PAROUSIA-GOD’S CONTINOUS ACTION- 2 PETER 3:8 –13

There are not as many personal references in 2 Peter for the authorship of Peter, as there are in 1 Peter. Though the opening verse of the epistle identifies the author as Simon Peter, an apostle of Christ, it has been challenged by critics because of the later date than Peter’s lifetime and different style from that of the first. The recipients of this letter would have been the churches that would include, in Asia Minor, Churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. The historical situation that prompted the author to write this letter is the presence of the false teachers in the church who apparently were backslidden Christians. The situation became serious, because the doctrine and practice of these false teachers were contrary to those taught by the apostles. The apostles taught that Jesus would return for them in their day. But, these false teachers had convinced some, particularly spiritually weak or new Christians to accept their doctrine and practices. They even posed a danger to those mature in faith who yet had remained unconvinced by them. Their doctrine was based on eschatological skepticism. They, as well as many other early Christians, expected that the Parousia of Christ would occur during the life time of the first generation of Christians. But that generation died without experiencing Parousia. As a result, they claimed that the apostolic proclamation of Parousia was a myth. They also claimed that the apostolic proclamation was not inspired but were the result of the prophet’s misguided personal interpretations of their own prophetic visions. The author’s urgency stems from the conviction that the Parousia would occur in the life time of the Christians addressed. Since the appearance of false teachers and their scoffing is a precursor or sign of the Parousia of Christ and the judgment of the world, the author believed that the Parousia was near.
Chapter 3 of II Peter starts with refuting the false teachers’ accusation. In our given passage for today, the writer further urges the churches not to overlook God’s forbearance. Here, he has reworked on Psalms 90.4, which says, “For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night. The writer uses this verse to prove that human life is transient, while God is everlasting. The period before the eschatological end would seem long to humanity, but not to God. It is affirmed that what may seem like a delay of the Parousia is not a delay from God’s perspective. The author does not address the problem of the failure of the Parousia to occur within this limited time. Rather, he admits the delay and affirms the eventual fulfillment of the promised Parousia. The delay does not indicate a false promise, but God’s forbearance as provision for the repentance for sinners. In V.10, the affirmation of Parousia and judgment opens with the verb Echo ‘will come’ to emphasize that, although God’s patience delays the Parousia, surely it will come. The simile of the thief probably comes from Jesus’ Parable of the thief in gospel tradition (Mt. 24: 43, 44; Lk. 12: 39, 40). It conveys both the unexpectedness of Parousia and the threat of judgment it brings to those who impose on the patience of God by delaying their own repentance.
Patience is often cited as a character trait of God based on God’s self-revelation in Ex. 34: 6, 7. This mercy is an outgrowth of God’s love in putting up with sins of sinners and withholding the judgment. This gives the sinner, the time to repent but this time of mercy is not unlimited. Judgment will eventually come for the unrepentant, and the time of its coming is as unpredictable as the coming of a thief. Thus we should not take so much comfort in the patience of God, having a false sense that there is plenty of time to repent.
We may say about the coming of Christ as a future event. We may feel it is a doctrine we have to lay on one side but we cannot escape from the certainty of the entry of God into our own experience. As a community of faith, we should not think it as a future event which may happen at the end times. It is not a one-time end action that is going to happen afar. Many a time, we tend to think like that and be reluctant to the things that we ought to do. But, as responsible people of faith, our attitude towards Parousia should not be a final or end time event. It is sure that Christ breaks into every one of our lives. Coming of Christ is a daily process, which happen every day in our lives. Christ breaks into our life in each and every aspect we experience. But, we should be in a position to realize the coming of Christ into our lives. We have to prepare ourselves to meet Christ who is coming into our life. That preparation is the repentance and the righteous actions which have to be continued throughout our life. Our repentance should be renewed day by day. If Christ’s coming is a daily process, then our repentance and righteousness should also be a daily process.
May God help us to be prepared to meet Christ who comes into our lives. Amen. 

