Paul here is mentioning in detail about how he suffered for the work of Christ. In verses 23 – 33 he gives a detailed account of his sufferings. As we read through this exhaustive list, we do realize that Paul does have a good reason to boast, especially when we look at his history as Saul.

In this entire chapter, Paul is pained that the false apostles who had infiltrated the Corinthian Church were slandering, demeaning Paul and were also turning people against him. He calls these men - "false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ" (vs. 13). And while they are pompously preaching and boasting about themselves and their strengths and are leading comfortable lives, Paul is suffering because of his identification with Christ and his people. Verse 29 clearly brings this out, "Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin and I do not inwardly burn?"

But the most amazing verse in this passage is verse 30, when Paul says that all his boasting will centre on how weak he actually is! When we boast, it is usually about the power, our financial strength, our economic well being, our social status, on our various achievements and conquests! But Paul is content to boast about his weakness and he is aware that he is actually exhibiting his foolishness-verse 17. Paul’s only security is Christ and only Christ. We may even say that Paul boasts of Christ, about Christ and in Christ! His boasting is not based on what he has achieved, but on what God has done.

Prayer : O Lord, if I have to boast, then let me boast of your grace in my life. Amen.

 

Joseph of Arimathea makes a sudden appearance here. Luke vouches that he is a ‘good and upright man’, a member of the Council. He apparently did not support the vote to kill Jesus. It’s possible that he was not present at that time.

What is important here is the fact Joseph goes up to Pilate to ask for Jesus’ body, takes it down from the cross, has it wrapped in a shroud and finally has it placed in a new tomb. It is interesting to note here that the ‘women of Galilee’ mentioned in verse 55 who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee ‘followed’ Joseph and saw the tomb.

The bravery of Joseph is to be commended and recognised. In spite of being a member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph does not hesitate to go up to Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body! He could have played it safe and told the disciples or the women (mentioned in vs. 55) to get permission from Pilate. In personally getting permission, Joseph was taking a great risk. He might have been identified as a disciple of Christ and also been put to death! Joseph takes the responsibility of Jesus’ burial upon himself.

How many times have we ourselves avoided or shrugged off responsibility, especially those times when we needed to express our active faith in Christ. Whether Joseph was a secret follower of Jesus or not, we do not know, but one thing we do know – he makes no bones about his concern for Jesus public.

How ‘public’ am I in my response to Jesus? Even when the followers of Jesus hesitated, Joseph took charge.

Prayer: Lord, give me courage to realise and accept that my faith in you is not a not a personal and private matter, but a matter of public affirmation. Amen.

 

As we read the second part of the Resurrection passage, we can see the hubbub created by the trial, crucifixion and death and resurrection of Jesus. We can only wonder why Jesus did reveal himself those two disciples immediately. As they can recount the life of Jesus, verse 21 shows a disappointment in their expectation of their messiah. Jesus’ behaviour when they come near the village is even more mystifying. Why did Jesus "seemed to be going further (CEV) or ‘acted as if he was going further’( NIV), or ‘appeared’’ (RSV)? Is Jesus unsure of his disciples or does he want to ‘test’ them? We can only wonder why.

But as they sit down to eat, Jesus did something they were familiar with- he takes bread, blesses it and breaks it and gives it to his disciples and disappears. It is by this act they are able to recognise their Messiah. As we see verse 30 -31 in detail, we realize that no words are spoken and Jesus is recognized by his action. And once he is recognised, he disappears.

In this age of hi-tech communications, we have an instant communication with an instant communicator which outdates any other communication device. It is the same communication device used by the resurrected Christ in verse 30 - when he celebrates the Eucharist, the Holy Communion! It is in the celebration of the Communion that Jesus makes himself known to his disciples. Likewise for us it is through the Eucharist that we communicate with the resurrected Christ and he with us. He knows us through this wondrously mystifying gift he has given us.

Prayer: Let the bread and wine be your flesh and blood. Make the Communion a personal experience for me. Amen.

 

The disciples were discussing the resurrection of Jesus when he himself appears within them. Understandably, the disciples are shaken up, startled with the resurrected Christ actually appearing within them. Jesus then has to ‘prove’ to them that it is indeed he and not a ghost! Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking without even they telling and reassures them. He invites them to look at his hands and feet and also to touch him, in contrast to Mary, where his instruction was ‘touch me not’! Further he even eats a piece of broiled fish. Slowly their fear now transforms to joy and amazement (verse 41) when they finally realize that is actually the risen Christ and not a ghost.

