They have no excuse for their sin (Jn.15:22)

Throughout history, the humankind has been vainly trying to justify his weakness by fabricating excuses. This has been one of the destructive legacies descending from Adam and Eve. An excerpt from the dialogue between God the Highest and Adam and Eve shows that this was the case.

Then, the lord God called to Adam and Said to him, "Where are you?" So, he [Adam] said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself." And He [God] said," Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" Then, the man said, "The woman [Eve] . . . gave me of the tree and I ate."

And the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The Serpent deceived me and I ate."

Gen. 3:9-13.

As we could learn from this quote, both Adam and Eve have tried to push aside their own gross error as if they were blameless. Adam accused Eve and she in turn accuses the Serpent for their respective transgression. Yet, their excuses could not cleanse them from their sins. All the three - Adam, Eve and the Serpent-were condemned.

Though this could have given a lesson sufficient enough not to see way outs in groundless excuses, man kept on taking this legacy as his defense mechanism to commit sins. One cardinal cause that necessitated the Incarnation of God the Word was, therefore, to give a first hand lesson to His creation to avoid fabricating excuses. The title of our epistle is hence part and parcel of the Sermon delivered by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When He unequivocally denounces excuses, He has this to say:

Remember the word that I said to you 'A servant is not greater than his master' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But, all these things they will do to you for My name's sake because they do not know him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done the works among them which no one else did, they would have no sin, but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But, this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated me without a cause'. Jn. 15:20-25.

As we indicated earlier, God the Father did reprimand and Condemn Adam and Eve for their effort to find excuses for their blunders. Simply because mankind and his evil - minded descendants hated God the Highest, no one tried to learn from the wronged past. People kept on living with excuses. Now, the Word God had to come and do wonders in front of man to deny the latter the room for excuses once and for all. In words and in deeds, He has preached the kingdom of God. He has taught us the commandments that could lead us to life. Not only that! He has healed the wounded, resurrected the dead, etc. Thus, what He is saying is very clear-After having benefited from My teachings and My wonders, anyone who still looks for excuses has no room for it. In other words, no one can successfully claim that he had no chance to know about the kingdom of God because it has been preached to the whole world not Just through Prophets, Apostles or Scriptures but by God Himself. It is not Just His chosen who were engaged in the ministry, atonement and other manifestations of disseminating the Gospel. God Himself has become one of us through His Incarnation. Minus Sinning, He has become as human as we are. So, if we cannot heed His Message, we could not expect a better agent to come and preach us. To put it through an earthly figurative, we have already got the message firsthand from the horse's mouth.

If man rejected prophets, he might claim that he had no way to see God for the latter was with them only in the Spirit. the New Testament has, however, the blessing to see God in flesh. Thus, the water and the fire is so obvious for man to choose and decide. If he wills to go for the ungodly while the Almighty has been crucified in front of him, he can for he has been created with all the freedom. If he prefers condemnation to life, no one would stand on his way. Yet, this preference can in no way be defended by lame excuses which have once and for all been refuted by the coming into this world of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

He says a serevant is not greater than his Master. True, he who has been called to the service of God might be harassed by non - believers. He might be rejected, derided or even physically Martyred. All this is because he is not greater than his Master, the Lord Jesus Christ who has also been rejected, derided and martyred. Thus, our Lord says, "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also." The servant of the gospel is, hence, advised not to refrain from discharging his lofty call by taking the harassment as an excuse. He should know that he is also tasting the bitter cup which His Lord did taste. In fact, the reward of the sereyant is ultimately not to be weighed by the amicability non-believers might show to him in this ephemeral earth but in the reward he shall look forward to in Heaven.

We shall know that we worship the Light of the world. Jn.9:5. That He is indeed the Light has been manifested through giving sight to the blind like Bartimaeus. Mark 10:50. It is the Resurrection and Life we worship. This was demonstrated in what He did to Alazar. Jn. 11:17-49. It is these and other miracles and his mentally and physically healing teachings which are refered to as actions which no one could do. If this is the truth, we should always live as per His words without excuses which He very much loathes.

Adam was redeemed not because of his excuses but because of his heartfelt repentance. If we have to give other examples, we could take Saul and David. Let us see Saul firt. As we read from 1Sam15:1 Onwards, he was ordered in his kingship to destroy Amalek and his property totally. Saul deviated from this will of God when he "Spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs and all that was good." 1Sam.15:9. This costed him His glory and kingdom. Thus, "Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king," says Samuel the prophet. Saul's excuse that he spared Amalek's wealth to offer Sacrifice to God couldn't spare his glory and kingdom. It was handed over to David by divine will coming to David, we see that when he grossly sinned in front of God by killing Uriah to fornicate with his wife, God was so unhappy. Natan the prophet was sent to reprimand David who was quick to repent and not to come with excuses.

Thanks to the limitless mercy of God, David has been forgiven.

We do not have a lord who says never sin. We rather have the One who says repent without excuses. Yet, this again should not in turn be an excuse to sin whenever we liked assuming that repentance is readily available in front of us. This is not the essence because we might be overtaken by death before repentance. The mercy of God could never be abused.

