Reflection from Jon Ellis
Reflection Matthew 11.16-19 Isaiah 48.17-19 Dec 12
Matthew 11
16 "To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the market-places and calling out to others:
17 " We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a demon.
19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners"’. But wisdom is proved right by her actions." (NIV)
Isaiah 48
17 This is what the LORD says your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.
18 If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be cut off nor destroyed from before me." (NIV)
REFLECTION
How do you remember your past? Is it the failures or the successes? I tend to remember decisions that did not go well. And yet, if I look back at my life as a whole, I have been very blessed. God-incidences, (God directed coincidences), have turned problems into wonderful changes for the better. Jesus has taught me to be much more hopeful, not in the worldly meaning of what might happen, but in Jesus’ certain hope.
Isaiah exasperatedly berates God’s people for not obeying God’s commands. He says that everything would have been so much better if they had done that. How often do we see it in the world’s problems today?
Peace would be like a river and righteousness like the waves of the sea. Wonderful images.
Jesus says, “Wisdom is proved right by her actions.” All we have to do is pay attention to God’s commands.
Pray first, then act!
COLLECT 2nd Advent
Almighty God,
purify our hearts and minds,
that when your Son Jesus Christ comes again as
judge and saviour
we may be ready to receive him,
who is our Lord and our God. Amen
Common Worship: Collects and Post Communions, material from which is included here, is copyright © The Archbishops' Council 2000