31. Jn. 8: 49-59

Jn. 8: 49-59: Jesus establishes his eternal existence. His existence is eternal than Abraham by saying “before Abraham was I AM”. Jesus exhorts his people to believe in him so that they have the eternal life. Because only by faith in the eternal Jesus that one has the life eternal. 

30. Lk. 18: 31-34

Lk. 18: 31-34: Jesus foretells the passion before starting to go to Jerusalem. He said so twice before (Lk. 9:22; 9: 43-45) Jesus’ disciples never understood all these prophesies. Jesus prepares the disciple to face the reality – the reality that Jerusalem is the place of his suffering, death and resurrection.

29. Jn. 8: 1-11

Jn. 8: 1-11: Jesus reveals himself as a merciful judge and savior. Jesus criticizes the pharisaic hypocrisy of observing the law to its letter, but not fulfilling its spirit. It invites us to be aware of our own sins before we accuse others of theirs.

28. Lk. 10: 33-37

Lk. 10: 33-37: The one who stopped to help another human being is a Samaritan. Jesus describes what it means to be a neighbor to another. Instead of dividing the world into neighbours and non-neighbours we should make sure that we always act as a neighbor to others as best we can.  It is a relationship rather than a category. Ezra and Nehemiah were examples of passionate devotion to the God of Israel. Jesus reminds us that we should love our neighbor with the same passionate intensity.

27. Lk. 18: 18-25

Lk. 18: 18-25: Loving God and neighbour gives eternal life. Giving one’s own wealth to the poor and following Jesus afterwards also gives this eternal life. So Jesus can save one from the bondage of wealth and can give salvation and life eternal.

25. Lk 1: 26-38

Lk 1: 26-38: Mary was in two extreme situations to accept God’s will or to embrace material well being. By embracing the will of God, she for saw many trouble, risk involved. By accepting God’s will she gives the message to every Christian that one should always accept God’s will above all other petty wishes, fancies in life. It is way to freedom and truth – a way to the supreme power of God.

24. Jn. 7: 25-31

Jn. 7: 25-31: Jews have their claim to know Jesus and from where he came.  But their pride made them to remain in the darkness interpreting everything according to their human views and closing their hearts to the truth. Only a humble seeker of God can discover who Jesus is.

23. Jn. 7: 1-13

Jn. 7: 1-13:  Jesus’ own people failed to grasp his true identity. So he does not succumb to the temptation of seeking self-glory but he chooses the way of humiliation and suffering to give glory to God-it is his ‘time’. Going to Jerusalem is to manifest himself through his suffering, death and resurrection.

22. Jn. 6: 60-69

Jn. 6: 60-69: Jews refuses to accept Jesus’ doctrine on the Eucharist. Jesus then appeals to them pointing to his resurrection (v.62). Thus Eucharist is the body of the risen Lord transformed by the spirit (ccc 1116) It is this spiritual and glorified body of Christ that acts in us, spiritually unites us with God and thereby endows us with divine life.

21. Jn. 5: 19-23

Jn. 5: 19-23:  Unlike the faith of Jews as God is one, Jesus shows a new face of God. The Father sends his Son into this world to complete his work of giving life and salvation. It is by resurrection. Jews could not grasp Jesus’ claim of being equal to the Father, that the Jews want to kill him (5:18).

20. Jn. 5: 1-18

Jn. 5: 1-18: “I have no one to put me into the pool” v.7. If the above verse is the tragic fate of the poor even today v.17 is the hope for them all “My Father goes on working, and so do I”. Creation is a dynamic process which continues by the preservatory action of God. As the Father, so is Jesus perfecting creation bringing salvation (3:16).

19. Mt. 21: 33-44

Mt. 21: 33-44: Priests and Pharisees- the leaders of Jews killed the prophets of Israel and the Son of God who corrected and guided them time to time. Now the owner will entrust the vineyard (the people of God) to the care of the apostles under Peter. We are the ‘tenants’ and the ‘vineyard,’ if we are to produce the fruits of Gospel and Holy Spirit.  We are to be controlled and guided by the Holy Spirit.

18.. Mt. 1: 18-25

Mt. 1: 18-25: Jesus is both Son of God by conception and Son of David by adoption by St. Joseph, who being a descendant of King David. He is commanded to name the son ‘Jesus’ which in Greek means ‘Yahweh saves’. So St. Joseph plays an important role in the salvation history.

17. Mk. 12: 18-27

Mk. 12: 18-27: The Sadducees are silenced by Jesus by proposing to have faith in the power of God by highlighting their shallow understanding of their scripture. God is powerful to overcome death and give life – the resurrected life will enjoy uninterrupted communion with God. Our hope in resurrected life is based on the character of the ever-living God (v. 26 & 27).

