Monday, October 22, 2007

silent evangelization...

greetings from mathenachan... recently i was travelling by brindavan express to chennai. i had reservation and 'my own seat'. when we reached katpadi, lot of people entered into the compartment. there was hostility in the air. their were angry comments of more people entering into 'my territory'. i too was irritated.

after a while i noticed an elderly couple, standing and leaning to my head rest. i felt a bit uncomfortable. something within me told me to get up and allow that elderly man to sit down. i had my own justifications not to get up. i had paid for that seat. it was 'my seat'. i ignored that inspiration, and pretended to be sleeping. but i could not go on for a long time. something form deep within me forced me on my feet and i offered him my seat. he was so greatful. but when he sat down, he shared his seat with his wife. what God had united how can man seperate.

standing beside them, i started experiencing a happiness that welled up from somewhere deep within me. that happiness was more powerful than the comfort of sitting down. then i saw people around, looking at me with admiration. "why is this man different from others?" probably that is what they where thinking. after sometime, i saw another man getting up and giving his seat for somebody else... after a while yet another man got up and gave his seat for another...

a few minutes ago what prevailed in that compartment was a culture of selfishness, a culture of fear, a culture of irritation... but within no time i started sensing a culture of concern, a culture of self-sacrifice, a culture of trust, filling the air. i felt the kingdom was breaking forth THEN AND THERE... the kingdom of love, the kingdom of joy...

evangelization comes from the greek word evangelium, which means good news. and The good news is that the kingdom of God is near, IS among us. that day i felt so proud of myself, for becoming an instrumet in the breaking forth of the kingdom... i felt proud of jesus, for persuading me go get up from 'my seat'...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i loved it... i could feel the change caused by u... in the compartment, it shows.. acts when done out of love or a loving soul is contagious.........no wonder christianity has survived 2000 yrs...one act of love soo strong n soo true.........jesus had the message clear.......that i suppose is the mystry of the kingdom.
Diana Joseph

mathen said...

is it my friend diana? nice to hear from u. when are we meeting? cc had told me to come home. will try meeting soon. by the way, greetings from vargheseachan... take care...