In the end it’s not about ‘wars and rumours of war’ nor is it about ‘one person being taken and the other left’. It is about keeping our eyes on Jesus.
It is about living Advent lives, watching and waiting and working for the Return of the King.
Mary of Bethany on the other hand, though of a poor background, living at home with her brother and sister, maligned by those around her, rejected by others because she was not married and criticised by her sister because she wanted to spend time with Jesus, is the one who in our story today shows by her generosity true nobility. A humble nobility to which all of us wealthy or hard-pressed, Well-educated or not able to complete schooling may aspire.
I’ve never understood the saying ‘as miserable as sin’. Personally I find sin, for the most part, quite enjoyable, else why would we persist in it. It’s what happens after sin, after hearing but not listening, that brings the pain.
if we knew ‘the hour and the day’ of our Lord’s return we might be tempted to behave a little more like Christ as the Day approaches. And what kind of fair-weather (or more correctly Apocalyptic-weather) disciples would that prove us to be?
We can’t spend our whole lives reading ‘sustaining books’ whilst others work their fingers to the bone around us. In the Christian Life we cannot be Martha or Mary (Luke 10.38-42)[3] we must needs be both!
We are beautiful no matter what they say
Yes, words won’t bring us down,
Lockdown, locked-up, or enfolded?
There are so many voices to confuse us yet if we shut them all out we are even more isolated.
What if we transformed this lockdown into the gift of being safely enfolded with the Good Shepherd when we can listen intently to His words of love and comfort.
Sometimes, because we have a truth to tell, we become over eager to share it and so cannot receive the truth others bring to us. At all times in all situations it is wise to ‘Always Listen First’
Suffolk Vicar 