{"id":22807,"date":"2024-12-09T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotion-9-december-2024"},"modified":"2024-12-09T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T06:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-9-december-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-9-december-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion 9 December 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
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inspiration in your inbox<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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9 December 2024<\/strong><\/span>
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St Luke 5: 17 – 26<\/strong>
One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting nearby (they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.  Just then some men came, carrying a paralysed man on a bed. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus.  When he saw their faith, he said, \u2018Friend, your sins are forgiven you.\u2019  Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, \u2018Who is this who is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?\u2019  When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, \u2018Why do you raise such questions in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, \u201cYour sins are forgiven you\u201d, or to say, \u201cStand up and walk\u201d?  But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins\u2019\u2014he said to the one who was paralysed\u2014\u2018I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home.\u2019 Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God. Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, \u2018We have seen strange things today.\u2019<\/p>\n

Reflection<\/strong>
\u2018When he saw their faith \u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

If you could ask one question about Jesus what would it be? Religious teachers and guides had not one but two concerning Jesus when he told the mattress man that his sins were forgiven. \u2018Who is this that is speaking blasphemies?\u2019 \u2018Who can forgive sins but God alone?\u2019 Such loaded questions!<\/p>\n

Jesus responded in a like for like fashion with two of his own, demanding to know why they asked such questions, and confronting them with a conundrum about the relationship between forgiveness and healing.<\/p>\n

The questions of Jesus\u2019s interrogators are not my questions. Instead, I\u2019m intrigued (and disconcerted) by the Gospel writer\u2019s comment that it was when Jesus perceived the faith of the friends that he pronounced the paralysed man\u2019s sins were forgiven. Not his faith (if he had one) – their<\/strong> faith.<\/p>\n

So, I was wondering, might my faith save others from their sins and\/or whatever ails them? Might the faith of others do the same for me? That seems at odds with my experience of religion where I have been invited to have faith so that my sins might be forgiven, and it\u2019s suggested that it is up to others to have faith so that theirs also might be forgiven. Maybe I need to take more seriously this business of praying for the wellbeing of others.<\/p>\n

Speaking of prayer, I suppose I could put my questions to Jesus, but contemplating this Bible passage, I fear he might just respond with some questions of his own. Particularly, how should I respond if Jesus says, \u2018I like your idea about \u201cthoughts and prayers\u201d for those in difficulty, but did you notice that the \u201csaving faith\u201d of friends is one expressed in practical, helpful actions?\u2019<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong>
Lord Jesus, help me to have a faith that helps others in their need, and grant to others a faith that helps me in my need. Amen.<\/p>\n

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Today’s writer<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Revd Dr Trevor Jamison, Minister at Saint Columba\u2019s URC, North Shields <\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright \u00a9 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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inspiration in your inbox 9 December 2024  St Luke 5: 17 – 26One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting nearby (they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to heal.  Just then some men … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “URC Daily Devotion 9 December 2024”<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22807\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}