Are you good at keeping in touch? Do you find it easy to pick up the phone for a chat with someone you haven’t seen for a while?
I confess that I struggle with these things. When I do call people I know I need to call, I am often relieved if it then goes to voicemail. And I am unlikely to try calling again!
But someone recently sent me these words spoken by the new Pope Leo: “Jesus never calls just one time.”
It conjured up an image in my mind of Jesus holding the phone, with my number on speed dial, trying many times to get hold of me, waiting for me to pick up, wanting to tell me things that are important.
How often do we miss a phone call from Jesus because we are so busy rushing around? How often do we see Jesus’s number on our phone and deliberately not pick up? Perhaps because we don’t have time, or we can’t handle the things he has to say to us.
But the amazing thing is that Jesus never calls just one time! The full quote from Pope Leo is this: ‘The New Testament does not conceal the errors, the conflicts, the sins of the greatest Apostles. Their greatness was shaped by forgiveness. The risen Lord reached out to them more than once, to put them back on the right path. Jesus never calls just one time.’
What a wonderful truth this is, that Jesus never gives up on pursuing us, even using our failures, transformed by grace, to make us more Christ-like.
This week’s gospel passage is the story of Mary and Martha, in which we read about two sisters, one who takes the time to sit at Jesus’s feet and listen to him, the other who is busy and distracted by all the preparations that need to be made – Jesus has to compassionately remind Martha that is it better by far to make time for their relationship.
How often do we need to remember the same thing? That we need to pick up the call from Jesus every day, to listen to his words of life and love. Perhaps this summer can be the opportunity we need to slow down and tune in, and to spend time nurturing this most important relationship of all.
With love and blessings,
Revd Jemima