Rolling Stones- Easter 2007
CHRIST IS RISEN from the dead, trampling down death with death.
Eastern Orthodox Hymn
The Jesus tomb is again in news. Thanks to some extreme archaeological findings and Discovery Channel. They must have hoped for a rerun of Gibson’s Passion, as is evident from the timing of the “discovery”. People have said, its the empty tomb that is the beginning of the church.And the documentory peole tried to fill it up with some bones and keep it close again, but in vain.
The pertinent question comes up now as to whether we can prove of disprove resurrection through science or archaeology? Or simply put, what could be the possible evidence of resurrection?… We need not travel far and wide for evidence; the greatest evidence for resurrection is you and me who are followers of Christ and the members of the church. Without such a happening, the Jesus movement would have had a natural death. The disciples would never have dreamt of moving out of the closed doors.
What is the surprise of Easter? The decision of the women in undertaking a predawn journey to the Jesus tomb was kind of absurd, given the heavy Roman guard. Even otherwise, the stone at the tomb was huge enough for anyone to remove. Even in their journey, they have a lingering fear as to who will roll the stone away. But, to their astonishmment they find the great stone rolled away. This is a great symbol and fact of resurrection. It is symbolic in the sense that in the resurrection of Jesus the seemingly huge barriers that have filled our minda nand dreams with fear and despair are rolled away. The barriers that we have erected blocking our meaningful relationship with God and with the other, and that can never be moved with any effort of our own effort, are removed in the impact of resurrection.
It provides us with many new challenges and opportunities. We, as the resurrection people, are called to be witnesses to this great new fact. That the very ordinary women were called to witness leaves us without excuse of any sorts. And it provides us with a new confidence and a new ethics. The risen Christ calls us to transform the oppressive power of political coalitions and systems. The weight of Roman empire could not stand up to the power of resurrection.
It invests the church with a new pattern of thought and life.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Col. 3:1-3)
The words form the 2007 personal diary of late Georgie Anil Abraham, a student of Mar Thoma Theological Seminary, Kottayam, who was called to rest on Jan 26th 2007, following a massive cardiac arrest, provides a glimpse on a person who had experienced the power of resurrection. He had written..
Death is not mere ending of life, it is discontinuity. Death brings in the mystery aspect of life. So death should not be feared but should be revered. Of course this is done through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as for him it is not the ending of life but it was a physical discontinuity. But may be not for some mystical experience but rather for a greater inner change.
We need to see Jesus. Life is a process of change. We need a revolutionary change in our life which is radical. Death is transcendence from limitations to non limitations and this is glorification.
Bonhoeffer, the German theologian, wrote this from the Nazi prison before he was put to death…
Socrates mastered the art of dying; Christ overcame death as “the last enemy”(I Cor.15:26). There is a real difference between the two things: the one is within the scope of human possibilities, the other means resurrection. It is not from ars moriendi, the art of dying, but from the resurrection of Christ that a new and purifying wind can blow through our present world….If a few people really believed that and acted on it in their daily lives, a great deal would be changed . To live in the light of Resurrection- that is what Easter means.
Happy Easter
Hosanna! Save us NOW!
The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Matt 21:9
The crowds and disciples of Jesus’
time were under the yoke of Roman Empire,
under the foreign rule. People were waiting for a deliverer, Messiah, to free
them from the clutches of imposed slavery. Their identity was determined by the
imperial structures. Here in Jesus, the disciples and crowds saw the
fulfillment of the long awaited Messiah. They shouted, Hosanna! Save us now!
Contemporary culture promotes
virtual reality through World Wide Web and the culture of consumerism. It is
the culture of wealth. The culture of wealth has a direct relationship with
consumerism and technology. It is manipulative and constructs our identity.
