18th April 2017

In my life, I have seen more people killed by visiting a hotel on Vine Street, than by landing on any other piece of real estate. It’s not rocket science. It’s typically the first landing point for those who have spent some time in jail; and a bit cruel really. To step out of jail, and straight into debt and trouble.

The Christian Faith however plays life with a different set of dice. For it holds the real possibility of getting out of jail and landing in a different place. I’m not sure that there’s a site on the Monopoly board to describe it. But there is in the Book. ‘He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.’ And certainly there have been men and women who have found the happiness of that new way of living.

The thief who shared Golgotha’s grief with Jesus on that first Easter Friday was one of them. He stepped out of jail and landed in Paradise in one roll of the dice. Zacchaeus was another. He stepped from a life of crime, and landed on a place that said ‘Pay owner four times the amount’; and he did, and found himself free and forgiven. Lucky roll of the dice? No. Just the kindness of the Man who owns King’s Cross paying them both a visit, and filling their pockets with grace.

DM 18^th April 2017