Psalm 29 rjg

Give to the Lord, you heavenly hosts,

The glory due his name,

Sing of his awesome holiness,

His majesty acclaim.

Wild waters heed his powerful word

His thunderous voice obey

Great towering cedars crash to earth,

As soft as new-mown hay.

2 Flashes of lightening cleave the skies,

When God his silence breaks,

Proud nations jump like new born calves,

The untamed desert quakes;

Oaks quickstep to their master’s call,

Great forests shrink unclad,

And in the temple one and all

Cry “Glory“, and are glad.

3 Lord God enthroned above the flood

You sit in sovereign power

King of the universe, you reign

All glorious evermore.

Strong in the strength that works for peace

Lord strengthen those, by whom

Your voice is hallowed in their lives

And grant them your shalom.

Psalm  42, 43

Why are you full of sorrow and heaviness    

why so disquieted within

Trust  in your God for he will deliver you

sing songs of praise have faith in him.

         

I am so thirsty like a deer in the desert

I long for refreshment O life-giving God,

Enemies mock me - denying your presence;

all feasting forgotten - salt tears are my food.

         

This I remember - the temple so splendid

processions of triumph - those glad hymns of praise

now they are past - all their glory long vanished

like dreams half forgotten, my hopes all betrayed.

         

Once in the mountains, where cataracts thunder,

your power overcame me like torrents in spate

Drowned in your mercy dark nights shone like morning.

Why have you forgotten - left me to my fate?

God, you're my refuge, don't leave me to perish;

outside your safe keeping - I've nowhere to hide.

Bring me back to you, all banishment ended,

Lord, send forth your light, let your truth be my guide.

hymn psalm 104 rjg

O bless the Lord my soul

enthroned in heaven’s height

bedecked in majesty and awe

your very robes are light.

2 The starry skies above

to you are but a tent

the clouds your car - your messages

on tongues of fire are sent,

3 Beneath the ocean depths

you sculpted all the land

then sent the waters foaming back

and fringed the seas with sand.

4 The silver throated stream,

the plangent sapphire pool,

the tumbling torrent, slake our thirst

with living waters cool.

5 Tall trees give storks their homes

wild crags, the marmots holes;

the jungle heeds the lions= roar

and zebras guard their foals.

6 Our people rise to work

as sun announces day

while beasts seek shadows, deep and soft

to snooze the heat away.

7 From crocodile to flea

blue whale and humming bird

your hand sustains earth’s teeming life

no creature dies unheard.

8 For everything that breathes

inhales its life from you

your spirit  is the breath of life

creating worlds anew.

9 All glory be to God

while I have breath I sing

for he who fills the earth with good

is Lord of everything.

Psalm 118 bicentenary hymn words rjg, tune  © John Barnard

O give thanks to the Lord,

his mercy endures for ever,

O give thanks to the Lord,

his righteousness wins the day.

Let all of the peoples on earth proclaim,

his mercy endures for ever,

though princes and presidents shame his name:

his faithfulness never fails.

When swarming like bees with their deadly sting,

the powers of evil muster,

we trust in the Lord and defiantly sing,

his faithfulness never fails.

The stone that was dumped at the back of the yard

now has the place of honour

Christ comes to save in the name of the Lord:

his faithfulness never fails.

With shouts of salvation and waving of palms

we celebrate his triumph;

death’s evil dominions have been disarmed:

his faithfulness never fails.

For this is the day that the Lord has made

we celebrate its splendours:

God’s justice - the answer for all that we’ve prayed,

has proved that it never fails.

From the latin of St Thomas Aquinas

O hidden God, I worship and adore you

Concealed beneath these earthly shades of truth

To you I give, in faith, my life, my being

My hopes, my will, my mind and attitude.

Sight, touch and taste will surely fail to find you,

Yet faith can open ears to hear your word,

that word expressed in God’s own Son, so truly,

its truth and beauty shone though all we heard.

Upon the cross your deity lay hidden

But here humanity seems absent too,

Yet I believe, bear witness to your presence,

And like the dying thief beg hope of you.

Not privileged with sights of wounds like Thomas,

Yet would I make his testimony mine

That ever, Lord my God, my faith increasing

May grow in me fresh hope and love divine.

O rich memorials of the death of Jesus

The living bread with breath my life restore

Grant me this life, that I may live to please him

And your rich sweetness savour evermore.

Lord Jesus, fabled pelican of mercy

So wash me wholly with your cleansing blood

Of which one precious drop can bring salvation

Can change the whole wide world from bad to good.

Jesus, thus veiled, yet now by faith appearing

I pray you grant my ardent suppliant cry

That when at last I may behold your glory

Complete, before you I may stand in joy.

Translated rjg

Easter hymn

This is a day of joy:

a day to spend in glorious celebration;

for Christ has risen on high,

the living guarantee of our salvation.

Let Easter bells peal out -

repeat earth's greatest story;

cast off all anxious doubt;

Christ Jesus shines in glory,

in glory, in glory, in glory.

2 This is a day of life:

death's icy fingers melt in Easter sunlight;

the Lord has healed our strife,

his resurrection life dispels hell's midnight.

God's love casts out all fears

transfigures all our sadness;

he wipes away all tears

and turns despair to gladness,

to gladness, to gladness, to gladness.

3 This is a day of hope:

Now God in love brings forth his new creation;

When human strength can't cope

His spirit drives us on in expectation;

for Christ has burst through death

destroying hell's bleak prison;

so sing with all your breath

"Lord Jesus Christ is risen, is risen, is risen is risen!"  RJG

rewriting of Jesu lover of my soul

Lord in whom all love is found

Cuddle me in your embrace

While the raging  waters pound,

Wave on wave in frenzied race.

Hide me, loving Saviour, hide,

till the storm of life is past;

Safe into the haven guide;

Then receive me home at last.

Other refuge have I none,

All my hope in you I place

Never leave me lost alone

Still support me in your grace.
All my trust on you is laid,

all my help from you I bring;
Cover my defenceless head

with the shadow of your wing.

Will you not regard my call?

Will you not accept my prayer?
See,  I sink, I faint, I fall—

Going  under in despair

Reach me out your gracious hand!

your great strength let me receive,
Hoping against hope I stand,

in the midst of death to live.

You O Christ, are all I want,

more than all in you I find;
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,

heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is your Name;

I am fraught with weaknesses
frail of faith and steeped in shame;

You are full of truth and grace

Grace abundant, rich and free,

grace to cover all my sin;

Let its streams pour into me

make and keep me pure within.

