From the Assistant Bishop
The Delight of God’s Word
The Rt Revd David Bassett, Assistant Bishop
I continue to be astonished at the blessing of God’s word and the richness of the bible. We have a God who has spoken to us! We have a God who has been revealed in scripture and above all in Jesus, God come to us! And scripture is a treasure trove of wisdom and delight, it is our guide to life and eternal life. And to think that God continues to speak to us through scripture – what a gift indeed!
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As part of Hope25 copies of Luke’s gospels have been produced. These have been made available free to each parish across Australia to be offered to people in our community. This is something that we can all be involved in, offering a friend a copy of Luke and letting them know how much we have been helped by knowing more about Jesus and God’s love.
We can easily get ourselves all worked up about sharing about the Bible and inviting people to discover the wonders of God speaking to us. But in all reality it should be as easy as it is to talk about the latest movie we’ve seen or the next Nextflix binge or the latest novel we’ve lost ourselves in. As we have been encouraged, enriched, shaped, taught and enlivened by scripture we can trust that God is continuing to do the same for others.
There is so much for people to discover in Luke’s gospel. There is the clear testimony of Jesus, what he did and said. There are numerous stories about people’s encounters with Jesus. There is within the gospel of Luke such wonderful hope.
Here are some of the passages of Luke’s gospel that really stand out to me and continue to give me hope and joy:
Mary’s Song (1:46-55) and the confidence she shows in the action of God
The birth of Jesus (2:1-20) with the wonder and glory of the unexpected
Jesus calming the storm (8:22-25) along with other accounts of Jesus’ miraculous power of creation
A woman healed from 12 years of haemorrhages (8:42-48) showing the power of simple faith of the woman now transformed and freed
The parable of the good Samaritan (10:25-38) such poignant teaching about what it looks like to live a life reflecting the character of God
The parable of the Prodigal Son (15:11-32) a parable of Jesus with such an invitation to come back to a rejoicing Father God
Zacchaeus meeting Jesus (19:1-10) from childhood this has always brought a smile to my face as I picture this grown man climbing a tree to see Jesus but now still as I see the transformation that meeting Jesus can bring
Jesus and the criminal on the cross (23:32-43) even as he is facing his own death, Jesus speaks gospel hope to the one who calls to him for help
Mary Magdalene the first witness to the resurrection (24:1-12) the hope of resurrection and the hope a restoration
Jesus appears on the Road to Emmaus (24:13-35) like those disciples on the road I echo ‘was not my heart burning within me while Jesus was talking to me?’
I encourage you to re-read the Gospel of Luke and let the wonder of it refresh you again and then to offer the gift of the Gospel of Luke to someone. You can then offer to help then by letting them know of one or two of the passages that have spoken to you – even offer to read it with them. And then pray that God will take his word and that it would live in us and all who read it and bear much fruit to his glory.