Gospel Reading - Second Tuesday of the Great Lent (St. Mark)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

As we walk in faith and observe the Great Lent, of which we are now in the second week, I would like to bring your thoughts to the Gospel Reading of the day, i.e. reading from the Gospel of St. Mark 4:21-34. This passage is basically about the various parables that had been said by Jesus and if you read the whole chapter, we would understand some of the most well known and most taught parables that Jesus had taught. I would mostly be looking at the two parables that are in verses 21-25 (The Lamp under the Basket) and verse 26-29 (The Parable of the Scattered Seed).

The Lamp Under the Basket - St. Mark 4:21-25

Before we understand the passage, it is important to understand the image and purpose of the lamp. A lamp is a source of light in darkness to avoid stumbling. The Jews also understood that the "light" as an expression of inner beauty, truth and the goodness of God. 

In His light we see light (Psalm 36:9)

His Word is a lamp that guides our steps (Psalm 119:105)

We as followers of Christ Jesus have the Eternal Light shining in our lives. And His light, not only illuminates the darkness in our lives, but it also fills us with spiritual light, joy and peace. Jesus used the example of the lamp to describe how His disciples are to live in the light of His truth and love. Just as natural light illumines the darkness and enables us to see visually, so the light of Christ shines in the hearts of the believers and enables us to see the heavenly reality of God's kingdom. 

In fact, our mission is to be the light-bearers of Christ so that others may see the truth of the gospel and be freed from the blindness of sin and deception. Jesus remarks that nothing can ever remain hidden or secret. We try to hide the light of Christ from others and it is like placing a lid on the light of Jesus that shines in our lives. If a lamp doesn't help people on how to find the correct path, i.e. the path to find God and how to live for Him, then what use is the light in our lives? Do not hide your lights by the baskets of complacency, resentment, embarrassment, stubbornness of heart, or disobedience. Let your light shine forth and let the people know the True God.

The Parable of the Scattered Seed - St. Mark 4:26-29

This parable is very unique to the Gospel of St. Mark, for this is not mentioned by any of the other Gospel writers. This parable reveals about the how the Word of God - the seed, produces fruit and how it grows. The growth produced by the Word is a mystery, for the sower can sow the seed and see it sprout and grow, but the growth in itself is beyond his comprehension, and even the seed grows by itself. The growth is also gradual, it does not occur all at once, but step by step, first the blade, then the head, then the full grain. But through such growth, the harvest comes eventually. So the Kingdom of God, growing by the virtue of the Word of God being planted, is similar to the amazing growth observed in the sowing of grain.

In our mission to be light-bearers of Christ, we must be like the sower in the parable, sowing the Word of God in the lives of all those around us. We should share the Word of God with all expecting and praying for a plentiful harvest. The harvest will not be sudden and over-night, but it will take time for the "seed" - The Word of God, to sprout in the lives of the hearers and take root. But just like a sower, we need to water the soil and keep on giving nutrients by encouraging them and not lose hope when the seed takes time to grow in their lives.

May the Lord Almighty bless you and keep you and enable you to be the light-bearers of Christ and sowers of the Word of God in the lives of many people around you.

Your brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George

Gospel Reading - First Friday of the Great Lent (St. Matt. 5)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

All praise and glory to the Triune God. As we continue our walk during this Lenten period, I would like to reflect on a small portion of today's evening Gospel Reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew 5: 17-26. From this section, I would like to ponder on our Master's Voice from verses 21-26, which is on Anger.

Robert Jones, in his book Uprooting Anger, wrote "Anger is a universal problem, prevalent in every culture, experienced by every generation. No one is isolated from its presence or immune from its poison. It permeates each person and spoils our most intimate relationships. Anger is a given part of our fallen human fabric. Sadly this is true even in our Christian homes and churches."

Adding on to Robert Jones' observation about our Christian homes and churches that our anger is often directed toward those we should love most: our spouse, children, parents, or siblings in human families, and those who are true brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus in our church families. What is anger? We will mostly say, "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it, especially if it's directed toward me." We can generally define anger simply as a strong feeling of displeasure, and usually of antagonism. It is often followed by sinful emotions, words, and actions hurtful to those who are the objects of our anger.

Some people may justify their anger as righteous anger. They feel that they have a right to be angry, given a certain situation. How, then, can I know if my anger is righteous anger? First, righteous anger arises from an accurate perception of true evil - that is, as a violation of God's moral law. It focuses on God and His will, not on me and my will. Second, righteous anger is always self-controlled. It never causes one to lose his temper or retaliate in some vengeful way.

In facing up to our anger, we need to realize that no one else causes us to be angry. Someone else's words or actions may become the occasion of our anger, but the cause lies deep within us - usually our pride, or selfishness, or desire to control. We may become angry because someone has mistreated us in some way. A person gossips about us, and when we hear about it, we get angry. Why? It's likely because our reputation or our character has been questioned. Again the cause is our pride.

We get angry because we don't get our way. We frequently see this in children, but it is true of us who are adults too. We get angry as a response to someone else's anger too. 

These hypothetical situations are not intended to justify our actions. Clearly they are sinful. But we can choose how we will respond to the sinful actions of others towards us. Consider Apostle Peter's words to the slaves in the first-century churches, who often served under cruel and unjust masters. According to much present-day thinking they would be justified in their anger, but here are Peter's words to them:

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God." (1 Peter 2:18-20).

