Fear is a tricky and multi-faceted concept.  On the one hand, we can have the type of fear we label as terror, which can be quite rational, expected and normal, depending on the circumstances.  (For instance, it’s quite natural to be terrified if your community is experiencing nightly bombing, as happened in London during the Second World War.)  And then we can have phobias, which are often irrational and unwarranted, such as a fear of the dark or a fear of crowded places.  And then, over against these, we have what the Bible calls holy fear, Godly fear or Godly reverence.  It denotes a reverence or healthy respect toward God, who He is, what He does and what He demands.  Even though perfect love casts out fear (as 1 John 4:18 indicates), we should still have a healthy respect toward God.  To me, it is sort of like the healthy respect I have for grizzly bears.  It’s not as if I have an unhealthy fear of them but a respect that I feel is due to them given their capabilities.  I don’t have a phobia about them, neither am I terrified by them; it’s just that I would not want to stumble upon one unexpectedly--unexpectedly, whether for it or me--or ‘cross’ one of them in some way.  Instead, I give them their due and try to behave ‘properly' towards them.  I sort of feel this way about God, except that I know that He also loves me and cares for me.  Even so, the healthy respect remains.

Any of us who have raised children probably have had this experience. You are trying to get something across to your children and yet those children insist on running around the room with their hands over ears, exclaiming loudly and repeatedly, “I can’t hear what you're saying, I can’t hear what you're saying!”

It’s a childish thing to do, and yet, unfortunately, it is something that we adults sometimes say to God. God wants to get through to us, tell us something, and we, on the one hand either ignore it or refuse to admit it, or, on the other hand, chose to disobey it. It’s sort of like putting our fingers over our ears.

However, God doesn’t give up on us, and continues ‘trying to get through to us’, and when we think about it, it’s for our own good. So then it is best to 'listen up’ right away and do as He says.

Jesus’ call to love others is especially challenging, especially given that it isn’t always something that we are naturally inclined to do.  I still remember reading a particular prayer as a young person.  It asked for God’s help in loving a person, even when we didn’t like him.  I was bewildered, as I thought that love and like went together.  I didn’t realize that like is an emotion, whereas love is an action, a decision.  Love is a decision to actively desire, and work for that other person’s good, whether we particularly like that person or not.  That is how Jesus can command us to love our enemies and even those who mistreat us.  It is a rather stiff command, but one that He can help us with.  Thanks be to God.

I’m afraid that this is probably a failing for many of us, namely that we don’t pray enough, and that when we do pray we don’t do so with much expectation or persistence or specificity.  This is where Bartimaeus is a good role model: he knew what he wanted (the results of his prayer), he knew in his heart (and head) that Jesus could deliver it, and he wasn’t about to give up until he received it.  Oh, that we could be like that!

It had never really dawned on me just how much Jesus depended upon His Father--for direction in life (as in choosing the Twelve), for help in times of trial and temptation (as in the Garden of Gethsemane), for provision (as in the Feeding of the 5,000) and for healing (as in the raising of Lazarus).  I had sometimes taken Jesus’ prayers in the latter two cases as being somewhat per functionary, just ‘going through the motions’, but now I’m thinking that they were for real.  And, if Jesus needed help in this way, then we certainly do as well.

Today’s story of Martha and Mary sets up a certain tension for me.  Coming from a strongly achievement oriented, work ethic family, we were always expected to be doing, doing, doing.  Even during her supposed leisure time, Mom was doing something: knitting, mending, doing a craft.  The family adage was ‘the devil makes use of idle hands.’  Which means that even when I am sitting at my computer, I am usually at some kind of productive task.  Sitting still with Jesus, just enjoying His company: this is something that runs counter to my inclination and upbringing.  And likewise, simply relying upon Him--without jumping right in and ‘helping Him out’--is likewise something I find difficult.  Maybe you are like this as well.  Anyway, here is something to think about and ponder.

Loving God with our entire being and loving, caring for, and wanting the best for our neighbours in the same way and in the same dimension as we love ourselves: surely this is asking the impossible of us.  In fact, the only way that we can ever hope to even come close to this is by trusting and depending upon God.

Today’s meditation raises certain pertinent topics for discussion.  One might pertain to how we co-exist within the church and within society when we have widely diverging opinions and convictions.  The so-called Council of Jerusalem shows us how to sincerely and genuinely listen to each other and respect each other, while still firmly maintaining the faith.  Another topic would be the grounds for salvation: it is faith alone, or is something more needed besides?  And another topic would be the grounds for decision making.  Here we see the move of the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures and experience all being touted as important.  Lots of food for thought and reflection.

Have any of you, apart from the clergy, ever thought that you were chosen by God and called out for some particular purpose or mission in this world?  I happen to think that all of us are chosen and called in this way, even when we are not aware of it, or may, in fact, be resisting or fighting against it.  This calling doesn’t have to be anything spectacular and can, in fact, seem pretty ordinary.  Your occupation may be part of your calling, part of the way you show forth God to other people.  Certainly being a parent or grandparent can do the same.  Or, it may be something you do in the church or in the community.  Whatever it is, there are a myriad of ways of doing this, just as there is a myriad of people, and a unique way that each of us can serve God and others.

