Thoughts for the Day

Luke 20:47 Every day he [Jesus] was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.

If I knew I were going to die by the end of this week and knew how it was to happen, I wonder how I would spend my time.  At some point in our past we’ve probably all been invited to play a “what if” game to answer this hypothetical question.  And we can quickly picture less hypothetical examples: a baker in Baghdad, an accountant in Aleppo, a school teacher in Sarajevo … you can doubtless imagine many others!  And, whatever else the current Coronavirus epidemic may have done, it has certainly brought many a greater awareness of our mortality.  But this was no hypothetical question for Jesus.  He’d been telling his disciples what would happen, and events were rushing towards their conclusion.  What does he do?  We find him every day continuing to teach.  I’m reminded of his exhortation “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has trouble enough of its own.” (Matthew 6:34).  I can find that hard advice to follow even with something small to worry about, but Jesus practices what he preaches.  He continues walking the increasingly difficult tightrope of his calling – preaching the Kingdom while dodging the tests and challenges with which the leaders are trying to trap him.  He knew who would betray him and when, he knew how it would unfold.  Yet, amazingly, he continued teaching to the very end those who would be taught.