A day at ST. John church at IIT Roorkee.

It’s Good Friday today. The man told about sin and love. Why Good Friday is known as “Good” and not bad when Jesus died this day? Reason being he calls for all our sins and in turn gives us love. This day, thus, we are relieved of our sins. We do sins. Each one of us. Those of us who have a conscience, their conscience convicts them and then we try to hide our sins. We try to show to world what we are not from inside. If my wife knows all the things about me like an open book, she would never love me. If a girl knows what I think about her, she will never talk to me. And then, when somebody asks us a dreaded question, we tell lies. And again tell lie to question, “Have you ever told a lie”, we proudly say NO.

These sins are like traps. Sometimes we don’t want to commit these sins, but even then we commit and then repent. Sometimes we are misguided by others. A Story. A woman in a train is very anxious because her station is about to come and she cannot see when it will come as there is a lot of heavy snowfall and fog outside but then a man asks her not to worry as he says he will tell her when her station will come. The train stops at a station and then the man says, “The next station is yours”. Train starts and after a while stops again, the lady with her small little daughter gets down from the train. The train quickly moves again and stops when somebody calls out the same name of station what the lady told to the man. The man says, “What I have done to the lady”. So, sometimes, we get misdirected by the persons who think they are right. The lady believed in him and he also thought that he was right.

Another Story: Rat and Snake. Somehow snake and rat are in same room and Snake is sleeping. Rat knows that if Snake woke up, it will eat the rat. So rat starts hiding the snake with dust, so that snake couldn’t see the rat but snake wakes up and just as snake is about to eat the rat, a hand comes from window and saves the rat. Similarly, how much ever we try to hide our sins, but they will catch us later and then only the hand of god can save us.

Another story: A guide at Niagara Falls is sleeping in his boat just above the fall. Somehow, the rope lets loose and the boat starts going downstream towards the fall. Everybody is shouting, “wake up guide, wakeup. Save yourself. You will die”. He is deep asleep. The boat just before falling hits a big rock and stops for a while. Again everybody is shouting, “Wakeup man. You are about to use your life. Save your life”. He never wakes up and only wakes up when the boat falls. Similarly, we always remain asleep in materialistic things where there is hatred, jealousy, immorality, where one is ready to step over other in a bid to cross each other, where there is lust, where a person is someone else in front of you and someone else behind you and God always keeps on trying to wake us up but we never listen. He gives many chances in the form of small-small stones but we never wake up. We only wake up when we are about to die.

If one has to devote his life to God, he has to start young. Why to offer yourself when you are old? If somebody gives you a rotten piece of fruit to eat, will you like to have it? No. You would only like to have fruits fresh. Similarly, offer yourself to God when you are young, when you can understand the deeper meanings of life. When your body and mind are in congruence and can do well in service of society.

Another Story from bible: A lady comes near a well and question Jesus sitting there that what should she do so that she needn’t fill water again and again? Jesus said that this water will never satisfy your thrust and the water offered by God can only satisfy your thirst. Also, every human being in this world is unique. Even twins also have their DNA different. Everybody is special in his own way. And god loves this speciality. He has been through the ultimate suffering of life. That’s why when we suffer anytime; he is the one who can understand our suffering. He is the one who can love us unconditionally. He is the only one who doesn’t demand us to love and tells us to love others. Another Story: Napoleon caught a prince, prince’s wife and their children. Napoleon asks, “What will you give me if I leave you?” He says, “Half of my wealth”. Napoleon asks, “What will you give me if I leave your children?” He says, “Everything”. Napoleon again asks, “What will you give me if I leave your wife?” He says, “I will give myself”. Seeing his devotion, Napoleon leaves the prince and his family. On the way back, the prince asks his wife, “Was not the king very kind?” His wife says, “I don’t know as I was seeing the love of the man who was ready to give up himself for his wife”. God also loves us the same way, unconditionally. So, we needn’t worry. We should not feel dejected. We should try to appreciate our uniqueness. God loves us for our uniqueness.

Also, ultimately we all are sinners. Since the day of our birth, we have committed sins in some form or other. Evil thinking is also sinning. To die with our sins is the most terrible thing. But, to come to god and to ask forgiveness is the end to all sins. If you ask for forgiveness from true heart, God will forgive whatever sin you have committed. We shall try to get rid of our sins before we die.