Tbought for the Day - Thursday 22 October

Thought for the Day – Thursday 22nd October ‘John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’” Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”’ (Luke 7: 18b-23) John has been arrested – he is in prison – he has spent his whole ministry being that voice in the desert preparing the way for the one to come and now he finds himself in a different sort of wilderness - a wilderness of despair. Now in the darkness of his prison cell all the doubts begin to creep in – has his ministry been for nothing – has he put his faith in something that doesn’t exist – has he been taken in – is this Jesus really the Messiah or just an imposter. All those doubts crowding in bring him to the point of just needing to know – he must find out if his ministry has been worthless, if all his talk has been empty talk. Is it any wonder then that he sends his two messengers to Jesus to find out what exactly is going on, seeking reassurance. Thankfully the news they bring back is good news, good things are happening, there are many signs of hope, many signs of new beginnings, many signs of new life. We are not told how John received this news but we can imagine that he was indeed reassured by all he heard, reassured that his preparing of the way had not been in vain, and that the news would probably have given him renewed strength to face his imminent death with a quieter, calmer assurance that God’s will and God’s purposes for the world and its people would win in the end. I am sure there are days when life seems bleak for us, perhaps even now as we sit on the cusp of further potential lockdown restrictions. Days when we listen to the news and hear of yet more tragedies and disasters and hatred and violence and persecution. Days when we look around us and don’t particularly like the world we see – the greed, the divisions, the poverty, selfishness. Days where we look deep within ourselves and see that where once our faith was strong and firm now there is doubt. John’s story reminds us that whenever we find ourselves in any wilderness of despair we can and should just stop and look again at the barrenness. Why? Well, because if we look around us in what may seem an apparent barrenness we will see Jesus is still at work in our world through us and so there will be signs of God’s kingdom, signs of hope, signs showing proof of his love and signs of that love bringing forth new life. So let’s not despair – even though that can be hard to do – let’s try and keep our faith strong and look for those signs of hope around us. Prayer Loving God, Lay your healing hand upon all those who are in despair. Make your loving presence known to those who are lonely. Give your strengthening power to those who feel weak. May those who lack be filled, those who mourn be comforted, those who worry be calmed and those who seek forgiveness find it in Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.