WEEK 14: 24 April 2023

Monday of the Third Week of Easter

"Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.“
So they said to him,
"What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"
Jesus answered and said to them,
"This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."
(From John 6:22-29)
REMINDERS:
1. Always see what is posted at the Blackboard
especially for urgent messages.
2. Number of absences to be dropped from the course/
subject
1 hour session (MWF) - 10 absences
1 ½ hours session (TTh) - 7 absences
3. Excused absence - Notice about the reason for the
absence through the letter from the guardian/parent
(hard or soft copy) - only within a week from the time of
absence
In Memoriam…
Dr. Jose M. de Mesa: A Filipino Theologian
November 14,1946 - April 15, 2021
A Missionary
 THEOLOGY 2: RESPONDING TO GOD BY BECOMING
FULLY HUMAN (Living Out the Value of Love)

Topic 1: Anthropological Understanding of Love

Topic 2: Theological Aspect of Love
Topic 3: God’s Love for His People (OT)
Topic 4: Jesus’ Way of Loving (NT)
Topic 5: Discipleship as Response to the Call of Love
Topic 6: Living as Disciples of Love Today
Topic 5:
Discipleship as Response
to the Call of Love

A.Discipleship in Jesus
B.Being Sent Out to Love
A. Discipleship in Jesus

1. Understanding Discipleship

➢ Lat. Discipulus – a pupil or learner

• taking part in the teaching of the master; being a follower
(cf. Apostleship; Gk Apostolos - “person sent”)
➢ Christian discipleship
• New Testament
- Jesus as Rabbi/teacher
- Teaching/ message about the Kingdom of God
- Called people to join him in the cause of the Kingdom
in the spirit of love and service
➢Christian Discipleship today
• Becoming a follower of Jesus officially expressed through
Baptism (cf. Adult and Infant baptism)
• Believing in and living according to the Spirit/teachings of Christ –
being “man for others” (“born” not only by water but also by
spirit)
• Continuation of the proclamation of and building God’s Kingdom
- Cf. different missionary groups –
e.g. Congregation of the Mission /Vincentians, Jesuits, Dominicans, La Salle
Brothers
- Cf. Church ministers responding to the call of service
Ex-film director, soccer player to be ordained Catholic priests by Pope
Francis
Pope Francis will ordain nine men to the priesthood on Sunday, including a former
film director and a 28-year-old soccer player who turned down a chance to play for
the team A.S. Roma.
‘You will be shepherds like him’: Pope Francis ordains 9
new priests
➢John 8:31-32 - “If you abide in my word, you are
truly my disciples and you will know the truth, and
the truth will set you free.”
2. Jesus’ Showed the Way to Love

a. Self-denial and Sacrifice

➢ Jesus offer of salvation as offer of fulness of life
John 10:10 - I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

➢ Jesus gave life by giving up his life

• Cf. historical context of Jesus’ mission/ ministry
• Cf. Gustavo Gutierrez – “Jesus endured the suffering on the cross because he can
not endure the suffering of his people.”
• Jn 12:24 - “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth
and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
➢ Matthew 16:24 // Luke 9:23
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to
come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his
cross, and follow Me.”
• Cf. Vows of consecrated life – “self denial”
- Chastity (giving up exclusive sexual partner/ family)
- Poverty (giving up wealth)
- Obedience (giving up one’s own will)
➢ Jn 15:18 “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute
you.”
➢ Matthew 10:16 “I am sending you out like sheep among
wolves.”
▪ Cf. History of Christianity
• “Aposynagogus” (excommunication of the disciples of Jesus; 80
A.D.); martyrdom of apostles
• Roman persecution of Christians
• Expelling of missionaries from Communist China
• Persecution today (cf. “red tagging” of ministers in Catholicism/
Protestantism in the Philippines)
➢ Matthew 10:37
“Anyone who loves their father or mother more
than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves
their son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me.”

➢ Luke 14:26
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father
and mother, wife and children, brothers and
sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person
cannot be my disciple.
➢ Luke 9:56-57 - The Cost of Following Jesus

57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will
follow you wherever you go.”
58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the

Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you

go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go

back and say goodbye to my family.”

62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks

back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

b. Obedience in Christ

➢ John 14:15: "If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
➢John 14:21; “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is
the one who loves me.”
➢John 14:23; "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.”
➢John 14:24; “He who does not love me will not obey my
teaching.”
➢John 15:10; “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my
love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in
his love.”
➢1 John 2:5; “if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made
complete in him.”
➢1 John 5:3; “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his
commands are not burdensome.”
c. Love as “I have loved you”

➢John 13:34-35; "A new command I give you: Love one

another. As I have loved you, so you must love one
another. By this all men will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another."
➢John 15:12-14; “My command is this: Love each other as I
have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he
lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you
do what I command.”
➢John 15:17; “This is my command: Love each other.”
➢1 John 3:10-11; “This is how we know who the children of God
are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not
do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does
not love his brother. This is the message you heard from the
beginning: We should love one another.”
➢1 John 3:16; “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ
laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives
for our brothers.”
➢1 John 3:23; “And this is his command: to believe in the name of
his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded
us.”
➢1 John 4:11; “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also
ought to love one another
3. Disciples Witnessing in the Love of Christ

a. The Early Christian Community

➢ Acts 2:40-47
44All who believed were together and had all things in

common; 45they would sell their possessions and goods

and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.
• Cf. “Miracle” of the multiplication of the bread (Graciousness
of God in Christ instilled in the hearts of men)
b. Paul’s Message of Love

➢ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not

boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-

seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of
wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the
truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always
perseveres.