REPENTANCE today and be aware that one of the powerful weapons the Devil is using to attack Christians and the Christian Church is Hypocrisy. We’ve met it several times on our ways in our lives. We’ve shared our deeper secrets with hypocrites in the Church or in our businesses and have been caught in their traps while trusting them as righteous. And how many lovers have ended their lives in suicide simply because they came at a point where they found themselves manipulated by a false and hypocrit friend?

Judas Iscariot thought he was unknown from Jesus and the rest of the Disciples. But why did Jesus, the Son of God, allowed Hypocrit Judas to be part of the holy Disciples’ Foundation Body and even take part in the Holy Supper? Somebody said that Jesus simply wanted to tell all the Hypocrits of all the times that God so loved the Hypocrits that He gave His only begotten Son , that any Hypocrit who believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. So, as true Jesus’ followers, let us also welcome the hypocrites in Church. Let us also share the Holy Communion with them. Let us be humble and naïve and seem like not paying attention to all the evil they are doing against us. Let us keep on meditating and sing together with Charlotte Elliot and William Bradbury and remember that one day we also came to Jesus “Just As We Were”, Hypocrits or liars or robbers and killers, etc. And let these blessed words be our prayer :
Just as I am without a Plea,
But that Thy Blood was shed for me
And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come !
Just as I am and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot
To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

In Christ’s Love,

Bishop, Dr. Justin Baransananikiye

CHRISTIANS STRENGTHENING CHRISTIANS,
http://christiansstrengtheningchristian.doodlekit.com/blog
http://iprayforyou.worthyofpraise.org
An International Ministry of
The Episcopal Free Church-Province of Burundi
P.O. Box 197 Gitega, Burundi
Tel: 257 79 877 097
Email: baransajust@gmail.com
Facebook: https://facebook.com/christiansstrengtheningchristian
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Baransananikiye
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102632828955039015899/102632828955039015899/posts

A CRY FOR PEACE IN THE WORLD!

A time will come when love shall reign
That blessed time when peace will remain.
From North to South people hand in hand
Shall brandish one same flag forever
Injustice, slavery, war and tears,
Won’t you finally lay down your weapons?
The poor one awaits your final fall
And prays hoping to see the end
Of your phenomenal empire!
Yes, love is stronger than your missiles
Which never were useful!
For the latest survivor n this Earth
Shall not forget his father and mother.
Come new times, we pass by without you!
Come and wipe our tears,
Alleviate our bleeding hearts.
Our feet are worn out on the long paths of injustice
Without a shade offered to rest our burned lives!
Who will save, who will say: Welcome brothers
To the eternal pilgrims’ caravan
With their curved backs?
Who will say: You are mine and I am yours
To the heroes of humiliation and loneliness?
We believe in the life,
Thus sing the peoples thirsting for peace.
Our steps will hardly be wearied
To go towards your blessed palaces!
Let us wash your feet we of it are worthy
And for wages, allow our children
To live in peace and LOVE!
That’s God will forever!

Bishop, Dr Justin Baransananikiye
President,
CHRISTIANS STRENGTHENING CHRISTIANS,
An International Ministry of
The Episcopal free Church- Province of Burundi
P.O. Box 197 Gitega, Burundi
Tel: 257 79 877 097
Email: baransajust@gmail.com
http://iprayforyou.worthyofpraise.org
http://christiansstrengtheningchristian.doodlekit.com/blog
Facebook: https://facebook.com/christiansstrengtheningchristian
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Baransananikiye
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102632828955039015899/102632828955039015899/posts

GOSPEL READING : Mark 12 : 28-34 :
LOVING GOD THROUGH LOVING OUR NEIGHBOR

Virginia and I were married February 26, 1983. During all these years, we have not crossed one single week without seeing some poor people come to us and beg either for food or medical help or any other kind of assistance. Our home has always been a destination and crossroads of the needy and poor ones who live around us even when we had nothing at all to offer to them. Here is a story about what has happened to us several times.

