Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross.
The letter to the Philippians is a beautiful letter. The New Testament scholars say it was written while Paul was in prison, but it repeatedly speaks of Christian joy. It exhorts the Christians in Philippi, "Rejoice, rejoice always in the Lord". It tells them not to be anxious about anything, for anxiety is the cause of all evil, but to bring everything to God in prayer. They are to be kept and guarded by the peace of God which passes all understanding.
Philippi was a Roman colony in Macedonia. Luke describes the missionary work of Paul and Silas in Philippi in Acts chapter 16. At Troas, Paul had a vision at night, a man from Macedonia calling him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us". The first person to be baptized in Philippi was Lydia, a seller of purple goods. But Paul and Silas had great trouble there. The whole town turned out against them because they had cast out an evil spirit from a young girl who was in the habit of sooth saying, which brought gain to her masters. They were put in prison. About midnight there was an earthquake and the doors of the prison were opened. We are familiar with the subsequent story of the conversion of the jailer and his family.
Out of all those troubles a church was formed in Philippi. It was a small congregation but a strong one. Paul was happy about them in many ways, especially their participation in his missionary work. He was thankful for their partnership in the gospel from the first day. But Paul was sad about one thing in the congregation. It seems from the letter there was a serious problem which was destroying their fellowship. Some people in the congregation thought that they were better than others. They believed they knew best and that others should listen and accept their opinion and leadership. In other words, they wanted to rule over others.
The question of leadership, prominence and dominance has been in the church from the very beginning. The disciples of Jesus Christ argued who should be the first among them. The sons of Zebedee wanted to sit one at the right hand of Jesus and the other at the left when he came in glory.
People who think they are better and wiser than others have a tendency to manipulate others according to their plans and for their self-interest. When we try to impose our ideas on others, they will resist. When they start resisting our manipulation, they become a problem for us. We see them as obstacles and we complain that but for such and such a person things would have been better in the congregation, in the family and in the community. "Hell is other people". Such an attitude towards others destroys our fellowship. It seems that such a situation existed in Philippi and Paul pleads with them that they should give up this selfish attitude. He tells them not to do anything from selfish ambition or from cheap desire to boast. He exhorts them to be humble towards one another, always considering others better than ourselves. Look out for one another’s interest, not just your own.
Then Paul exhorts them to look to Jesus and follow the same mind we find in him and which we can also receive from him. Then Paul in a sentence or two very graphically describes the person of Christ: What is he, what is his mission, and what it is that we learn from him.
Though he was in the form of God, he was God in his own right, not because he snatched it from somebody else. He did not use his exalted position to exploit others, to manipulate others. He threw away his position for the sake of others, for the service of others, for the salvation of others. For the sake of fallen humanity, he emptied himself of his glory, position and power, became a slave for the service of others and finally died on the cross for the sake of others. Paul is making a contrast between the ways of human beings and the ways of God. Human beings try to climb up to heaven; they want to be like God, standing on the shoulders of fellow human beings and pursuing their ambition at others’ expense.
In contrast, Christ came down from heaven, crossed the boundary between heaven and earth for the sake of fallen and alienated humanity. He stood at the place where human beings suffer, are rejected and lonely. He took upon himself the misery of humankind and gave up his life in their service.
When the gospel says that God has highly exalted him and has given him a name above every other name, it does not mean that God gave him great privilege and position as a reward. On the contrary, his humiliation was his glorification, his death on the cross was his exaltation, becoming a slave was his kingship. His lordship was the lordship of suffering love. Therefore one cannot look at Jesus without seeing suffering humanity in Jesus. This is what we see in Jesus. Paul exhorts the Christians in Philippi to have in us this same mind, the mind of Jesus Christ, which is also available to us in him.
I am the true vine, my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear fruit. ... I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from him you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the blades are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned
St. John uses different metaphors to describe the person of Christ. He is the bread from heaven, he is the living water and so on. In chapter 15, he is described as the true vine. Our relationship to Jesusis stated in terms of vine and branches. Only as we abide in him, we bear fruit.
In the Old Testament, the metaphor of vine and the vineyard is used quite often to describe Israel. Israel is the vine which God has planted. In Psalm 80, the psalmist says to God:
Thou didst bring a vine out of Egypt; thou didst drive out the nations and plant it. Thou didst clear the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches; it sent out its branches to the sea, and its roots to the river. (Psalms 80.8-11)
For Isaiah, Israel is the vineyard. He says:
Let me sing for my beloved a love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He digged it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines; he built a watch tower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. (Isaiah 5: 1-2)
Jeremiah speaks of Israel as a vine when he says, "YetI planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed". (Jeremiah 2:21) The prophets wonder why after all the trouble God took to bring the vine out of Egypt and carefully plant it and care for it, that God’s choice vine could become bitter and produce only wild grapes. "When I looked for it toyield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?" In the book of Deuteronomy it is said, "For their vine came from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters are bitter; their wine is the poison of serpents and the cruel venom of asps."(Deut. 32: 22-33)
Therefore God’s judgement comes upon his choice vineyard:
And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it will be devoured; I will breakdown its walls, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and the briars and thorns shallgrow up;... For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the houseof Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold bloodshed; for righteousness,but behold a cry! (Isaiah 5:5-7)
All the synoptic gospels record that Jesus spoke of Israel as God’s vineyard (Matt. 21:33-41, Mark 11: 142, Lk. 20: 9-19). The parables make it clear that God cared for his vineyard and how disappointed he was that it didn’t produce the expected fruit. In the fourth gospel, Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches. Here again the emphasis is on producing good fruit. The condition for producing good fruit is that we abide in the vine. The branches which do not produce fruit are cut off and burned.
St. Ephrem, the great theologian and poet of the Syrian church in the fourth century, has a number of hymns on Jesus Christ as the true vine and us as branches. He also speaks of Jesus as the grape. He says:
This is the branch which bent down its fruits to the thankless; they ate and were full but turned and insulted it. Yet it bent down, even to Adam in the midst of Sheol.... Blessed is he who bent it down to us for us to grasp and ascend by it.
Then the metaphor changes:
Blessed be the shepherd who became the lamb for our atonement, blessed be the vine shoot which became chalice for our salvation, blessed be the grape, the source of medicine of life.
Jesus Christ is the vine who has bent down his fruits for us to eat and be filled. He is the vineshoot and the grapes that became wine in the chalice for us to drink. He is crushed so that others may drink of him and live. This is what it means to produce good fruit.
• In the Acts of Thomas, an apocryphal book about the travels of St. Thomas in India, Thomas prays, "I have planted the true vine in the land. May it cast out its roots downwards".
