From Caroline - [email protected], 01285 712467
Readings for Sunday: Genesis 2.4b-9, 15-end; Revelation 4; Luke 8.22-25
Our readings this Sunday, as we gear up to head into the thoughtful and penitential season of Lent, point us in no uncertain terms to remember and reflect upon the power and sovereignty of God.
I find it so interesting that the great minds working to put together the Lectionary (the book that lays out for us which readings we should be using for which day) are making a very particular point. In Lent we consciously follow Jesus’ footsteps as he walks into the wilderness and is tempted by the Devil. Over these forty days we too think about the temptations that we face, and are strengthened by the thought that Jesus too has faced such trials. It is a time, therefore, when we are very aware of Jesus’ humanity – how very close to us he is, and how much of our experience he shared.
This Sunday however we are being reminded of the exact opposite – not Jesus’ humanity, but his divinity. We see the mighty power of God in creation, bringing all things into being from nothing. We see in Revelation John’s vision of the divine throne of God, and his wild and rich language as he tries to express in human terms the sheer glory of God. And of course in our reading from Luke we see Jesus exercising divine power – casually and powerfully commanding a threatening storm to simply cease.
We are being reminded of that crucial element of our Christian belief – that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine, as strange and paradoxical as that is to grasp. Here is Jesus both really and fully tempted as humans all are. And yet here too is Jesus wielding the glorious and sovereign divine power over all Creation. Both are true, and both are true at the same time.
For us, this can and should be an enormous source of reassurance and faith. Our God knows exactly how it feels to be a human being in the world. And yet he has power over it, and crucially – wields that power out of love and for the benefit of us, his children. God’s power in creation is used for the good of Adam, finding him a home and a partner. Jesus’ power in the storm is to save and protect his disciples. This is what our God is like – he knows and loves us in our weakness, and through his strength. May we feel that joy and reassurance today, whatever storms and temptations we may be facing.
Rev’d Caroline
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