Over the past couple of weeks, I have had occasion to travel down to Inverness a number of times and it brought a smile to my face when I saw that the donkey’s at the Donkey Sanctuary were out in the fields enjoying the warmer weather. Seeing donkeys always makes me think of the significant roles that these beautiful animals play in various stories in the bible. There’s the donkey that carried the heavily pregnant Mary all the way to Bethlehem for example. But did you know about the donkey who spoke? Balaam’s ass. You can read all about her in Numbers 22 – 24. She saw exactly what was going on – more than her boss did, in fact, and eventually spoke to draw his attention to the presence of an angel.

Another donkey, one which we hear about as we step into Holy Week, carried Jesus publicly into Jerusalem. It is well known that nearly all donkey’s bear the mark of a cross on their backs and like them Christians carry the mark of the cross too, given to us at our baptism. Donkeys teach us a lot about Christian discipleship. They remind us that we always carry Jesus invisibly, like Mary’s donkey, wherever we go. Every day Christ is carried into our world by us. As St Theresa said, ‘Christ has no body now on earth but ours, no hands but ours, no feet but ours. Ours are the feet on which he is to go about doing good, ours the eyes through which he is to look with compassion on the world, ours the hands with which he is to bless us now’. So, on the days when we feel we’re carrying the world on our shoulders, we need to remember that we are also bearing Christ to meet the world’s pain and give people life.

There are times when, like Balaam’s ass, we shall see things that others can’t or won’t see. Then we have to do something about it. Balaam’s ass tried first of all to draw the boss’ attention to the demands of God (the angel standing in the way) and she got pretty rough treatment for her trouble. But then God gave her words to say and Balaam began to take God seriously.

Being a Christian, being outspoken for God, isn’t always going to be easy or pleasant. Balaam was trying to maintain his reputation and wasn’t keen on anything standing in his way. We can sometimes find ourselves challenging important people and vested interests – that can be very hard, like crucifixion.

The Palm Sunday donkey reminds us that when we go with Christ, there are no promises about easy rides. We know, however, that at the end of the suffering, after the death, there was resurrection. We know that Christ has promised to keep us company, but as we carry him with us in the world, he won’t avoid confrontation, or allow us to. ‘In the world’, he said, ‘you will have tribulation’. We know that, from personal experience, and from sharing in the pain of the word as people starve, exploit and kill each other. We shall have to hang on with some of the donkey’s stubbornness to the belief that Christ really has overcome the evil in the world and that we shall share that victory.

Today Christians across our country will be entering into the journey of Holy Week, armed with their crosses, ready to ride out again with Jesus, to be his donkeys as he goes the way of his cross. And we believe that as we faithfully accompany him to the cross, we may also know in ourselves the power of his resurrection. 

Ride on, ride on in majesty!

* Isaiah 43:16-21 * Psalm 126 * Philippians 3:4b-14 * John 12:1-8

I’m wondering this morning if any of you have planned your holidays for this coming year?

Maybe you are off for a week or two to some beautiful spot here in the UK, or maybe you’ve booked a guided tour somewhere on the continent?

I’m sure it will come as no surprise to some of you that we are absolutely shocking at forward planning and its only in the last few weeks that we have started to think about possible holidays for the coming year.

Amongst the variety of options, I came across a sailing experience recommended by Leonardo De Caprio (ironically the actor most famous for his lead role in the film Titanic). Did you know that for just £306,000 a week you can hire a private yacht with all the latest amenities – but no crew – you have to sail it yourself! Very tempting but having no sailing experience, I wasn’t sure we would manage and besides it sounds like a rather expensive and extravagant amount of money for a week’s holiday. Having said that, Leonardo De Caprio’s assets are worth about £170 million, so I guess to him, it wouldn’t seem all that much.

I did consider a week at the Hotel President Wilson in Geneva. Only £62,000 a night – again, a little extravagant for us perhaps. Bill Gates (developer of Microsoft) has stayed there. But then, his net worth is more than £60 billion – so a stay at the President Wilson Geneva probably doesn’t seem all that extravagant to him.

Extravagance is in the eye of the beholder. The extravagance of what we spend might appear to be relative to what amount is coming in through our salaries or benefits or pensions.

The amount that premier league footballers spend on cars and clothes might seem ridiculously extravagant to us, but then I’m guessing that their income vastly exceeds that of most of us here this morning.

So imagine then, what the disciples and followers of Jesus, most of whom had left their jobs and homes and were living through a common purse, imagine what they thought when they saw Mary pour an expensive jar of perfume over his feet.

Not just expensive, but very expensive. A pound of Nard cost about 300 denarii at the time (nearly a year’s wages for the average worker) – estimates put that to be equivalent to about £30,000 in today’s money.

Just think, what could you do with £30,000?

‘Extravagant’ is the word that many preachers use to describe this. They talk about Mary’s “extravagant” love and her “extravagant” gift. And the word extravagant seems entirely appropriate when we are talking about pouring £30,000 worth of perfume onto someone’s feet and it’s certainly how the disciples looked at it as we heard in the gospel reading.

We also heard that Mary really pushed the accepted social boundaries in this story. It was not acceptable for a woman to let down her hair in public, let alone wipe a single man’s feet with it.

What a scandal this was! What did she think she was doing?

Well don’t forget that just before what we have read this morning, Mary had witnessed her own brother Lazarus rising from the dead at Jesus command. I think Mary must have had a pretty clear understanding of just who Jesus was and how close he was to God. Her faith in him must have been sure and certain having witnessed such a miracle involving a member of her own family.

The faith that Mary models to Judas and the rest of the disciples, to her family, and even to us this morning is a faith marked by an extravagant act. It is a faith that is always seeking “more.”

In contrast to Mary, sometimes our faith can be a part of our lives that often gets shortchanged by our own personal quests for “more”.

We want more sleep, so we hit the snooze button on a Sunday morning. We want more time for our hobbies or recreation, so we put off reading our Bibles or saying our prayers for another day when we “have more time.”

We want more money so that we can buy the latest gadget or take that holiday, so we adjust our giving just a bit. In short, if we are not careful, we can let our need for “more” take priority over our faith.

We spend more time worrying about the challenges and issues in our lives, more time trying to figure out our relationships and daily  schedules, more energy and resources on material things, and, because something has to give, we end up spending less time on our relationship with God.

