Reflection for Bible Sunday and the week ahead: 

Scripture:

Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.’ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15.3-4)

Reflection: 

The shared prayers between the Pope and King Charles last week were a welcome marker of progress in Christian acceptance of differences. Before and after Jesus the interpretation of the words of sacred scriptures has been controversial. The Reformation was a particularly seismic moment but arguments about just how to apply the Bible to our lives are as lively and potentially divisive as ever.

St Paul pleaded with the first Christians in Rome to be tolerant with one another, and to respect the views of those who seemed to be compromising the message of freedom from rules. ‘The scriptures’, he writes, exist to encourage in us ‘steadfastness’ and ‘hope’ . He quotes from Psalm 69 to remind us what Jesus himself put up with in the hope of saving us from despair and darkness.

David Harmsworth