Lent

[Paula]

What is Lent? It is the 40 days (excluding Sundays) from Ash Wednesday (today) to the Saturday before Easter. It’s an important time in the Christian calendar where we look forward to the events of the first Easter and is often a somber time for Christians to reflect. Many decide to give up something important in their lives to acknowledge Jesus’ sacrifice, others prefer to do something positive, such as volunteering or donating the cost of their Starbucks coffee each day to charity. The ‘ash’ in Ash Wednesday symbolises death and repentance and the day is normally a time for reflection. In many churches you will see people with ash crosses on their forehead as a symbol of this.

I’m in a WhatsApp group with some women from my church, and we are studying and chatting about some of Luke’s Gospel every day during Lent, focusing on Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, where he was crucified, and died to save us. So I thought I would post about these verses, and the group’s thoughts on them, each day during Lent for anyone to consider, reflect and comment.

We do have a private section called The Sanctuary on the forum which is a ‘ quiet, understanding space for anyone who has questions or just wants to talk about faith - open to those with any faith or no faith.’ If you’d like to join that section, please pm Suzi.

I get that not everybody will be interested in this, and many will disagree with what will be posted but, if that’s the case, feel free to ignore this thread rather than posting negative comments.

[Suzi]

I'm really interested in this. Thank you.

I've decided to be more committed to my exercises, be kinder to me and to dedicate time for prayer/reflection each day...

[Paula]

Ash Wednesday’s focus was on Luke 9:51 - “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem”. He had started on the road to the cross. I’d never really looked properly at this verse before but it struck me how human Jesus can be at times. He ‘set his face’ sounds to me similar to he ‘gritted his teeth’. Not that he ever considered not going towards that cross, but that he was human, and was not looking forward to that sacrifice. He was God on earth 100% but had to also be 100% human to be a suitable substitute for us on that cross. And his human side was sad.

[Paula]

Luke 9:51-54,56
[51] As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. [52] And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; [53] but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. [54] When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them ?” [56] Then he and his disciples went to another village.


(This is such an extreme response and harks back to Elijah, the prophet, who was around during the Omride Dynasty of Israel (from 885 bc onwards) and called down fire from heaven (I Kings 18: 20-40) to make a point about whose god had true power.)

The Jews and Samaritans hated each other, and had done for centuries, but they shared millenniums of history and worshipped the same God (John 4: 4-26) and Jesus had already made it clear he’d come for the Samaritans too. Maybe James and John needed that example to open their minds to the truth that the gospel is for all? It was something the early Jerusalem church struggled with but eventually overcame. It’s something some elements of the church still struggle with - the ‘they’re not our kind’ attitude...... It was wrong then and it’s wrong now.

[Suzi]

See, I've always hated the "them" and "us" kind of thing. I am sure that actually all that is needed is love and tolerance. No need to reign down fire on someone because they believe something different to you...

[Stella180]

Someone got into a religious debate a couple of weeks ok over a comment that I was following. The general gist was that one person claimed that Christianity was the “one true religion”. There were many angry comments as you can imagine but the one that stood out was a guy who calmly pointed out that Jesus was a Jew. If that didn’t cancel out the who’s right and who’s wrong then nothing will. We all live on this earth together so we may as well get along regardless of beliefs, race, sex, age etc. We are all different yet we are also all the same.

[Paula]

Luke 9:57-62
[57] As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” [58] Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” [59] He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” [60] Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” [61] Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” [62] Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

This is a passage all about putting Jesus first - above everything else including family. As someone who spent most of my life saying ‘well, yes, I WANT to follow you, Lord but....’. I always find today’s passage a challenge. I will be eternally grateful that I have been forgiven for 30+ years of putting the ‘cares and riches and pleasures of life’ before Jesus, and that I have been accepted into God’s Kingdom.

[Suzi]

I'm struggling with this reading today. I see that it's about putting Jesus first, but doesn't that scream against every fiber of your humanity? I need to be able to do the things my humanity needs me to do - take care of my children, my husband, my family, and I don't feel able to put other things ahead of them itms? Where does that leave me? Someone accepted or not? If by putting the needs of those around me and those in need in front of my spiritual self means I'm not accepted, is that something I want to be accepted into in the first place? Does that make sense?

[Paula]

It does make sense, it’s a tough passage. I think it’s a challenge to each of those men whether they really understand what it takes to follow Christ - one, what if you’ve got nowhere to sleep, how will you cope?, the second, apparently it reads as if the man’s father is still alive (‘I’ll follow you in my own time’), the third, I think is questioning whether the man is always going to look back at his previous life. After all, in 1 Kings 19: 19-21, Elisha was able to say goodbye and held a going away party for his friends before becoming a trainee prophet!

The study I was looking at today references the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8: 4-8) where these men seemed to be test cases for that parable. The seed falling on the pathway and being snatched away(they hear the Word but don’t believe), the seed falling on shallow soil (they hear the Word with joy but, when tested, fall away), and the seed that falls among thorns (they believe but are choked with life’s worries, riches and pleasures).

Does that help?

[Stella180]

I agree with you Suzi. Blindly following someone while ignoring those that love and rely on you doesn’t sound like a good thing to me or am I missing something?