A warm sunny morning, promising a sticky day. As I walked by the trees, I could see the reservoir on the other side of the trees, water reflecting the sun. My movement past the trees was much more than the movement of waves in the water, so it looked as I kept glancing as if the water was not moving at all, like rippled silver.
The Lectionary for next Sunday seems to feature some things about conflict, like the split in Abraham’s dynasty, and this from Jesus … “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34) Now in one way, that is a perfectly good prediction – we know enough about politics to know that sometimes people will cosy up to a lie and hate the truth. All Jesus had to do was to speak the truth, and there would have been opposition. And I like to think of it as a prediction. But I can’t help thinking there’s more to it than that. Did Jesus intend to bring division and controversy? – it may have been an inevitable consequence of saying what he said, doing what he did and being what he was. The rest of the passage is a disturbing read too. Some of those words could have come from the leader of a 1960s cult. Why did Jesus say these things, and if he did say them, why did the writer choose to include them in that gospel? And how does it fit with the angels’ song? More anon.