• In the Old Testament, Israel is the vineyard of God expected to bear good fruit, but which failed its creator.
• In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the true vine and the believers are the branches. They are also expected to bear fruit.
To bear fruit is to allow ourselves to be crushed for the sake of the world, and become wine in the chalice so that others may drink of it.
To bear fruit there is one condition: abide in Christ. "Abide in me and I in you", says Jesus. It is an interpersonal relationship where the believer is in Christ and Christ in us. It is to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ who is both the shepherd and the sheep, the farmer and the wheat, the vine shoot and the wine in the chalice, the sacrifice and the sacrificer.
The story of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus is told by Luke in three places in the Acts of the Apostles -- in chapters nine, twenty two and twenty six. Philippians chapter three is a piece of Paul’s autobiography where he tells what the encounter with the crucified and risen Christ meant in his life.
In Acts twenty six, Paul, a prisoner awaiting to be sent to Rome for trial looks back on his life and ministry and tells King Agrippa, "And so, King Agrippa, I did not disobey the heavenly vision". The heavenly vision on the road to Damascus influenced his whole life and ministry. Throughout Paul’s life, this heavenly vision remained with him, guiding him, sustaining him and strengthening him. It remained with him as a permanent and dynamic force in his life. He faced a lot of difficulties and trials in his ministry. He had been beaten, imprisoned, ship wrecked, hungry and thirsty and gone without sleep. But in the midst of all these, he could say, "When I am weak, then am I strong" (2 Cor. 12:10).
The vision of God and his call are not temporary things or passing phenomena in the life of a Christian. In the first place, the vision of the crucified and risen Christ brought about a crisis of faith for Paul. It shook the very foundation of his religious life. Paul’s conversion was not the conversion of a penitent sinner. He was not like Martin Luther who failed to please God even by the strict observance of the monastic rules. In later life Martin Luther said that if ever a monk could go to heaven by his monkery, he would have been there twenty five years ago.
Paul was a religious man, a proud Pharisee, who was proud of his Jewish background, proud in the membership of the people of God. He was circumcised on the eighth day, Israelite by the tribe of Benjamin, born and bred a Hebrew. In attitude to the law he was a Pharisee, in zealfor his religion he was persecutor of the Christian church, in righteousness of the law faultless. He loved his nation, he loved his race. He sincerely believed that the way of salvation for the whole world is in and through Israel, the elect of God, the covenanted community. Hence he defended the Jewish law and Jewish religion. He persecuted the Christians, not because they were bad people, but because they claimed that Christians were the true people of God, the election and covenant belonged to them and not to the Jews. Who would tolerate such a blasphemy? Paul burned with zeal for his religion. He sincerely believed that to persecute Christians is to do the will of God. Paul says:
I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. AndI did so in Jerusalem; I not only shut up many of the saints in prison by authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme; and in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. (Acts. 26: 9-11)
Thus Paul was journeying to Damascus to persecute the Christians. Then came the shattering experience on the way. He heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul,why do you persecute me?" Paul asked, "Tell me Lord, who are you?" "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting" came the reply. It shattered the very ground on which he stood. His belief that the clue to God’s dealing with his creation was the Jewish nation, crumbled to pieces. There was another way, faith in Jesus.
Religion and religious enthusiasm need not be always good. We live in a time when religions have become great problems, a real threat to peace and community. Paul was a religious enthusiast. So was Moses in his early days. In his zeal for his race, he went and killed an Egyptian. This was so with the Zealots of the time of Jesus. This is so with the sectarianism of our time. My country, my race. my language and my denomination have become an obsession with many of us. We often mistake loyalty to God with religious fanaticism.
The vision of Christ crucified and risen liberated Paul from his religion. From that day he wrote off all hisreligious assets for the sake of Christ. He was one who had believed in the unique place of Israel in salvation history. It was only in and through Israel that God would deal with other nations. His encounter with the risen Lord had opened his eyes to the fact that the salvation of Israel, as well as the salvation of the whole world, was to be appropriated through faith in Christ. Before the cross of Christ, both the Jew and the Gentile were equal and nobody could make any special claim for salvation: Jesus the Messiah was not the Messiah of the Jews alone who hadcome to deliver them from the hands of the Romans, but he was the savior of all people, including the Romans.
It was an unbelievable discovery. Paul saw the cross of Jesus Christ as the place where the salvation of both the Jew and the Gentile took place. Later he could write that there was neither Jew nor Gentile, neither free or bond, neither male nor female in Jesus Christ. On his cross he had broken down the middle wall of partition between peoples and nations.
The purpose of God was not to save Jews alone but to sum up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. It was this cosmic vision of the Lordship of Christ and the election and salvation of all people in him that separated Paul from Judaism. It was a cosmic vision, an Ecumenical vision. Its horizon was the outer boundary of the universe. It was this vision which made Paul an apostle. The Lord told him:
I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and bear witness ... to whom I send you to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (Acts 26: 16-18,)
The message is no longer that God had elected one nation among nations, as Judaism believed, nor could a culture be elevated to a religion, as in paganism. The Christian mission is preaching faith in Christ to all people.
Secondly the vision ofthe Damascus road was a joyous experience for Paul. He was overpowered by a reality other than himself. "Christ took hold of me," says Paul. To be possessed and known by a greater reality is a source of great joy. He in turn wanted to know and possess that great reality. I have not reached perfection," says Paul, "but I press on, hoping to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of me". (Phil. 3:12).
Jesus told two parables. The parable of the hidden treasure, and the parable of the pearl. A man saw thetreasure hidden in a field, a merchant saw a pearl of great value. A joy unknown to others had taken hold of them. The man in his joy goes and sells everything and buys the field. Themerchant sells everything and buys that pearl. Everything is to be sacrificed for the sake of one thing. Once he has encountered Christ, oncehe is overpowered by Christ, he has only one desire: to knowand possess him. He writes:
Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ... that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his suffering.... Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own ... but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. (Phil. 3:7-16)
A new focus has come in the life of Paul; there is a new direction in his ministry. The vision has become a vocation. This was the experience of many who have encountered Christ. "All I care is to know Christ" says Paul.
The life of Paul was an adventure of exploring the meaning of Christ for the Jews as well as for the Gentiles. His epistles reflect this. Whenever and wherever people have been gripped by the vision of Christ, they have sought to understand and interpret him for their time and situation. It is a joyous adventure which should go on in the life of a Christian, in the life of the Christian community, all the time. Our knowledge of Christ does not end with our call, but only begins.