16. Mk. 12: 35-40

Mk. 12: 35-40: Jesus comes out of the selfish title which the Jews had given to the Messiah (the son of David in Mt. 1:1 restrict his mission only to the Jews like King David) by quoting Psalm 110:1. He says Jesus’ sonship is more than a matter of human descent and will sit in his kingdom at the right hand of his heavenly Father by his passion and resurrection.

15. Mt. 5: 43-48

Mt. 5: 43-48: The antitheses of the Sermon on the Mount reach their climax in the last one dealing with the scope of our love. “You must be perfect”(v.48) which means  that God loves his people with a mind of universality and single-mindedness. God loves all of us and each one of us totally. 

14. Lk. 21: 29-36

Lk. 21: 29-36: During winter the figs shed their leaves and anyone will feel it is dead. So is the church which comes to life due to the grace of God from its death like winter (Joel 2:22). The kingdom of God is life, fruitfulness of the church in her activities and mission.

13. Mk. 12: 28-34

Mk. 12: 28-34: Although the question is about the first commandment, Jesus adds to it a second: Deut. 6:4-5 and Lev. 19:18. In effect he makes of the two precepts one dual commandment. For him, love of God is to be expressed in the love of human beings.

12. Mt. 20: 17-28

Mt. 20: 17-28: Jesus paid in full as a ransom for us. There is the absolute truth that without Jesus and his life of service and his death of love, we would never have found our way back to the love of God. Jesus gives everything to bring man back to God. And we must walk in the steps of Him who loved to the uttermost.

11. Mt. 11: 16-19

Mt. 11: 16-19: We are asked not to judge people and institutions by our own prejudices’ and perversities. If we are to thank them for bringing people nearer to God, by their methods that often may not fit into ours, we have to do so as a Christian, who must be always crystal-clear in judgments.

10. Mk. 11: 27-33

Mk. 11: 27-33: The counter question about John the Baptist by Jesus made the religious authorities (who cooked up charges of blasphemy against Jesus) got themselves trapped. The ingenuity and scheming of the human agents of the anti-kingdom serve only to highlight the divine origin of Jesus and his authority. The programme of his kingdom cannot be defeated.

9. Mt. 5: 33-37

Mt. 5: 33-37: Jesus condemns the use of oaths and religious language for self-centered, manipulative and evasive purposes which are hollow and empty in its results. If we are to become a new creation, the change envisaged will reflect in our conversations, cloth, home and use of our leisure times.

8. Mt. 9: 1-8

Mt. 9: 1-8: V.8 indicates the sacrament of reconciliation in which people “praised God for giving such power to men” It was for this reason that Jesus is accused (Mt. 26:65) The teachers of the law saw in Jesus as an ordinary man (“This man is blaspheming”) The crowd saw in this man God Himself. “The priest is the sign and the instrument of God’s merciful love for the sinner” (v.6 & Jn 5:27 & ccc 1465).

7. Mt. 7: 7-12

Mt. 7: 7-12: God answers our prayers in His way, in His wisdom and in love. We are asked to bring to God an undiscouraged life, of prayer which often tests the rightness of the things we pray for and our sincerity for asking them. In that way we learn to treat others with love and concern for them.

6. Mk. 7: 14-23

Mk. 7: 14-23: Cleanness and uncleanness are affairs of the soul and not of the body. If a person has hate in his heart, a thousand papal blessings will be powerless to help him. If a person is filled with the loves of Jesus, a million curses and spells will be harmless. Nothing can separate us from the love of the Lord.

5. Mt. 7: 21-27

Mt. 7: 21-27: Jesus points out that a prophet’s spiritual pyrotechnics (exorcisms, miracles, charismatic experiences) do not by themselves guarantee the fullness of spiritual life and it comes exclusively from the personal union with God. It comes from the solid base of internal transformation in how we think and act, guided by his teaching.

4. Mt. 6: 9-15

Mt. 6: 9-15: The Lord’s Prayer offers us as a model prayer as what a prayer should be like. It spans the whole human existence. It points to the right priorities that we orient first to God and then teaches us to pray for all our needs – economic (bread), social (forgiveness) and religious (fidelity to God).

3. Mt. 7: 1-6

Mt. 7: 1-6: We are forbidden to condemn people because good or evil is a matter not of external behavior but of the intention of the heart which only God can see (Mt. 5: 21-48) and since all of us are sinners, none of us has the right to condemn, for it makes us unease with ourselves. We discuss the teachings of Jesus among those who can understand the subtlety of what is being expressed.

2. Mt. 6: 25-34

Mt. 6: 25-34: A Christian is the one who trust in God and setting all his hearts on the kingdom of God and His justice. If we truly commit ourselves to God’s cause, all the rest that we need for our happiness will be given to us.

1. Mt. 6: 5-8

Mt. 6: 5-8: Prayer is not merely reciting formulas but entering into a relationship with God. It is not the quantity of words we utter but the attitude of faith and love we develop. To pray is not to talk a lot, but to surrender our lives into God’s loving hands.