Sunday musings
Jayanath Perera
Since we have started talking to each other on this forum after a long time, I thought I will add my two cents, just to keep things going.
These days we are reflecting on 5 tenets we have to convert to. We in Singapore have only heard the first two: “God is attracted to the sinful”, and “He know my name”.
I realize how critical the 5 tenets are and realize that they can change our whole life. So, I have been reflecting on what Thaththa shared during my prayer time. It kind of seems academic and unreal to me. So, what I do is, as I give the truth of my heart during my prayer time, I look at my shortcomings and praise God - because these are the very things that attract him to me, and he has come to make me perfect. I am hoping that this act would make the word travel faster from my brain to my heart.
Today, I prayed with Luke 7:36-49, the story of the sinful woman who broke into the house of a Pharisee and bathed the feet of Jesus with perfume. First, I was surprised that a Pharisee would have the courage to invite Jesus to his home. In the eyes of the Pharisees, Jesus was a sinner, and what he said about God was sacrilegious. The God that Jesus preached was so different from the God the Pharisees believed in and had given their lives to. We who now follow the Lord have a mental model of God and how he works. Like the Pharisees, I who have had a conversion experience, I who now walks with the Lord may have formed a mental model of God that may be far from the truth. So Simon’s story is very important to me because, in a way, I am Simon the Pharisee.
Simon went against the grain and invited Jesus home. As I compared this narrative with the other Gospels, I realized that Simon the Pharisee and Simon the Leper were one and the same. Jesus must have healed him. Signs and wonders can shake our beliefs and prejudices, no matter how convinced of them we are. To Simon, his curse (leprosy) was the blessing that set him apart from the other Pharisees. So, in the kingdom, everything is not what it seems to be.
As I read on I saw how Simon reacted to the sinful woman, I realized that Simon was still entrenched in the Pharisaical teachings that had formed his thinking, and was unable to think beyond. I who have been trained and formed by science and logic, I who have learned tactics to survive in a self-absorbed world, am so much like Simon. But what touched me is how gently Jesus ministered to him. Jesus went down to his level and challenged his thinking in a way that he could understand. Jesus is attracted to the one who is unable to think beyond his formation….he ministers to them and expands their minds. This gives me so much hope.
Praise the
Lord!
Jayanath
Shamalka Liyanage
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Kumar
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Jeeva J
Sent: January 23, 2022 8:38 AM
To: risenlord...@googlegroups.com <risenlord...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: {Virtual CRL} Sunday musings
Jeeva J
Sent: January 23, 2022 8:38 AM
To: risenlord...@googlegroups.com <risenlord...@googlegroups.com>