May the Lord give you peace in the Holy Spirit. It is 04 September 2023. We reflect on 1 Thess.4:13-18 and Luke 4:16-30.
What is the manifesto of our spiritual life? Our identity in Christ is the access to ministry. The Spirit of the Lord is upon us all. We too are anointed to preach, proclaim, recover, and liberate those who are oppressed, in living the Good News. New life in Christ happens not only in death but by dying to sin and selfishness daily.
George Bernard Shaw described death in the following lines: “The statistics on death are quite impressive. One out of one people die.” Another person wrote in the window of his dyeing establishment a signboard: “I LIVE TO DYE; I DYE TO LIVE. THE MORE I DYE THE BETTER I LIVE. THE MORE I LIVE THE BETTER I DYE.” If the spelling d-y-e is changed to d-i-e, it has a profound spiritual truth.
The first reading encourages us to have faith in God while facing our end. Paul clarifies that there is no extra merit between those who have died before the Second Coming and those on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
It is our faith in the Lord that makes us accept the reality of death as a joyful event and celebration and hope to meet the Lord. It is not a time of mourning; it is a time of expressing and celebrating the victory of Jesus over death.
“We believe that Jesus died and rose again and that it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus.” (1 Thess.4:14). Tertullian summarises, “Death is the golden chariot that ushers us in the presence of God.”
The Gospel brings out the manifesto of Jesus. Jesus quotes from Isaiah 61:1,2. Isaiah refers to this passage as the future messianic age.
We reflect on the first preaching of Jesus in His hometown of Nazareth and the cold response He received from an astonishing and staring crowd who did not open their hearts for the Word of God to enter.
Jesus read a passage from the book of Isaiah, the manifesto of His mission on earth. Jesus affirmed that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, and anointed him Christ, the Messiah to preach the Good News to the poor, to proclaim freedom to all who are willing to break the shekels of sin and slavery and He will be the light for those who lost the light of God by endorsing sin and the works of Satan and last but not least to offer hope and prosperity to the downtrodden, the poor and the marginalised in the society.
We cannot accept the message and manifesto of Christ unless we have the required faith in the Lord. May the Lord help us to believe in Him to accept the Word of God as the power and presence that we require to live in peace and hope.
Let us not give up on God when we are not understood and accepted by others. We all need to be aware and avoid speaking ill of the past when we are not comfortable with the popularity and fame in the present life of others. It is good to have a vision with the mission in mind to serve God and people.
May God bless you to have faith in God to accomplish God’s plan in your life. Have a day filled with peace and blessings.