\u2018It all ended happily ever after\u2019. The typical\u00a0younger children’s\u00a0story books\u00a0want to present upbeat and encouraging accounts of the primary characters\u2019 lives and although they may go through tough times,\u00a0things usually come to a happy conclusion. I am giving away my age when I admit as a child enjoying many of the adventure stories of Enid Blyton.
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Idyllic worlds were portrayed in many of the stories and why not, we want children to be children and to enjoy reading storybooks and exploring the wonderful world around us. Unfortunately, life is rarely quite so straightforward as we know from painful experience. All of us are aware of people we greatly loved who were taken from us,\u00a0from our perspective\u00a0prematurely,and whose contribution to our lives and those of others has been sorely missed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a part of the Easter story, a dark side that we would rather not dwell on, but it is there and there is a place for acknowledging some of the painful aspects of living in the real world\u00a0too. One, for example, in the current Covid-19 virus crisis has been the cost\u00a0of the lives of dedicated health care professionals who died caring for\u00a0their patients. It will be an incredibly bitter-sweet moment for a patient who recovers their health to know that one of the professionals caring for them died of that illness, possibly contracted while carrying out their vocation.\u00a0Let us\u00a0read and reflect on this short part of the Easter story from Matthew 26:47-54:\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.\u00a0<\/em>48\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: \u2018The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.\u2019\u00a0<\/em>49\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, \u2018Greetings, Rabbi!\u2019 and kissed him.<\/em>50\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Jesus replied,\u00a0\u2018Do what you came for, friend.\u2019\u00a0Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.\u00a0<\/em>51\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>With that, one of Jesus\u2019 companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.<\/em>\u00a052\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>\u2018Put your sword back in its place,\u2019\u00a0Jesus said to him,\u00a0\u2018for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.\u00a0<\/em>53\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?\u00a0<\/em>54\u00a0<\/sup>But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way<\/em><\/strong>?\u2019\u00a0<\/em>(Matthew 26:47-54)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. The<\/strong> dreadful choice<\/strong> (Matthew 26:47-50) How many boys do you know that are given the first name Judas? None! I expect will be the answer from us all. The dreadful choice made by this follower of Jesus was recklessly foolish. For the record, Judas was probably a supporter of the Jewish Freedom Fighters movement (Zealots) who wished to evict the occupying Roman Army from Israel. He wanted to force Jesus into leading a military rebellion in support of this cause. He did not want Jesus to be killed. However, his thoughtless actions, humanly speaking, contributed to the course of action that led to Jesus\u2019 death on the day we now know as \u2018Good Friday\u2019 in April AD33. We all are aware of wrong choices people made that had tragic consequences for others. The name of Judas is infamous for what he did that day. Let us ask God to give us the wisdom we need in the choices we make so that we may never say or do something that causes harm or in the worst case scenario devastation in the lives of another person or other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2.\u00a0The impulsive action<\/strong>\u00a0(Matthew 26:51-53) \u2018Count to ten before you\u2026\u2019! Rash impulsive actions can have the right motivation, but do much more harm than good. Simon Peter, the disciple of Jesus who wore \u2018his heart on his sleeve\u2019 was a very emotional impulsive man. He could be so loyal and committed to the cause, but still needed to learn to stop and think through a course of action before opening his mouth. Here he is unnamed, but this Galilean fisherman who was probably as much of a danger to himself as to others when holding a sword, was so grieved at what Judas and his accomplices were doing that he swung a sword recklessly injuring a servant of the Jewish High Priest. Violence is not a solution to problems then or now, it only leads to an escalation of a problem. Jesus came to model a different way of living as the Prince of Peace and invited His followers to walk in His footsteps. Then and now control of our tongues and the actions we propose are so important.\u00a0When we get things wrong we must be quick to put our hand up and apologise. It is best of all to seek God\u2019s help to avoid making the mistake in the first place.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3.\u00a0The will of God<\/strong>\u00a0(Matthew 26:54)\u00a0But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say\u00a0<\/em>it must happen in this way<\/em><\/strong>?<\/em>\u00a0Human beings\u00a0freely made inappropriate choices in Jerusalem two thousand years ago. Yet what took place was not a tragic accident but the will of God. This was confirmed in the words of the prayer of the first Christian Church in Jerusalem, some weeks after these events took place. Acts\u00a04:27-28 states:\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in\u00a0this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.\u00a0<\/em>28\u00a0<\/sup>They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The events in themselves were evil because a man known to be innocent of the charges brought against him was executed. However, God brought something incredibly good\u00a0out of what happened that week. It is one of a number of examples in the Bible where a greater good triumphs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What can we say about the current crisis? There is no good in what the virus is doing. People are going hungry around the world, economic difficulties are all around and many people have died. However, the Easter story reminds us that out of the darkest days some good can come. It is too early to tell what that might be in our present circumstances, though some good suggestions have been made. Christians can be assured that God is ultimately in control of His world and when we acknowledge that then we have real confidence and hope for the future. May we continue to pray: \u2018Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our song for reflection today is a modern Christian song by Rend Collective \u2013 \u2018Build Your kingdom here\u2019 – https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YcSWpVKKMcs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Brian Talbot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018It all ended happily ever after\u2019. The typical\u00a0younger children’s\u00a0story books\u00a0want to present upbeat and encouraging accounts of the primary characters\u2019 lives and although they may go through tough times,\u00a0things usually come to a happy conclusion. I am giving away my age when I admit as a child enjoying many of the adventure stories of Enid … Continue reading 16 April 2020 -\u2026it must happen in this way<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1149,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions\/1149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/broughtybaptist.org\/wpsite\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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