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Tasmanian Anglican

April 2003

 

 

 

 

John Harrower

 

Bishop's reflection

by John Harrower

 

 

'Please sirs, extricate us.'

'It is hope-less!' is but one expression used to express our human dilemma, in this case over seeking to change the Australian Government's bellicose approach to Iraq's brutal regime.

From where does hope come? It comes from God who has overcome death and evil, in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. It comes from walking in Jesus' way.

The great Methodist missionary, E. Stanley Jones, tells this delightful story:

I arrived one day at Pahlevi, Persia, which is now Iran, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, to go up to the capital, Tehran. The man in charge of transportation had difficulty because there were more passengers than cars. I saw a car with only one passenger in it, so I said to the man in charge, 'Why can't I go in that car? There's only one man in it.'

He said, 'I'll see.' But he came back crestfallen and he said, 'I'm sorry, sir, but the man said you couldn't ride with him because he is a diplomat and you are only a missionary.'

I suppose I should have felt squelched but inwardly I straightened up and I said to myself, 'If he is a diplomat, then he represents a shaky kingdom, which has had 26 governments in thirty years. I am an ambassador of the unshakeable kingdom of God which has had one government since the foundation of the world and will have one government to the end.'

Later, on the way across the Caspian Sea by boat the diplomat got caught by a treacherous lock in the men's room and couldn't get out. He waved at me frantically and he said, 'Please sir, extricate me!' So the ambassador of the kingdom of God extricated the diplomat.

Is that what the ambassadors of the kingdom of God must do - extricate the diplomats of the world who have boxed themselves up in impossible ways of life? If only they knew it, they are crying out in more ways than one, 'Please sirs, extricate us.' And we must humbly but assuredly say, 'Brother, this is the way. Walk in it, the way of God's kingdom.'

Gateway to life

In these turbulent times we are to walk Jesus' kingdom way, unashamed of temporary setbacks and the heartache of the diplomats' lostness. Walking in Jesus' way we are ambassadors of a way that brings hope, comfort and love to an often arrogant and lost world.

Jesus' resurrection from the dead is the gateway to life, and life in all its fullness. I join with all of Jesus' kingdom ambassadors in our Easter greeting, 'Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!'

(signed) John