Tag: Pharisees

The shouting stones: Jealousy of the heirs…

Fr Dr Saji K Mathew2 Comments

The aim of this blog is to meditate on the vitality of praise as a natural expression of gratitude towards divine providence. In doing so, this write up identifies the praise shouted out by the stones (gentiles) as the articulation of extreme gratitude which made the natural children (the heirs) jealous. The first part of this blog mediates on ‘praise’ and in the second part, the shouting of the stones and jealousy of heirs are briefly meditated upon. 

The term providence represents  the protective cover that God freely extends to His creation. The expanse of God’s providence covers everything that He created which includes the seas, the earth, the rain, the wind, the vegetation, the animals, and most importantly, the human beings. This providence characterises and represents the nature of God which is agape (unconditional love). There is nothing visible or invisible that is excluded from God’s providence (Colossians 1:16) which would otherwise limit the scope and span of God’s love. Therefore, the creation has a greater responsibility in praising the creator for his unconditional providence. 

‘Praise’ is often misunderstood as a reciprocal relationship between man and God, thus representing a give and take approach. This means God earns praise from human beings only by answering their prayers and granting their material wishes. Further, this school of interpreters frames praise on explicit and verbal articulations in a flashy manner. Such interpretations of ‘praise’ have a selfish underpinning that could limit one’s spiritual progression. Moreover, such (mis) understanding reflects the Western culture within which interpersonal relationships are regulated by a rather conclusive ‘thank you’ (for your help) approach in contrast to the Eastern approach of extended relationship of gratitude.

‘Praise’ on the other hand is a natural, perpetual (Psalm 145:2), and unconditional acknowledgement of our eternal relationship with God Almighty. A close analogy could be the cry of a baby at birth. Following the medical interpretation, the ‘first cry’ (of the baby) represents the kick start of its lungs when it starts breathing the air for the first time. Likewise, a person born in Christ is a new being (2 Corinthians 5:17), brought into the spiritual world through baptism. And, praise is the first cry that demonstrates the spiritually newborn’s relationship with God. In other words, the newly born in Christ kickstarts breathing the pneuma (air, which is the Holy Spirit). This spiritual breathing is what praise predominantly represents. This is further intensified by verbal praise (Revelation 7:9) when the newborn joins the world of fellow beings, the cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1; cf. Psalms 142:7b). 

‘Praise’ therefore is a natural phenomenon in a spiritually newborn, in the same way as breathing is. Referring back to the analogy, as soon as a baby is born, its nostrils and the mouth are cleared of any amniotic fluid so as to enable uninterrupted breathing. The very first clearing of nostrils was undertaken by God Himself – Adam was brought to life after God breathed life into his nostrils (Genesis 2:7).  However, ever since the fall, mankind has failed in expressing gratitude to and praising God. Romans 1: 21  says for though they knew God, they did not honour Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. 

As said above, praise is an unconditional acknowledgement of our gratitude to God, and hence should be diffused in our breathing so that it becomes a non-stop exercise. In the same way as the ceasing of breath pronounces death, the ceasing of praise results in the spiritual death of human beings. King David said, ……so that my soul may praise you and not be silent……..forever (Psalm 30:12). King David could not stop praising even when his lips stopped, hence said, when I think of You on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of night…(Psalm 63:6). He again said, At midnight I rise to praise you….(Psalm 119:62). David could not even think of a moment without praising the Lord. For him, even the time of his sleep is a loss because he could not praise God when he is asleep.  He felt being distanced from God as he could not praise God in his sleep. And not praising God was nothing less than being dead for David as we read in Psalm 6:5. The suffocation that he experienced could be understood as the reason for his rising up in the midnight (Psalm 119:62) to praise God. 

Praise, therefore, needs to be discerned as a natural phenomenon unlimited by rituals and institutions. This means, praise cannot be timetabled and factored in as part of the ritual such as different forms of church worship only, nor can it be dictated by the churches in terms of ‘how’ and ‘when’, Praise is the umbilical cord between the creator (God) and the creation (humans), the relationship and communication which the recipient keeps seeking for, day and night. Hence it is something to be taught and encouraged as a natural phenomenon. Isaiah (26:9) defines this as the ‘yearning of the soul and the spirit, day and night’. 

