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THE EASTER MESSAGE
Let me begin with a Tarzan story! Well, this is as real as it is surreal. Johnny Weissmuller,
the Champion Olympic swimmer who donned the role of Tarzan the ape man in the Silver screen
with as much aplomb in 1930s & 40s’ as he dominated the Olympic swimming lanes in 1920s’,
had a close encounter of a different kind with the Pro-Fidel Castro’s
soldiers in late 1950s’. When the Cuban
uprising was reaching its peak, he and his golf mates (on a recreational tour to Cuba)
on Havana’s suburbs were surrounded by gun-toting Cuban revolutionaries, who on mistaking them for
Pro-regime supporters were intent on kidnapping them. When all his pleadings to convince
them that he was the harmless movie Tarzan on a normal tour (with no political links) failed
to convince them, he came-up with a spectacular ‘Tarzan act’ immaculately. Thumping his chest
in a typical Tarzan style, he gave out a blood curdling yell “ Kreegah Tarzan Bundalo ”,
so much so that the highly impressed Pro-Castro’s men immediately curtsied with the words
“Welcome Tarzan, welcome to Cuba" and escorted him and his friends to a safer area.
Let me cut this story short here but doesn’t this story in a small way mirror the anguish
of our own Lord in identifying Himself to his disciples post-resurrection? Mary of Magdalene
failed to recognize him at the first instance
(John 20:14-15), ditto it with his followers on
the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13), throw in the confused disciples and the other followers
who mistook him for a ghost on his sensational appearance
(Luke 24:37) and the picture of
‘identity crisis’ of a special kind would be complete. No wonder there is a record of he
rebuking them for unbelief
(Mark 16:14)!
This Easter, continuing with the ‘Identification theme’ I have split my message into
four parts, beginning with the following subheading…
1. Identifying the Resurrection prophecies and its significance thereof:
When so many events relating to Jesus’ life had been prophesied such as…
b) triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey (celebrated as Palm Sunday in Christendom –
Zechariah 9:9)
to name a few, it follows that an event as paramount as Resurrection would also be foretold in the Scriptures.
Well, it was in
Psalm 16:10/
49:15 in oh-so-clear terms that its fulfillment should not have come as a
surprise to His ardent followers but it sadly did, so much so that the good Lord had to remind some of them
of the same painstakingly (Luke 24:27) on the Easter evening. Now as then, the significance of
fulfilled prophecies is the same. If the promise keeping God has faithfully fulfilled all His prophecies
time and again, it only goes to reinforce the fact that He is bound to bring to fruition the only
unfulfilled prophecy in the Scripture…that of His Son’s II Coming
(Matt 24:30-31) Oh how true that prophesies’
are nothing but history written in advance. Does the prospect of our Lord’s II Coming excite us?
It should…if we are ready for it.
2. Identifying the Messiah’s purpose: Post resurrection, not only were Jesus’ disciples and his followers
guilty of failing to identify their blessed resurrected Lord, they were also guilty of still not identifying
their Master’s purpose for coming into this world, which was to shine as a beacon light to the entire world
and not only to the Jews
(Luke 2:32).
Despite being with him all these years and listening countless
times to His sermons proclaiming himself to be the Saviour of the whole world, his disciples were still
trying to come to terms with Jesus original purpose behind His I Coming, so much so, we see them posing
a witless question in
Acts 1:6 “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”
Oh how much it must have pained Him that they were yet to fully comprehend His agenda behind His I Coming,
which had nothing to with anything political but had everything to with all things spiritual.
More than occupying any earthly throne, Jesus’ had always been keen on occupying the thrones in the
hearts of men. COME LORD JESUS TO REIGN IN OUR HEARTS!
3. Identifying ourselves with the Messiah’s cause: It is one thing to identify the Messiah’s cause and quite
another to identify oneself with the same. Just as disciples to whom his cause was revealed were called to
identify themselves with their Master’s cause by being his witnesses in “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the ends of the earth"
(Acts 1:9), his followers through the ages to whom his cause has
been revealed have also been called to don the same role. Witnessing for Jesus stripped of all its fanciful
strap pings is as simple as telling everyone what Jesus has done in ones life much in the same way a terminally
ill cancer patient operated upon and healed by a Doctor would tell others’ of his/her Doctor’s wondrous
surgical skills. Then again, just as a patient who had a brush with death would do this passionately,
starting with his family members and then relay these news all on his own in ever-widening circles,
we too who have tasted His redemptive love and have been saved from far worse ‘eternal death’ are called
to testify in a centrifugal manner about our ‘experience’ beginning with our family members, first.
Note Jesus in the above-captioned scripture portion in italics put Jerusalem first signifying that
his disciples were to start the work of relaying the Good news of Jesus’ saving power right at the
place of their stay and then proceed onto other places…yes …'even to the ends of the world'.
That we are reading this piece, most probably in a place faraway from Jerusalem is proof enough of
the fact that Jesus’ disciples-their many weaknesses’ aside- did a commendable job, when it came
identifying themselves with their Master’s cause! How are we faring on this front?
4. Identifying the times, we are living in: The end-time prophecy recorded in
Daniel 24:4 “But you, Daniel,
keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there,
and knowledge will increase.” would always resonate in the minds of all discerning Bible students for it
identifies the time, we are living in as the end time, for at no other period in human history than in
this cyber age have global business tours catalyzed by technology revolution become more commonplace
and knowledge grown more exponentially. Latest inventions are the order of the day so much so it is
News only when a new discovery in the field of science is not made in a 24-hour span.
Also it would be foolhardy to ignore other ‘signs’ such as earthquakes, famines and wars
(Luke 21:10-11),
which Jesus announced, would precede his II Coming. Aren’t Newspapers littered with news of earthquakes
ravaging several countries, famines stalking various parts of the World and wars being fought within and
between nations?
As though to refute a rationalist who would attribute the afore-mentioned ‘signs’ to common occurrences’
of the past centuries too, the good Lord sent yet another irrefutable proof on 26th Dec,
2004 in perfect fulfillment of His prophecy in
Luke 21:25b “And here on earth the nations
will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides.” If an earth-shaking
event of the magnitude of a Tsunami (the very definition of a strange tide) that hit several
coastal cities 2 years back, doesn’t convince us that His II Coming is on the anvil,
then nothing else will!
Have we identified the fact that we are living very close to the zero hour when the
Church would be ‘raptured’? Are we ready to meet our Master? Oh may we all rejoice in
seeing his radiant countenance even while hearing his words of commendation “ Well done,
my faithful servant’!
Yours in His service,
(Suresh Manoharan)
Messages to follow in the coming fortnights
- Going the "Extra Mile"
- The Winning Formula
- Streams in the Desert
- Our faithful God
- Fingerpointing act of a different kind
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