Category: Genesis

Being shut-in under divine protection: an analysis of the dynamics of comfort versus discomfort.

Fr Dr Saji K Mathew5 Comments

The Lord shut him in (Genesis 7:16)

The background of this verse is detailed in Genesis 6 & 7. Accordingly, we get to know that Noah was shut in the ark ahead of the great flood.

As people began to multiply on the face of earth (Genesis 6:1) sin took a parallel course. As a result of the multiplication of sin, the contemporary generation of Noah deteriorated to such a wicked state that the place became a cradle and repository of sin and embodiment of a soul destructive life style. Though, this section of the Bible does not list the type of sins the gravest of them all, sexual perversion is identified. As we know, perversion is the corruption and distorting of something resulting in deviation from the fundamental goal. It could be inferred that the divine gift of procreation bestowed on human beings was demonised to such an extent that people were brazenly in pursuit of (sexual) perversions. Homosexuality, sexual abuses, sex with animals, combining alcohol and drugs with sex etc., are only a few examples of such perversions. Noah’s contemporary generation was depressingly  one step ahead from even the current generation as we are still exploring alien life but during his time the relationship was well established (see Genesis 6:2).

Perversion is adultery at its core and is something intolerable to God – no matter whether it is our personal or spiritual life (though these cannot be separated). For instance, when the sons of Aaron the high priest, Nadab and Abihu, corrupted the ingredients to create unholy fire, they committed spiritual adultery and consequently were consumed by fire from the presence of the Lord (Leviticus 10:1-2).

In a situation where corruption, perversion and adultery are a way and part of life, the righteous are decimated. Noah was in such a situation but he swam against the worldly flow by remaining loyal to God (Genesis 6:9). It might not have been easy for Noah to survive in such a hostile world where perverted pleasures were a way and part of life. He might have undergone name-calling, bullying and other forms of abuses. However, one should be assured that Lord cannot tolerate the sufferings of his children as we read in Exodus 3:7: I have observed the misery of my people. Noah never was bowed down or run over by any of these adversities. Instead his ears were trained only to hear the Lord, and his walks as always directed by the Lord (see Psalms 119:105).

There are two times a righteous person is shut in by Lord, during the earthly life and life after death. When Lord shuts us in we are not simply locked from outside but fully covered by Him. In fact, Lord’s covering is for the entire creation, especially the human beings. But, it is for us human beings to decide whether we want to remain shut-in the divine covering or sneak out of it. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden were covered by Lord. But when they walked out of that covering they were exposed (to evil). Psalms 91:4 says that God will cover us under his pinions and secure under His wings. God’s children are covered with the shadow of His hand (Isaiah 51:16).

There are two types of covering in our earthly life, visible and invisible:

Visible covering is for the spiritually weak and evolving persons. For instance, the people of God led by Moses from Egypt were not spiritually strong as we see that their faith was weak. Therefore, as a sign of His assurance, and to build confidence, God provided a visible covering, with pillars of cloud and fire throughout the days and nights of their journey through the wilderness. As the people were spiritually immature, it is said that Lord physically guided them by being in both the pillars (Exodus 13:21).

 Jesus’s physical presence on earth and His physical leading of disciples could be understood as a visible covering. Jesus said, the wedding guests cannot fast when the bridegroom is present (Matthew 9:15; Luke 5:34; Mark 2:19). The physical presence of Jesus Christ warranted full protection to His disciples and ardent followers. In John 11:21 we read Martha grieving to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But Jesus explains to her the importance of having faith instead of merely seeking His physical presence (John 11:23-27). This statement points to the physical presence as a temporary guiding phenomenon and a helping hand so that one may be strong enough to walk in faith rather than being parasitic on physical presence (of God). In light of this, we may want to rethink on our over reliance on (often) stage managed miracles which has become ubiquitous (sorry no offence please).

