6 April 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.” John 5:46
A few days earlier Saul of Tarsus had been on the road to Damascus with letters from the high priest, ready to arrest anyone who belonged to the Way. Then a light flashed from heaven, a voice asked, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’, and he was led blind into the city. After three days Ananias laid hands on him, the scales fell from his eyes, and he was baptised. Today's reading begins at that point, and its first word is the most surprising: “immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’” There was no long apprenticeship, no waiting to become respectable. The man who came to Damascus to silence the name of Jesus now cannot stop speaking it. The people who hear him are astonished: “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name?” The Resurrection does not only raise a dead body in Jerusalem; it raises dead hearts on the road to Damascus. Luke adds: “Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.” Saul is himself a Jew, preaching in the synagogue, reasoning from the Scriptures of Israel. This is an argument within the one family of Abraham about the Messiah of Israel, and the Church reads it with that love, never as a charge against the Jewish people.
Then comes danger. “After some time had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night so that they might kill him; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.” Paul himself tells the same story years later in Second Corinthians, adding that the governor under King Aretas also guarded the city. And he tells it in the middle of a list of his weaknesses, as the thing he chooses to boast of. The great apostle, who would one day stand before kings, begins his ministry squeezed into a basket and lowered down a wall at night by his new brothers. He did not save himself; he was carried by the community he had come to destroy. There is an Easter lesson here for every proud heart: the Risen Lord makes us strong, but often he does it by first making us small, and by teaching us to depend on our brothers and sisters in faith.
In the Gospel Jesus is in Jerusalem, in a long debate after healing a man on the sabbath. He speaks to some who oppose him, and his words go deep: “I do not accept glory from human beings.” Then he puts his finger on what makes faith impossible: “How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God?” Faith dies where people live for the applause of others. Then Jesus names Moses, the great lawgiver whom his hearers loved: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.” Moses is not set aside; he is called as a witness. The Law, the Psalms and the Prophets all speak of Christ. That is why the Church never throws away the Old Testament: it is the word of God, and in it Christ is hidden, waiting to be found. On the evening of Easter the Risen Lord himself, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets” (Luke 24:27), opened the Scriptures to the disciples on the road. In the Syro-Malabar Holy Qurbana on Sundays and feasts, a reading from the Law or the Prophets comes before the Apostle and the Gospel: Moses and the prophets still speak in our churches, and they still speak of him. The question Jesus asks is for us too: do we seek the glory that comes from God, or the glory that comes from one another?
Theme: “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.”
The persecutor turned preacher, the apostle carried in a basket, the glory that comes from God, and Christ hidden in the Law and the Prophets.
“I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have begotten you.”” Psalm 2:7
“and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”” Acts 9:20
Apply: Say one good word about Jesus this week to someone who does not expect it from you.
“We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped.” Psalm 124:7
“but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.” 2 Corinthians 11:33
Apply: Ask someone to pray for a burden you have been carrying alone.
“for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
“How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God?” John 5:44
Apply: Do one good deed in secret this week.
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet.” Deuteronomy 18:15
“If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.” John 5:46
Apply: Read one Old Testament passage this week and ask where Christ is in it.
The Risen Lord turns persecutors into preachers and makes the proud small enough to be carried.
All Scripture speaks of him; let us seek his glory alone.
Take-home resolution: This week, speak of Jesus to one person, do one hidden act of kindness, and read one Old Testament passage looking for Christ.
Dear friends, a few days earlier Saul had come to Damascus to arrest Christians. Then the Risen Lord met him, and he was baptised. Today we hear: immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, He is the Son of God.
No long delay, no waiting to become respectable. The man who came to silence the name now cannot stop speaking it. Easter raises dead hearts as well as dead bodies.
Then danger came, and his new brothers lowered him down the city wall in a basket at night. The great apostle began his work being carried. The Risen Lord often makes us strong by first making us small, and by teaching us to lean on one another.
In the Gospel Jesus says: How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from God? Faith dies where we live for applause.
And he says: If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. The Old Testament is the word of God, and it speaks of Christ. That is why at the Holy Qurbana we hear the Law and the Prophets before the Gospel.
This week, let us speak the name of Jesus without fear, let ourselves be carried by the prayer of others, and seek only the glory that comes from God. Alleluia! Amen.
Children, Saul used to be against Jesus. But when he met Jesus he changed completely and told everyone, ‘Jesus is the Son of God!’ His friends even saved him by lowering him down a wall in a basket!
Jesus can change any heart. Let us pray for someone who does not know Jesus yet.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, you turned Saul the persecutor into Paul the apostle, and you were proclaimed by him in the synagogues of Damascus. Open our eyes as you opened his, and our lips to speak your name. Deliver us from seeking the glory that comes from one another, and teach us to seek only the glory that comes from God. Open to us the Law and the Prophets, so that in every page we may find you, risen and living for ever. Amen. Alleluia!