Source of life, creative Word,

fill me freely with your love;
Rise again within me Lord;

till I reign with you above

commissioned by Baptist Peace Fellowship

Great God of justice, mercy, peace

Who rules the world in matchless grace

How could it be your sovereign will

That evil men should take and nail

Your son upon a cross of wood

Shatter his body, drain his blood

Release a terrorist instead

Happy to see your Jesus dead?

Is this the way you punish sin

Condemn to death earth’s greatest man?

Leave him, rejected with the poor

Naked, unloved, alone, unsure

Forsaken by his Father God

To die in darkness like a dog?

Surely our sins were multiplied

As yet another good man died.

Or was it you we killed that day,

Your blood we coldly poured away?

Slaying in hate like Cain of old

Our brother sent to love and hold;

Holding the world in terror’s thrall

By bomb and bullet, loveless law,

Condemning millions to your fate

Seeking to strangle love with spite.

Was it not nails but love that tore

Open your body, like a door

Through which, by faith, we see your way?

To turn earth’s hells to heavenly day

Renouncing violence, hate and war

To walk more humbly, finding power

In patience, kindness, loving care

Till justice makes this sad world fair.

Hymn for Good Friday vigil

How long O Father must your Jesus suffer?

How long must violence keep the upper hand?

The rich grow fat while millions die of hunger

and cynical Pontius Pilates rule our lands?

      

Why do you wait? Come quickly to his rescue

You promised that your love would never cease.

Don't let him die in pain, betrayed, forsaken,

Come down and save your son, our prince of peace.

      

So where on earth's salvation, God of heaven?

Where can we find your justice, Lord of Lords?

Our deep-held hopes expire on cruel crosses.

When will your saving actions match your words?

     

The weary world still waits in lonely anguish

for the deliverance,  Lord God you vowed.

Is death the only end of all our loving,

our wounded bodies crushed, our spirits cowed?  RJG

RJG (on a prayer by Stepen Brown))

The tale is told, the deed was done,

the Christ was killed, but rose again.

And now we know the words to say,

Christ is the truth, the life, the way.

2 Eternal God, we crave that life,

living in hunger for that truth

in all we think, or do, or say

to follow you, you are the way.

3 Cross-shadow, resurrection-light,

the pain, the purpose, cost and gift,

our love, our hope, for this we pray

Christ be the truth, the life, the way

4 Our faith embracing all you send

grace upon grace, life without end

we follow on, trust and obey

for you’re the life, the truth, the way.

Elizabeth Clephane. altd RJG

Beneath the cross of Jesus is where I take my stand the shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land! a home within the wilderness a rest beside the way, from the burning of the noontide heat and the burden of the day. 3  There lies beneath its shadow but on the other side, the darkness of the vale of death that yawns both deep and wide and there between us stands the cross two arms outstretched to save like a watchman set to guard the way from that eternal grave.

Oasis cool and sweet! The place of peace where God’s great grace and God’s pure justice meet! As to young Jacob, guilty, lost, that wondrous dream was given, so seems my Saviour’s cross to me a ladder up to heaven. 4  Upon that cross of Jesus, my eyes, at times, can see the very dying form of him who suffered there for me. And from my heavy heart with tears two wonders I confess: the wonder of his glorious love and my own sinfulness.

Beneath the cross of Jesus

I make my dwelling place,

I ask no other sunshine than

the sunshine of his face;

content to let the world go by

to know no gain nor loss;

my selfishness my only shame

my glory – all the cross.

Cool living water (words RJG music A Wilson Dickson)

       Cool living waters flow over my head,

       cleansing, refreshing me, washing me through;

       as Jesus was raised to new life from the dead,

       come, living spirit, my nature renew.

      

       As cloth that is normal becomes something royal

       washed in my purple so precious and rare,

       seep into my being, transforming my soul

       indelibly dyed in your beauty so fair.

      

       Make me like Jesus, compassionate, strong,

       his faithful servant, a child of his grace,

       my Lord's humble daughter, to him I belong,

       living his gospel, revealing his face.

tune St Botolph 557 bhb

       Though being in the form of God

       he did not seize the throne

       but stripped himself of all but love

       to take our flesh and bone;

      

       A normal man in all respects

       as man he lived and died;

       and as a slave he humbly bore

       our cross - was crucified.

      

       So God has raised him up on high

       and given him such a name

       that far outshines the stars of heaven

       and sets our hearts aflame;

      

       For Jesus reigns as Christ the Lord,

       to him all knees shall bow

       and every power in heaven and hell

       tells forth his glory now. RJG Church in Wales

To tune 650 (bpw)

O Lord who made this world in grace

and launched it on its way:

whose love commands through earth and space

and over all holds sway:

deliver us, lest we should choose

to please ourselves, your world misuse.

O Lord, revealed in flesh and blood

who taught us what is love

and died in pain to make us good

now glorified above:

deliver us lest we should live

as unforgiv’n and not forgive.

O Lord whose spirit breathing life

into all living things;

who heals our wounded world of strife

and through all nature sings:

deliver us that we may dare

to work for peace by deed and prayer.

Amen (organ)   RJG

To tune 429 bpw

Lord Jesus Christ you're waiting now

with outstretched arms and open heart;

I want to come but don't know how;

my doubts and fears keep us apart.

Lord Jesus is it really you

who thrills my soul and calls my name?

Can I resist a love so true?

Will my life ever be the same?

     

Lord Jesus Christ, I need your love;

I've lived too long for self alone.

Fill me with goodness from above:

release in me the love you've won.

Lord Jesus, Yes, I know it's you.

Embrace me with your nail-pierced hands;

cleanse me from sin, my life renew;

fulfil in me your kingdom's plans.

     

O Lord, what joys too deep to sing!

What peace too fathomless to plumb!

My Lord, my Life, my Saviour, King -

you're mine, I'm yours till kingdom come. RJG

the O antiphons for advent

Coming God,

coming in our Lord Jesus,                                                                                         

coming for outcasts,

coming to confound the proud,

coming to surprise with joy the sad.

Come amongst us now in the creative power and presence of your Spirit,

as we come into your presence in praise.

O come now wisdom from on high 

whose word called forth both earth and sky

creating man from earthen clay

to us reveal salvation’s way.

 Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to you O Israel.   

O Lord of Lords, and ruler of the House of Israel, you appeared to

Moses in the fire of the burning bush, and gave him the law on Sinai:

come with your outstretched arm and ransom us.

