Aaagh experts in the law…  Did you hear about the lawyer on holiday whose sailboat capsized in dangerous, shark-infested waters?

He surprised his travelling companions by volunteering to swim to the far-off shore for help. As he swam, his companions were startled by the appearance of two dorsal fins — great white sharks, heading straight toward the lawyer.

To their surprise, the sharks allowed the lawyer to take hold of their fins, and escorted him safely to shore.

When the lawyer returned with help, his companions asked him how he had managed such an incredible feat. The lawyer answered, “Professional courtesy.”

No such courtesy is offered by Jesus to the law experts in this text though, when they try and entrap him. He hits them pretty hard with a wise and irrefutable retort concerning love based on the Torah across Matthew. And then follows up with a real ‘Dorothy Dixer’… And puts them down for the count… Or at least until the next day… Beautiful stuff…

Love, love, love… I was at a Prayer Meeting last week, and the convenor had put together a beautiful program focussing on love…

For some time, I had been praying for help with an issue I’d been wrestling with… Little did I expect that an answer to my prayers would emerge from this meeting. But it did, and in a most emphatic way. And I think it made me appreciate too that love in the biblical sense is more a choice than a feeling, more a loving, gracious, kindness than a passive response, and more a merciful action than an emotional reflex. To name a few…

Thank you for answered prayers Lord… Thank you for loving us Lord… And thank you for the opportunity to serve you and glorify your name. Amen.

Harvey Griggs

Launceston South Esk