Thoughts for the Day

‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, “If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.” Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Today we remember John Bunyan, born in 1628 in Elstow, near Bedford. He was a tinker, repairing and making pans and kettles. But one Sunday, after hearing a sermon on the evil of breaking the Sabbath, he heard a voice within him asking, “Wilt thou leave thy sins, and go to heaven? Or have thy sins, and go to hell?” From that moment he changed, becoming a Puritan. He believed in the right to learn from the Bible without having a priest tell him what to think. This was considered a political act, and those who dissented were suspected of plotting to overthrow the monarchy. As a result, he spent over 12 years in prison. While there he wrote many books, and began to write 'The Pilgrim’s Progress', which was published in 1678. It became an immediate success, and sold millions of copies around the world since.

Bunyan's characters in this allegory are wonderfully rounded and quirky, showing us all the ways we can be lured off the path that God wants us to travel. Christian meets those who will help him, as with Faithful and Helpful, but others like Byends and his friends, Mr Money-love, Mr Save-all, and Mr Hold-the-world, who all come from the town of Love-gain, and are students of the "art of getting" - how to gain possessions, power, pleasure and profit by any means they can, through flattery, lying, or even pretending to be religious. Indeed they have will attend church, not to worship God, but to make connections and gain people's trust, and use that for gain.

The reading today which continues Jesus' attack on the Scribes and Pharisees is appropriate. For they too are self-seeking and enjoy their positions of power. Bunyan sees clearly the sins that tempt us from the way that Jesus would have us to travel, and we can learn much from him and his characters.

Lord Jesus Christ,
You called a humble working man
to teach Christians across the centuries
what it means to be a pilgrim
in the world - how to avoid taking wrong paths
and following those who would
lead us away from the road.
that You would have us travel.
May we not be deceived by others
nor by ourselves,
but be true to Your teaching
as found in the Scriptures.
Amen.