The joyous celebration of Easter Sunday yesterday marked the end of this year’s Lenten devotionals, though Lent actually ends on Maundy Thursday. Since you are used to receiving emails from me, I thought I’d add one more day and bring you all up to date on the book project I’m working on.
A few weeks ago I signed a contract with Covenant Publishing who reviewed the manuscript which is currently in the hands of their editors having been accepted by their editorial board. I continue to edit the manuscript as well. We are aiming to have the book available in time for this coming Advent in 2024. Pray to that end, it could be close as 8-10 months is the usual time it takes for a release date.
A word about the book itself. This is actually the first of four volumes I’m planning on writing. The goal is to write a devotional for each day of the entire year.This volume will cover every day between the first Sunday in Advent to Ash Wednesday. Volume II Ash Wednesday to Pentecost, Volume III Pentecost to Rosh Hashanah, and Volume IV Rosh Hashanah to Advent. The books will be in both paperback and e-book editions.
Since Advent and Easter are not set dates (like Christmas), I have figured out how to make it all work no matter when those seasons begin. I have the starting dates for Advent and Easter every year between now and 2075! As a result, there will be more than 400 daily entries in the four volumes! You will never be without a daily devotional.
The format will be very similar to the devotionals you receive, but in addition there will be a QR code for each day along with the URL link for the music entries. There is new material and much rewriting, re-working, and updating of some previous entries. There is also some new music. The book will include topical, scriptural, and music indices in addition to the Advent and Easter calendars from 2025-2075.
Well that gives you an update of where we are in this process and we’ll be in touch along the way. I’ll appreciate your passing the word along. Thanks so much.
28 Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb.
2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.
5 Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. 7 And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.”
8 The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. 9 And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”
11 As the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and told the leading priests what had happened. 12 A meeting with the elders was called, and they decided to give the soldiers a large bribe. 13 They told the soldiers, “You must say, ‘Jesus’ disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.’ 14 If the governor hears about it, we’ll stand up for you so you won’t get in trouble.” 15 So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.
16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!
18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Some thoughts:
These are Jesus’ words to you and to me as he returned to heaven. “As you are going [the sense of “go”] make disciples of all the nations [and people around you], baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [Until I return.]
Music: “Messiah” Voces8
Prayer:
Lord God of all that was, is, and will ever be, the moment we have longed for has come: the night of our desires is here. What greater occupation could there be than for us to proclaim the power of your Resurrection! This was the night when you shattered the gates of hell and mortally destroyed the devil, and then you took up the victory banner of heaven. This was the night when you set us among the stars. When your mother Mary gave birth to you, she was overwhelmed with joy at your beauty. Now we are overwhelmed with joy at your power. The blood which flowed from your side has washed away our sins forever. Your body rising from the tomb has promised us eternal life. Eternal are the blessings which in your love you have poured upon us.
To you Lord Jesus Christ we give our deepest praise, love, and gratitude. These things we pray through Jesus, who with you and the Holy Spirit, reign one God for now and forever. Amen.
—from Guideposts Prayers for Easter, p.66, adapted Daniel Sharp
Thank you all for this journey through the Lenten season concluding with the Resurrection, but remember, there is so much more. It didn’t all end there. Forty days later Jesus ascended to his Father in heaven in a glorified physical body where he sits at his Father’s right hand interceding on our behalf. At a time known only to the Father, Jesus will return to bring to final completion and restoration of the entire created order. He will establish his Kingdom and he will reign forever and ever . . . and we’ll be there!
The daily devotional book: Advent through Ashes continues to make great progress. We’ll keep you informed. At this point it looks like it will be in 4 volumes and cover each day of the year and be flexible enough to adjust whenever the various seasons start!
This is a day of holy quietness and reflection. Change what you would normally do on a Saturday. Skip shopping and running errands. Stay home. Like at creation, God worked the six days of creation and said his work was finished. On the seventh day he rested and blessed the day calling it a holy Sabbath. The work of Jesus on earth likewise was completed on the sixth day of the week as he uttered, “It is finished” and then he rested in the tomb throughout that Sabbath day. It was a quiet day and I am sure an unbearably sad and mournful day for the disciples and followers of Jesus. From their standpoint, the ministry of the past three years was a total failure, plus their leader was dead.