But, you know, imagine if instead of letting our faith take a backseat, we somehow reframed our understanding of “more,” and, like Mary, we begain to live with extravagant faith.

As with Mary’s actions this morning, such a faith may seem quite  ridiculous to others, wasteful even. But we rest assured that our Lord encourages us to keep going at it, even in the face of adversity, for we have a Saviour who believes in extravagant, over-the-top actions. That, of course, is one of the messages of the cross, the overabundance of love that God has for the world.

Having faith that is extravagant means being willing to truly love God with all that we have: with all our mind, all our body, and with all our heart. It means making that first “more” in our lives our relationship with God. Going above and beyond into something deeper still, and trusting that there is always something more to be learned, more to be experienced, about the one who first loved us.

This “more” is not about a transaction or monetary value. And it’s not about how many events we attend, or committees on which we serve. Extravagant faith is about giving God all that we have, not just settling for the bare minimum.  When we are overwhelmed by our love for God, we are apt to do wild and radical things, the kind of things that truly label us as Christ’s disciples.

It is such love that leads us to speak out where there is injustice – to stand up to the bullies of the world and proclaim that all deserve to be treated with love and respect. It is love that helps remind us to spend a few extra minutes checking in with someone who we know is having a tough time. God’s love leads us to extravagant faith.

Some moments of extravagant faith, much like the perfume Mary poured, might seem temporary or fleeting. After all, lots of extravagant gifts are simply put out there into the ether, where they soon evaporate. A choir rehearses an intricate anthem, and three minutes later it is gone. A teacher prepares the lesson, stands to deliver, and then the school day is over. Mourners provide large arrangements of flowers to honour those whom they grieve. Individuals donate large sums of money for their congregations to spend. Why do they do this? Well, love has its reasons.

But perhaps these aren’t as short-lived as we might think, because once we break open the jars of extravagant faith, the fragrance of love’s actions is carried on the wind to places we never see. Acts of love and extravagant faith have the potential to grow into more, as generosity inspires generosity. Imagine how extravagantly-filled our lives could be if we all lived with a little more love, a little more faith.

Imagine if we were to live and to love a little more – with God the possibilities are endless. No act of faith is too small, and no act of faith is too large, when inspired by our love for him.

So let go of whatever holds you back from giving all that you have, all that you are. Let God’s love wash over you and carry you to something new. Seek to be “more” of a disciple, and prepare for the overwhelming fragrance that comes when we live with a faith that is extravagant, worshiping a God whose grace and love is indeed always “more” than we could ever dream.  Amen.

* Joshua 5:9-12 * Psalm 32 * 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 * Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Drill Sergeant  Morrison was frustrated in her efforts to make a soldier out of a certain new recruit.

The trainee soldier lagged behind on marches.

He used any excuse to go to the sick bay at any opportunity, grumbled constantly about the food, and never made his bed properly.

But one day, a noticeable change took place in the young man’s attitude.

When asked to what she attributed the soldiers change in attitude, the drill sergeant explained,

“Threats and punishment did not work, bribery did not work …. so I had to resort to the ultimate weapon: I called his mother!”

Today is of course Mother’s Day – or to give it the more traditional title Mothering Sunday.

Telephone companies around the world record Mother’s Day as the busiest day of the year – that text or Instagram message just won’t do – many children everywhere (of varying  ages) feel the need to actually hear their mother’s voice on this day.

I wonder if you can identify these famous mothers from the names of their children –

• Charles, Ann, Andrew and Edward
• Bart, Lisa and Maggie
• Carol and Mark
• Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper

I wonder if we were to ask any of these four famous mothers to explain the joy of motherhood what they might say?

One extremely wise mother when asked that very question gave this explanation:

“The joy of motherhood ….. is what a woman experiences (Slow) when all the children are finally in bed”.

So why – on this Mothering Sunday – did we have a story about a father and his two sons in our gospel?

Well, of course the story is about a parents love – though it may be a father in this instance, rather than a mother.

Unconditional, forgiving, welcoming us despite all our faults and failings.

Now most of us from our own experience, understand that real parents are human – just like their children – and sometimes our relationships are not quite all ‘wine and roses’.

Sometimes we have experienced better relationships with people who are not our birth parents, and the love and guidance we have received from them has been more significant in building and shaping our character and sense of identity.

But today, the father of the prodigal son reminds us of the  love that God has for each of us. A love that really is unconditional, forgiving, and welcomes us with open arms despite our many failings.

A love that is so strong that he gave his only son so that, just like the prodigal son in today’s gospel, we too will be welcomed home with great rejoicing when our time comes.

Today is a day for greetings …. A day for expressions of love.

And it is also a day for remembering.

There are some of us whose mothers or other significant figures in our lives have already been welcomed home as we will one day be – and maybe that was a long time ago for some of us – maybe more recently for others and I’d like us to take a moment now to remember them.

Just take a minute or two and call to mind your mother and those who have loved you – those who guided you, provided for you and cared for you.

Almighty God,

We thank you for those who have cared for us. For those who have shaped our character and those who brought us to know love and acceptance for who we are. We give thanks for those who we love but who we see no more. Rest eternal grant into them and let light perpetual shine upon them.

Amen.

ANSWERS TO FAMOUS MOTHERS

1. Queen Elizabeth II (Our beloved late Queen)
2. Marge Simpson (The Simpsons cartoon)
3. Margaret Thatcher (First UK female prime minister)
4. Victoria Beckham (AKA Posh Spice from The Spice Girls)

