Talk
PART 1: The Two Disciples
The disciples were in Jerusalem. They were broken-hearted and devastated because their hero was crucified and was no more. There were two disciples. One of them was named Cleofas. The other one didn’t have a name.
The Gospel writer, Luke, didn’t tell his name. We don’t know if the person was a guy or a girl. These two disciples were leaving Jerusalem… I repeat: they were discouraged, they were forlorn, they were giving up.
They were walking to Emmaus (their hometown) which was seven miles away. That walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus symbolizes a person who is walking away from God, away from his spiritual community.
At that moment, they were so devastated that their hero and their master is dead.
They were leaving their community, they were leaving their friends, they were leaving their commitment.
As they were walking, Jesus appeared but they didn’t recognize Him.
And Jesus, every step of the way as they were walking– supposed to be away from God– He was giving them a “Bible Study”– He was revealing to them how the Old Testament was all about Him.
Friends, please understand this. This is powerful. This message is intense:
Even if you, you, you are walking in the opposite direction, your Jesus, He’s going to hang out with you. And He’s going to be walking with you. And He will not let you go. And He will chase after you and He will run after you.
This is the Jesus that you have and that you worship. And so, He walked with them. Until the “Bible Study” was concluded in Emmaus.
Then He broke bread. (Liturgy of the Word / Liturgy of the Eucharist).
At the breaking of the bread, all of a sudden, their eyes were opened and they discovered Jesus.
Then Jesus disappeared. Where did He go? Where else– to Jerusalem – with His spiritual community.
So, what did the two disciples do?
“Oh, my gosh, it was Jesus! He was the one giving the Bible Study.
Oh, He was the one breaking bread…” Where did they go? Let’s read:
They Went Back to Jerusalem
Luke named only one of those two disciples: Cleofas, and the other one unnamed.
I have a suspicion that Luke says, “You’re that other disciple.
Put your name, write your name: You are the one who is discouraged. You are the one who wants to give up. You are the one leaving your spiritual community– and leaving your God.
But you cannot get rid of Jesus. He sticks to you.
He says, “I will never leave you until you make a U-turn.” Until you say, “I belong there… This is the Jesus…”
Shake the person beside you and tell that person: “Walk back to Jerusalem.”
You need to go back to Jerusalem. You’ve been gone too long. God misses you.
Let’s walk back to Jerusalem.
Put your hand over your chest. Everybody say: Jesus, continue to move in my life. You are alive! Be alive in my life. Remove what is dead. Cut away what is not growing.
Let me flourish. Let me be alive with You. Amen. Hallelujah!
There is something funny about the game, Trip to Jerusalem. Why do we call it as such? My research says that the name probably came from Germany. It’s highly possible– but never confirmed–that it was derived from how the Israelites came from Egypt all the way to Israel:
- The trip lasted for 40 It was too long. It just seemed like they were going around in a circle.
- Food and water resources are In this game, chairs will become limited because they will be eliminated one by one.
- People are eliminated. Among the Israelites leaving Egypt. one by one, people were In the Trip to Jerusalem game people are eliminated one by one.
What Is Jerusalem?
In the Bible, Jerusalem is not just a place. It is a portal.
According to Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Heaven and Earth were one. In the middle of Heaven and Earth was a portal.
Are portals familiar to you? Yes. The most popular one is in the movie, Harry Potter. The portal was 9 ¾ — between the ordinary world and Hogwarts– witches and wizards. In the movie Alice in Wonderland, the portal is called the rabbit hole. Another portal is in the movie, Chronicles of Narnia–its portal, between the ordinary world and the magical world is called wardrobe. In Avengers: Doctor Strange, his rings. My favorite, in Monsters Inc., the portal between the ordinary world and the world of Monsters: closet– the door of the childhood of the child’s bedroom closet.
In the Bible– this one is no longer fiction– there is a portal between Heaven and Earth, and it’s called The Garden of Eden.
In the beginning, this was where Heaven touched Earth. There was a pattern: The Temple of Jerusalem was the Garden of Eden.
Then, fast forward to the Book of Revelation:
Heaven and Earth become one– again:
And so, Jerusalem, the portal, is recovered.
Here’s what it means: The two disciples going back to Jerusalem means that as you go back to Jerusalem, Jerusalem is coming down towards you.
If you’re a Feaster, you know that for the past five weeks, we have been unpacking 1 Corinthians. We were sharing that 1 Corinthians is a letter of Paul to the church of Corinth who had five big problems:
- Division — They had conflicts.
