A WALK THAT TRANSFORMED HEARTS

Who walked? With whom did they walk? Where from and where to they walked? What happened during the Walk?

Most of us know the answer .... WALK ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS. Cleopas and another of the disciples of Jesus were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They were not part of the apostolic band but belonged to the larger group of disciples of Jesus. Probably they were much afraid and confused, by the crucifixion of Jesus and were trying to get out of the city to escape further disappointment and danger! Whatever be the reason for their journey, they had a wonderful transformation and the unique privilege of being encouraged by the Risen Saviour Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!

 It was a personal Bible study that taught me certain truths which I have shared with a youth group sometime back. We were all edified spiritually and I was led to present it in this blog post. I invite the readers to take a spiritual walk with Christ Jesus as these two disciples did, and experience their lives getting enriched and transformed!!

We read in the gospel according to St.Luke chapter 24 : 13-35,  the episode of two disciples of Jesus walking the road to Emmaus, from Jerusalem. Bible scholars opine that the one not named may be Luke himself. Some differ and say the other person may be the wife of Cleopas, called Mary. Early traditions say that Cleopas was the brother of Joseph, Mother Mary's husband. We leave these details here and take a closer look at the spiritual insights which emerge from that journey, to inspire us, Christ's disciples of this century.

The two were conversing sadly about the crucifixion and death of  Jesus, their master.  There was a melancholic note in their talk. At that precise moment, the same Lord Jesus started 'walking along with them.' There he appeared as a  'stranger' to Jerusalem and to them both!! During and soon after the 'walk', the duo got transformed from 'mourning into dancing' and sharing the 'good news' of Jesus' resurrection with the other disciples! They returned back immediately to the same city from which they were walking away. The one labelled by them as  'stranger' was revealed as the 'Risen Saviour' to them.

The transformation took place in stages. They were talking about  Jesus, had his presence accompanying  them in their sadness , were taught the Scriptures by the 'Teacher' himself, Lord Jesus, learned and understood these.They longed for his fellowship, invited him into their residence, communed with him, remembered his parting words and from the manner in which Christ broke the bread, blessed it and had their spiritual  eyes opened to 'see' the glorified Master! They took in the word and witnessed for the Word, Lord Jesus Christ and his resurrection.Mourners got transformed to Missionaries!! 

Beware of the Leaven

The 'Leaven' has an important biblical connotation. It is also referred to as the 'yeast' . The Israelites had been using it to make soft bread in Egypt. The leavened bread, was soft and round. The 'unleavened bread' was hard and flat. When they were delivered from the Egyptian bondage, by the strong arm of the LORD, they were commanded to eat unleavened bread. They had to leave Egypt in haste, and the LORD instructed them not to take the leaven from the land of slavery. They were asked to celebrate a week-long festival of the 'unleavened bread' in the wilderness. It was to remind them every year, of the hasty manner in which they had to leave Egypt and delivered by the LORD himself, out of the bondage. Later when they made their own leavened bread during their sojourn in the desert, they were allowed to offer it to the LORD and also to eat it.

Lord Jesus warned his disciples, to beware of the leaven of Herod, Pharisees and Sadducees. Why? 

He meant that the leaven-like effect of the life of these Jewish sects, should not be allowed to corrupt the witness of his followers. The 'leaven' has a fermenting effect on  anything in which it is mixed. Minute amounts of it is enough to ferment a big lump of dough. Its action is invisible, quiet but sure. On the exterior the  leaven looks beneficial and user-friendly. Elsewhere in the gospels, the leaven is also referred to in a positive note, in that it spreads easily and into any larger amount. Jesus used it to teach the hearers, about the spreading influence of the Kingdom of God.

An attempt is made in this blog of mine, to expound what is meant by the caution served by our Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples, so that the body of Christ now, heeds the warning.

ALL GENERATIONS CALL HER BLESSED

• Who is she, called blessed? 
• Why is she blessed? 
• Where in the Bible do we come across this? 

Most of us know that the woman referred to here is Mary, mother of Jesus. She is the first woman of the New Testament who prophesied and proclaimed in faith that, “From now on all generations shall call me blessed.” Why was she so confident? She ‘personalised’ the Word of God which came to her when she was still a virgin. The narrative is recorded in the gospel of St. Luke only. 

