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Faith that Draws

The modern preachers (especially those ones on the TV) have popularized a particular version of ‘faith.’ According to them we need faith in order to God to do miracles. Some of them even tend to preach that the miracles are proportionate to the size of ones’ faith. This is often implied in expressions like ‘level of faith’ etc that we often hear on the TV. In this popular conception ‘faith’ is portrayed as something that triggers God’s power. Unless we exercise our faith we cannot receive God’s power through miracles. Doesn’t this imply that the omnipotent God is helpless to do a miracle for us! Certain stories in the Bible are used to support these positions. Often quoted is the faith of the woman suffering with a flow of blood who received her healing by touching Jesus’ garments secretly (Mark 5:24-34). The faith of the centurion is also often cited (Matthew 8:5-13). He received a miracle because he ‘exercised’ his faith. Often times preachers quote Jesus’ statement to the wom

Fathers' Day Surprise

I stared at that bouquet of flowers handed over to me feeling little uneasy. It was Fathers’ Day and I was reminded of it early in the morning by my two children who had wished me already before I went to church. In my church I have made it a policy that we will pray for fathers on Fathers’ Day and mothers on Mothers’ day in the church but will not have any celebration of such days on Sundays. My reason is simple. Nowadays, almost every day is ‘some day’ and it distracts our attention from the real business that we are supposed to do on Sunday: the Lord’s Day. I don’t encourage celebration of such days to make sure these celebrations do not eclipse the day that is of paramount importance: the Lord’s Day. However, one of the youth took the initiative to buy a bouquet of flowers and when I had said the benediction at the end of the service, shot in front of the pulpit with the flowers saying, ‘today is Fathers’ Day. And we would like to honor our pastor who is our spiritual f

Treading Dreaded Paths

We all love to tread paths that are well-trod. However, Jesus was different. He trod paths people dread to tread. In most cases Jesus healed people by his word, without touching their body or the affected area. However, there were some exceptions. in the case of the deaf and the dumb man he touched his ears and his lips (Mark 7:33). In another case be touched the eyes of a blind man to heal him (John 9:7). These except in most of the cases the people touched him and were healed or he commanded the sickness or demons to go or pronounced healing. However, he deviated from this in some cases. In the case of lepers he touched them to heal them (Mark 1:41). In the case of the dead he touched the bier or the dead body and raised them. In the case of the son of the widow who was dead and was being taken to the graveyard. He stopped them, touched the bier and the young man sprang up to life (Luke 7:14). In the case of the daughter of Jairus he held the hand of the dead body

The Demon in the Synagogue: The Power of the Word of God

The synagogue is the place where the Jews worshiped their God. But do you know that the first exorcism that Jesus performed was in a synagogue? It sounds paradoxical: casting out demons in the house of God! In the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark it says that ‘ there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit’ (Mark 1:23). How can a demon-possessed survive in a religious place as a synagogue? Why nobody dealt with this evil-spirit in the synagogue until Jesus walked in? Probably he appeared perfectly normal so that nobody knew he was a demoniac? Or did they just let him be there since they were not able to do anything about it? This story tells us three things about the nature of demon-possessed people. 1. First, they may look and behave like normal people. 2. Don’t expect to find them only in weird places like grave yards, dark gullies of down town areas, or mental asylums. 3. They can look very n

Salt of the Earth

When Jesus said, 'You are the salt of the earth' (Matthew 5:13) he was reminding his followers of their inescapable responsibility. They are not called to 'be salt' or 'to become salt' but they 'are' salt. Thus the options are limited to just one: losing the saltiness and becoming salt without taste. Salt is a universally understood symbol. Salt is used from time immemorial for purification, preservation and to make food palatable. Salt can preserve anything from humble lime to the mummies of great Pharaohs. Egyptians stuffed the bellies of the dead bodies with salt to remove the water and other liquids from the body. Then they applied salt along with other chemicals to preserve the corpses for millennia. Cooks all over the world add salt to food to make it palatable. 'Salt to taste' is that line which is so common in all recipes. Jesus

