Greetings to all my young friends in the mighty name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I am delighted and always look forward to reach out to my dear young friends through this column.
Many of our childhood stories popularly called “fairy tales” or “bed time stories” those days were about Kings and Princes, especially about the gaiety and valour of the charming Prince who will destroy all evil or cross seven seas across to win the heart of the most beautiful princess. Finally the Prince marries the Princess. Normally such stories ended with the tag line : And they lived happily ever after….. In Tamil they used to end with “ Kathyum mudinthathu, kathirikayum kaaithathu” . As children, you are not expected to trouble your father or mother any further during bed time after this tag line and should sleep instantly !!!!!!
Once I grew up and became a prince or not, eventually got married. A son and daughter were born and the family grew into a big realm of bothside parents, siblings, friends etc., all of whom to be reckoned combined with stiff professional expectations in office every day. Then one day, I seriously thought that all these stories should have even though ended in the princely wedding, they should have adequately cautioned that it is not the end of the story but, the “real life” starts only after that….Challenges galore ! Suddenly post wedding, the couple are catapulted into a world of their own where they have to run their own affairs all by themselves, which was a dream while you are a bachelor, but may become a burden especially if it is a nuclear family. But the Lord says matrimony is holy and both husband and wife are one flesh, inseparable. For the people of God, this works differently as the Lord is with us in every thing we do and He decides everything. The steps of the righteous man are always ordered by the Lord.
It is easier said than done. Proverbs chapter thirty one poses a challenge as to who can find such a virtuous wife ? (Proverbs 31:10) . To draw a parallel from the Holy Bible itself, after prolonged meditation ,I came across a couple who were the ideal man and wife, joyful, a blessing to others all along and ever faithful to God. Only six times they are named in the Holy Bible. Not much is known about their other family details, other than that the husband was a jew and they were tent makers. The wife’s name was that of from the Roman Aristocratic family and nothing is mentioned about her Jewish descent. Aquila and Priscilla are the couple we are talking about.
Brief mention of their story starts with their life in Rome, where probably they accepted Lord Jesus as their personal saviour. The unexpected decree from Roman emperor Claudius directing all the jews to leave, forces them to go to Corinth. It was an important town those days due to “isthmus of Corinth” where ships will stop for refurbishing their sails and also famous for “Isthmian games” , a festival of athletic and musical competitions for which tents were in high demand. But it was more providential rather than a choice or chance that they landed in Corinth. Apostle Paul met them here and almost spent the next 18 months with them and preached the Gospel. Apostle Paul also was from the background of tent makers. The family welcomed him with alacrity and they were spiritually more enlightened by his teachings. This trio next moved to Ephesus. Here a church was planted in the residence of this couple. After some time Paul left them on his further mission. Here they met a new fire brand Jewish preacher by name Apollos, but found him to be not enlightened about the death and resurrection of Jesus leading to our salvation, which was imparted on him by them.
