As we reach Step 4 of the exit from restrictions, we are moving from daily to weekly reflections. We would like to suggest that those who have valued daily input think about using daily Bible reading notes, which are available from a number of organisations – contact one of the ministry team (Ian, Kathy, Liz and Adrian) if you would like some guidance on what’s available.

Weekly reflection: w/c 26th July

Luke 9:46-48
An argument arose among the disciples as to which one of them was the greatest. But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side, and said to them, "Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest."

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Don’t you just have to love the disciples…they are so human, so flawed, as, indeed, are we all. Here we have them arguing over who is the greatest and yes, perhaps they really should know better, but no, they don’t, so Jesus continues the work of teaching them.

We will all have come across that argument throughout our lives - who is the best, the greatest. Sometimes the argument is good-natured – just good old competitiveness. Watching Novak Djokovic as he won the men’s singles final at Wimbledon this year, there was competitiveness, of course, but there was something else, too. There was a definite desperation about his game. This wasn’t just a match to see who was to be the greatest player at Wimbledon this year…or to see who would take away the prize money of $2.4 million; this was part of his ongoing attempt to become the greatest player ever. When he was interviewed later, Djokovic said that he had called his children on the phone to tell them he had won again this year, but they were in the swimming pool and weren’t at all interested – they just wanted to show him what they could do in the pool. To his children, Djokovic was just their Dad, and as he told the tale and laughed, it seemed to have been a bit of a leveller for him.

Sometimes the argument over who is the greatest becomes far more serious and harmful than anything to do with winning or losing at sport. If one person, one group or one race claims to be the greatest, then what on earth does that make another person, group or race in their eyes? History, very recent history, has surely taught us the absolute horrors of where that can lead – exclusion, apartheid, persecution, genocide. The human race forgets, or ignores, those lessons at its peril.
Throughout his life, Jesus taught, and lived, inclusion and equality – he touched the untouchable, he ‘ate with tax collectors and sinners’. Here, he takes a little child and teaches his followers once again about God’s ways, God’s order of things, yet what could a child teach about greatness? This was, after all, a culture in which children had no social or economic value, no importance until they were of an age to be able to contribute to the family. Not for the first time, Jesus turns the world’s understanding of things on its head as he highlights the importance of this little child, who has no glory or social standing, as a welcomed and beloved child of God. Being the ‘greatest’ is not about self-interest, nor about gathering wealth or asserting our own rights and putting others down in the process, but about helping up those who have nothing, protecting the vulnerable and caring for those in need. In God’s kingdom, the least will be the greatest – those whose ways are of humility, who instead of seeking glory for themselves, throw off pride and take on an attitude of service to others, just as Christ himself did.
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Prayer:
Loving and patient God,
Teach me, yet again, what it means to follow you. Open my eyes, my mind and my heart in the week ahead and enable me to see who among us is vulnerable and in need of welcome in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen