Devotional Thoughts for the Third Sunday after Soonoyo - 4th Sep 2011
Reading: From the Gospel according to St. Mathew 17: 22-27
Dear and Respected Brethren,
In the beginning of today’s reading we come across our Lord’s revelation about His death and resurrection. Lord told His beloved disciples, “The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again.” St. Matthew states that they were exceeding sorry. In fact they were not sure who would betray their master and how and why he would be betrayed. Still they were exceeding sorry. When we disobey God and move ahead against His will and purely in accordance with our own thoughts and selfish decisions, our Lord must be revealing us that our attempts are much worse than the betrayal from His own disciple.
Whenever our Lord does reveal that we are trying to betray Him, our duty and responsibility is to seek an immediate repentance. Let us make sure how many of us could turn back from the wrong ways and directions. It is to be taken so seriously by all of us. Our Lord introduced Himself as the way, life and truth. And few men tried to eradicate the truth, life and the way from the universe, but their attempt did not succeed as and when our Lord resurrected on the third day.
In the portion from verses 24 onwards we listen to the way in which tribute collectors had approached St. Peter and how he had responded to them. Our Lord uses three words which are worth listening and worth studying. 1) Children, 2) offend 3) find.
The Israelites had a feeling and faith that they were children of God Almighty. The children of the humanity were considered as the gift of God. (Genesis 33:5, Psalms 127: 128) In Psalms 34:11 we read, “Come ye children and hearken to me.” Through the incarnation of the Son of God, children of God have been converted as children of light. (St. Luke 16:8, St. John 12:36, Ephesians 5:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:5) Our Lord incarnated to grant us the abiding life with Him. When our Lord established the Holy Eucharist, for our salvation and freedom from death and Satan, He announced: “this is my flesh and this is my blood. If one would partake from this, I will live in him/her and he or she would live in me until eternity. Hence whenever one faithful might accept the Holy Communion, he or she would attain the eligibility to live in God allowing God to remain in him or her. The blessing that we attain from the Holy Sacrament of Holy Eucharist is the unique blessing of being in Him. This is the perfection of the application of the divine love. From the very moment of accepting His flesh and blood, we all are supposed to return our love to God Almighty and to our own fellowmen. Let us make sure that we are living up to the expectation of our Lord God.
Our Lord told St. Peter, “Lest we should offend them.” Our Lord dislikes the offence from any one for any reason or of any causes. Literally the term ‘offence’ means crime, anger, displeasure and sin. In St. Matthew 18:7 we all are advised to avoid offences in our lives. “Woe unto the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offences comes.” St. Paul exhorts us in 1 Corinthians 10: 32, “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, not to the Church of God.” Again in 2 Corinthians 6:3 we find “Giving no offence in anything that the ministry be not blamed.” Is there a taste for making offences in us? Let us make sure. When we might sit together for religious or social atmospheres, could we behave as real Christians as bearers of our Lord’s Love and natures? When we do attend the Parish General Body Meetings, do we think that we should not favor offences? In our private lives, let us adopt the principle that we should avoid offences of all natures.
Find is next word to think about. Our Lord told St. Peter “Go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first comes up; and when thou has opened his mouth, thou shall find a piece of money; that take and give unto them for me and thee.” Our Lord asked St. Peter to find the coin in the naturally impossible situation. St. Peter was well aware of the sea and fishes. For him a coin in the mouth of a fish was totally impossible. But as he was sure that nothing is impossible for God, he proceeded further without denying or questioning. Last Sunday we listened the Gospel starting with Ask you will be given, search you will find and knock the door will be opened for you. Our Lord was telling so to confirm that if we ask, seek and knock, we would achieve Holy Spirit in abundance. God Lord wants us to find the Holy Spirit and to retain Him in us. Let us make earnest efforts for preparing a proper and ideal place in our hearts so that we could re-instate the Holy Spirit in us. If we search with real interest and will, we will succeed in our attempts.
May God bless us.
Jose Kurian Puliyeril,
Kottayam.