The point here is that Jesus knew what the disciples felt and what they thought without being told what was happening. The ability of knowing our innermost thoughts, feelings, emotions are not alien to Jesus, or Lord. This should be the warning bell for us. We might like to think that our personal thoughts, feelings and emotions are known only to us. At one time we might have even warned little children that God knows hears and understands every little thing we say, think, or do. But over the years as we mature into worldly life, we forget that Christ is the unheard, unseen listener of every thing we say, think or do. Slowly, we succeed in pushing Christ out of everything we do, forgetting that Christ is still listening, and watching what we do or say.

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me remember that you are able to see, and hear everything I do. Amen.

 

The cleansing of the temple as recorded in St. Mark is quite in detail as compared to the other accounts in Matthew, Luke and John.

Here money changers and the dove sellers set up their stalls in the outer court of the temple - a place that was reserved for the Gentiles to worship God. When Jesus saw this, he began to overturn the shopkeepers’ tables. The rights of the Gentiles to be present and worship God were taken away and their area became a place for business. Jesus is not condemning business or the profits accrued. When business takes place at the cost of the rights of other people, that is when it is not right with God. Further the temple courtyard was being used as a short cut between the city and the Mount of Olives. Once again the people who would come to worship God were being inconvenienced. As the NIV Study Bible comments (pg. 1517), "Isaiah 56:7 assured godly non-Jews that they would be allowed to worship God in the Temple. By allowing the Court of the Gentiles to become a noisy smelly market place, the Jewish religious leaders were interfering with God’s provisions. Not only because they took financial advantage of the people but because they robbed the temple of its sanctity."

Verse 18 brings out the level of degeneration the chief priests and the
teachers of the law had gone down to – " they began to look for a way to kill Jesus."

Let us begin an inward look with ourselves, our homes, our workplaces, our places and buildings of worship and let us not forget our Christian Institutions. Do we in any way oppress people for our own welfare?

Prayer: "Create in me a clean heart, O God." Amen.

The whole chapter deals with different people testing Jesus by putting various questions to him, seeing if he could answer them properly or not. Luke 20. 19- 20 explicitly tells that spies were set to ask difficult questions and then trap Jesus when he would tell something wrong or politically incorrect.

Today we see the Sadducees trying to get Jesus in a position where he says something wrong and then report the matter to the authorities. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, but yet they are questioning Jesus about a vague possibility regarding resurrection!

In this entire chapter, people are testing Jesus, not to see if he really has answers to their problems, but to put him to the test. Sometimes, are we also guilty of the same? Maybe we do it to our colleagues, our church leaders, to each other in our homes. We ask an apparently a simple question in all innocence, and at the same time we are evaluating the answer we get.

Finally, does verse 38 have any bearing in our personal lives? We may acclaim and proclaim that "our God is a resurrected God" or "our God is a living God", but does our lifestyle reflect it? In professing our faith, does our faith and our everyday life merge at any common point? The very fact that our relationship with the Lord our God transcends time, space and even death, how much does that affect my personal understanding of death?

Prayer : O Lord of Life, strengthen my faith in you even more. Amen.

 

In the parable of the vineyard, the original owner-the farmer creates an infrastructure which is given to others to make use of. The problems begin when people to whom the vineyard was rented out begin to believe that they are its rightful owners. It is then that all sorts of wrong ideas begin to enter their minds. They withhold the rent which they were under obligation to pay to the rightful owner, and slowly they are willing to commit a series of murder to take control of the vineyard. It was a common practice in Galilee for land lords to develop a large estate and hire it out to local farmers on rent. At intervals, the farmer would send people to collect the rent

Transposing the parable into our lives, we also realise that the earth has been given to us to tend and take care of. We have just rented it from the rightful owner – God. Over the years we have usurped our tenancy rights, and now, instead of paying ‘homage’ and ‘rent’ to the landlord, we are misusing our tenancy rights and are damaging the rented property.

How conscientious are we in tending to the needs of the Earth? Global concerns and issues like disappearing rain forests, vanishing species, over population, global warming, attitude to ecology, the depleting ozone layer, diminishing water resources, all these selfish acts are slowly destroying
our earth.

Prayer : Almighty Creator God, help us realise that whatever damage we do to our Home, is ultimately going to affect us. Amen.