[This Meditation was lead by Chrisida Nithyakalyani (chris_niths@yahoo.co.in) , Final Year BD Student]

Jeremiah 3: 1- 4:2

Jeremiah 3: 1- 4:2, emphasise on the return of the apostate. Jeremiah’s mission was two-fold - to root out and tear down and to build and plant. The present poem is the second panel of diptych. The essence of the whole section is the working out of the conditions required to bring about the reconciliation between Israel and Yahweh. The profound unity of the entire composition was maintained through the constant use of the key word “Shubh”. Basically the root means to return from one place to another. In terms of religious meanings this expression designates both an aversion from and a conversation to the right.
Human life is a beautiful composition of visits and revisits. The God who works in the history also is seen as a God who visits and revisits. This God does not designate a destination for any works God does, instead revisits or returns to all that are seen as good. We see in the above read passage about a God who is a promising God, as a forgiving God, a God who expects the return of his beloved.
Incarnation of Jesus is the towering portrayal of the return of God in history. The incarnation of Jesus exemplifies the willingness of God to return to the communion which God had with creation in the Garden of Eden. Jesus' ministry cannot be seen as a linear projectile with specific goals attached to every course of action he undertook or each person he met. In his journeys as he walked, he stopped when he heard someone cry, he turned when someone touched his cloak and returned to those who needed his attention and care.
The seashore of Tiberius in the post resurrection narrative witnesses an evident scene of this returning Jesus to his disciples. Jesus and his disciples were moving together towards the cross all through his ministry. But at the crucial time of facing the cross the disciples deserted him and hid in their secure enclosures. But what we see at the end of the day is a Jesus waiting on his disciples with words of comfort and reassurance. Jesus returns back from his journey to the glory to reinstate his beloved group. Every returning compassion is compelled by a permanent space reserved in the corner for the beloved. Most often our evaluations on the events in our lives reserve no permanent space for the people or events in or cognitive space. We could not effectively engage with the call of the least and the lost as we never bruised ourselves to leave a permanent space for them. Their cries for help are just prayer points in our profligate spiritual exercises.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi left his lucrative job prospects and a promising career as he could reserve some permanent space for his fellow people yearning for freedom. This made him return to his country leading it into Independence. Today let us examine deep into our hearts and see how much space we reserve for the commitments and how much shallow are our engagements. Let us return to our commitments and find permanent spaces for events and people we meet in our daily lives. Amen
[ Alex Das, the leader of this meditation, is a final year BD student  in Gurukul College]

Jeremiah 13:23-27

The past does affect the future. Habits learned yesterday will guide what one does tomorrow. When one is accustomed to doing wrong it becomes impossible to do right. Just as we cannot change the color of our skin and leopards cannot move their spots from one place to another, so we continue to do evil forgetting God and trust in the lies of the world around us. Hence, we walk in darkness and our ways are wicked, when we replace God’s standard of living to some prescribed lifestyle of the world.
This is the message sent to king Jehoiakim, and his queen by Jeremiah. Indeed, their sorrows would be great indeed. Do they ask, from where comes these sorrows and why the nation is so distressed and why things so heavily laid upon us? Jeremiah prophesies that to let them know, it is for the nation’s obstinacy in sin. He uses a figurative language, as we cannot alter the natural colour of the skin; and so it is morally impossible to reclaim and reform these people. Sin is the blackness or darkness of the soul. It is the discolouring of it the soul. We were shapen in it, so that we cannot get clear of it by any power of our own. However, God in His grace is able to change that which is impossible to human. Neither natural depravity nor strong habits of sin, form an obstacle to the working of God in creating the new Spirit. Now it is up to Jerusalem to decide, whether she is determined not be made clean.
It is the reality that no system of government can force morality on its citizens. Cultural renewal requires more than the passage of a set of laws demanding morality. It requires that people, as both individuals and collective, who want to be moral.
In the words of two individuals, the columnist Cal Thomas and the former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, strike at the heart of the matter. Thomas writes, “When a building’s foundation is in disrepair, it must be replaced. This will take a change of heart and mind that requires different behavior and lifestyle choices. No politician can legislate that.” Sadat wrote in his autobiography, “He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality.” The most vital key to ultimately creating a truly reformed culture is the change that will have to occur within the “very fabric” of people’s thoughts.
The scripture points to that time. In due course, when an entirely new governmental foundation is laid, God will write His laws and ways, not in the form of legislative documents but in the willing hearts and minds of people, morally transforming society and delivering it from all its cultural ills (Jeremiah 31:31–33).While activists and legislators strive to reform a culture through the politics of democracy and self-determination, God’s plan is to write His moral precepts in human hearts.
So, are we then in hopeless, once we’ve decided to go against God and learned to live according to the desires of our own hearts and become accustomed to doing evil? In Ezekiel, God promises to put a new spirit and a new heart, a new heart of flesh to replace the heart of stone that we develop when we continuously rebel against God. In verse 27 of Jeremiah chapter 13 offers us a choice. Our wickedness and our running after the “false gods” in our lives are contrasted with the opportunity to have God cleanse us. We are dirty, filthy, with abominations filling us when we walk after our own desires. We can choose to be cleansed by God. God will wash us from our sins and we could be morally transformed community. The Ethiopian cannot change his skin and the leopard cannot change his spots, but we will be changed through the power and glory of God to give up our desires to do wrong. We can be pure in heart that desire to follow God. We can give up the evil as we are accustomed to doing and through God in forming new habits, where we will be accustomed to do good. We choose to follow God, and God changes us to children with hearts receptive to love God.
Let this be our prayer this day, that you desire to be changed in heart of stone to a heart of flesh to love God..!
[Thomas Manoj Samuel, who lead this meditation, is a doctoral student in Communication]

