Included in what Jesus told them was his call to repent, to give up their present attitude of thinking and living as they fancied, and instead to place themselves under the Sovereign Rule of God.  Then, as now, most of his listeners found that idea singularly unattractive.

The message of Jesus is extremely simple.  To repent, to believe in him, to love him and to obey him.  In that message the spiritual and moral dimensions are inextricably entwined – we cannot have fellowship with him unless we love him; we cannot love him unless we obey him.

Neither the spiritual nor the moral finds favour today.  And regrettably there are those Christian writers and preachers, both clerical and lay, who are willing enough to cater for the general worldliness by changing and adapting the Gospel, toning down – or dismissing – much of its moral content so as to make it easy on the secular ear.

Whatever else it may be, it is not the word of God.  That is contained in the New Testament and supremely in the Gospel record of the words of the Father’s beloved Son.  And for those who have ears to hear, that written word carries forward within their innermost being what “the sound of gentle stillness” first set in motion, informing their conscience and deepening their faith.  In St Paul’s words, “…faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ” (NRSV, Romans 10:17).