According to Ellan T. Charry (Professor of
Theology at the Princeton Theological Seminary, NJ) observes five manipulative
strategies of consumerism that keeps the system going. They are a) the breeding
of calculated dissatisfaction and alienation by manipulating individual
vanities which soothes the ego through displaying wealth, b) illusion of
personal power which inversely propagate freedom of choice; as it seems a
perfume free life is virtually impossible, c) invention of self perpetuating
need; the sugar-salt syndrome promoted by the Pepsico, d) impulsive buying
stimulated by labyrinthine store layouts; only one entrance and one exist; “the
more you see, the more you buy” is the slogan, e)craving for success; success
as climbing up the corporate ladder; “mommy syndrome”.*
Virtual reality of life emerged
with vigor lately by the World Wide Web, though the same existed in the form of
library as we interact with the thought and world of other people through
books. Virtuality enables us to be in more than one place at a time, and more
than one self at a time. Through internet we are global citizens and we live in
more than one world at a time.
We live and move in this reality.
Either rich or poor cannot escape from it, or nobody is protected from these
forces. A psychological agenda has been carried out through advertisement to
promote vanity, greed, and insecurity. Ultimately it promotes virtual violence.
As a whole the system is designed to burn us out. Our identity is constructed
by these forces.
We need to get out of this
manipulating, depressing realities; we need salvation. There is another source
of the self: God. God in Jesus Christ provide salvation to us. In Jesus Christ
we received a God given identity. Salvation through Christ reassures an
identity constructed by God.
Salvation is the freedom to live beyond being constructed by the
culture of wealth, the culture of poverty, or by any other human culture for
that matter, because it offers us an identity constructed by God, who is
another source of the self.
Hosanna! Save us NOW!
*
Theology Today, October 2004.
BLIND SPOTS
Mark 10: 46 – 52
We exclude people in different ways and for different reasons on the basis of faith, ideology,caste, rich and poor, etc. As a result of this many people are thrown to the peripheries of the society where no activity takes place. The gospel generally shows Jesus giving value to those who had no value. He transforms the periphery into a center of his activity. In doing so he not only restores their honour but also helps people around him to see beyond themselves
The above passage speaks about Jesus restoring sight to the blind Bartimaeus and also inward sight to the followers. This is the last miracle recorded in the Gospel of Mark.
1)The blindness of the followers:
Bartimaeus is typically a sidelined person sitting at a place strategically located outside the city gate, meant for the nobody’s of the society. Knowing that it was Jesus he raised his voice, the people around him are quick to remind him that he is nobdy of the society (10:48). He is urged not to believe that Jesus is for him by the voices in the group who tell him to cease his petition. The inward blindness of the followers of Christ forbade them in seeing the need of this man beyond themselves. Manya times we become so engrossed by our self desired ambition that we are blind to the needs of the people around us and deaf to their cry. Are we a stumbling block?
2) Faith transcends barriers
Faith is an ability to see beyond the present situation. Though physically blind Bartimaeus recognized who Jesus is – the promised Messiah. Upto this point except for Peter none of the followers recognized the true identity of Jesus. Seeing ‘who Jesus is’ is the goal of faith. He lacked eyesight but he had inward sight. Blindness was a crises in his life but he understood that every crises has an opportunity. He found a new way out. He realized that his eyes are blind but his voice is strong and he uses it to the best he could without getting discouraged. And it yields positive results. This is faith. In faith there is a divine fulfillment of what is expected or hoped for. We many a times mourn on what we do not have, but Bartimaeus challenges us to look into ourselves and discover the great potentials hidden within us and use it in a positive way.
3)Setting priorities in life
When Christ asked Bartimaeus what he needs his response is very challenging, “let me see again”. His petition is very different from that of James and John (10:37). He asks not to be seen but to see the Lord and the beauty of Lords creation, not for honour but for vision, not to rule over others but to join them. True faith calls us to look with ordinary eyes upon the ordinary world, yet do so in such a way that our vision becomes extraordinary because it recognizes that we are surrounded by the extraordinary.At the beginning of the narrative we see Bartimaeus – son of honour, begging beside the road. But when he looks at Jesus with the eye of faith his honour is now fully restored and he joins the disciples in following Jesus on the way to dishonour and shame.