The great motto of Origen of Alexandria was, "Be diligent in reading divine Scripture, knock, it shall open unto you". His whole life was a life of knocking, seeking to understand the meaning of the Christ event. He sincerely believed that the Christian church was in possession of the revelation of God in the Scriptures, but it needed to be explored and sought out.
Jerome speaks of Origen as the greatest teacher of the church after the apostles. He was the first great scholar, first great preacher, the first great devotional writer, the first great commentator, and the first great dogmatic theologian. He thought, he taught and he wrote prolifically. After spending most of the day with all sorts of people who attended his lectures, he spent a good part of the night in study and writing. It is said of him that he ate little and slept on the floor so that he should not sleep too much.
As we explore the meaning of Christ, we need to remember that no category of thought, no picture of Jesus, no doctrine of Christ can fully apprehend him. Jesus walks out of every doctrine we make of him. He walks out of every picture we paint of him. We cannot turn him into a static picture hanging on the wall. The person of Christ is much larger and greater than our doctrine of him.
• To the poor and the oppressed, he comes as liberator,
• To the sinners he comes as a redeemer from sin;
• To the sick he comes as healer;
• For a racially oppressed blacks in the United States, he is a black;
• For the exploited and marginalized Aborigines in Australia, he becomes as an Aborigine;
• For alienated and oppressed women in our society, he comes as a friend of Martha and Mary.
He is all of those, yet he is also more than all those. Paul speaks of the ‘unfathomable’ riches of Christ. this was his prayer:
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and breath and height and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3: 17-19.)
Such a vision of Christ warns us against absolutizing our doctrines of Christ and limiting the ways of God to our familiar ways.
Thirdly, Paul was eager not only to know Christ, but also to share in his sufferings. There is no participation in Christ without participation in his cross, in his suffering for the world.
There is a story about three Jesuit missionarieswho went to work among the American Indians. One night one of them had a vision of a cross. When told of his dream, his friends asked him how large was the cross. It was large enough to hang all of us was his reply.
To know Easter means tobe implicated in the events of Good Friday.
Karl Barth once pointed out that the way the power of Christ’s resurrection works powerfully in the apostle is that he is clothed with the shame of the cross. That is our badge, that is our life -- to be clothed with the shame of the cross.
But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son but only the Father. Take heed, watch; for you do not know when the time will come.
Christ will come again. He will come unexpectedly and suddenly. Therefore watch. Be on guard, be alert, lest he finds you asleep. That Christ will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead is an article of our faith. Unfortunately, the mainline churches have left it to the sectarian groups to teach and preach on the second coming.
The first three Gospels -- Matthew, Mark and Luke -- record a large discourse of Jesus at the end of his public ministry about the signs of the end of the present age and the coming of the Son of Man. Not only Jesus’ public ministry but the New Testament as a whole -- in the Book of Revelation -- closes with a vision of the end. The occasion for Jesus’ teaching on the signs of the end was the disciples’ remark that the temple in Jerusalem was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. Jesus’ reply was that the time is coming when not one stone would be left upon another; every one of them would be thrown down.
Then they go to the mount of Olives, opposite the temple. There, the disciples ask him when these things would happen. What would be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled? Jesus refuses to tell them when the end will come but tells them about the signs of the end. What are the signs of the end? Many will come in the name of Christ, claiming to be the Messiah, but don’t be deceived. Don’t run-after false prophets, false Messiahs, false ideologies and false promises. You must be vigilant. There will be wars and rumors of war, there will be earthquakes and famines, but don’t be alarmed. There will be persecution, there will be internal strife and division within the community. Brother will betray brother, father will betray son and children will betray parents. The temple will be destroyed and Jerusalem devastated. But these were not to be themselves the end but only the signsthat the end was near.
Jesus drew a lesson from a figtree. As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, we know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see such things happening, you know the end is near. That is when people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. All these signs -- the cosmic catastrophes, the destruction of the temple, the persecution of Christians and the appearance of false messiahs are only preliminary to the coming of the Son of Man. In the Gospels, the focus is not on the signs but on the coming of the Son of Man and our readiness to receive him. We often forget the main message and give too much importance to the preliminaries. Luke reminds us, "When these things begin to take place, stand up and liftyour heads, because your redemption is drawing near".
What happens when the Son of Man comes? Mark tells us that he will send his angels and gather together his elect. It is a time both of judgement and gathering. Matthew describes the scene in a very graphic way in chapter twenty-five. When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, he will separate the people one from the other as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
The king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance. For I washungry you fed me. I was sick, you looked after me. Then the righteous answer him, When did we see you hungry and fed you, see you sick or in prison and go to visit. The king replies, Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me. He orders the people on the left: Depart from me, you who are cursed; whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. This is what happens when the Son of Man comes. What shall be our response to the coming of the Son of Man?
The time between the first coming of Christ and his second coming is the time of the church. Two things are expected of us during this period. In the first place, the Gospel must be preached to all nations. The time of the church is the time of mission. In the light of the coming of Christ, every Sunday is a missionary Sunday, every activity of the church should be a missionary activity. After the resurrection, the disciples asked the risen Lord. "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" He tells them that it is not for them to know the times or dates God has set by his own authority -- but they would be his witness in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The time before the coming of the Son of Man is a time for mission. The church is primarily mission. It is only in mission that we understand the nature of the church. It is in mission that we become the church. The needs and sufferings of the least of these brothers and sisters in our society will determine the nature of our mission.
Secondly, we need to be watchful and alert. On the Mount of Olives, the disciples asked Jesus the same question they asked him after the resurrection: When will these things happen? Jesus did not reply to that question. Instead he told them to be alert and watchful. Keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back -- whether in the evening or midnight or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, he should not find you sleeping. The parable of the ten virgins and the parable of the talents emphasize the suddenness and unpredictability of the coming of Christ and the need to be watchful and vigilant "Be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour what you do not expect him".
What does it mean to be ready and watchful? It means we look beyond the present to the future earning of Christ and his kingdom. It means the present should be understood in the light of the coming kingdom. It means that all aspects of the church’s life should be oriented towards the coming of Christ and the coming of his kingdom.