                        O come, O come  O Lord most high

                        who in your glorious majesty

                        from Sinai's mountain clothed in awe

                      gave to your people, love's pure law.

                         Rejoice.....   

O shoot springing from the root of Jesse, sign of God’s love for all people, the one before whom all the earth’s leaders will fall silent, and all peoples bow, let nothing delay your coming to save us.

                  O come green shoot of Jesse’s tree

                  those gripped in wrong’s iron fist set free

               from hell’s grim stranglehold release

                  and lead us forth to paths of peace    

              Rejoice……..

O key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel; you open and none

can shut; you shut and none can open; come and free the captives from

prison and break down the walls of death.

                        O come, the key of David, come

                        fling open wide our heavenly home,

                        safeguard for us the heaven-ward road

                        and bar the way to death's abode.

                             Rejoice....

O morning star, splendour of the light eternal and bright sun of

righteousness: come and bring light to those who dwell in darkness and

walk in the shadow of death.

                       O come, O come Lord, dayspring bright

                        bathe all who wait in healing light

                        disperse the long nights lingering gloom

                        dispel depression's shades of doom.

                  Rejoice……

O king of the nations, you alone can fulfil their desires;

cornerstone, binding us all together; come and save the creature you

have fashioned from the dust of the earth.

                   O come, desire of nations! show

                        your kingly reign on earth below.

                        one cornerstone, uniting all

                      restore the ruin of our fall

                  Rejoice.........

O Emmanuel, our king and lawgiver, hope of the nations and their

saviour; come and save us O Lord God.

      O come O come Emmanuel!

      Redeem your captive Israel

      That mourns in exile, lost and lone,

      far from the face of God's dear Son!

Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come to you O Israel

( verses from O antiphons, trans. from latin by R.J. Gardiner.)

litany for pentecost

Lord we are in need  of your reviving power:

we have become stale and unimaginative:

sometimes we are afraid of your

creativity and cower in the darkness because we fear the revolution of your kingdom.

Visit us in the deepest parts of our being:

renew us with the sweetness of your grace,

you who are the source of all that lives.

Come Holy Spirit:

Come Holy Spirit from heaven's pure height;

scatter our darkness with your glorious light.

Come, father  of poor folk,  great giver of all,

light of our being, the fire of our soul.

The Lord says, I shall make you a light to the nations so

that my salvation may reach the remotest parts of earth.

Lord, we need the refreshment you alone can bring:

sick, we need healing, tired we need energy,

bereaved we need comfort:

sometimes we cry in desperation with Jeremiah, why is there no progress in the cure of our people?

Come Holy Spirit

Of all who bring comfort, Lord,  you are the best,

to those admitting you, life's welcome guest;

in toil our refreshment, deliciously sweet,

solace in sorrow, cool shade in the heat.

The Lord says: I have seen their ways, but I will heal them, I will repay them with comfort.

Lord we need peace:

In the words of your prophet Isaiah,

we are searching for peace in this world like those without eyes,

feeling our way along the walls, stumbling as though noon were twilight,

waiting for judgment that never comes,

for salvation that seems far away.

Come Holy Spirit.

Bereft of your presence, most blessed pure light,

bound in the darkness, we languish in night;

come, visit your faithful, our hearts fill with peace;

from sin's grim prison grant saving release.

The Lord says: Look I am going to send peace flowing like a

river, and like a stream in spate the glory of the nations.

Lord we need cleansing: we try to do better week by week but

we fail: we need you to forgive us; bend our stubborn wills

to your gentle purpose, melt our ice bound hearts with the

fire of your passion: Come Holy Spirit:

Cleanse all that is dirty, what's arid, refresh:.

heal wounds that fester with healthy new flesh:

make brittle minds supple, make frozen hearts warm:

guide the lost wanderers safely back home.

The Lord says: I shall pour clean water over you and you

shall be cleansed. I shall give you a new heart and put a

new spirit in you: I shall remove your heart of stone and

give you a heart of flesh instead.

Lord we need your life within us: we become discouraged so

easily; we wilt before the powers of evil in the world, we

willingly retreat into the obscurity of religion instead of

carrying your light to all people:

Come holy spirit

Please give to the faithful who serve in this place

your sev'nfold blessing, the gifts of your grace;

give goodness its prize,  give safe journeys at last,

life that is endless, a joy unsurpassed.

The Lord says I have loved you with an everlasting love and

so I still maintain my love for you. I shall build you up

once more, yes you will be rebuilt.           RJG verses trans from Stephen Langton

Singing in the rain

In the rain staccato rhythms on the window panes

In the west winds’ howls and whines;

In the gentle breeze’s whisper through the cornfield plains

And the lofty forest pines;

When the sun’s bright radiance tans the sandy shore

And the sparkling sea is blue,

God sings to me and you.

In the grey-stained concrete deserts of the tower blocks

Where man’s vandalism reigns;

In the multi-storey car parks and redundant docks

Framed by giant rusted cranes;

In the springtime meadows decked with fragrant flowers

And the clear, crisp mountain air,

We appreciate God’s care.

In the depths of desperation when our life looks black

And we hide our heads in shame;

When we try to bear the whole world’s sorrow on our back

And wallow in the blame,

Jesus stoops to lift us with his radiant smile,

For he’s known depression’s hour -

It’s well within his power.

On a cross of unplaned timber in the noontide heat,

Stripped bare and hung n high,

With three six-inch rivets hammered through his hands and feet

Left to thirst, to bleed, to die,

There Christ Jesus suffered every human pain,

Took all a man can know,

God’s love for man to show.

In the rain staccato rhythms on our window panes

We will praise our Saviour’s love;

In the tower blocks, the car parks and commuter trains

We will sing to God above;

And when life’s wild party swings our days along

In happiness - we’ll sing

To God, our praise to bring!

Tune Magnificat RJG

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour

          

God's creative genius has changed my life completely

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour

         

Though I'm but a servant girl he's blessed me beyond telling

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour

                 

For the Holy Lord of all has come to us in mercy

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour

         

His strong arm has put to rout the devil's proud battalions

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour

         

He has raised to heaven's throne the lowly and the humble

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour      

Those who thought they owned the world he's sent away with nothing

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour

         

God has filled the hungry with his choicest food from heaven

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour

         

God's great promise is fulfilled - He saves the world in Jesus

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour

Solo: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour           Amen   

 

Te Deum Laudamus

We praise you 0 God, we worship you our Lord,

the everlasting Father, King by all the earth adored.

to you the shining hosts on high sing songs of endless praise,

they glorify your perfect love, and your majestic holiness;

We praise you 0 God, to you our hymns ascend, 

with all the glorious saints in heaven our voices now we blend,

with martyrs brave and prophets bold, who triumphed in the fight,

your holy church throughout the world acknowledges your sovereign might.

