Fire

Today’s Gospel Text:  "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; 52 for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; 53 they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." Luke 12:49-53

Reflection: What would happen if the Lord were to cast that real fire upon the earth? Would we have survived his wrath?

But fortunately, for us, the fire which the Lord came to cast on the earth is the fire of mercy; the fire that has the power to purify us and save us.

Yet every act of God’s mercy may not save us and this is the sad reality of life which we tend to overlook. 

When my enemy is drowning and I in my mercy and compassion go to save him, he may harden his heart further and at that time may even feel extra charged with a wisdom based on pride.

He may now look at me as a fallen creature, worse than a crawling vermin and gloat at the superior wisdom he has over me; for such is the power of hate and enmity. 

God in Christ Jesus nevertheless still comes for those blessed ones who acknowledge that on their own strength they cannot save themselves.

Jesus through his death on the cross opened the windows of fire, the Holy Spirit, to all who can accept him.

The Holy Spirit convicts and purifies us with his fire, of sins that separate us from God, burns away the hardened heart and makes us obedient and submissive to the will of the Father.

He does not do it forcibly against our will but with our cooperation.

On the other hand when he does this work in us he makes the others around us uncomfortable and hence the division that is brought about in society.

Only the devil and the children of Satan will work towards a unity of humanity in such circumstances, based on what apparently seems to be good human values, which only produces short term gains.

As for those who are purified by this fire, they carry in their hearts the same fire to reach out with the love of Christ, primarily through the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ.

Prayer:  Send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.  Ps. 104:30

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Stages of Receiving

Today’s Gospel Text: And when a great crowd came together and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5 "A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold." As he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." 9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience. Luke 8:4-15

Reflection: Perhaps, one of the best and greatest parable, not just meant for the disciples but for the whole world. Every individual must listen to this parable and understand the dynamics of the kingdom.

The fact that this parable was addressed to a great gathering of crowd is an indication of the importance of this parable. It was as if Jesus was waiting for an appropriate moment to communicate this important parable of life to the people.

What is so important about this parable which each one in this world needs to know?

The enemy at work at various stages of our Christian walk!

Whether we like it or not, the enemy is constantly at work. He is not going to bombard us or use the sword against us or kill us or put us to the slaughter. Though he may make use of people to do it but it is not the primary way in which he works.

The parable teaches us that we are already in a state of deception and the seed of God’s word which is the truth is being kept away from us by the enemy. 

He will use every trick in the book in order to prevent us from knowing the truth about ourselves and the saving grace offered by God through the great sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

The parable gives us an insight of some of the tricks used by the enemy, at various stages in our Christian walk. What happens to those who have not heard is anybody’s guess.

In the first place the enemy instigates us to mock at the word and trod the seed of God’s word under our feet and then he comes and takes it away like the bird of the air.

In the second instance, he comes a little later by enticing the receiver of the word with the temptation of life. In the third instance, when the crosses of life strikes and the enemy entices us with the green pastures on the other side, we get carried away through envy and the cares of life. 

Finally, there are those who are honest towards God and believe in carrying his goodness. These are the good soil who receive God’s word and persevere with the fruit of all patience and do not give up.

Prayer: Lord, be my help in the various stages of my life with you. So that at each stage I may not give up and more so do it in all sincerity, honesty and perseverance to produce the fruit of your kingdom.  

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Who is your Enemy?

Scripture: At that very hour some Pharisees came, and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. 32 And he said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. "   Luke 13:31-32

Reflection:  Think about great leaders of today how they surround themselves with a posse of security personnel’s.  Some even get intimidated with a little confrontation and a least bit of suspicion is enough for them to act against their opponent.  The best form of defense is often offence. 

Similarly, we too at our level can carry such suspicion and insecurities on account of threat perception. Maybe because someone is out there to kill our reputation and image or there is someone in our office or work place ready to usurp the place that we are seeking or the fears of insecurities concerning our positions and future. It could also be the fear that our bloated ego or ambitions that makes us look to at others as enemies that obstruct our study rise to fame and gain.

Prayer:  Lord, May I be faithful to your call to embrace the cross of truth.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Fair Judgment

Scripture:    But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sad'ducees, they came together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him. Matt 22:34-35

Reflection:  When you have an enmity with someone then better be careful! You may for the sake of condemning that someone may join hands with a more comfortable and devious enemy. All this is done in order to condemn the more righteous enemy.  This righteous one may in actual reality be your friend, except that he irritates you by his nagging corrections.  

Pharisees and Sadducees were no great friends, in fact they looked down on each other but for convenience they came together seeking to condemn Christ Jesus.

Why does it happen? Because our judgments are wrong, we could be looking at the immediate wrong and forget the larger wrong.  We are short sighted in our outlook.  

Prayer:  Open our eyes Lord so that we may see things as you see them.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us