We live not only in expectation of the kingdom, not only in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah, but our whole life at present should be oriented towards the kingdom of Christ. The second coming is not simply a future event but an event which controls and directs our life at the present. It is an event which transforms our view of life. To be oriented towardsthe coming kingdom means that we live today as if we were already in the kingdom of God. To be oriented towards the secondcoming does not mean that we despise the world or run away from the affairs of this world or separate ourselves from the rest of humanity. We live in this world like any other people but with a hidden life of our own. The Letter to Diagnetus in the second century says,
Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind by country, by speech, or by dress. For they do not dwellin the city of their own or use different language or practice a peculiar life. ... But they dwell in Greek or barbarian cities according to each man ‘slot has been cast, and follow the customs of the land in clothing and food, and other matters of daily life, yet the conditions of citizenship they exhibit is wonderful, and admittedly strange. They live in countries of their own, but simply as sojourners; they share the life of the citizens, they endure the lot of foreigners; every foreign land is to them a fatherland, and every fatherland is a foreign land. ... They exist in the flesh but they do not live after the flesh. They spend their existence upon the earth, but their citizenship is in heaven... They love all men and are persecuted by all.
We should live in this world like others. We should not fight for the rights of Christians only but for the rights of all people, especially the rights of the least in our society. A Christian must never come to think that he or she is a permanent resident in this world. A Christian is in a permanent state of expectation, expectation of the coming of Christ and his kingdom and lives daily in the light of that expectation. Famine, earthquake, wars and rumors of war and persecution will not make us panic. All these things will happen. But we should live in the shadow of the coming kingdom. This is what it means to be watchful Jesus says,
Behold I am coming soon, and I will give everyone according to what he has done. lam the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End
The constant prayer of the church is: Come, Lord Jesus.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more ... I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold the dwelling of God is with men ... He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall mourning nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away... And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new."
The book of Revelation is a very difficult and complex one. It is difficult to understand the various imagesand symbols in the book. It is also the most abused and misused of the New Testament books. Some preachers thrive on this book, reading into it contemporary events and persons. The beast, Babylon, the anti-Christ, the number 666, all are given highly-colored interpretations.
Has the book got any message for us today? When we listen to the happenings around us, we are often driven to despair. Recent happenings in the United States, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Japan, and all over the world make us anxious and despairing. Has the world we live in got any future? Many are very pessimistic about the future of the world. Of course there are some who are very optimistic. They think they can easily fix the problems of the world if only they would be given anopportunity to do so.
In contrast to utter pessimism and a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness on the one hand, and a naive optimism on the other hand, the Bible proclaims a message of hope for the whole creation. The biblical hope is not based on human ability to sort out the problems of the world and order its future, but it is based on God’s future, a future which God is bringing about in Jesus Christ. The biblical message is that in the midst of all fearful events of our day, God is opening up a new future for us. He has given us this hope in Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation is about this hope -- the hope for the future which God is bringing about.
The Bible is a book of hope. In the midst of sin, uncertainties, disintegration and death, the Bible speaks of the future which God has promised. Abraham, Moses, Isaiah and Jeremiah, and all other Old Testament prophets and saints lived with a vision of God’s promised future. By faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, and be looked forward to the city whose builder and maker was God. John the Baptist, Mary, Peter, James, John and Martha tell us about the kingdom which has come in Jesus and which is yet to come.
There are different opinions as to the times and authorship of the book of Revelation. One thing is certain -- that it was written at a time of severe persecution for Christians and that it was written to encourage them to stand firm in the faith and to tell them of the future which God was preparing. It is a message not only for the Christians of that time but fur the believers of all times. John, the author of the book, himself was in prison in the Island of Patmos. In his vision he saw the future unfolding. He saw a decisive battle between good and evil. There will be persecutions and sufferings in this world. Evil may triumph for a time. But since God is the creator and Lord of history, the ultimate outcome of the conflict will be according to God’s plan. The future is in God’s hands.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away... And he who sat upon the throne said "Behold I make all things new."
The word ‘new ‘is the key to the understanding of the message of the New Testament. The New Testament speaks of the New Israel, the new covenant, the new commandment, the new wine, the new man, the new Adam, the new age and so on. God is establishing a new heaven and a new earth. The dream of a new heaven and a new earth was a dream that can be found deep in Jewish thought. The prophet Isaiah says, "For behold I create a new heaven and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind." This dream is now being fulfilled. It is the work of God. The new heaven and new earth comes down from heaven.
Then John heard a voice: "Behold the dwelling of God is with men." It is a beautiful future of God coming down to dwell with his people, in the midst of his creation. He is no longer a far off God. He is not seeking his dwelling in a far removed mountain or a temple or a cathedral. He is coming to dwell among his people who are sinful, broken hearted, subject to disease, cruelty, oppression and death. Then what happens. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more. There will not be any sea -- sea represents chaos and disorder. The first things have passed away. What has been withered, what has been dead, comes up and lives again.
God’s personal presence among the people will unite what death has separated. When God comes near to us, we no longer weep over the grave. He who sits on the throne said, "Behold I make all things new". This is what God is doing and what he will do. So the world in chaos, despair, fear and anxiety has hope. The world can be renewed. Our nation can be renewed. Our families can be renewed and we ourselves can be recreated. We can be transformed into a new creation. So St. Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians could write:
If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold the new has come. And this is from God, who through Christ has reconciled us to himself. (2 Cor: 5:17)
Come unto me all who are weary and burdened, I shall give you rest (Matt: 11:28).
(This verse is found only in Matthew and not in any of the other three gospels. It is also found in the Gospel of Thomas which is not in the New Testament canon).
This call of Jesus, ‘Come unto me’, at the end of chapter eleven of Matthew’s Gospel is very much related to what is said before in that chapter. In verse 25 Jesus thanks the Father for revealing to the simple and unlearned what has been hidden from the wise and the learned.
What was it that God revealed to the simple and the unlearned? Matthew does not explain it; but Luke in a parallel passage makes it clear. The context in Luke is the return of the seventy disciples from their missionary journey. The seventy in their missionary journey came to experience and understand the power of the kingdom of God.
In the name of Jesus the sick were healed and demons were cast out. They were greatly amazed that the demons obeyed them. Jesus told them, ‘Don’t be glad because the evil spirits obey you; rather be glad because your names are written in heaven’ (Luke 10:18). The important thing is not the miracle but the fact that the kingdom of heaven has come and they are members of it. In casting out demons in the name of Jesus, what was revealed to the disciples, who were simple and humble people, was that the kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus Christ and they are experiencing the power of it.
The eleventh chapter of Matthew begins with John the Baptist in prison. John sends his disciples to ask Jesus: Are you the one who was going to come? Jesus answers: Go back and tell John what you are hearing and seeing: the blind can see, the lame can walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are brought back to life, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
All these are signs that Jesus was the Messiah and in him the new age of God’s kingdom had come. Then Jesus turns to the crowd and asks why they went to hear John the Baptist in the wilderness. Was he a blade of grass bending in the wind? Or was he a man dressed in fancy clothes? No, they went to hear a prophet.
