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Bible Study Notes - 6/24/2020 Fr. Abi John

6/27/2020

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Text: Luke 7:11-17
Jesus Raises the Widow’s Son at Nain

11 Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. 12 As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. 13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!” 17 This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country. 
The gospel writer, Luke, records the events of simple people and utilizes his pen to unwrap the greater and hidden treasures of life. Right from the beginning, Luke forgets not to mention the stories of some widows of Jesus’ time who were negated and socially marginalized. In Chapter Two, we see the recognition of Anna as prophetess as well as Chapter 12, 18, and 21 we see how Jesus uses the traits of other widows as the model of God’s Kingdom. One gave her abundance to God as well the other widow who was persistent to the judge for justice. This text records the story of a widow from Nain who lost her son. 
After losing His father, Joseph, I feel that Jesus would have understood the pain of his Mother Mary, and her loneliness and status in the male centered society. Being the first son of the family, he was responsible to cater to her, even at the Cross; it was so self-evident that the care of His mother was important, she also being a widow. During Jesus’ time, widows were one of the vulnerable subjects of society. When we look into the etymological meaning of Widow's son in this text; it entitles Him, as a youth, to be the only source of support to her. She was left in a mess, and the large crowd was only sympathetic towards her. Her life was in a fix, and she was helpless. Jesus understood her condition and helped her to combat the ordeal. 
Jesus said “Do Not Weep”. Normally, when we feel heavy grief, we weep or cry aloud. This will help us to vent our feelings and after the process of catharsis, life seems to be more normal. But Jesus was so keen in communicating a different message at this time of heavy loss. He approached the widow with deep compassion and empathized with her asking her to cease her weeping. Jesus’ compassion performed many miracles and helped the helpless to taste the essence of God’s kingdom which is eternal and communicates that God is the ultimate authority of life. When the whole world was helpless before the face of death, Jesus intriguingly illuminates a different dimension, that in Christ, we have a new life. Death is not the end of life. God is our end and beginning. The mystery around the death instigates fear and misery, but the faith in Jesus and the compassion of Jesus gives us hope and joy. God is always a compassionate God. Lamentation 3:22-24 cites that, “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassion fails not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, says my soul; therefore, will I hope in Him.” Let us continue to believe in the compassion of God which tells us to be confident in God at times of trouble and death. 
Jesus touched the bier. God will touch our deathbeds, not to put an end to our lives but to regenerate them. He is the Creator God and has the power to restore life. Even today, this text enlightens our faith in God who is ready to deal with the death bed of many in the Covid context. That’s why we pray for healing the sick. God is our help in troubled times. As Psalm 46:1-3 quotes, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” The physical and materialistic inclinations limit our imagination to visibilities and sensibilities of our world, only. But God is spirit, and He is unfathomable; however, he can never allow us to “DIE” - eternally. Physical death is another form of life, perhaps we say it’s a life in rest waiting for God to intervene in His time. The recent cry of George Floyd “I can’t breathe” symbolizes that many of the vulnerable communities are still in bier and large crowds are helpless to resolve the cry. The knee of the police officer laid the poor friend, Floyd in bier because of apathy. But the words of Jesus dictated to the dead, “young man, I say to you rise! Because of God’s continuous compassion for human beings, every Christian is called to reflect on God if we believe in Christ. 
Jesus came to the world to offer life; he never came to destroy anyone. The destruction is evident because we miss the will of God which is grounded in compassion for the weak, poor and the vulnerable of the society. This story demands every Christian to be more empathetic to reverse the anti- life agencies into life giving agencies. Our faith in Christ is a fascinating antidote even to physical death because our destiny is God and God is life not death. 
God Bless these words.
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Bible Study Notes - 6/17/2020 Fr. Abi John

