Spring of Hope

Jesus called four fishermen to take up an adventure for a journey that would become a story bigger than themselves. Fishermen are not highly educated or eloquent and many are probably introverts. They work hard in very difficult conditions where they have to face fierce waves and storms. They are persistent and patient, hardworking and action oriented. They never know what a new day is going to be like. They take chances everyday. They would not be detracted by a bad catch of the previous day, rather they put their hopes in the next day. The ministry of Jesus requires opening our lives from an inward looking perspective to an outward looking vision. All of us have heard or will hear God's call to take up adventures like Abraham, Moses, David and many others. Dictionary meaning of the word adventure is 'taking up unkown risk'. It might be a chance to go somewhere, stand up for something or work in a place. In the parable of the laborers in the vinyard (Matthew 20), the ...

Matthew chapter5 teaches the beatitudes, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God". Being poor in spirit is not taking vows of poverty, instead it is a condition of the heart. According to Matthew Henry's Bible commentary, “the poverty of spirit is a gracious disposition of the soul, by which we are emptied of self, in order to our being filled with God”. In Luke Chapter 4, the Lord Jesus read from the Book of Isaiah (Chapter 61) while he was in the temple that gives us a deeper insight into this beatitude. "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free and proclaim the year of Jubilee (acceptable year of the Lord)”. After Israel conquered Canaan, the land was assigned to Israel’s clans and families as described in Numbers 26 and Joshua 15-22. The land was never to be sold in...

In the first few verses of Matthew Chapter 5 we see 'the beatitudes' that portray the character of a person. These are being poor in spirit, being meek in heart, being peace makers and so on. Jesus then teaches the hearers of beatitudes to become influencers of the world by becoming 'the salt and the light'. These are called 'simlitudes', a word that comes from the word ‘similar’. If we put beatitudes together with similitudes, we can see that 'out of our character emerges influence'. The early church was greatly shaped by the beatitudes and the similitudes. We all make influence in the world during and after our lives. We are also being influenced by the people who have lived and died before us. Salt has some very interesting history. It was highly valued and was used as a method of trade and currency. Historians report that Ceasar's soldiers were paid salary by means of salt. The word used for that practice is called 'salarium' from w...

A restaurant in Las Vegas called 'Heart Attack Grill' came on the news when a customer had a heart attack while eating in the restaurant. People weighing over 350 pounds can eat free there. The menu lists 'triple bypass' burger and 'quadruple bypass' burger with a slogan that says "taste worth dying for." After dinner, you will be taken to your car in a wheel chair by waitresses who are dressed in nurse uniforms. We may not like to eat at the Heart Attack Grill, but we may sail too close to the wind many times. 'Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food' was a slogan used by the teachers in Corinth (1 Cor 6:13). They believed that the body is going to perish one day and so you may do anything to gratify the body. Paul is trying to direct them to a more healthy and expedient way of life by giving them a new and radically different slogan: "The body is for God and God is for the body." Though the body is perishable, God w...

The Star of Bethlehem, or Christmas Star, appears only in the Gospel of Matthew (Chapter 2). We are used to hearing the stories and songs that depict a star 'westward leading still proceeding' that gives a picture of the star going from East to West as a group of men followed. A closer reading of the passage says otherwise. The Magi had already arrived at the palace in Jerusalem when Matthew starts the story. They told King Herod, “we saw his star in the east.” The Greek text here translates that into: "we saw his star rising in the East." They were astrologers who studied the plaentary movements and by some calculations connected such movements with events. These gentile people had seen an unusual new star in the sky and pursued the search for the meaning, while the religious leaders and King Herod missed the Messiah entirely! We too may miss the message in the midst of our busy schedules. The precious may go unnoticed in the heap of the worthless. In the midst ...