Today, we also encounter the “Second Word of Jesus” from the cross. It is one of the most astounding, unsettling, and encouraging verses in all of Scripture.Jesus was crucified between two criminals. When the leaders who crucified Jesus mocked him as a failed messiah, one of the criminals joined in: “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself - and us, too, while you’re at it!” But the other criminal did not follow suit. Rather, he objected, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong”. Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom”.Jesus responded to him with a stunning word of grace and promise: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise”. For the Jews of that time, paradise was associated with heaven, sometimes thought to be the place where righteous people went after death, and also with the future when God would restore all things to the perfection of the Garden. To the desperate bandit who cried out to be remembered, Jesus offered a word of confident hope. “You will be with me in paradise.” Even whilst suffering in agony, Jesus reached out to him to minister life and love. He didn’t even reprimand the other bandit. Today let us wonder at the extraordinary grace of God in Christ. Jesus’ death on that cruel cross makes us fit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the gift of life to those who acknowledge that they are unworthy, who know they deserve to be condemned. Jesus gives us solid, firm assurance when we need strength and comfort. We don’t have to pray perfect prayers for God to respond to us with favour. When we call out with a mere speck of faith, God’s grace is poured out upon us in abundance. Listen to Him, hear the voice of Jesus as he whispers the reassurance we need.Some thoughts for reflection: Do you need to cry out to God today? What helps you to do this? What holds you back?PRAYER: Lord Jesus, how I thank you for your amazing grace. I cannot even begin to fathom it. How glad I am that I don’t have to understand it in order to receive it.Thank you, Lord, for hearing me when I cry out to you for mercy. Thank you for remembering me, even when I forget you. Thank you for the promise of being with you in paradise. Thank you for being with me right now, through your Spirit. Amen.
Monday 6th April7 Last Words of JesusThe First Word “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Luke 23:34These words from Jesus are crucial to our Christian faith in St Luke's Gospel. Without them Jesus would not have been raised from the dead and would not have been glorified. Jesus was the Sacrificial Lamb, in the once and for ever great life changing, world changing, event of redemption and forgiveness.They are not recorded in the other Gospels but St. Luke understood how important they were to understanding Jesus's mission and legacy for believers. St. Luke was writing a vindication of the Christian faith at a time of great persecution and suspicion of the early Church by the Roman Empire. It was important to show how God's love and forgiveness was being fulfilled in Jesus by his death and resurrection.Focusing on the first three words, St Luke emphasises that Jesus is calling God his “Father” and is pleading with him when he is suffering his death pains. As Christians, we know that Jesus and God the Father are one, but on the cross Jesus was the obedient Son who suffered for all of us. How often when we are in pain do we put it aside to pray for others? It is so easy to get wound up in self pity or even to curse our ill-fortune. I still do a little bit of hospital chaplaincy at times, but years ago I working almost a day (actually a night) a week at Walsgrave Hospital meeting some very poorly patients. When a person had perhaps recovered from their initial self pity, I would always encourage them to pray for their fellow patients on the ward. Not only did I want as much prayer as possible to take place in the hospital, but to put aside our own misfortune is I believe a start of healing of the soul.The second word is “forgive”, which we know to mean to pardon or to remit a debt. When forgiven we start again with a clean sheet of paper, all charges are wiped away and we become new people. Like in our baptism we are born again and can live our lives without the great burden of our sins bearing down on us.The third word is “them”, but when Jesus said “them” who did he mean? Did Jesus mean the Roman authorities and soldiers who had crucified him, or was he referring to the Jews. This prayer was omitted from several early manuscripts because some early Christians found it impossible to believe that Jesus could forgive the Jews. In forgiving the Jews, Jesus forgave all of us who are living two thousand years later who come to the foot of the cross. St. Luke had a theology of world redemption, a divine plan, that he wanted us to experience in the life death and resurrection of Jesus. He sums this up in words attributed to St. Peter in his other great book, the Acts of the Apostles - “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. But God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it”. Acts Ch2 vs 23-24.The last phrase “for they do not know what they do” must ring true for all of us a lot of the time. At the time of Jesus's arrest and crucifixion his disciples were confused and ran around like headless chickens, even Peter, the rock, denied he knew him when in danger of arrest. The Jewish and Roman authorities who arrested and crucified Jesus just thought that they were dealing with a