Who Is My Neighbor? (Pastor Javier Elenes-Galindo, 05/04/24)

Our gracious Father, we want to use technology and we want to use whatever we have in front

to illustrate the truth that we want to communicate.

But do not let us forget that your word is powerful enough.

And help us to be open so we can treasure it in our hearts so it will transform our

lives, it will transform our cosmovision, we will see everything around us as a blessing

and everybody around us as a person being that was created unto your image.

Bless us with your presence and anoint us with your Holy Spirit.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

If for some reason my accent gets on the way, raise your hand and I'll explain what I'm

trying to say, okay?

Let me see if this is working already.

How do you see your neighbour?

When you see the one across the street, how do you see him?

Do you see him like the meddler or the grouch?

How do you see your neighbour?

You know, there are some events that have taken place that have changed the way we see

our neighbours.

So how do we see your neighbour?

You know, our vision of our neighbours and of life changed a little during the pandemic,

right?

In the year 2000, some of the people in the congregation were not born.

People said, oh, the war is coming to an end, Y2K, the year 2000, the computers are going

to crash, the market is going to be closed because Anzana kept going, nothing happened.

But when COVID came, things really changed.

People were wide-eyed, very nervous about what was going on, what were the little things

that they couldn't see but that was very dangerous.

Sometimes I would think that it looked nice because that's why it was called corona, corona

means crown.

But then when I saw different pictures of the coronavirus, they looked like pollen in

the steroids.

Awful.

And it changed the way we lived.

People became greedy and they emptied the shelves in the stores and they monopolized

everything.

The most luxurious item was toilet paper.

They even made earrings with the shape of the toilet papers.

I saw them.

I saw them.

And we started using masks and all that.

I'm Greek descent, so I used to be a hugger and a kisser.

Everybody in church would hug me and kiss me.

When the COVID came, the first question was, have you been vaccinated?

Are you planning to give a kiss?

No, no, put your mask on.

And also, before the pandemic, if you wanted to go with a mask into a bank, they would

arrest you.

During the pandemic, if you tried to go into a bank without a mask, they would not let

you.

And if you insisted, they will arrest you.

Things went crazy.

Everything was shaped by that.

And the way we started looking at our neighbors was a little bit different.

His niece.

They said that the most scary way to say thank you during the pandemic was Lithuanian.

Because to say thank you in Lithuanian, you say achoo.

That's thank you.

Oh, he said achoo or his niece.

He should put a mask on.

How insensitive.

He's not thinking.

We started looking at people with suspicion.

Right?

Now, it passed, you know, it disappeared, but there are some other pandemics that still

exist.

You know, the most common one is violence.

People use any excuse to be violent.

You know?

I used to tell people, you know, when there were shootings and discos and nightclubs and

all that, well, that shows that you should avoid being in the wrong places in the wrong

time.

But then the shootings started going to the schools.

And to demonstrations.

And, you know, it is not political, you know, but even politics became a reason to be violent.

And to see, oh, no, he's a Republican.

Oh, no, he favors Trump.

Oh, no, he likes Biden.

And even inside the churches, people started, you know, looking at one another with suspicion.

But that shouldn't happen among the sons and daughters of God.

So the question is, how do you see your neighbor?

Let's say you were not affected by the pandemic.

Let's say you're not a fanatic of one political party.

Let's say you are not demonstrating for Palestinians or for Israel.

You're Zionist.

Forget about all that.

Let's come close to home.

How do you see your neighbor?

You know that you are a member of the church that teaches the whole gospel.

Okay.

Does that affect you on the way you see your neighbor?

Or does that help you to see your neighbor in a better light?

How do you see your neighbor?

There was an event on Jesus' life that I want you to turn your Bible and read it with me.

The Gospel of Mark, chapter 8.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

I'm going to read verses 22 through 25 and at the end we're going to go back to 25.

Mark chapter 8, verses 22 through 25.

Mark 8:22–25

And it says, then he came to Bethsaida and they brought a blind man to him and begged

him to touch him.

What did they want Jesus to do?

But he did something different.

He said, so he took him, the blind man, by the hand and led him out of the town.

And when he had a spat or spit on his eyes and put his hands on him, he asked him if

he saw anything.

What did Jesus do?

Do you believe in the curing power of saliva?

What a strange question.

Sometimes we don't, but if we smash our finger with the hammer, the first thing we do is

... Right?

