Monday 17 February 2025

6th week of Ordinary Time

Today is Monday the 17th of February in the 6th week of Ordinary Time.    Eliza King sings, ‘A Thousand Different Ways’. As you listen, bring to mind the ways Jesus has met with you over the years...    Nothing is unseen  For You have walked the worst of it with me  At times I almost didn't make it through  Jesus if it hadn't been for You  Still only You and I know all the places  You've met me in Your mercy, in Your kindness  You've saved my life a thousand times  In a thousand different ways  And I've never been the same  Nothing is a waste  For every pain and every broken place  Has led me to the safety of Your hands  Where I find the wounds that make me whole again  Still only You and I know all the places  You've pulled me from the grip of death and darkness  Lord I know, You've saved my life a thousand times  In a thousand different ways  And I've never been the same  Forever I am marked by the hands of a healer  He has it written across my face  Still greater's been the work of Your Holy Spirt  By Your mercy I am born again  By Your mercy I am born again  Still only You and I know all the places  You've pulled me from the grip of death and darkness  Only You and I know all of the places  You've met me in Your mercy, in Your kindness  Lord I know, You've saved my life a thousand times  In a thousand different ways  And I've never been the same  I never knew that I could be this free  Till Jesus started healing me  Didn't know I could feel so alive  Till Jesus came and washed me white  Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Mark.     Mark 8:11-13   The Pharisees came and began to argue with Jesus, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation." And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.    The Pharisees come to Jesus after they’ve made up their minds that it was their duty to test him. They must have spent some time talking this over … people were beginning to look more interested in Jesus than in them… can you imagine what this conversation might have been like? What did they say?   In a way, there’s nothing wrong with looking for a sign, with looking for evidence, is there? It’s part of the way we operate as human beings. Where in your life do you find yourself looking for a sign? Where do you accept things ‘on faith’?  As you listen again to the reading, try and imagine it happening – the mood of the Pharisees, the looks on their faces, the tone of voice they use, the exasperation, perhaps, in Jesus’s voice….   It’s probably true that most people’s attitude towards God, and their relationship with God, involves a mixture of evidence and faith. At times we may want ‘signs’. And, at times, we may get them. Is this true for you? Spend some time talking to God about this now, as one friend speaks to another...    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.