Tag: Luke

We walk. We talk. We wonder. And slowly, perhaps, we begin to realise that we have not been alone on the road. Not for a moment.

Let’s not leave Lazarus lying outside our gates. Let’s mind the gap —of wealth, race, indifference, division—with the love of Christ. For in the end, it will not be our comfort that defines us, but our compassion.

Who are you and what kind of person are you? And do you ever take the time to think about it?

I wonder how Simeon felt when he woke up the day after meeting Jesus and seeing the truth of what his future would hold. I wonder if he woke up thinking, “today might be the day!” before he remembered that yesterday had been the day and that he would have to find something else to do today.

If you think about the words of the Advent Carol, ‘O come, O come, Emmanuel’, we’re asked to rejoice whilst Israel is mourning in lonely exile; to rejoice whilst in the gloomy clouds of night; to rejoice whilst in death’s dark shadow. These are tough things to ask.

One of the little angels at my home church in Bury came up with these questions for her Sunday School…

Jesus was an agitator, not a pacifier. He started fires to bring justice for all. God’s love causes division because it makes people uncomfortable.

In Luke, we’ve had Jesus the Son of Man, Jesus as King, Jesus the bringer of good news to the poor. Today he is the man who calmed the sea.

This is what Jesus often describes; so much so that the good news can be seen as an ongoing story of the reversal of fortune for many.

Perhaps we all need to be more expressive in our greetings and relationships to reflect the good news and the blessings we have received.

Or maybe, she had the confidence and strength now to be the person who she needed to be. Strength to be a sanctuary for someone very special.

If our welcome is to work, if it’s to change things for people and yes, bring them back again, it has to be accepting and affirming of all.

Which local valleys would you fill and which hills would you make low? For this is a word of God for us here and now, in this time and place.

Jesus was ‘doing’ God. And we are called, challenged, purposed to do the same. We should be ‘doing’ God too. If Jesus wombled, then God wombles – and we should be wombling too.

I love this story of the road to Emmaus. Scholars don’t seem to know where Emmaus actually was – but that’s not really important. It was far enough to make a good story – and close enough to get back and share it with others…