TRUST IN GOD
As a young boy in Primary School, the last lesson each Friday involved us reading and reflecting on the forthcoming Sunday’s readings. This was followed by us each receiving three digestive biscuits, and if you were the one handing them out, five biscuits before leaving for the weekend!
I remember as a nine year old, listening to this Sunday’s readings and feeling really scared that the world was about to end. I lived quite close to the school and contemplated running home so that I could give my mum a hug and be near her in case the world ended. I instead opted to excuse myself and sat out the session in the bathroom only because I was on biscuit hand out duty and was not going to let 5 biscuits slip away.
In our first reading Malachi talks about “…the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and evildoers will be stubble.” For many of us, these are confronting statements, however, we do get the assurance in the psalm that “the Lord comes to rule earth with justice.” In the Gospel, when Jesus is asked what the signs will be to signal the end of time, he refers to wars, famine, plagues, persecution etc. These are all things that we see in our world today, so it is easy to conclude that the end is near – really frightening stuff.
Jesus’s message must have been really concerning to those listening to him that day. He talked about the Temple that they were admiring being destroyed, preachers who brought salvation, being imposters, the land that provides food and security being destroyed and the worst, our family, the ones we should rely on and trust, betraying us. Jesus is effectively saying that all these earthly things that we rely for security, power, etc is only temporary. but then he goes on to encourage us to persevere. My question is “persevere in what?”
Jesus is calling us to put our trust in him and surrendering ourselves to him and to never stop doing this. This calls for a level of trust that many of us are not comfortable with. Like most things, having trust in someone takes time. You need to “invest” in the relationship and the trust will build. The same applies for our relationship with God. So, as we come to the end of the Church’s year, it is a good time to make some new year resolutions in how we are going to continue to build our relationship with God so that we can put our trust in him and experience the security and love that is never ending.
So, while the readings on the end of times may be frightening it does offer us hope, if only we were to abandon ourselves to the will of God.
Forty- year odd years on, with no mum to run too for a hug or comforting or the incentive of a biscuit or five, I am still scared by these readings but have started the journey towards trusting in God a little more, I have a long way to go but it is a start.
“Help me Jesus to continue to persevere and trust in you. Amen”
Clint Ramoo (Finance Committee Chair)
