Reflections

A Declaration of Deliverance Psalm 40   Swana Thomas Christos MTC, Philadelphia 17. ...."You are my help and my deliverer;  do not delay, O my God."   Many of us may have been enamoured by superheroes like Batman, Flash and others. All of these individuals seem to have one thing in common: they provide deliverance. Whether it was the damsel they rescued or the young boy that hears about his super hero saving the day, all who witness their heroic efforts do not hide their feeling of safety or thanksgiving: they tell it to the world. However, before a man in a cape or a fitted leotard was ever made known, the psalmist in this passage tells us of a similar story of someone who continually saves the day (in more ways than one): God. But are we quick to share our deliverance to the world or do we hide it, afraid to share the good news?     We are all guilty of it. We have been bought at a price - the blood of Jesus Christ. ...

Empowered by the Risen Lord Acts. 20:7-12 Ann Koshy St. John’s MTC NY 9  A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead.   How many of us are wrapped up in our daily lives, yet make time for God? We go to our youth meetings, Sunday services and prayer meetings but how many of us are alert and focused. In the beginning we are excited, 15 minutes into the meeting we may be day dreaming, and 30 minutes later we may be sound asleep like Eutychus. To give a little background the setting for Acts 20:7-12 is in Troas. It is an evening service, since Troas has many disciples who are slaves and cannot meet during the day. It also happens to be the last time these disciples will hear Paul, the visiting preacher, since he plans to leave in the morning; because of this, the text says, "he continued speaking u...

Empowered by the Risen Lord Genesis 28:10-22   Manju Mathew Phoenix MTC, Arizona 15 Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”  We all have heard the story of Jacob’s dream a thousand times, where he saw a ladder resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven and angels of God  ascending and descending. "13 And the Lord stood beside him". This passage should be a reminder to all of us that the Lord our God, whom we serve, will watch over us wherever we go and will never leave us. The question is whether we are with Him and for Him. Though He never leaves us, we can essentially “leave” Him by ignoring Him. When our relationship with God feels distant, we know where the problem lies. It is we who have distanced ourselves   from God. God made promises to Jacob in his dream; we must remember God is a promise k...

Empowered By The Risen Lord Revelation 1:1-8 Ninju Mathew Phoenix MTC, Arizona Empowered By The Risen Lord Revelation 1:1-8 Ninju Mathew Phoenix MTC, Arizona   8  “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.   In the Greek alphabet, Alpha is the first letter and stands for the "beginning." Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet and stands for the "end." Because God existed from before all time and will exist beyond all time, there is no room for another God. In Isaiah 43:10 it says, "Before me there was no God formed nor there will be one after me." It is hard for us to grasp the idea of nothing being here before our God. But the verse explains it all “He is, He was, and He is to come."  He is our Alpha and Omega, the beginning and our end. ...

Meeting the Resurrected Lord Luke 24:13-35      Dhanya Mary Jacob Phoenix MTC, Arizona 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.   This Easter Sunday, where is  Jesus? Is He still on the cross? Is He in church? Or is He alongside us, walking with us every step of the day? Imagine the mindset of the two believers…the Messiah who had been sent to save all of Israel was nailed to the cross. And now, they hear reports that His body was no longer to be found. They had lost a friend, a companion and their teacher. Here in the loneliness of this experience, Jesus walks with them. What a joy it is to know our Shepherd walks with us in our deepest sadness! Open our eyes, and see our Savior standing next to us with loving kindness and tender mercies. Our God is an ever present God, one we can so proudly call our own. So even ...

Resurrection, celebrating boundless transformation Matthew 28:1-10    Rev M P Samuel Mar Thoma Church Atlanta 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.     “ He has risen. Yes He has risen”. The people of the early church used to greet one another with these words when they met. For them, the day of the resurrection of Jesus was a day that brought joy and hope in their life. Thus resurrection became the foundation stone of the faith of the Christian church. In this passage, we read, Matthew’s description of the first experience of the early church with the resurrection of Jesus. At the dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb and they got the first experience of the resurrection. For those who experience the resurrection, they are celebrating the boundless transformation....

Broken on the Cross Matthew 27:32-44                          Dr.Willy Isaac Carmel MTC, Boston MA “They had crucified him ...” (Matt.27:35) Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me "(John 14:6).  Jesus declares the reason for His death is to provide the way to heaven for sinful mankind, who could never get there on their own. God, in His grace and mercy, provided a way out of this by the crucifixion of His Son on the cross. Jesus humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. God’s plan for Jesus was to die as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life "(John 3:16). Without Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins, no one would have eternal life. God declared that all who sin will ...

Anointed for Death Matthew 26:1-13   Terrin Soman Dubai Mar Thoma Parish – UAE 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” We see this passage as the initial hours of tribulation of our Lord, starting with the meeting of Chief priests plotting to kill Jesus, followed by the anointing by the lady - a substantial sign before a burial. Let’s shift our focus to the lady as she represents people like us today - Some translations have the lady was in tears as she was wiping Jesus' feet and anointing Him with the expensive perfume – for me, personally, this illustrates Jesus being the church and the lady representing the people. I believe every church bench will definitely carry tears of people who will be repenting their guilt or facing difficult circumstances in life. How fortunate it is to cry at the feet of the Lord because every tear drop will be accounted for in Hea...

Importance of Prayer in our Daily Life Philippians 4:6-7    Susan Jiji  Phoenix Mar Thoma Church 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Prayer has lots of importance in our daily life. Prayer is the life-line to God. Prayer connects us to our Heavenly Father. When we start our day with prayer, it refreshes our whole day. We need to remember that God is in control of everything in our lives. He knows us inside and out. He knows all our strength and weaknesses. Nothing happens to us in our life without His knowledge. Every one of us has up and downs in our life but when we pray and trust in Him, He gives us strength to overcome the difficulties in our life situations. Nothing is impossible with Him. As in Philippians 4: 6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God...

Waiting for God Matthew 25:1-13    Anne Mathew Connecticut Mar Thoma Congregation 13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. This Bible passage is Jesus’s reply to the disciples, who came to Him privately and asked, “tell us, ”they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of age?” (Matthew 24: 3). Here, Jesus is not addressing the general public or the Pharisees but His disciples who are His followers. As Christians and followers of Jesus, we believe that our Lord will return but what we do not know is the exact time.  If Jesus (the bridegroom) did come back today, how will He find us? Ready to go with Him or unprepared like the foolish virgins.  In the above passage, all ten virgins were invited to the wedding and all of them brought their lamps, as was the custom in Jewish weddings.  We also read that all 10 slept when the bridegroom was delayed and all 10 heard the call...

Bearing the Image of God Matthew 22:15-22 Pradeep John Connecticut Mar Thoma Congregation 21 They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”    The context of this passage is about the Pharisees plotting to trap Jesus in His words. The question posed by the Pharisees was about paying taxes to Caesar. If Jesus said that paying taxes to Caesar was lawful, His influence among the people would be gone, as they would regard Him as a coward for supporting Roman taxes which the Jews hated. If Jesus would say that paying taxes was not lawful, they would have Jesus arrested by the Romans as a revolutionary. Jesus asked them for a denarius as He did not possess it. Jesus asked them whose inscription is on it and the Pharisees replied Caesar’s. The Pharisees were marveled by the response of Jesus which is the theme verse. Render to Caesar the things that ...