Lent Day 43: Making an ass of ourself this lent

“Don’t make a fool of yourself” is something we often hear in childhood. More than the fact that we have done something wrong or foolish, it is that we have embarrassed our parents or family. It could also be that we have acted in a way which is much below our age. So don’t make a fool of yourself could also be translated as “Don’t act like a child.” Yet, Jesus asks us to do exactly that when he reminds us that unless we become like children, we won’t enter the kingdom of God.

What all would the leaders have expected of a Messiah entering Jerusalem? A huge accompaniment of soldiers, armours, weapons, priests and people. But Jesus’ entry is in stark contrast to this. He comes riding a young ass (colt/donkey), as is mentioned in St. John 12:14, “And Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it.” Nothing to be proud of and nothing to write home about. Was he making a fool of himself and the respectable society of the time?

Jesus’ entry is not triumphant if you look at it from the perspective of the Pharisees, Sadducees and other leaders. It is not a choreographed event which looks nice from the outside. It has embarrassment written all over it. But there is a crowd of disciples, children, women and men who welcome him with clothes, leaves and flowers. It is what they had and not what they had to get from somewhere.

Jesus’ act reflects several things. A leader does not have to flaunt wealth and force people to spend money on celebrations and welcomes. True celebrations are not pressured ones but which come from the heart of people. Welcomes should be done with what is locally available and, in this case, it was the ass and the leaves and flowers. Such celebrations should leave a good memory for people rather than a bitter feeling of loss of money and resources. Jesus’ entry energizes the people and upsets the leaders.

We live in a culture of appeasement and show offs. Our leaders expect great welcomes and spending of money. Chariots, decorated jeeps, latest cars, and blocked roads signify importance and power. Yet, Jesus did none of this. Perhaps his followers would have done it for him but he instructs what he wants on his entry into Jerusalem. Churches and leaders can learn humility, austerity and frugality from Jesus. Many festivals are conducted by blocking roads and disturbing people. The success of an event is measured by how far people are inconvenienced. This lent, we need to rethink this and follow the path of Jesus, seated on an ass, with minimum comforts and needs. Amen.

  

Lent Day 42: A God who weeps

Our biggest friends and biggest family are those who stand by us in difficult situations. We think that we have to provide solutions at every juncture and moment, but sometimes just standing with someone is enough. In a funeral home, our presence and touch are more valuable than anything we say. God need not always be the solution giver but can also be the one who stands by us in our most difficult moment.

Leaders are usually not expected to cry. Boys and men are also not expected to cry in our culture. This reflects mental toughness and strength. But what is the need of this façade and show? When we feel for someone or something, it is but natural to cry. There is also the fake crying by leaders whereby crying is for some gain, marketing and advantage. This is rehearsed crying and is not from the heart but from the head. It also makes people emotional but one can eventually see through it.

Weeping and crying is a disruption and sometimes even a disturbance for others. But for those who are sincere, it is a faithful expression of the heart and the mind. Even praying for those who are sick and undergoing problems, can bring tears to our eyes. There are others who have wept so much that their tears have dried up. These can also be those who then decide that they don’t want to cry anymore because others have hurt them and made them cry.

Jesus wept and he wept with the family that he was close with. Lazarus is dead and he reaches only to see a weeping Martha and Mary. Both say that the death could have been avoided if Jesus was there. Jesus goes near the tomb and weeps. The Messiah, the son of God, the liberator, weeps in front of everyone. St. John 11: 35 says, “Jesus wept.” It is another thing that Jesus tells Martha in verse 23 that her brother will rise again and in verse 43 he cries with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” But the most significant thing in this narrative is that Jesus wept along with the family he loved. Our tears are as powerful as our prayers and actions. This passion week, may we join hands with our Lord and weep as he wept for the poor and suffering. Amen.

Lent Day 36: I am the man

We would all like to be the person who is the apple of someone’s eye. The one who everyone likes and looks up to. The person who would be the center of attraction. But with stardom also comes loss of freedom and the relentless disturbance of the paparazzi. Which is why we would like to be known but once that happens, we would like to be unknown! The weight of popularity is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Being in the limelight and not being able to handle it is what winners of lotteries realize. In a day their life turns upside down. They lose their privacy, relationships and make lots of enemies. What they think is a blessing, soon turns into a curse. There are the rare people who know how to handle unexpected riches. There are also those who know how to handle fame.

