Thoughts for the Day

Jesus also said to the crowds, 'When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, "It is going to rain"; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, "There will be scorching heat"; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?'

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

In recent years I have moved around the UK, mostly near the sea - Suffolk, Cumbria, and Pembrokeshire. A notable difference was the way the light changed depending on where I was. The evening light lasted much longer in west Wales than it did in Suffolk, and the morning light was earlier in the latter. While the trees in west Wales hardly changed colour by mid October, but in Cumbria the oak and chestnut leaves were glorious yellows. Old sayings also come to mind. This year with such a lot of berries on the trees, will it be a hard winter, well we'll wait to see? But it has been noticeable, how often the old rhyme "Red sky at night shepherd's delight and red sky in the morning shepherd's warning" has come true.

In our passage from Luke's Gospel today, Jesus calls his listeners "Hypocrites!" They understand the signs of nature and how it will affect their life, but they fail to understand the truth that lies before them - that Jesus is the Messiah sent by God the Father, to bring the people back to Him. Jesus implies they don't want to understand. This accusation is not aimed at the disciples who though slow to learn do understand in the end, rather it is aimed at the ordinary people who flock to listen to him and to see the miracles that he would perform.

The question for us who know of the death and resurrection of Jesus, is, are we hypocrites and do we sometimes wilfully also fail to understand that Jesus really is our Saviour? If we believe the words we say in the Nicene Creed each week in church: " We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God.. (who) ..for us and for our salvation.. came down from heaven", how might this change our life?

Lord Jesus,
You came to call the people back to God,
and yet so many refused Your message
but went their own way.
May we respond to Your call,
to know that You are our Saviour,
and show that understanding
in the way we live our life.
Amen.