Invisible covering is meant for those who do not need visible signs and miracles to believe, but lives by faith. Jesus said, a wicked and adulterous generation seeks for a sign (Matthew 12:39). Those who are spiritually- strong, mature, and entrenched in faith do not need physical signs as they experience the spiritual covering more than seeing with their naked eyes. For instance, when Elisha the prophet and his servant were surrounded by the army of King Aram at Dothan, he was unmoved (unlike his servant) as the prophet saw with his spiritual eyes the Lord’s covering which was invisible to the aid (2 Kings 6: 15-17). Whilst, the righteous (Elisha) saw the invisible covering, the less spiritually mature (attendant) could only see the covering (of horses and chariots of fire) after his eyes was opened following Elisha’s prayer. When Saint Thomas insisted that he will only believe after seeing Jesus physically, Lord appeared and encouraged the saint to practice faith without always depending on physical eyes (John 20:29).

The righteous does not need a visible sign but is covered invisibly by own faith. In fact the righteous live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4). The Psalter says, those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved (Psalms 125:1), for Lord covers them with favour (Psalms 5:12), and will never allow his faithful to see decay (Psalms 16:10).

Having said, the life of a righteous, as mentioned above, is not at all a cake walk on this earth (Psalms 34:19). In fact, Bible witnesses the lives of people who lived for God as miserable, especially in the New Testament. Jesus Himself was nailed within 3 years of His public ministry. The disciples had to endure sword, poverty, hunger, thirst, harassment, stoning and several other hostile situations culminating in brutal death (see 2 Corinthians 4:8-10). One might wonder where the cover was during these horrendous sufferings. In fact, it was the cover that enabled them to boldly undergo those sufferings. And, the cover worked as a protective shell of God’s grace, power and support within which the saints are shut so that they could develop and grow themselves fully, and ready for an eternal life with Lord in heaven. Saint Paul foresaw this with his spiritual eyes and prophesied For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands (2 Corinthians 5:1).

In the course of our preparation for a heavenly life being shut-in helps us to endure and persevere without fail and fall.  Apparently, this contradicts the message of infamous prosperity gospel which demonises suffering and divinises material well being and worldly glory. True followers of Christ have a different message, of that of willingness and ever ready to sufferings, as they are shut in the love of Christ. Hence the bold statement, for I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

To be shut in may be felt as inconvenient and suffocating, especially for those who are framed in their worldly comfort zone. It is essential to realise the worth of being shut in as a process of disciplining ourselves in preparation for an eternal life. Hebrew 12:11 states No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Successful completion of the discipline process qualifies one to be received in the kingdom of God. Saint Paul said, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2 Timothy 4: 7-8). Jesus asked Saint John to write to the church in Sardis, if you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not blot your name out of the book of life (Revelations 3:5).

The second shutting in occurs in our life after death. At the outset, souls of the faithful departed are sent to rest for a while. As evident in Bible, they are shut in again by Lord, now within the holy of holies, under the altar (Revelations 6:9): I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given. This implies that our departed souls have yet another stage of transition before the revelation of final glory, directly being with God. In response to the query of these souls, God ask them to wait for some more time until the numbers would be complete, and this period is termed as resting in white robes (Revelations 6:10). This shutting in could be discerned perhaps as yet another disciplinary process, this time the final preparation to be with Lord and worshiping Him day and night, non-stop (Revelations 4:8).

Yet another example could be found in the parable of rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Here we see that Lazarus is placed by the side of Abraham whereas the rich man is outside and far away from the divine cover. The words of Lazarus are particularly interesting to this topic …between us and you a great chasm has been set in place…. (Luke 19:26), denoting that Lazarus is shut in and not allowed to go out of the covering, even if he wanted to help the rich man.