In St. John 9, Jesus heals a blind man. The people recognize the healed man as the one who used to sit and beg. While some said that this is that man, others said that it is someone who looks like him. Finally in verse 9, he says, “I am the man.” The healed man takes upon himself the attention and popularity he is going to receive. Perhaps he was also weary of the criticism he would get but does not allow that to deter him.

What follows is an open trial by the people and the Pharisees. His parents are also not spared. They then say that their son is old enough to speak for himself. The Pharisees try to extract something from the parents or the man so that they can use it against Jesus. He learns how to handle fame and criticism. He answers their question of whether Jesus is a sinner by saying in verse 25, “Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

This lent is a time to be called by God, touched and healed by God and transformed by God. It is also a time to speak boldly, with the power of the Holy Spirit. It is to realize and say that I am the one and to speak as to what has come about in us with the transformation brought forth by God. Amen.  

Lent Day 25: Mid Lent- The cross of dignity, love and hope

Everyone goes to church to feel at peace and to set down the burdens one feels. The church community can become a great place if people greet, meet and speak with care and compassion. But that is easier said than done. Which could be the reason why people feel more comfortable to go to church when there is no service and crowd. It may be to escape the intrusive gaze of someone standing near. I have seen so many people sitting in church, at peace and looking happy. Some also stare at a picture, an icon and have a silent conversation with God. It also challenges priests to work on their ministry and dealings with those who come to church. 

A church always needs to provide hope to the priest and the people. Anyone who walks in with drooped shoulders should go out head up and confident. St. John 3: 14-15 says, “ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Today is mid lent, the 25th day of lent, in some of the traditions. The challenge of lent is that there are some who faithfully observe lent but then fall into the trap of pride and the feeling that the observers of lent are better than the others. We also have those who haven’t observed lent and feel that it means they won’t be accepted by God. When for one group mid lent means that they have accomplished something, for the other group it means that they are out of the picture and are sinners who won’t qualify for the grace and mercy of God. 

Today in some traditions, a cross is mounted on a stand which signifies the bronze snake mounted on a pole by Moses and the mounting of Jesus Christ our Lord as hope and liberation for all of us. We can either look at the cross with guilt and pain that we have let down Jesus or we can look at the cross with hope, with courage and a mind which says that we won’t give up no matter what. People are encouraged to kiss the cross as soon as they enter the church. As we pay homage and bow with humility it is also a strengthening of our mind and body. There needs to be a communication with the cross and a belief that the cross will not let us down, because it stands for our Lord Jesus. Even on the cross, Jesus will not let us down, because he is the resurrected Lord, the chief priest and prince of peace. 

Churches have symbols and icons which take us closer to God. At no point should we worship the particular picture or icon but worship the God that it points to. The cross in church points to our Lord who gave up his life on the cross for us. It is at the same time heart breaking and heartening that someone gave up his life for us. Would anyone give up their life and dreams for us? Even our parents, siblings, partner, children, friends, family? Perhaps they will do it but there will be a limit to it. But Christ’s love is limitless. 

Who would accept us as we are? Without our money, family name, fame? Who would love us to the point of bringing us to tears and a complete turn around? We should rely on the cross and also lead our family, friends and children to the cross. We won’t be able to love others unconditionally because we are always weighed down by culture, expectations and fear. The cross mounted in church today is beyond all this, because it showcases our Lord Jesus, who treats us with dignity, showers us with unconditional love and offers us limitless hope. Amen.

Lent Day 7: ‘Go’ as a word of assurance

Covid was a hard time for all of us. The vaccine and the boosters and the booking online and then the big wait. What was first available in private hospitals were then only available in government hospitals and primary health centers. This then brought about huge queues and uncertainties. Every day became a lottery and people were on their toes. I remember going for my first booster. The first vaccine went well but the second was not so. Searching in vain online and then going to various centers from morning did not give much dividend.

One Saturday the usual search ended in a center a few kilometers from home. But on arrival I figured that there were so many people that getting a vaccine was next to impossible. That was when a friend called and informed that there were vaccines in a place nearby. But we had to rush and there was no assurance that we would get vaccinated. Nevertheless, we rushed to the place but realized that many others had also come. I didn’t want to be rude to the others and so told my wife that we would try our luck another day.

This was when a person standing there held my arm and said, “go!” I was like “that is exactly what I am doing. You don’t have to shout at me.” But I didn’t tell him that. This was when he again held my arm and pointed to a hall and said “go.” I didn’t exactly know what he meant and yet I took my wife and went to the hall he was pointing to. Upon reaching there I realized that they were giving vaccinations there but the other guy could not make a general announcement as he wanted to avoid a rush and the confusion which follows. I also realized that my friend had called him and said that I was coming. He kind of recognized me.

