Reflections

  HASHA:  PASSION WEEK John 6:60-70   v67-68 “You do not want to leave too, do you?”  Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”   We have just entered into the final stretch of the Great Lent season.  It refers to the penitential period preceding the Easter. It is a time for reflection.  It is a time of transformation.  Lent focuses on the passion and death of Christ in preparation for His resurrection. Meditating on the passion of Christ is a very appropriate way to evoke sorrow for our sins and firm purpose of amendment, fulfilling two of the elements necessary for reconciliation with God in the sacrament of penance. The most important meditations on the Passion can be found in the inspired Word of God, especially in the Gospels. Several prophets also foretold the suffering of Christ; some of the most well-known prophecies of the “Suffering Servant” include those found in Isaiah 53.   No m...

  Hasha: Passion Week Matthew 24:1-28 Vs 35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”. Mathew 24 is one of the most reassuring chapters in the New Testament. This chapter is a private conversation between Jesus and His disciples. When asked by His disciples, Jesus describes the signs that would occur before His second coming. Matthew 24:5-8 describes the beginning of sorrows; Vs 9-10 describes the turning of humanity against each other and Vs 11-12 describes about the cultural results caused by the turning of humanity against each other.   In the beginning of His narration, Jesus gives a warning to His disciples, “Watch out that no one deceives you.” (Matthew 24:4). Here Jesus warns His disciples to stand firm for the Lord, be rooted in God’s word and be prepared for persecution. The signs of His second coming are detailed and include: the rise of false Christs, wars and rumors of wars, nations rising against each other, kingdom against kingdom,...

  Give unto God what is God’s. Matthew  22:15-23 v21 “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Jesus entered Jerusalem and had completed the triumphant Hosanna and the cleansing of the temple.  Wherever Jesus went, Pharisees were also with Him trying to trap Him one way or other. This time, they also came with Herodians who were entirely opposite to the teachings and practices of the Pharisees. While Herodians were those who supported King Herod who was in alliance with the Roman Empire, Pharisees were entirely opposites to Herodians and considered it as a sin having anything to do with anyone who has any alliance with Roman Empire.  That is the primary reason the Pharisees hated tax collectors and considered them as sinners. Yet here Pharisees and Herodians came together to trap Jesus and asked the question, “Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial t...

  Hosanna: Christ the Eternal King Zechariah 9:  9-17 v9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  Verse 9 of this chapter is a well known verse of prophecy and often quoted in the New Testament (Matt 21: 4; Jn12:14) Prophecy concerning Jesus. And the New Testament writers had no hesitation in saying; Identifying Zion’s king, He is Jesus the Christ. Verse 9 was fulfilled when Jesus’ rode into Jerusalem (the triumphal entry). Verse 10 will not be fulfilled until he returns and sets up his earthly kingdom. 3 things we learn regarding God’s king: ( 1). The majesty of the king . “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem. See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation,” (a)  The majesty of his righteousness : We live in a world of repressive governments and tyrannica...

  Hosanna: Christ the Eternal King Mark 11:1-11   V 9-10 “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” “Hopeless life is meaningless”. Hope of something or someone guides us in our life. In despair, hope becomes our energy to move forward. In Joy, hope becomes the reason for our smile. If we lose the same hope, everything seems as if desolate. The people of Jerusalem were hoping for a Savior for a very long time. Here, Jesus is coming as Messiah, the eternal king. The Jews were eagerly waiting for the coming of the Messiah, based on the prophecy given through the prophets. People hoped for a standing strong kingdom in the Davidic succession that could bring them to a peaceful and free living. Hope of the same became the striving force of these people. They found the liberation of their land and people from the imperial suppression through the liberator they found in Jesus. Th...

  Christ who transcends temptations “ Luke 1:1-13 v.4 "It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” The Sirens were three mysterious women who according to Homer’s Odyssey, lived on an island.  Whenever a ship passed by, they would stand on the cliffs and sing. Their beautiful song would tempt sailors closer and closer, until eventually they were shipwrecked on the rocks below.  Odysseus was curious to hear the Sirens’ song, but was well aware of the dangers. He ordered his men to tie him to the mast as they approached the island and then to plug their own ears with beeswax.  When Odysseus heard the Siren sing, he demanded to be untied, but his shipmates bound him tighter, releasing him only when the danger had passed.  Most of us do not take the precautions that Odysseus took when facing temptations.  In our world, we do not need to look for temptations, they are all around.  In fact, even before we finish this devotion, we will be tempted to ...