Jesus tells them that John was more than a prophet because he stood on the threshold of the kingdom of God. John the Baptist was greater than any man who lived. But Jesus assures them that even the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John. John, though more than a prophet, was only a forerunner and not a member of the kingdom. Now one who was greater than John the Baptist was here, the Messiah himself. It is him they should come to; then they would enter into the kingdom of God. On another occasion Jesus reminded them how the Queen of Sheba had traveled all the way to hear the wise words of Solomon: now, one greater than Solomon was here. The people of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, but now one greater thanJonah is here and people were not listening to him. Now that the kingdom of God had come, Jesus is challenging the people to make a response.
Jesus makes people look at themselves. He tells them they are like children sitting in the market place. One group shouts to the other: We played wedding music for you but you would not dance. Then the other group would shout: We sang funeral songs but youwould not cry. This is the generation which does not respond. They are indifferent to what God is doing in the ministry of Jesus. They are like people of Chorazin and Bethsaida who have seen the wonders of God performed in their midst but did not respond. The great tragedy in human life is that after experiencing the great love and mercies of God we become indifferent to God.
Yet Jesus calls us again and again to make a response. "Comeunto me", he calls, "all that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest". "Come unto me". God takes the initiativeto call us to himself. God through the prophet Isaiah calls out, "Come, all who are thirsty, come to the waters; you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost".
God’s grace is free. Come those who have no money and buy without money. We cannot come to God without God calling us to himself. St. Paul says, "We cannot know God withoutbeing known of God first". He calls us again and again because he loves us. This is what the prophet Hosea tells us. Hosea chapter eleven is one of the greatest chapters in the Old Testament, a very moving chapter. God is saying:
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me. It was I who taught Ephrem to walk, taking him by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with the chords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them. ... I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor devastate Ephrem again, For I am God and not man -- the Holy one among you.
God loves Israel as his child. There is sadness andsorrow in God’s voice. It is God’s love which compels him to call usback again and again: Come unto me.
God’s call is addressed to a particular group of people. Come unto me all who are thirsty, who are hungry, and all that labor and are heavy laden. Only a sick person will feel the need for a physician. Only one who is thirsty will feel the need for a drink. For the Son of Man came to seek and save these who are lost.
The people who feel self sufficient in their lives have no need for God. The call of God is addressed to the weary, overburdened, who long for deliverance and long for the help of God. God calls them and they respond. Only those who are willing to surrender everything to God, and depend on God for everything can hear God’s call and respond. Come unto me, all who are weary and burdened, I will give you rest.
In the New Testament two Greek words are used for ‘rest’. One indicates the final rest in heaven after our life in this world. But the other word means temporary rest. It means refreshing. When Jesus says, "I will give you rest," he means "I will refresh you" for further activity. Jesus calls all those who are weary and over burdened so that they may be strengthened and refreshed for our tasks in the world. The ‘rest’ will not be idleness or inactivity but strengthening for our responsibilities. It also means. that we will be relieved of our anxiety.
In Jesus Christ the kingdom of God has come. He is calling us who are overburdened with sin and sorrow, burdened with struggles of this life and who are anxious about life. He is calling us to himself so that he may relieve us of our anxiety and refresh and strengthen us for our responsibilities in this world. Will we respond to this call?
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Today is Trinity Sunday. Trinity Sunday tells us that the God in whom we believe is one God in three persons. There are other religions which believe in one God. Judaism and Islam are monotheistic religions.
The faith of the Jew is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God. For the Muslims, there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet. The Christians also believe in one God, but in the Trinitarian God -- one God in three persons. Muslims and Jews ridicule the Christians as polytheists- believing in three gods. The pagans in the Roman empire resented the Christian criticism of pagan polytheismby pointing out that the Christians themselves are polytheists:
The doctrine of the Trinity is problematic, not only for outsiders but for Christians themselves. Many good Christians would be happy to say that they believed in one God instead of one God in three persons.
The doctrine of the Trinity remains merely a dogma which we have inherited from the past and has not become a living focus of our life and thought. This is true not only for the ordinary members of the church but also for the theologians. By emphasizing a doctrine of Christ without the whole perspective of the Trinity, theology developed in a very one-sided way and has come to be pre-occupied with the church as the body of Christ, with its structure, hierarchy, and its rules and regulations.
The controversies in the church are about its institutional structure, papacy, ordination of women, lay presidency at the Eucharist and so on. Such a one-sided development does not take seriously the faith in the triune God: Father, Son and Holy Ghost, one God in three persons.
Trinity Sunday not only reminds us that the centrality of our faith is rooted in faith in the triune God, but it also calls us back to experience the Trinity in our personal and community life. The experience of the triune God should shape our personal life and mould our life together. To speak of the triune God is to speak of a particular way of life.
For the early Christians, the centre of their faith was faith in a triune God. They lived in a world where pagans believed in many gods. The Jews believed in one God and did not accept Jesus Christ as divine. But the experience of the early Christians was that Jesus Christ was God. They also experienced the Holy Spirit as God. In Jesus Christ, the early Christians met God. ‘Those who have seen me have seen the Father’, said Jesus. This was the experience of the early church. Similarly, in experiencing the Holy Spirit, they experienced the presence and power of God. They believed that God was one but at the same time Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit were understood to be divine. For them, if Jesus Christ was not God, we are not saved; and if the Holy Spirit is not divine, we are not sanctified. The early Christians were neither Jews who simply believed in one God, nor pagans who believed in many gods.
The challenge which the theologians faced was how to express the faith that God is one and at the same time affirm that Jesus Christ was divine, and the Holy Spirit was divine. The early theological controversies were about the formulation of the faith. It was to discuss this question that the first two ecumenical councils -- the Council of Nicea in 325 and the Council of Constantinople in 381 -- were held. Out of the discussions and deliberations of these councils, the church fathers were able to formulate a doctrine of the Trinity -- faith in one God in three persons. God as Trinity had happened in the experience of the early church before it was formulated into a doctrine.
What does the doctrine of the Trinity say about God? We shall look at one aspect of it. The doctrine of the Trinity simply says that God is love. Love is not an abstract impersonal entity. It expresses itself in relationships. When the doctrine of the Trinity says that one God exists in three persons, it means that God is a community of three persons in a relationship of love.
• The Father loves the Son in communion with the Holy Spirit.
• The Son loves the Father in communion with the Holy Spirit.
The Godhead is a community, a communion of three persons existing in a love relationship.
