Pastor Dick Hurd: Richard Hurd
The Mid-Week Message is an On-Line Ministry
Of Pastor Dick Hurd and the “Caton Church”
A Global Methodist community of Faith April 16, 2025
This is the most sacred week in the entire Christian year and the news of the day is so unlike anything that Jesus would find acceptable. Our world is bent to the way that pleases, entices, and draws people away from God! “For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth…” 2 Timothy 4: 3-4
It is Wednesday of Holy week, and Judas has gone to the chief priests to make plans to betray Jesus. The mere mention of Judas’ name gives us a sense of foreboding because we know what he did, and we can’t imagine anything or anyone so vile that they would plot against Jesus. Friends, every time we give in to the pressures of a society with itching ears, do we not also plot to betray Jesus? When we give into our own selfish desires, when we keep silent because people tell us that our faith and our Savior is irrelevant in today’s world, do we not plot to betray Jesus? When we neglect the practice of our faith for convenience sake, or when we minimize our impact on the world so as not to offend anyone, do we not plot to betray Jesus?
When you read that last paragraph, did you think of anyone to whom it might apply? Was it You? You see, itching ears is not a medical condition ,…it is a spiritual condition, and the first step to a cure is to recognize our connection to Judas Iscariot. Like it or not, we are of the same fallen, sinful nature as that most vile creature that we so abhor.
This Season of Lent is about repentance, and in our self-righteous world view, we easily see all of those people who need to repent, but we almost never see ourselves included in that number. And so the world remains awash in sin, and we stand by silently betraying Jesus.
When I began writing this message it was not my intent or desire to place a burden of guilt on your shoulders, but I guess the truth is that we all share this responsibility. It is also not my intent to drag you down to a dark place and leave you there, and so I would also remind you of our eternal hope based on the promises of Jesus. It is a hope that reminds us that all of that darkness, all of that guilt, all of that sinful nature that is a part of our human condition, is the reason that Jesus came to us in the first place. And because He did,… we have the power through our faith in Him to overcome it all. I pray that this coming Resurrection morning will find you all standing in awe of the Risen Christ, and that it might be a new morning of resurrected faith in your life.
Yours in the Love of Christ Pastor Dick
