Lent Reflection 1

I plan to blog my bible reading daily during Lent. Blogging particularly on the line in each passage which speaks most clearly to me.

I'm hoping this will help focus my thoughts and prayers on the word and instil a sense of discipline in my study of the Holy Scripture - well one can but hope ;-)

Today Luke 9: 25

This is the verse that spoke most to me this morning. The verse I came back to, used for further meditation, and used as memory verse today.

Jesus uses language that the disciples are familiar with. He uses language of the time; that of traders. "Gain" "castaway" will have been used in the context of trading. It is therefore probably unsurprising that this verse speaks easily to me as a child of the 21st century. Jesus is as accessible to me as he was to the disciples and I have the double benefit of hindsight, and many brilliant Biblical scholars to fall back on.

On social media recently, I have seen some friends and acquaintances bemoaning their financial situation. They, like many others myself included are feeling the pinch of this government's financial decisions. All are on a low income or no income, existing on benefits, most are young adults. They feel cheated by the government, they feel their future financial situation is in jeopardy, they fear for their future. They're watching the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

This Sunday, the first in Lent, Rupert Murdoch returns with Sun on Sunday, it appears to my cynical mind at least that those with money and influence can buy their way out of trouble. I can only pray that it doesn't sell, that the piles of the Sun on Sunday remain stacked on the shelves, and the general public makes a conscious effort to avoid supporting this venture.

These two not unconnected present day situations are what has been brought to my mind from that verse in Luke chapter 9.

I can imagine the conversation:

Rupert Murdoch: "Oh goodie, I have a new Sunday paper, just another branch of my global empire."
Jesus: "What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?"

This is not the end of the post, this verse issues a challenge. Not just for the big business of this world but to us all. Keep a handle on that love of worldly possessions, that greed, that self interest Siobhan. Do you need those shoes? That book? That CD?