We praise you 0 Christ, the Son of God, our king,

you shared our flesh, were born like us, God’s saving grace to bring,

endured the sufferings of the cross, and tasted death’s sharp pain,

defeated hell’s enslaving power, now raised to glorious life you reign.

We praise you 0 Christ, the righteous judge, our Lord,

we yearn to see your kingdom come, your sinful world restored,

so help us in our daily strife, may we your servants know

assurance of eternal life, heaven’s fellowship begun below.

We beg you 0 Lord, we call upon your name,

revive your people’s flagging hearts as we your grace proclaim.

Please send your holy spirit’s power to make us pure within,

to save us in temptation’s hour, and stop us giving in to sin.

Have mercy 0 Lord, in you alone we trust;

your mercy is our only hope, 0 God for ever just.

to tune Ack saliga stunder (based on some ideas from Richard Bruxvoort)

O great story teller inventively writing

your poems of love in the depths of our hearts

creatively finding  new themes for our living

unravelling a mystery, each day a new start,

we welcome the call to be born of your giving

O author of faith still at work in our story!

2 O Great music maker, be strength in our weakness

renew weary lives with the chords of your song

transforming our tired routines with the sweetness

of joy’s richest melodies, breathed all day long.

we welcome the call to be part of your greatness

O Great music maker sing through us your glory!

3 O worker of tapestries, constantly weaving

the threads of our prayers into beautiful cloth

reveal to those tangled in dark disbelieving

your glorious kingdom obscured by the knots.

We welcome the call to be part of your living

so take us and weave us great God in your fabric.

4 O mover and shaker of everything living

the start and the end of humanity’s race

in Jesus you set out ahead pioneering

a path in the darkness, a light for our faith

We trust in your journey, step out persevering,

So Jesus our Way lead us forward to heaven.

RJG

(RJG rough trans. Il est ne le divin enfant - trad)

He is born, God’s baby son

sound the pipes to praise his greatness

he is born, God’s baby son

Join the party, all have fun.

For four thousand years or more          

prophets have foretold his coming

patiently they knelt to pray                   

now has come this joyful day!

                       

2 O what beauty in his face        

human form in full perfection                 

O what beauty in his face,

God’s own son, his gift of grace.

3 Jesus, king of all the earth,

tiny child - yet Lord eternal,

Jesus king of all the earth!

All acclaim your glorious birth.  

based on Martin Luther, von Himmel hoch da Komm ich her, suggested tune Maryton

Take note, pay heed, lift up your eyes,

What child within that manger cries?

Why should the angels stop and stare?

The Lord of heaven’s lying there!

O Christ, Creator of all things

for whom the heavenly host now sings,

why have you made yourself so small

- a baby in a cattle stall?

Were earth a thousand times more fair

bedecked with gold and jewels rare,

yet would it be a tiny bed                 

for heaven’s Lord to rest his head.

Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Lord,

who rules the heavens with a word,

make soft your bed within my heart

for you for ever set apart.

 And then my heart with joy shall leap

my lips no more their silence keep                 

I too must sing with joyful tongue

that sweetest ancient cradle song:

Glory to God in highest heaven,

who to the world his Son has given

the Saviour of the world to be

our peace through all eternity.  

RJG

crossbeams

Luke 16 1-9  The dishonest manager

In some ways Luke might be termed the middle class gospel. It is punctuated by dinner parties and journeys. Many of the characters in the parables seem to be middle managers, those who are squeezed by rapacious bosses and discontented clients be they peasants or merchants.  Luke the doctor dealt with the middle class and had an ear for the stories that dealt with his own social group. Jesus had business experience: he ran a jobbing builder’s business. He would have been familiar with many of the money problems he dealt with in parables such as this.

In 1^st century Jewish life lending money at interest was illegal. There were, however, ways around this. You worked out a figure for interest and added it to the sum that had been borrowed. So if a sum of £100 were borrowed over a period of 4 years it (given typical interest rates of approximately 25% per annum) the total debt would be called £200. Some interest rates were reckoned to be as high as 50%, depending on the commodity in which debts were to be paid. Oil was generally paid back at the higher rate.^[1]

In this story the landowner is a plutocrat who lived richly on the earnings of his estates or businesses abroad. Imagine: your boss spends most of his time living it up in his villa in Spain - leaving the agent in Britain to finance his comfortable lifestyle - he floats out all day in the pool because he has a reliable man back in blighty handling the sharp end. However, back in Britain, the manager is having colossal problems getting in the debts. The debtors accuse him of fiddling the books and squandering the master’s assets.. And he is called into the boss’s office and the boss says he wants to see the books. The manager knows that when he sees the books the boss will see how unsuccessful he has been in getting the payments on the loans. He also knows that he cannot survive in the world without the support of either the clients or the boss. In such a scenario he decides that he can only side with the debtors. He calls them in one by one to lower their bargaining power, reduces their debts and hopes he can then escape into their company and avoid the wrath of the boss. In effect he halves the rate on oil from the extortionate 50% to the more normal, but still excessive 25%, and reduces the interest on corn from 25% to 20%. By rewriting the contracts the manager seizes the initiative and makes both the boss and the peasants dependent on him.

The boss responds realistically. He says AI knew when I employed you were a sharp guy@ and keeps him in post. He has no choice: to reinstate such crippling interest rates would risk insurrection among the clients: they would support the manager against him. If he sacked the manager he would then be exposing a new manager to the power of a client community who had succeeded in getting one manager sacked and would be keen to try out their apparent power on a new and inexperienced manager. He recognises that his income is still adequate and is grateful to the manager for the adroit way in which he handled a potentially difficult situation.

At the end of this story there has been a total transformation. The rule of the ancient economy was that masters distrust managers, peasants hate managers and managers cheat both masters and peasants.  But now, peasants praise their master, the master commends the manager and the manager not only keeps his job but relieves his community of a little of the crippling burden of debt that is crippling it.^[2] In the late nineteenth century the American evangelist Dwight L. Moody was on a preaching tour in England creating a stir. A group of Church of England clergy came to call on Moody saying, "What we don't care for Mr. Moody is your way of doing things." Moody thought the complaint over for a moment and said, "I don't care much for it either, but I prefer it to your way of not doing things."

