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Radio 4,2 mins

Bishop Philip North - 03/04/2023

Thought for the Day

Available for over a year

Good Morning. So once again the Great Easter Getaway has become the Great Easter Ferry Queue with horrendous stories of people waiting for up to fourteen hours at Dover for a crossing. What always fascinates me is how instantly these crises morph into blame games. Even as stranded passengers seek out lavatories and sandwiches, others are much more interested in allocating responsibility. The Remainers blame Brexit for the hold-ups. The Brexiteers blame the French authorities. Some blame the Port of Dover for poor pre-planning. Others blame the ferry companies for overbooking. Everyone blames someone else. And meanwhile there are hordes of teenagers who simply want to go to France stuck in a traffic jam and the people of Dover coping with gridlock. To me it feels ironic that all this is taking place at the start of Holy Week when Christians will remember the intensely political events that led up to Jesus’ death. The appearance in Jerusalem of such a popular but controversial teacher causes confusion and so all around Jesus there are fevered attempts to pass on responsibility. The religious authorities want him dead but they need someone else to do the dirty work lest they lose the support of the people. Pilate wants stability and so passes on his decision making to the baying crowds. Against such a backdrop the integrity of Jesus is such a contrast. He takes responsibility first for himself. When the High Priest asks, ‘Are you the Messiah,’ he replies, ‘I am.’ As honest and simple as that. But then even more powerfully, he takes on his shoulders responsibility for others. In the famous Suffering Servant Song the prophet Isaiah writes: But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. Christians have always believed that passage to be fulfilled by Jesus who, as he goes to the cross, takes the blame of others onto his shoulders. He takes on responsibility for the sins of a broken world and, by offering his life as a sacrifice, deals with them. There is something incredibly refreshing about people who simply take responsibility for their own actions or for the actions of others. That may be the staff member who resists cover-up and admits a mistake. It may be the minister who resigns because something in their department has gone wrong. It may be the person who whistle blows when they see dishonesty or corruption. In a world where duplicity and blame avoidance seem so often to be to the fore, gratuitous honesty shines out like pure gold.

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