Recognizing the blind spots within us help us to set our priorities right
Are we a stumbling block or a stepping stone?
Let the prayer of St. Richard of Chichester strengthen us in our walk of faith
Day by day, O dear Lord, three things I pray,
To see thee more clearly,
Love thee more dearly and
Follow thee more nearly,
Day by Day, Amen
On That Sabbath…!
An unexpected incident occured around two thousand years ago in a Jewish Church.The presence of Jesus altered the traditional worshipping experience of that Church.
This incident of the crippled woman is mentioned only in Luke’s Gospel and this healing experience takes place on a Sabbath, in a Synagogue ( Luke 13:10-17 ).
This takes place in midst of a worshipping community.Since 18yrs. she was part of that worshipping community.But this community was least bothered about her inability.This Synagogue is an example of those community who does not respond to the needs of the needy.
Even in our worshipping community this is the case.There are many who are part of this worshipping community but goes unnoticed, who like this crippled woman are affected by some or the other dissabilities.Today in our society who is given respect ? Who is recognized ? Who is appreciated ? What is our criteria in respecting, recognizing and loving others ? Is it the person as an individual or is it his position, wealth and status.
Here Christ criticizes those who give more importance to the Laws but fails to recognize the needs of the fellowbeings.This criticism asks us to respect, love and care the people who are marginalised.
1.Jesus responds to the need of the needy : In midst of the worshipping community, inspite of large gathering Jesus saw this crippled woman.Inspite of her disability Jesus finds her as a woman who took special interest in worship.And Jesus notices this and calls her forward.For God each individual is important.
This incident points to God’s response to all those who are in need.Here Jesus realises the need of this woman and without her request he gives her the healing.Jesus wanted her to know that she is a respectable woman and in God’s sight she is very unique.A person without recognition in the community, Jesus brings her to the centre of the community.The society kept her away in the periphery, Jesus brought her to the mainstream of life and to the centre of community.Even in our midst there are people who needs our love, care and cocern.Are we able to recognize them, respect them and accept them as they are and bring them to the core of our fellowship.
2.Christ delivers from the bondage : Those who are bent, face down they are not able to see the glory of God.God has given us the previlege to look upto him.But because of man’s sinfulness, man’s guilt, they are not able to lift their head above and they are in the bent position.God brought forth the disorder into order i.e. God’s creation.A person who is bent cannot look upward can only look to the ground.The sinful nature of man enables him to view only the earthly things.
With the help of Jesus this woman could lift her eyes to the Lord and she praises God Almighty.Unless and untill we lift our eyes and hearts to the Lord we cannot praise / glorify God.If we want to experience the power, if we wnt to experience the blessings in our life, we need to lift our eyes above, we need to turn to God.
3.The experience of True Sabbath : The synagogue ruler was the representative of the diseased community than the woman who got the healing touch from Jesus. The concept of Jesus and the concept of the Synagogue ruler is different.
Why did Christ heal her on Sabbath itself ? The healing on sabbath – the completion and fulfilment of whole creation on the seventh day – it’s a proof that the worshipping community should be complete in it’s fulness.From verse 15 we find that Jesus is trying to point out and teach that a woman is more important than these animals.Since last 18yrs. she was in the bondage of satan, but now she experiences the healing touch and she is delivered from her infirmity.
On that Sabbath day the Creator stood before the creature.The imperfect became perfect. Through this Jesus exposed the hollow spirituality of the worshipping community.They were pretending to be blind to the needs of the needy.But according to Jesus worship would reach its fulness only when this bent woman could experince the true happiness. What about our worships ? Do they happen to be the eye openers to the needs of the people in the periphery ? Are we able to give true fellowship to the people who are lonely ?
Our Master did that. We are to follow Him. So each moment in our life be an oppurtunity for this true worship. Sure Jesus is with us. Rejoice in true worship.