On the ‘Feast of the Annunciation’, we of course mark the date nine months exactly before the date of Christmas – when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. It’s customary, even in the middle of the solemnities of Lent to take a break from our acts of penance and celebrate the cause of our joy – the fact that Mary, when faced with a terrifying and awesome task said, ‘Yes’.
But what if Mary had said, ‘No? Indeed, could Mary have said No?
Most of us believe that we all have free will – the power to decide for ourselves. We are not robots or puppets on a string. God does not play with us or dangle us for his pleasure or amusement. We have the freedom to choose.
It’s true that there may be determining features in our genetic make-up, or our circumstances or up-bringing that do constrain us and limit us. But, unless we are undergoing extreme constraint or torture, we have at least some room for manoeuvre – the power to choose. With that power comes responsibility. We must accept responsibility for our own actions. We cannot blame God or our make-up or our parents or our circumstances for the choices we make.
So, surely, Mary was entirely free to say No. It’s almost impossible for us to imagine that she would. So the Church has tried over the centuries to explain why Mary had to say Yes. The Bible tells us nothing of her parentage or upbringing, but long ago the Church identified her mother as Anne and her father as Joachim and decided that they must themselves have been saints. And then some Christians began to believe and teach that God, in order to be sure of Mary’s response, had protected her from the first moment of her conception, protected her from original sin. In 1854, Pope Pius IX declared it as a dogma, something to be believed by all those who acknowledged the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, that Mary was immaculately conceived.
Despite all this, it is important that Mary could have said No. It certainly is important to us, when we think about ourselves and our own relationship with God. How often do we say No to God? And I wonder are we even conscious that we do?
God does not impose himself on us or force us to follow him or to do his will. God prompts us, leads us, even cajoles us to greater love for God and for our neighbour.
God uses the Church, the Word and Sacraments, our friends and families, our experiences, even our environment, and of course the promptings of the Holy Spirit, in gentle and subtle ways, and sometimes in more startling and obvious ways. And how often we say No to him! We see it as our right, our freedom. We are human beings. We have the power to choose.
But, as ever, there is a complication. There is something of a paradox.
I’m sure that you will remember that Jesus said to his disciples in the Upper Room. ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.’ Jesus also said, ‘Many are called but few are chosen.’
St Paul, at the beginning of his letter to the Ephesians, wrote ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who … chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will.’
How are we to understand this idea that God has chosen us from the beginning, pre-destined us to be his people? Does this mean that we do not really have the power to choose at all, that all the power, all the choice is with God and that our freedom to choose, which we regard as one of the particular characteristics of a human being, is an illusion?
It’s not easy. From our human perspective it is impossible to see clearly or to understand. We cannot see it from God’s point of view.
We do believe that God chose Mary to be the Mother of his only Son, to be the Mother of the Church.
The Church uses the language of vocation, of being called, and many of us have a strong sense of having been called to the life and work we do in and beyond the Church.
But can we be chosen and yet still be free to choose?
Let’s take a wider perspective. We know that our lives are governed by seemingly inflexible rules of time and space. We cannot be in two places at once. And we might be able to think of ourselves in a different time frame from our own. We can look backwards and at least imagine forwards, often with more fear than excitement. But in truth, we are utterly bound by time. Although time can drag and time can speed up in our imaginations, the clock ticks on and will one day take us away. Time and space limit us, rule us. Even though films we see and stories we read present us with notions of time travel and speeding through unlimited space, we cannot at all imagine what life outside time or space would be like.
But God is not limited by time or space. Life beyond this life, eternal life with God, is outside time and space.
God holds all time in the palm of his hand. Just as the last two generations have been privileged as never before to see the earth from a camera on a satellite, so that we can see the world and the galaxy and at least part of the universe from an utterly different perspective from that of earlier generations, with the earth like a small ball in the sky, so God can see the whole of time, the whole of eternity, as one, and knows absolutely what free choices we shall all make. God surely can see the entire spectrum of time and every detail within it.
God does not control us, does not impose himself. But he does already know how in our freedom we shall respond to him. Even so, he still loves us, still persists with us – in the gentlest possible way.
We believe that no one is beyond the power of God’s love. Jesus, born of Mary, Son of God, our human brother, our divine Master, died that all might live, even those who have turned away from God, rejected him and live in despite of him. We have the potential to turn towards God, or to turn away from him, to choose good or evil, or, come to that, to choose neither, simply to bumble along in our own self-satisfaction, turning away from the cries of the poor and the marginalised.
Today we do mark the Annunciation, we do rejoice in Mary’s ‘Yes’, in her humble obedience to God’s will. But tomorrow we step back into the journey to the cross.
Over the next two weeks, as we move closer to Holy week, we remember that in Jesus, God weeps at the terrible and destructive choices human beings make, the choices that cause mothers and their children to flee and leave behind their ‘men’ to fight. But God also weeps at the damaging and sad choices each one of us as individuals makes every day.
In Jesus surely God weeps at the indifference of those who blow neither hot nor cold, who simply pass by.
Indifference
by Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy (amended)
When Jesus came to Golgotha
They hanged Him on a tree,
They drove great nails through hands and feet,
And made a Calvary.
They crowned Him with a crown of thorns;
Red were His wounds and deep,
For those were crude and cruel days,
And human flesh was cheap.
When Jesus came to Inverness,
They simply passed Him by;
They never hurt a hair of Him,
They only let Him die.
For men had grown more tender,
And they would not give Him pain;
They only just passed down the street,
And left Him in the rain.
Still Jesus cried, “Forgive them,
For they know not what they do.”
And still it rained the winter rain
That drenched Him through and through.
The crowds went home and left the streets
Without a soul to see;
And Jesus crouched against a wall
And cried for Calvary.

* Isaiah 55:1-9 * Psalm 63:1-8 * 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 * Luke 13:1-9

I’m sure like me, there will be times in your life when you have heard about someone, maybe even a member of your family or a close friend, who has been struck down with a sudden serious illness or who have been injured in some kind of accident. In the past few months, I’ve met with a twenty six year old young mother who has received a diagnosis of kidney cancer, I’ve shared tears with another mother whose thirteen year old son has lost the sight in one eye following a freak sporting accident and in the last week I’ve prayed for a friend whose brother was killed in a night club shooting.

More often than not, when faced with these sudden and unexpected happenings in our lives, we ask this question.

What did they do to deserve that?

Jesus knew that questions like this were on people’s minds whenever  they came to tell him sad or alarming news. The Roman Governor, Pilate (yes, the same Pontius Pilate who oversaw the crucifixion of Jesus) had ordered that some Galilean Jews be slaughtered. And what’s more, making Pilate’s appalling action even more offensive is that he did this terrible thing while they were offering their sacrifices in Jerusalem.

It’s Jesus who asks the questions on everyone’s minds: Is it because those Galileans were worse sinners than other Galileans that this happened to them? Did they do something to deserve such an awful death?

And it’s Jesus who gives the answer: No.

Or what about when the tower of Siloam fell and eighteen people were killed, crushed because they were standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, is that because they were sinners?

Jesus says no.

Behind all this is a deeper question.

Is God keeping track in some gold-leafed book about who’s been naughty and who’s been nice and whether to respond with earthly punishments or rewards?

The answer is no.

