Lent Is A Journey Of Knowing Jesus, And The Truth Will Set You Free

Jesus has a complaint and he protests (John 8: 21-30); Jesus is saddened and disturbed because the people neither know Him, nor knew the Father who sent Him, nor the fact that He is doing His Father’s will.

The Jews expected a messiah like, king David, king Cyrus, etc. but Jesus was not only in keeping with their expectation of the messiah but also unholy. In Mark 14 we find Jesus dining with a leper called Simon in Bethany. The Torah condemns a leper as an unholy person, and those who come in contact with him.

The task is to know the truth about Jesus, our God, and what is the Will of his father that he is trying to carry out. Perhaps there is no other text so close to the identity of Jesus as Philippians 2: 6-11. It is written before the gospels were written. The Letter to the Philippians, along with Paul's other letters, was written before the Gospels, with scholars generally placing Paul's letters in the 50s CE and the Gospels in the 70s-100s CE. It is a hymn that the first Christians sang. It is the oral tradition of those who lived with Jesus; it is what they saw and experienced.

Every line of this hymn makes Jesus more despicable and abominable than the previous. 1. He did not count equality with God, 2. He emptied himself, 3. Took the form of a slave, 4. Gave into death, death on a cross. To know Jesus our God this way is a serious paradigm shifting process; for them then, and for us now.

In the gospel of Mark there are two mountains: mount Tabor and mount Calvary. On mount Tabor there were three people: Jesus, Elijah, and Moses. There was glory, there was comfort, and the voice came from heaven, “this is my beloved son, listen to him” (Mark 9:2-13). Mount Calvary had three people: Jesus and two thieves. There was blood, sweat, and discomfort. The voice comes from below, the centurion said, “Truly this man was the son of God” (Mark 15: 39). Jesus’ powerlessness is his power. His foolishness is his wisdom. Jesus is a squire-circle. We like the disciples and the people of that time are stuck and trapped on mount Tabor.

Our god is a God of wounds; as Christians where are our wounds? Our god is a god who embraces vulnerability, as Christians how comfortable are we with vulnerabilities and the vulnerable? With the power, glory, and pompous that we the Jews expected, and we experience in the church, we are far from the Truth, and the Truth setting us free.

Comments

New Year, New Beginning

The past year was different to different people. Some of us were very successful, won every battle we fought. Some others of us did not win every battle that we fought, might have found difficult even to get up from bed everyday, we just survived. But for both it is a new year. For those very successful, it is time to stand on the ground and not be overconfident, complacent, arrogant and egoistic. And it is also time to give back. And for those of us not very successful we have another new year with 365 blank pages, 365 blank days. It is a fresh new beginning. Start your dream and go all the way. “There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth—not going all the way, and not starting”, said Buddha. Every New Year tells that we cannot eternally postpone important things in our lives. We must begin somewhere. How many lives do we have on this earth? One, two, three, four, or more? One of the foremost thinkers and philosophers of China, Confucius, four centuries before ...

2025 Must Create Its Own Art

People are afraid of art, because real art brings the question and the answer into your house. Tonight’s art becomes inadequate and useless when the sun rises in the morning. The mistake lies not in creating art for tonight, but in assuming tonight’s answers will serve tomorrow’s questions. Louise Bourgeois, a French American artist, reflected, “art is a guaranty of sanity;” but that guarantee must be renewed with each dawn, each cultural shift, and each evolution of human consciousness. If some art endures through generations, it is only because of its capacity to speak, its ability to demand fresh interpretations that test and challenge the new. To guarantee sanity in the coming year, 2025 must create its own art. Why create art? Why watch art? Why read literature? True art, in the words of Sunil P Ilayidam, shakes that which is rigid and unchangeable. Art serves as humanity’s persistent earthquake, destabilising comfortable certainties and creating space for new ways of...

Inter-religious Sensitivity in the Time of Covid-19

I was religiously pleased and humanly excited to read the story of a Hindu doctor reciting Kalima Shahada for a dying Muslim Covid patient in Kerala. Beevathu, 56 year old, was all isolated from her family in a covid ward. She had been there for 17 days, she was on a ventilator, and it was increasingly clear that there was no hope. After the consent from her family she was taken off from the ventilator. Beevathu lies there between life and death. Nothing more to happen. But like any good dying Muslim, she perhaps wanted to hear the Kalima Shahada (the Islamic oath of faith) to be chanted to her by one of her family members; but there was none, the situation made it so. Dr. Rekha, a Hindu doctor, was attending to her all these days. She knew what was happening, and she also knew what was not happening. Dr. Rekha knew the words of Kalima Shahada , thanks to her upbringing in UAE. She went close to Beevathu’s bed chanted into her ears, “ La ilaha illallah Muhammadur rasulullah...

