Take heart

It was while preparing a funeral for a much-loved lady, that I first heard the phrase; ‘She was a radiator not a drain’, which instantly gave me a vivid sense of her character. Life’s drains are those who suck away our energy, sapping all our joy and vitality with endless demands or negativity. A radiator, meanwhile, generously exudes warmth and life, cheering and invigorating those with whom they come into contact. We can all think of people who have these effects on us – and, if we are honest, we can probably think of occasions when we ourselves have been both.

Jesus clearly showed the best radiator characteristics, drawing crowds of people to him. This seems to have been because he filled people with hope; a phrase he uses repeatedly is; ‘Take heart’. Those words are desperately needed in our uneasy world, so I looked into them further.

The original Greek word, which we translate as ‘Take heart’, meant “bolstered because warmed up” or “emboldened from within”. Different bible translations phrase it as; ‘Don’t be afraid’, or even ‘Cheer up’, or simply ‘Courage’. All these terms are, of course, terms of ‘encouragement’ – a marvellous word from Old French which means ‘to put heart into someone’. Jesus repeatedly speaks just such warm encouragement – to a paralysed man, a haemorrhaging woman, to his frightened friends in a storm, to a disciple suffering persecution.

Only once in the Bible is the phrase used by someone other than Jesus. A blind man, Bartimaeus, is calling out for help from Jesus while a bustling crowd try to suppress the beggar’s noise. Jesus, however, stops and calls for the man, causing the crowd to realise they must stop being drains and start being radiators. They then urge him; ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ Jesus will not exclude, ignore or silence any who come seeking him, and he summons us to be similarly warm-hearted.

We can, always, in every circumstance, take heart and take courage from our God; but then it is for us, in turn, to be radiators, giving generous encouragement to others, drawing them towards the warmth of God’s comfort, and Christ’s endless life and lasting hope, putting heart back into people and bolstering them, for whatever challenges they are facing.

May we all not only have, but be, warm radiators this winter.

Revd Kate McFarlane