At the outset we need to understand that Luke’s records found in chapters 1 and 2 are unique to his gospel. He was a devout convert of the first century and a close associate of St. Paul. In three of his epistles Paul is making a mention of Luke. He was a medical doctor by profession and Greek by nationality. Luke’s accounts are historical and very orderly. As he himself points out he has ‘carefully investigated everything from the beginning’. The preamble he gives in the book of Acts, indicates that Luke must be well known to the governor Theophilus. Scholars believe that he would not have known Jesus personally and the account of the angelic visitation of Mary in Nazareth of Galilee would have been arrived at, by Luke’s personal interview with Mary the mother of Jesus of Nazareth and other eye witnesses.

As I was studying the narrative of the angelic visitation of Virgin Mary, I could find a good comparison and contrast between this and the satanic visitation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. The first one reported in the Old Testament is the satanic visit of Eve and the first one reported in the New Testament is the angelic visit of Mary. Both women had been all by themselves at the time of visitation. One resulted in a ‘fall’ and the other in ‘redemption from the fall’. How? Eve never ‘personalised’ the word of God while Virgin Mary though single, ‘personalised’ the Word when it came to her. This act of submission to God’s Word made her a channel of blessing to the whole world. Yes, from then on ‘all generations all over the world have called her blessed Mary’. There are a lot of lessons to be learnt from Virgin Mary . 

Personalizing the Word of God

For believers in Christ, leading a witnessing and fruitful life, springing from personalizing the Word of God as found in the Holy Bible, is a very important daily spiritual exercise. Few days ago, I happened to read a devotional written by a well known Bible teacher, Andrew Wommack, USA,  that was used by  the Holy Spirit of God to drive home this 'life point' to me. The inspiration to write this blog post  initiated there and my personal devotion times led me to newer lessons which I am sharing here.

Whenever we read the Bible, or listen to a message preached or a Bible lesson taught, many a times there are verses that make a deep impression on us at that particular moment. The light to guide us comes from there, for specific tasks to be dealt with that day or later. It may be a routine task or a peculiar one. It may be trivial or of utmost importance to us. It differs day to day and from person to person.  The Bible breathed by the Spirit of God is 'living and active' even to this day and will remain like that forever.  Hence it will be good for every one of us to personalize the WORD every time it comes to us.

REPENTANCE is much more than mere REGRET

Christians are very familiar with the term ‘repent’ and more often than not we tend to treat it lightly not realising the meaning in its wholeness. Time and time again we hear sermons and revival messages mentioning and emphasising the word ‘REPENT’. It is even mistakenly understood to be simply ‘regret’ for the wrong doings and sins of commission and omission. There is a lot more to it. It is like the tip of an iceberg. The hidden part is not easily recognisable unless some effort is put in to take a closer look. In this blog I am attempting to explain it with references from the Holy Bible and some illustrations.

THE LORD RESTORES WHAT HIS PEOPLE HAVE LOST

Time and time again the Bible presents the people mentioned in it having lost all that they have or a considerable portion of their possessions which they have lost. It never stops there. At some point later, there is recorded the manifold recovery of what is lost earlier and the losers rejoicing in the recovery. In scriptural terms, we even call these ‘total recovery’. Does it apply to our times also? The answer is an emphatic ’yes’.

The Holy Bible is a book for all people and all times. There are eternal truths which can never be altered. One such truth is the ‘recovery of the lost’. Jesus is telling parables concerning ‘the lost sheep /coin/son’. Everywhere the ‘loser’ persists till the ‘lost’ is found and more than restored. The redemption plan of the Bible is also that God came in search of the fallen humans and took upon Himself the whole process of recovering the ‘lost’. God is always the victor, though we stumble on the way, trip and fall. His love searches for us and He redeems and restores us back to Himself. The Eternal God does the same thing in spirit, soul and body. For those of us who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour there is always the hope of recovering all that we lost or lose now and then in the earthly journey. We are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. (Rom 8: 37). Loss is not at all the final word for God’s people.

Let me illustrate the point I am making with what the Lord has been teaching me. Hope that the readers will be encouraged and edified with the biblical illustrations I am presenting in this blog. Hallelujah!! The Old Testament is full of historical characters who ‘lost’ people and materials due to some reason or the other and have ‘recovered’ what was lost. I was intrigued by David, Job, Daniel and Isaac, men of strong faith who drew their spiritual strength from relying on God and His Word. Prophet Joel declares that what the people of Judah lost due to falling away from the LORD will be restored by the LORD Himself. He goes on to say that God’s people will never be put to shame in front of the others.(Joel 2:25,26). It holds good for any Bible believing person too.

THE EYES OF THE LORD….. They are magnificent!!

