Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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  Sharing of the Good News

Visitation of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth
 St. Luke 1:39-45

Vs. 42 & 45: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” 

Sharing of the Good News is the theme that the Mar Thoma Church has chosen for this week's meditation - the responsibility entrusted to everyone who believes in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. During my teenage years, I deliberated on the word 'Good News'. To understand the Good News we need to go back to the book of Genesis in the Old Testament and at least read through the four Gospels of the New Testament.

Genesis records the creation of man as representatives of God to expand the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Humans were placed in the 'Garden of Eden' which symbolizes a place where we can experience God's presence and hear God's voice. But God didn't want to force humans to follow Him and so he also bestowed them with 'Free Will'. Humans were allowed to choose their course of action. By disobeying God, and succumbing to the temptation of the serpent, humans lost their privilege of being in the Garden of Eden. Humans sinned once again by killing their brother and thus even lost the privilege of hearing God's voice too. The whole world got divided among those who lead a righteous life pleasing to God and those who mock God and disobey Him. God's many attempts to restore mankind to a full relationship with God are seen through the flood at the time of Noah, the promise to Abraham, the deliverance through Moses, and the prophecies. But its culmination happened with the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ - and that is the Good News. We have been made a new creation in Christ and God has invited us back into His family as His sons and daughters.

We will soon be celebrating Christmas - the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus' birth reminds us of the challenges that an unmarried young woman who is carrying a child had to undergo and the distress in the heart of the man destined to marry the woman. How God blessed Elizabeth to bear the child that would prepare the way for Jesus. It also reminds us of the peace and grace God bestows Joseph and Mary by guiding them each day.

The Good News is the eternal life that has been promised to each one of us who believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has paid penance for all our sins. If we believe in him and live according to the Will of God, we shall not perish. Let each of the days that follow help us all be more convinced and prepared to share the Good News and lead others to become ambassadors of Christ.

Prayer

Lord help us to take up the cross and go to the ends of the world to share the Good News. Amen

Thought of the Day

St. Luke 4:43 - But he (Jesus) said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

Rev. Johnson P. Abraham
The Mar Thoma Church Staten Island

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