- Sexual misconduct– They were proud of their sexual
- Confusion about idol food
- Gifted yet divisive
- Controversy about Jesus’
The church of Corinth doubted The Resurrection of Jesus– not the fact that Jesus rose from the dead but the fact that there was bodily resurrection. Why?
These were Greeks, especially the upper crust of Greek society– were immersed in popular philosophies. One of them was Gnosticism which connotes that the body was very bad, and the soul was very good. Anything material is horrible and anything spiritual is righteous.
The Kerygma
The Christians in the Corinth church, when they started hearing these preachers and their pastors, and their teachers saying Jesus rose physically from the tomb– and that you also will one day rise physically from death– I can imagine the Corinthians raising their eyebrows and saying, “Huh? Yuck. Tacky.”
You see, they were so absorbed in their philosophy that anything material was bad– And so, “Please discard that body of mine. I want to be a pure soul.
To capture what they were feeling, one writer said it’s almost like you and I were watching low-budget, low quality Zombie movie — so ugly, badly made. The zombie is overacting,..
That’s what the Christian Corinthians felt.
Paul addressed their doubt, and he said, “Guys, please, that is in the Kerygma.
What is Kerygma? It’s a magazine (now called The Feast) founded by this good-looking guy… Just kidding J…
Kerygma is a Greek word that means the Gospel.
So, if you’re talking to somebody who’s not a believer… You know– who says, “Who’s this Jesus guy? Why do you believe in him so much? Can you just summarize to me what you believe in? — You tell him the Kerygma.
So, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15: 3-4:
The word buried is important.
Paul was saying that the body that was buried is the same body that will rise again.
That’s why in the Nicene Creed, we say that: Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate. He was crucified. He died. He was buried.
Paul was basically saying to the Corinthians and all those who were doubting, “Hey, I didn’t make this up. You cannot choose. If you ditch Easter, you ditch Jesus.”
To Paul, Easter, Jesus rising from the dead, was no metaphor. It was a historical event. And he explains in 1 Corinthians 15: 5-7:
1 Corinthians was written 20 years after the Resurrection. Peter and some of the apostles were still alive.
Wouldn’t it be so amazing to go to Peter, sit beside him, have coffee with The Apostle, and ask him, “Peter, how did Jesus 2.0 look like?
What’s the difference between the old Jesus and the new Jesus? Peter, did you really see
Him eat? How was that? Peter, did you touch Him?
So, many of the apostles were still alive during the 1 Corinthians letter.
My Friends, now, you may be asking, “What is the relevance of this Letter to the Corinthians with us today? You’re talking of the problems of the Corinth church 2,000 years ago…”
Well, we are much like the Corinthians. We believe in a Heaven, and we see it as a place for souls. We never talk about the resurrection of the body– even if we believe in it.
We say it every Sunday when we recite the Nicene Creed: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body…”
We say this, but we do not understand it…Most of the people I asked believe that when they reach Heaven, they will be like Casper, the Friendly Ghost.
We imagine ourselves to be a happy ghost– translucent, transparent soul, wearing shimmering nightgown, flowing in the wind, floating in the air from one fluffy cloud to another with Spa music playing in the background. That’s what we imagine Heaven to be. But the Bible speaks so differently about that.
The reason this belief about “Heaven” is concerning, it is possible that this belief affects and impacts how we live life here on Earth.
There are three ways we can apply this misunderstanding in the wrong way:
1. Why care for my body? It’s just a shell.
So, I meet Christians– followers of Jesus– who eat crappy food, who don’t take care of their sleep, who do not exercise, who treat their body like garbage. But they are followers of Jesus.
If you ask Paul, in 1 Corinthians, he will say this to you:
So, your body is a seed and it will be planted in the ground and then it will be raised from the grave– with upgrades. Amazing. A seed affects the fruit — somehow.
And my explanation is this: If you respect your body and care for your body and treat it– as what Paul said: a Temple of the Holy Spirit…
You know many think that when Paul said Temple of the Holy Spirit, he was referring only to the soul. But you see to the Jewish mind, there is no division between the soul and the body. And so, he was looking at all of you:
Whoever is faithful in small matters will be faithful in large ones. So, please, take care of your body. It is the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
2. Why help the poor? It’s the soul that
I was inviting people to my Stock Market seminar and I posted on social media a story about how I helped our staff at home — our helpers– to become millionaires. It took a while, but I taught them how to invest in the stock market.
I shared that and then I receiveda comment– well-meaning– probably from a very religious woman:
“Bro. Bo, why? Shouldn’t you be more preoccupied with saving their souls?”
Of course, I told her, yes, yes. I bring them to The Feast. Yes, I bring them into a relationship with the Lord. But I’m concerned with their physical existence. It is very, very important.
