Friday, May 22nd, 2020

Today Jesus says, yet again - don’t be surprised if you have a bad day. Even misery. Yet the difference between an atheist and a Christian is that for a Christian this is not the whole story. It is not even a main part of the story. As Jesus says: “I tell you most solemnly, you will be weeping and wailing while the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.” Where is this joy? This question, both the atheist and the Christian ask: it is the human question. But it is the question to which the Christian can provide an answer - which Jesus summarises for us: “A woman in childbirth suffers, because her time has come; but when she has given birth to the child she forgets the suffering in her joy that a man has been born into the world. So it is with you: you are sad now, but I shall see you again, and your hearts will be full of joy, and that joy no one shall take from you.” As the Word of God points out elsewhere, the relationship we have with Jesus, no one has power to take from us. We suffer: and Jesus says - yes, but not alone. I am there in the room with you. Rest on my heart. Feel my comfort. Let us take 5 minutes to do so today.