Does God allow tyrants to kill people or tsunamis to drown people because they’ve done something to deserve it?

No.

You might remember the time when some people ask Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither.” says Jesus, and he cures the man of his blindness.

Jesus flatly denies any correlation between the man’s problem and someone’s sins.

Yet, it’s a persistent question. And it goes with a persistent assumption, that somehow what people get in life is what they deserve – we’re tempted to think that there must be a connection between the sorts of people they are and the bad or good things that come their way in life.

We’ve heard people say, “I wonder what he did to deserve that?” or make pronouncements, “this plague/natural disaster/fill in the blank is God’s punishment for how they have behaved.”

Jesus clearly tells us that this is not how it works.

Sometimes of course, we do suffer as a direct result of something wrong that we have done, some bad decision, some action we’ve neglected to take and we suffer the consequences. Mistreat your body, and you will get hurt. Mistreat a friend, and you may damage your friendship. The negative consequences of our actions can be clear.

But sometimes we’re confused, not when we can see how a mistake or bad action has led to suffering, but when we’ve been good, when we’ve done the right thing, we’ve tried so hard, and still, nevertheless, we suffer.

As Christians, we really shouldn’t be so surprised when this happens. The idea that only good things happen to good people should have been put to rest when Jesus was nailed to the cross.

Christian faith is no magic protection against tragedy. After all, the cross is our central symbol – the cross, where an innocent man died the death of a criminal.

Nonetheless, Christians have long since wondered why bad things happen to people, even good people. In his book The City of God, St. Augustine considered the great suffering that occurred when the barbarians sacked Rome, and he noted that when the barbarians raped and pillaged, Christians suffered just as much as non-Christians. Faith in Christ did not make them immune to pain and tragedy. Augustine wrote,

“Christians differ from Pagans, not in the ills which befall them, but in what they do with the ills that befall them.”

The Christian faith does not give us a way around tragedy. Our faith gives us a way through tragedy.

So, no, we cannot and must not ever look at tragedy and assume that someone did something to deserve it.

“But,” Jesus says, “unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.”

What kind of a statement is that?

Jesus is not saying that questions are bad or that ‘why’ isn’t a vital human question. Jesus is saying, don’t be distracted by the wrong question. To Jesus, the ‘why’ isn’t important. God made us in love and gave us free will, freedom to choose how to respond, how to act.

In freedom, humans have written symphonies, others have started wars. God made a dynamic world in which natural things change and evolve into beautiful new forms of life, but they also mutate into cancerous cells.

A good question to ask, according to Jesus, isn’t: what did she do to deserve that suffering? The much more important question is: how is your relationship with God? Jesus says that we shouldn’t be distracted by looking at what happened to someone else. We shouldn’t spend our time wondering what someone must have done to deserve what they are going through. Instead, we should look at ourselves – while we still have time.

Jesus refuses to get caught up in the question of whether or not someone else deserves to suffer, and instead asks another question: What in your life needs acknowledging and turning around? What needs to be turned over to God? What needs to be forgiven?

Things will happen. And while the gift of earthly life is still ours, we need to ask ourselves, how is our relationship with God? Do we love our neighbours as ourselves? Are we relieving the suffering of others or just pointing our finger at them and trying to connect the dots between their suffering and the things we consider to be their wrong-doing?

The scandal at the heart of our faith is this – God already loves us;  God doesn’t need a record or tally sheet because we don’t do anything to deserve God’s love. We have no favour to earn, because God already sees us as God’s beloved ones. All we have to do is live and explore the amazing mystery of our acceptance. We can’t lose God’s favour and make bad things happen to us because we don’t earn God’s favour in the first place.

Life is short. Don’t be distracted by the wrong questions. And don’t be disappointed if Jesus asks you to love God more than you love answers. Because Jesus will do that!

* Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 * Psalm 27 * Philippians 3:17-4:1 * Luke 13:31-35

I wonder if at some time in your life you have every had anyone try to put you off from doing something? Has anyone ever tried to discourage you from continuing on a particular path, or from carrying out your plan or vision for something?

Maybe they warned you that it wouldn’t end well, or perhaps they told you that you were just not capable or good enough?

Or maybe they felt threatened by your presence and abilities and tried to run you down before you got in their way?

I remember, as a teacher in my mid-twenties, signing up to a professional development course for those aspiring to be Head Teachers. One of my colleagues, who I trusted and thought of as a friend and who had encouraged me to apply for the training, went to see my Head Teacher at the time and told her that she thought I didn’t have enough experience to begin the course. This friend of mine had applied for the course a year earlier and had not been accepted. Fortunately for me, my Head Teacher disagreed with her and gave me the reference I needed to get on to the training programme.

I didn’t realise it at the time, but there had in fact been a fox right within my own camp.

In our gospel reading this morning, Jesus also comes up against a fox.

He’s making his way to Jerusalem, stopping along the way in villages and towns to teach people and to heal the sick and just before the part of the gospel that we have read today, Jesus compared the kingdom of God to entering through a narrow door.

And in that hour, as Jesus calls the people to change and struggle to get through that door, the Pharisees approach.

And this next bit might sound rather strange to us.

The Pharisees come to warn Jesus to flee because Herod is looking to kill him – now doesn’t this seem like odd behaviour for them? After all, the pharisees have already set themselves up as Jesus’ adversaries, constantly questioning his practices and beliefs.

They’re usually found looking to trip him up and reveal to others that he is breaking their religious laws. So why would they come to warn him? If Jesus is posing a threat to their religion, why do they appear to be wanting to help him?

And do you know, there is another little problem with this scene. We don’t actually have any indication elsewhere that Herod even wanted to kill Jesus. The biblical text does tell us that he wants to meet Jesus and see him perform one of his signs, but there is no indication that he wants to kill him.

It seems then that these Pharisees that have approached Jesus are either lying about Herod’s intent, or have  somehow been misinformed.

Perhaps they were hoping their warning would be enough to move Jesus out of the land – that he would be scared off and no longer be a thorn in their sides.

There is also the possibility that these Pharisees didn’t have such a harsh view of Jesus. Perhaps these men didn’t have as much of a problem with him as some of the other Pharisees. Maybe they disagreed with him, but were still sympathetic enough to not wish death upon him.

It’s a puzzling little interaction which leaves lots of questions unanswered, but whatever their intent, they surely weren’t expecting the response which Jesus fired back.

