The Ides of March

Well, I am glad to say no one has stuck a knife in my back today, so I am one up on Julius Caesar.

Tonight I watched the latest episode of "The Bill" which is my favourite TV programme. I got excited seeing Smithy helping others who were in jail for crimes they had committed whereas he was unfairly jailed and innocent. He comes over as a character who cares about people and who will go to great lengths to help them. He is loved by the whole police force who work out of Sun Hill police station. Being in jail he cannot attend his girlfriend's funeral so his boss attends in his place. This is quite a hero picture, and he is an obvious role model.

Reading the gospels, we see that Jesus was someone on whom you could rely to do the right thing, regardless of the cost. We should all do the same. He advocated going the second mile and lending our coat out. We should all do the same. He told the wealthy that money would not be any use to them in God's kingdom. We should apply this to ourselves in this consumer driven world. He did people favours that turned their lives around. We should copy this. He promised those who heard him that there was a place for them in heaven if they committed themselves to God's way. We should be repeating this.

Jesus was the ultimate hero. Many people who have found themselves, surprisingly, reading about him, have come to this conclusion. He was a man they became proud to follow. In the times when the Roman authorities were rounding up Christians, trying them and throwing them to wild animals to be torn apart, many were proud to follow Jesus through an unjust and agonising death. Could we go that far?

What we certainly must do is try to be champions for justice and righteousness. If we have found Jesus and are following him each day we cannot remain silent when someone is being dealt with badly. Jesus is calling all men and women to come to him and discover the real life that goes on forever. That life is a life of service to others. Jesus said, "Feed my sheep." That is what we have to do. We are not to hide our alliance with Jesus but to declare we are for him and set out to make a difference to other people.

Remember the man who came back to Jesus to say thank you and Jesus asked him where the other cured people were? So many people opt for Jesus and then keep it to themselves and for themselves. This is simply selfishness. Jesus has to be shared with everyone. Remember this poem written by a man imprisoned for his faith:

First they came for the Communists but I was not a Communist

so I did not speak out.

Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists

but I was not one of them,

so I did not speak out.

Then they came for the Jews but I was not Jewish so

I did not speak out.

And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

Martin Niemoeller, 1930s, Nazi Germany.