The Bible teaches that we need to guard our eyes with all diligence. Why? It is because, the eyes of the Lord whom we serve as Christians, are supremely magnificent. The Master’s eyes require us to keep our eyes fitting to behold His glory. As I was meditating on this fact, the Lord taught me certain things which I have put down in this blog. The readers will find it engaging themselves in spiritual edification, I am confident. Here we go!

Thus Far ….. And No Farther…        Job 38:11

Kalaneethy Christopher

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

 ‘FREEDOM WITHIN LIMITS’

‘I

   Placed the sand as the boundary for the sea’, says the Lord. (Jer 5:22). The book of Job talks about the magnificence of God and the whole of creation that is sustained by the Lord God. He gave the sea its limit (Pro 8:29). The LORD has set a boundary for water that it will not pass over. (Psa 104: 9). All of God’s creation is perfectly controlled and managed by the God Almighty. The mighty, fiery orb, even the Sun is set by Him to ‘run its course’ only. (Psa 19:5). This order in the universe is applicable to us humans also. The Lord has bestowed us with freedom which has limits or a boundary. It is not unrestricted. ‘God limits our freedom for our own good.’(Joyce Meyer)

                                                                   A Sea Shore

IN THE GARDEN

How Deep Is Our Relationship With Jesus Christ Our Lord?

How Deep Is Our Relationship With Jesus Christ Our Lord?

Kalaneethy Christopher

T

he Lord God created and placed man and woman in the garden of Eden. He came in search of their fellowship each afternoon. One fine day He entered and not finding Adam and Eve waiting for Him, called out to Adam saying “Adam, where are you?” This is in fact the first question of God to humanity as recorded in the first book, the Book of Genesis in the Bible. [Gen.3:9] Hence it is important to every Christian, to ask ourselves the question, ‘Where am I, in my fellowship with Christ the Son of God, who came to the world, in search of me?’

Prophet Ezekiel had a vision wherein he was taken to a river flowing from the temple of God, where the waters were first ankle deep, then knee deep, then loin deep and finally rose to a swimming level. [Ezek 47:3-5].  The waters are referred to as the Holy Spirit flowing from the throne of God who fills the lives of God’s people on earth.  Christians need to go deeper in fellowship with Christ, so that we reach a stage where we flow along with the Spirit of Christ in the Christian walk to be fruitful in the world.

When our Lord Jesus was on the earth walking about in Galilee and Judea, many people followed Him, for many reasons. Some with good but others with wicked intentions. Wherever He entered we find people going after Him for earthly blessings alone or for the blessing of eternal life. He always had a group of Jews following to corner Him and to accuse Him.

As we read John 6: 60-71 there appear many types of disciples who followed Jesus, and left Him for some reasons. John dissects this crowd neatly and we can trace the various groups of followers. It makes an interesting study to help us decipher, our motives for being followers of Christ in this generation.

After we locate ourselves, let us progress to a closer walk with Christ on earth. This is my wish for all of the readers who read this blog! May the Lord help us in this introspection?

They knew Him (Jesus) not!!....

They knew Him (Jesus) not!!....

Prof. KALANEETHY CHRISTOPHER

Scripture passages from the gospel according to St. John, the disciple of Jesus Christ

John’s gospel was chronologically the last to be written in the group of the four gospels of the New Testament. It was around 95 A.D when the church started establishing itself  . Fundamental factors like church government and other issues had been settled by then. Hence there was less need to concentrate on the historical details once again. John dwells on the spirituality factors more than the other gospel writers. His gospel was known to be the ‘spiritual gospel’. A new Christian needs to study this gospel to know ‘who Jesus is’. 

Christian Perspective of Peace as a Child Right

Prof.Kalaneethy Christopher and Dr.J.Christopher Daniel

Humankind has been experiencing a crisis of values over the centuries. Crime, clashes, racial discrimination, communal ism ,disintegration, war, ethnic cleansing and indifference to human suffering have spread to all aspects of life. It is distressing to notice that leaders who profess peace and goodwill are dethroned or done to death. At the same time, those who harp on peace clamor for war. People have always wanted peace. Today they seem to want it more than ever. Yet, notwithstanding the efforts initiated by world leaders, we see terrorism, rebellion and conflicts among people.

War has been a major preoccupation with man in this century-two world wars and 140 or lesser wars since the second. The world had witnessed world war type situation in Kosovo in 1999 which became more ‘sophisticated’ and horrendous.“O war, thou son of hell!” William Shakespeare’s lamentation today rings even more accurate a warning than four centuries ago”.

