Day 86 – Sat 26 Nov – I finished off Isaiah 43 and did the questions for the kids. I’m on Luke 2:21-40 in the evening, Simeon and Anna, for Advent. I went in to Borough to have lunch with Dick Lucas who was in great form. He is studying John’s gospel and feels he is discovering new treasures – we went through John 10 and Dick showed me that you have to understand the negatives before you can fully grasp the positives in John’s gospel. We all love the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep which in the first place is about Jesus but also shows us the character of Christian Ministry. To sharpen our understanding of this we need to see the 3 negatives in John 10 – the thieves and the robbers which are obviously the religious establishment of the day.
i. They are the hired hand – as in it’s just a job to them, it’s become a career.
ii. They don’t love the sheep and so when the wolf comes he flees, he’s spent all his time in a committee meeting rather than with the sheep
iii. The sheep don’t listen to his voice – When someone is truly converted and they go to their local church, they often come out saying the minister obviously doesn’t get it.
He is going to be doing sessions for ministers in the new year , at 91 the man’s energy beggars belief. Claire was out in the evening but I managed to waste a couple of hours when I could have been getting ahead.
Paul Levy 