Living Against The Wind

Fergus Buchanan October 31, 2025 2 3

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Luke 21: 29-33 (NIVUK)

29 He told them this parable: ‘Look at the fig-tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

32 ‘Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Bob Dylan sang: ‘You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.’ It’s good to have weather forecasts but we don’t really need them to tell us how the wind is blowing. The prevailing winds in society are clear. They bring war, famine, disease, oppression of the vulnerable. Jesus told His disciples to expect this before the end of all things when His Kingdom would be established forever. Every generation will be faced with its inability to put things absolutely right. There will always be signs of our selfishness and brokenness.  

It’s a bleak prospect but following Jesus we are never without hope. He promises: ‘Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away.’ In the midst of the violence, the lies, the cruelty there will always be a way forward for those who look to Jesus and His words. In a sense the depth and intensity of our failure drive us to look beyond ourselves to the source of all justice and peace. The promise is that the time will come when these things will prevail.  

In the end, we are called to bring the Kingdom near by the quality of our lives. Jesus’ words are not just for meditation, they are also for implementation. He calls us to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth, bearing witness to what is true, preserving what is good. When we see ‘these things’, the things that brutalise and degrade, still we must live against the wind and continue to show the better land that will be established when Jesus comes.

Prayer:

Father, 

We mourn the brokenness of humanity. We feel the weight of the injustice, the violence, intolerance that we hear of and see. But we are part of this. There is darkness within us all which when it leaks out brings hurt and despair to others. Help us not merely to shake our heads at things that disturb us but to commit ourselves more surely to live according to the values of the Kingdom. Amen.