Though he was in the tomb, God in Christ was accomplishing the culmination of his time on earth, gaining the victory over sin, death, and evil forever. Satan was crushed, destroyed forever. The below passages of Scripture and similar passages telling God’s Redemption Story are read on Holy Saturday evening in what is called an Easter Vigil service. It was (and is) a special service awaiting the morning of the Resurrection. It began with these readings, baptisms, communion, and culminating in a resurrection service. Read, listen, and reflect today on the Savior’s great love and sacrifice for you and his whole creation. The Brahms Requiem is the music for today and follows the Scripture readings.
God Creates: Genesis 1:1-2
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
The Man and Woman Sin: Genesis 3
3 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”
11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”
14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. 15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
16 Then he said to the woman,
“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”
17 And to the man he said,
“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19 By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”
Paradise Lost: God’s Judgment
20 Then the man—Adam—named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live. 21 And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” 23 So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. 24 After sending them out, the Lord God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
God Provides Deliverance for His People: Exodus 14:10-31
10 As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, 11 and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? 12 Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’”
13 But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. 14 The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”
Escape through the Red Sea
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving! 16 Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will charge in after the Israelites. My great glory will be displayed through Pharaoh and his troops, his chariots, and his charioteers. 18 When my glory is displayed through them, all Egypt will see my glory and know that I am the Lord!”
19 Then the angel of God, who had been leading the people of Israel, moved to the rear of the camp. The pillar of cloud also moved from the front and stood behind them. 20 The cloud settled between the Egyptian and Israelite camps. As darkness fell, the cloud turned to fire, lighting up the night. But the Egyptians and Israelites did not approach each other all night.
21 Then Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the Lord opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind. The wind blew all that night, turning the seabed into dry land. 22 So the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on each side!
23 Then the Egyptians—all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and charioteers—chased them into the middle of the sea. 24 But just before dawn the Lord looked down on the Egyptian army from the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw their forces into total confusion. 25 He twisted their chariot wheels, making their chariots difficult to drive. “Let’s get out of here—away from these Israelites!” the Egyptians shouted. “The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt!”
26 When all the Israelites had reached the other side, the Lord said to Moses, “Raise your hand over the sea again. Then the waters will rush back and cover the Egyptians and their chariots and charioteers.” 27 So as the sun began to rise, Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the water rushed back into its usual place. The Egyptians tried to escape, but the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 Then the waters returned and covered all the chariots and charioteers—the entire army of Pharaoh. Of all the Egyptians who had chased the Israelites into the sea, not a single one survived.
29 But the people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, as the water stood up like a wall on both sides. 30 That is how the Lord rescued Israel from the hand of the Egyptians that day. And the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the seashore. 31 When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Exodus 15:20-21
20 Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine and led all the women as they played their tambourines and danced. 21 And Miriam sang this song:
“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has hurled both horse and rider into the sea.”
Invitation to the Lord’s Salvation: Isaiah 55:1-11
55 “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free! 2 Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.
3 “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David. 4 See how I used him to display my power among the peoples. I made him a leader among the nations. 5 You also will command nations you do not know, and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey, because I, the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.”
6 Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. 7 Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
10 “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. 11 It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
The Resurrection: Luke 24:1-12
24 But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.3 So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.
5 The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”
8 Then they remembered that he had said this. 9 So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. 11 But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. 12 However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.
Sin’s Power Is Broken: Romans 6:1-11
6 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
The Brahms requiem is unique in that he chose to use texts that point to the resurrection rather than the usual requiem mass texts.
Music: “Brahms German Requiem” UCLA and Angeles Chorale (in English)
Prayer:
You are the Great God-he who is in heaven.
You are the creator of life; you make the regions above.
Scripture: Psalm 22 1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? 2 Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night I lift my voice, but I find no relief.
3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. 4 Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them. 5 They cried out to you and were saved. They trusted in you and were never disgraced.
6 But I am a worm and not a man. I am scorned and despised by all! 7 Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads, saying, 8 “Is this the one who relies on the Lord? Then let the Lord save him! If the Lord loves him so much, let the Lord rescue him!”
9 Yet you brought me safely from my mother’s womb and led me to trust you at my mother’s breast. 10 I was thrust into your arms at my birth. You have been my God from the moment I was born.
11 Do not stay so far from me, for trouble is near, and no one else can help me. 12 My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls; fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in! 13 Like lions they open their jaws against me, roaring and tearing into their prey. 14 My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me. 15 My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead. 16 My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me. They have piercedmy hands and feet. 17 I can count all my bones. My enemies stare at me and gloat. 18 They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing.
