Message of Abbot Paul - Tuesday 3rd October 2023
Abbot Paul • October 2, 2023
When you read today’s short message, I will be travelling to Thessaloniki to visit friends. Apart from the fact that I have been working rather hard lately and feel tired and in need of a rest, I am also looking forward to seeing close friends I have known since I was a young student in Greece in the mid 60s. That makes it sound like a long time ago, but my memories of Greece and Mount Athos are as fresh today as when I first saw the country and the people and fell in love with them both. I am sure you have had the same experience of the people and places you love most. Friendship is a most wonderful gift of God.
In our reading of Luke, (Lk 9: 51-56), we have reached a turning point in the life of Jesus. This is the moment that the course of his life changes and he resolutely takes the road to Jerusalem. Let us read what Luke writes. “As the time drew near for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely took the road for Jerusalem and sent messengers ahead of him. These set out, and they went into a Samaritan village to make preparations for him, but the people would not receive him because he was making for Jerusalem. Seeing this, the disciples James and John said, ‘Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?’ But he turned and rebuked them, and they went off to another village.”
Luke is always a positive writer and here he focuses on the Resurrection and Ascension, rather than on the Passion and Death of Jesus. Perhaps we should regard the death of our loved ones and our own death in the same way, without being presumptuous, of course. The messengers were sent ahead to find lodging for Jesus and his companions. They must have formed quite a large group. Did they go into that Samaritan village on purpose or was it simply a mistake? After all, they had to pass through Samaria in order to reach Jerusalem. They certainly weren’t well received and made a quick exit in search of another village. To the suggestion of James and John, the oldest and the youngest of the Twelve, that they should call down fire from heaven to destroy that Samaritan village, Jesus rebukes them. Neither vengeance, acts of hatred nor divisions among those destined to be saved are permitted by Jesus, who will die to save all God’s children and the whole of creation. May we learn to share the mind of Christ.
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