Thought for the Month October 2025

(plus Harvest supplement)

Leviticus 24: 19-20 (NIV)

19 Anyone who injures their neighbour is to be injured in the same manner: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury.

Below are questions which would take a far greater theological mind than mine to answer properly, and more space than a ‘Thought for the Month’ allows for! And although we’ve touched on the subject before, the current conflicts in the world lead me to visit them again.

Imagine, this scene, a Landscape Artist starts an angry dispute between himself and a Musician, during this altercation, the artist causes the musician’s sight to be lost. If we take the words from Leviticus (see above) to their literal conclusion, the sight of the artist must also be taken. In wake of this the artist will never again be able to see, or paint, another beautiful landscape. The musician on the other hand will still be able to hear beautiful music, and with practice would be able to play his or her instrument again (there are many wonderful blind musicians in the world). Is this just or equitable? Is this how God intended things to work? Will the artist’s friends and family accept that proper justice has been done? Or will they seek some kind of redress to even things up? Where does it all end?

When selecting passages from scripture, are we in danger of morphing the metaphorical or allegorical into the literal?

Finally, when does the search for justice become a thirst for retribution and, how do we mere mortals deal with these conundrums?  

Well, for Christians (the clue is in the title) the teachings of Christ must surely be the starting point.

³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ ³⁹ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. (Matthew 5: 38-39 NIV)

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (Matthew 5:43-44 NIV)

In the wake of extreme evil, these scriptures are hard to contemplate and for humankind impossible to achieve 100%. But we can strive toward them, strive to make the world a better place. If we don’t, the consequences are unthinkable.

For those of us that remember ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland, could it ever be imagined, following all the bombings and murders, that Martin McGuiness, a leading member of the IRA and the Reverand Ian Paisley would one day work together for peace and even become friends! But it happened. Similar things happened in South Africa following decades of Apartheid (I recommend Desmond Tutu’s Book ‘God Has a Dream’).

The peace in these countries may be fragile, definitely not 100%, but the peace and reconciliation achieved make it much more difficult for the extremists. For now it seems, they are only able to light small bonfires rather than create City or Nationwide conflagration. Peace brought about by dialogue, understanding and reconciliation which we pray will continue, even improve.

Sadly, the peace that is being sought by some of our current world leaders (East and West – Left and Right) is a quasi-peace achieved through the suppression and or subjugation of a people. We hear language full of hate and division. The result of this is that the anger, frustration and feelings of injustice of those suppressed will fester and grow resulting in a desire for not just for an eye for an eye but a retribution way beyond.

Some of these teachings of Christ are hard, especially following any evil atrocity, but surely we mustn’t ignore them, be it individually, locally, nationally or globally.

Let us pray that the leaders of our world, on all sides, will learn how to seek truth, understanding and a lasting reconciliation that will lead to a proper peace – even if it’s a little bit fragile.

Heavenly Father

Help us and all those with power and influence

To heed the words of your Son Jesus

To seek understanding and peace

Even in the face of so much division.

In His name we ask it.

                                                                     Amen

Steve

Harvest supplement October 2025

This weekend at Cooksmill Green, together with many other churches, we will be celebrating ‘Harvest Festival’. In the light of the world alluded to in our ‘Thought for the Month,’ it would be easy to lose heart and ask again the question Danny posed last month ‘Where is God on all this?’ What do we have to celebrate?

Well, we can celebrate that God keeps His promises, despite our action and constant rejection of Him.

²² “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”

Genesis 8:22 NIV

Regardless of what we do, God continues to supply all our needs, sufficient for each and every one of us – if we are prepared to share them and shun greed.

Praise God for His Bounty and let us pray for the heart,

the will and the means to share

His bounty with all mankind.

Amen.