The essence of God is a relationship of love, a communion, a community which the church fathers called Trinity.
Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are a community of love. Yet they are three distinct persons. They are not the one and the same person. The Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not the Son. They are distinct and separate. God is a communion of three distinct persons different from one another.
The unity and oneness in the Godhead is not because the three persons are of the same or uniform nature. They are different, yet there is community and communion. We often think that for the sake of unity we need uniform structures, the same doctrine, the same language and culture, and all should become of one race and color.
The persons in the Trinity have distinct personhood. The fathers of the church were very eager to safeguard this distinction of persons in the Trinity and at the same time emphasize their oneness and unity. It is the love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit which creates this unity. It is not a unity of uniformity but a oneness of love, communion and fellowship of three distinctive persons.
The Greek word for communion or fellowship is koinonia.It refers to a shared reality. It means participation, partaking, sharing, fellowship and communion. Love communicates itself. The one who loves always gives herself or himself in the one who is loved. Because God exists as koinonia, a communion between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Father gives himself in the Son and the Son gives him self in the Holy Spirit. This is what the Gospel for today tells us. ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and whoever believes in him shall have eternal life’. Because of God’s love for the world, God has given himself in Jesus Christ for its salvation. What does it mean for us to believe in the triune God?
The triune God has communicated himself in Jesus Christ. By being united with Jesus Christ in faith, we share in the very life of the Trinity itself. Human beings, because of sin, are separated from God and from one another. Being united with Christ, in whom God has communicated himself to the world, we share in the very life of the Trinity, the life of a love relationship. Thatis what salvation means.
When the Bible says that we are created in the image of God, it means we are created to share in the very life of the Godhead -a relationship of love and community and communion with God and with one another. We become truly human only when we establish this relationship of love with one another. We become the image of God only when we reflect in our lives the communion and community that is in the life of the Trinity’
We are not created to be separate individuals, living for oneself alone. We are created for relationship, for community. That is what it means to be a human person. An individual is one who is isolated, self-dependent, self-centred or one whowants to do things in his or her own way, whereas a person is always a person in relationship with others, one who pre-supposes others, one who recognizes his/her dependence on others.
To be in the image of God is to be a person. In the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not three individuals but three persons in relationship and dependence. The divine community of the Trinity images for us what it meant to be a person in community.
Sin is the temptation to think that everything and everyone else exist for our individual gratification and pleasure. Whenever we succumb to such temptations, we bring death and disruption to the world and to ourselves.
In our world today, there are two continuing tendencies with regard to human life and society, collectivism and individualism. In collectivism, all exist for the sake of society; particular persons and their rights are suppressed for the sake of the collective. In individualism, the opposite is true. A former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, was once reported as saying that there is no such thing as society, only individuals and their families. In this view, we do not need a neighbor, a community, in order to be human.
The image of the trinitarian God gives us a different picture of the human person and human society. A human person is neither an individual existing for himself or herself, nor is he or she a person swallowed up in the collective. In the Godhead, three distinct persons exist in a relationship of love in community, communion and in communication. We are created to mirror this image of the Trinity in our lives, in our relationship with one another. It is to recognize that my humanity is caught up with others and inextricably bound to them.
Recently an Anglican priest in Oxford wrote:
What life have you, if you have not life together? There is no life that is not in community. And no community not lived in the praise of God
The Triune God has made this possible for us in Jesus Christ. God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have eternal life.
If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ... If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are all men most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:14-19)
This is how St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth about the resurrection of Christ. For Paul, Christ is indeed raised from the dead, the first of all who have fallen asleep. Because Christ is risen, we can receive the forgiveness of sins and the hope of new life not only in this world but also beyond this world. The Christian church everywhere confesses, ‘We believe in the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting’. The resurrection of Christ is the corner stone of Christian faith.
The belief in the resurrection, as in the virgin birth, is faced with innumerable intellectual and theological problems. Many honest people find it very difficult to accept the idea of resurrection from the dead. We need not blame them. Even though Jesus had told his disciples that he would rise again after the crucifixion, they could not understand it. They never expected Jesus to rise again. After the crucifixion they were bewildered and perplexed. They were full of doubts and disbelief. But the situation soon changed. Their encounter with the risen Lord changed the whole situation. The disciples who disbelieved, the disciples who betrayed, and those who deserted him at the time of crisis, were now forgiven by the risen Lord. They were given a new hope, and a new mission. The church traces its origin to the Easter event. It is a community which confesses the resurrection of Jesus Christ and hopes in the resurrection of the dead.
The Acts of the Apostles gives us a number of sermons preached by the first apostles. At the beginning of Acts, there is one preached by Peter on the day of Pentecost. His was a Jewish audience in Jerusalem of those who had witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus He told them:
This man, Jesus of Nazareth, whom you put to death, God raised from the dead and we are witnesses of the fact. Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.
Peter tells those who had collaborated in the death of Jesus that his resurrection from the dead meant that he had now become the Lord, which means our judge. By putting Jesus to death, the Jewish leaders thought that they were the masters and Jesus was the victim. By the resurrection of Christ, their role was now reversed, the victim had now become their Judge. Peter told them that by putting Jesus to death they were guilty of blood.
To be confronted by the risen Lord, to stand before his judgement seat, is to be reminded of our past sins. It is not to ignore or forget our past, but to remember and recollect our past -- our sins and failures, our joys and sorrows, the injustices we have done, our failure to love and serve, and our part in crucifying Jesus. Jesus was the victim of Israel. They mercilessly judged the innocent man. Now, after the resurrection, he is the judge. Before the risen Lord, there is no hide and seek and there is no cover up.
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other disciples, ‘what are we to do?’ Peter told them, ‘Repent and be baptised and receive forgiveness of sins’. The early church did not present the exaltation of the crucified Jesus as a threat to the Jews, as a punishment for their wrong doings, but as promise and hope. In the name of the risen Lord, forgiveness and healing are offered. Because Jesus is risen, he has become not only our judge in whose presence all of our life is an open book, but also the source of our forgiveness, our healing and our wholeness.
The risen Lord is the means of our transformation, our salvation. The early church preached the risen Lord as the source of the forgiveness of our sins because they experienced forgiveness and wholeness in their own life in the encounter with the risen Lord.
The Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and St. Paul mention a number of appearances of the risen Lord to different people and groups. There are certain elements common to all of them. In all the appearances the past is recollected, groups or persons are forgiven, and lives are transformed.