19 O Lord, do not stay far away! You are my strength; come quickly to my aid! 20 Save me from the sword; spare my precious life from these dogs. 21 Snatch me from the lion’s jaws and from the horns of these wild oxen.
22 I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people. 23 Praise the Lord, all you who fear him! Honor him, all you descendants of Jacob! Show him reverence, all you descendants of Israel! 24 For he has not ignored or belittled the suffering of the needy. He has not turned his back on them, but has listened to their cries for help.
25 I will praise you in the great assembly. I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who worship you. 26 The poor will eat and be satisfied. All who seek the Lord will praise him. Their hearts will rejoice with everlasting joy. 27 The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to him. All the families of the nations will bow down before him. 28 For royal power belongs to the Lord. He rules all the nations.
29 Let the rich of the earth feast and worship. Bow before him, all who are mortal, all whose lives will end as dust. 30 Our children will also serve him. Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord. 31 His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything he has done.
Some thoughts:
In what is a strikingly descriptive psalm, David describes his own predicament. Yet as he laments his own people’s rejection of him as king, he paints a perfect picture of the rejection of his prophesied descendent, the Messiah. This Old Testament account of Israel casting off David as king is a foretelling of what Israel would do 1,000 years later with the King of kings. Jesus’ plaintive plea opening this psalm expresses his humanity so clearly. We do not know that he did not quote more of the psalm. So much of this psalm describes in specific detail Jesus’ experience as he hung on the cross. The Son of God called out to God the Father for relief, and none came, yet the Son continued in faith and total commitment through horrible physical, mental, and spiritual torture. He willingly bore the weight of the sin of the entire world for all time!
Note David appeals to God’s past action in helping Israel (v.2-5). He does not doubt God’s character even when God is silent. I don’t know if the religious leaders and elders knew it, but they also ironically quoted this psalm. Verse eight of Psalm 22 is remarkably like Matthew 27:41-43.
The latter part of the psalm shifts focus beginning in verse twenty-two. In times of great stress, remembering and recounting God’s past faithfulness and history of providing occurs over and over throughout the Scriptures. Here David writes of a day yet to come and of future generations, including us, who will hear of the greatness of the Lord and bow before him. The complete fulfillment of these words has yet to happen. Make no mistake. The magnitude of this day when Jesus took all sin upon himself, the weight of all sin ever committed since the beginning of creation, changed eternity for all who would put their trust in him. Stop and think. The weight of all sin that ever existed being placed on one person is incomprehensible. Only the Son of God could bear that burden and he did so willingly. What God had in mind until humans hopelessly destroyed it, was now again made possible, namely the restoration of what God’s desire was from the beginning . . . perfect communion with his creation, the original state of Eden. The price of sin was paid in full. There is no other hope. Hallelujah! The prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane made possible a return to the Garden of Eden. Full communion with God is again possible. The impossible debt is cancelled forever!
Music: “Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs” from Messiah or listen to Part II of Messiah
“He Trusted in God” Voces8 and Academy of Ancient Music
Because of Good Friday, the following prayer is possible. All glory to God.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Thou wast poor and in misery, a captive and forsaken as I am. Thou knowest all man’s distress; Thou abidest with me when all others have deserted me; Thou doest not forget me, but seekest me. Thou willest that I should know thee and turn to thee. Lord, I hear thy call and follow thee; do thou help me. —Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906-1945
From the Good Fridayliturgy, Orthodox
Today he who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon the Cross.
He who is King of the angels is arrayed in a crown of thorns.
He who wraps the heaven in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery.
He who in Jordan set Adam free receives blows upon his face.
The Bridegroom of the Church is transfixed with nails.
23 For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” 26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.
Some thoughts:
These are words we hear every time we observe the Lord’s Supper. Paul takes care to pass along the very words he received from Jesus. Have ever given thought as to why Paul included “on the night he was betrayed”? Jesus clearly knew what Judas was going to do as recorded in John’s gospel. Knowing this fact and seeing how the Lord went ahead without pausing on his mission makes his actions all more commanding yet. “This is my body, which is given for you [you too Judas].” The juxtaposition of the two phrases is so powerful and a beautiful picture of the depth of Christ’s love for his disciples and us—for we have likewise betrayed our Savior.
Then there is the sentence “Do this to remember me.” We may be inclined to read it and go on, but there is something worth noting in the word “remember.” At its Greek root is the word anamnesis from which we get amnesia. Anamnesis in this case means a recalling of a past action, which brings it into the present moment. The worshiper experiences the present action of Christ in the receiving of the bread and cup.