6/18/2020

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Text: Luke 7:1-10 

7 After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. 3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. 4 When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, 5 for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” 6 And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; 7 therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” 9 When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 10 When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. 
Capernaum. The etymological meaning of the Hebrew word Capernaum is “village of comfort” (Caper - Village and Nahum - to cover, to purge or to atone). It was one of the basic centers of Jesus in which we were able to see many ministerial accounts of Jesus. Basically, it was situated near the banks of the Galilean Lake. He performed many miracles in the village which gained him lots of popularity. Even though Jesus was from Nazareth, Capernaum became his home after he was rejected at the synagogue in Nazareth. His exposition on the word of God from the book of Isaiah at Nazareth revealed his manifesto (Luke 4:16ff). He was very well accepted in this village, where we have the archaeological evidence of Peter’s house. In spite of the much activity the subjects of the village consistently lived in poverty because of the tax system. The taxes drained their hard work and the imperial tones subdued their human dignity. The peace of the village was maintained by violence and force. Roman officials were one of the key tools used by the authorities to keep the system alive and people were tortured because of the powerful exploitation of the rulers. Their lives were in a mess. 
Centurion: A centurion was a Roman official who was in charge of 80 to 100 soldiers. The degree varies in par with their ranks. In Roman army we can see an army unit called Legion which constitutes 5200 to 6000 soldiers. The “Legion” was subdivided into ten units called cohorts. The cohorts were subdivided into six centuries, of about 80 to 100 men each. Each century was commanded by a centurion. 
Slave: The institution of slavery was present during the time of Jesus. Without doubt the system of masters and slaves’ projects evidence of oppression and exploitation of the weak and the meek. However, the centurion valued his slave marks the key interpretation to the text. 
Jesus: We can notice a paradox in this text that is so self-evident; the love of the master to his slave and his engagement to redeem the life of his slave. Normally slaves were seen as inanimate objects and were abused by their master. But the act of the centurion who cared about the life of the dying slave amazed Jesus about the value system the centurion had. The inherent qualities of the divine in pleading life for his subordinate adds more meaning to the text when we interpret it in context. Jesus was well pleased about the act of centurion because his humility and concern for the other is the quality of God’s Kingdom values. Even though the slavery is an inhuman system, the human concern of the centurion amazed Jesus because the morality of the centurion seemed to be the antidote of change. I feel Jesus highlighted this centurion because he would have felt that the concern for “Life” makes one human. Mutual respect and dignity for everyone is the key moral that articulates the aroma of true peace and justice in society- the society which Jesus dreamt about. 
Today we can see how the slavery system has taken its shifts and the status quo of mind which discriminates people. It can be altered only when we believe in the Life. Life is a gift of God to all and Jesus is our model who died on the cross as a sign of a powerful protest against the powerful and privileged who manipulated and misunderstood the meaning of life. By lifting the character of the centurion, Jesus is telling us to believe in LIFE FOR ALL to realize the real faith community of God. 
May God Bless these Words. Amen. 



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Bible Study Notes June 10, 2020 Father Abi John

6/11/2020

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Text: Luke 6:46-49
46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. 48 They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
 
Foundations are important.

Recently, my family and I joined the peaceful protest organized by a couple of young friends from Watkins Glen against the brutal acts of racism in America. The same evening during family prayer we asked our children to share about their day. John told his experience at Savona which gave us a big shock. He narrated his experience, and our tears rolled and praised God for his qualitative approach towards racist comments. While he was in the track field, he was called by one of his friends as “Dog in the field” and some of his friends confronted the accuser. John was so angry at him, but never reacted. He swallowed his emotions. In due course, when the accuser had some problems in the Math subject, John helped him to resolve his issues which eventually made his friend understand John’s love for him. He never shared his experience with us until he listened to the talks on Saturday at the park. We asked him what made him turn his anger into love? He just smiled, and we thanked God for the quality which transformed his friend, and now they are good friends. This experience haunted me about the foundations of moral thinking. As we know, we all are gifts of God and such assertions will enable us to refix and dismantle the organized systems that advocate bigotry, hate and apathy to make ourselves bind with Christ.
 
I feel intentions are so important as well the approach to resolve the issues. The hate for the blacks (George Floyd) made four people (Police) reap the consequences by law. Because racism is so systematic and institutionalized like the caste system in India. The unconscious bias is still articulating in the minds of the racist and its effects are so unpleasant. However, my argument is, will these four be morally corrected???? Likewise, the other racist notions?? Can force bring a change? I feel the unconscious belief influences our deeds. This unconscious self is difficult to be measured but can be altered when it is scrutinized with the moral prism more than the legal prism. I am happy justice is served today; however, I fear this will not put the matter to end. The notion of race is immoral and inhuman. This needs to be confronted without fail but in a modest way. I strongly believe hate cannot win hate. We are called to communicate the message of love to everyone for a moral change. We can take the horse to the water but we cannot make it drink!!!
 
