" For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard " (Matt 20: 1). Here, Jesus is telling that the kingdom of heaven is like this landowner who has hired men for work. It is just not that he hired them only early in the morning, but he went on to take more people in for work, i.e. four more times during the course of the day. The last recruitment of people happened at 5.00 pm, when the work hours had almost come to an end and there was only an hour left. If we are to only look at the action of the landowner, irrespective of whether the workers standing at the marketplace deserved work or even the wages for that matter, he exhibits his gracious nature. Jesus is trying to tell that the Kingdom of Heaven is similar to this landowner, who is Gracious. In the scriptures, we can see the pride of the Jews in claiming that they alone are the children of God (Matt 3: 9). Even disciples had this assumption that becaus...

  “And she [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.”   Luke 2: 7                                                        Tinsels are the decorative items which makes the Christmas tree or the house beautiful. Our Christmas celebration is full of it. Apart from the literal tinsels, we have figurative tinsels which were slowly added in due course in our Christmas celebrations. Among the several Christmas activities like the carols, presents, Santa Claus, Christmas tree, early morning Christmas service, family time and obviously the good food, we can easily spot what are tinsels and what is connected with the core of Christmas. Now that we are in England, we see a different type of Christmas tradition – the turkey, Christmas pudding, Holly w...

  “Your word is a lamp to my feet…”  Psalm 119: 105 There are always many questions about the nature of God’s guidance and how the Word of God should be used in the context of providence. Some imagine that Bible could be used as guidance by seeking to find random verse which could be source of encouragement or a word of promise.     Some expect God to show some verses to them for clear direction. Some even use it as a spell book which could be recited to get the preferred outcome.     But in this verse by describing the Word of God as a lamp, Psalmist is talking about the nature of God’s guidance to his people in different terms. Lamp is the source of light which could guide the steps. Lamp, with its oil, thread and container which holds the oil, does not represent the light it brings out but the inner mechanism which ultimately produce Light. The power of the Word and its guidance begins by first working inside us. It changes our inner being so that we dev...

The Earth is Lord's   “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it”  Psalm 24: 1 Christian stewardship springs from the belief that everything belongs to God. God’s ownership extends to every single thing in this world, including all we have. It doesn’t matter whether I inherited a big property from my ancestors or I have worked hard to earn my comfortable life. Everything belongs to God.  Firm belief in this concept makes a person a mere manager of resources and not the owner. If a person is just a manager, he or she is accountable. The manager should give report about the way resources were spent to the owner at one point of time.  This understanding gives a new perspective for us to see our lives.   God has given us different types of resources – money, property, healthy body, time etc.  Are we good stewards? Are we using them for our luxury or to fulfil the will of the owner?     Take money as...

  “ We preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles ” 1 Corinthians 1: 23 God is full of surprises. He sprung a great surprise in Jesus Christ that both Jews and Gentiles (Greeks) were equally taken aback. Jesus was a complete contrast to the expectation of both the groups regarding the salvation of men. Jews longed for a Messiah – a Messiah with power to overthrow the Romans. The Greeks expected an emergence of a revolutionary philosophy from the saviour which could supplant all the great philosophies of ancient time. They believed that this knowledge could save men. But both groups were disappointed with Jesus and what He did to save the mankind. What Jews got was a Messiah who suffered and died at the hands of the Romans. What Greeks got was the ‘message of the crucified Christ’ which in content was not appealing to their speculative mind.  If Jesus had been an astute leader who mobilised the masses against the Romans, Jews would have accep...