They might have thought they could deter Jesus, discourage him from continuing on, but he casts their warning aside and calls out, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work’”

Herod the fox – Jesus was being rather feisty in his insult.

Foxes were pests. They came into the fields and vineyards and ruined the crops. They’d scavenge through cities that had fallen into ruin. They may have been cunning animals, but they were also destructive nuisances.

A king like Herod would want to be compared to a powerful animal, like a lion that showed strength and prowess. To call him a fox was surely a great insult. But if Herod (or the Pharisees if they’re the ones behind this rumour), think that the threat of death would deter Jesus, then they are all a bunch of foxes, relying on their deceitful and scheming ways to rid their city of this troublemaker.

Their threats of course, wouldn’t stop Jesus. He was going to finish what he came to do and no amount of intimidation or threats would hold him back from continuing on.

Jesus’ harsh and determined response to the Pharisees stresses his confidence in God’s plan and call upon his life.

As the Son of God, he has a mission before him, one which he knows God will carry him through. And along the way to that goal, that completion of his mission upon the cross, there is still work to be done; Jesus still has people to teach and others to heal.

Herod and the Pharisees may think they can bully him in to stopping, but Jesus knows that what he is doing is more important than anything they could throw at him.

Then comes that great prophetic moment when Jesus mourns over Jerusalem for a rejection that is still to come. They haven’t condemned Jesus yet, but they will, and he knows it. They will have a choice to make, to stand by their wicked ways or to come to Jesus.

It’s a city that stands as the centre of worship, the sacred home for Yahweh, and yet again and again they reject the voice of the Lord that comes to them through the prophets of the past – it is a city that kills prophets and it is a city that would do the same with Jesus.

And he understands that future rejection as a present reality as he calls out, condemning and mourning Jerusalem in his prophetic voice.

Jesus doesn’t just rebuke Jerusalem for her rejection of truth, he laments over her wayward ways.

We see that in the description he offers of himself as an animal (or rather a bird).

Herod may be a fox, but Jesus is a hen. He longs to gather the people under his wings as a hen would her chicks, but the people are unwilling to come to him.

The choice of a hen to describe Jesus is a peculiar one and in the face of a fox, it doesn’t seem like a hen would be able to hold up very well.

But let me tell you a true story that I learned when we lived in Yorkshire. Old Eleanor had kept chickens all her life and one day when she was doing the washing up and looking out of the kitchen window, she saw a fox attacking one of her hens in the back garden. Eleanor ran out to the scene, banging a pan with a wooden spoon and scared the fox away. But as she approached the hen that had been attacked, she realised she was too late and it lay lifeless with its wings outstretched. But as Eleanor drew closer to pick it up, she suddenly saw movement in the wings. What had actually happened was that facing a fierce attack, the hen had laid down on top of two little chicks, trying to fend off the fox – and that she did, but of course, the hen herself had paid the ultimate price.

Like the hen protecting her chicks with her body, Jesus too offers up his own body, his life, to protect the world. He shares with the hen in the story a willingness to offer himself, even to the point of death, to care for the ones that have been entrusted to him.

Today’s gospel draws us deeper into Lent, leading us closer to the cross and those final days when Jesus’ mission would reach completion.

And we are reminded by the text of two important things, of two animals we encounter in life, one a fox and the other a hen.

Like Jesus we will face a fox or two in our lives. Whether our fox comes in the form of a person or circumstance or system, we may encounter opposition in life.

It may try to deter us from pushing forward, from continuing on with God’s work in the world. We see this within our own lives and sometimes, regrettably, within the life of the church.

But the foxes, like Herod and the Pharisees, are never in as much control as they think, if we are standing with the hen.

They only have that power and control if we give it to them by succumbing to their sly ways and retreating from the mission before us. It is better to stand beneath the wings of the hen.

Jerusalem had a choice, just as we do, and Christ is waiting to enfold us in his wings and care for us. And while we are beneath those wings, we must grow together in the ways of the Lord; we must come to know the care and commitment, the courage and devotion of the hen that we are to model.

As we are encircled in God’s protective wings of grace and salvation we must come to understand the ways of Christ as we mature, so that when those foxes do appear – sometimes right in the midst of us, we also have the courage to face the challenges before us, to forgive and press onwards as Jesus did.

Together, as a loving christian family, supporting one another on the way, we must be able to continue to love and care for people as Jesus did, sheltering those that come looking for care beneath the wings of our Saviour.

So, this Lent, stay close to Jesus the hen, offering yourself in the same way to others as he did, be part of the new Jerusalem over which there is no lament, as we work together for His kingdom right here, in our own families and in our wider community.

Amen.

Sermon Luke 4.1-13

Four priests were spending a couple of days on retreat preparing for Lent. On the first evening they decided to tell each other their biggest temptations.

The first priest said, “Well, I am so very embarrassed to confess that but my big temptation is racy pictures. Once, instead of the Church Times, I bought a copy of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.”

“My temptation is worse,” said the second priest. “I’m afraid it’s gambling. One Saturday instead of preparing my sermon, I went to the races to bet on the horses, and I lost all the previous week’s Sunday collection.”

“Mine is worse still,” said the third priest. “I sometimes can’t control the urge to have a drink. Just last week, finding not one bottle left in the rectory, I actually broke into the sacramental wine.”

The fourth priest who was usually very talkative indeed, was suddenly very, very quiet. “Sisters and brothers, I hate to say this,” she said, “but my temptation is worst of all. I love to gossip – and if you will all excuse me, there’s a few phone calls I’d like to make!”

Oscar Wilde famously said “I can resist anything but temptation” . A line I think many of us could probably relate to (at least sometimes)!

The very nature of temptation is that it is so hard to resist – it‟s designed to make you give in.

Temptation is linked with the ides of doing something that we shouldn’t- something forbidden or banned, something dangerously elicit.

Rarely do we think of someone tempting us to do good! Can you imagine – “Go on ! Why don‟t you give away your best coat to that poor, cold homeless person on the street, go on – you know you want to!”

No, the little whispers in our ears are more likely to be encouraging us to think that we can get away with a tiny white lie or with “borrowing something‟ that isn’t ours without asking permission, maybe eating that tiny chocolate bar or drinking just that one glass of sherry that we gave up for Lent.

“It won‟t do any harm” the little voice says.

Well, of course that‟s what the serpent told Eve about eating the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden and look what that led to!

