Joke: “Liberation theology” of obesity: And God populated the earth with broccoli and cauliflower and spinach, green and yellow vegetables of all kinds, so man and woman would live long and healthy lives. And Satan created McDonald's. And McDonald's brought forth the 99-cent double-cheeseburger. And Satan said to man, "You want fries with that?" And Man said, "Super-size them." And Man gained pounds. And God created the healthful yogurt, so that woman might keep her figure that man found so fair. And Satan brought forth chocolate. And the woman gained pounds. And God said, "Try My crispy fresh salad." And Satan brought forth ice cream. And the woman gained pounds. And God said, "I have sent you heart-healthy vegetables and olive oil with which to cook them." And Satan brought forth a chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter. And man gained pounds and his bad cholesterol went through the roof. And the man went into cardiac arrest. And God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery. And Satan created HMOs.

In this battle between God and Satan among those choices and needs, in all of today’s readings, we are reminded of what choices we need to take and what we need to bring on our spiritual journey here on earth.

In today’s first reading, prophet Amos responded to Amaziah, a priest of Bethel saying, “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesize to my people Israel.” Does Amos know anything about giving homily like what priests and deacons do today? Has he gone through nine years of study in seminary for priests and six years for permanent deacons before he can go out and preach? No, and no. The Lord didn’t physically take Amos away from being a shepherd and a dresser, but rather, he encouraged him that He was always with him to prophesy to his people Israel.

Not only did prophet Amos experience the need for God in his life as a prophet, but Paul also experienced this that in today’s second reading, written to the Ephesian community, Paul testified that his redemption and his forgiveness of transgressions only in Christ, when he said, “In him, [Christ], we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.” Both Amos and Paul chose to follow the Lord because they experienced the need for God in their lives.

In today’s Gospel, Saint Mark reminds us that for those who chose to follow Christ, he instructed them to have total faith in the Lord by taking with them nothing but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They went out to preach repentance, to drive out many demons, not to condemn. They also went out to anoint the sick and to cure the sick with their kind words and good deeds, not to neglect the sick.

In choosing to follow the Lord Jesus, he sent them out two by two. Why did Jesus send them out two by two if it’s not to help and to support one another on their journey of preaching the message of repentance? Why did Jesus ask them to bring what was less than the human basic needs, no food, no sack, no money, but a walking stick, if it’s not to teach them to depend on the Lord rather than on themselves? Have we followed the Lord by putting our total faith and trust in him? Have we depended our lives on our own needs or God? In choosing to follow the Lord in this walk of life, what would you need to bring with you?

There are at least three human needs that we might want to examine ourselves. First, it is our human natural needs such as eating, drinking, sleeping, clothing, housing, medicine for headaches, flu or treatable illness, vacation, etc. These are the needs that we all need to survive and achieve happiness in this life to live well and to avoid sickness. The question is: Has Jesus invited us to leave all these human natural needs behind or rather to try to sacrifice these natural needs to experience the need for God? He invites us to eliminate as much as possible from our human natural needs, but please, do not give up your medicines which are prescribed for your illness or sickness, and do not give up on your psychological treatment for your depression, or any other sickness and illness that your doctor prescribed. What we are encouraged to do with our human natural needs is in our physical healthy stage to try to moderate or to sacrifice these needs to understand the need for God on our spiritual journey here on earth. Second, it is our human natural need but not necessary to have such as changing meals to have a different taste at each meal, changing clothes, changing the temperature for air conditioning during summer and more heat during winter, changing to a more expensive and cool style of automobile to make one looks cooler from the appearance, or taking a cruise vacation every year & so on, we might need all these to make our lives easier, enjoyable and happier so that our human growth can be balanced physically and mentally. However, the Lord Jesus invites us today to try to detach all these to share with those who are in need and to experience the need for God in our lives. Thirdly and finally, no human natural needs are necessary to have such as ego, pride, rich, power, pleasure, you name it Jesus invites us to sacrifice or to learn to detach, so once again, to experience the need for God. As the Lord Jesus stripped off himself from his divine creature to vest on himself our human flesh to be with us, have we learned to strip off or to detach any non-human natural needs or even any of human natural needs to experience the need for God? Has there been anything that is so attached to us that we might have difficulty detaching to experience the need for God? The decision is yours.