The non-threatening, approachable King

In the events associated with the birth and infancy of Jesus we hear the unique message that he has for the world then and now. Christmas decorations depicting the Baby Jesus in a manger are integral part of the displays during the season. It is a reminder that God comes to the human race in the most non-threatening way, in the form of an infant. Jesus Christ came to this world in the form of a baby born in a manger outside an inn in Bethlehem. Babies are innocent, they have no enemies, they have no prejudices. All babies are cute and adorable. We love babies not for their eloquence or even for their achievements: they are unable to speak and they haven't achieved anything yet. They don't threaten us in any way! It is the most non-threatening form God can incarnate. His purpose was to make a dwelling in the hearts of people, so he chose to be in the form of a baby. Besides this non-threatening presence of God in our midst, Christmas also reminds us of the

The 'God-deficiency' of our days

'God is closer to me than I am to myself,' said Meister Eckhart (1260-1328), the German mystic and theologian of the bygone days. He went on to say that God is close to the wood but the wood doesn't realize that. That's true. God is closer to us but we don't realize the fact of God's nearness to us. This insensitivity to God's nearness is caused by those things that have exiled God from our consciousness. It could also be that that many of our worldly concerns, cares and the like has created a wedge between us and our God and we let that gap grow as time went by, thus distancing us from our God. We have many things that can take the place of God in our life. There are many rivals to God and we have consciously or unconsciously give these rivals to God the place of God in our lives. These are things that engage each moment of our lives. Our busy life, life's prior

The Jericho Luncheon

Jesus once told the parable of the treasure hidden in a field (Matthew 13:44). A man who knew there was treasure hidden in a field sold all that he has and bought that field. He paid a price that is much higher than the actual price of the field. For the owner of the field and others this man appeared to be a fool. Though the owner of the field was selling the field, this man was in fact buying the treasure. The owner could see only the field but the buyer sees a treasure in it. This parable applies to all who have sacrificed all that they have for the sake of the Kingdom of God that Jesus came to establish. The best illustration of this parable is what happened in Jericho during the visit of Jesus when he met Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). The Bible

Conversations with a Very Religious Companion

I had an aisle seat; so I was waiting for the other two passengers in my row before I buckle up and have a nap. I haven’t slept the whole night thanks for this red-eye flight. A young man and his wife walks towards my row; it seems they are going to be my co-passengers for the three hour flight in economy class. He was about 27 with a thin but medium long moustache and a cap that betrayed his religious identity. His religious identity was clear from the way he and his wife dressed. His wife wore a long black robe. Only her eyes were visible through a slit on that black gown.  I looked away as I made way for them to get to their seats. The young man let his wife go to her window seat and then turned to me. "Uncle, how are you!” the young man asked me in a very friendly tone. That woke me up and I made an eye contact with him; his friendly smile conquered me. I wanted to sleep, but he won’t let me. He kept talking always punctuating it with this respectful "uncle.” I managed

God's people and Good people

Yesterday was a great day in my life! I had a big problem to sort out; but it was great opportunity to learn something directly from God. The church I pastor had been worshiping in a hotel room for the last three years. After a wonderful service last Sunday, as I walked out of the "church”, the manager of the hotel called me aside to say that we have to move out. That means I will have to find a new place for next Sunday. So, I started the hunt for places. Called up real-estate agents, sent text-messages to church members to pray and called leaders together to pray. I started with a Parsi lady who runs a small nursery school from her mother’s cottage. Though she gave me an appointment at 5:00 pm I could not keep it since I was with a property dealer who was showing me places around. She waited for me till 6.00pm and got on with her other evening engagements. However, when I called her up again to reschedule my appointment, she was extremely kind to discuss the matter over the p

Making Christiana Talk

She must be in her high teens or touching the twenties. A cute, lean, blonde she is. However, her face was without expressions, she seldom smiled and hardly talked. Her movements were robot-like. She stood behind the restaurant counter painted in black. The dominant theme of the restaurant was black. Black counter, black table-cloths, the pillars which held the glass panels giving us a view of outside were also painted black. She, like all the other waiters wore long black trousers, black shirts with long-sleeves. All that was visible from that black drape was her white expression-like face, dead tired eyes and her short blonde hair. In short, she and her team in that blackish restaurant intensified its melancholic air. My team ate three meals there for five days. We were there in that country which was part of former USSR. Tired after long meeting, we wallked in to the restaurant to be refreshed, but the melancholic air of the restaurant made us more tired and sick even though the foo