This was the problem in the Corinthian church. Some affluent members did not care for the poor. They celebrated the Lord’s Supper. At that time, they did not have Communion with just wafers. They actually had real meals.
Paul received this report that the richer members, they came early and ate all the food. So, when the poorer members arrived, no more food. And Paul said this:
But some people would say, “That’s only temporary. You’re going to go to Heaven anyway.”
That was their attitude.
No Division
Paul would tell them there should be no division in the body. The parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it.
I am very, very happy that here at The Feast we take seriously this call: That if somebody is suffering, we suffer with that person.
Today, I want you to know, that all our Ministries for the poor — whether it be Anawim Home for Abandoned Elderly, or our Pastoral Care, or our Ministry for cancer patients who are poor, or our scholarship program, our Prison Ministry– these are not side projects. This is the core of who we are.
We are the followers of Jesus. And we care for the poor.
3. Why excel in earthly matters? They will all vanish.
I was a perfect example of this for 18 years. When I came to know Jesus, when
I was 12 -13 years old, I was so in love with God, so passionate to serve Him.
I remember, as a teenager– I was still in high school– one day, I went home and I announced to the family, to my mom who was in the kitchen, “Mom, I’m going to quit school.”
My Mom said, “Why?”
I said, “What will I do with Trigonometry if I go to Heaven? What will I do if Jesus comes again– and I believe that He’s coming imminently– what’s the use of knowing the Periodic Table– there are 118 elements and that 200 hydrogen atoms plus 1 oxygen atom equals water? I would rather prepare myself for Heaven…”
That was me for 18 long years. And then God woke me up. I want to thank God for that. God woke me up through pain…
I was with some fellow missionaries– a couple– we were serving God together.
I was single and they were married and they had kids. They were serving God but they did not have money. They were serving God full time but they could not put food on the table, and they could not send their kids to school. I felt their pain.
In my mind, I was saying, “Lord, here’s something wrong. Is this really Your plan? “
Maybe for single people like me, it’s all right. But for couples who are married and have kids… for crying out loud…
And so, little by little, my mindset began to change– and I really felt, after a while, God telling me, “Set up a business, earn money, serve your customers with love, care for your employees, earn as much as you can, and then multiply your wealth and then give it away– and serve, and be a blessing to other people.
How do we walk back to Jerusalem? How do you take those steps?
If you hear someone say, “Bro. Bo, my goal in life is to go to Heaven…” Question: What will your reaction be?
Isn’t it beautiful? “My dream is to go to Heaven!”
Wow. I agree. That person could be very holy. But I think his goal is incomplete. Because if you go to the Bible, Jesus taught us to pray the Lord’s Prayer:
You don’t go to the Kingdom. You let the Kingdom come. Yes, you do your work and make an effort to walk towards Jerusalem. But that Jerusalem has to come down. And my Friends, how do you do that?
Well, just continue the Lord’s Prayer:
How do you walk back to Jerusalem? Every single step, you do the will of the Father — in whatever you do.
Every step, you do what the Father wants you to do– in your family– here on Earth. In your job– here on Earth. Be the best engineer, be the best accountant, be the best cashier, be the best farmer, be the best BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) agent.
When you do the will of God, what are you doing? You’re building the Kingdom of God with Jesus. You’re bringing Heaven down on Earth.
You’re doing that every time you serve at The Feast.
May we give a big hand to all our servants once again? — I will never stop saying Thank you to all our servants. Without you– 400 of you serving us here– there would have been no Easter gathering. None, none, none. But because you said yes, we’re all here now. I already said this yesterday, I will say it again: like every attendee, the servants paid for tickets for the four days of our Holy Week Retreat.
They did not say, “I’m serving. Can you give me a free ticket?”
Yes, we gave free tickets to those who could not afford the entrance fee.
But generally, they said, “Yes, I want to pay. Because serving is a privilege.” When you serve in a faith community, what are you doing?
You are letting the Kingdom of God come on Earth.
The New Portal
My Friends, that was a long talk. But I want to wrap the three talks into one. Here’s the good news: Didn’t I say that the Garden of Eden is a portal between
Heaven and Earth? Didn’t I say that the Temple of Jerusalem is a portal between Heaven and Earth? Do you want to know that there is a new portal right now?
There is a new portal now and His Name is Jesus. But that’s not all. What else?
Don’t take it lightly– the name St. Paul gave us. Paul said, “We are the body of Christ.”