“The anamnesis is not a simple intellectual function; it is an action. It has an incomparably wider spectrum, which includes the element of thought and makes it an existential, personal event. As members of the eucharistic community we recall again to consciousness the economy of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit, the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection of Christ, his ascension, and Pentecost. We live them. We share in them. We do this not through our own human abilities but through the grace of the Holy Spirit, through the uncreated energy of God which accomplishes the sacraments.” (Anastasios, “Together on the Way:2.2 Anamnesis” Dec.4, 1998, WCC)
The past action has entered the present. The power and action of Christ at the Maundy Thursday Upper Room is brought into the present. The effect is current and one into which we have entered. This “remember” is very different from remembering something that happened last week for example. The New Covenant which Jesus instituted on that night is current in its impact and life on this night. Notice also how the past, the Lord’s death, is brought into the present and the future (“until he comes again”) is also brought into the present. There is also a word for that concept, prolepsis, but that is for another time. Never underestimate the power of the Lord’s Supper on the “night he was betrayed.” This is a most holy wondrous night.
Music: “Ubi Caritas” Paul Mealor
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, who on that treacherous night, did display unending, unconditional love and proclaimed the fulfillment of a New Covenant of grace, we can find no words to express our love and gratitude for the difference your action makes in our lives today so many years later. We are nourished by the bread and the cup, your life-giving body. We live into that holy night rejoicing in the power unleashed by the Holy Spirit. This day we reflect on your love which culminated in your death on the cross to bring redemption to the whole world and all of creation. Receive this our prayer through Christ our Lord, who reigns with you, the Father, and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen. —Daniel Sharp
21 Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!”
22 The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean. 23 The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table. 24 Simon Peter motioned to him to ask, “Who’s he talking about?” 25 So that disciple leaned over to Jesus and asked, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus responded, “It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl.” And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. 27 When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what you’re going to do.” 28 None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant. 29 Since Judas was their treasurer, some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor. 30 So Judas left at once, going out into the night.
31 As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him. 32 And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once.
Some thoughts:
This pericope is filled with so much richness. Put yourself among the disciples. The hand selected twelve are having a meal with rabbi Jesus with whom they have been traveling and living together the past three years. They are sharing what turns out to be their last meal together, though the disciples don’t know it at this point. In Middle Eastern custom, the host will in some cases, dip bread in a bowl and give it to the honored guest. At any rate, dipping food in a common bowl is a sign of close friendship. The concept even carries over to today. The disciples would not have thought anything unusual for Jesus to do this and then give the sop to Judas. Jesus told them that one of them would betray him, yet they wondered what he meant.
Betrayal is based on deep trust. The betrayer must have gained complete trust in the one who is to be betrayed, which is probably why the betrayal by Judas didn’t compute with the rest of the disciples, though Jesus certainly knew what Judas was about to do. Remember, John wrote this gospel after everything had happened with Judas.
Second, recall at Jesus’ temptation, the devil left for a more “opportune” time. Here was an opportune time. Satan entered the body of Judas, a singularly rare occurrence in all of Scripture where this truth is stated so bluntly. Judas was truly possessed by the devil. Jesus, knowing fully what Judas was about to do, told him to get on with it quickly. What must Judas have thought knowing the one who had just washed his feet also knew of his mission of betrayal? The devil is relentless in his attempts to cause sin to abound in people’s lives believers and non-believers alike as evidenced throughout the world today.
There is a third interesting observation. You’ll recall in the plagues of Egypt at the time of the Exodus. The ninth plague was the one of darkness which fell over the whole land. The final plague resulted in the death of all the firstborn throughout the land except where the blood of the lamb had been applied over the doorposts at the homes of the Israelites. Following receiving the sop from Jesus, Judas went “out into the night,” out into darkness. As in the Exodus, what followed Judas’ going out into the darkness was the death of the Firstborn of all creation (Col 1:18), the Lamb of God, whose spattered blood on the doorposts of people’s hearts covered their sins for all time as they were spared an eternal death. Those not covered by the blood of the Lamb, suffer that same fate as the Esyptians. Then at the death of the Lamb, like in Egypt fourteen hundred years earlier, darkness again fell over the land as God brought about judgment and laid claim to all the firstborn who had been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. The final atonement was made, death was destroyed, defeated, annihilated forever! Once again, the devil failed in his attempt to thwart the plan of God to redeem and restore his fallen creation. As John had earlier written, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” . . . ever.