Yeah.

Oh, we all do that.

And in the Middle East they use the spitting for a lot of these reasons.

When people is marching down the aisle because they're getting married, they start spitting

at them because it's for good luck.

And they also use saliva for home remedies.

Anyways, Jesus spat on him or maybe put saliva and then anointed him and then put his hands

like this.

Do you see anything?

What do you see?

Okay.

And then he continues saying, and he looked up and said, I see men like trees walking.

Then he puts his hands on his eyes again and made him look up and he was restored and saw

everything clearly.

So he was asked, can you see anything?

Do you see anything?

And what was the answer?

I see men that walk like trees, but they walk.

Do we see men like trees?

Or do we see men for what they are?

Do you see if you're a student, the one that is beating you on mathematics, like your rival

because he's getting better grades than you, you can apply it to a lot of different things

in life.

But what do we see men?

How do we say men?

Do we see like what he is?

A man created under the image of God?

Do we see them like trees that move?

When Jesus touched him again, he said he was restored and he saw everybody clearly.

This is the only occasion when Jesus is shown to perform a miracle in two stages.

It's the only time.

All your times, at the instance, even when we was not trying to perform a miracle, like

when the lady from Syria and Phoenicia came just to touch the edge of his robe and she

was healed, Jesus did not intend to perform a miracle there.

Wow.

But at this occasion, he had to do a second touching to perform the miracle.

I don't know why.

I think Jesus could have done it the first time, but I think he wanted to teach us a

lesson because the question is he reminds.

How do you see your neighbor?

Do you still see your neighbors as trees that move around?

Or do you see them clearly?

Has Jesus performed the second miracle in your life?

That's the important thing.

We are close to Mother's Day, so kids, how do you see your mom?

Do you see her like the multitasking person that can juggle everything around and do like

my wife three or four things at the same time?

When I'm doing something, she can say, please do not distract me.

I have to concentrate on this.

I have to do only one thing.

Okay?

Mothers are multitasking.

They can answer the phone and they can cook at the same time.

We don't.

Okay?

But is that all we see?

Do we see the instructor in her, the feeder, the laundry person, or do we see mom has the

gift that God has given us?

Not only on Mother's Day, which in the United States is the second Sunday of May, in Mexico

is always the 10th of May, regardless of the day of the week.

And all classes are suspended.

There are special programs.

But sometimes we forget that the rest of the year and the special day is forgotten.

How do you see your mom?

How do you see your pastor when he makes a mistake?

Oh, I'm sorry.

Do pastors make mistakes?

I forgot that.

Do you recognize that pastor on the screen?

Billy Graham.

He was approached one lady, but actually they met on coming out of the elevator.

You're Pastor Billy Graham.

Oh, you are a great man.

You know what he said?

Ma'am, I'm an ordinary man with an extraordinary mission.

We are a pot of clay with a big container, something good inside.

I use that phrase of Billy Graham, somebody on SHP, Sleeping Early Business.

Man, you're a great man.

Oh, no, I say I'm a common man.

But we have a great mission.

Let's keep on going.

So how do you see your pastor?

When he makes a mistake, do you form a commission to go to the conference and make an ugly request,

send us a different one?

Or you decide to talk a lot about him down on your knees?

How do you see the young lady that made a mistake and got in trouble?

You know my meaning.

Do you see her like a pariah?

Or do you see her like a young lady that needs to be embraced, needs to be accepted?

How do you see the stubborn child or teenager that does not want to come into the church?

Or when he comes or she comes into the church, he's doing things that I wouldn't do.

Of course, I'm 74 years old.

I will not drop to the floor to draw on the floor or anything like that.

Do you see them like nuisance and annoying?

Or do you see somebody that is full of energy and he could become a tremendous leader?

We have seen that.

My wife had a student.

My wife was teaching in a Catholic school for 29 years.

And she had two students that were brothers that were members of the Seventy Adventist

Church.

And eventually I became their pastor.

And her student was, we say, La Pata de Judas.

The foot of Judas.

Terrible!

A joker and always talking, always distracting people.

And actually he never changed because even in butchers for minutes I had to tell him,

Adrian, come down.

But he became a tremendous leader.

An evangelist, a pianist, a singer, a teacher.

So how do you see the young kid?

My wife and I were, I was invited to preach in a church.