  Suboro: Annunciation to virgin Mary Luke 1:26-38   V30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”   Interestingly, during the Lent season, the Church commemorates March 25 as the day to remember the annunciation to virgin Mary, nine months before Christmas. The angel Gabriel greeted Mary saying, “Greetings, favoured one.” The angel further calmed the terrified Mary by reiterating that she had found favor with God. We often associate favor or blessings with wealth, health, promotion or destruction of our enemies. But here, God was calling Mary to a crisis. In fact, all of God’s heroes had to face one crisis after the other after being called by God. We can see that in the lives of Abraham, Paul and the prophet Samuel. God called them to face major crises as a part of being chosen by God. So then how do we understand grace or favor? Grace is the strength God gives to do His will even when his will is most difficult for us...

  Kurie-elaison: Enlightening Faith Psalm 34 Vs 18 - The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in Spirit. "Truth be Told" is a Christian song by Mathew West.  This song captures perfectly what many of us go through.  We move through life knowing that everything is not okay but feel the pressure to pretend and display that all is well.  We also are socialized from a young age that when someone asks, "How are you?", the most natural and appropriate answer is to say "fine", "good" or even "okay".  Social media posts are never about our troubles and often about our best celebratory moments.  But what is our truth as children of God?  What can we hold on to when things are not going well? "Kurie-elaison" is a cry for the Lord to have mercy on us despite our weakness, our troubles or our worst moments.  There is no equivalent to standing before God and confessing that we come as we are and asking for...

  Enlightening Faith Acts 9: 1-18 17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” To be enlightened means to have greater knowledge and understanding of a particular issue. It would be an understatement that Saul had an enlightened experience of Christ. Over the course of a few days he was a man with sight who persecuted believers to a man who was blinded and ultimately a man who regained sight, received the Holy Spirit, and was baptized. In fact, he goes on to be named “Paul” -- a complete change in identity through the enlightened experience on the road to Damascus. While it's easy to focus on Saul, it's important to remember and not discount how these few days enlightened Saul’s fellow travelers and Ananias as well. While scripture does not speak to the details of these fellow t...

  Joy Regenerated Isaiah 35: 1-10 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. For over 13 years, I have been working for  Be The Match , the national blood stem cell/marrow registry of the United States. The organization’s mission is to save the lives of patients with blood cancers and blood disorders by educating and registering blood stem cell/marrow donors. I am proud to say many members of the Mar Thoma Church have registered at events hosted by our churches and a few lucky people have donated their blood stem cells to save the lives of patients worldwide. Over the course of my time with the organization, I’ve been blessed to be part of donor-recipient meetings. This is when the patient finally meets the person who saved their life for the first time. It is one of the most emo...

  Kurie-elaison - Enlightening Faith  Luke 18: 35- 43   v42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you”. The famous global healthcare company GSK has its mission statement, “ We have a challenging and inspiring mission to improve the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better, and live longer” .  In Luke’s Gospel, we read the mission statement of Jesus which is known as the  Nazareth Manifesto . It includes proclaiming good news to the poor, recovering of sight to the blind, and freedom for the oppressed. Today’s passage includes one among the several incidents, where Jesus gives sight to the blind during his earthly ministry.   A large crowd followed Jesus on his final journey to Jerusalem. As He drew near Jericho, there was a blind man sitting by the roadside. Though the man was physically blind, he had the insight to realize that Jesus is the Messiah and the only solution to his problems. With the utmost desir...

  Isaiah 6: 1-8 Healing through Worship   Vs 7 He touched my lips with the burning coal and said, “This has touched your lips, and now your guilt is gone, and your sins are forgiven.   The prophet Isaiah served under the reign of four different kings of Judah; Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.  The vision given to Isaiah recorded in Isaiah 6 took place around the last year of Uzziah’s life. King Uzziah began his reign when he was only 16 years old, and he reigned 52 years. Overall, he was a good king, and  2 Kings 15: 3 says, he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He sought God in the days of prophet Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper. Uzziah also led Israel in military victories over the Philistines and other neighboring nations, and he was a strong king. However, pride caught up and Uzziah transgressed against the LORD ...

