NOTE: Dt. 17.11.2019 hi kan chhungkaw tan chuan ni chhinchhiah tlak a ni ve tlat mai. Serampore College-a he ni, sunday tuk inkhawm hi CHILDREN'S SUNDAY (as per our rota) a nih angin Sunday School Children hoin inkhawm tan ata a tawp thlengin an kaihruai vek a. Ka fapa upa ber JAIRA (13) chu thusawitu a ni. He mi ni vek hian Kolkata-ah North East hnam hrang hrang, hnam 9 (a ni ta awm e) inkhawm, Kolkata Mizo Christian Fellowship-in a huaihawtah thusawi turin hun min lo pe a. Tichuan tuk khatah pafain Pathian thuchah kan sawi a ni ve ta reng mai a nih chu. He ni a ka thusawi hi ka blog-ah hian kan dahtha leh ang e.
Bible reading: Psalm 133: 1-3
Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy side O Lord our rock and our redeemer. Amen!
Base on the same text – Ps 133:1-3 from where we have taken out our theme for today, we are going to contemplate on the theme – LIVING TOGETHER IN UNITY / HARMONY.
If we take a look Psalm 133:1-3, the text tells us three things about ‘living together in unity’
1. The first part - tells us what the unity is – its value or how precious is the unity.
2. Second part is – about symbolic or metaphorical comparison between unity, oil and dew
3. Last part tells us about – theological significance or the blessing of living together in unity.
Now, we will take a look at all three together.
The first part is found in Psalm 133:1, which says, “How good and pleasant it is, when brothers live together in unity”. If we put the same sentence in another word - Living together in unity is both good and pleasant.
However, the key words, what i would like to mention, from this particular text are the term ‘good’ and ‘pleasant’.
The word translated “good” in this verse is mentioned as ‘very good’ (NRSV) and ‘wonderful’ (NLT), which is a word that indicates “excellent, agreeable, or beneficial.” In other words this is something that is good in God’s sight. That means - God has put his stamp of approval on it.
The second word translated “pleasant” is a word that means “beautiful, sweet, or lovely.” In other words, it is not only good in God’s sight, but it is good for us/you too. Whether you’re a family, a business, a church or a sports team, or a particular community, life is much better, pleasant and enjoyable when everyone is getting along.
Therefore, for our points of interest what I would like to mention for a reminder, from this particular section are;
i) UNITY is so good in God’s sight
ii) It is so good and pleasant for us too
iii) The goodness of unity is to be understood in terms of - excellent, agreeable, or beneficial. That means – UNITY is excellence in the sight of God. The UNITY is agreeable before God and, UNITY is beneficial for God and for us too.
iv) In the same way, the pleasantness of UNITY is also to be understood in terms of - beautiful, sweet, and lovely. That means – If we live in UNITY, the spirit of such unity is so beautiful, so sweet, and so lovely before God.
Now, we shall move on to the second part…
Here, in the second part, we could have seen a figurative or metaphorical comparison between the term UNITY and the key phrases – ‘The precious OIL’ and ‘The dew of Mt. Hermon’
So let’s take a closer look at each of these two images. First of all living together in unity is like oil poured on Aaron’s head. Look at verse 2: “It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down upon the collar of his robes” (Psalm 133:2).
So, let us keep in mind some key words and phrases, such as – ‘precious oil’, ‘running down on the bread’, ‘on the bread of Aron’, and ‘down upon the collar of his robes…’
Now, we will start with the oil.
If we take a look, history of ancient Israel; Oil was a valued commodity in ancient Israel, not for making gasoline or fuel like today, but it was used for cooking and also for moisturizing and refreshing. And most of all, it was being used for religious purpose – in their burn offerings, in their sacrificial offerings which is a part and parcel for their worship services.
Secondly, as found the record in the scripture;
- Oil was used for anointing the priest.
- For anointing the king chosen by God
- We also can even look up the reference in Exodus 30:22-33. According to this text - It was a special blend of olive oil, myrrh, cinnamon, cassia and cane. It was a specific formula with specific ingredients and measures, and it was only to be used for anointing the priest and for the sacred objects in the temple; like- Ark of the Covenant, table, utensils, alters, etc. This OIL made up of specific formula with specific ingredient is HOLY before God and was known it as – holy anointing oil.
Therefore, some theological significances of the oil what we can recollect from here are;
i) This OIL is HOLY before God
ii) It is to be considered as sacred before God
iii) Since it is excellent and agreeable before God, any person or any objects being anointed become agreeable and holy before God. How good and how precious is this oil!
Now moving on to the second phrase – ‘The dew of Mt. Hermon’
As the psalmist compares, living together in unity is like oil running down on Aaron’s beard. Similar comparison we get from the following verse is - It is also like the dew of Hermon falling on Mount Zion. Verse 3 says, “It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion.” (Psalm 133:3a).
Now we shall take a closer look at this image.
If we look at a geographical map of Israel, Mount Hermon is located in the northern part of Israel, extending along the border of Lebanon and Syria. It is the highest mountain in Israel with an altitude of over 9,000 feet above sea level. It is known for its cool nights and heavy dew. In the winter, it is covered with snow, and the area surrounding Hermon stays green and looks attractive throughout the summer.
Now the second mountain - Mount Zion is located in the southern part of Israel. It is a much smaller mountain with an altitude of only 2400 feet above sea level. Unlike Mt. Hermon there is very little dew, rain or any moisture at all in Jerusalem especially during the summer seasons.
Therefore, we have two very dissimilar mountains here: Mt. Hermon to the north, which is cool and refreshing and Mt. Zion to the south, which is hot and dry. But, what an amazing thing is that - the dews of Mount Hermon were to fall on Mount Zion.
Therefore, the images put before us through this symbolic comparison are;
i) Dew on Mt. Hermon is a symbol of mediator between Mt. Hermon and Mt. Zion. That makes a link and connection between the two mountains that unite and bond together the two in spite of their differences in terms of their geographical location, cool & dry, attractiveness, pleasantness, etc.
ii) Dew on Mt. Hermon is a life giving dew for Mt. Zion
iii) Dew also represents reconciliation between the two mountains. Therefore, everything representing the dew pointed to- unity, fellowship, communion, partnership, mutuality, friendliness or brotherliness, etc
In short, that is exactly what happens with Christian fellowship and with living together in unity.
Now, let us move on to the last and concluding section;
As oil represents Unity, which is good in God’s sight, which is excellent, agreeable, and further more beautiful, sweet, and lovely before God. Unity, understanding, cooperation, spiritual bond between and within the community of God’s people, is so good, so sweet, and lovely before God.
Unity or brotherliness is something that makes us sacred, that make us holy, that make us able to offer a living and acceptable sacrifices before God.
By seeing the spirit of unity within the community of his people, God becomes happy, this is also the way how we can please God.
Unity is like a life giving dew of Mt. Hermon, which falls on the Mt. Zion. That represents sacred anointing oil, which has a sweet-smelling fragrance before God, the sweetness of Spirit-anointed fellowship within the community of God people, our secret strength; it is our foundation and source from where we receive our refreshing spirit that can uplift individual Christian life to become the sign symbol and instrument of the kingdom of God.
