Word in the Hand

St Melangell  Psalm 85  Turn your ear to me, Lord, and hear me,   for I am poor and destitute. Keep my life safe, for I am faithful;   O God, save your servant, who trusts in you.

Gospel Matthew 11:25-30  Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.   ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’ This reading is used so often in services of healing and remembrance. Words of comfort and reassurance for those who suffer, whose life is unmanageable. We imagine an opportunity to bring our cares to Jesus and to hand them over; to rest in the arms of God; to be as children in his care. A lovely thought and, a...

Gospel John 12:1-11 Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there; Martha waited on them and Lazarus was among those at table. Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was full of the scent of the ointment. Then Judas Iscariot – one of his disciples, the man who was to betray him – said, ‘Why wasn’t this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor?’ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he was in charge of the common fund and used to help himself to the contributions. So Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone; she had to keep this scent for the day of my burial. You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me.’   Meanwhile a large number of Jews heard that he was there and came not only on account of J...

Sunday Gospel - Matthew 6: 24-34 Jesus said to his disciples: ‘No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.   ‘That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. Surely life means more than food, and the body more than clothing! Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are we not worth much more than they are? Can any of you, for all his worrying, add one single cubit to his span of life? And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his regalia was robed like one of these. Now if that is how God clothes the grass in the field which is there today and thrown into th...

Gospel Luke 23:35-43 The people stayed there before the cross watching Jesus. As for the leaders, they jeered at him. ‘He saved others,’ they said ‘let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.’ The soldiers mocked him too, and when they approached to offer vinegar they said, ‘If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.’ Above him there was an inscription: ‘This is the King of the Jews.’ One of the criminals hanging there abused him. ‘Are you not the Christ?’ he said. ‘Save yourself and us as well.’ But the other spoke up and rebuked him. ‘Have you no fear of God at all?’ he said. ‘You got the same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus,’ he said ‘remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ ‘Indeed, I promise you,’ he replied ‘today you will be with me in paradise. ‘Are you not the Christ?’ he said. ‘Save yourself’ Way back, at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus...

Reflection If we ever worry about how well we are, or are not, doing at being a good Christian; at being Christ-like; we should not be too hard on ourselves. Think about the disciples that lived and were taught by Jesus, all those years ago. They had the benefit of weeks, months and years in his company; of understanding the importance of sheep and fish and vineyards; of seeing the mannerisms and nuances that accompanied the parables and the teachings. They had the benefit of ‘being there’. And yet, still they got it wrong; regularly and outstandingly. They saw what Jesus did and still did not always see that they were meant to be like him. Maybe they saw his behaviour as eccentricity to attract the masses or to ridicule the Temple. They were right and (at a push) left hand men; there must have been some authority in their closeness to the Lord; something that marked them out as ‘better’. Surely they were not meant to be poor, persecuted or meek; surely they were not to be servants and...

Sunday 23rd November Jesus spent most of his time showing us that, in his humanity, he was one of us. And yet we still feel that we have to revere him as ruler over us. Perhaps, from a respect point of view, this is true. Nearer the end of his ministry he did admit to his Messiah-ship, but even then only to those in authority - so they would know who and what to expect when judgement came. One of his final acts, you will remember, was the washing of his disciples feet. Not really a 'kingly' act. Not an earthly king in any case. But Jesus came to turn the tables and question the way the world thinks. If he is a king then what kind of king is he? Servant King In the Great Hall stands the Throne Empty and expectant. For the Christ is not here. He does not sit in majesty, He does not sit in judgement He does not sit in power. He does not sit at all. The Servant King is about his people. The poor, the lonely, the weak, The unwanted and unloved Are the courtiers of his kingdom. His b...