religious and political troublemaker. They did not believe or could not comprehend that they were condemning the Son of God to the most brutal death imaginable, but they did know that what they were doing was vengeful, and cruel. They were acting in their own interests because they were frightened of a message of love that was outside their comprehension. As we use these words of Jesus to help us prepare for Easter, may that message of love dwell in our hearts so that it is reflected in how we live our lives for evermore.Let us Pray:Blessed Lord, who in thy forgiving love didst pray for those who nailed thee to the cross, and hast taught us to forgive one another as thou hast forgiven us: Take from us all bitterness and resentment towards our fellows, and give us the spirit of mutual forgiveness and brotherly love; that so, in perfect charity, we may be partakers of thy everlasting kingdom; for thy name and mercy's sake. AmenSalisbury Book of Occasional OfficesFr. Terry
He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey‘Hosanna to the Son of David’Palm SundayApril 2020Rev. A. D. Hall He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey‘Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord’Thank you for navigating to this page, I do hope this short reflection about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday leaves you with something to think about and helps you begin your journey into Holy Week this yearWe have probably all heard, said or sung the phrases - ‘Hosanna to the Son of David” and ‘Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.’But what do they mean, just what was Jesus saying to the people in His day and How do they relate to us today in our world?A good way of understanding Jesus’ ministry is by focusing on what he did rather than what he said; and even when he does speak, his words are reflections on his actions.His entry into Jerusalem on a donkey is so often seen as a sign of his humility, his majesty clothed in meekness. When actually it was a deliberate, politically and religiously provocative act. a statement to those in the crowd that day who knowing the scriptures would be able to directly relate this to the prophecy in Zechariah; they knew what Jesus was saying. Take time to meditate upon the image above, try to imagine yourself in the story.Jerusalem was in a fever like state, people were shouting, screaming, singing, noise, noise, noise, like never before. At the same time knives were being sharpened, loose tongues were wagging, fingers were being pointed.All around people were saying, - “He is coming, the Messiah is here!”As our Palm gospel reminds us, two of his disciples had gone on ahead as instructed and found a donkey tied up with a colt, they untied them and brought them to Jesus. All they had to say was “The Lord has need of them.” As this drama began to unfold, again his disciples were learning the lesson, “Do as he tells you!”Receiving the animals Jesus smiled, this was something he often did, smiled. It made such an impact on so many occasions, his smile was able to convey, a calmness and surety, as often the Disciples were at sixes and sevens, not knowing, what, how, why or when they needed to do things. Perhaps just like us now?What was in Jesus’ heart as he rode along on a donkey? For sure he knew the shallowness of much of the praise, he also knew the holiness of it all too. He was fully aware that the people who were proclaiming him king, included a range of people; the devoted, the zealots, pharisees, and the religious types, simple everyday folk, people who just happened to be going to Jerusalem, almost by accident?He also knew that this ride of triumph was in fact a ride towards his death, and that this same crowd who praised him would in a few days’ time be shouting for his crucifixion, with just the same ignorance and lack of understanding. The majesty and triumph of this moment were laced with fear and sadness for him, each step forward a crushing blow to his flesh and spirit. Perhaps on one level that’s why he chose the colt, an innocent unbridled, to help him journey into the darkness that awaited him. But there was no turning back, his mind was set, firmly fixed on the task at hand. Love compelled him forward, love was the reason, he was willing to go into the place where he was to be despised, misunderstood and rejected.His love for us; a “Love that never ends, but bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” was his reason.Friends, let us take hold of Christ’s love for us this week, let it take root in our hearts, so that as we follow Christ’s journey to the cross we may experience his true resurrection when we celebrate Easter.I leave you with the words of George Herbert; priest and scholar, 1593 - 1632LoveLOVE bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin.But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in,Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning If I lack’d anything.‘A guest,’ I answer’d, ‘worthy to be here:’ Love said, ‘You shall be he.’‘I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear, I cannot look on Thee.’Love took my hand and smiling did reply, ‘Who made the eyes but I?’‘Truth, Lord; but I have marr’d them: let my shame Go where it doth deserve.’‘And know you not,’ says Love, ‘Who bore the blame?’ ‘My dear, then I will serve.’‘You must sit down,’ says Love, ‘and taste my meat.’ So I did sit and eat.He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey‘Hosanna to the Son of David’Palm SundayApril 2020Rev. A. D. Hall
