Luke 21: 37-38
“Each day Jesus was teaching at the temple, and each evening He went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives, and all the people came early in the morning to hear Him at the temple.”
In England during World War II, when the British people suffered under the Blitz, the period of September and October of 1940 was devastating. In London alone over 250,000 people were left homeless after consistent, nightly bombing that left them with “nowhere to eat or sleep, nowhere to wash, no money, no ration book, no clothes except for what they were wearing. The terror continued and on November 14, 1940, the city of Coventry was bombed, shaking the brave ‘Blitz Spirit’ to its core, leaving thousands homeless with over 41,000 houses destroyed, along with most of the businesses and factories.”*
In recent years we have witnessed devastating fires and a series of devastating weather events that have sent tornadoes, hurricanes, and massive flooding leaving thousands homeless. As a result of Hurricane Irma in 2017, It was reported that on the small island of Barbuda, not one of their 1800 residents remained on the island—all were evacuated and left homeless with the island utterly destroyed. The event is known as “the night Barbuda died.” New Orleans has experienced devastation twice since 2005 from major hurricanes and the Northeast region suffered from the ravages of Super Storm Sandy in 2012, resulting in countless finding themselves without their homes and other possessions.
“Homeless” is defined as “being without a home, lacking a permanent place of residence.” I am sure the hearts of many of us have gone out to anyone who has faced the devastating loss of their home from a natural disaster or economic hardship. It’s hard to wrap our heads around the losses, the heartache and the suffering that folks experience, the sense that they no longer have that “foundation”—the comfort of their own home and possessions.
Jesus Himself knew what it was like to be homeless. Once He began His public ministry He didn’t have an earthly home. We are reminded of this in our verse for today. After teaching in the temple He spent each night outdoors on the hard ground with no fluffy pillow upon which to lay His head, no comforter to wrap around Him when evening descended and chilly winds blew and rain fell. Jesus owned nothing, and yet His trust in God’s provision was absolute. His Father was enough. Jesus trusted His Father to provide and He received all He needed.
Let us ask ourselves if we were to lose everything—from a hurricane, flood, fire, earthquake or the ravages of war—and were left homeless, would Jesus be enough?
Heavenly Father, we pray even today for those who are the path of another hurricane, and for others who for whatever reasons are suffering from loss of their possessions and are experiencing homelessness. May you provide for each and every need. Use us as instruments of resources, manpower, and prayer to meet the needs and enormous physical efforts required to restore homes to the homeless. What a comfort it is knowing that we can depend on You to provide no matter what befalls us. Please forbid that we should ever be in such dire circumstances that would render us homeless but, if so, instill in our hearts the confidence that, in our Lord Jesus, we have enough. In Your name and for Your sake we pray. Amen.
* The Secret History of the Blitz by Joshua Levine
* “The Night Barbuda Died” theguardian.com
~ Painting, “Homeless” by Haynes King
