The eleven Jesuits who ventured up from the south at the speed of 15 kms a day and started the Zambezi Mission met a string of disasters. They were ill prepared for the climate, the diseases and the politics. They succumbed to frustration, exhaustion and early deaths. It all became too daunting and they withdrew to reflect and try again another day. Despite their failure they prepared the way for others of their companions who would follow them.
They had “sunk into the mud†like Jeremiah (18:4-10). But they had made a daunting commitment to leave home and family and face into an unknown world. Jeremiah was tempted to run away and we know from their diaries that those early Jesuits had many misgivings about their mission. As the number of disasters mounted they blamed their leader and there was an inquiry. But there was no turning back from the basic decision to reach out the people of the Zambezi basin.
As the climax of Jesus’ life approached he insisted that decision time had come for the people of Israel. Were they going to accept the kingdom, the reign, of God in their lives or not? It was a choice of life or death. It would divide families: fathers against sons, children against parents and married couples against their in-laws. Ever since the day the man born blind, who received his sight and then witnessed for Jesus before the Jewish leaders, was thrown out of the synagogue, there has been a price to pay for being a disciple.
We wonder at the commitment of the athletes of Rio. And we will wonder even more at the courage of the para-athletes, especially the blind and limbless. We look in that mirror – that “great cloud of witnesses†(Heb12:1) – and we wonder at our own choices – giving thanks for what God has been able to do through us (be it ever so little) and seeking grace to paddle up stream when tempted to go with the flow.
14 August 2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Sunday 20 C
Jeremiah 38:4-10Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Hebrews 12:1-4Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Luke 12:49-53
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