Breaking the Word

GOSPEL READING: LUKE 13:22-30

The question about how many will be saved is not answered directly by Jesus. He does not give statistics and figures to satisfy human inquisitiveness. He gives a stern warning. He is going about his mission of bringing in the kingdom. He has let the door of the kingdom open for entry. But one day the door will be shut.

The Jews were against the Gentiles and they were sure that the Gentiles would not be saved. To them Jesus said that the people from east and west and north and south would enter the kingdom before them. There is no automatic privilege for anyone. All are under the grace of God.

எத்தனைபேர் மீட்க்கப்படுவார்கள் என்ற கேள்விக்கு பதில் கொடுக்காத இயேசு யார் எல்லாம் மீட்க்கப்படுவார்கள் என்று கூறுகிறார். மீட்பு என்பது ஒருவரது உரிமை அல்ல மாறாக அது இறைவனின் அருள் ஒரு கொடை.

GOSPEL READING: Mt 23:1-12

The scribes and Pharisees are leaders. As leaders they present the crowds with lots of rules, regulations, and traditions. But they themselves do not practice those rules etc. They multiply external practices. They believed that the external practices will reveal the internal dispositions. But in their cases the externals only revealed the internal pretentions.

Followers of Jesus should all be brothers. They should all belong to one family to which God is the only father and they do not impose rules on others and play the role of a master. There is only one teacher and that is Jesus the Messiah. Service is the only way to express all these. Service to the other is the only thing that links the followers of Jesus with one another.

ஒருவருக்கொருவர் பணிசெய்வதே சீடருக்கான அடையாளம். சட்டங்கள் ஒழுங்குகள் சீடத்துவத்திற்கான அடையாளம் அல்ல.