Being shut in and covered by Lord is in fact not arresting one’s freedom but a better way of being guided to live a spiritually systematic life. As mentioned above, when Adam and Eve walked out of God’s covering, they felt naked and exposed (Genesis 3:7) and had to seek for cover behind the trees. Divine covering is a covenant that we become a private property of God (Ezekiel 16:8). When Noah was shut in divine protection, though there was flood around and little contact with the outside world, still he and his family were safe. However, the moment he walked out of divine protection, was immediately came under demonic attack; and we see Noah exposed and lying naked in bed (Genesis 9:21). On the eve of the grand exodus, the Israelites were shut in their homes and sealed with the blood of lamb in order to be protected from the final plague (Genesis 12:7&13).

Reflecting upon, at the end of year 2016, God’s children may want to assess how much comfort and discomfort they have felt whilst being shut in divine grace. Depending on individual situations we may have been shut in various different ways, by means of being stopped from doing what we wanted to do; were restricted from achieving our worldly aims and objectives; sometimes or often not getting an answer to our prayers or wishes granted; and so on. From a worldly point of view, we may have undergone a lot of frustrations and disappointments. But, looking at the broader picture and the macro environment, we may want to thank God for protecting us from calamities, accidents, diseases and death, losses and debacles. This does not imply that we are better human beings but it is only the grace of God; and of course for a purpose. For all those who are disappointed and frustrated, including myself, let us remember the words of Saint Paul, For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all (2 Corinthians 4:17).

I have used two concepts in this blog, shut-in and covering. This is not to confuse the readers but to convey the message that being shut-in by God is not leaving us in darkness to starve and die. But, whilst we are shut-in, we are powerfully covered by God’s grace, the grace that saw Noah and his family float on the same water which created havoc and destroyed the entire creation. To conclude, being shut-in simultaneously places us under full cover of God.

Let praise be to the Holy Trinity. Jesus is coming soon.

From unbecoming to becoming: the transformative power and dynamics of the Word of God.

Fr Dr Saji K MathewLeave a comment

The Word became flesh and lived among us (John 1:14)

The Word mentioned in the above verse is God Himself (John 1:1) that came down to earth and identified as the Father’s only Son (John 1:14).

The ‘becoming’ of flesh by God could be discerned as the greatest sacrifice by God for the sake of humanity; and this sacrifice is non-selfish, and out of sheer love. This kind of love is termed agape in Greek language.

We do have examples of agape- as witnessed from the lives of many saints and social reformers who have sacrificed their better living conditions for the sake of divine or social causes. However, these samples are only like one in a million if not billion, of the population. This means the process of ‘becoming’ for a self-less cause is fast facing extinction. On the contrary, ‘becoming’ for a selfish cause is booming, especially in the modern days, as we get to either hear, view or read from the stories of material achievers such as business, political and silver screen personalities. It may be quite appropriate to quote Psalms 53:2-3, where God is looking down from heaven for people who have selflessly ‘become’ (or are trying to ‘become’) His children but find none.

The above paragraph identifies a difference between self-less ‘becoming’ and selfish ‘becoming’. As stated above, the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God is without doubt, a selfless ‘becoming’, and an act out of unselfish love, as could be understood from the discussion below:

 Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons (130 – 202 AD) said that God became man so that men may become gods. Whilst Jesus is the only son of God (John 1:14, 18; 3:16; 1 John 4:9)¸ He is not selfish to safeguard that status but gave each and every one of us the freedom to be called sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). This is a very good example for many of us that struggle to safeguard the achievements including power and status. Termed ‘sustainability tactics’, in line with modern rhetoric, this exercise of not sharing or parting is a love only towards the self and a lack of God’s love within. I recommend the writings of Dr Geevarghese Mar Osthathios on this topic for a better understanding of the importance of sharing. Jesus’ act of divine sharing contradicts selfish acts of extreme individualistic pursuits by ignoring the co-beings. Whilst Jesus Christ wants every one of us to ‘become’ like Him, we human beings do not want others to ‘become’ like us, especially when we are well off than others.