I’m sure you will have seen the comic book portrayal of a person being tempted – the one with an angel hovering on one side of them and a little red demon on the other side.

The battle ensues with the demon tempting the individual to do something bad and the angel reminding them of the consequences and trying to convince them to do right.

It’s portrayed as a battle between good and evil as are many of the stories in books, films and television dramas – an all too familiar tale.

In biblical thought ‘to tempt’ means to test something or someone to determine or demonstrate their worth or faithfulness. Or it can mean an attempt by Satan to invite a person to sin, like in our comic book example.

The gospel passage we read today was about Jesus being led into the desert by the Holy Spirit in preparation for his ministry. Luke places this event after Jesus’ baptism – the event where he was acknowledged as God’s son and God’s love and acceptance of him was publicly proclaimed ‘You are my son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased’.

Luke also lists Jesus’ lineage here as if to emphasise his credentials to us, the reader.

We are told Jesus fasted for forty days and nights – and that number, the number forty, is a significant number in other parts of the Bible too – remember Noah and the flood when it rained for forty days, what about Moses who was up the mountain for forty days, Nineveh was given forty days to repent and Israel spent forty years in the wilderness being ‘tested’.

It’s at this time, when he is hungry, that the devil comes to tempt Jesus. Bible commentators often see Jesus essentially being challenged about three things in these temptations: his identity, his means of obtaining the kingdom and his use of power. They are all temptations to doubt Gods will and intention for Jesus’ life and ministry.

The first temptation is about his identity and his use of power. He is being asked to prove who he is by using his God-given power and authority to turn the stones into bread – to meet his own physical need, but also to use miracles to prove his identity. It’s as if the devil is saying “Come on, use what you’ve got to get what you want”, but Jesus responds with words taken from scripture – he doesn‟t enter into an argument or discussion : declaring “It is written: Man does not live on bread alone’. In Matthew these words are added “but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”.

Jesus’ need to eat is not a sin, but how he obtains what he needs is important.

Jesus recognises that God will provide and he needs to trust him to provide what is necessary and Jesus understands that he doesn’t need to prove who he is by miracle working – that is the wrong way to establish his identity. Jesus is willing to wait – to do his father’s will is his bread.

In the second temptation Jesus is taken to the mountain top –traditionally, a place of prayer and of God‟s presence.

A shortcut is offered to him – that he can have all the kingdoms of this world if he worships Satan. Jesus sought to establish a kingdom –God’s kingdom on this earth.

Many of his parables illustrated what this kingdom was like. Jesus wasn’t seeking to be king of the kind of kingdom he was being offered by Satan.

Jesus answered again with a sentence from Deuteronomy. It is written ‘worship the Lord your God and serve him only’.

The same sentiment echoed in the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught his disciples – Our father who art in heaven, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’

What Jesus taught and modelled to his disciples was servant leadership – that the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and offer his life as a ransom for many. Obedience to his Father was his ministry.

In the third temptation Jesus is led to the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem – the place where his earthly ministry would end. The devil questions his identity again “If you are the son of God…” and using scripture, tempts Jesus to put God’s word to the test by throwing himself from the rooftop.

What a sensational event it would have been – a dramatic sky jump without a parachute and God sending his angels to the rescue. Another shortcut being offered – a sign to prove he is the Messiah and God‟sGod’s son– – what a fantastic way that would be to launch his ministry.

But Jesus responds again with the word of God “Do not put the lord your God to the test”.

Not only is Jesus not prepared to ‘prove himself’ in the wrong way, he is not going to ask God, his father, to prove himself either.

On the cross, once again Jesus is challenged by bystanders with the same temptation – “If he is the son of God, let him ask God to come and rescue him – to prove he is who he says he is”.

He resists right to the end continuing to obey and trust God – not demanding to be rescued from the cross.

Luke ends the passage by telling us that when the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

This suggests that he will be back. That Jesus will continue to face temptation to take the easy way, the shortcut, to doubt who he is and use his power to prove his identity.

Satan is tempting him from taking the way of the cross, he is tempting him to abandon his true mission and ministry – but Jesus resists – there is no shortcut to salvation. He will be challenged time and time again, particularly by the Pharisees, about his identity, his teaching, his authority and his use of power.

He will also face the cross and that will require all these temptations to have been overcome before the ultimate testing of all – he will have to trust he is doing his fathers will, even when he no longer feels his father’s presence.

Why have you forsaken me? he cries out on the cross, before commending his spirit to his Father in trust at the last breath. He was tempted but he never gave in, he never sinned, he proved his faithfulness and was worthy to win our salvation for us.

We are eternally grateful he did it God’s way, not his way, not the way Satan was tempting him to go.

It’s no accident that the gospel reading for today is the temptation of Christ – we wouldn‟t be looking forward to Easter today, there would be no Lent if Jesus had yielded to those temptations.

We are in the days of Lent – forty days – they are a time of preparation for us – to recount all the suffering, but also to have one eye on the glory of the resurrection.

We are invited to ‘walk with Jesus’ through this time – as disciples we too are called to the way of the cross.

There are no shortcuts for us –  no easy life just because we are Christians. We are loved, we are children of God but our trust in God – who he is and who we are will be tested.

In difficult times – we may be tempted to do things our way – to doubt our identity as children of God, to put God to the test, to find another God to worship who doesn’t make demands of us.

But there is always an opportunity to choose the right pathway – to trust our heavenly Father. There is no shortcut to the victory and glory of Easter without passing through the pain and sorrow of Lent.

Lent gives us time to discover our identity afresh as children of God, to re-establish our trust in Him for our needs to be met, to reaffirm our trust in Him for our salvation. Committing ourselves anew to obedience and living the kingdom life are ways we can respond to the call to be his disciples.

I pray you have a blessed and holy Lent and that you are drawn closer to Him who is our saviour and our redeemer – Amen.

The liturgy for Ash Wednesday offers us an opportunity to stop, to reflect on who we are and to whom we belong – to adopt an attitude of humility, hit the reset button, and begin again.

We are invited to stand still in the whirlwind of life and the multiple activities that surround us on all sides and remember:

God hates nothing God has made; God forgives the sins of all who are penitent; our God is the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness.

And as if all this is not enough, the reminder that we “are dust, and to dust we shall return” ought to put our lives in Christ into a proper perspective of humility.

