Jesus the only way

 In Kolkota, the City o Joy, the City of Mother Teresa , we are fortunate that our people are very religious and respect the various religious communities that live in this very crowded city.  During these past weeks, we witnessed tremendous love and respet for our beloved Blessed Teresa o Kolkota, as we went about with her birth centenary celebrations. With great respect and love for Mother Teresa, the Co-workers of  Mother Teresa in Kolkota, launched the centenary celebrations in the Nazrul Manch Auditorium filled with poor children and inmates of Mothers various homes. Talented musicians from various religious backgrounds performed on the stage to pay homage to Mother Teresa. It was something beautiful. I praise and thank God for this attitude from our people in Kolkota while there is so much intolerance and hatred against Christians in some other parts of our country. 

       After having participated in severa of these programmes and especially the inter-faith and especially the inter-faith prayer meeting, i began to sense the promptings of the Spirit. He reminded me of an important Biblical instruuction -- HOLD FAST TO THE FAITH. We are living in times when people are fascinated by spititual matters but do not believe all that is ascribed to one religion. Pluralism has taken a firm hold. Pluralism claims that Jesus is in the same category as Buddha, Confucius, Osiris or Thor. We have , on one level, allowed our consumerist approach to affect our  view of God.

In today's world, it is as if you can go into the supermarket of gods and select a god of your choice. The attitude of our age is that one god is as good as another. 

      Certainly, there is much which is commendable in the different faiths. And I personally have have very good friends whom I admire much for their convinced faith and life style in accordance with the teachings of their religion. We, as Christians, must acknowledge what is good and never become prejudiced against any group. However, we are also reminded by the Word of God to "remain faithful to what you have learned and believed ... " What we claim as Christians is what God claims, and that is  the only way a man or woman can have a personal relationship with Him is through His Son, Jesus Christ. Other religious teach about God and some of their teaching is true. He is all powerfullll, all knowing, and all wise. However, they stop short of the ultimate truth that only through the redeeming Christ can we be guaranteed an entrance into heaven. No other faith can claim that its greater teacher was God incarnate. And that is what we claim for Jesus Christ. We read in Acts 4.12, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven...by which we must be saved." There is no way that we can come to God except through His Son. Jesus said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). He is not a way, as if there are many others. _He _is _the _Way,_the_only_Way.

       Many years ago a missionary was lost in one of Africa's jungles  and he asked a local to help him find the way. As the African led the way through the jungle, the missionary, seeing no track became doubtful as to the local's knowledge and said, "I see no track. Are you sure this is the way?" The local replied, "There is no way, I am the way." Christian are people who have come to God through Christ -- the Way. May be some pluralist may accuse us of intolerance when we refuse to place Jesus in the pantheon.

      I would say, that while respecting others and their faith, we must not forget the truth that only through Jesus, can we have a relationship with the Father. We need to pray that we will be helped by His grace and power to guard this truth no matter how unaccepted it may be for this pluralistic generation.

       The Holy Spirit is  reminding us all today, more than ever, that living as we do at a time where powerful forces are at work trying to steal the content of our faith , we must ensure we remain true. Jesus Christ cannot be placed in a pantheon alongside with other gods. Jesus Christ is unique, unparalled and unsurpassed. May the Lord grant each one of us the grace to be true to the faith "that was once for all entrusted to the saints." Despite the forces that work to steal its content, may we never weaken in our convictionthat Jesus is the only way to God.

        As I was reflecting on all these, my eyes fell on the words from Colossians Chapter Two."So, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted in Him, and built upon Him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one captivates you with an empty, selective philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world, and not according to Christ," (Colossians 2:6-8).

      In this centenary year of Mother Teresa, let us pray through her intercession, that we too, like her, while respecting other faiths, hold firm to the faith we have received. Her heart was given to Jesus totally and her goal in life was to satiate the thirst of Jesus. For her, there was no question of compromise when it came to her faith. May she through her intercession enable us to spread the message of Christ's love and light to this world steeped in darkness.

Praise the Lord!

Alleluia! 

        

Jesus' Identity always under fire

 "At that very moment he received in the Holy Spirit and said,"I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will" (Lk. 10: 21).

  Ever since God the Father wanted the truth to be hidden from a certain category of people, "the wise wnd the learned", and reveal it to the "childlike" there has been a battle being waged by the wise and the learned srsagainst divine revelation and all that is genuinely spiritual. Today's wise and the learned are scholars and experts think that they are able to teach God a thing or two. Practically everything in the Bible they are able declare unhistorical and invite everyone Religion and everything spiritual. They say  they are authorised to do so because they undertake a  critical study of everything and offer unbiased opinion but in absolute terms. There are many such who peroclaim that Jesus could not prophesy, or work miracles or heal people  except what was psychosomatic. These trendy teachings are coming now in a more systematic manner from a group of scholars known as the "Jesus Seminar" founded by a certain Robert Funk along with about 200 others, some of whome are known professors in Sacred Scriptures. Their efforts have led to the denial of   everything prophetic and miraculous in the Gospels and many of the sayings od Jesus, as well as, the facts about his birth, death and resurrection.

  Now it is usual to hear from Scripture professors that Jesus did not prophesy about the destruction of Jerusalem; but those who wrote the Gospels added these events in the form of prophecies after the incidents had taken place. Going in search of a historical Jesus, they end up denying everything about Jesus and finally losing faith. Jesus could not compromise on the fundamental teachings about his Gospel that centred around the one truth, that he was the Son of God. At the same time, he did not allow this information to reach the "wise and the learned" for their intensions were evil.

  One maybe shocked to know that the worst name that could be uttered, Jesus pronounced as he rebuked Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. you are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do"( Mt. 16: 23). This was really startling; but Jesus did want his real identity as the Saviour who would die to save the world, to be sacrificed. He had come from the Father only for this. For this, miracles and prophesies were signs and proofs. Now, to deny these things, as is not uncommon these days, especially during certain seminars, is to invite that condemnation, "Get behind me Satan". Jesus wanted Peter to have the answer clear to the question, "What do you say about the Son Man?" The complete answer would include also his death and resurrection that Peter could not accept at first. That was the most important of the catechism lesson given by Jesus to the Apostles.

   We need today to be on the alert and hold firmly to our faith in Jesus both human and Divine. Paul had expressed it powerfully, "We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1: 23-24).