"To Re-Build a Messianic Community"- Acts 3:1-10

To Re-Build a Messianic Community

1.Messianic Community is a Community of Affirmation

2.Messianic Community is a Just Community

3. Messianic Community is an Inclusive Community 

[Meditation Led by Shaiju Kumar S., Final Year B.D]

"Breaking the silence"- Amos :3:8-10

Where is God when people are suffering oppressed, denied justice and the basic human right?
Where is God when evil on the increase and triumphing over the good and righteous is being suppressed?
Is god really silent? Is he really helpless in this situation or is He really unconcerned and a mere transcendent being?
These are the mind boggling and age old questions where people find it difficult to answer philosophy fails to explain and religions stumble.
What do we meant by silence of God? How does the scripture explains it? Does it mean the idleness of God?
The reality is entirely different. God is not always silent, and even the silence of God does not mean that the idle or helpless. God has a preferential option for the poor, needy and all those who are suffering under the different oppressive regimes.
The 8th century prophets explain that the silence of God has well defined meaning and purpose- a silence before a big cyclone or tsunami. The context of the 8th century prophets and the subsequent events support this argument. They emerged in the context where the so called existing prophets were soothing the kings and compromising the godly values.
God of the 8th century prophets was very much concerned about the happening in the society , its evils, oppression, denial of justice and imposed poverty.
They were not speaking about the situation that the people of God are being oppressed by others but of the situation that the so called people of God are oppressing their own fellow beings within the community. They longed to become richer, affluent and influencial at the expense of the poor.
In this context how did God break his silence?. What prompts Him to break and why did he break his silence?and how is God breaking His silence even today? With this introduction ,let’s come to the passage.
Amos pictures fairly well and deals with the 8th century situation along with his contemporaries, Isaiah of Jerusalem, Hosea, and Micah. The affluent of the Israel thought that they can silence God with their social affluence, religious sacrifices and the economic influence. But the Lord has broken the silence through His servants. Amos portrays how the Lord is acting in the history of Israel by breaking the silence. It has been portrayed by showing the character of God, series of indictments and the call of the prophet himself to act on behalf of God.
Why should God break his Silence? (the Biblical Basis)vs.8
The breaking of silence of God has been compared to as that of roaring of the Lion. Yahweh’s voice is compared in the O.T both to the sound of thunder (e.g:ps 29)and a lion’s roar(Amos 1:2,jer 25:30)
1. God’s own character and attributes:
The attributes and the character of God have been mentioned in various scriptures. Few of them are His love, just and righteous character. Because He is love, He loved Israel to the utmost. Hosea rightly pictures this. He cannot tolerate anything against to His basic principles. Wherever His principle has been violated He broke his silence. The period of prosperity in Israel and Judah during the 9th and early 8th century B.C prompt them to think that “might is right”. But God cannot deny his character. So God uses the prophets to break his silence. Just as the roaring of the Lion rouses fear in the people, the speaking of the Lord prompted them to prophesy. More than the soothing words, God’s words result in awe and fear in the people because their actions are contradictory to the basic character of God.
2. The universal power of God: God’s active intervention in history:
One of the task of the 8th century prophets was to de-nationalise Yahweh. So far they tried to restrict the power of Yahweh within the boundaries of Israel and Judah as a local or national deity. The first two chapters of Amos speak of Yahweh who stand behind all the nations and the punishments. Just like Yahweh brought Israel up from Egypt, it’s the same Yahweh who brought up Philistines from caphtor and Arameans from Kir. The universal God is universally powerful and active not only in the history of Israel but also in the historyof the universe. It is God who controls the history, so He breaks out in fury whenever people replace the sovereignty of God to the interim power of man.
When does God break His Silence? (context) vs.9,10:
The context is very clear,vs9 says, there is great unrest and oppression among them. Vs,10 says, they do not know how to do right, they store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.
The context of God’s judgement upon Judah and Israel is well portrayed in the prophetic books of Amos, Hosea , Isaiah and Micah. We could observe a great exploitation, violence and robbery in the of social, religious, political and economic realm.
Politically, there was less threat from outside to both the kingdoms. Jeroboam ll and Uzziah enjoyed more political freedom and extension of the kingdoms after the division. Temporary prosperity and absence of war feel proud and to ignore the coming threat from Assyria and from Egypt.