One Monday morning, an elderly woman walked slowly to our home and sat very far at the gate. The previous Sunday, I had preached from Matthew 25:31-46, where Christ says “I was hungry and you gave me to eat…I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…I was a stranger and you invited me in…I needed clothes and you clothed me…I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…” We hadn’t seen this humble suffering woman but our dog was barking and barking. This happened in 1986 when we had only 2 kids (2 and 1 year old).Virginia finally decided to go and see what was really happening and she saw the poor elderly woman laying down there. She called as we use to in the Kirundi language but the woman didn’t move to respond. Virginia thought she was dead.
Thus, coming back to me in a hurry, Virginia said, “Justin, Jesus is at our gate, what can we do?” I replied and said “Jesus? Did you see Jesus? Where is He?” Virginia insisted saying “Yes, Justin Jesus is at our gate. Don’t you remember the sermon you preached yesterday in Church? An elder woman is dying there at our gate.” So I jumped quickly from my chair and together with Virginia we went and, fortunately, found the woman deeply sleeping. We helped her to wake up and led her slowly into our house. The strange thing was that we had nothing as food at all in our house. We had spent the previous night drinking black tea with our two kids. No bread, no beans, no sweet potatoes, nothing, and the children were weeping and crying of hunger.
Virginia looked at me and I also looked at her. Our faces were filled with questions. She took from the tea that remained in the bottle and helped the elderly woman drink slowly the last cup we had. As usual, I entered in our bedroom and knelt to pray. Here are the words I said in my childish prayer:

“Thank you Lord Jesus Christ for visiting us this morning.
If this is really you, O Lord, hear my humble prayer:
We have welcomed you in our humble poor home,
We have served you our last, really last cup of tea.
Now, remember what you said:
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,
I will go in and eat with him, and he with me.”
Yes, Lord, thank you for what you have also
brought with you to be shared with us. Amen”

No sooner was my prayer finished, I heard Virginia knocking at the door and saying, “Justin, Come quickly. Your uncle is coming. He is bringing a big chicken and an enormous bunch of green bananas. Come! Come! I know you have been praying secretly in the room! Come! Jesus has heard your prayer!”. And I left the room with a big “THANK YOU JESUS” on my lips and we ate Jesus’ food!

Dear Brethren, do you need Jesus visit you in your situation whatever dark it may be? Do you need to experience how he opens his merciful hand to rescue you ?

“LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF”
In Christ’s Love,

CHRISTIANS STRENGTHENING CHRISTIANS,
An International Ministry of
The Episcopal free Church- Province of Burundi
P.O. Box 197 Gitega, Burundi
Tel: 257 79 877 097
Email: baransajust@gmail.com
http://iprayforyou.worthyofpraise.org
http://christiansstrengtheningchristian.doodlekit.com/blog
Facebook: https://facebook.com/christiansstrengtheningchristian
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Baransananikiye
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102632828955039015899/102632828955039015899/posts

GOSPEL READING : Mark 10 : 46-52 :

“THE LAST CRY OF A BELOVED SOUL !”

Have we ever come to the point where we consider ourselves forgotten or rejected by the ones we loved and counted as our first helpers and protectors? Has one ever experienced the inner suffering and sorrow of a solitary person or an invalid who can do nothing else but cry to those going and coming on his daily road of trials? This is an unknown silent world hidden to many of us but Jesus wants us to stop for one minute with him and respond at least to one humble cry of HOPE we cross by on our way and which certainly might be “THE LAST CRY OF A BELOVED SOUL”. We read that many including the disciples didn’t want to hear “Bartimaeus’ last cry” but Jesus did.

A certain city of the Antiquities was attacked by enemies. They killed all male there while women and children were deported as slaves to a foreign unknown land. No survivals remained in the city except a deaf and a blind who lived under the shells of three old chariots that the king had brought back from a battle he had won several years earlier. Every time the king and his army went out for a battle, he told the following to these two invalid who used to come from time to time and beg at the entrance of his palace:

“Beloved citizens, I know you are faithful and humble people. Now, if I and the army die on the battle field, and if the enemy attacks us and tries to enter and occupy this city, do not leave it, do not move from here. If they ask you why, tell them that the king has ordered you to keep there.”

