Last night at the service the preacher spoke about the feelings of Lazarus as he discussed his sisters Mary and Martha, and the visit to their house of their friend Jesus. In that gospel account Jesus gave a warning of his impending death, and today, Tuesday in Holy Week, we move a little closer to the cross.
Jesus, in this evening’s gospel (John
Well No, I suspect that is not the case – Rather I think Jesus was worried because he knew that so much of his work was still to be done, and he was looking at the people he was leaving to do it. If there was a doubt in his mind, maybe it was that people hadn’t paid enough attention to the message he had brought them, and this is I think, was the reason for the last lines we hear in this reading,
‘The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.’
And 2000 years later I suspect Jesus is still troubled, because today people are still not paying him enough attention, and all too often we, his followers, are doing little to change that. As Jesus spoke these words, you can almost feel the plea in his voice – he is begging people to see what is there in front of them, just as he is today.
On Sunday I spoke about love, and about love being the healing factor in so many problems in the world, and that love is never better expressed than through the life of Jesus. He is the light that still shines in the world today, but we so often allow that light to be hidden. He is the hope for us as individuals, for our communities, for our country, even for the whole world.
A friend recently wrote to Helen and asked her about going out on this Bank Holiday Weekend. There was no acknowledgment of Easter, just as there is no acknowledgment of Christ in the lives of so many people, and as his body on earth today, I believe we are surely being called to make his name known.
We live in a country described as a Christian Country, but a country where the gospel message is one that people are embarrassed to share or proclaim. We live in a country where it seems that Christianity is increasingly being marginalised in favour of anything of a minority nature.
So eager are we to please that we can allow children in schools to be taught almost everything in detail with maybe a little bit of Christianity thrown in; we can allow all kinds of laws to ensure that nobody is discriminated against in society, except perhaps those who want to shout about Jesus as way, the truth and the life; we live in a country that encourages companies to give to their employees of different faiths the important religious holidays, but where Good Friday is increasingly being seen as another work day whilst people are taking the Tuesday as well as the Monday as an extra holiday – we could of course think of Sundays and the gradual erosion of anything special about the day, the embarrassment of our Prime Minister when he is asked anything about defending the Christian faith, and this from a man who professes that faith himself… So eager is he not to offend anyone that he usually gives a little embarrassed laugh and avoids the question….
The truth is that we can look at lots of areas where the Christian faith is being undermined – people are failing to see the light that is Jesus…
But as we look at these areas and shake our heads, and express our disappointment, we must also look at ourselves, and see what we are doing to allow these things to happen.
We are holding the light of Christ, but we are not allowing it to shine…
Today, all through this country, there will be Churches with people thinking about Jesus’ journey to
In this country for all it’s faults and failings, we still are allowed relative freedom to speak out for Jesus, we are still allowed to proclaim his love and offer of salvation. We must be sure those rights are not allowed to diminish any further, and we must be sure that we are making the most of every opportunity to tell others about Jesus’ love for us and for them… but we mustn’t talk about Jesus to try and preserve an institution, we mustn’t talk about Jesus to try and keep alive the Church, we mustn’t talk about Jesus to maintain some wonderful tradition or heritage…
We must talk about Jesus because he is the light shining in the darkness of this world. He is the light that brings peace in the hearts of people, peace between nations, comfort for the sick, strength for the grieving, company for the lonely… He is the Living Hope for the whole world.
May his name be praised and glorified for ever ! AMEN
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