URC Daily Devotion 12 February 2026

 
St Matthew 20: 17 – 19
 
Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them,  “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”
 
Reflection
 
I recently turned seventy. I first preached in a church service when I was sixteen and have been doing so one way or another ever since. Periodically I’ve thought about the purpose and value of preaching – why do people, especially a regular ‘audience’, need to hear well-rehearsed themes week after week? Are they simply slow to learn, or are they, maybe, just politely tolerant? The answer was supplied in part by a lovely, wise friend who used to tell the story of a parson who preached the same sermon every week. When asked why, he replied, “I’m waiting until they’ve understood and acted on what I’m saying!’
 
A bit harsh, perhaps, and certainly not true for many of the lovely, thoughtful and exemplary Christian people with whom I’ve been lucky enough to spend time, but helpful in reminding us that grasping what God is doing in our world and in our lives is rarely a ‘one-shot’ process.
 
I guess that is why for a third time, Jesus attempts to get his close disciples to understand where his journey is bound to lead. It isn’t hard to fill in the imagined dialogue as he takes them to one side and speaks urgently about the inevitable outcome of his chosen course. Easy enough also to see his eyes rolling as they can only respond with ‘what, how, why’, and, ‘are you sure about this?’. Experience seems to show that it is often only when we have matched what we have been taught with real life events and challenges that we can fully understand the dangers or opportunities of what we have learned.
 
As we prepare once more to journey with Jesus towards the familiar events that lead to a cross, an empty tomb, and beyond, I hope and pray that our shared travelling will be enlivened by moments of recognition and deepening understanding – moments at which we can say, ‘Ah, I get it now – thank you!’
 
Prayer
 
Lord Jesus,
I know the story and
I catch something of how your friends
struggled to connect the success of your
speaking and healing with how your journey
was to end.
So, help me to travel with you well and
with openness of eyes, heart and mind.
May our interweaving paths lead me to
deeper understanding and
a yet more useful faith. Amen.