Of course, this is made visible and tangible with the imposition of ashes, traditionally made from the Palm Sunday crosses from the previous year. This act retraces the Baptismal Cross on our foreheads as a reminder of the promises we make each time we renew our Baptismal vows:

• to participate in the full life of the Body of Christ, his Church
• to say we are sorry whenever we have violated our relationships with God and others, all others
• that everything we do and say will proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ
• that we will seek and serve Christ in all persons
• that we will strive for justice and peace for all people, and respect the dignity of every human being

The Church has long recognised how challenging it is to keep these core promises that constitute walking in the Way of Christ. This is why we set aside these forty days each year for self-examination and repentance; prayer, fasting, and self-denial; to read and meditate on God’s holy Word.

The ashes of Ash Wednesday remind us not only of our mortality and need for regular repentance, but also that it is only by God’s gracious gift that we are given everlasting life through Jesus Christ.

Although we are to remember that we are dust, and to dust we shall return, we ought never to forget that we are Holy Dust, created and inspired by the very breath and Spirit of God.

Just as Moses was reminded by the burning bush that he was standing on Holy Ground, so the ashes of Ash Wednesday remind us that everywhere we stand, everywhere we walk, every speck of dust is Holy Ground – and that we are made Holy from the moment of our very first breath. Receiving these ashes is meant to remind us of these humbling and defining truths.

Next to the Cross itself, there is no more tender and revealing moment in God’s Holy Word than that proclaimed on Ash Wednesday by the prophet Joel, who in days of great darkness and gloom calls the people of God to a solemn assembly to pray for deliverance. Yet, amid this call to return to the Lord with all our hearts, the prophet reminds us of God’s very essence, and then imagines just how much the Lord our God loves us:

“Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.
Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord, your God?”

When we are enveloped with such darkness and gloom that we are unable to make the appointed sacrifices to God, unable to turn our hearts and minds back to God on our own, the prophet imagines that the Lord God himself will make the appointed sacrifices himself, leaving a grain offering and a drink offering on our behalf – which offerings constitute the essence of our Holy Communion. We are those people who, like the prophet, can imagine that God enters our lives and leaves an offering and blessing for us every Sunday – because our God is the God who is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.”

This realisation of God’s love and care for us brings us to our knees and a Litany of Repentance in which we rehearse all the possible ways in which we stray from the way of the Lord God, the Way of Christ. It is after this remarkable and thorough confession that the reset button is pressed, and we are forgiven by Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy, and that at the last we may come to his eternal joy.

Ash Wednesday is a day to stop, reflect on who we are and to whom we belong, to adopt an attitude of humility, and hit the reset button of our life in Christ. A day to remember that we are dust, but that we are Holy Dust, animated by God’s own breath. For it is God’s own Spirit that enlivens us and sustains us, day in and day out. A day to remember that God loves us so much as to make sacrifices for us when we are unable to do so ourselves. A day to allow God in Christ to forgive us so that we might live the rest of our lives reflecting the very love that God has for us and for all of creation. A day that we may remind ourselves with great humility to love God, love all others, and love all of creation itself. For that is what it means to be the Holy Dust of God!

Amen.

* Exodus 34:29-35 * Psalm 99 * 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 * Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)

In the coming week, churches around the world will undergo a transformation of sorts, as the liturgical calendar moves us from the season after Epiphany into the season of Lent. Our praise-filled shouts of “Alleluia!” will give way to Lent’s solemn petition, “Lord have mercy.”

Many churches will put away their finest brass and festive hangings in favour of simpler and more contemplative objects. And the lectionary will lead us down from the mountaintop where the transfigured Christ is revealed in glory, through the valley of the shadow of death, and ultimately to Jerusalem where the cross and tomb await.

Lent can weigh very heavily on some of us as it urges us to recall the suffering and death of our Lord. So, in many ways, we arrive at this final Sunday before Lent with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety, a combination of joy and dread. It is no accident that every year on this Sunday, we hear again the story of Christ’s transfiguration on the mountaintop because, at the heart of this story, we find these all-too-familiar feelings: anticipation diluted by anxiety and joy thinned by dread.

Luke’s Gospel tells us that Jesus summons Peter, James, and John to the mountain top. Without understanding the context, we might be tempted to believe that the chosen disciples happily agreed and gleefully followed Jesus without any reservation. But, we must recall that just a few verses earlier in chapter 9, Jesus tells the disciples that he must undergo great suffering, be rejected, killed, and then rise from the dead.

“If any want to become my followers,” Jesus says, “let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.”

As Peter, James, and John journey with Jesus to the mountain top, they are forced to come to grips with the horrifying truth that Jesus, their beloved friend and leader, must suffer and die!

When they reach the top of the mountain, the Gospel tells us that Jesus was transfigured before them and Moses and Elijah appeared. As the disciples looked at their Lord, they realised that they were in the very presence of God. But even in this incredible moment of divine transfiguration, Peter could not forget what Jesus had told them before they came to the mountain.

“Master, it is good for us to be here,” Peter says, “Let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

At some level, most of us can’t help but sympathise with Peter. Who among us would knowingly submit our self or our loved ones to pain and suffering? Peter’s efforts to protect Jesus are undoubtedly acts of love and devotion – but they are also acts resulting from Peter and the disciples’ need for safety and security. They had seen a glimpse of God’s glory in the face of Jesus, and they wanted desperately to hold onto it, to protect it.

But the moment that Peter gets into cahoots with James and John to try and hold onto and protect Jesus, is the moment that a voice from above breaks in, proclaiming: “This is my Son, my chosen; listen to him!”

And notice what happens next: As the disciples came down from the mountain top, they didn’t rush into the closest town and tell the first person they saw about what they had just witnessed. They didn’t wait until Jesus wasn’t looking to talk about it. And they didn’t take to Social Media with the news. Luke’s Gospel tells us that they “told no one any of the things they had seen.”

Although most biblical scholars interpret the disciples’ silence as a mark of fear about what they had seen and heard – which is certainly a plausible explanation – so perhaps there’s more than one dimension here. What if the disciples’ silence allowed them to be obedient to God’s command?

The disciples had heard God say, “This is my Son, my chosen; listen to him!” So instead of running and telling the world what they had seen on the mountain, what if they chose instead to obey; to be silent so that they could listen?

In a world bustling with noise and chaos, where words and rhetoric are shouted with impunity, stirring up fear and anxiety, perhaps this is the word from the Lord that we need to hear.

