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Faith Daily | 22 January 2022
PRAYER of the DAY - APBA p 528
Almighty God,
by whose grace alone we are accepted
and called to your service:
strengthen us by your Holy Spirit
and make us worthy of our calling;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
GOSPEL for the Day: Mark 3: 20-21
And the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”
GOSPEL Reflection: Contributed by: Rev'd Sandra
Jesus’ family lived at Nazareth and they heard that on two separate Sabbath days Jesus had angered the Pharisees. And now they heard that he was working so hard he was even going without food. He had thrown away security and people were saying ‘He has gone out of his mind’.
His family would have been very worried for Jesus. So, they set out on the 60km journey from Nazareth to Capernaum to try and stop him from continuing on any further. They wanted to try and contain him to keep him safe.
Most people in those days, like in modern times, would be choosing to play things safe. Unfortunately, this shows how little they understood Jesus and what he was doing. Jesus had already proven that he was utterly indifferent to the verdict of what people said about him.
H.G. Wells once famously said, for most people “the voice of their neighbours is louder than the voice of God”.
But it seems to me that there are only three ways in which we can speak of Jesus.
We, like his family and friends, regard him as insane (if so, we do not take any more notice of his teaching);
We think he was a deceiver (if so, we ought to prevent the spread of his teaching); or
We believe that he truly is the Son of God (If so, we shall adore him and serve him with all of our heart).
It is interesting to note that many Christians who have made great sacrifices or attempted new ways of service Jesus have been called ‘mad’ over the years.
Paul was called mad (Acts 26.24). So was St. Francis of Assisi, when he gave away all his money and wore the clothes of a beggar in order to serve the poorest in the land. So was Dr Albert Schweitzer when he left his position as a university lecturer in Europe and started a hospital to serve the people of Gabon.
I believe that the question of how we relate to the call of Jesus is one for us to ponder and answer for ourselves.
FINAL PRAYER: FROM CELTIC DAILY PRAYER
God be with you
in this your day,
every day and every way,
with you and for you
in this your day,
and may the love and affection of heaven
be with you always. Amen.