Plenary, 01 Apr 2009

Meeting date: Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Official Report 383KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

Good afternoon. The first item of business is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev Frank Campbell, from Ale and Teviot United Church in Roxburgh.

When I received the kind invitation of the Presiding Officer to be with you on this occasion, I admit to a few glorious moments of bursting with pride—until, that is, my eyes clocked the date of the appointment. Then I wondered what you were trying to tell me.

The term "fool" is not one that the Presiding Officer would accept being flung around this chamber on 1 April, or indeed on any other day, but the great figures of the Bible had no qualms at all about using it, even about themselves. The apostle Paul, writing to a troublesome church at Corinth, called himself a fool for Christ and talked about the foolishness of the gospel. What was all that about? Certainly, many Christians have experienced being made fools of for our faith, but it goes way beyond that.

In John 10:10 in the Amplified Bible, we hear Jesus say:

"The devil comes only to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come that you might enjoy life, in abundance, to the full, till it overflows."

All right, Jesus, but how did you do that? The answer to that is what so many of us find foolish, if not, in fact, incredible. Jesus became like us and shared our earthly life, for a time, so that afterwards we would become like him and share his heavenly life forever.

Jesus tackled the problems of sin and suffering head on. As his close friend Peter wrote:

"Christ carried our sins in His body to the cross, that we might die to sin and live in right standing with God, and by His wounds we are healed."

That seems bizarre, but it is the heart of the Christian gospel. We did the crime, Jesus did the time. Jesus took the pain, we enjoy the gain. Jesus became the whipping-boy for our selfishness, so that we could walk free. Jesus suffered the agony, so that we could be freed from disease.

Coming soon to a church near you is Easter—the most dramatic turnaround of events in all history. By the foolishness of the cross, Jesus made a fool out of the devil and all the garbage that he likes to dump on us human beings.

Now you and I have the authority of heaven to live long, live strong, prosper and be in good health, and Jesus has paid for it all—paid on the nail.

His blessing, his joy, his peace, his wisdom, be with us all.