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Last Word - Credit Crunch...
The press, TV and radio and so on are full of reports about the credit crunch' which paradoxically, is really about debt and baffling comments by and about city experts, lenders of last resort, federal lenders, assets, prime and sub-prime.
There are many places in the Gospels where people make statements or comments, which show how difficult it was for Jesus to explain what lay beneath his life and works. Sometime his disciples fell to urging him to do something or not to do something, thus showing how little they knew of what Christ intended to achieve and how the disciples constantly deceived themselves about the world in which they lived.
There are examples. For instance in John's gospel, John tells us that Jesus knew the Jews wanted to kill him. Jesus' brothers seeing how successful Jesus was in Galilee, urged him to go to Judea so that his works might be seen openly and widely because the Feast of the Tabernacles was near. Jesus told them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.
We still live in the same world and we know equally well that the world is a dangerous place. There are times when the world is not simply dangerous but also evil. Who can regard some of today's conflicts as anything but evil? Some might say that in some conflicts both sides are evil and it is not difficult then, with hindsight, to see why the saying arose that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, perhaps even your intentions and mine.
What do we do now when we hear news of the leaders of nations meting to discuss what might be done to resolve conflicts when we know that these conflicts really arise because of what these same leaders see as the vital interests of their countries? They arrive at these vital meetings with their hands tied, their good intentions already being shaped for the broad road, rather than the narrow gate that leads to the pleasant hills where the King's golden city may be seen.
Should we despair? If we do I suggest that such despair may be not because of our intentions but from our expectations. In one of Jesus' encounters with the Jews he says If I glorify myself, I glorify nothing; it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is your God. Might this be a signpost to the narrow gate and to the pleasant uplands?
Bob Mclean
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