Searchlight Logo
special_image

    • News
      • Front Page
      • News
      • Breaking News
      • Press Release
      • Features
      • Special Features
      • From the Courts
      • Sports
      • Regional / World
    • Opinions
      • Editorial
      • Our Readers’ Opinions
      • Bassy – Love Vine
      • Dr. Fraser- Point of View
      • R. Rose – Eye of the Needle
      • On Target
      • Dr Jozelle Miller
      • The World Around Us
      • Random Thoughts
    • Advice
      • Kitchen Corner
      • What’s on Fleek this week
      • Health Wise
      • Physician’s Weekly
      • Business Buzz
      • Hey Rosie!
      • Prime the pump
    • ePaper
    • Obituaries
      • In Memoriam / Acknowledgement
      • Tribute
    • Contact Us
      • Advertise With Us
      • Letters To The Editor
      • General Contact Information
      • Contact our Webmaster
    • About Us
      • Interactive Media Ltd
      • St. Vincent & the Grenadines
    • Subscribe
    • News
      • Front Page
      • News
      • Breaking News
      • Press Release
      • Features
      • Special Features
      • From the Courts
      • Sports
      • Regional / World
    • Opinions
      • Editorial
      • Our Readers’ Opinions
      • Bassy – Love Vine
      • Dr. Fraser- Point of View
      • R. Rose – Eye of the Needle
      • On Target
      • Dr Jozelle Miller
      • The World Around Us
      • Random Thoughts
    • Advice
      • Kitchen Corner
      • What’s on Fleek this week
      • Health Wise
      • Physician’s Weekly
      • Business Buzz
      • Hey Rosie!
      • Prime the pump
    • ePaper
    • Obituaries
      • In Memoriam / Acknowledgement
      • Tribute
    • Contact Us
      • Advertise With Us
      • Letters To The Editor
      • General Contact Information
      • Contact our Webmaster
    • About Us
      • Interactive Media Ltd
      • St. Vincent & the Grenadines
    • Subscribe
Round Table with Oscar
April 13, 2017

Doing Dad’s business

The busy week began with organizing God’s People’s march in the capital. The festival goers who came from the oppressed Galilean countryside and elsewhere were chanting a militant “HOSHIA NA, HOSHIA NA’ or Time for Deliverance, alongside Jesus/Yeshua. In their hands, for placards, they waved branches and bush from the palm, olive and other trees.

That morning was electrical, with intense excitement in Jerusalem. The townspeople were fascinated; some of them wanting to jump in the procession, but the city leaders were muttering and pacing about in alarm and nervousness. In fact, Jesus/Yeshua, in this demonstration, was getting across His Dad’s message to the laity and the temple power-holders.

The gospels call the power elite, ‘lestai’, a name that might be related to kleptomania. In Mark’s gospel 11; 17, Jesus explains: “Daddy’s business is a righteousness that all peoples can access, but you have turned it into your own property, you den of robbers (lestai)”. That is the note on which the week began: people claiming God’s tidings of deliverance, but God’s leaders hoarding it for their own interests.

SIN IN THE CITY

During that Holy Week, every day Jesus carried out an education and consciousness-raising and spirit-building salvation campaign among the people. At the same time the coalition of priests, lawyers, Sadducees and Roman empire clients put together an opposition programme to manage salvation as something that God gave to their class! When the Son of Man, Prophet from Galilee preached the parable of land workers who took over the estate from the owner, and killed the owner’s son, it was a transparent picture of how the temple rulers were treating God and His purpose. The guys were trying to thief God’s salvation.

The prophet Ezekiel, in chapter 34; 1-6, exposed earlier leaders who organized their leadership to benefit their class and disinherit the people of God from fullness of life.

Jesus had an evening class tutorial around the temple treasury, where the upper classes were paying their hefty sums of money into the temple funds. (See Mark 12 ; 38-44). It was as if they were on TV, all flash and bling. ‘Those guys rip off the property of widows who have no one to defend them, and then they look as if they are so generous, and God-fearing, but nobody notices the poor women who shamefacedly drops in her penny in the treasury. She may not have another penny at home, you know. The temple is ripping her off too.’ Jesus was unmasking the nature of sin in the city. Sin was a structured evil, hiding behind the claims of class, trying to look decent, but by the end of the week, there was blood all over the face of that decent class.