A spiritual leader of Islam once remarked that he had grave trouble with the so-called ‘heroes of the faith’ depicted in the Bible.  “They are so visibly and obviously flawed’, he said.  ‘How can anyone take their words and actions seriously given how flawed and weak they are?”

To me, it is just the opposite: that weak, feeble, flawed people--people incredibly like you and I--could find the strength and determination to pick up after themselves when they fell, and to continue on with Jesus, gives me great hope.  In today’s passage and meditation, we see some other people, people perhaps like you and me, who had trouble following Jesus, but even so, Jesus didn’t give up on them.  And so too, He doesn’t give up on us either.  Thanks be to God.

Today’s passage and meditation have to do with ambitions, which is a tricky subject, even for us as Christians.  Ambitions are the kind of thing that kind of sneaks up on us unawares.  (It is sort of like pride and humility in this way).  We can excuse ambition or overlook it completely because we tell ourselves that we are simply trying to do a good thing or simply trying to help out--or whatever.  But we may thereby be blinded about is that we are still doing it for ourselves, sometimes because it makes us ‘feel good’.  But then, are we really doing it to serve others, which is what Jesus tells us that we should be doing.  It’s a tricky one, one that I sometimes wonder about with other people, but then one that I’m not always sure about even for myself.

Do you think that our Lord ever has reason to be frustrated or exasperated with any of us?  Seeing as we probably aren’t that different from Jesus’ earliest disciples, I suspect that we do.  Today’s passage and meditation suggest some of the ways--there are probably ‘tons’ of other ways as well--that we can do this.  It is something well worth looking at, and attending to.

What do you think?  Do you have the conviction that Jesus is presently standing in our midst, enunciating His ‘job description’, and then declaring, ‘today all this is fulfilled in your very midst’?  And, if this was indeed so, what difference would it make in our lives and in our world?  And, stemming from this question, yet another one: ‘do we need to believe in Him, trust in Him, and trust in His working in order for this to happen?’  It appears that this lack of belief was a stumbling block for His audience in Nazareth, so what about us?

Unfortunately, far too often, when we think about Jonah, we think only of his being swallowed up by a whale and miss out on the rest of the story.  We miss out on the fact of his disobedience and refusal to do as God directed.  And we miss out on the outcome of his preaching to the city of Nineveh.  Most surely, the city and the nation as a whole deserved God’s judgment for they, collectively, were the recipients of the evils and injustices perpetuated over the years by that nation.  And yet, they were spared, all of them, simply because a remnant of that population were too young to have known of those evils and injustices, much less having taken part in them.  Because of them, the city and the nation as a whole were given the chance to repent and change and start over again.  I think that this is perhaps a great message for our world today.

Once again, our passage and meditation are calling us to place our trust in Jesus and depend upon Him.  However, in trying often to be self-reliant and independent, we have trouble doing this, especially if it doesn’t seem feasible or logical.  But sometimes that is exactly what we need to do, to suspend our doubt or hesitancy, and simply trust Him anyway.

I guess that it all comes down to faith, that is, trusting in and depending upon Jesus.  But what about those occasions when it ‘seems impossible’, as it was with the two individuals that received healing or restoration to life in today’s passage?  Can we really trust God to do something in Ukraine or in the Middle East?  Or, withs the political impasse, the partisan politics of Canada and the United States?  Or, with seemingly overwhelming problems closer to home or in our own lives?  For one thing, I’m not sure just how I, or we, should be praying, what we should ask for, if that is it?  And, then, I’m also not sure what the solution would look like, whether I would even recognize it?  (It may not be what I’m expecting!)

The only thing that I can think of is simply to ask God: "what would you have me do, today", and then go from there.

Today’s passage and meditation remind us that, ultimately, God is in control and that He can indeed do great and wonderful things.  However, we don’t always see this, partly, I suspect, because we don’t give Him a chance.  When I read accounts of what incredible things happened when people decided to jointly and deliberately come together for prayer, I cannot help but be astonished.  Maybe we need to do the same.

Today’s passage and meditation focus on what is probably life’s biggest and most pressing question, namely, what or who will we put our ultimate trust and faith in.  Will it be our bank accounts or investment portfolios or pension plans, our friends and relatives, our public institutions and their leaders, or our own habitual ways of thinking and behaving?  The problem is that all these can, and perhaps will, let us down on occasion.  I have found that even our churches or denominations are not always ‘there’ for us.  They too can let us down.  It is only our Lord that we can fully trust in every count and on every occasion.  But, as the Rich Young Ruler shows us, that surrender to Him is not always that easy to do.  In this, we solely need God’s help.  Amen.

How hard it is for us to pay attention, or, at least, how hard it is for me.  Visually, I often miss out on observing things, both at home and in our neighbourhood.  And it’s not just to do with my sight, but to do with other things as well, not noticing people or situations for instance.  But, of much more crucial importance is our ability to notice the things of God, to notice them, pay attention to them, and then act accordingly.  I think that this is a message that God has for all of us, all of the time.