Human Empowerment Vs Technological Determinism

This article, Seeking truth in a barrage of biases , presents an inspiring call to action for maintaining our intellectual autonomy in the digital age. Written by J Jehoson Jiresh, it addresses the critical challenge of navigating through algorithmic biases and misinformation while offering hope and practical solutions. The author beautifully frames our modern predicament - how even a simple online search for running shoes can shape our digital landscape - and transforms this everyday observation into a powerful message about reclaiming our agency in the digital world. What's particularly inspiring is the article's emphasis on human empowerment rather than technological determinism. The article presents three key strategies for hope and change: Active critical engagement to question assumptions and challenge biases Seeking diverse perspectives to break free from our echo chambers Demanding transparency and accountability in algorithmic systems Most uplifting is the article...

Fine Ways of Disregarding Vital Issues

Observing the preoccupations of Pharisees, scribes and religious leaders of his time (Mark 7: 1-23) Jesus commended that they have fine ways of disregarding the commandments of God in order to maintain human traditions and interests. They put aside weightier matters to uphold human decrees. In modern politics we hear the jargon, ‘politics of distraction’. In a country of mass illiteracy and unemployment, farmers’ suicide, etc. politicians and other key people divert public attention by discussing building temples, girls wearing hijab to college, etc. Noam Chomsky, an American social commentator says, “The key element of social control is the strategy of distraction that is to divert public attention from important issues and changes decided by political and economic elites, through the technique of flood or flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information.” The corrupt politicians must have learned this strategy from the pickpockets (or is it visa versa): they di...

Religion Must Help Greater Acceptance And Not Control

What if you see people who never came to your church or never were part of the universal Church found with God; forgiven by god, loved by god, helped by god, and even pampered by god? Our average human spirit and mind will feel a bit of discomfort and repulsion. That exactly is what is happening with apostle John in Mark 9: 38-41. Membership in a religion in many phases in history, and religious practices like praying, church-going etc. has become tools and means of exercising superiority and control over others, or it becomes a means to exclude people. In the name of religion and religious practices we take control of what can be done, who can do it, what is good and bad, what is moral and what is immoral. This approach creates an exclusive moral, good, pure, and authentic race or people or group. We keep doing it as individuals and institutions for the fear of losing control over others. And that is the end of humanity. Stopping others from doing good comes from a sickening clo...

Awesomeness Vs. Negativity

Some people are awesome. You know them by their presence. They bring happiness wherever they go. They stand with those who do good. They promote and recognise others’ thoughts and contribution. They appreciate people. They attempt to find answers and solutions to questions and problems. Others doing better and bigger things do not threaten or make them insecure. The opposite of awesomeness in social conduct is negativity. Stay away from people who have a question for every answer; and has a problem with every solution you find. Jesus went around doing good in every possible manner: he healed the sick, he fed the hungry. The Pharisees definitely felt threatened and insecure. They try to act out their authority (Mark 8:11-13); and asked Jesus for a heavenly sign. Jesus’ mind and ministry did not get stuck in the negativities around him. He did not get sucked into the drama the Pharisees were staging. He sighed and got on to the other shore. There he continued to do good. Jesus giv...

Zacchaeus’ Last Will

Zacchaeus, as we know, was a chief tax collector and a rich man (Luke 19: 1-10). He, as any tax collectors of his time would do, used to collect much more than due, even by force and violence. Now we might say, in a very self-justifying manner, that I am not a tax collector, thus this gospel does not concern my life and me. The figures of a survey done on taxes; taxpayers and tax collectors could be quite embarrassing. 72% people do not pay taxes fully or partially. They cheat the country and the government. 26% of people pay the full tax, not because they love their country and its development but because of fear of being caught and punished; they are in a search of completely safe ways of evading taxes. The rest 2% are involved in collecting taxes. They cheat the country and people by collecting more and not correctly accounting for it. That leaves us with a 100% of ‘Zacchaeuses’ in our societies. Thus most of us stand in need of salvation for our families and ourselves. Zacchae...

Great Teachers Create Vocal Students

Picture a classroom where questions are met with impatience, where unique perspectives are dismissed, where vulnerable thoughts are cut short. Gradually, hands stop rising, eyes avoid contact, and the once-vibrant space becomes a vacuum of missed opportunities and untapped potential. This silence is not respect—it is retreat, it is a silent protest, and it is dissent. When teachers fail to listen, they unwittingly construct invisible barriers. Students quickly sense when their contributions hold no value, when their voices are merely tolerated rather than treasured. The natural response is self-preservation through silence. Why risk sharing when no one is truly receiving? This silent classroom is a warning sign. A teacher who does not listen will soon be surrounded by students who do not speak. Andy Stanley has spoken about it on leadership, "a leader who does not listen will gradually be surrounded by people who do not speak." It is true in every field, including educatio...

SPRINGBOARDS and WALKING STICKS

Search This Blog