Daily Reflection with Aneel Aranha

After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. T hen Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” The disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” Jesus asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the

At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”  Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” Jesus loved little children and I think this was because he found it very easy to talk to them. Innocent and unpretentious, children are easily teachable, unlike many adults who are so puffed up (I use the term with deliberation) with knowledge they believe they are smarter and cleverer than every

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 quality i

“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.