The rusty devices where they lived were exposed in center downtown of the city as a symbol of honor to the king. The blind and the deaf stayed there and were fed by any people who visited these vestiges. Now it happened a certain night and the enemy was there and the city was under occupation. A day passed, two days, three days and the two poor surviving citizens saw nobody approaching their hiding place. So, during the night, they agreed that the next morning as the occupying army will start walking around, the blind one would lift up his hands and cry loudly and appeal for help while the deaf would be praying silently that God may have mercy towards them. This was done as the first soldiers came and sat near the place. As they heard the blind crying they asked him why he was there. “The king ordered me and my friend deaf to keep here and never leave this place”, he replied.
– The king ? the chief military officer asked, which king ?
– Yes, the kiiiiing ! The kiiiiing, the blind man insisted.
– The king ? So, do you need any help from us, the chief military officer asked.
– Yes, food, drinks, blankets, clothes, everything you can get to make us happy.
–
Trembling, the military officer who had understood this was an order issued by HIS OWN KING ordered immediately his battalion to quickly go and get all that the blind and the deaf needed. He also established guards there day and night to serve them just like the soldiers. THE LAST CRY ! Have you understood, dear brethren?

When entering Jericho Jesus had heard the inner secret last cry of Zacchaeus a tax collector in thirst for salvation. And when leaving Jericho, Jesus heard the last cry of a rejected desperate blind man whose hot faith was prepared to catch the miracle of recovering sight.

Yes, Jesus is waiting for us to reach the point where you and I will also issue ‘OUR LAST CRY’ because he has sent faithful disciples on every streets in this world to hear us. But Jesus also teaches us to be the listeners of those desperate cries of the poor, the rejected, the banned ones we meet in the wealthy streets of our abundant lives. No matter what position we might be holding in this world, Jesus will lead us to walk in the humble paths of our ‘last cry’ and also make us instruments that listen to the ‘last cries’ of so many beloved souls around us in the Third World. The Day will come when the Master will tell you “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. COME AND SHARE YOUR MASTER’S HAPPINESS!”(Matthew 25:21, NIV).

“Hold on to what you have so that no one will take your crown”.(Revelation 3:11, NIV)
May the Peace of God Be With All Of You !

Bishop, Dr Justin Baransananikiye
President,

CHRISTIANS STRENGTHENING CHRISTIANS,
An International Ministry of
The Episcopal free Church- Province of Burundi
P.O. Box 197 Gitega, Burundi
Tel: 257 79 877 097
Email: baransajust@gmail.com
http://iprayforyou.worthyofpraise.org
http://christiansstrengtheningchristian.doodlekit.com/blog
Facebook: https://facebook.com/christiansstrengtheningchristian
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Baransananikiye
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102632828955039015899/102632828955039015899/posts

BEING FIRST
GOSPEL READING : Mark 9. 30-37

I imagine how many teens and even adults have started dreaming to become famous like BOLT the Jamaican sprinter since they saw him winning medals upon medals at the London 2012 Olympics. But that would not be so easier than becoming a Bill Gates the first richest man in the world. Becoming first does always require wisdom and efforts, time and sacrifices, but also testing through many unexpected situations. Being first in this world has never been an easy obtained gift but a tough struggle. Glory! Glory! is the very dream and concern of man.

Jesus had just healed a young boy with an evil spirit and while walking down to Capernaum with his Disciples, He told them that He was going to be betrayed into the hands of men, and be killed, but would rise after three days. “But they did not understand what He meant and were afraid to ask him about it.”(Mark 9:32, NIV).

That’s how men usually react in many situations. They never take time to understand neither God’s Truths nor His plans nor His appeals to a particular problem to be solved. Instead of going to God for needed explanation, men start discussing and arguing about their own concern for glory! What Peter and the other Disciples were arguing about had no relation at all with the healing of the boy neither with an evil spirit nor with Jesus being betrayed and killed and rise. Incomprehensible! Unbelievable!

