Ezra 1:1-6 / Luke 8:16-18
We would think that if everything in life happens as planned and happens as expected, then we will have no anxieties and worries.
We wish that life runs like a computer program, so that everything is predictable and manageable.
But life is always full of surprises and with unexpectedness.
In the 1st reading, no one would really had expected that king Cyrus would be so favourable to the people of God in exile.
He not only issued a proclamation to let the people of God return to their homeland, he even supplied materials and resources to help them built the Temple.
Of course, it was God who roused the spirit of king Cyrus and stirred his heart to do so.
And it was also to fulfil the promise spoken through the prophet Jeremiah.
But it was such a surprise and so unexpected of the foreign king to do that.
So when God comes up with an unexpected surprise, it is like a lighted lamp held high.
And everyone who sees it would say that it is a wonderful sign from God.
May we be the first to recognize these God-given wonderful surprises and help others to know the God of surprises.