The brief conversation between the Pharisees and Jesus on His triumphal entry to Jerusalem brings forth the former’s ignorance or rather misunderstandings about praise. The Pharisees did know that only God Almighty deserves praise (Psalm 115:1). However, they probably did not know that praise is a natural phenomenon like breathing, which the creation cannot hold back, especially in the presence of the creator. 

In the same way as the newborn cries, if a person maintains the characteristics of a newborn, praise will just occur. Jesus had already stated explicitly …..unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). The Chief Priests, Pharisees and the scribes were spiritually mature and should have actually led the praising of the Lord who was in their midst. Unfortunately, they were so myopic with materialism that they neither could recognise ‘Immanuel’ nor could guide anyone to Him. Jesus once rebuked them as ‘spoilers’ who lock people out of the Kingdom of heaven, neither going in themselves nor allowing anyone to enter (Matthew 23:13). 

When the Chief Priests, the Pharisees and the scribes opposed the praising, Jesus had to remind them with a counter question, …..have you never read, Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself? (Matthew 21:16). In other words, Jesus asked them to do their homework before raising an issue about the umbilical cord that connects the creation to the creator. Unfortunately the custodians of faith did not know or rather conveniently forgot Psalm 8:2 which Jesus had to remind them. Jesus also added, I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out (Luke 19:40), again reminding them of what was written in the Old Testament book Habakkuk 2:11. 

The second quote of Jesus (from Habakkuk 2:11) links praise to ‘the children’. This can be better understood by referring to John the Baptist’s warning …….God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham (Matthew 3:9). These Pharisees should have been the same people who lined up to get baptised by John the Baptist (see Matthew 3:7). Whilst anyone who gets baptised is turned to become a new creation, the same seems to have only hardened the Pharisees as they were trying to kill Jesus, as He reminded, If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me……this is not what Abraham did (John 8: 39-40). It means the natural children of Abraham (the Israel) could not sustain their status and God started looking towards stones (the gentiles) to get children for Him. 

The brief conversation between the Pharisees and scribes on one side and Jesus on the other, could be numbered as the third and final opportunity granted by the Lord to the former to repent and change, and reactivate praise as spiritual breathing. The first opportunity was at the time of their baptism, the second one in their conversation with Jesus and the third one again immediately before the triumphal entry of the Lord to Jerusalem. From a spiritual perspective, the Pharisees and their allies had the final opportunity to return to a praise oriented relationship with the Lord, before He ascended to heavenly Jerusalem. Sadly, it did not happen as evident from Jesus’ lamentation Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing (Matthew 23:37); and ….if you, even you, had only recognised on this day the things that make for peace (Luke 19:42). 

The chosen children of God (Israel) rejected their Father, as a result of which the stones (gentiles) were given the opportunity to receive that status (Matthew 8:10-12). The entry of this new group of children could be termed as the glorious and historical moment in God’s Kingdom. The new entrants who were accepted as the children of God received an opportunity to praise the creator, a privilege that rested with God’s chosen- the Levites were officially appointed to praise God walking before the ark of the Lord (1 Chronicles 16:4), and later to offer praise to the Lord in the temple (1 Chronicles 23:5). 

The quality of the praise by the gentile converts is given in Acts 10: 45-46 where it states that the Jewish converts (to Christianity) were astounded by the way the former were praising the Lord. The discerning factor here is the realisation of John the Baptist’s statement about raising children from stones (Matthew 3:9), and more importantly, Jesus’s warning which implied ‘if you keep quiet, these stones will shout out’ (Luke 19:40). 

If the praise of the newly born children of God (the gentile converts) were found astounding, it must have been a zero-defective praise. The Jewish converts would have only expected a deficient praise from the gentile converts as they were just born and missing could be obvious. As the chosen children of God, the Jewish Christians might have thought that only they knew how to praise in perfection. In fact they cannot be blamed just in case they thought in that line because there are seven types of praise identified in the Old Testament which obviously the gentiles would not have known. 

These seven types of praise are: 

1. Barak (to kneel or bow down before the Lord) (Psalm 72:12-15 & Psalm 103); 

2. Halal (to shine, boast or celebrate) (1 Chronicle 16:4 & 23: 5) ; 

3. Shabach (to shout loudly or command) Psalm 63:1-4; 

4. Tehillah (to sing unrehearsed, or unplanned praises) (Psalm 34:1 & 40:3); 

5. Towdah (to extend or raise one’s hands to give thanks for something that has not been received yet) (Psalm 50:23 & 17:26); 

6. Hodah (to extend hands vigorously as in complete surrender) (2 Chronicles 20:21 & Psalm 9:1); and 

7. Zamar (to touch the string in rejoice) (Psalm 150 & 92:1-3). 

The meaning of the Greek word to describe the praise of the gentile converts used in Acts 10:46 is ‘extol’ which is not just ordinary but a higher and enthusiastic form of praise. This means the praise by the newborn children of God covered all the seven types of praise- no wonder why the Jewish Christians were astounded. Moreover, it would not be a surprise if the heirs became jealous of their privileges being shared or even taken away. 