SHARING MEALS

It is difficult for those who are well off to share bread genuinely with the lower classes. I think of three cases: Nicodemus was in a higher class than Jesus and he couldn’t take up Jesus’ challenge to be born over. Zacchaeus was wealthy, but also compromised, bearing stigma, and vulnerable. He was able to come to consensus and common table with Jesus. The Pharisee who invited Jesus to share a meal at his home had a higher social position than the homeless, though popular prophet from Galilee. The host was willing to entertain Jesus, but not the kinds of persons who followed Him, and so a woman who came to minister love for Jesus was treated shabbily.

The dynamics of the scene are complex, but doing His Dad’s business that week certainly made some groups uncomfortable with Jesus. Down to His own close friends, whom He called to share a ‘prayer meal’ with Him in Gethsemane, ran out on Him. It was a successful business week for our liberation, but what a lonely time as well. Blessed holy week.

  • FacebookComments
  • ALSO IN THE NEWS
    Barrouallie woman, charged in stabbing death of boyfriend
    Front Page
    Barrouallie woman, charged in stabbing death of boyfriend
    Webmaster 
    October 10, 2025
    A Barrouallie woman, allegedly killed her boyfriend who was stabbed in the neck with a knife, has been granted bail in the sum of $30,000. Brittany Au...
    Independence celebrations 2025 slated to be spectuclar
    Front Page
    Independence celebrations 2025 slated to be spectuclar
    Webmaster 
    October 10, 2025
    Chairman of the National Independence Committee, Rodney Small, is urging people across St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), to attend the various acti...
    Second event sees mentally challenged inmates involved in football
    Front Page
    Second event sees mentally challenged inmates involved in football
    Webmaster 
    October 10, 2025
    A second event, geared at helping inmates at His Majesty’s Prison (HMP) with varying mental health issues better cope with some of their problems, was...
    Teenager aims to become Prime Minister
    Front Page
    Teenager aims to become Prime Minister
    Webmaster 
    October 10, 2025
    by Grace Francis At just 19 years old, Arron Dennie has set his sights high, aspiring not only to become a lawyer but ultimately, to serve as Prime Mi...
    New Police Officers pledge to serve with courage, discipline and integrity
    Front Page
    New Police Officers pledge to serve with courage, discipline and integrity
    Webmaster 
    October 10, 2025
    A total of 113 police recruits gathered at the Arnos Vale Playing field last Friday, October, 3,2025, for the Passing Out Parade. The 42nd cohort of r...
    Ministry of Agriculture launches World Food Day Programme
    Front Page
    Ministry of Agriculture launches World Food Day Programme
    Webmaster 
    October 10, 2025
    The Ministry of Agriculture on Thursday, October, 9, 2025, launched a programme of activities leading up to World Food Day that is observed globally o...
    News
    Smart tells Cabinet he does not want work with the MOA
    News
    Smart tells Cabinet he does not want work with the MOA
    Webmaster 
    October 10, 2025
    Gabriel ‘Webb’ Smart informed the Cabinet on Wednesday, October, 1 2025, that he does not want a full time job with the Ministry of Agriculture. He re...
    Criminals not welcomed, will be tracked – PM Mottley
    News
    Criminals not welcomed, will be tracked – PM Mottley
    Webmaster 
    October 10, 2025
    Criminals attempting to move between the four Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries that from this month began allowing the unrestricted movement of...
    DTVE records highest enrolment
    News
    DTVE records highest enrolment
    Webmaster 
    October 10, 2025
    For the first time, the Division of Technical and Vocational Education (DTVE) of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College (SVGC), has recor...
    Man who smashed his sister’s washing machine to pay compensation
    From the Courts, News
    Man who smashed his sister’s washing machine to pay compensation
    Webmaster 
    October 10, 2025
    A Largo Height man was ordered to compensate his sister $2,500 after he smashed her washing machine because the noise bothered him. Kenton Harris appe...
    Young farmers receive training in Smart Agricultural Practices
    News
    Young farmers receive training in Smart Agricultural Practices
    Webmaster 
    October 10, 2025
    Seventy-five young Vincentian farmers are receiving training courses in smart agricultural techniques through the Embassy of the Republic of China on ...

    E-EDITION
    ePaper
    google_play
    app_store
    Subscribe Now
    • Interactive Media Ltd. • P.O. Box 152 • Kingstown • St. Vincent and the Grenadines • Phone: 784-456-1558 © Copyright Interactive Media Ltd.. All rights reserved.
    We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok