Thought for March 20th. “BLESSED RATHER ARE THOSE WHO …”

Very soon we will be reading the Proverbs of Solomon. We thought of this when we saw the reference Jesus made to Solomon in today’s chapter 11 of Luke’s gospel. He made reference to the accounts in the Old Testament of the wisdom from God that Solomon received and how, such as the queen of Sheba, “came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon”[v.31]. But, said Jesus, “behold something greater than Solomon is here.”Jesus was very popular and sought after – but was it for a good spiritual reason? “When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ‘This generation is an evil generation …” [v.29] And our generation? When “a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed” he responded by saying, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” [v.27,28]So many people want something physical to look at to ‘worship’ It is tragic that idol worship practices have made their way into much of Christianity, this has been specially evident in all the publicity about the new Pope. In contrast, how many want to hear the word of God and keep it! Today, when it is so easy to read it (or hear it read) how rarely is the opportunity taken!Jesus said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” [John 9 v.5] The light continues in God’s word! In today’s chapter, did you notice how Jesus states, “after lighting a lamp (no-one) puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.” [v.33] Jesus then warns, “be careful lest the light in you be darkness” [v.35] Or, becomes darkness. We turn on a light to make use of it!God’s word gives light to our world., but it is no use seeing the light if we are not going to make use of it. Beware lest the Bible becomes an ‘ornament’ on the bookshelf that we are pleased to have, but, could it become, or maybe already is, little better than having an image of Mary!? Oh no, but think, although, we make use of it on Sunday to take with us and turn up the readings – but is that all? Do we only eat food one day of the week? Our minds need constant good food – even more so today with so much junk food around! May we all loudly hear (in our hearts) the words of Jesus, “Blessed rather are those who hear (read) the word of God and keep it”.