Life of Pi is a splendid movie which talks
about the journey of a boy in a life boat across the ocean. The boy has to face the might of the ocean
and his fellow companion, a 450 pound sunderban tiger. It is this tiger that
later becomes his divine strength to live. The movie progress with the boy
emerging victorious in surviving these obstacles. The three day lent of our
church begins this year from 22nd January to 24th
January. This lent is also called as the Lent of Jonah as it reminisces the 3
day fast of the great city of Nineveh. If ‘ Life of Jonah’ was filmed, then it
would have been a thrilling movie. The
way he escaped from the sight of the Lord. His sojourn in the belly of the
fish, anger with Lord, all would serve as a perfect ingredient for a blockbuster.
Just like the evangelist narrates about the son of man to be under the bowel of
the earth.. so are we Jonah is formed as
a disciple through this escapade.
This passage for our devotion is said to be
one of the hardest teachings of the bible. The early church’s submission, their
pains and understanding about Jesus are the backdrop of this passage. It is the
central part of Luke and is considered to be a travel narrative. “Then he
went….’ In this journey, people are healed, miracles occur and also we have a great
banquet here. We call this journey a roller coaster. Here passion predicted
becomes the pit stop of Journey.
1. Discipleship made known through journey
with Christ:
Discipleship is an on road experience. It
is the sharing of the ministry of Jesus Christ.
It is something which we learn from Christ and should become a part of
our body. Just like riding a bicycle becomes embossed in our mind, this
experience of discipleship should be engraved on our bodies. In Luke’s account
we see the Pharisees being the first to designate the term, ‘Disciples’ to the
12 followers of Christ. Even in Antioch, the believers were called,
‘Christians’ by other people. In our journey of life, it is others who often
acknowledge us as disciples of Christ. For eg in ch6, jesus gives this
direction. Isaish ….this process is continuous. In Luke 4: 16-18, Jesus becomes
the fulfilment of what was said by prophet Isaiah. In the same way, the
teaching of Jesus should be fulfilled by the disciples of Christ. It is a
continuous process. We have many references of such journeys in this Gospel.
When Jesus assigns the 72 for mission work serves as an example of vast journey
of discipleship. There are certain rules in this journey. The disciple should completely
depend on God. It is a new way to live life. We need not bother about things,
as God would be prepared people to serve us. Jesus taught us to never
calculate. But in the incident of feeding the 5000, disciples requests Jesus to
send the crowd away. They try to calculate the amount required to feed the
people. It is here Jesus teach them the divine prudence of God. Journey of
disciple should be always continuous. So here we see two things that are
incomplete.
Another important element we see in this
passage are the use of imageries like tower, King etc. In a Palestenian
context, towers were used to guard the garden and vineyards. It was not
affordable to all and was an symbol of one’s pride and honour. In this ‘Honour-Shame’
culture, if a person was not able to complete the construction of the tower,
then it becomes a great shame for him and his family. We need to learn that
what we begin should not turn as a matter of shame to us. Thus discipleship
should in a way lead us to increase the honour of Christ. Lance Armstrong, the
famous cyclist and 7 times winner of the Tour de France, recently admitted of
doping in the Orpha Winfrey interview. He said, ‘My journey was good when it
began but I failed somewhere. Our journey with Christ should not remain
incomplete.
2) Discipleship is the beginning of new network
of relationship:
Verse says “Those who….”. In a pre
industrial world one’s identity was in his kinship network. Kinship network was
common . Addresss is to be in this network Many professional associations and guilds
were set up to provide security and betterment to the lives. It was difficult for people to love without
these guilds and societies. Even we have records of funerary guilds which were
present which worked for giving a honorary funeral to the deceased. It is here Christ
said that there is a new network which we get in this discipleship. A priority
to meet… it is an invitation to a new kingdom network. To leave something is to
gain something better.
3) Invitation for a great Banquet:
Luke 14 begins with the parable of the
great banquet. According to the greeco roman, ‘Invitation is very important.
Written oral etc
Two invitations are needed… those who