Monday 27 January 2025

Today is Monday the 27th of January in the 3rd week of Ordinary Time. The community of Taizé sing Jésus le Christ: ‘Jesus Christ, inner light, do not let my darkness speak to me. Jesus Christ, inner light, let me welcome your love.’ Jésus le Christ, lumière intérieure, ne laisse pas mes ténèbres me parler. Jésus le Christ, lumière intérieure, donne-moi d'accueillir ton amour. Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Mark. Mark 3:22-30 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.’ And [Jesus] called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, ‘How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. ‘Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin’— for they had said, ‘He has an unclean spirit.’ Jesus is responding to accusations here… Claims and statements about who He is; statements that sound so sure and confident about Him…but in reality, are so false. In our world at the moment, truth often seems up for debate; it can be difficult to know who or what to believe sometimes. Spend a bit of time now pondering Jesus’s response… you might like to imagine being there, observing how His words are received by the scribes… Or imagining how you would have responded to these claims… “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” Do Jesus’s words bring to mind any divisions you are aware of in the world around you? Take a moment to pray for these… As you listen to the passage from Mark’s gospel again, can you hear Jesus’s promise of something radical occurring, and hear it as relevant to your own circumstances… your own life? How might you be able to bring the truth about who Jesus is into the world around you? Speak with Jesus about this, and ask for the strength to be rooted in the truth of who He is… Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.