We can draw an analogy of this incident to that of what happened at the return of the prodigal son. In Luke 15:25-27 the elder son was caught in a similar situation where he felt his status as the heir to his father’s household being challenged. The music and dance at home could be equated to the praise of a newborn, which the father explained to the elder son that his brother was dead, but is now a newborn (Luke 15:32). Praise as an expression of gratitude is something that could be discerned in the prodigal son when he was unconditionally accepted by his father. Jesus gave the example of two debtors and asked Saint Peter, who would love the money lender more, to which the disciple replied, ……the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt (Luke 7:43). 

This means, the degree and quality of praise has  a strong relation to gratitude which would be more who are accepted not on merits but by the grace of God. Hence, the people like the prodigal son and the sinful woman (Luke 7:36f) who otherwise had no hope in their life, when forgiven of their sins, started praising with full intensity, outstanding the natural heirs. For instance, even though Nicodemus was a high profile Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, still struggled to understand what Jesus meant when he was told to be born again (John 3:3). Whereas, the sinful woman in Luke 7:36-50 wasn’t told anything but from the very moment she saw Jesus, knelt down in tears and started bathing His feet with her tears and drying them with her hair (Luke 7:38). The reason for her act was because there was no one else in this world except Jesus who could bring her back from her sinful past to a normal life. The gratitude of the woman flowing through her tears could be discerned as natural praise for us to emulate during the Lenten season, and especially during the Passion Week. 

The Great Lent and especially the passion week facilitates everyone to be born again. The forty days of Great Lent could be considered as our journey to the heavenly Jerusalem. In the same way as Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem was ‘triumphal’, we too have the opportunity for a triumphal entry to the heavenly Jerusalem. We can only triumph if we become like a newborn. In order to enter, we need to raise up the weights of our sins unto the Lord. Psalm 55:22 says Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you. 

Therefore, let us lift our burden of sins up along with the palm leaves during the Palm Sunday procession and the worship throughout. In that way every stone will change and will become eligible to shout out. It will of course be an envy to the fallen (Satan), but a proud moment for the children of God. 

May God bless us.

Fr Saji. K. Mathew

The power of Jonah’s sign

Fr Dr Saji K Mathew2 Comments

In the Biblical context, especially in the gospels, miracles are mostly termed as signs, for a miracle foreshadows the sign of divine intervention in the economy of masses. Jesus started his public ministry by turning water into wine, the first of his ‘signs……..’ (John 2:11). A sign could be viewed as a holistic process whereby the ripple effect of it electrifies not only the focal subject but all those in the vicinity. For example, when the crowd witnessed Jesus healing a paralytic, they were awestruck and glorified God (Matthew 9:8). In this case, we see the sign not only affected the paralytic but the community present at the scene. Almost every day, we get to see divine signs in various forms of blessings, through the lives of people around us, in our families, among our friends, neighbours and communities. We ought to reflect as to how, as true children God, do we respond to these signs. As a true follower of Christ, we should ideally be praising and glorifying God for the blessings showered on my neighbour, friends and so on; and thank Lord for showing yet another sign of divine presence to us. Over and above, such signs should help us to repent and transform towards God’s glory.

A sign could either be just a visual treat or an intensively transforming experience. Sign, as a mere visual treat, are materialistic and have little spiritual value. Such signs could be termed as mere magic and hence are demonic in nature. For example, the signs performed by the magicians at the court of Pharaoh to imitate the signs of Moses (Exodus 7-12). Moses was sent by God and the signs he performed were divine whereas the miracles performed by Pharaoh’s magicians were demon inspired. Visual treats are short-term and so are signs performed for visual treats. The magicians did succeed in imitating Moses but the signs performed by Moses had an overpowering effect on the former.