St. Peter's instructions to slaves are a specific application of a broader scriptural principle: We are to respond to any unjust treatment as "mindful of God". To be mindful of God means to think of God's will and God's glory. How would God have me respond in this situation? How can I best glorify God by my response? Do I believe that this difficult situation or this unjust treatment is under the sovereign control of God and that in His infinite wisdom and goodness He is using these difficult circumstances to conform me more to the likeness of Christ? (see Romans 8:28; Hebrews 12:4-11).

I have no doubt that in tense situations and in the emotional heat of the moment, we are not going to go through a checklist of questions. But we can and should develop that habit of thinking this way. Oftentimes, my response to someone else's unjust action is sinful anger. But in the after moments of a difficult episode, we can choose to continue to hold on to our anger, or we can reflect on such questions as above and allow the Holy Spirit to dissolve our anger.

There might be a myriad of other circumstances or actions of other people that can tempt us to be angry. But they can never cause us to be angry. The cause always lies within our hearts, usually as a result of our pride or selfishness. It is safe to say that all of us get angry from time to time. So how do we handle our anger in a God-honoring way? First, we have to recognize and acknowledge our anger and the sinfulness of it. Then we need to ask ourselves why we became angry. Was it because of our pride or selfishness or some idol of the heart we are protecting? If so, we need to repent not only of our anger but also of our pride, selfishness and idolatry.

After having dealt with the expression of our anger through recognition and repentance, we need to change our attitude toward the person or persons whose words or actions triggered our anger. If we have expressed our anger outwardly, we also need to seek the forgiveness of the person we have wounded by our anger.

Do remember our Master's Voice in St. Matt. 5:23-24

"So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer you sacrifice to God."

May the love of the Father, grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be unto you all and guide you to fight the issues of anger you might face in your life.
Please do keep me in your prayers.

Your Brother in Christ Jesus
Jobin George 

Gospel Reading - First Thursday of the Great Lent (St.. Matt. 7)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

As we observe the Great Lent, I would like to focus on the Gospel Readings on the daily basis. Today, I am concentrating on the readings from evening portion, St. Matthew 7: 1-12. I would like to point out one lesson that Jesus teaches us, and that we mostly forget.

Judgementalism (v. 1-5)

Jesus teaches us that we are not to meant judge others, so that we might not be judged. But today, judgementalism is one of the most subtle sins that we practice, under the guise of being zealous for what is right. It's very obvious that within our conservative circles, there are a myriad of opinions on everything from theology to conduct to lifestyle and politics. Not only are there multiple opinions but we usually assume our opinion is correct. That's where our trouble with judgementalism begins. We equate our opinions with truth.

We are judgmental on the people dress when going to church. Most people would think "Didn't they have any reverence for God? Would they dress so casually if they were going to an audience with an important personality?". Only such thoughts are wrongs. There is nothing in the BIble that tells us what we ought to wear to church. I have had such thoughts in my heart.

Finally, I decided that reverence for God is not a matter of dress; it's a matter of the heart. Jesus said that true worshipers are those who worship the Father in spirit and truth (John 4:23). now its true that casual dress may reflect a casual attitude toward God, but I cannot discern that. Therefore, I should avoid ascribing an attitude of irreverence based purely on a person's dress.

Apostle Paul faced the problem of judgmentalism among the people in the church at Rome. One was vegetarianism vs. an "eat whatever you want" mentality. The second issue was a matter of observing sertain days as holy days. In Paul's words, "One person esteems one day as a\better than another, while another esteems all days alike." (Romans 14:5). Apparently, both sides of the parties were judgemental towards the other. Similarly, we today are judgemental towards contemporary music tunes in our churches against traditional music tunes. The same is true with the issue of temperance versus abstinence.

The point that I intend to make here is, it doesn't matter which side of an issue we are on. It is easy to become judgmental toward anyone whose opinions are different from ours. And then we hide our judgementalism under the cloak of Christian convictions.

Apostle Paul's response to the situation in Rome was, "Stop judging one another regardless of which position you take." And then he added, "Who are you to pass judgement on the servant of another. It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make Him stand" (Romans 14:4). Basically, Paul was saying, "Stop trying to play God toward your fellow believers in Christ. God is the Judge, not you."

That's what we do when we judge others whose preferences and practices are different from ours. We are arrogating ourselves a role God has reserved for Himself. Perhaps this is what Jesus had in mind when He taught in the above said passage.

What I have written to this point does not mean that we should never pass judgement on the practices and beliefs of others. When someone's lifestyle or conduct is clearly out of line with the Scriptures, then we are right to say that the person is sinning. There are practices clearly condemned in Scripture. For examples, look for St. Paul's description of the moral slide into utter depravity in Romans 1:24-32, or at his description of the "works of the flesh" (Galatians 5:19-21), or the characteristics of the "last days" (2 Tim. 3:1-5). These practices are clearly sinful and when we judge them as such, we are agreeing with the Word of God. It is the Bible that is judging, not ourselves.

Having said that, though, we can still sin even when we judge accordance with Scripture. We can sin if we judge from an attitude of self righteousness or if we judge harshly or with a spirit of censoriousness. We sin if we condemn the obviously flagrant sins of others without at the same time acknowledging that we ourselves are sinners before God.

During this blessed Lent, may the Lord Almighty help us to find our faults and help us in not judging others, without first judging ourselves.

Your Brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George