Arulvakku

21.11.10 KING

Posted under Reflections on November 24th, 2010 by
  The people stood by and watched; the rulers, meanwhile, sneered at him and said, "He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God."  Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, "If you are King of the Jews, save yourself."  Above him there was an inscription that read, "This is the King of the Jews." Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us."  The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Lk 23:35-43)

 

 

The people and the soldiers who watched him on the cross sneered at him and jeered at him. They also made comments on him saying ‘he saved others’ , and ‘if you are the king of the Jews’ etc. Some believed him to be a king because he was doing the work of a king (saving people) others fooled him with the idea that he was the king.

 

His public ministry was one of proclaiming the kingdom. He was also doing the activities of the kingdom. His word and deeds were of the kingdom. But he never claimed himself to be a king. His entry into Jerusalem on a donkey was a symbolic action (like king David) but he never claimed to be one. Even when Pilot asked him ‘are you the king of the Jews his reply was they are your words.

 

His reply to the criminal was ‘today you will be with me in Paradise’. This reply speaks of his activity of saving people. This also shows the kingdom that he was talking about was about the kingdom of God. The cross on which he was nailed was his throne and his death was the saving act and he is a king.

20.11.10 GOD OF THE LIVING

Posted under Reflections on November 19th, 2010 by

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to him, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, 'If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.' Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second  and the third married her, …

That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called 'Lord' the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."  Some of the scribes said in reply, "Teacher, you have answered well." And they no longer dared to ask him anything. (Lk 20:27-40)

 

 

Moses wrote rules and regulations for earthly living. His writings were guidelines as to how to live a peaceful, helpful life in a family and in a society. These rules were not for life after death. Moses would not have known about the life after death and he never meant to write rules for a life after death. His rules could not be applied for a life after death.

 

Moses also wrote about God and he wrote only what he received in revelation. It was not the result of his investigation or his search or research. It was purely a revelation. And the revelation was that God was a God of the living and not of the dead. In God all are alive and the dead are not in him.

 

‘Life in God’ be it in this world or in the next, is totally a different thing. Our human mind cannot understand the things of the other world. We cannot impose the system of this world into the next and expect that we will so. There is no giving in marriage or getting married in the next life. What we will be or how we will be in the next world is known only to God. But we are sure that we will be in God. It is a ‘life in God’ and this God is the God of the living. 

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