Village Shepherd

I'm always surprised when I hear of families which appear to be at war with one another, although I don't think I should be surprised. There can't be many families in the land which are completely untouched by arguments or disputes, and perhaps at some time through the family history, almost all families have had some member of the family who at some point fell out with another member.

But it does always seem very sad when that happens, and not only a waste of energy, but also a waste of life. Families can be such a brilliant source of support and strength and love at times of crisis, and to reach the end of life without having enjoyed that support and that love must be such a loss.

Many years ago now, I remember one particular family where the whole family split up. The parents went their separate ways, but the two teenage children split up as well, the daughter going with her father and the son with his mother. The split was so profound that the mother and son never saw the daughter again. Relationships between them were completely severed. But around four years later, the son had a terrible car crash and was killed. The whole family was distraught and that awful, tragic event brought reconciliation between the mother and daughter. But it also brought a dreadful, terrifying remorse and a huge regret for all those wasted years.

The problem with family feuds seems to be that it's so difficult to give or to receive forgiveness. People hurt each other, sometimes really badly, and it's hard to forgive when you've been badly hurt. And often because of misunderstanding, the hurt is usually on both sides. Everyone feels hard done by, everyone blames everyone else, and no-one will accept any responsibility for the feud. So things go from bad to worse until the only solution is a complete severance of relationships. Family members stop speaking to each other and soon cease to meet. Then very often the only thing that can reconcile is some awful event like death, which sadly brings in its wake terrifying depths of remorse and sorrow.

If God was made in the image of humans, there would be a never-ending family feud between human beings and God, for we humans have constantly hurt God since the beginning of time and continue to hurt him by our human behaviour. But God isn't made in the image of humans and wasn't content to leave things like that, with a severance of relationships and an irreparable gulf between him and human beings.

As it did with my friends, reconciliation came through the death of a beloved son, the death of Jesus on the cross. Through the death of Jesus, the relationship between God and human beings was restored for all time. Jesus died without losing his integrity or his love, and in a perfect relationship with God. And that death on behalf of the human race has made all of us right with God. We're justified with God through faith in Jesus, and as a result of that justification we have the peace which passes all understanding with God through Jesus.

This doesn't mean that our lives will be perfect from now on. We'll suffer during our lives because suffering is part of what it is to be human, and if anything Christians become more human, not less human. But St Paul says that as Christians we can actually rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. God doesn't send sufferings on Christians, but he can use those sufferings to strengthen our inner being. And the stronger our inner being becomes, the more we'll experience Christian hope, for God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

In the course of my job I quite often come across people who say they don't attend Church because they think they're not good enough - as though Church is entirely peopled by those who are good! But as all those of us who attend Church know only too well, this is a huge misconception.

Jesus went out of his way to befriend sinners, as today's gospel story shows. The woman at the well had already been through five husbands and was now living with someone else, but Jesus saw through all that and loved her for herself, for the unique being that she was. She responded to him and became the first Christian missionary, going home to all her neighbours and friends and bringing them with her to meet Jesus.

We're all sinners, but the great good news is that Jesus didn't die for those who were perfect, he died for us sinners, for the unique beings that we are. How huge and amazing God's love for us must be, if he was not only prepared to live with us as a human being, but was even prepared to die for us.

That death reconciled us to God, but it wasn't the end of the story, for Jesus rose again to an exciting and radiant and spectacular new life. If we were reconciled through Jesus' death, how much more shall we be saved - made healthy and whole and energetic and fit and full of peace and happiness - through his life. He has given his life for us but he's also gained his life for us, so that we can glimpse the glory and brilliance of eternal life and can begin to experience it now, on this earth.

Reconciliation is God's gift of pardon to the entire human race. It's a gift which gets rid of the irreparable gulf between us and God for all time, and gives us instead access to a brilliant new life and that deep peace which passes all understanding. And that's a peace which not even family feuds can destroy.