Hello and welcome to Thursday’s reflection, Bible passage and worship song. Today I want to give a special mention to our talented team who have produced the tracks at the end of the podcast… they have done such a good job! I also hope you are enjoying these reflections from the Bible. I hope in this 11 minute package we each feel refreshed by God for the day ahead. Perhaps in the quiet at the end of the podcast we could take some time to write down what God might be saying to us…

REFLECTION:

Let’s get into the Bible story. It is the story of the crucifixion of Jesus in Luke 23. Our focus verses for the day are v34 and v35…

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

Familiar words to us listening. Jesus hangs on the cross and is mocked with the challenge… “He saved others… let him save himself…” Three words at the start of that phrase that capture the life and purpose of Jesus. “He saved others”.

Before we continue let me tell us 4 short stories of people in the UK who have been acknowledged in their selflessness. I pulled these from a website called goodnewsshared.com. If, like me, you feel like some days and weeks the national news headlines are all rubbish, this could be a brilliant website to browse from time-to-time. These 4 short stories are of individuals who are learning about selflessness.

1. Alex Staniforth

21-year-old Alex has overcome anxiety, depression, low self-confidence, eating disorders, bullying, epilepsy and stammering to raise over £55,000 for charity. This year he took on his biggest challenge yet to help improve young people’s mental health and walked, cycled, ran and even kayaked over 4,000 miles around the UK, climbing to the highest point of all 100 counties.

2. Caroline Wareing

Caroline was paralysed in a horse-riding accident in 2009 but, determined to not let her paralysis stop her, she took on the gruelling challenge of cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats, raising over £21,000 for Cancer Research UK.

3. Chris Pickhaver

After a long struggle with mental illness, Chris’ son Joe sadly took his own life last December at the age of 16. Chris created a beautiful book of photographs in his son’s memory that he uploaded to his JustGiving page. Joe’s family wanted to raise £16,000 – one thousand pounds for every year of his life. They’ve raised over £43,000 for Young Minds Trust, a charity committed to improving the mental health of children.

4. Brooke Taylor

16-year-old Brooke has been a patient at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital since the day she was born. At 11 days old she had lifesaving surgery to remove a pelvic tumour and since then she’s had more operations than birthdays. Last year, against medical advice, she completed the Manchester 10k with her surgeon by her side. This year, she recruited more than 70 people to run with her in Brooke’s Barmy Army, including a brass band, raising over £16,000 for the hospital.

I hope you found these stories inspiring. In a small way they are all victories won like that of Jesus on the cross. As we will hear when the story is read out in full at the end… through all the verses Luke gives us today… the big idea is that Jesus cares for and saves other people… even as he faces his greatest challenge and goes to his death. He expresses cares for the disciples and the daughters of Jerusalem in verses 30 and 31. He heals the man who came to arrest him, as we heard a few days ago. He even promises salvation to one of the criminals who is dying next to him on the cross. Jesus even asks God to forgive those who crucify him.