I seldomly accepted invitation when I was active in the ministry because I had two churches

and I couldn't take away one Sabbath from one of my churches.

But we were invited to a church and taking a sister so I decided to go.

So I went inside and my wife came later on with our granddaughter that was not used to

coming to church.

Her mother was Catholic.

Beautiful lady.

Good.

And she was growing under the pew and putting things in tubs.

And a dear, dear deaconess, zealous of reverence in the church, came and tapped my wife on

the shoulder.

If your girl cannot stand still, you both go out of the church.

So when I came to the pulpit, where is my wife?

My wife was in the car crying because she had been kicked out of the church.

So I would recommend, you know, be patient and be tactful with the little ones because

they don't have the same energy that we do.

Okay?

Right now my left leg asks the right leg to straighten up so I can stand up.

When we were little we would jump from one branch on a tree to the other one.

Different levels of energy.

So I think I need to accelerate a little.

So I just wanted to bring you to think of this.

How do you see the person that is considered as a grouch in the church or in your neighborhood?

You don't talk to the neighbor across the street because he's a grouch.

He's always kicking or piercing the balls of the kids in the neighborhood because he doesn't

want the balls in the flowerbeds or anything.

All this has come to mind to help us really think how do we see our neighbors?

How do you see the homeless?

Do you see somebody that needs help or somebody that is a slacker and he didn't act wisely

and that's why he doesn't have a home?

We have seen homeless in shelters that are doctors, engineers, and they went bad on the

head because of a trauma or their house burned and all their families burned inside the house

and they decided not to go into a house.

So how do you see the homeless?

How do you see the person that is behind bars?

He asked for it?

Poor fellow.

Have you been in prison ministers?

Try it.

How do you see somebody die in of AIDS?

Somebody that, well, is his fault?

The lifestyle he chose was the wrong one?

Now he's paying for it.

Or is he somebody that needs for you to go and tell him that God loves him?

Oh, man, there are so many decisions we need to make.

How do you see the person that extends his hand to you to receive a little marshal, a

little crust of bread?

Some kids complain because the sandwich has the edge they want to cut and some kids would

like to catch it and eat it.

We used to tell our kids, eat your food because the kids in Africa are dying because they

don't have this food.

They will ask, well, take it to them.

We don't count our blessings a lot of times, you know, but we had an experience.

We visited our university in Costa Rica.

It's called Una Deca.

The Adventist University of Central America.

That's what it means in Spanish, Universidad de Central America.

We sat on a table where there was a pastor that was doing his continuing education from

a different country, Guatemala.

We sat to eat and we said, grace.

We prayed for the food and we started eating.

And two kids, two students came and sat with us.

But one of them had a plate full of food with an empty plate under it.

What is he doing?

He prayed for the food and then he took the full plate and he started dividing the food

and putting it in the empty plate.

And at that moment another fellow came and sat on an empty chair and he shared his food.

The other student did not have money to pay for his food.

And he had paid extra to get extra food so he could eat half of what he usually eats

and share it with his friend.

We were very impressed.

We are retirees so my wallet is very thin now.

But my wife decided to share whatever we had with the poor student.

You know, long ago, thousands or years ago, there was another experience of somebody asking

himself whom he was supposed to help.

Let's look for the text.

And we read it in the beginning.

And I think I'm going to have, what time do you usually end your service?

When I end?

The floor doesn't open?

There's no trap in here.

Okay.

Turn your Bibles on the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

Okay.

And it was read in the beginning.

Melinda read it?

Where's Melinda?

Thank you, Melinda.

She read it.

Okay.

Let's read 25 to 29.

And behold, a certain lawyer, a certain expert in explaining the law, he knew every dot and

tilt and comma and punctuation mark of the law.

He stood up and tested him saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Was he a smart fellow?

And why did he ask that?

What do you have to do to inherit something?

Huh?

Yeah.

But the question was dumb.

Because you see, we know that to inherit something, you need to be a child in the family.

Okay?

Your children are going to inherit whatever you have, including your Bibles.

Okay?

So you don't have to do anything to inherit something.

You need to be born in the family.

But at this time, he wanted to know what he needed to do.

He said, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

He said to him, what is written in the law?

What is your read on it?

So he answered and said, thou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with

all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.

He was quoting the Shema, the most popular prayer in Israel.

They still do it every day.

And he said, good, do this and you will live.

