Sunday Devotion: 26 July 2020, Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday Devotions
A message of supreme comfort
Written by clergy and lay people across our Diocesan community, ‘Sunday Devotions’ is a column of short reflections based on a Lectionary reading of the day, suitable for small group discussion or personal use.
Main Readings: Genesis 29.15-28; Psalm 105.1-11 or Psalm 128; Romans 8.26-39; Matthew 13.44-58 [1 Kings 3.5-12; Psalm 119.129-136]
Supplementary Readings: Psalm 45; Matthew 14.1-12; Genesis 29.31-30.22; Romans 10.5-15
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8.38-39)
When I was first coming to my faith, I heard a joke that summed up in a simple, but exquisite, way the path of my own spiritual journey. St Peter noticed that Heaven was very full so he asked some angels to investigate. They came back sheepishly and said they knew what the problem was, “It’s Jesus,” one of the angels said, “He keeps helping people in over the fence!”
In the above reading Paul is reminding us that God loves unconditionally, wastefully, and fully. God loves us because God loves us – no qualifications. Not even angels, not even life, in all its twists and turns, can keep us from the love of God. This is a message of supreme comfort.
As Christians, as human beings, we fall down sometimes. We fail and we feel like we are losing the race we are meant to win. Nothing, present or past, not even our own failings and insecurities, can stand between us and the love and acceptance of God. And, of course, it is that example of love and acceptance that we must engage in on earth, also, as in Heaven, to further work towards the Kingdom.
And who knows, if worse comes to worse, maybe you can ask Jesus to let you in over the fence.
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