Breaking the Word

GOSPEL READING: MATTHEW 18:1-5.10.12-14

As the disciples asked Jesus about the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, I wonder what would have been their expectation as a reply from Jesus. Certainly they did not expect the child to be brought in front. Their expectation would have been coloured by their idea of religion and society. But Jesus surprised them all.

The qualities of child are preferable in the kingdom than all the religious maturity etc. Similar to this idea Jesus also presented the idea of the lost sheep. The sheep is lost because of its simplicity and the child like quality perhaps. As the sheep needs the shepherd to search for it so too the child and the would be members of the kingdom.

சிறு பிள்ளைகளின் மனநிலையே சிறந்தது. வயதின் முதிர்ச்சியோ அனுபவங்களின் தொகுப்போ உறவுகளின் எண்ணிக்கையோ ஒருவரை இறையாட்சியில் சேர்த்துவிடாது.

GOSPEL READING: MATTHEW 17:22-27

Jesus was asked to pay the temple tax. Every Jew, from all over the world, was supposed to pay the temple tax (one day’s wage) to help to support the temple in Jerusalem. This was an irritant for every Jew. Jesus himself has expressed it in a little way.

Then how did Jesus, who chased out the money changers and those who sold things in the temple area, asked Peter to pay the temple tax? Jesus waited for an opportune time. He was a master strategist. He was himself, as he told his disciples to be, as wise as the serpent (Mt 10:16).

இயேசுவும் சுங்கவரி தலைவரி செலுத்த வேண்டிய நிலை வருகிறது. ஒவ்வொரு யூதனுடைய கடமையாகும். இதே இயேசு கோவிலில் வரிதண்டுபவர்களை விரட்டுகிறார். ஏன்? சரியான காலம் வரும்வரை காத்தருக்கிறார்.