John the Baptist and Jesus


Gospel According to John.
3.25-28.
"Now a discussion about purification arose between John's disciples and a Jew.They came to John and said to him."Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and all are going to him."John answered," No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, 'I am not the Messiah ,but I have been sent ahead of him.'
Purification! What does it mean? We say God is the perfect being without any impurity.The sense of purity was very much present in the early life of man.Purity can be easily identified in all our activities.Our hands may be impure, dirt and dust accumulate.Our head may be impure, dandruff and lices spread on the scalp , our clothes may be impure and our place of living may be impure.So our senses easily sense the presence of impurity in life.But the impurity that affects the mind is the most significant and the dangerous from the perspective of divine teachings.The mind when it has impurity makes the life of a man miserable and totally unacceptable to God.Allowing the mind to wallow in impurity makes us worse than a slave. Our condition becomes pitiable and we become like animals.Impurity is to be sensed, first of all, secondly it has to be removed from our thoughts and emotions.A sinful man is not conscious of his impurity.Once we recognise the impurity that is present in us it has to be removed.It is difficult to clear the impurity because our habits and patterns of behavior are difficult to change.Let us ask God for this grace.
John the baptist states that no one can receive anything except from God.God is the ultimate source of all spiritual and material wealth.If we accept this, our emboldened tendency to be greedy and hoarding will cease.What we witness today is the tendency of man to seek and make money in disproportionate ways leaving behind the The Ultimate Source, without sparing a thought for Him.This self-preservative tendency is the totally distorted life.People invest money in shares and businesses thinking that they can make more money.But they forget a simple fact thatGod is to be constantly sought in our life.The madness seen is again beacuse of the greedy nature that has enveloped us.To be free we need the will to surrender all our belongings to God.

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