 

In this letter to the Church in Colosse, Paul is battling the Colossian heresy, a mixture of a form of Judaism and Gnosticism, which dwelt on angel worship, asceticism, removing the divinity of Christ. Here he shows Christ to be completely adequate, who is the head of the church, the reconciler, and the pre-existent sustainer of all things.

Paul is proving the centrality of Christ in our lives, especially in verses 6 and 7. At that time many people felt that just ‘receiving’ Jesus was enough. Paul here shows that receiving Jesus is just the beginning of life. Having received him into our lives, we now need to continue to live in him, making him our foundation. Just as the roots of a tree give it support and stability, and at the same time draws its nourishment from the soil, we are also called to be ‘rooted… in him’. As much as roots prevent soil erosion, i.e.: (it is beneficial to its immediate surroundings), we are to be the roots of Christ in the society we live in.

R. C. Lucas in the Message of Colossians and Philemon in the series ‘The Bible Speaks Today’ comments on this passage in page 87:

"Paul gives the Colossians three guiding principles, each referring to a different aspect of Christian development…

1. As you received…so live.

2. As you were rooted… be built up.

3. As you were taught… be established in truth."

As we celebrate our diversity within our unity, may we remember that we share a common foundation in Christ. A foundation in itself is useless until a structure is built on it. Let us unite so that we may be built up.

Prayer : Dear Lord, help us to be rooted in you so that we may be an anchor to others. Amen.

 

 

Jesus when asked which was the most important law, repeats the ‘Shema’ from Deuteronomy 6: 4. This was the creed for the Jews, their confession of faith. Moses originally said these words at the time of giving the Ten Commandments to the Israelites. These laws were to be inscribed on their hearts (v.6) and to be taught to their children. These laws were to be a part of their daily routine. When Moses delivered these laws, they were to love their God in three ways – with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their strength. It is only through Jesus that a new dimension comes in – we are instructed to love the Lord our God with all our mind also.

Loving God is not just to be a physical, emotional or a spiritual exercise. Our relationship to God is to exist at four levels – the emotional, the spiritual, the intellectual as well as at the physical level. For a wholistic approach to loving God, all four elements are needed.

As we celebrate Children’s day, it will be good for us to remember that the Shema is to be transferred down to children, not just by teaching them but by living and being good examples. We complain that the younger generation lacks respect for what the older generation holds sacred, have we, (the older generation) been able to be the right example to the younger generation?

If the church is unable to draw ‘Generation Next’ to itself, is it because we have failed in being the right role model to them?

Prayer : Lord, you who called the children to you, help us to be the right examples for them. Amen.

 

Paul here is reminding the Church of Colossae that they now belong to Christ. They are therefore, to focus on things that are synonymous to Christ-likeness. They are not of this world because through their baptism they died to the ways of this world and ‘put on Christ’. They are now identified with Christ. Keeping this in mind, they are to lead and follow a ‘Christ like life’, exhibiting Christ filled values. Since they have ‘died’ with Christ and to the ways of the world, they will also brought up with Christ when he appears. In identifying ourselves with Christ, we are called to lead a life of discipline which is to reflect Christ at every step.

Paul instructed the Colossians to a ‘reformed thought process’, by telling them to ‘set their minds on things above’. He probably understood the working of the human mind, which is why he wants the Colossians to be thinking of things above. When we talk of the mind, we are basically talking about intelligence, the ability to think, reason and feel, the ability to be aware, the faculty of consciousness. Once the source of all thought is harnessed, the body will follow automatically.

Prayer : Almighty God, open our minds to help us see you in your glory. Amen.

 

In this passage Paul instructs the Christians in Colossae to live the Christian life, not as individuals but as family units. The Christian influence in this letter is seen when each member of the household is addressed and some instruction is given to them. Roman society did not consider it worthy to address children and servants in any epistle. Here Paul sees each and every individual contributing to being a family of Christ.

Here, Paul is addressing and instructing each member of the family, be it wife, husband, father, child or servant to lead a life worthy of a Christian calling and commitment. It is interesting to know that in this passage, Paul is not concerned with man’s relationship with his subordinates, but with everyone’s relationship with God. Most importantly, Paul underlines the fact that one can be a good wife, husband, parent, child or domestic worker only if one is ready to serve Jesus willingly.

Management gurus of today extol the virtues of ‘working with a conscience’ and of delivering more than what you are expected to deliver. Paul had said it years ago! Any work to be attempted should be done as if Jesus himself has asked us to do it.