In the socio-economic realm, there was a stability and prosperity. More political stability made the elites to invest more in the business. This brought more money to the rich and to the king’s treasury. But the newly formed two extremely opposite communities-like the rich and the poor-started to play the opposite roles of the game. The gap between the rich and the poor was trying to oppress the destitute and crush the needy(Amos:4:1). Their greed came up to the extreme situation of impatience of ending the religious festivals as dosing the false balance and other false methods of cheating(Am:8:4-6)..
Religiously , at the surface level everything was going well. The sacrificial system, the Sabbath and other festivals wee performed very systematically. All the religious activities became mere ritualistic and were used for profit. Their heart was far from the Lord. There was no sincerity in it. The basic principles of justice and righteousness were ignored. Religion became another type of business and a hidden way of enjoying prosperity.
Today’s context :
The contemporary situation is not too far from the 8th century B.C. the socio-religious economic and political situation is far worse than the 8th century.
Socially, casteism is still predominant barbaric evil, even the Indian churches and the organisations are bound by its clutches. There is no possibility of a religious operation without a caste designation.
On the land issue, the land is hold by the minority rich and the majority poor were are under privileged and landless. Thus they are under the bonded labour and virtual slavery.
Environmentally, the modern development projects and the speedy industrialisation which has not spared even the church institutions are causing a big irreparable damage to the aboriginals and the eco-system.
Corruption, on the high places added shame to the Indian contemporary scenario,especially in election of Bishop’s and religious authorities.
Child labour, child mal nutrition, commercialisation of health and education and the privatisation of water are the new forms of social domination and oppression.
Economically, Despite all the attempts of the Govt.,the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. The economic growth of the country and the decrease in the inflation rates has not helped the poor at all; rather the number of the poor and the landless are increasing. Rather than providing the basic amenities and food security, govt. and other agencies are concerned in the special economic zone ,shopping malls and the foreign direct investment, which favour more to the greedy rich
As this is the worldwide phenomenon, India is no exception to it. So from the above discussion the 21st century can aptly be compared with the 8th century B.C.
How does God break His silence(our role) vs9:
Vs 9, says ,proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod, and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say. Here God told the prophet to break the silence and to proclaim the impending judgement. Prophets are to speak for God.
But concerning today’s situation many people are very much pessimistic and they have come to the conclusion that God is silent, God is unconcerned or transcendent, God is idle or God of Bible has nothing to do with the happening in the contemporary society, Christianity has no answer to post modern issues or the bible is irrelevant today, sowe there it is better to keep silent
Our other worldly beliefs added fuel to idleness .Let the religions do the business of the religion and let it not interfere in the social political and the economic aspects of the nation. This is the common attitude of the day.
Here the question is, does God has something to offer? Or Do we have any answer to the contemporary issues?
This will decide the destiny, contemporaneity of the powerfulness of the church. This is the calling of the church, to speak forth of God, in other words to break the silence of God. God uses human to speak forth for him, to break his silence or to pronounce his values on earth today. So our role is very crucial and decisive in connection with the destiny of the world or the world will have to face a complete destruction.
We have a prophetic role. As the prophets stood between the God and human to proclaim his judgement ,we are to stand on behalf of God and of the people to preach the impending judgement. Love is to love, hatred is to hatred.
We are the prophets in our generation that the the Lion has roared ,and to tell either to change or to face total destruction in all realms of life.
God is so disturbed and pained with contemporary national and international scenario.
God need the mouth pieces to break the silence. We are to break the silence for God and his people.
The true community which prophets and Jesus envisage is the Kingdom of God which represents God in every respect. We have to ask ourselves are we?
Being a prophet is a challenge. This risks our identity even threatens our existence itself. But when it compared to the reason for the calling and the reason for existence there is no other option but to become the mouth piece of God. To proclaim the kingdom of God and to denounce al earthly evil structures in any form, let us stand with the Lord to break the silence by our words and deeds.
[Meditation lead by Byju Eapen, Final Year BD]