Luke typically sets this story in the context of Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem. Soon all the accounts were going to be gathered in. The disciples could not go on playing political games, having a foot in each camp. The time was coming for decision making. At that time it would be important to know who is your best friend. It was not going to be Pilate, nor Caiaphas but the one on the cross however unobvious that might have seemed.

When we have a choice do we side with the powerful or the powerless? Our place is with those who have the enormous debts. Perhaps once the middle manager had hoped that the would end up with the villa in Spain - he ends up going out for a pint with those he would never have dreamt of mixing with. Do we side with the big multinational corporations - Nike, MacDonalds or the small traders desperately wanting fair trade?

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^[1] Herzog Parables as Subversive Speech: Jesus as Pedagogue of the Oppressed

^[2] Herzog

A Christian view of the Korea crisis from Korea

I have received a letter from Dr Kim Youn-ju General Secetary of Churches together in Korea: it reads:
 I am very worried about the deteriorating situation on the Korean peninsula. Since the Korean war, the confrontation and tension of South and North Korea has been of serious significance. No one cannot predict how the situation will progress, and my prayerful hope is that the instability of the Korean peninsula should be resolved so that the close relationship between South and North Korea may be recovered. This sombre situation of the two Koreas needs to be understood by Christians and all people in the world, for the body of Christ is one and each one of us is a part of it. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it”. (1 Corinthians 12:26, NIV). The National Council of Churches held an emergency prayer for peace and discussion related to the urgent crisis on the Korean peninsula on April 5 and also released ‘The urgent statement for peace of the Korean peninsula’. Please kindly find attached the Friday statement of the NCCK. In terms of the threatened confrontations, it is of vital importance to direct our prayers to God, since He is the only One with absolute authority over all situations. It is a great and comforting thought that the leader’s heart is in God's hand, as asserted by the writer of Proverbs: “In the Lord’s hand is the king’s heart.” (Proverbs 21:1.) Therefore, the NCCK is asking you to show solidarity joining as a whole Christian family in prayer for Korea’s peaceful reconciliation and reunification. Your cooperation and solidarity are needed to stabilize the fractured Korean peninsula. 

Sincerely Rev. Dr. Kim Young-Ju General Secretary, The National Council of Churches in Korea 

The petition: 

Urgent Petition for peace on the Korean Peninsula

Praying for the peace of God and in the name of the Lord:

The South-Korean/U.S. American military exercises are aggravating the situation and thus the conflict is rapidly approaching the next stage of danger of a confrontation between South and North Korean military forces. North Korea’s third nuclear test, the UN’s violent propagandistic sanctions towards North Korea and the American high-tech weapons being used in the large scale Korean-American joint military exercises, etc. escalate the crisis on the Korean Peninsula. In these circumstances, the irresponsible, alarming and offensive statements of both South and North Korean authorities’ are driving the citizens of both countries into fear. The National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK), which for a long time has desired the nation’s reconciliation, and longs for peace and reunification, opposes the movement toward this catastrophic situation and cannot suppress a severe anxiety. In the following petition we express the earnest prayers of Korean Christians for peace on the Korean Peninsula and humbly ask for your participation.

1. We pray for the normalization of the situation at Gaesung Industrial ComplexEven though there may be the possibility of a hostile confrontation between South and North, the agreement from the North-South Summit about the work of Gaesung Industrial Complex has to be maintained. The South-North Korea Summit established Gaesung Industrial Complex to make peace and efforts to damage this work should be stopped.

2. We pray for the termination of the Korea-U.S. military exercises It should be noted that the large scale Korean-American military exercises on the Korean peninsula are to simulate ‘emergency incidents’ and as a result are a showcase to advertise US military weapons. In contrast to being labeled a ‘regular annual military exercise’, the present exercise has succeeded in presenting to the public state-of-the-art bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons, like the B-2 and B-52. Thus it not merely the North Korean military threats, but also the excessive proclamation of war to our citizens, is further promoting the crisis.

3. We pray that both South and North Korea proceed with dialogue immediately We must remember that through the dialogue that took place in the meetings between Kim Il sung and Moon Ik Hwan or Jimmy Carter, in the past we had the experience of changing the complicated situation between South and North and the state of being at the brink of war. Now it is strongly required that dialogue for peace on the Korean Peninsula take place by sending an emissary to intervene or another way.

4. We pray for the resolution of the roots of military confrontation. The actual crisis results from the fact that during the five years of the last government the inter-Korean relations were ruptured, and the military confrontation has to be blamed on the former government. Peace on the Korean peninsula and the solution to the North Korean-American hostile relations will be secured when, instead of the competitive purchase of weapons and military threats, the agreements to provide the light-water reactor etc. are honoured. The NCCK believes this will completely resolve the North Korean nuclear issues.

5. We request a new will and the prayer of all Christians for the situation  Korean Christians have been influential in facilitating the re-opening of the interrupted inter-Korean relations and contributing to make peace. We now once again join in our faith and prayer to approach the Lord’s peace on the Korean peninsula, and we sincerely ask for your participation. It is now time to overcome a false peace under the shadow of military forces and achieve a true peace overflowing with the Lord’s justice. Let us walk together with hope. Let us all stand together and pray to jubilate the 1995 proclamation of genuine peace on the Korean peninsula, restoring the history of the Korean Christians and a Korean brotherhood overflowing with eternal joy.

April 5, 2013

answers to christmas quiz

1) Bradley wiggins 2) jess ennis 3) mo farah 4) steve redgrave 5) sue barker 6) gary lineker 7) monty panessar 8) roger federer 9) ben Ainslie 10) toby flood 11) zara Phillips 12) wayne rooney 13) Rebecca adlington 14) Victoria Pendleton 15) Charlotte dujardin 16) Brian lara 17) Usain bolt 18) Joe hart 19) Serena Williams 20) Frank lampard

A little Christmas quiz for those of you who have finished all your Christmas chores Cryptic Sports Stars 1) Hair replacement and stiff drinks needed after ‘e finds his loaf in the fens 2) A merry jape before a kind of ball, but missing the motorbike classic 3) Former Wimbledon champion (short) finds a pair of trousers 4) A dock worker misses what sounds like the exit and ends up with a final resting place along with Lenin 5) Take the noisy dog to court! 6) The real key ring needs to be reconfigured 7) The old field marshal installs silver windows? 8) Over to new york for more banking mistakes 9) Ready, steady ……but sounds like this gentleman is missing most of chariot 10) Inundated with character mugs? 11) After a very short kip I’m missing from the operatic song. Gone for a screw. 12) A nice combination Hollywood greats 13) Add this kind of junction once canal bridge is rebuilt 14) Wag picks up a century among the witch community 15) Prepare french monkfish for the cleaning lady if you can entice her out of the garden? 16) Pythonesque messiah finds a glamourous archaeologist outside her cottage. 17) A slimmed down Nasser strikes like lightning 18) the holy one likes a drink during the chase 19) falling just a little short of the superlative Venice and despite the name unrelated to Frank 20) A marauder from the east finds the light when one of Bacchus’s pets gets shot of a pope