But he said, what did he say?

Who is my...

Sorry, I went back.

The question he asked is, but who is my neighbor?

But he said, but trying to justify himself.

He said, who is my neighbor?

And that's why Jesus told him about who.

This is not a parable.

It's something that a lot of scholars say it will happen.

I'm going to relate on it, narrate it.

Okay, he said, let me tell you something.

A man was descending from Jerusalem to Jericho, 800...

No, no, it's about 10, 13 miles by a descent of 3,000 feet.

And when he was in a rocky place of the desert, he was robbed.

He was assaulted and he was beaten.

They took everything he had and they left him because he thought he was already dead.

And it happened to us that a certain priest was coming that way.

And when he saw the man laying on the floor, he went a little further away from him and

continued his way.

Did not even look at him.

Why?

Why did he do that?

Well, there are reasons, but we're going to see them in a minute.

There's a Levite.

Who were the Levites?

The Levites were mostly the chiefs of the priests.

They were the bosses.

They were the most holy persons in Israel.

And when he came, he was curious, so he went like this.

Oh no, I'm not going to touch him.

The first one was a priest, a leader in the church, a head elder or the head deacon or

a sub-school teacher or maybe the pastor in the church.

And he said, well, he asked for it.

Why did he decide to descend from Jerusalem to Jericho?

Why did he decide to leave the church, to put it in modern times?

Besides, the robbers can be around there and I'm in danger.

I got to go.

The Levite comes a little closer.

Maybe he could reach him very easily.

Oh no, I'm in charge of the song service today.

I'm in charge of opening the doors in the church and I cannot contaminate myself.

He could be dead.

And if he's dead and I touch the courts, I'm going to be unclean until sunset and I'm going

to have to wash myself seven times.

Besides, the robbers can be around there and I'm in danger.

And then the third person came and it doesn't even say what occupation he had, but he was

a Samaritan.

And when Jesus said a Samaritan came by, he didn't say a good Samaritan.

For the Jews, the only good Samaritan was one that was dead.

If he was alive, he was a bad person because he was a Samaritan.

But the Samaritan, the spice one, the dog, they were called dogs.

Some others were also called dogs, but they used the word cunarion, which means puppy.

You call puppy with tenderness.

When your husband is aggressive, man, he's a bear.

But when you want to be expressive, oh, my teddy bear.

Same bear?

Okay.

So now the Samaritan decided to do something.

Let's read it.

30 to 35.

And I'm going to accelerate a little bit more.

Okay?

30 to 35.

Thank Jesus.

Oh, wait.

I'm sorry.

We have 30.

Let's read from 33.

But a certain Samaritan, a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came near the one who was

assaulted.

And when he saw him, he had compassion.

So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.

And he set him on his own donkey or animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

Stayed some days with him.

On the next day, after taking care of him, when he departed, he took out two denarii,

the salary of two days, gave it to the innkeeper, and said to him, take care of him.

And whatever you spend extra, when I come again, I will repay you.

You know, in Spanish, it's a little bit different.

They say, cuídamelo.

It means take care of my friend.

He just met him.

But he had taken ownership of the wounded man.

You know what the Samaritan man did?

First, he says he had compassion of him.

What is compassion?

Pity?

Is it pity?

It's more than that.

Compassion.

Love, compassion.

In other words, sympathy.

He had the same feelings.

He felt in his own flesh what the man was going through, like if it had happened to

him.

He felt compassion.

He got down from his animal, his donkey or mule, whatever, to help him.

He did not look around and be ready to spur the animal in case somebody was coming to

assault him, too.

No, he got down.

He did not spare his supplies.

I don't know what his business was, but why was he carrying so much oil and wine?

He was going to stay in an inn.

He didn't need oil to cook in a campout.

Maybe.

This is my imagination.

I haven't found any research on this.

He was a merchant.

He had oil to sell and wine to sell.

He had money.

He paid for the inn.

He paid the salary of two days of work to the innkeeper to continue looking over the

wounded men.

So he did not spare his supplies.

Maybe he could say, oh, there goes the prophet.

Maybe that trip he broke even on because he used his supplies.

He did not stop to think on the danger.

You see, the prince and the Levite said, if I stop to help him, what is going to happen

to me?

But the Samaritan said, if I don't stop to help him, what is going to happen to him?

The focus was different.

