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Today's meditation
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The business of friendship
Luke 19:41-48: As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground…"
It’s unbelievable to me that there now exists something called “the friendship industry.” The phrase describes businesses and organizations “trying to help people connect and form friendships, often for a fee.”
We have come to the place of wanting convenience in matters that require time and depth. We want a ‘friendship industry’ to facilitate the hard work of relating to other people. If asked, we know what is truly important, but we still busy ourselves with priorities that cannot last, the spiritual version of the friendship industry.
Jesus lamented that God’s people had not—and still have not—“recognized on this day the things that make for peace.” He knew that our valuing the temporal over the eternal meant that we would ever be vulnerable to “enemies” who surround and crush us. If we play the acquisitive games of this world, we will never feel that we are enough. So we invite our enemies by trying to make an industry out of something that should bring depth and peace.
And so, even today, Jesus weeps.
Psalm 69:1-23; 31-38; Wisdom of Sirach 45:6-16; 2 Corinthians 12:11-21
Copyright 2025 by Carol Mead. For noncommercial use and sharing only. For more information on this ministry, and on a free subscription to these meditations, please contact the author by email (thenewmead@yahoo.com).
It’s unbelievable to me that there now exists something called “the friendship industry.” The phrase describes businesses and organizations “trying to help people connect and form friendships, often for a fee.”
We have come to the place of wanting convenience in matters that require time and depth. We want a ‘friendship industry’ to facilitate the hard work of relating to other people. If asked, we know what is truly important, but we still busy ourselves with priorities that cannot last, the spiritual version of the friendship industry.
Jesus lamented that God’s people had not—and still have not—“recognized on this day the things that make for peace.” He knew that our valuing the temporal over the eternal meant that we would ever be vulnerable to “enemies” who surround and crush us. If we play the acquisitive games of this world, we will never feel that we are enough. So we invite our enemies by trying to make an industry out of something that should bring depth and peace.
And so, even today, Jesus weeps.
Psalm 69:1-23; 31-38; Wisdom of Sirach 45:6-16; 2 Corinthians 12:11-21
Copyright 2025 by Carol Mead. For noncommercial use and sharing only. For more information on this ministry, and on a free subscription to these meditations, please contact the author by email (thenewmead@yahoo.com).