Saint Paul wrote that Jesus did not regard His equality with God so as to keep his status firm (Philippians 2:6). Instead, the apostle states that Jesus emptied Himself by taking the form of a slave being born in human likeness (vs.7). This descending act of God is a lesson on ‘becoming’ for both Satan and the mankind. Human beings are often found reluctant to move out of their worldly comfort zone, especially after enjoying many worldly luxuries. In the spiritual realm of life, it is not uncommon to see people expressing their displeasure and intolerance towards lent, fasting and sometimes even prayers. Such people either craft questions about the relevance or need of these things, or come up with parallel systems appealing to those who do not want to leave their comfort zone. They may define lent and fasting as not necessary and prayer as too time consuming which could be otherwise utilised. Remember, Satan approached Eve in the same manner asking, do you really need to obey God by not eating the fruit of the tree; ‘believe me you will not die’ (Genesis 3: 4). Adam and Eve were misguided into the trap that they could still live comfortably in Eden without making the sacrifice of avoiding to eat from the tree marked by God. It is this same demonic force that work even today propagating against lent and fasting especially, with the intention to avoid mankind to ‘become’ what God wants, free from demonic hold. Jesus said ‘But this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29). Therefore we could discern that prayer, lent and fasting are mould to ‘become’ what God wants of us- a means for the flesh to ‘become’ divine in nature.

Jesus did not come into this world for holidaying. Instead, every moment of His life on earth was a sacrifice. Being the King of kings, He was born in a manger, being the Ruler of rulers, He accepted to live as a refugee in a foreign land (Egypt), He had no place to lay His head (Matthew 8:20; Luke 9:58) even when He could easily live in a palace of His choice. Jesus submitted Himself to be obedient to His earthly parents Luke 2:51) when He could easily ignore them. Most important of them all, Jesus lived every moment of His life on earth with sinners of various degrees, and finally laid His life for their (and our) salvation. Imagine if we have to share a room or live for a few days with people with contagious diseases. How many hours would we stay with them? This is how we should be evaluating (though God is beyond human evaluation) the sacrifice of Jesus which was a natural derivative of the love of God (see 1 John 4:10-11). Saint Paul rightly states that Jesus lowered Himself to the abysmal point of death (Philippians 2:8).

The above paragraph may portray a contrast to the charitable activities that we see around now a days. It is sad and sometimes sickening to see many modern charitable activities revolving around fame and popularity minus sacrifices. Charity is not a one off event to decorate the pages and frames of media, but an ongoing sacrifice derived from the ocean of God’s love. It is in fact a true ‘becoming’ in God’s image. Jesus exhorted to ‘live’ in His love (John 15:10), not to be a visitor of His love. Visit lasts for a few minutes, hours or days but living is perpetual. Charity is neither a replacement for lent, fasting and prayer. Instead it is an ongoing articulation and fulfilment of God’s love collected through them. Since the love of God is not momentary, charity also should not be short term but an ongoing process of ‘becoming’ like Him. Jesus said ‘just as I have loved you, you also should love one another’ (John 13:34), and it is apparent that Jesus’ love is reflected through His sacrifices for us.

Jesus’s sacrificial decision to descend from heaven is a blow to Satan’s mindset as well. Whilst Satan wanted to ascend and raise his throne above the stars and God, and ‘become’ like the Most High (Isaiah 14:13-14), Jesus decided to humble His equality with God (Philippians 2:6), and decided to ‘become’ flesh in order to win back the mankind for His Father. As a reward to His work, Jesus was exalted by God the Father above all names (Philippians 2:9) whereas Satan who out of his greed conspired for this position was thrown down to Sheol, to the depth of the pit (Isaiah 14:15). Jesus said, ‘all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted’ (Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11). In other words we can say, all who humble themselves will ‘become’ like Jesus, and all who exalt themselves will identify with Satan.