He was thinking on the person that needed his help.

He made a commitment to cover all the expenses that he incurred.

Now, let's go back to the beginning of the story.

The lawyer said, wanting to justify himself, who is my neighbor?

Who is my neighbor?

In the Greek language, the modern Greek, there are three words that have a very close meaning.

This is not a Greek lesson, but I want to make a point.

If you want to say neighbor, you say gate or not.

Forget all the words if you want to, but don't forget the end of it.

The word for next, like you're in line.

One person comes and next, the one that is coming, there is nobody in between you and

him.

Next, you say epomena.

And then the one that is near, over there you are calling him, right beside you, you

call him Plesion.

That's in modern Greek.

In ancient Greek, in the New Testament, the word used over there, you see it in yellow

over there, Plesion.

The one in yellow, the yellow rectangle says Plesion.

That is the word that means near or close.

So answering the question, who is my neighbor?

Plesion means neighbor, it means near, it means next.

So when Jesus answered the question, who is my neighbor?

Actually Jesus told him, your neighbor is the one you have access to.

Is the one that is near to you.

It is the one that is right next to you, that nobody is between you and him.

And then you ask, but if he doesn't want to be near, if he is far away, then you get close

to him.

The one that was assaulted was not close to the Samaritan when he was assaulted.

But he became close to the Samaritan because the Samaritan decided to draw near to him.

So who was the neighbor?

That's the question.

This is a quote from the Deseraphages, and I didn't have it in English, so I translated

it from Spanish.

So the question, who is my neighbor?

Is answered once and for all.

Christ demonstrated that our neighbor is not merely he who belongs to the same church or

faith that we do.

He has nothing to do with distinction of race, color, or social class.

Our neighbor is every person that needs our help.

Lift your fingers one by one.

Our neighbor is every person that needs our help.

Second, our neighbor is every soul, every person that has been wounded and bruised by

the adversary, the enemy, Satan.

And three, our neighbor is everyone that belongs to God.

Is anybody else?

Now what is left out?

Everybody is our neighbor.

I did an experiment once.

I was praying with my elders, and I said, oh Lord, I want to ask you to bless Osama bin

Laden.

And they reacted.

And when I finished my prayer, pastor, why did you pray for Osama bin Laden?

I said, because he needs repentance.

He needs salvation.

He's my neighbor.

He could be the enemy, because he is enticing Christian people to come and bomb and kill,

but he needs help.

And Jesus died for him, too.

Can you imagine if all Christians were praying for him, and he had repented?

Well, I'm not going to do that anymore.

But the three categories that the Spirit of the Prophet says, the three groups of people

that are considered our neighbors, anyone who needs our help.

Two, every soul that has been wounded or bruised by the adversary.

Three, everyone that belongs to God.

Do you believe that?

Do you believe that somebody to wrong you is your neighbor?

It's hard to think.

We met a lady in the General Conference Continuous Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri.

She came up front to give her testimony.

Her husband and her kids were killed with machetes in front of her.

Pierce with the...

And you know, you can see it.

And when she said that, he called the young man.

The young man that had killed her husband and her kids with a machete.

He said, I met this young man after he killed my husband and my kids in a concentration

camp where he had been detained.

And I decided to feed him.

And he kept feeding him.

He would take food to him every day.

Every day.

And by the end, after a few days, she decided to go to the commander in the concentration

or detaining center.

Said, I want you to release this young man to my care.

She said, he told her, we release only family to people.

Said, then I'm gonna adopt him.

And she adopted the killer of her husband.

I wouldn't do that.

I love God, I love my neighbors, but I don't know if I have the heart to do that.

But that is what the Bible and what the Spirit of the Prophet says.

My neighbor is anyone who needs my help.

My neighbor is every person that has been wounded by the adversary.

My neighbor is anybody that belongs to God.

There is a poem I couldn't really translate it with rhyme and front to English, it's in

Spanish, by one of the best poets in Mexico, Madelon Ervo, To Give, Dar.

Every man who looks for you is going to ask you for something.

The board rich, the amenity of your conversation.

The poor, your money.

The sad, a consolation.

The weak, a stimulus or encouragement.

He who fights, moral help.

Every man who looks for you is certainly or surely is going to ask you for something.

And you dare to be impatient?

And you dare to think, what a bummer, wretched.

