Daily Reflection with Aneel Aranha

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. Out of the twelve men that Jesus chose to be his apostles, seven are believed to be fisherman. Today we see him calling four of them: Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Although fishing might have been a dominant profession in first century Israel, the number of fishermen Jesus chose seems to be extremely disproportionate. Which leads to question: why? Well, perhaps it is because fisherman have the kind of qualities that he was looking for. What might these be?   One quali...

“Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” William Scott was a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War. While on guard duty one night, Scott was found asleep at his post. He was subsequently court-martialed and sentenced to be executed. In Scott's defense, he had volunteered to take the place of a comrade the night before and was consequently exhausted. On the day he was to be executed, Abraham Lincoln issued a presidential pardon, sparing his life. Scott went on to serve faithfully until he was mortally wounded in battle a few years later.   A soldier who...

“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” There are quite a few things that weigh down our hearts and Jesus warns us about three of them in particular: dissipation, drunkenness, and the worries of life — or despair. Anybody who has experienced these knows how heavily burdened the heart becomes, and consequently, how vulnerable to attacks from the enemy. Let’s examine them in turn. The first is dissipation. Dissipation is an overindulgence in sensual pleasures, and while sexual excess is the first thing that undoubtedly comes to mind, this can be anything that appeals to the senses. Have you ever over-eaten at a party where the food is good and...

Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. I know that Google has made navigation very easy these days, but what if you found yourself in a place without network? How would you find your way to your destination? You didn’t carry a map because you were relying on Google, so what are you gonna do? Well, you’d look out for sign posts, I imagine, because they would point you in the right direction. The Bible is full of such sign posts. It first points towards Jesus Christ, who famously declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). And then Jesus points us towards heaven, by telling us what needs to be done, often...

“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those inside the city must leave it, and those out in the country must not enter it; for these are days of vengeance, as a fulfillment of all that is written. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people; they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory....

“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls. If you knew that something terrible was going to happen in the future, what would you do with the knowledge? If, for instance, you knew that a famine was imminent; or if you knew a typhoon of great magnitude was gonna hit your city; or if you knew that a tsunami was going to wash over your town; what would you do? Either stock up or sell off, r...

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them. “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. Among the many scary things that Jesus said, what he said in the passage we are reflecting upon today must have been one of the mo...

He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”   Today’s story, where Jesus speaks of a widow tithing, is quite extraordinary for the lessons it teaches. See, widows were not required to tithe — on the contrary, they were to be provided for. God has a soft corner in his heart for widows and orphans, and the psalmist puts it beautifully when he says, “A father to the fatherless, and a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling” (Psalms 68:5). He warns people against taking “advantage of the widow or the fatherless” (Exodus 22:22), and he constantly exhorts people to provide for them along with the poor (see Deuteronomy 14:28-29).    The woman that Jesus saw putting her coins into the treasury w...

  “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you ...

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.” Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord a...

Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; and he said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.” E very day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard “My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” On first reading it might seem like Jesus is targeting commercial enterprise done in the name of religion, but it is a little more than that. Both statements are from the Old Testament. The first statement about the temple being “a house of prayer” is from Isaiah 56:7 where God promises to bring all those who seek him to salvation. This is what the verse says. “These I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifi...

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”   There are three times that Scripture says that Jesus wept. We find one reference in John 11:35; another in Luke 19:41, the passage we just read; and a third in Hebrews 5:7. John 11:35 simply says, “Jesus wept.” That, for those of you who like trivia, is the shortest verse in Scripture. On that occasion, Jesus wept when he met Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, who were mourning the death of their brother. He wasn’t weeping because Lazarus had died—Jesus knew he would bring hi...

As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. So he said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for himself and then return. He summoned ten of his slaves, and gave them ten pounds, and said to them, ‘Do business with these until I come back.’ But the citizens of his country hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’ When he returned, having received royal power, he ordered these slaves, to whom he had given the money, to be summoned so that he might find out what they had gained by trading. The first came forward and said, ‘Lord, your pound has made ten more pounds.’ He said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been trustworthy in a very small thing, take charge of ten cities.’ Then the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your pound has made five pounds.’ He said to him, ‘And you, rule over...

He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”   Today, I would like to share a very import...

As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” Then he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet; but he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed 0him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, praised God.   You undoubtedly know the story of Thomas, the apostle, who doubted Jesus had risen from the dead. He said he wanted to see the nail marks in Jesus’ hands and put his finger in Jesus’ side before he believed the story (see John 20:25). Jesus appeared to Thomas and allowe...