Praying Together 29th June 2025

So the commandment is a challenge. To love those who betray you. Those who jeer. Those who wield the whips embedded with flint, hammer in the nails, pierce your side.

Meditation for Trinity 2 2025

Collect for Trinity 2

Faithful Creator, whose mercy never fails: deepen our faithfulness to you
and to Jesus Christ our Lord, your living Word.

Luke 9:51-62

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

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

The dog ate my homework…

Human beings are inventive when it comes to making excuses. The Bible is full of them.

Genesis 3:12 Adam: Eve made me do it. 3:13 Eve: The serpent made me do it. (We can imagine the serpent saying – what did they expect? I’m a snake. That’s what snakes do.)

Exodus 4:10: “Moses said “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

Jeremiah 1:6: “Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak; I am too young”

Jonah 4:2 “I told you so! You should have listened to me!”

Judges 6:15: Gideon – “Excuse me, sir! How can I rescue Israel? Look at my whole family. It’s the weakest one in Manasseh. And me? I’m the least important member of my family.”

There are many more examples – including the excuses made to avoid Jesus’ invitation to follow Him:

Luke 9:57-62:
I will follow you wherever you go – by the way, which hotel are we staying at

Follow me, said Jesus. Give me a minute, said the man – I’ve got important things to do first then I’ll catch you up.

I will probably follow you, said another, but I’m not altogether sure, so I’d like to make sure I’d be welcome back home if it doesn’t work out.

Jesus is looking for commitment. Absolute, unconditional, commitment. When I think of what that means, I’m always minded of Martina Navratilova’s remark: “The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.”

Follow Him. Or do not follow Him. Your choice – but don’t make excuses for your refusal to choose.

p.s. Contrast the excuses above (mostly from men) with Luke 1:31 and 1:38
Angel Gabriel: “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.”
Mary: OK.