“Oh! You want to be first, asks Jesus? Here’s my free eternal project for all those who want to be and remain eternally FIRST: “If anyone wants to be FIRST, he must be THE VERY LAST, and THE SERVANT of all.” Strange! Would say any modern scholar! How can FIRST be equal to VERY LAST? For men, first is first and last is last, while for God, FIRST is LAST and VERY LAST is FIRST. The Apostle Paul understood earlier this Truth that “the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” (I Corinthians 1:25, NIV). Yes, because the VERY LAST is the rear seat where the very humble sit waiting for God’s plan to come upon them. That’s where the invalid of Bethesda had been lying for thirty-eight years, having no favor to get someone to help him plunge into the pool when the water was stirred by an angel. The VERY LAST is the seat for SERVANTS OF OTHERS, SERVANTS OF ALL! Servants of All are rare to find in this over proud world.

But the most touching teaching Jesus gave his Disciples on that day was the one about welcoming a little child in his Name: “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my Name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the One who sent me”(Mark 9:37, NIV).

Bishop, Dr Justin Baransananikiye
President,
CHRISTIANS STRENGTHENING CHRISTIANS,
An International Ministry of
The Episcopal free Church- Province of Burundi
P.O. Box 197 Gitega, Burundi
Tel: 257 79 877 097
Email: baransajust@gmail.com
http://iprayforyou.worthyofpraise.org
http://christiansstrengtheningchristian.doodlekit.com/blog
Facebook: https://facebook.com/christiansstrengtheningchristian
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Baransananikiye
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102632828955039015899/102632828955039015899/posts

GOSPEL READING : John 6:56-69.
A New Creature made for the Narrow Door

“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.”(John 6:63, NIV)

The Spirit CREATES new creatures ! Just as the Word Jesus speaks to us transforms all our being into new creatures, the same the words that Christian Believers speak about themselves and one to another do really have a transforming impact in their lives.

I was born and grew at an American Missionary Station in Burundi, East Africa. Carl Johnson was the Head of the Mission and he used to tell me this: “Justin, every day in your life, choose to always go through the narrow door. If you come to a situation where you need to choose between two solutions or two ways, take always the humble one, choose the one that does not make you appear important. Choose the narrow door, the rejected one!.”
Truly, I could not understand yet this great Truth earlier but Missionary Johnson kept on teaching me how through the many testimonies he gave me from his personal life. I remember when he told me that the small dispensary he had founded at our Parish when he arrived in Burundi around the year 1950 could no longer continue to work due to lack of funds to pay the employees and order new medicines.
Carl Johnson told me that following the vow he had made when he left America to go to Africa, he could not accept to see his ministry fail so simply. He consequently decided to return to America to sell the house his father had left to him and bring back the money as a support to the dispensary work. He said that the word of his vow had transformed him and made of him a full God-depending man. In the lounge at his house, missionary Johnson had drawn the Apostle Paul on a panel and had written this verse from Philippians 3:7, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.”(NIV)

This testimony was certainly the decision point I was waiting for. It soon changed my life too and one day, I finally told him that I would take his advice during all my life. Yes, since I decided to make THE NARROW DOOR a rule in my life, this Truth has changed me too. It has made of me a new creature, a humble man who trusts God’s almighty hand to care for hundreds of poor orphans and destitute children who came to me a poor man during the terrible times of civil war in my country. This Truth has given me a new way of life.
The words Jesus speaks to us are Life Eternal. Keeping them is the key you and I need to enter God’s Eternity. The Burundian wisdom says “Whatever good or bad one does, he finds it standing at the next bend.” This adage is really changing many young people’s lives. They believe it and behave accordingly trying to avoid evil deeds. It has given them a new way of life. Wouldn’t Jesus’ Words do more and greater things than that in our lives?
Isn’t there LIFE in these Words Jesus spoke to us saying: “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”? (Revelation 22:15). YES, THIS IS LIFE ETERNAL.

Bishop, Dr Justin Baransananikiye
President,
CHRISTIANS STRENGTHENING CHRISTIANS,
An International Ministry of
The Episcopal free Church- Province of Burundi
P.O. Box 197 Gitega, Burundi
Tel: 257 79 877 097
Email: baransajust@gmail.com
http://iprayforyou.worthyofpraise.org
http://christiansstrengtheningchristian.doodlekit.com/blog
Facebook: https://facebook.com/christiansstrengtheningchristian
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Baransananikiye
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/102632828955039015899/102632828955039015899/posts