  Healing through Worship   Acts  16:16-18 v18 Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.   When God created Adam and Eve, they were given perfect health and life and they were commanded "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." As we all know what happened next, Adam disobeyed God, and through that one man sin entered the world and death through sin, in this way death came to all people because all sinned (Romans 5:12).  As a one-time solution to end the power of death, God sent his son Jesus to give eternal life to all who believed in him. Just as sin ruled by means of death, so also God's grace rules by means of righteousness, leading us to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:21). In Revelations 21:4  God has promised to bring ...

  Healing Through Worship Psalm 20 V7 “Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses,     but our pride is in the name of the Lord our God.”                                                                  What does healing and worship have to do with each other? Some would have us believe that if we attend their worship sessions, we will walk out being healed of our diseases. Is this what is taught in scripture? We need to reflect on what worship and healing are. Worship in its simplest definition is to ascribe worth. However the word itself doesn’t capture the totality of what can be seen in Biblical worship is. Worship is not only an event, it is a life...

  HEALING THROUGH WORSHIP ROMANS 12:1-8  Vs 1 B “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God “   Cures come from modes totally different from what we expect and imagine. Cure and healing can be through worship, through the word of God, by the touch of the Master Healer and of course through prayer and intercession. To worship God is to recognize His worthiness and to acknowledge in all appropriate ways the blessings we have enjoyed in the world. There is fellowship, healing, consoling, strengthening the confidence, assurance of eternity and a total new outlook of the world we live in through worship. Scripture views the glorifying of God as a sixfold activity praising God for all that he is and all his achievements, thanking for his gifts and goodness to us, asking him to meet ours and other’s needs, offering him our services, our gifts and ourselves as a whole. It also involves hearing the word of God and sharing the good news we heard with others. W...

  HEALING  THROUGH WORSHIP Acts 16 : 19-34  v25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. We live in a society where people have come to a point of believing only that which we can see, feel, hear and  touch .  When there  is physical problem in our bodies, we are quick to call the doctor and make an appointment.  We expect the doctor to tell us what is wrong and how to cure it.   The doctor then gives us a prescription with the recommended dosage.  We must be faithful to use the proper quantity of medicine for the correct amount of time in order to receive healing.  We follow every detail exactly as the doctor prescribes because we are able to see a person and hear his instruction. God is Jehohah Rapha, our healer, and yet we often do not trust His promise to heal us because we cannot use our senses to recognize Him.  Doctors have de...

  HEALING THROUGH WORSHIP Exodus  3:11-18 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”   Oppressed and enslaved in the land of Egypt for 150 years, the people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help. They sought refuge in Him and seeing their affliction, God began His redemptive plan to one day lead them out of slavery into the promised land. God chose Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Pharoah would not let the people leave till plague after plague surfaced to show him God’s power and sovereignty. Not until the tenth and final plague, Pharoah agreed to free the people of Israel .So the people of Israel left the land of Egypt and crossed the red sea passing slavery to freedom.   Worship is praising God without doubting or questioning Him. Worship is submission to God and believing that He is our Father in Heaven who desires for us to find refuge, strength and healing. Through praise and wor...

  HEALING THROUGH WORSHIP Luke 13: 10 -17   Vs 13: And he  laid his hands upon her and immediately she was made straight and glorified God     This woman has been suffering from chronic physical disability for 18 years. But with the boldness of faith that does not falter in the crises of life, she attends worship in the church and Christ heals her. What do we see in this incident?     1. Unlimited faith in the midst of limitations Faith is not a means to fulfill our wish and cure our disease.  In the midst of chronic illness and crushing life experiences, constant devotion is bringing her to temple.   The sickness or the unanswered prayers of 18 years does not prevent her  from worship and temple .The humiliation of the people around did not fade her faith. Even though she became a display object of ugliness, the church is an integral part of life her life. It is not a faith that goes off in the fires of neglect and rejection. Faith...

  “Salvation for all in Christ”  Psalm 116   Vs 13“I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.”   As one of the Hallel Psalms (Psalms 113-118), believed to be sung by Jesus with His disciples on the night of His betrayal and arrest (Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26), we can say with G. Campbell Morgan: “Whatever the local circumstances which gave rise to this song, it is evident that all its rich meaning was fulfilled, when in the midst of that little company of perplexed souls, the shadows of the One Death already on Him, Jesus sang this song of prophetic triumph over the sharpness of the hour of passion to which He was passing. He has made it over to all His own as their triumph song over death.”   This psalm is one of the most personal of all the thanksgiving psalms (note the many occurrences of the personal pronoun “I”). The psalm is composed of three distinct parts: first, a declaration of praise (verses 1-2); next, the psalmist recall...