Amidst all of the joys and heartbreaks of the world; in the face of all of the delight and despair that surrounds us; and despite all of the things we know and can never know, God beckons us, ever so gently: Listen.

Imagine for a moment, what the world might look like if we listened – not in preparation to respond, but in order to understand.

What might our politics look like if we listened more and argued less? What might our schools look like if we taught our children how to listen as intently and deliberately as we taught them how to speak and to write? And what might our churches look like if we listened intently for the voice of God from those who differ from us?

In his book, Bread for the Journey, the Catholic priest and theologian Henri J.M. Nouwen writes:

“To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept… The beauty of listening is that, those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.”

As our Lenten journey approaches, and the chaos of the world presses in with voices of despair clanging in our ears, may we remember how to listen. For it is in listening that we truly hear one another.

And it is in listening that we hear the voice of God.

Amen.

* Genesis 45:3-11, 15 * Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40 * 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50 * Luke 6:27-38

Old Mrs Cameron was celebrating her one hundredth birthday.

She’d received her telegram from the King. She’d been made a fuss of by her grandchildren and great grandchildren and now she was being interviewed by a reporter from the Raggy.

“One hundred years old” the young reporter exclaimed. “You must have done so much in all those years! Tell me what are you most proud of?”

After a moment or two, Mrs Cameron responded, “Well, I don’t think I have a single enemy in all the world”.

“What a beautiful thought! How inspirational!” said the reporter.

“That’s right, not one enemy in all the world” the old girl said,

“I’ve outlived every last one of them!”

For many people, even those of us who identify ourselves as Christians, this morning’s gospel passage may be one of the most difficult in all of our holy scriptures.

Love your enemies.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes that expression seems to me to describe an ideal that feels totally unrealistic and unattainable.

In contrast to the humourous little story I told you about old Mrs Cameron (which of course was entirely fictional – but possibly reflects the real attitude of many), I want to tell you a true story.

It’s the story of Maria Goretti.

Maria was an Italian peasant girl who is remembered both for her extreme devotion and for her tragic death at a young age.

Born in 1890 in Corinaldo, Italy, Maria was the youngest of the five children in her family. Her childhood was marked by poverty and hardship, and her parents struggled to make ends meet. But Maria was known for her deep devotion to her faith and for her love of prayer. Despite the difficulties of her life, she was said to be a joyful and generous child, always willing to help others.

In 1902, at the age of 11, Maria was attacked and stabbed by a 19 year old neighbour, Alessandro Serenelli. Despite her severe injuries, Maria forgave her attacker and asked that he be forgiven before she sadly died of her injuries the following day.

Maria’s death and her forgiveness of her attacker made a profound impact on those around her and quickly spread throughout the local community. Serenelli, her attacker, was arrested, tried and convicted of her murder, and served 30 years in prison. He later converted to Christianity and credited Maria’s forgiveness and her intercession for his redemption.

Maria’s mother, Assunta, also forgave Serenelli and testified on his behalf at his trial.

A true story of forgiveness.

We live today in a world of great turmoil – of terrorism, a world full of violence and murder, of vicious vendettas and wars that are often stirred up in the tabloid press and online media. Is Jesus really saying to us that acts like these are not to be avenged?

In order to understand what Jesus is really saying to us, we have to put aside our prejudices and assumptions and really listen to his words.

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly.”

In the Old Testament hatred and vengeance towards evildoers was presumed to be the right attitude to have. But Jesus, as he so often does, turns this on its head and calls for an attitude of love towards the enemy and the persecutor.

Often, the first big hurdle for us is the word “love”. It is of course a very emotional word, implying both affection and intimacy. For us to “love” is often to “be in love with”, to “be attracted to”.

But Jesus is not telling us to be in love with our enemies. He is not even telling us to like them.

Rather he is telling us to express the kind of love that God has for us. It is a one-sided love in the sense that a return is not expected. God reaches out in infinite love to every single person without exception.

Our problem is that we can sometimes focus too much on ourselves and our own immediate needs and so overlook the needs of others.

To love as God loves is to focus more on others.

To begin to ask “Why do they act in this way? What is hurting inside them that drives them to such behaviour?” Already we are just by thinking in this way, beginning to care for our enemy and beginning to love him or her.

And is this not a much better solution to the problem? To bring peace back into that person’s life and initiate a healing process in them and between them and me.

Jesus is not at all asking us to do something “unnatural”. We do not naturally want to hate or be hated. We want to love and to be loved.

We see many parts of the world where – for years – there has been a process of hatred and retaliation in a never-ending spiral of vengeance and loss of life.

The only way to break this cycle is to follow Jesus’ advice. It is not a lose-lose or lose-win situation; it is a win-win situation where everyone benefits.

Perhaps these words of the late Mother Teresa are appropriate here:

“Love, to be true, has to hurt. I must be willing to give whatever it takes not to harm other people and, in fact, to do good to them. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no love in me and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me.”

To put Jesus’ teaching into effect is not a matter of strengthening our will to do something very difficult but to change our conventional thinking at the deepest level, to see things his way. Once we do that, it becomes much easier.

And, through us, the compassion of God can then be experienced by all people.

To end today, let me tell you about Myriam.

In December 2014, a children’s television crew visited Iraqi Kurdistan, where they planned to tell the stories of child refugees who had fled from ISIS. But in a camp in Erbil, something even more profound took place. Presenter Essam Nagy met a little girl who would change his life and inspire millions around the world.

Nine-year-old Myriam was from Qaraqosh, the largest Christian town in the Nineveh plains. She loved watching this particular children’s programme and was delighted to talk to the presenter on camera.

Despite her suffering, Myriam said she felt grateful to God for protecting her family and providing for them. Then, the presenter asked her how she felt about the ISIS fighters who had seized her hometown – and Myriam spoke the words that would resonate with millions.

“I will only ask God to forgive them,” she said. Did Myriam forgive them herself? Yes, she replied – without missing a beat.

Myriam’s words were powerful because they show the heart of the Christian faith. Some of Jesus’ last words on earth were, ‘Father, forgive them, because they don’t know what they are doing.’ Myriam’s testimony shows the same faith.

I’m going to finish with the words with which Myriam finished her interview –

“God is always protecting you, and you can count on Him,” she says. Then, with a light in her eyes, she speaks about Jesus. “He is my friend, my brother … my everything.”

Amen