Palm Sunday (Fr. Simham)

by | Apr 8, 2022

Tongues special

Today is Palm Sunday. it’s a wonderful day to remember Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. This is one of the rare days we have two gospels read. And these two gospels are quite opposite to each other. In the sense, in the first Gospel it’s all about the people shouting “Hosanna”, “glory” and so on. But when it comes to the second gospel which is quite a long one (the Passion narrative), it’s all about planning and executing an innocent man. We hear people shouting “crucify him… crucify him“. What happened to the “Hosanna” they sang just a couple of days ago. Now they say “crucify him”. How typical of human nature it is. The same tongue that sang praises also hurls down curses. A tongue has no bones you see, it can bend as it likes. That is why Bible is so concerned about the control of Tongue. In fact no other part of the body is mentioned as much as a tongue with regard to its control.(Please refer to the end for statistics).

Today I just want to share some insights about what the Bible says about tongue. Specially about “sins on the tongue”. I know many may not be happy with what I say, but I cannot resist.

Bible obviously asks us to be careful about the following:

  1. The Lying Tongue: The tongue that says lies. (Proverbs 25:18 John 8:44,Pro. 6:17).
  2. The Flattering Tongue: The tongue that gives undue praise to gain favour. (Psalm 5:9)
  3. The Proud Tongue : The boastful tongue. (Psalm 12:3-4)
  4. The Overused Tongue: The tongue which is used unnecessarily. (Ecclesiastes 5:2, Ecclesiastes 5:3)
  5. The Swift Tongue: Its an hasty tongue, tongue which speaks without control and thought. (Proverbs 18:13, James 1:19)
  6. The Backbiting Tongue; Tongue that speaks ill of others when they are not there. (Proverbs 25:23 and Romans 1:30)
  7. The Tale-bearing Tongue: The tongue that loves to tell tales about others which are often not true. (Proverbs 18:8, Rom. 14:19; Philip. 2:3)
  8. The Cursing Tongue: The tongue that calls down curses on others. (Romans 3:13-14 , Psalm 109:17-18)
  9. The Piercing Tongue: The tongue that pierces and hurts others’ hearts. Proverbs 12:18 ,Col. 4:6, Titus 2:8
  10. The Silent Tongue: The tongue that keeps silent when it has to speak, specially about its faith.

Do you know that:

The word “tongue” is referred to over 100 times in the Bible

The word “Words” is referred to over 500 times in the Bible

The word “Lips” is referred to over 100 times in the Bible

The word “Mouth” is referred to over 400 times in the Bible

So Every day examine and see

  1. Are my words APPROPRIATE?
  2. Are my words PLEASANT?
  3. Are my words PURE?
  4. Are my words LOVELY?
  5. Are my word ENCOURAGING?
  6. Are my words SOFT?

Let me end with Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” God bless you. Have an enriching experience in Holy week.

Fr. Showreelu Simham