In the fourth Gospel there is an encounter between the risen Lord and Peter. With the crucifixion, the disciples’ hope that Jesus would establish the kingdom for Israel completely disappeared. When Peter went back to fishing, others went with him. Suddenly the risen Lord appeared to them on the shore of the lake. The disciples, at first, did not recognize that it was Jesus.
Jesus invited them to come and have breakfast. After they had finished eating, the risen Lord confronted Peter. To Peter, who had defied him three times before the crucifixion, Jesus three times puts the question, ‘Simon, son of John, will you love me more than these’. In that asking, the whole past of Peter, his boasting that he would never deny Jesus, his lack of love and faith, all are recollected and brought to his memory. By the third time Peter could stand it no longer. It is written that Peter was grieved.
If Peter was to be reinstated, he needed to meet the risen Lord just as he was, with all his past, as the one who denied Jesus and as the one who forsook him at the time of crisis. The risen Lord comes to us as our judge before he meets us as our Saviour. Peter wasgrieved. Jesus forgave him and re-established him and told him three times, ‘Feed my sheep’.
This is true also in the case of St. Paul. Paul had a very dramatic encounter with the risen Lord. Breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of Jesus, he was on his way to Damascus to take Christians prisoners. On the way he was met by the risen Lord. As he approached Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed about him, and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ Saul asked, ‘Who are you, Lord? Jesus replied, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting’. First Paul had to be shown that he was a persecutor. By persecuting Christians he was persecuting Jesus. Yet the judge is also Paul’s saviour. The risen Lord appeared to Ananias in Damascus and he came to Paul and told him, ‘The Lord who appeared to you on the road has sent me that yon may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit’. In confrontation with the risen Lord, Paul was forced to face the fact that he was a persecutor of Jesus. But the Lord also gave him his sight, filled him with the Holy Spirit and made him his chosen instrument to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.
Of all the resurrection appearances, the one which is the most beautiful and moving is the appearance to Mary Magdalene on Easter morning. In St. Paul’s account of the resurrection appearances, the appearance to Mary is not mentioned. It is also true that the appearance to Mary and other women has not received adequate importance in the church’s tradition. Perhaps it was so because, according to Jewish law, a woman’s witness in a law court was useless and women were not to be trusted.
In the synoptic Gospels Mary, with other women, went to the tomb on Easter morning. Iii the fourth Gospel Mary Magdalene went alone. Luke does not mention an appearance to Mary or to any other woman. But according to Matthew, Mark and John, it was to Mary Magdalene that the risen Lord first appeared. The fourth Gospel gives us a better account.
We do not know why exactly Mary went to the tomb that early. If it were to anoint the body of Jesus, Mary knew that the tomb was closed and there was no hope of someone rolling the stone for her. It is rather puzzling that Mary went so early to the tomb. Whatever other reason she had, there was no doubt that she went to the tomb simply drawn by the love she had for Jesus. She loved her Lord so much that she was simply waiting for the dawn to go and weep at his tomb. Only women are capable of expressing their love and affection with such intensity and sincerity. When she went, she found the stone rolled away.
Mary remained there weeping. It is interesting that Peter and John also came to the tomb and when they found that the tomb was empty, they went home. With her Lord being taken away, Mary was completely lost. She saw someone standing there. Thinking he was the gardener, Mary told him, ‘Sir if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, I will take him away’ .-Even in death she wanted to be with her Lord.
Then she heard her name being called, Mary. In that call, she remembered Jesus, all her past association with him -- Mary from whom Jesus had driven outseven demons. She remembered her past life, when she was under the control of demons, not one but seven. She remembered the day, at the house of Simon the Pharisee, she standing behind Jesus, wetting his feet with tears, and wiping them with her hair, kissing his feet and anointing them with ointment. Simon the Pharisee was very critical of Jesus and was angry, and murmured, ‘If thisman were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of a woman this is who is touching him’. But Jesus did know, and Mary knew also what sort of a woman she was. Jesus turned to Simon and said, ‘I tell you, her sins which are many are forgiven, for she loved much’.
On that Easter morning, in that tender call of the risen Lord, all her past is brought to her memory. She turned towards him, fell down and clasped his feet. In that act, a new relationship with the risen Lord was established. She became the first evangelist. She was the first witness of the risen Lord. It was she who went and told the other disciples that Jesus was risen. If the apostles were those who were the eye witnesses of the risen Lord, then Mary Magdalene was the first apostle.
We have no scientific evidence or rational proof that Jesus is risen from the dead. But the church exists because of the Easter event. From the time Mary Magdalene met the risen Lord to this day, millions and millions have heard him calling their names and have experienced forgiveness of sins and a new life. They live because he lives.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my’ blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came downfrom heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever. (John 6: 56-58)
The main purpose of the fourth Gospel is to show who Jesus is. The fourth Gospel contains a number of long discourses which Jesus had with different people: with Nicodemus, with the Samaritan woman, with the Jews, and so on. These discourses are meant to bring out the significance of the person and work of Christ.
In this Gospel, different metaphors are used to describe the person of Christ. He is the living water, the life giving water; he is the living bread, the bread which gives eternal life; he is the light of the world, the light of life; he is the good shepherd, the shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. Whether he is water, bread, light or shepherd, whatever metaphor we use, he is the true source and giver of eternal life to the individual as well as to the world. He is the source of true and authentic human existence.
Chapter six of the Gospel contains a long discourse on Jesus as the true bread. The chapter begins with the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus never neglected the physical needs of the people. He came to proclaim good news to the poor. He told them, ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied’. He felt sorry and distressed when the people were hungry and sick. He did not want to send the people away withtheir stomachs empty. He fed them with five loaves and two fishes. The entire multitude was satisfied. God provides; the resources of God are sufficient, more than sufficient, for human needs. He asked the disciples to collect the leftovers so that God’s gift may not be wasted.
The next day the crowd followed him. Jesus knew why they had come. He told them that they had come because their hunger had been satisfied by eating bread, not because they understood who it was that gave it to them. People were interested in the bread but failed to see the giver behind it.
Our failure is in worshipping the gift rather than the giver, the creature than the creator. Jesus told the people, ‘Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life’. This was the beginning of the discourse on the life-giving bread. People were fascinated to hear of a bread which gave eternal life, just as the Samaritan woman was excited to hear of the water of life. ‘Sir, give me this water so that I won’t be thirsty again’, she asked. Similarly the people asked: ‘What kind of work do we need to do to obtain the bread of life?’ Once a rich young man came to Jesus and asked: ‘What good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?’ People of all ages and all places have asked this question. Many in India, China, Europe, Australia and America are asking the question: ‘What shall we do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus’ reply to the people was that there was no need for them to work to earn eternal life. It is a free gift of God. The prophet Isaiah told Israel:
Come, all who are thirsty, come to the waters; you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and labour on what does not satisfy. (Isaiah 55: 1-2)
This is the human predicament. We labour, labour very hard, and are not satisfied. We spend money on that which is not real bread. The prophet is calling people to come and drink freely of the living water. Jesus told the people, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst’.
