[This reflection by David Makanjuola was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 23/Oct/2022]
Headlines from the BBC website include articles about the global economic crisis. Some have said the rise in energy prices has been largely fuelled (excuse the pun) by Vladimir Putin’s actions including his war against Ukraine. The markets have reacted adversely to the UK Government’s mini-budget of a few weeks ago. Things look unstable at the top of the Governing party. The cost of living crisis is beginning to take its toll and people fear that even worse is to come with possible public sector spending cuts.
Further down on the web page, there was an article on the drought in Somalia, another about protesters climbing the QE2 bridge at Dartford, leading to the closure of the bridge – the protesters feeling this was the only way to make their point and the commuters stuck in traffic, their travel disrupted.
You would be forgiven for sometimes thinking “what’s the point in caring?” Most of the news on TV, or in print, seems depressing, and one can feel helpless at best, or perhaps stop caring, which would be worse.
The specific issues may be different, but similar troubles were also present in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas during Jesus’ time on earth. Living under Roman occupation brought many challenges, with many wanting to do whatever it took to free themselves from it, and others struggled with the fact that they were treated as outcasts in society either because of infirmity, or their social status.
In Matthew chapter 9, it states that Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
A few things come to mind from this passage:
1 – Jesus was busy teaching, preaching and healing, but He was still able to see the people’s pain. There are times when we are so busy being busy (sometimes worse if we are busy doing what we believe is God’s work), that we don’t see the needs of the people around us.
2 – Often, when faced with difficult situations, we feel that we can’t possibly deal with them, but that is because we are thinking of solving the problems in our own strength. Jesus told his disciples to ask the Lord of the harvest for help. We need to take that advice.
So, faced with the news on the BBC website (and other news sources), what would Jesus do? I think He would withdraw to some place where He could be alone and pray.[1] He would then look on the people around him with compassion and set out to meet their needs.
I would suggest that rather than join the ‘baying mob’ pointing fingers at our politicians and others who we feel are deserving of our displeasure, we should emulate Christ and ask God to give us the grace and wisdom to be channels of His peace.
[1] Luke 5 v16
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Contributed by David Makanjuola; © the Author
