EXPLORING THE BIBLE

The last words Jesus spoke before he was lifted up into the clouds (Acts 1:9) included a call to mission: “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” There was no time for Jesus’ disciples to stand gazing into the sky. They had work to do. So do we. And we have the Holy Spirit to help us, as Jesus promised.

He claimed that people were desperately seeking some kind of meaning or transcendence in all kinds of places, and that the challenge for the church was not to try to interest people in spiritual things, but rather to show why what we have to offer is better than anything else in the massive smorgasbord of spiritual options available.

In this week’s gospel reading, Jesus promises his disciples (and us!) a place to belong: ‘In my father’s house there are many dwelling-places… and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.’

“…..What may be missing, too often, is not the teaching and learning, the fellowship, communion, or prayer: it may be the awe. The ‘wonders and signs’ may be passing us by, without our taking notice.”

Some disciples meet a stranger on the road out of Jerusalem heading towards Emmaus. He teaches them and they are warmed by the beauty of his teaching.

Thomas lives and breathes in all of us. We want concrete proof and we are unwilling to be gullible when people tell us fantastic tales.

Psalm 118 reminds us again of its refrain about the steadfast love of God-the refrain we have read before this month.

While Palm Sunday might have been a piece of street theatre that had some element of triumph, Good Friday is a black day. Support for the Jesus movement seems to have evaporated; even his closest disciples abandon him.

This evening Jesus welcomes his disciples and he washes their feet. He turns convention upside down and bids his disciples enter that different world.

This Lent, let us practice kindness, the love that unbinds the cloths that hinder us from living in the light of love, the love of God seen most clearly in Jesus Christ.