You’re a part of that portal. When you love your neighbor, and when you serve the poor, and when you love your parents, and when you love your kids, and when you serve at The Feast– guess what? You are giving people that glimpse of the Kingdom that is to come, of a New Jerusalem that is descending from above.
You are giving people a portal where they can touch Heaven.
Kilig
I did not tell my wife Marowe I’m going to do this… This is how I want to close…
My wife loves Korean drama Because of her, I also watch K-drama. We’re watching on television… Heart of Tears?
Sis. MAROWE: Queen of Tears.
See, that’s how much I love K-dramaJ
She loves it because it’s kilig, thrilling, drama– romantic drama. And she knows that. She knows it’s fake. It’s not important, but it makes her smile.
You know when the actor does this, there’s kilig.>
When they’re walking and the girl accidentally falls, and the guy is able to catch her– like this> Slow motion…they look at each other J
She would ask me. “Love, are you still thrilled with me?”
My answer is “Not anymore.”
We have been married for 25 years.
This marriage is strong not because of kilig.
We have something far better:
Commitment, Character, and Christ.
I love you.
What Is Real
I was talking to a man in a restaurant. It was pretty awkward. You know, there were a lot of people…
He came up to me and said, “Bro. Bo, pray for me. Pray for my family.
Pray for my kids…”
I already sensed there was a problem.
And he starts saying, “I have this other girl…”
Here was a 13-year-old marriage about to break apart. He was planning on leaving his wife.
I asked him, “Why?” You know what he said? He said, “I’m in love.”
Oh, my gosh, he’s no longer in love with his wife. He’s in love with his new girl. You know, I’m a gentle guy… I had to stop myself from strangling the guy.
Single people, if you’re listening to me, please, please stop looking for kilig. What a horrible foundation for any relationship. Relationship is not about kilig. This guy was leaving his wife because of kilig– for another girl.
I’m telling you, my wife and I, for 25 years, we don’t have kilig. We have something so much better that I will never replace for kilig.
I love our marriage. I love you, Marowe.
It’s not emotions. It’s something so real — friendship.
You know friend zone— isn’t it a bad term?
I love this best friend of mine. And we journey together…
Here’s an announcement: Jerusalem is coming into your life. You’re walking back to Jerusalem, every step, every time you do the will of God.
Single people, choose someone who walks with you to Jerusalem. Don’t look for kilig. Married people, walk together towards Jerusalem. As a whole family, parents and children, walk together towards Jerusalem.
I’ll end with this: Jesus lived for you, Jesus died for you and rose from the grave for you.
This is where the Trip to Jerusalem fails. In the game, the number of players dwindles. You eliminate a chair; you eliminate a contestant.
In the real trip back to Jerusalem, we should increase in number. We should bring people with us to Jerusalem.
Will you bring your children to the Lord? Will you bring your friends to the Lord?
Will you bring your officemates to the Lord?
How?
Be part of the portal where people can have a glimpse of Heaven coming down on Earth.
“Father in Heaven, we Thank You that today You are here. You have spoken to us and You have blessed us. In the mighty Name of Jesus, we pray that the Resurrection power of Jesus comes alive in us. The same power when You said, “Let there be light…” And there was light…
Commitment
Friends, the same power that made the heavens and the earth, and the mountains and the hills and the valleys and the trees, and the galaxies and the stars and the constellation. The same
power that made the blind see and the lame walk and the lepers be cleansed.
The same power that multiplied loaves and fishes to feed the multitudes. The same power that made this cadaver in a borrowed grave spark life… And the one and only King of all Kings, Lord of all Lords, walk out of that grave. The same power that made Jesus rise from the dead. That same power is now in you.
Put your hands on your chest and say, “The same Resurrection power is in me and I will walk every day back to Jerusalem.”
There are some of you, who are not experiencing everything that I talked about. Now, you’re really going through a lot of suffering… and pain. Maybe you lost a loved one. Maybe you’re buried in debt. Or there’s a relationship problem…
If that’s your situation, please know that you may just be like those two disciples walking away from Jerusalem. When Jesus is right there beside you,
He will never leave you in your discouragement. He will never leave you in your points of giving up. And he’s going to be walking with you all the way until such a time when He will reveal Himself to you and then you will find yourself going back to Him.
Maybe for some of you, this will be the first time you will commit to Jesus.
For most of you, it’s a renewal of your commitment. May I lead you in that renewal? Whether, again, it’s your first time or your thousandth time, mean every word, say this with all your heart:
Jesus, Thank You for not letting go of me. Tha even when I was walking in the opposite direction, You were always with me. And right now, I choose to follow You. I choose to love You. I choose to decide You are mine, I am Yours forever. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