Humility is an essential component of agape (unselfish love) which is a proprietary of God Almighty. In fact, God is Love (1 John 4:8 & 16). But Satan has no element of agape in him. Rather, Satan is a deceiver (Revelations 20:10) and a liar (John 8:44; Genesis 3:4-5). Hence, love, humility and sacrifice are not Satan’s essential nature, rather he is averse to all these. The love of God towards mankind is expressed in His humility to ‘become’ one like us in essence but at the same time without being touched by sin. Accordingly, he ‘became’ like any other human being, grew like us, ate and drank like us, walked like us, thought and felt like us, laughed and wept with human beings, incurred assault, oppression, pain, hunger, thirst and finally death (see Galatians 3:1).

Is it then possible for us to ignore to ‘become’ like our Lord Jesus Christ? Can we walk away from ‘becoming’ like Him, humble and full of divine love, and making sacrifices for our co-beings? After receiving Jesus into our lives can we now turn away from Him (Galatians 3:3)? If we neglect so great a salvation then we won’t escape God’s wrath (Hebrews 2:3). Let this nativity be an opportunity to do away with our flesh related malice such as anger, wrath, impurity, slander, abusive language, deception and so on, and cloth ourselves with the new self, by ‘becoming’ a true reflection of the image of Christ (Colossians 3:8-10). 

It is good news for the entire creation that the Word has indeed become flesh. Let us become like Him as God became like us.

 

Jesus and the fox: declaration of an all-out war (Luke 13:31-33).

Fr Dr Saji K Mathew4 Comments

This blog is based on Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees who brought seemingly important information- ‘Herod wants to kill you’. A second reading of verse 31 reveals that it is not only the plain information that they brought to Jesus, but an advice coated with friendly overtures-‘get away from here’.

It does not require a great deal of intelligence to discern the intention of Pharisees. Before getting into this, let us have a quick look at Herod. Setting aside historical facts, from the very own words of Jesus, he is a ‘fox’. The first thing that comes to our mind about a fox is its cunning nature. Foxes are a nightmare for farmers for they steal their livestock and causes severe environmental damages. It is reported that foxes inflict an economic loss of around 100 million dollars to Australian economy each year.

It is interesting to see the way Jesus exposes the Pharisees that pretended good will to Him. It is like killing two birds with a stone when Jesus replied ‘go and tell that fox’ (Luke 13:32), for it implies that Herod is a fox, and hence is primarily unclean; and secondly, that they though being Pharisees are in league with the unclean. Let us have a look at these two points in detail:

  1. Herod equated to fox

Leviticus 11:27 says, ‘All that walk on their paws, among the animals that walk on all fours, are unclean’. Accordingly, fox is an unclean animal. The uncleanness of Herod is clearly visible from his life history. For instance, Herod built a city to honour his Roman overlords, named Tiberius. This city was built on top an old Jewish cemetery, and hence was unclean for a pious Jew to enter. Only the gentiles lived in the city of Tiberius. The sly nature of Herod is also evident from the above act when he pretended to be a friend of the Jews.

Herod was dirty with his personal life as well, as is evident from the immoral life he lead. His relationship with Herodias, wife of his brother Philip (Matthew 14:3-4)was against the social norms. Moreover, the dance which culminated in the martyrdom of John the Baptist was performed by none other than his own step-daughter, before the company (Matthew 13:6). No noble family would allow their daughters to dance in public in those days, as it was a shameful thing. The dirt of Herod and more of Herodias is visible here when their daughter is not only allowed to dance in public but also offered a reward (Matthew 13:7).

  1. Pharisees in league with the unclean (Herod)

The word Pharisee means one who is set apart (for God). Being the strict custodians of Lord’s law, the Pharisees are meant to keep themselves immaculately pure, with no physical contact or association with impure and unclean. For instance, in Luke 11:38 we read that the Pharisees were amazed at to see that Jesus did not wash before dinner. At another instance, they questioned Jesus about His disciples not washing their hands before eating, and thereby breaking the tradition of elders (Mark 7:5).

