SIGNS OF BORN AGAIN CHRISTIANS: 5. LETTER AND SPIRIT. (Homily for January 14, 2017. Saturday of the 1st Week in Ordinary Time).

Bible Study: Hebrews 4, 12 to 16 and Mark 2, 13 to 17.


The letter to the Hebrews in drawing our attention to the importance of God’s words says: “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden…” Hebrews 4:12-13.

I think it was St. Jerome who said: “Ignorance of the Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” You cannot claim to be born again if you are ignorant of the word of God. And if all you know about the Bible is what others have said to you, and you have never taken out time to read the bible by yourself, then you are as well ignorant of the Scripture. I say this because if you solely depend on what others say about the Bible, be mindful of the fact that the devil himself quoted the Bible in Matthew 4:6.

I challenge everyone who calls himself born again to finish the Bible. Do not hide under the pretext of no-time. Consider the amount of text, funny stories, jokes, news items and so many other write-ups we read daily on social media; whatsapp, facebook and the rest. I can bet that if you have a smartphone, you read over 5pages worth of text on a daily basis. Translate that to the Bible and you would see that you can finish it within a year or two.

As much as we read the Bible, we must also be attentive to the Spirit behind the text. Jesus broke every protocol when he decided to attend a party at a tax collector’s house. He openly sat down to eat and drink freely with tax collectors and even those considered the worst sinners in the society. This troubled the self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees who felt Jesus was doing something wrong by associating with such persons. After all, they say “birds of the same feather flock together.”

In response, Jesus said to them: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” By this, Jesus meant that salvation is closer to those who acknowledge their own sinfulness than those who felt they could justify themselves. This is point Jesus makes in Matthew 7:3-5 “Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye.”

If we simply go by the letter of the text, it would mean that Jesus was sanctifying the business of the tax collectors or that we must be bad to get Jesus eat with us. But if we go beyond the text and try to understand the Spirit behind the action of Jesus here, we would see that Jesus was simply employing the strategy of sharing a meal to bring about the conversion of Levi. As born again Christians, our attitude towards others should never be that of condemnation but encouragement. They say “never throw away the baby along with the bath water.” We must love the sinner but hate the sin.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, deepen in me a love for your word and grant that I may understand the spirit behind the text. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. Happy new week

Fr. Abu.


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