Lent Day 40

This week we are thinking about those last days of Jesus as He prepares to go to the cross.   What would you do if you knew you had only four days left on this earth?   Who would you want to see?  What would you want to say to them?  Why?

I'm really not sure what I would do.  Would it be worth trying to see everyone who means something to me in order to,.... well, I dont know, maybe have one last hug?  Or would that all just be too sad and a bit pointless.  Maybe better for them not to know at all.   I suppose I'd want to have as much time as possible with my children.  Telling them I love them and giving them as much comfort as I could about my forthcoming demise.

When I was born my mother started writing me a letter.  She wrote it on and off for eighteen years and gave it to me on my eighteenth birthday.   It is full of news about what I was doing at various points in my life as well as what we as a family were up to.  It charts the death of grandparents who I barely remember. Moves of house.  Divorce from my Dad and subsequent remarriage.   There is some advice in there about how to be happy and how to avoid unhappiness.  She tells me the price of a loaf of bread and how much a gallon of petrol costs.  Its just a fascinating, deeply personal history of me.  I have done the same for my boys.... adding to their letters every now and again whenever I have something to say to them.  It is a good way of letting them know things I cant tell them face to face as young children.  So that if I dont make old bones I shall know that they will have my words to carry with them into their adult lives.  For what they are worth.

In the Gospels we see Jesus sitting down with his disciples to have a final serious talk.  And its not a pleasant one.   In Mark 13 we see Him talking about the coming persecution - the fact that the disicples will be arrested and tried and some will die for following Jesus.  He talks about the destruction of the temple and the signs in nature which will herald the end of the age.   It is serious

stuff.  The disciples must have been terrified.   They didnt appreciate that this was one of the last times Jesus would sit down with them for a proper talk - but He was taking the opportunity to pass onto them the most important things He could before His time was up.    His message was simply this ' Guys, things are going to get worse, and then worse again.  But it's all part of the plan.  Dont give up.  Dont despair or think Ive forsaken you.   I havent.  Im coming back.  But before I do there will be suffering and pain.  Br brave.  God is still in control.'

Jesus's words to His beloved disciples, my words to my kids, are to help prepare, in some small way, for what comes next.   We are still living in the time Jesus spoke about.  Things are getting worse.  Wars and rumours of wars.  Signs on the earth and in the heavens above.   But we need to hold on to His words

28 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 29 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it[d] is near, right at the door. 30 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. ( Mark 13)

Whatever my kids have to face in life they will know that their Mum has loved them and tried to prepare them as best she can for life out there in the big wide word.  They will carry my words with them  as I have carried my Mother's words with me.  And as we all carry God's word with us to help us navigate the days ahead whatever they may bring.