Those who are blessed seem to fall into two categories: both those who choose the difficult or holy option, like the pure in heart, and those who are forced into it through no choice of their own, those who are reviled and persecuted. Some fall into both categories. Those who mourn might be those whose circumstances lead to tears, but it is also likely to refer to those who weep over an alienated culture, the apparent absence of the kingdom, or the failure of God’s children to behave like sons. Those poor in spirit may include those who choose to live with the humility and simple lifestyle of the poor as well as those who have poverty forced upon them. Throughout, there is the sense of rewards for those who want to see a reversal in the status quo: those who strive for peace, those who hunger and thirst to see right prevail. Those disciples who made it to the top of the mountain were to be the agents of the kingdom both by being part of the community, like salt, and separated from it like light. For salt is useless unless thoroughly incorporated in the mixture, where it becomes invisibly part of the texture. Light, on the other hand, is useless unless it is placed on a lamp-stand. The kingdom comes when disciples are both fully totally mixed with the world in which they live, and distinct and separate from it by their lifestyle. In a sense it is easy to be either light or salt: to be holy by living in monastic isolation, or to be invisible by being totally incorporated in worldly living. Jesus was notable for being both salt and light. He mixed with the sick and sinful: with the rich and poor; with the educated and the simple and seems to have blended well with all of them. The group with which he clashed most often was the pharisees who deliberately kept themselves separated from society. Yet at the same time he lived uniquely and powerfully. His true light was seen supremely when three disciples saw him transfigured before them : but what they saw that day merely confirmed what they had already acknowledged on the road near Caesarea Philippi . His disciples were called to be one with the poor and humble. Yet they would stand out so that they would be reviled and persecuted. They were not to be downcast and intimidated, but were to yearn with all their being for a better world; sometimes they would be marked out by their compassion, their tears, and their desire for justice and peace. Always they should be marked out for the purity of their life-style. Without their presence the world would perish. Darkness can never overcome light. The deeper the darkness the brighter the light shines. Light destroys darkness. The suggestion here is that disciples will always be a minority. But better a pinch of salt than a sack of dust, better a small light well displayed, than a multitude of lamps burning themselves out under a meal tub. Those called to be disciples need to be true to their calling . Thus disciples’ righteousness needs to exceed that of the pharisees. They were certainly like cities set on hills: they prayed on street corners , they carried the longeurs of their fasting in the length of their faces and they gave to the poor in a way that everyone knew about it. The disciples were to be just as rigorous in lifestyle yet without letting that rigour separate them from those among whom they lived. Yet they also had to be distinctive. Not by being out of touch or ‘holier than thou’, but by being known as those who love enemies, live lightly with possessions, go beyond the call of duty in being generous to those in need, pray with integrity and intensity, making sure that such treasure that is stored up is of eternal significance. What is needed is a whole new framework of values: righteousness is not just an issue of lifestyle. It is a matter of attitude: or as Paul put it ‘mind-set’ . Righteousness is not just a minimalist keeping of commandments, but neither is it a broad-brush adhering to the spirit of them: it is an inter-penetration with the mind of God who framed them . For example, it is not just a matter of good discipline for a disciple to refrain from murder and adultery: that kind of behaviour should be totally alien to his whole way of living. So a life of righteousness flows naturally from a person totally immersed in the life of God. And so - quite literally - the disciples were to be authentically Christian in the way that Jesus himself was. He was both immersed in God and world, so he acted like salt and light. To be immersed in God is to be God-breathed: to become God-breathed is to pray oneself into God’s life. Prayer and living are not to be compartmentalised. Prayer is the means by which the mind-set is framed. Prayer is the process of inter-penetration. So prayer becomes the source of righteousness. When Jesus talks about ethics he ends up talking about prayer. A prayer is that which you desire with all your being. It should not be just a shopping list of virtues let alone a desire for material prosperity, or a means of twisting the arm of God. It is yearning for his kingdom to come and his will to be done in one’s own life and in the world. So at the core of this teaching about righteousness Matthew places Jesus’s example prayer. Not surprisingly this prayer has many affinities with traditional Jewish prayers, in particular the kaddish which followed the sermon in synagogue liturgy, and the eighteen benedictions. Though it is not entirely certain that either of these prayers was being used at the time of Jesus, they are at least likely to have been based on forms of prayer with which Jesus was familiar. Indeed a Jewish scholar has blended the Lord’s prayer with traditional Jewish prayers to come up with this amplified version: Our Father, who art in Heaven. Hallowed be Thine exalted Name in the world Thou didst create according to Thy will. May Thy Kingdom and Thy lordship come speedily, and be acknowledged by all the world, that Thy Name may be praised in all eternity. May Thy will be done in Heaven, and also on earth give tranquillity of spirit to those that fear Thee, yet in all things do what seemeth good to Thee. Let us enjoy the bread daily apportioned to us. Forgive us, our Father, for we have sinned; forgive also all who have done us injury; even as we also forgive all. And lead us not into temptation, but keep us far from evil. For thine is the greatness and the power and the dominion, the victory and the majesty, yea all in Heaven and on earth. Thine is the Kingdom, and thou art Lord of all beings for ever. Amen. However, despite the similarities, the places where Jesus’s prayer differs from the traditional Jewish models that have survived are even more significant. The intimacy of the opening address was most unusual . The close relationship which Jesus experienced with God was not to be totally unique: it was a relationship that could be claimed by his disciples also. Prayer is not some grovelling appeasement of a remote, capricious and potentially hostile, divine potentate, but a close, intimate intercourse with one who carries all the concern and responsibility for his children of a loving father. And in recognising God as ‘our’ father they also would be recognising their family relationship with each other. The word father also denoted his role of creator: the ‘father’ was the origin of life. The phrase, ‘who art in heaven’, draws attention to this. It is not suggesting that God is remote or inaccessible, but rather that he is powerful and creative. Indeed where God is honoured, earth potentially becomes heaven - a major theme of the prayer through his transforming presence. The petition ‘hallowed be thy name’ takes this one stage further. This expresses the deep desire that the presence of God be acknowledged with awe in the world at large. The hallowing of a name is indeed the recognising of the authority and holiness of the person. So this first petition draws us straight into the kingdom focus of the prayer. The gospel song which repeats this phrase after every petition of the Lord’s prayer is close to the spirit of the way it is to be prayed. In all aspects of life, through every culture, and in all circumstances the profoundest desire of every disciple is to see the glory of God revealed, his presence acknowledged and his name revered. It is clear that Jesus saw his mission in terms of ‘bringing in the kingdom of God’ (or in Matthew’s version, heaven). The desire for the coming of that kingdom, therefore, forms the core of his prayer. The nature of that kingdom was explicitly set out by Jesus when he was visited by disciples of John the Baptist asking him: "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.’ It was believed that prayer could speed up God’s processes. So grounded right in the core of Christian prayer has always been a yearning for the coming of the kingdom which the church came to see as synonymous with the coming of the king: ‘Maranatha, O come quickly, Lord.’ The implication of the prayer, of course, was also personal. If the kingdom was to come quickly it had to come within the lives of the disciples themselves. The kingdom of God would only come when his will was done, and those who love him must surely be those who do his will: ‘the will of God is done whenever a human being takes upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of God to do it.’ John’s gospel reports Jesus as saying, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work’. So to ask for one’s daily bread could even be seen as taking on the responsibility for doing God’s will. In any event it seems likely that this is not simply a prayer for material provision. There is probably a link with the provision of manna in the wilderness, and possibly with the bread of last supper. Indeed the choice of such an unusual Greek word within the prayer might even have been to point up the eternal significance of the daily provision of God’s grace. We might paraphrase it in this sort of way: ‘Give today not only our bread for today but that bread which is for every day (namely eternity).’ As Jeremias put it: ‘For Jesus there was no opposition between earthly bread and the bread of life, for in the realm of the kingdom all earthly things are hallowed. The bread that Jesus broke when he invited publicans and sinners to his table, the bread he gave to his disciples at the last supper, was earthly bread and yet at the same time the bread of life. For the disciples of Jesus every meal and not only the last one had deep eschatological significance . Every meal with Jesus was a salvation meal, an anticipation of the final feast. At each meal he was the host as he would be at the consummation.’ If feeding on the bread God gives is to do his will, then to do his will is to forgive. The bread which we break is a sign of the body of Christ which is given for us, and our forgiveness. Since his nature is to be merciful, so if we are to live his will we also are to be merciful. Indeed his kingdom is hardly likely to come, his will is scarcely going to be done if we do not forgive those who are indebted to us. Prayer must never be seen as a vast buck-passing exercise to the Almighty. Instead Jesus teaches us that when we engage in prayer we take on mighty responsibility. At the end of John’s gospel Jesus says "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." The suggestion is that if there are people who languish in the hell of guilt then it will be because the disciples have not communicated the forgiving grace of God. Matthew’s placing of Jesus’s saying about forgiveness immediately at the close of the prayer shows his notion of the importance of this part of the prayer. Finally Jesus pleads with God not to bring him to a point of testing so severe that he is likely to fail. The time was to come in the place called Gethsemane when Jesus feared that that was precisely what was happening. But the central prayer, ‘your will be done’ overruled the prayer not to be put to the test. By the time that Matthew’s gospel was written this prayer would have been prayed by many who had faced the sternest test of all - martyrdom. Martyrdom is never to be desired: the appalling picture of the Christian faith promulgated by Nietzsche namely that it is a sick courting of suffering to subdue the human spirit, is a travesty far from the life embracing, health-desiring word of Jesus. But the desire not to be tested is to be balanced by a refusal to give in to the evil powers of the day. At all costs we must never sell our souls to forces opposed to the will of God. This battle with evil will sometimes result in the test being severe: but disciples never court suffering. Nor does God will it upon us. It is now becoming apparent that the prayer is closely linked with the beatitudes which opened the teaching. Prayer emerges as a response to God’s word: Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; do not bring us to the test, but rescue us from the evil one. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who hunger for righteousness: give us this day our daily bread. For they shall be filled. Blessed are those who are merciful: forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. For they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart. Hallowed by thy name. For they shall see God. To pray the kingdom is to live it. And if the heart of the message of the kingdom is forgiveness then a life of forgiveness must be lived. Christians begin in the psychologically important freedom of being those who have been forgiven much. Those who do not know what it means to be forgiven will always tend to have difficulty in forgiving anyone else. So when you go to make your sacrifice of repentance the mere sight of the altar will remind you of the enormity of your debt to God in the face of which that grievance which you hold against your brother will cry against you. You will drop the sacrifice, return to your brother make peace and then be at peace with God . In the life of the kingdom there is no place for grudges let alone revenge. To be a city set on a hill means that your life has to be above reproach. Purity does not simply mean not doing that which is wrong - but more radically not wanting to do it either. People who do not commit adultery may quite simply be those who would very much wish to but have no opportunity, or even those who lack the courage. Jesus lays down a far more radical definition: the voyeur who degrades women by treating them as a turn on but who is not prepared to take the responsibility of forming a loving relationship with them is not free from sin . At the very least such a severe definition of adultery should prevent most men from casting the first stone. The language Jesus uses is ferocious and led one great Biblical scholar to self mutilation . Of course Jesus was aware that voyeurism is not the fault of the eye, nor theft the action of an unwilling hand: it is quite clearly the case that it is neither the eye nor the hand that is to be punished. Surely there is a sense of ironic humour here. He has already told us that immorality is the fault of the ‘heart’, and by that he does not mean the organ either but rather the seat of the will. If you pluck out your right eye then it is likely that your left eye will continue to wander. If you cut off your right hand, your left will soon adapt. What is needed is wholesale repentance, which is a radical change of heart.