In short, Paul is writing about a work ethic that will be a doctrine in the corporate sector in the years to come.

Prayer : Lord, help me to serve you in every I do. Amen.

 

 

The early church was battling many heresies. People spreading wrong teachings went from place to place preaching their knowledge of Christ – that Jesus was not really the Son of God. Paul calls such preachers ‘the deceiver’ and ‘the antichrist’ in verse 7. He says that they are not to provide food and shelter to such people since their hospitality would help them in their ministry and would send the wrong message to other people. Those who do would become a partner in their wicked work.

In verse 6, John stresses on being obedient to God’s commandments. John says that the best way to show our obedience to God is to walk in love. The very fact that the word ‘command’ appears twice in this verse shows the stress John is putting. True love automatically leads to obedience,
and if we really love God, then we will automatically obey him. Obedience to God therefore, is not a choice but a command, and we have no
choice but to obey. Our love for God will be shown (or proven) through our obedience.

How obedient are we to the Lord our God? Do we end up paying lip-service without backing up by ‘walking in love’?

Prayer : Dear Lord, help me not only to love you but also to obey you. Amen.

 

 

As Jesus talks about the signs of the end of the age, it is in the context of his disciples asking him what the signs would be that would ultimately
lead to this happening. This question was sparked off when the disciples marvelled at the beauty of the temple in verse 5. In this rather terrible message, perhaps the only permanent thing which remains is God’s concern for his faithful. Otherwise everything - nations, buildings, kingdoms and even human relationships are doomed. The signs will be great upheavals, geographical and political disturbances, false teachers of religion claiming to be the Christ. A closer look at these events show that they are not just signs of the end of age, but are actually events of every age, including the present.

However, the faithful would be persecuted for their faith. Verse 13 says they are to be witnesses to the authorities. The word witness does not only mean to provide evidence or to testify, but it also means to be a martyr. Ultimately, the Lord God will be the spokesperson, because he will give us the right words and wisdom to speak. Remember Moses was called by the Lord God to represent him to the Pharaoh. In spite of Moses’ weakness, God still used him!

In our lives we may be very eloquent, and feel self sufficient on our ability to communicate. Our mental prowess may make us feel superior. We need to remember that all this is granted by God.

Prayer : Help me to depend on your wisdom at all times.
Amen.

 

John focuses on the aspect of imitating evil and good. The one who
imitates good is obviously from God because his actions conform to what he believes in.

The good over here is not an occasional or isolated act of goodness, but an ongoing process. It is also separate from ‘good deeds’, which aims at procuring favours from God on the basis of our ‘good acts’. On the other hand, the one who does evil or not good is obviously not from God because his actions do not conform to what he believes in.

When we look into a mirror, we see a reflection of ourselves. Since God is good, all those who have put their faith on him will reflect the very qualities of God because all good originates from God. In the same way we are to reflect the goodness of God in our lives to others. The mirror does not have to think whether it should reflect or not! Reflecting is its duty and it comes naturally to it. In any condition, it does its duty, it reflects! Consequently, those who do evil, their actions are proof enough that they have not seen, or do not know God. The Greek word for ‘seen’ can also be translated as ‘to experience’ or to ‘stare at’.

When was the last time we ‘experienced’ or ‘stared’ at God?

Prayer : Dear Lord, as we experience you in our lives, give us the courage to do good so that we may imitate you.
Amen.

 

 

Peter in this letter instructs his readers how to deal with false teachers and evildoers who have come into the church. He instructs Christians not only to be progressing in their understanding but also in their practice of faith. Once again, the church is battling the Gnostic heresy and Peter writes to strengthen the understanding of the Christian faith probably to the churches in Asia Minor.

In this passage, Peter exhorts the Christians to develop those qualities that will produce a balanced, well developed and a fruitful Christian life. He begins by assuming that faith is the starting point in every Christian individual. To this, other qualities like knowledge, self– control, perseverance, godliness, and brotherly kindness are added for a well rounded and a fully matured personality. All these qualities will add to the flavour of being a Christian. They will further affect our knowledge of Christ by making us effective and a productive Christian.

Too many times we are just comfortable in our faith. We do not like to invest or enhance our faith in Christ. But our faith is not to be static but to have a dynamic aspect not only in our lives but also and more importantly in others lives. This is why Peter insists that these qualities be added to our faith in Christ.