Divine signs, as we see in the Bible, are meant for the transformation of individual to either effect or further the faith of individuals. They are in no way meant for mere visual treat. For instance, in John 6:2 it is reported that a great multitude of people followed Jesus because they saw the signs He had performed, by healing the sick. Now, one may try to draw support for the stage performances as we see today, drawing this instance as an example. However, it needs to be understood that this performance of sign, of healing the sick, was not just a visual treat for those who witnessed it, rather an empathetic and intensive realisation of the members of the community. It should be discerned that the whole community felt the pain and suffering of the sick, and when Jesus walked into, the whole community embraced Him with a true and pure heart. As a result, whilst the sick were physically healed, the entire community got spiritually transformed. Remember what Jesus instructed His disciples, ‘if the house or the city does not receive you……….go out……..shake the dust off your feet’ (Matthew 10:14). We also read that Jesus could not do any miracles as Nazareth did not accept Him (Mark 6:5). In short, it could be stated that signs/miracles are meant for internalisation, a process by which the divine intervention is felt deep within the spirit of the people who witnesses them and gets spiritually transformed. This transformation is evident in the statement of Saint Paul when he said, ‘and it is not I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me’ (Galatians 2:20). This audacious statement by Saint Paul is the external sign of an internal reaction stirred up as a result of his realisation that Christ was crucified for his sins.

Performance of miracles to satisfy the mere visual needs of the audience has a dubious intention towards personal glory, popularity and of course material wealth. When Simon the sorcerer saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the Apostle’s hands, he offered them money to buy this power (Acts 8:18), so that he could make more money out of it. Similarly, in Acts 16:16 we read that there was a girl who used to earn a great deal of fortune for her owners by fortune-telling. Even in this so-called ‘modern age’ it is not rare to see people, including believers of Christ, chasing for, and running from pillar to post seeking such visual treats. It appears lately that the spiritual world has sunken to a level where only performers of such visual treats can survive in the ecosystem of Christian spirituality.

The Pharisees and Sadducees approached Jesus asking to show them a sign from heaven. Jesus’ explicit exposure of them as an evil and adulterous generation (Matthew 16:4) draws parallel to the situation many of us are in today, full of evil deeds and adultery. And the sign for such a corrupt age is apparently the sign of Jonah- the one and only sign, as stated by Jesus.

There are two significance of the sign of Jonah.

Jesus said, ‘For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth’ (Matthew 12:40).

  1. Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster:

At the outset, Jonah was a prophet. A prophet is a chosen person of God who acts as His mouth (Deuteronomy 18:18), passing on the messages to the people. Easy said than done is to be the mouth of God, for being the mouth means the prophet is supposed to speak out whatever God wants to communicate. In other words, being the mouth means speaking out without thinking because it is not the prophet who is speaking but God using the prophet’s mouth. To analyse this phenomenon in a secular context could mean speech by a non-sensible person or by somebody who is out of mind. This is the reason why we see that almost all the Old Testament prophets were rejected by the people. Jesus also is seen blaming the Jews for denying and destroying the mouths of God in His statement, ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it….’ (Luke 13:34). The pain and agony of God is clearly articulated through the words of Jesus Christ here.

The making of a prophet is an intensive process involving a lot of planning and preparation. When people are in bondage or trouble God plans to send a prophet. For example, centuries before, God promised to send a prophet (Deuteronomy 18:18), a promise about messiah. A prophet needs to be prepared even before s/he is formed in the womb of his mother (Jeremiah 1:5). Prior to be formed in full as a prophet, the person needs to be further purified so as to see God and His throne (Isaiah 6:1). The mouth of the person is to be purified so as to become the mouth of God (Isaiah 6:6-7). Most importantly (and could be discerned as an oath), the prophet is expected to commit himself impartially to God (Isaiah 6:8).

Once this commitment is explicitly stated, as Isaiah did, the prophet is sent for combat mission as God sent Isaiah (Isaiah 6:9-10). I call this ‘combat’ for the simple reason that prophecy is one of the nine gifts of Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:10) and the Spirit of Lord always work against the evil spirit.

An ideal prophet will only speak and dare not to withhold the word of God. The most ideal of all the prophets that we see in the Bible is Jesus Himself, and He was fully confident that He spoke only what He heard from His Father (John 12:49). Moreover, being an ideal prophet Jesus did according to the will of His Father who sent Him, and not His own (John 6:38). This is the point where Jesus as the true prophet contradicted Jonah, as well as many Pharisees and Sadducees who supported false prophets.

