Are you a Christian in fear of arrest?
Reflection on a reading from today's Church of England Lectionary. 28 September 2021. Mark 14: 12 - 25.
You have to secretly pre-organise a supporter to provide you with a room so that you can have a meeting with your friends and you can only send two of your most trusted companions to make final arrangements. At any time you could be arrested, imprisoned and executed. You know that one of the people who was with you throughout your mission has already betrayed you and you know who that is. It's just a matter of time until the police capture you. And yet you proceed because you still have an important job to do, in this case to institute the Eucharist.
This is the position that Jesus is in at this time. He knows what is to come, how agonising it will be and that many of his people will be scattered, eventually tracked down and killed.
It is also the situation that many Christians are in throughout the world - Burma, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and more. How fortunate and blessed we are that we have the choice to meet other Christians wherever and whenever we want without fear of arrest, disappearance and worse.