One moment I was thinking that the vaccination would remain a dream and not only did I lose valuable time but I also wasted the time of my wife and we also had to get food for my mother and daughter. The disappointment of having to hear ‘go’, which almost sounded like a ‘get out of here’ immediately turned into relief and joy when I understood what it really meant. In St. John 4: 46-49 we read of an official who begs Jesus to come and heal his son who was at the point of death. In verse 50, Jesus says, “Go; your son will live.” Even though it is written that the man believed Jesus and went his way, he asks his servants when the fever left his son and then he realizes that it was the same time that Jesus told him so. Then it says that he and his household believed, which means, believed in Jesus.

The “Go; your son will live”, must have sounded as a death bell for his son and yet that is not what happens. Jesus sends him on his way, knowing that the son is healed and saved. This lent, we have to first of all believe the “go your way” voice of God. And secondly, we have to offer the assuring voice of go, go in peace, go your way, and go in belief to others. This is not a sending away to nothing but a sending on to everything.  

This season of lent should give us this assurance. That God will not send us away empty handed, disappointed and without hope but that God will bless us immensely and fulfil our needs and fill us with hope. Amen. 

Challenge the accusation of sin this lent

St. Mark 2:1-12

The story of the paralytic is a story of the faith of a group of people and not one person. Many of Jesus’ miracles were performed when the person healed had faith in the ability of Jesus. But in this story that we read the faith is of a group of four who break through the roof and lower down the paralytic into the presence of Jesus. Usually we look up at God. In this case we find four people and the paralytic looking down at God for a miracle.

During lent we do kneel and pray and feel that we are lifted up into the presence of God. But we fail many a time to feel and see the presence of God in our midst. Why do we put God up there when God can very well be here with us? The verses following the story of the paralytic stress this point. In verse 17 Jesus says “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” He defends the fact that his disciples don’t fast and finally says in verse 27 “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for sabbath.” Jesus is questioning ritualistic fasting.

We have the habit of raising ourselves into the presence of God without actually checking whether God is up there or down here. Jesus suggests that he is with his people and not far away from them. We can perhaps put it this way. Jesus stands for his people and he comes to earth for them. The people are not created for Jesus. The scribes who were also in the house where Jesus was sitting were perhaps looking up and therefore could not experience the power of Jesus. They simply could not fathom God in their midst.

The paralytic does not get space to reach Jesus. His friends think different and reach down to Jesus instead of reaching up to him. Their faith is also a turning around of the usual into the unusual. It is different from all others present there. This is what makes Jesus notice them with the paralytic. Jesus then says that the paralytic’s sins are forgiven. But why did he say that? Did he say that because he also like others associated disease with sin? In another case Jesus answers his disciples that someone is blind so that God’s name will be glorified and not because of the sin of his parents or anyone else. St. John 9:3 says “Jesus answered, “Neither this man not his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” So Jesus may have talked of forgiving the man’s sins because he was talking to the scribes present there. The paralytic cannot pass the crowd and come to Jesus because society does not let him pass in his accused sinfulness. So his friends go up and bring him down to Jesus. The paralytic comes down to Jesus.

Lent is a time to come down. But how liberating it is to come down and find Jesus? It is not lonely here. Rather in our coming down we find Jesus. The paralytic and his friends cross the barrier of the crowd. But they reach on top of the house where it is lonely and Godless. They then break through the roof and come down to Jesus. Lent should not just be an over the top, over the roof experience but an experience which leads us down to Jesus. We must break through the roof and come down. Jesus is always with the people and not unreachable up there. It also reminds us that we must not judge others and call others as sinners as Jesus refrains from doing that. Lent is rather a time when we should realise that Jesus, the son of God humbled himself to be with the people. We should do the same. We must not go through the roof and set ourselves up there through the ritualistic purity we think we attain. Rather we should look at Jesus’ association with ordinary people who are termed as sinners by the society. Jesus’ fasting is to challenge the notion of sin and the labelling of people as sinners.

This lent we can also do the same. There are many people in the world who have the burden of being called a sinner by others. The lent should make us strong to take upon this accusation upon ourselves. Jesus does not heal from a height. Rather Jesus shoulders the burden of sin accused upon the paralytic. He tries to set the scribes and Pharisees free out of their notion of sin. Jesus looks up not for a blessing but to carry someone’s burden and lead to a blessing. May we be a blessing to someone this lent and carry the burden of sin for someone accused of being a sinner wrongly. Amen.