The corruption and degradation of ‘the separated’ (Pharisees) is exposed by Jesus when they brought the news about the (so called) plan of an unclean person, Herod(Luke 13:31). Without having close proximity to Herod it would have been impossible for the Pharisees to spy out such a sensitive information, more importantly because Herod always feared political unrest as is evident from the case of John the Baptist (Matthew 14:5).

Further, we read that Jesus asks the Pharisees who brought the news of his destruction to go back to Herod and convey His message (Luke 13:32). Thus, Jesus returns the unclean (Pharisees) to the unclean (Herod). This act of Jesus could be linked to Deuteronomy (23:14) where it says, ‘Because the Lord your God travels along with your camp, to save you and hand over your enemies to you, therefore, your camp must be holy…’. Jesus as God our saviour came to rescue the mankind from its enemy, Satan, the lord of impurities. Thus the act of Jesus is to keep His camp clean and safe from all impurities. This is further evident from Jesus’ swift action inside the Jerusalem temple where He drove out the sheep, cattle and dove sellers, and the money changers (John 2:14-16), and thereby reasserting that ‘my house shall be called a house of prayer’ (Matthew 21:13 cited from Isiah 56:7c).

In league with the fox, the Pharisees themselves have turned into the ways of the fox. The Pharisees, instead of leading and guiding Lord’s people have turned into exploiting and killing God’s children as is evident from the following:

  • They tied up heavy burdens on the shoulder of others but they themselves did not lift a finger to move them (Matthew 23:4),
  • They locked people out of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 23:13,
  • The manipulated the Law of Moses (Matthew 23:16, 23, 25 & 27),
  • They were the killers of prophets, sages, and scribes (Matthew 23:30-35).

Binding the two actors, Herod and Pharisees, we see a league of foxes, as enemies out to destroy Jesus’ ministry. Unveiling the foxes brings forth Satan and his army; with Satan in place of Herod as the lead, and the demons in place of the Pharisees that follows Herod instead of Lord God. Let us again have a look at these two actors bit more in detail, this time with Satan in place of Herod the fox, and demons in place of the Pharisees:

Satan’s work through Herod-

The justification for drawing the parallel between Herodand his fox-ways could be linked to Jesus’ statement exposing the nature of Satan as ‘a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him……..for he is a liar and the father of lies’ (John 8:44). Further, in Genesis (3:1) Satan (appeared in the form of serpent) is identified as ‘crafty’. The crafty nature of Satan could further be discerned from his way of using Pharisees to convey the information instead of going directly to Jesus. Remember, Satan was defeated thrice attempting to fail Jesus with temptations (Luke 4:1-13); and he won’t dare to go directly as Jesus had already exposed and defeated him in the tests.

The Pharisees in league with Satan

The Pharisees are in violation of the first commandment (Exodus 20:2-3), as they are following Satan instead of Lord the God. This violation is exposed by Jesus in his statement to the Jews, ‘You are from your father the devil’ (John 8:44).Thus, the Pharisees, instead of supporting Lord’s ministry are seen throughout as spoilers of the kingdom of God. Neither do they enter nor they allow anyone to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 23:13-14). The information coated in kindness was actually to dissuade Jesus from doing Lord’s work (see John 9:7 & 10:37).Satan was trying to destroy the vineyard that Jesus was planting, or rather re-planting (see Luke 20:9), using the Pharisees, as could be linked toSong of Songs (2:15) and Ezekiel (13:4)- foxes ruining the vineyard and false prophets as jackals.