But, as man could never be free of sin, God is always willing to accept us if we come back to Him by repenting soon without excuses which do no good in the spiritual world.

Let our Omnipotent Lord help us live without lame excuses to please Him and win His kingdom for which we are ransomed by the Blood of Christ! Amen!

"I will vomit you out of my mouth!"

Rev.3÷16

Through His various agents of righteousness, God the Almighty is trusted to show man the right way he should follow and the wrong one he should not. Of these messengers of life, one has been the Revelationist St. John who is also known for his Gospel and Epistles.

The Revelation is a prophecy given to John by the lord God to show "Servants [the] things which must shortly happen." Rev.1÷1. In view of this, there are seven churches it primarily addresses. These are the Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicia churches. Rev.1÷11.

The message delivered to the Angel (chief) of the church of the Laodiceans was this:

I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, will I vomit you out of my mouth. Rev. 3:15-16.

In this message, we get three cardinal words which are meant to signify what our lives as Christians might look like-Hot,cold or Lukewarm. Our Christianity, that is, the Christian life we are leading as groups and individuals, surely falls on one of these three categories. This Epistle we are writing to you tries to briefly highlight what sort of Christianity these three categories stand for.

1. COLD

This is the Christianity that is primarily marked by stability. A Christian who has given all his worries to his creator and is purposefully leading his life with utmost serenity is, Metaphorically speaking, cold. Neither the turmoil nor the glitter of this ephemeral world will shock him. Since he very well knows what he is meant for, he is so organized in this utterly disorganized world. He is tested, but, he never surrenders. He would rather tell himself that he "could do all things thought Christ who strengthens" him. Phil.4÷13. What soever bad happens, such a Christian never loses his values. He keeps himself in love, peace, mercy and other assets which testify that he worships the Lord who never changes. Thus, a Christian shall firmly adhere to the lofty values that have been preached through the priceless blood of Christ. The flush flood that comes with time should not push him off the track of salvation.

2. HOT

This epitomizes Christians who burn with the love of Christ and His church. The price the Lord paid to redeem them always flames in their hearts and keeps them moving. They always see him crucified on their faces.

If they are called for martyrdom which glorifies Christ and their faith, they would have no fear at all. They know that nothingbe it hunger, thirst, displacement, or what soever shall detach them from the love of Christ.

This was of course the life of prophets and martyrs who were given to the fire, sword and other harassment of infidels. There were two alternatives in front of them to suffer in this world and win the kingdom of God or to sing to the tunes of the world and be condemned in hell. They preferred the former since they knew whom to fear. They had to fear the One who could kill both the flesh and the soul they were not scared by the threat of those who could kill the flesh but could do no harm to the soul.

3. LUKEWARM

This is a life of those swaying here and there. It is a life marked by attempting to serve two masters. At one time, they vow to live up to the very purpose of their being created - to praise the lord. To this end, they start to serve the church and their souls like by singing and other ministerial services. But, the fruit of their Christianity never blossoms.

They are soon trapped by the will of this world and they change their ways. It is to these sorts of Christians that the lord says "I will vomit you out of my mouth!"

We are destined to be either cold or hot. Life other than this is one of failure. Our Lord has unequivocally told us that we could never serve two masters. One says serve the sanctity of the soul through prayer, thanksgiving, love and other blessings. The other says dirten your soul and flesh through fornication. How can we reconcile these two? They are irreconcilable. That is why the Lord of justice says "I will vomit you!"

This shows us the life we have to opt for. We had and still have fathers and mothers who live up to the will of God by never becoming Lukewarm. What do we learn form our nuns and monks who devote themselves to God without losing hope? They teach us that patience will definitely pay off in Christ for He is trusted to fulfill His promise. What do we learn from our martyred mothers and fathers? What do we learn from his Grace the late Abune Petros/Ethiopian Bishop/? What do we learn from fellow Christians who have been murdered by extermists just this month?

The answer is we have to be either cold or hot. The profit we reap from lukewarmth is being vomited out! And, we say a way with this destructive alternative! What we have to do is pretty clear. We shall stand firm as our fathers and mothers have done. In love, in peace, in Justice, we need to serve God. And, any transgression engineered by our restless enemy, the Devil, to weaken us and our church shall be our most burning issue. Otherwise, we are still lukewarm and we will be despised by God as He did to Saul. 2sam.15÷23. This is nothing but a life of gracelessness.

Our Lord and Savior never want His creatures to be graceless and despised. That was why He, through John the Revelationsist, delivered such a life saving message to the church of Laodicia We realize how merciful he has been to the angel of the church and his congregation when the Lord says, "as much as I love, I rebuke and chasten. There fore, be zealous and repent." Rev.3÷19. And this is what a kind father does to his children.

So, the question is to which of the three does our life fall in to? To the cold? To the Hot? Or to the Lukewarm? We have to answer it now since, as indicated at the beginning, it has to do with what is to happen shortly the judgment of the Lord. Rev.1÷1.

If this is the divine truth, the repentance must also happen so shortly.

O Lord, help us live up to your love and rebuking. Let the vomiting never happen. Let is happen to none of us all. Amen!

May God Bless us, Amen.