Jonah the prophet was chosen by God for a very important mission. He was assigned to communicate the word of God to the people of Nineveh with an aim to deliver them from complete destruction- a full deliverance from the extreme demonic forces ruling the people and the city (Jonah 1:2). The prophecy against the Nineveh was meant to be a sign of the forthcoming wrath of God.

However, what we see in the book of Jonah is the deviation of a prophet who discarded the assignment and went on his own way. A prophet that rejects God’s call is in fact rejecting the will of God. Such prophets create unrest and imbalance in nature, and are threats to people’s lives, as we see in Jonah’s case (Jonah 1:4-5). Rebellion against God leads to darkness and misery (Psalms 107:10-11), ending up in a place where there is nobody to help. Jonah’s disobedience dragged him down to the stomach of the sea monster.

Jonah was a prophet of God who falsified himself by committing disobedience. Deuteronomy 18:20 says that a prophet who presumes to speak in the name of God that He has not commanded shall die; because they are false prophets who goes to the people in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). Such was the pathetic situation during the time of Jesus that the prophecy of Isaiah literally was fulfilled, ‘…these people draw near with their mouths………while their hearts are far from me’ (Isaiah 29:13). We further read in Jeremiah 23:26 ‘How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back- those who prophecy ‘lies’, and who prophecy the deceit of their own heart?’

To sum up, the prophetic ministry as we see during the time of Christ was a corrupted version, apparently by the custodians of faith, the Pharisees and Sadducees. This is the reason why Jesus responded negatively to their demand to perform a sign. In other words, Jesus’s reply is judgmental, that the hypocrites and false prophets will meet the fate of Jonah, or even worse, that they will be thrown deep down, an indication of hell which is termed as a ‘bottomless pit’ (Revelations 9:1), and the destiny of Satan (Revelations 20:2). In short, all those who collude with Satan to perform signs, and prophecy lies will be dealt with as is destined for Satan. In fact Jesus has cautioned that false prophets will come and perform great signs and omen (Matthew 24:24).

 2. Jesus said that He will remain in the same way as Jonah remained underneath, three days and three nights.

When the people in the ship realised that Jonah was the reason of the turmoil, they threw Jonah into the sea (Jonah 1:15). Therefore, Jonah went down for his sin, as well as for the sake of the lives of the people in the ship. On the contrary, Jesus was sinless, and He went down for the sake of the sins of this world, from Adam to the end of generation until His second coming. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that God made Jesus who was sinless to be sin for our sake. When Jonah went down he was forced to carry the sins of Nineveh with him because he did not enable the opportunity for them to repent. The prophet who was expected to facilitate repentance for the people of Nineveh acted as a stumbling block for them. Jesus blamed the scribes and Pharisees for locking the people out of the kingdom of heaven into which neither they enter nor allow others to enter (Matthew 23:13). Unfortunately, Jonah’s act was similar to the nature of the Scribes and Pharisees.

The religious and spiritual institution of Jews were so corrupted during the time of Jesus that the leaders and the followers were materially bound and commercially oriented. Signs and wonders were manipulated or artificially created for fame, personal glory and above all was money minting business. Jesus prophesied that this will happen again in the course of history (Matthew 24:24) which apparently we get to see at least in some cases around us. As a result of this selfish spirituality, people would less understand about the sacrificial nature of one person bearing the sins of others, let alone the entire humanity. But Jesus is determined to show them that this is possible, and moreover, is the best sign a prophet can perform. Thus, Jesus by going down underneath through death shows the entire humanity the sign of God’s love. Therefore, the death of Jesus could be termed as the ‘sign of all the signs’.

So what does the world need today? Mere performance of signs and wonders and stage shows for personal glory? Signs have become derivatives, in the sense that they are conducted for personal well-being and material prosperity. It is quite common to see people chasing signs for mere material benefits, and asking for more and more just for the sake of visual treats. However, Jesus said, I have no other sign to perform except my own death for your sins. This is what the disciples did- they portrayed Jesus Christ as crucified for the sins of mankind (Galatians 3:1). People during the time of the disciples were also after signs and wonders, but the disciples denied such demands as is evident in 1 Corinthians 1:22-23: ‘For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified…’.

As the prophecy of Jonah as a sign of the forthcoming wrath of God led Nineveh to repentance, the sign of the cross can lead to true repentance and real transformation of lives. May this Nineveh lent held us to see and experience the sign of the cross of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Amen.