What is this bread that Jesus offers? Jesus said, ‘The bread which I give is my flesh, the drink which I give is my blood’. The bread which Jesus gives is himself, his own flesh and blood, his body which was broken on Golgotha for our salvation. ‘Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood’ means those who identify themselves with the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. By eating this bread they become participants in his dying and so in his risen life. Jesus went on to say, ‘He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him’. To eat his flesh and drink his blood is to abide in Christ. Jesus said: ‘I am the vine, and you are the branches. He who dwells in me, as I dwell in him, bears much fruit’.
For the fourth evangelist, to eat his flesh and drink his blood, is to believe in Jesus, to abide in him. It is to have an inter-personal relationship with Jesus. Just as the life of the vine gives life to the branches, those who abide in Jesus participate in the life of Christ.
As the evangelist was writing the discourse on the bread of life, there was no doubt that the picture of the last supper which Jesus had with his disciples was before him. During the last supper, Jesus took the cup and said, ‘Drink from it all of you. This is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’.
The Eucharist we celebrate Sunday after Sunday, the bread and the wine we partake, is a sign, an effective sign, of the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. As we partake of the Eucharist in faith, it becomes for us a means of communion with the risen Christ and his risen life. It is a means of abiding in Christ.
Jesus said: ‘The bread which I give is my own flesh; I gave it for the life of the world’. The fourth Gospel is very emphatic that Jesus Christ broke his body for the life of the whole world. So eating his flesh and drinking his blood is not simply for the sake of our personal salvation alone. It is not a private affair, but a public matter.
Jesus does not give his flesh and blood only for our personal salvation; it is also the bread and drink for a journey into the life of the world, bearing witness to eternal life in Christ. The Eucharist is the food for our missionary journey into the world for its salvation.
For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.... Lo, I have come to do thy will... And every priest stands at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifice, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God ... For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified
The letter to the Hebrews is one of the least known of New Testament writings. We do not know for sure who wrote it, to whom it was written and when it was written. The subject matter of the letter suggests the possibility that the letter was written to Jewish Christians.
The purpose of the letter is to show that Christianity is superior to Judaism. The whole letter is a contrast between Christianity and Judaism. It contrasts Moses and Jesus Christ, temple made with hands and temple made without hands, the sacrifice in the Old Testament and that in the New Testament, and priesthood in the Old Testament and the priesthood of Jesus Christ.
The whole argument is to establish the superiority of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is greater than the prophets, greater than the angels. While priesthood in the Old Testament is according to the order of Aaron, the priesthood of Jesus Christ is according to the order of Melchizedek. Salvation in the Old Testament is contrasted with that in the New Testament as a shadow to its reality. While the Old Testament is the shadow, the New Testament is the reality. While one is imperfect, the other is perfect.
The central focus of the letter is the high priesthood of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice he has performed. It should be noted that it is only in the Epistle to the Hebrews that Jesus Christ is spoken of in high priestly termsand nowhere else in the New Testament.
In almost all religions there are temples, sacrifices and priesthood. The letter to the Hebrews thinks of religion in these terms. The author interprets the person and work of Christ in terms of priesthood and sacrifice. The writer believes that blood can wash away sins and hence sacrifice is essential for the forgiveness of sins. But the question is what kind of a sacrifice? What is the real meaning of priesthood and sacrifice? These are the questions raised and answered in this letter.
In Judaism the sacrifices are only in the Jerusalem temple and not anywhere else, and the sacrifices are performed for the people of Israel. They are localized at a particular place and restricted and linked to the people of Israel. Jesus was sacrificed outside the temple, outside the gate.
Today one of the serious problems facing peace in the Middle East is the status of Jerusalem, and who controls Jerusalem. Both for the Jews and the Muslims, Jerusalem is important for the worship of God. Jesus told the Samaritan woman, ‘The hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ...’ Yet a time is coming and has come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth (John 4:21-24). Jesus has universalized the worship of God and has moved away from the central place given to temples made with hands. While the Jewish high priest enters the earthly sanctuary in Jerusalem, Jesus Christ the high priest has entered the heavenly one -- atemple made without hands.
In the Jerusalem temple there were a large number of priests. And every priest stood daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifice, which could never take away sins. To offer time after time the same sacrifice is the daily routine of priestly function. The sacrifices are repeated daily because the sins of the people still remain. ‘If the worshippers had once been cleansed, they would no longer have any consciousness of sin. ... For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.’ People began to feel the inadequacy of such sacrifices. The psalmist mentions this, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you did not desire, but burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require’.
In contrast, while the priests in the Jerusalem temple were standing and offering daily the sacrifices of bulls and goats, Jesus Christ offered for all times a single sacrifice for sills and he sat down at the right hand of God. Sat down means he has finished the task. By a single offering of himself, he has put away sins and opened for all people at all places and time the way to the throne of Grace. It is a sacrifice completed once and for all and we do not need to look for salvation elsewhere. Therefore with confidence (and not in fear) we can approach the throne of God.
What did Jesus offer? Jesus offered his own life and shed his own blood. Jesus was not only the high priest but he was also the victim. It is only by becoming a victim we become a priest. Jesus Christ is our high priest because he is the lamb that was slain for the salvation of the world.
What kind of a life did Jesus offer? Sin is disobedience to the will of God. Jesus’ life was a life of obedience. For the first time on earth the will of God is carried out fully in a human life. The letter quotes psalm 40 where it is said, ‘Here I am, I have come O God to do thy will’. Jesus was the fulfillment of the longing of the psalmist. He came to do the will of God. ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and accomplish his work.’ ‘Not my will but thine’ was the constant prayer of Jesus. ‘In obedience he accepted death, even the death on a cross.’ As St. Paul points out,‘For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous’. (Romans 5:19)
In Jesus Christ the time has come when we can worship the father in spirit and in truth. The time has come when the priesthood means a life of obedience. Christ has offered for all times a single sacrifice, for the sins of the whole world. The sacrifice which Christ offered was not that of bulls and goats, but a life lived in obedience to God. Those who experience the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ are sanctified and are also called to follow Christ in their daily life. St. Paul reminds the Christians in Rome.
I appeal to you, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship.(Romans 12:1)
