2nd Sunday after denaha - 18th Jan 09

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Reading: From the Gospel according to St. John 1: 43-51

Dear and Respected Brethren,

Today's reading starts with the saying, "The following day….." The nature of the statement makes us to see what happened on the previous day and it necessitates us to read from verses 35. When we might do so, we find the confession of St. John the Baptist about our Lord and Savior, "Behold the Lamb of God". Hearing this two of his disciples followed Lord Jesus and one among them was St. Andrews. After a day's stay with the savior, Andrews realized that our Lord is Christ and he brought his own elder brother Simon too to our Lord and our Lord renamed Simon as Peter. These are incidents happened on the previous day.

In the beginning of today's reading we find Philip, a native of the neighborhood of Peter and Andrew, being invited to be a disciple of the savior of the entire mankind and the universe. Our Lord uttered only 'follow me' and all those who were addressed could follow Him blissfully. Let us think what is meant by the term 'follow'. The first alphabet 'f' stands for Faith. St. Andrew and his companion had the faith that Lord Jesus was the Savior for whom generations after generations were looking forward with great thrill and enthusiasm. Faith is an unavoidable requirement for one and all and the entire trust and faith must be with the one whom we are following. The next alphabet 'o' is standing for the obedience. In fact many of us do not possess this quality. Our forefathers were always cautious about the need of possessing this quality and unfortunately we all miss it or fail in maintaining this quality in our daily lives. Let us try to indulge this quality in our routine lives. The first 'l' is standing for Logos, which incarnated from St. Mary the blessed virgin. Holy Bible which is revered as the word of God is the logos revealed. We often ignore the logos incarnate as well as the logos revealed. The holy liturgy of the Holy Eucharist, which stands for the logos incarnate, is full of logos revealed. Until recently it was a practice among our people to read and meditate the Holy Bible. If someone has lost this habit must re-instate the same in the routine. The next 'l' is standing for 'love'. We all believe and confess that God is love. In the first epistle of St. John 4:16 we read 'God is Love'. It is needless to say that the world came to know that God is love when the word of God incarnated. In 1st Corinthians Chapter 13 we find the qualities of the real love. We must uphold all these qualities. The next 'O' is standing for the orthodox. When we refer to faith, we say Orthodox faith which is meant to be the teaching of Lord Jesus Christ, without addition or deduction. The next alphabet 'w' is standing for witnessing. We all are supposed to be the real witnesses of our Lord and Savior. In the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles we hear our Lord exhorting us to be His witnesses all over the world. God has enabled the children of the Malankara Orthodox Church to be in all nooks and different corners of the world. It is our obligation to witness Him where we are, though our lives, words and deeds. In short we are supposed to be the faithful, obedient, caring and carrying the Logos with love in the Orthodox style and to be witnesses of our Lord God.

We listen in today's reading that St. Philip was able to attract Nathaniel, after convincing him that Jesus is Christ the Lord. Let us think whether we were able to attract anyone to our Lord. Let us pray to Him who has called us to strengthen us to witness Him as He expects from each and every one of us. If so our Lord would say about us all "in deed in him/her there is no guilt". Let us examine our own lives and see what all sins are dominating our minds and hearts. Let us seek forgiveness for all our sins and take a firm decision not to be a slave of the sin or Satan, along with a meaningful repentance. We often attempt to express our affection to our God when and where we might get some or the other unforeseen favors from God Almighty. When our Lord told the details about Nathaniel, which he never expected, he was much moved in excitement. He said "Rabbi you are the son of God and the king of Israel". Our Lord's instant reply is thought provoking. "You believed because I told you that I saw you when you were under the fig tree. In fact you will see much greater things." Again he said, "Hereafter you shall see Heaven open and Angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man."

During the Holy Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, we could witness this sight, if we remain with little more alertness. The Holy Spirit will indwell upon the submitted mysteries and on the same occasion, the angels would be accompanying the Holy Spirit. The angels would be ascending and descending upon the Holy mysteries, which in turn becomes the flesh and blood of the 'Son of Man' by the Grace of God Almighty. We all are permitted to witness the glorious and elegant scene. We must give priority to attend the Holy Sacraments with more care, attention and interest.

May God bless us all to have a more meaningful and blessed Christian lives.

Jose Kurian Puliyeril.