Mark 10 moral issues, riches and power

Many of the ethical issues that Jesus and his followers faced are no longer live issues: some of the issues the church faces today are not adequately dealt with in scripture. But it is clear that Jesus generally took a broad approach to ethics rather than a legalistic one. He tends towards compassion for the weak and is scathing towards those who exploit the law to gain advantage from it. Thus cleanliness rules which make it even more difficult for the hungry to eat, which make it easier for the rich farmers with good facilities to sell their produce and impossible for the poor to take their goods to market, are bad (whatever the scriptures may or may not say); and glosses on the law which enable people to wriggle out of responsibility to care for their elderly parents by making apparently generous donations to temple or synagogue are corrupt.

It appears that if a son made over to God that part of his possessions with which he would normally be expected to support his parents then he would be exempt from keeping them. However, the gift to God seems sometimes to have been a technicality, the son still receiving income from the property thus ensuring that scribes (who may have received a fee for the service) and sons did well out of it - but poor parents suffered. In some cases the son may have wished to be exonerated from the vow (Korban) but the scribes refused exemption (possibly for the benefit of the temple fund) and so they prevented him from making provision for his parents.

Later in the gospel Jesus similarly shows support both for children and for women: again siding with the weak against the strong. The Mosaic divorce law as practised was particularly hard on women. They had no right to divorce or even leave their husbands but the husband could divorce his wife for all kinds of reason: and whereas any affair the wife might have with another man was viewed as adultery, men could only commit adultery against another man by having an affair with his wife. An affair with a widow or an unmarried woman did not count as adultery. Moreover a woman whose husband had divorced her was left discarded, defenceless and impoverished; in a worse position socially even than widows.

Jesus is not prepared to enter into arcane disputes about what constitutes a serious enough reason for divorce. No excuse will ever be adequate to justify breaking apart those whom God has made one flesh. He recognises, however, that the law instituted by Moses was designed to make provision for human weakness; sometimes marriages will break down; when these breakdowns occur it is painful for all concerned and such breakdowns should never therefore be brought about on mere pretexts. Nor can they ever be justified by pulling Moses and divine law into the situation. God’s law is clear: marriage is intended to be for life and indissoluble. However when breakdowns occur, as they will from time to time, he asserts that women have the same rights as men; he maintains, despite the Jewish understanding of his times, that, when men have affairs with other women or divorce their wives to marry another, they commit adultery against their wives. He recognises that women can divorce their husbands - though in so doing they are committing adultery just as their husbands do if they divorce their wives. In other words if men accept the validity of divorce then that validity applies equally to women. In our culture Jesus’s teaching can seem unbending and harsh: but in a culture where men could treat their wives casually and claim to be keeping the law, his teaching safeguarded women and impressed upon both men and women the sacred nature of a marriage covenant. His firm stand on the sanctity of marriage primarily protected women and children: and his apparent equating of the rights of wives to obtain a divorce with those of their husbands protected them against abuse from their husbands.

In his teaching on children, Jesus similarly raises their status. When parents bring children to Jesus for him to bless them the disciples brush them aside. They have no time for such trivialities. Perhaps they were angry at the lingering superstition and folk religion that surrounded Jesus’s ministry: But Jesus has already placed a child at the very heart of his ministry. It has been pointed out that it later became traditional for parents to take their children to the rabbi for a blessing on the Day of Atonement. Throughout his gospel Mark seems only to deal with children as victims. Here once again they appear as victims of the disciples discrimination against them. Jesus, though, turns everything on its head: it is to these children that the kingdom of God belongs. The next two passages make clear that it is not the rich or those with ambitions to sit at the left and right hands of Jesus who will inherit the kingdom: rather it is those who have nothing. Here the children stand as examples of all little ones. And all people who would enter the kingdom must receive it with the faith of such little ones: those who are dependent and vulnerable; those who allow themselves to be lifted and loved; those obedient to the Father; those, hopefully, not yet vitiated with the power games and desire for status of the adult world. On that simple faith the atonement of the world might depend.

The next story provides the contrast that makes the meaning of the incident with the children stand out in sharp relief. A man comes up to Jesus and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Once he has satisfied Jesus that he has kept all the commandments since his youth Jesus tells him to sell his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. The man is unable to do this and goes away sorrowful. In explaining his treatment of the man to his disciples Jesus points out to his disciples how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. It is not simply riches that prevent people from entering the kingdom, a whole set of values has to be turned on its head. The prevailing attitude in Jewish theology was that wealth was a sign of God’s favour. Yet this man seems not to have been totally satisfied with this complacent doctrine otherwise he would not have come to Jesus in the first place unless it was purely for reassurance. Those who argue that Jesus, in commanding the man to dispose of his possessions and help the poor was being specific only to this particular case have to wrestle with Jesus’s own explanation to the disciples afterwards. It is apposite to quote RH Grundy commenting on the parallel passage in Matthew: “That Jesus did not command all his followers to sell all their possessions gives comfort only to the kind of people to whom he would issue that command”. For children who own no property, who are totally dependent on their parents for everything they have, entry into the kingdom is easy: for the rich it is even more difficult than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, despite the fact that the man whose sad story gives rise to the teaching is the only one in Mark’s gospel who is marked out as a man Jesus loved.

Indeed this story is typical of many in the gospels in which everything is stacked up to reach a particular conclusion only to arrive at the opposite. There is no mention of the man being rich at the beginning of the story. He kneels before Jesus much as the leper had done. Uniquely in the gospel he identifies Jesus as “good”. He had the right priority for his own life - the desire for a life of eternal worth. He has kept the commandments. And Jesus looked at him with love. Then came the bombshell. As a man of property, he ends up going away devastated.

Ched Myers draws our attention to a number of interesting features within this story. It may well be that the man is trying to flatter Jesus and that explains Jesus’s sharp reply. He obviously not only thought Jesus was good but wanted to be told he was good in return. He had kept the commandments since his youth and wished for commendation. In Jewish tradition only Aaron and Moses had been credited with keeping the whole law. Jesus gives none. It is likely that the long, compassionate look of love Jesus gave him is meant to be in contrast with the man’s keeping of the law. Jesus’s love is people this man’s love is wealth. To begin with Jesus speaks to him as he did to the leper: “get up and go”. It is as if this man needs to be healed in the same way as the leper was. The last word to him, “come, follow me”, is the same call to discipleship as that offered to fisherman at the beginning of the gospel. It is the second and third orders that are exceptional: to sell his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor and so exchange treasure on earth for treasure in heaven. This the only story in Mark’s gospel of discipleship rejection.

For the disciples with their traditional theology the inability of rich people (those patently enjoying God’s blessing) to enter the kingdom makes entry for anyone impossible. However, the lesson of the story of the sower and the seed still stands true. Despite all negative appearances the kingdom will come. And those prepared to let go of all their loves for the love of the kingdom will see their losses amply repaid in blessings of greater value, though those blessings may also come with persecution. For this turning on its head of all materialist life-styles cannot be achieved painlessly. Nevertheless the disciples are not to despair for what looks impossible in human terms is not impossible to God.