The great Frenchman Victor Hugo who made a pronouncement with the following words more than one hundred years ago at the Peace Congress in Lausanne, Switzerland, a slogan beneath which every peace loving person who values his/her peaceful life and peace for his/her children would sign ‘WE WANT PEACE, PASSIONATELY WANT PEACE. PEACE FOR ALL PEOPLE, FOR ALL NATIONS, FOR ALL RACES’. Late Thomas Jefferson, the outstanding American democrat had had a dream of ‘peace ,commerce, and honest friendship with all nations’. Unfortunately, peace as a ‘value’, a ‘virtue’ and a ‘force’ seems to have been forgotten by humankind over the centuries. To quote from the book ‘May you live in peace’ written by Vladien Kachanov(1986)’If durable peace has not triumphed on our planet yet, it is not the peoples of the world who are at fault, but those who aspire to increase their wealth be seizing and exploiting others lands and by producing instruments of annihilation’.

The biblical connotation of the term peace (Gk.eirene) is a state of harmonious relationship between God and people, among the people, nations, and families. Jesus as Prince of peace gives peace to those who call upon Him for personal salvation. Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is a state of rest, quietness and calmness; an absence of strife; tranquility. It generally denotes a perfect well being. Conflict is an inevitable fact of daily life-internal, interpersonal, inter- group, and international conflict. Peace consists in creatively dealing with conflict. Peace is the process of working to resolve conflicts is such as a way that both sides win, with increased harmony as the outcome of the conflict and its resolution. The resolution is peace-full if the participants come to want to cooperate more fully and find themselves enabled to do so’.(Kathleen and James McGinnis,1990).’To work for peace is the concern of all individuals and of all peoples. And because everyone is endowed with a heart and with reason and has been made in the image of God, he or she is capable of the effort of truth and sincerity which strengthens peace’(Pope John Paul II, 1980)

The knowledge and understanding of what peace means has grown tremendously since the Second world war in the light of the nuclear catastrophe. Interestingly enough, there are biblical evidences to the value of peace openly averred by the Hebrew prophets who called the people of their time to respond to Yahweh’s call for peace which has justice as its precondition .

What do we do with Jesus the Christ?

John Ch. 18 :29- 19:16

JESUS STANDS TRIAL BEFORE PILATE

Prof. KALANEETHY CHRISTOPHER

The Bible passage given above narrates the encounter Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor had with Lord Jesus Christ, the dawn after the night when Judas betrayed Him. As Jesus himself had told the disciples earlier, the Jewish religious leaders handed Him over to the gentiles for trial. The blogger traces the various levels of interaction between Pilate and Jesus in Pilate’s palace.

Pilate appeared to be sincere in his attempt to release Jesus but the desire to please the Jews and to be loyal to Caesar dominated him and he got away from his responsibility in an irresponsible manner. His conviction that Jesus was ‘not guilty’ of the accusations of the Jews did not take him any further. His reaction was very superficial as far as the trial of Jesus was concerned. He asked a series of questions to Jesus, nothing at the spirit level, these were all at the head level. He was only curious to listen to what Jesus would say .

As we read through this portion carefully, we can identify Pilate’s questions at various levels and the answers given by our Lord Jesus and the Jews sometime. After reading through the blogpost, the readers may locate their own level of relationship / interaction with Jesus. An introspection during this season of Lent would edify the readers spiritually. Would we fully understand that Jesus was ‘never proved guilty’ and will never be proved guilty at any point in time. Will we His followers get the same verdict when the world tries us based on accusations levelled against the Church of Christ? Let us examine our lives both social and personal. Are we working for the liberation of lives from the devil’s clutches?

CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS

CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS

Prof.Kalaneethy Christopher

I. Introduction

The UN Convention on the rights of the child, in 1989, was a means of empowering the child and creating a conducive atmosphere in which all children will be able to live securely and realize their full potential in life. The centrality is to protect and promote children globally which needs to be supported by all. There are forty articles addressed in this convention which could be classified under four categories, namely,
The right to survival - right to life, health, name, nationality

• The right to protection - freedom from all forms of exploitation
• The right to development - right to development, education, social security
• The right to participation - respect for personal views, freedom of thought and expression

Humankind owes to the child the best that it has to give. (extracted for UN Declaration of Child’s Rights).The child should be …….. brought up in the spirit ……. of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity.-[Preamble to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (CRC)].