26 March 2021

 Today's Biblical Meditation:

God is our protector, that is what He wants to reminds us today. If we are pleasing in God's eyes, then surely God will protect us even until the end of life. Yes martyrdom is possible, but we know that death is not the end of life rather the beginning of a new one. Even if face physical death, by faith we shall receive eternal life after that death. Then if we witness someone who is in truth pleasing to God but causes us discomfort, let us not be like the Jews written in the Gospel. However, let us follow in the footsteps of Jeremiah and Jesus who stood steadfast in their faith such that they are saved from danger.

Act and Reflection: Have we relied on God for our protection in our daily lives?

24 March 2021

Today's Biblical Meditation:

Today God still teaches us faith with His Scriptures, but now it is more focused on the meaning of faith, that is love for Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has revealed to us that Jesus comes from God, as such if we are truly on the path of the Lord then we shall acknowledge and we shall love God. Love for Christ manifest in 2 forms that is love in the soul and love in the act. Love in the soul means the totality of our feeling and self-orientation towards Christ that is in love. We desire to accept Christ's service but moreso we desire to serve Him. Love in action means we do all of the wills and teachings of Christ which is centered upon the teaching of Love. Love for Christ require those 2 forms, without one of which it is incomplete and dead. As it is written in James 2:17, . In the other readings we see the consequence of that love, or faith in Him, that we shall be strengthened in all things challenging great suffering. When we follow Christ, it is true that we must carry up our cross, but Jesus will help us carry that cross which is sometimes still very heavy for us despite already being much lighter than Jesus' cross which is infinitely heavy. With this meditation, hopefully we can love our Lord Jesus Christ more.

Act and Reflect: Have we already and want to truly love Jesus Christ which has loved us first?

23 March 2021

 Today's Biblical Reflection:

Today God teaches us about faith once more but primarily faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The snake which is elevated by Moses, is a prototype of Christ's Cross, for there is a similarity. Anyone who looks up to those 2 things shall live. However, now we only need to look at Jesus who is crucified and we shall live, there is no more need for snakes. Only faith in Jesus Christ which can save us. As such it is good that we live according to that faith.

Act and Reflection: Have we truly lived according to the faith in Jesus Christ?

22 March 2021

 Today's Biblical Reflection:

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." Today, God teaches us once more about faith which blossoms hope. Susana in the Book of Daniel becomes a model of faith, for she persists in her faith to God. The adulterous woman is also a model of faith, for surely she has some sort of faith in Jesus that she is saved. By faith we are allowed hope in a heavenly happiness in the end of life and of times later. For the Lord is our shepherd, that we do not lack anything, it is worthy that we have faith in Him only in hope.

Act and Reflection: How can we manifest hopeful faith in our daily lives?

A New Beginning

This blog will be revived for a new series of biblical reflections, this time it is lighter and much more oriented towards morality and practical values rather than theological analysis. It is more for the containment of shared reflections on daily readings. Without further delay, this marks the new beginning of this blog.

Temporary End

After evaluating my actions of analyzing and bringing new perspectives in biblical interpretation daily, I decided that my methods have been ineffective at best and simply time wasting at worst. As such, I will no longer write an analysis of the bible every day, but I will start working on an analysis on basis of books, starting with the Gospel. With that method, I can start formulating a coherent and rational conclusion about the bible and thus connect it with the truth, and perhaps I can deduce the actual story of the bible. However, that would require me to write down the full formulation of the truth first, and unfortunately I will do that first in my mother tongue of Indonesian. So for English speaking audiences, your time will come, I hope you can wait. Until then, have a nice day and God bless you.

Friday, 10th of August 2018

John 12:24-26

Jesus said, «Truly, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Those who love their life destroy it, and those who despise their life in this world keep it for everlasting life. Whoever wants to serve me, let him follow me and wherever I am, there shall my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him».

Source: http://evangeli.net/gospel/

Analysis

Today's passage is a very short three verse passage, but may be one with one of the greatest implications for Jesus' odd mind. Here, Jesus tells that if the grain dies, it will produce fruit, if it doesn't it will stay seed. Anyone who love their life will lose it and those who hate it will keep it. They who serve Him must follow Him and wherever Jesus is, the servant will be there also. If they serve Him, God will honor the one who serves Jesus. Well then, let us start dissecting this passage, shall we?

It is fairly obvious that the seed refers to Jesus, if He dies, it'll be good, if He doesn't die, He'll be what He still is, but really what is the actual meaning of this? Jesus dies for other people, so why is it that He only spoke of Himself, that is the grain of wheat? As such, I will complete it for Him, the complete version would be this. If the grain of wheat does not die, then all other plants will die, but if the grain falls and dies, it will grow and multiply, providing much food for other plants. Is that not the meaning of Jesus' death? That is to surrender His eternal life for others? To let His body be divided and eaten?

While the core message of the "They who keep their life will lose it ..." is practically obvious, that is if we become attached to our material life and material pleasures we will actually lose it, but here Jesus uses very strong words. He in fact uses the word love and despise, very strong words indeed. As such, according to Jesus, if we cherish our life, we will lose it, but if we despise it and loathe it, we will keep it, is that not contradictory to each person? The person who wishes life will lose it, but the one who clearly wants death is given life instead. This is not just about if we are attached to our life, but this is about whether we love or hate our life, which is wholly different from attachment. One can love life without being attached to it, so do we have a solution for the hate problem? In my opinion, it most likely means that if we hate our material life, or we are dissatisfied with the current systemic oppression of the human mind, then we will gain a better life in the kingdom. On the other hand, if we love the systemic oppression of the human mind, we will only lose that life, and may find the resulting conflicts about the truth absolute hell, or feel that the new order of truth is hell and so on.

The third verse is just another phrase of Jesus' fantasies of grandeur, and calls people who listens to Him and does what He wishes to do, that is the upholding of the truth, to be His servants. And that He will be served, this seems to contradict His words in Matthew 20:28, that is "just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many," Furthermore, calling them servants makes no sense as this would contradict Jesus' core relationship with the Father, which I have not written about at all, but I will when the time comes. Basically, Jesus is separated from the world, for He is the literal other half of the Father, and thus everything else that exists is part of the Father. So Jesus is saying that the Father is the servant? Well that makes no sense at all. But again, Jesus is in the end, still human, as such we must understand His limits. There is not much I can say else about His messages, as such that is all I can say for now, have a nice day and see you tomorrow.