The distractive and destructive forces of Satan and his allies are ever active in this world. Hence, Saint Peter cautions that Satan is like a prowling lion always looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Let us have a brief look at this with reference to Lord’s ministry during the early churchdays:

  1. Thessalonians 2:18: ‘For we wanted to come to you……but Satan blocked our way’. We could see even today so many people wanting to do Lord’s work but are blocked by many worldly forces.
  2. 2 Thessalonians 2:9– Satan will use all power signs, lying wonders, and every kind of deception. This is evident from many pseudo ministries commercialising the gift of Holy Spirit, so as to fulfil selfish motives rather than the will of God.
  3. 1 Timothy 1:19– It is also not uncommon to see many enthusiastically stepping into Lord’s ministry but eventually failing to keep the true faith intact and work in good conscience. This especially happens when the ministry start prospering with money and fame. 1 Peter 5:9 advises to resist Satan and remain steadfast in faith. We should always be aware of the schemes of Satan (2 Corinthians 2:11).
  4. 1 Timothy 5:15: ‘For some have already turned away to follow Satan’. These are the kind of people that jumps into the ministry without adequate preparation and entrenchment in the word of God, and gets carried away by Satan. Hence the advice of Saint Peter for self-discipline and remaining alert is very important (1 Peter 5:8). Jesus said, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God’ (Luke 9:62).

Now, let us place ourselves in the situation Jesus was when the Pharisees brought the distractive information. Let us ask ourselves as to how we would react and respond to such a situation if it happens today. The distraction from Satan comes in various different ways in our lives. It could be through family pressures, time constraints, social standing and reputation, adverse societal conditions, risk of losing friendship and relationships, fear of creating disharmony, and all that we can think of. This is where the challenge of living in comfort overcomes true life in Christ. Unfortunately many or most prefer a gospel of worldly comfort and are averse to sufferings which entails Lord’s ministry in this world. Jesus said, ‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth’ (Matthew 10:34). He also said, ‘those who want to follow me must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me’ (Mark 8:34). The spiritual attitude and determination of Saint Paul is articulated in his declaration, ‘neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 8:38-39).

Coming back to the conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees:

Jesus’s response is extremely audacious amidst a politically volatile context, as it involved direct confrontation with the rulers. Jesus said, ‘go and tell that fox…., and detailed what He planned to do- two days of ministry in this world and one final blow on the third day.

The two days of ministry is Jesus’ war with the demonic forces in this world. On the third day He will be captured and killed. But, after His death, as we read, Jesus went straight into the Sheol, the core dwelling place of Satan and handed him the final deadly blow by liberating the souls through the proclamation of gospel to them(1 Peter 3:19).

In short, Jesus’ response to Pharisees should not be viewed as just a human interaction but a spiritual communication. He is in-fact talking to the demons hidden within the Pharisees, who would take the report back to their boss, Satan. This style of communication is seen in another instance, in the case of the Gerasene demoniac. There, we can see that Jesus is not talking to the man but directly to the demons (Mark 5:1-13).

I wish to conclude here with a note that foxes are everywhere around a committed Christian. Those who are in league with Satan won’t have much trouble and their ministries and Christian lives are smooth, popular in the worldly sense, andmaterially prosperous. This is because the lovers of this world are loved in return (John 15:19).Every word, deed and act of commitment (to Jesus) is provocative to Satan and his army, upon which he will initiate attacks. This is the reason why Jesus said, ‘In the world you face persecution, but take courage; I have conquered the world” (John 16:33).Genuine followers of Christ are hated by this world because they do not belong to this world (see John 15:18).

When we make all kind of excuses (no matter whether it is for missing family prayers, fellowships or Sunday worships, or for not being proactive with Lord’s ministry), we should, for a moment, think about the lives of Jesus’s disciples. Most of them had family, parents, siblings, wife and children. But we do not know who took care of them or what happened to them as the disciples travelled around the world and were martyred in foreign countries. The Bible is silent about this subject. But we know that the ‘crown of righteousness’(2 Timothy 4:7) is on their heads, and they are sitting on their thrones (Matthew 19:28).

We must not make excuses because it is not by our might or power, but by the spirit of the Lord (Zechariah 4:6)that we work for Jesus Christ.

Lord be kind and have mercy upon us. Amen.