17/06/2024

Today's psalm pleads "Give heed to my groaning O Lord". I understand that "my groanings" could be the unspecified dissatisfaction that I often feel when I come out of sleep but before I get on with the "jobs" that I have to do. But mine is an easy life. I am comfortable with being an octogenarian who is still the same inside as the child I was 80 years ago.

It is "not so" for many others in our world today and has never been so for all of humanity. In Jesus' day there were many young and old who were infirm or handicapped and the lucky ones were cured by Jesus' miracles. Many of us have died of famine or have  been slaughtered in wars that have resulted, all of them, from greed that has dominated persons of power. Politics is greed that is the sin of an individual which is approved and shared by others.

Any ancient king was used to having his own way in his kingdom. Ahab is no exception and his greed is approved and implemented by Jezebel. An accusation is contrived and Naboth loses both vineyard and his life. The difference between this, all too familiar plot, and Jesus is that those who plotted against Our Lord did not want to gain anything from him except his very life.

Our God does work in mysterious ways for he is the Ever-Greater, he is beyond all understanding and tells us to look at his revelations and live our lives accordingly to what he wills for us. Jezebel and Ahab were not doing the will of God. They fulfilled their own greed and added to the sin that has filled our world ever since Adam/Eve first disobeyed.

Our Church founded on Peter has never been totally convinced that Jesus really did mean his declaration before Pilate. "My KIngdom is not of this world" and has never shown itself  at all inclined to obey this morning's "Offer the wicked man no resistance". The wealth of the world has grown immeasurably in my lifetime and Mammon has taken the place of Father, Son and Holy Spirit as our reason for living.

The truth is that the "groanings" of the psalmist and  my own are much more than "morning woes" but are our unhappiness at the state of our world which is a result of the millions of sins still committed in defiance of all that has been revealed in the scriptures.   I have been guilty of many of the sins detested by God but know that they can all be forgiven by sincerely pleading for the mercy that never fails to respond to a truly penitent heart.

Dear Lord, may my prayers be heard. Help me to recognise your grace and to give thanks for all the blessings that I have received throughout my life. Help me to finish off my life in union with your will and thus become the being you have cared for since my generation. Help me to know, love and serve in this life and to know that vision of your Glory and become part of your new creation that Jesus' second coming will be for all his friends. Amen