The hidden lot that mercifully distributes excellences has designated to grant you the

privilege of privileges, the good of goods, the prerogative of prerogatives.

To give.

You can give.

It has many hours in the day you give, even if it is a smile, even if it is a handshake,

even if it is a word of encouragement.

It has many hours, has the day.

Do you look like him?

He who is nothing but perpetual giving, perpetual diffusion and perpetual gift.

You should fall on your knees before the Father and say, thank you that I can give for my

Father.

Never again will it pass through my face the shadow of impatience.

Truly I tell you, it is better to give than to receive.

So the question is, you still can see your brother clearly?

Even the one that you don't like?

We were talking about liking in South school class.

Maybe there's a person that I don't like, but I have to love.

Sometimes I don't like my kids, but I love them.

And I say sometimes my wife doesn't like me, but she loves me.

When I'm a grouch, oh no, I'm a pastor, so I'm a grouch.

So if you don't see your neighbor, it doesn't matter what his demeanor is.

Like what his, if you still see him like a tree that is moving around, maybe Jesus needs

to touch you again.

Would you like for Jesus to touch you again?

We all need to touch Jesus if we really want to see our neighbor the way we should see

him.

We will see him like a person that was bought by the blood of the lamb.

We will see him like a person that originally was created under the image of God.

It was lost because of sin, but Jesus has decided to restore it to him, to take him

to eternity.

We need to see our neighbor like that.

They did an experiment in England.

In a park, a very dear lady, very devout in this church, in an area where maybe it was

the Bible Belt of England, like this area in Chattanooga is considered the Bible Belt

of, well.

And the old lady called.

It was just annoying and everything.

She called the police.

There is a bomb sleeping on a bench in the park across from my house in the campus of

the church.

So the police said, well, if he's sleeping on a bench and this is annoying and this below

zero, we better send the paramedics.

So the paramedics came and they gave him, hey buddy.

And when they did that, they realized that he was not a person.

It was a statue.

It was something somebody had molded out of a material and it looked very real.

But then when they examined him, they realized that there were wounds in his feet.

And they realized that somebody wanted to teach the neighborhood a lesson.

So Jesus said, it has much.

Because you did it to one of my little brethren and those are the little brethren over there,

the homeless, the migrant, the one behind the bars in prison.

I have been to prisons.

I baptized people in the prisons.

And believe me, it's easier to preach to them because they are captive bodies.

And I asked them, okay, in five weeks I have a Sabbath that I have off.

I can come and see you.

And one said, we're not going anywhere.

Later on I realized, I learned that he was the son of seven of the Adventist missionaries.

He grew up in one in the mission field.

He knew a lot.

And later on he told me, when I came to prison, I learned to love the word that I have been

studying all my life, what I have been hearing my father preach about.

And I learned to love Jesus.

So how do we see the homeless, the one behind bars, the hungry, the men with SIDA?

Do we help them or do we turn away?

We don't want to maybe they had lies or they brought a bed box from somewhere?

No.

They are children of God.

They need our help.

They have been wounded by the adversary.

They belong to God.

And Jesus said, inasmuch as you did it to one of my little brethren, this is the test

God is not going to tell you inasmuch as you can explain the 2300 days, you can explain

who is the little horn, you can explain the mark on the number of the beast.

He doesn't say that.

It's good to study.

But I said, inasmuch as you did it to one of my little brethren, you did it unto me.

Come inherit the kingdom.

Wow.

Maybe it's something different of what you expected to hear.

But I do want to tell you, we need to ask the Lord to open our eyes to put more saliva,

to put the Holy Spirit on us so we can see the people around the church, around our house,

in our neighborhood, the one we find on Walmart, even the one we see that is pulling something

and putting it, I have seen that.

We see him like a thief.

We see him like our little brethren from whom Jesus died and he is our neighbor.

Somebody said, I approached my brother because I wanted to show him my love and he drew a

circle around him and left me out.

But with God's help, love and I drew a bigger circle and we enclosed him and drew him near.

I pray that God will always keep in our mind that our little brethren around us are there

for us to show that we really love Jesus by showing our love to our neighbor.

You want to do that?

Jesus Father, thank you for every lesson you teach us in your holy word.

And thank you because we can love because you loved us first.

There is a reason.

Help us to really feel that you love us, to really understand that dying on the cross

was the maximum, the greatest show of your love for us and help us to love others because

you loved us first.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.