April 2022 | His loving kindness

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ

Greetings to you in the mighty name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We all know the heart of a mother towards its child. The bonding is such that even miles away, when the child ( even after it is grown up into the adulthood) is not well or in danger, the mother becomes uncomfortable and scientists call this “cognitive intuition” and the same behaviour exhibited by animals as “instinct”. All of us would have seen how a mother hen or any other bird becomes hyperactive suddenly knowing the impending danger and  rushes to embrace its offspring….We have a popular Sunday school song about how our dear Lord embraces and protects us, as a hen enfolds its chicks …. This is normal response of a mother to its offspring. But the question is can we expect this behaviour to be conferred on a stranger ? When it is done, it is called an act of kindness, which may be an isolated event…

What about a sustained kindness to an unknown stranger by a person  ? May be “loving kindness” is an appropriate word to dip into fathoms and understand this response. But “loving kindness” is a much more than this. It is some kind of a devotional love between two people (sustained and unfettered love). The word “ CHESED” ( pronounced as HASED) is the Hebrew word for “loving kindness” and is appearing 248 times in the Hebrew Bible. It is some kind of a devotional love between man and God and vice versa. We may  be surprised by the expression of a “devotional love” vice versa , that is , by our dear  Lord towards us ! However, when we meditate on this in solitude, we would appreciate that this is the final truth. He (God)  has loved us more than we have loved Him ever. Yes, God loves us and has shown His love, kindness and mercy through our lives continually,on many occasions when we have least deserved them !

We read about a prophet called Hosea in the Bible. God made this holy man to marry a woman of  doubtful integrity. Three children were born in the course of the married life and God christened them with bitter names through  the prophet. The unfaithful wife continued her debauchery even after the children were born  and later abandoned him. God  asked the prophet to redeem her and reform her. Once the humble and obedient man of God (Hosea) went through this kind of experience, God opened His heart and conveyed about His anguish regarding the people of Israel who are unfaithful in the same way and gone astray. Then God directed the prophet to go and talk to His people (Israel) of his “loving kindness” and warn them about His judgement and impending danger and to reform NOW !  We see that our dear Lord is loving, kind and merciful and His heart cries for redemption of our soul till the last moment…each and every one of us, who are His dear children. We should remember that our God is also God of righteousness and He is not prejudicial. That is why he went on counselling His people through His prophets. But people would not listen. Twenty years later, the invading armies will destroy and take away as prisoners the ten tribes of Israel and the “Northern Kingdom” would  cease to exist from the map.

Later, height of His “loving kindness” was expounded on the cross by our Lord Jesus Himself. God himself became “ the sin”  to redeem us from our bondages of our sins by paying His life on the cross.

Today also His “loving kindness” is continued to be espoused on us all through our lives. The million dollar question is : “Are we aware of His devoted love and willing to stay away from evil ? Do we obey His simple commandments of life ? Do we respect and revere  our sovereign Lord and our dear Father ?

“ And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgement and in loving kindness, and in mercies”…… ( Hosea 2: 19  )

Are we listening ?