18th May 2020

“He who gets the jigsaw puzzle out of the box, must not boast like he who puts it away,” has the ring of a Biblical proverb (1 Kings 20:11). It’s one thing to start a 1,000 piece puzzle – to find the four corners and all the pieces with a straight edge. It’s another to patiently work away, hour by hour, and day by day, until that moment arrives when the final piece drops into place. And myriad must be the lounge-rooms around the world in this global lockdown that prove the proverb true.

When it comes to completing the picture of the Christian Faith, more is required than simply finding the edges and four corners. Find them by all means – those corners with the pictures of the Angel coming to Mary, and the Babe in the manger, and the Wise Men bearing their gifts; and those edge pieces with special words printed on them like “Love one another,” and “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone”.

But a master-builder gave the hint that there are two pieces that must be found in order to complete the puzzle and see the picture clearly. One piece bears the picture of a cross, and the other doesn’t seem to have much printed detail except some things that look like strips of white linen. Get those two pieces, and their contexts if possible, and you will be close to seeing what the picture’s meant to be.

DM 18^th May 2020