Faith is often painted as a place to get answers, and yet I find the longer I have walked this life with Jesus the more questions I have.
I have been reading the gospels again, and I am struck by how many questions Jesus poses to his followers and those he encounters along the way. Central to our faith is the value of asking questions and being curious.
As we finish this time of Lent, this time of travelling with Jesus to the cross, I am drawn to looking at the questions he asks and opening my heart to listen to what that question might illuminate in me today. Join with me as we journey to Easter and look at the questions Jesus asks.
Each devotion has a time for reflection and a prayer, you may wish to pause whilst you reflect.
After Easter, we commence what the traditional church calendar calls Ordinary Time, it is the time not centred around Lent and Easter, or Advent and Christmas. It is the everyday, the usual, the mundane, the ordinary.
As we enter into this time I offer another question from Jesus, this when he appears to the disciples after the resurrection.
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?” Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”1
(Luke 24:26- 41)
Jesus has just appeared to the disciples again. He is literally standing in their midst and still they are unsure. This is a state of mind that I can relate to, as I travel through the ups and downs, the ins and outs of everyday life. This is the human condition to have times of celebration and times of pain, and sometimes they occur together. This is ordinary time, this is life.
“Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?”
It is a valid question and a good one to pay attention to. There are times in life when my circumstances seem to be all there is and I can become troubled, I get frightened, I have doubts.
And Jesus is present in this time too, he comes and stands among us and says, “peace be with you.” He directs us to look at him. To realise that he is indeed with us, in both the joy and amazement, and in the doubt and disbelief.
Reflection:
What troubles you today? What frightens you? What doubts do you have? What amazes you? What brings you joy? Take some time to share this with Jesus. He is with present with you in the ordinary everyday of life.
Prayer:
The prayer today is from John 14:27 (AMP):
Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.]
Amen
- I love that Jesus here is very ordinary, asking for something to eat as a way to show his disciples that he is really with them. ↩︎