Morality is the first demand, and we are called to live with the morality of respecting each other with mutuality and dignity. America has had an unresolved pandemic called racism for centuries!!! Blacks, Browns, Reds and Yellows still live in an uncanny deprivation of identity based on the content of color which stirs the cacophonic echoes in a free and brave society. Both East and West vacillates between the caste and race issues. When will this end!!!????
 
When we follow the teaching of Christ, eventually the foundations of peace and love will be the true language both in speech and deeds. Such foundations can be done by the Church (We), since it's mandatory for every Christian to propagate the Good News. The empire's nature and prosperity traits have shifted the priority of the church’s mission agenda and the foundations became so shallow. Let the movement of Christ spread the aroma of love everywhere to treat humans as human and accept everyone equally.
 
If any of us say it will change in due course of time, I think we escape from the challenge. We need to help people to understand that everyone is equal not only by law but in moral thinking. This is true spiritually. Let the unconscious bias of race disappear and through our evangelical acts to realize humanity in appropriate peace and justice.  Let us continue to act with love and stay with Christ as our profound foundation to spread the moral demand. Also, it’s our duty to bring the horse to drink the water of love!!!!
 
God bless these words.
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Bible Study Notes  June 3, 2020 Father Abi John

6/4/2020

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Text 
Luke 6:43-45
43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Reflections:
America is blessed with four seasons in a year. Many countries have only two seasons. And during spring, I have witnessed many friends engage in gardening endeavors. Especially, the COVID 19 made many busy with their space to till and plant. The aesthetics of land is determined by its produce and the human agency uses the land to feed the people as well as enables life to be a blessing for all. 

The abuse of land and the scarcity for abundance is obvious, and the gulf engenders an unstable matrix in the human domain, a sad reality. The developing ecological crises and poverty haunts the blessed state of life. Spirituality of Jesus demands everyone to be good and dictates that goodness is possible only when everyone has good intentions. 

Such definitions fail not to put forth the following arguments: 
  1. Who is good ?
  2. What is good?
  3. What makes someone good?

Who is good? - God is always good. When a young man addressed Christ as a good master, Jesus said that no one is good except God. God being our Creator, as our true Parent has an unconditional love for all without any bars. We may be white, black, brown, yellow or red,  but he treats us as His own family. Plurality in the human domain is one of the finest novelties of the Supreme God  and acknowledging it with dignity is the order of a Godly life.  His Love is for all.  Thus, this love showers an abundance of mercy in spite of the unfaithful world. The unfaithfulness is measured by our relativity with all God’s creation. I am sure as believers in God, and as theists, we affirm God is good. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth. Exodus 34:6. No one is good but One, that is, God. Mark 10:18. 

What is good? Good is not just subjective. It’s not attaining the desires of one’s self.  Many people define “good” as limited to their narrow group. Also, it is not attaining a group’s ambitions.  Narrowness towards life makes life chaotic, and displays restlessness  with a sense of negation and division. Good is both objective and subjective because God is good. The state of goodness is related to God and God is the only ultimate factor that connects every creation in an order that sustains and offers space and time for everything with a quality and dignity. When the order of good is muted,  then we tend to alienate the good or God, which we call sin.  Good is being good to all. 
The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. Psalm 145:9. We are called to see the good in others and make life celebrative and appreciative. The uncanny apathy and antipathy notions on any other human being is purely devilish and obviously Goodness stems from those who are rooted in God, in Christ. Staying with Christ, life in Christ, helps us to realize the state of Good, which is the ultimate ethos in Life. This ethical dimension is obligatory for every human being to make the world the  home for all. And let us pray,  Let Your Kingdom Come!!! 

How to be good... 
When God shows the state of goodness by winning the evil by good,  we are also called to do the same. The recent horrifying incident, the brutal murder of George Floyd, devastated the human respect and dignity for all fellow human beings because of race notions. Such notions need to be addressed seriously to fix the friends who are infected by this uncanny virus of racism. Our primary aim is to tell and educate everyone that every life displays the signature of God,  and hatred over any life is hatred over God. The epistle of John 4:20 clearly says “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”  

Oh God, help us to be your GOOD vessels in realizing the goodness and help us to be your GOOD tools in propagating the Good News of Love to erase hatred and pain in human life. Amen. 

God Bless These Words. Amen!!! 

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