Music: “Agnus Dei” Samuel Barber, Vlaams Radiokoor (Flemish Radio Choir)
“Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.”
“Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.”
“Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.”
Prayer: O God my Father, let Thy Holy Spirit rule in my heart. As I pray, let not any room within me be closed to keep Thee out. O Light that never fades, so let me open to Thee the windows of my heart, that all my life may be filled by the radiance of Thy presence. Let no corner of my being be unillumined by the light of Thy countenance. Let there be nothing within me to darken the brightness of the day. Let the Spirit of Him whose life was the light of men rule within my heart till eventide. Let me not be holding some undertaking on which I dare not ask Thy blessing. O Holy Spirit of God, let me not return to evil thoughts and worldly ways, but let that mind be in me which was also in Christ Jesus my Lord. Amen. —John Baillie, from A Diary of Private Prayer and unknown source, adapted Daniel Sharp
20 Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration 21 paid a visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.” 22 Philip told Andrew about it, and they went together to ask Jesus.
23 Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. 25 Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. 26 Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.
27 “Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came! 28 Father, bring glory to your name.”
Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.” 29 When the crowd heard the voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared an angel had spoken to him.
30 Then Jesus told them, “The voice was for your benefit, not mine. 31 The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out. 32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate how he was going to die.
34 The crowd responded, “We understood from Scripture that the Messiah would live forever. How can you say the Son of Man will die? Just who is this Son of Man, anyway?”
35 Jesus replied, “My light will shine for you just a little longer. Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going. 36 Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.”
After saying these things, Jesus went away and was hidden from them.
Some thoughts:
Some insight into Jewish festivals will help us understand the significance of this passage. Passover, as you know, was one of three pilgrimage festivals which required every male to come to Jerusalem for its celebration, though women were included. Passover lasted one day and was immediately followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Leaven always represents sin in the Bible. On the day of Unleavened Bread, our sinless Savior was buried. The Feast of First Fruits immediately followed on the first day of the week (Sunday) following the Sabbath and marked the beginning of the seven weeks of seven leading up to Pentecost. A green shock of barley was waved before the Lord on that day since this was the very beginning of the harvest season, which culminated seven weeks later at Pentecost. The dependency on the Lord God for a fruitful harvest was central in the celebration.
So, when Jesus referred to a kernel being buried in the soil and dying in effect and then producing a stock of barley which produces many kernels, he was in effect proclaiming what he was the “kernel to be buried” and what the result will be, “a plentiful harvest of new lives.” Jesus went on to say that anyone who loves being above ground (loves this world) rather than dying to themselves and being “planted,” will lose everything eternally. That is why baptism by immersion is a symbol of being “buried in Christ.” Apart from John who died of old age, all the rest of the disciples died as martyrs.
Jesus then asked the very real question, “Should I pray that the Father would save me from this ordeal?” Notice the phrase, “when I am lifted up from the earth.” God the Father then raised his Son from being “planted” in the tomb and in that resurrection, Jesus leads forth all of those who have died in Christ. The prince of this world, Satan, is eternally, permanently defeated. Paul writes in I Corinthians 15:20 that “Jesus was the first fruits of them that slept. Jesus was the first one to lead a great harvest of God’s people who will be resurrected from the dead at the end of the age. God’s redemption works through these great festivals and brings the certainty of the resurrection through the defeat of sin, death, and evil. Every phrase that Jesus speaks has ultimate implications for you and for me.
Music: “Since by Man Came Death” Academy of St. Martin in the Field
“Goin’ Home” Sissel
Prayer: O God, quicken to life every power within me, that I may lay hold on eternal things. Open my eyes that I may see; give me acute spiritual perception; enable me to taste Thee and know that Thou art good. Make heaven more real to me than any earthly thing has ever been. Amen. —A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, p.59
42 “Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, who pleases me. I have put my Spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations. 2 He will not shout or raise his voice in public. 3 He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged. 4 He will not falter or lose heart until justice prevails throughout the earth. Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction.”
5 God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth. And it is he who says, 6 “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide the nations. 7 You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.
8 “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols. 9 Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens.”
Some thoughts:
As we enter this most significant week in the history of the universe since the dawn of creation, we look at the remarkable words of Isaiah the prophet written 700 years before Christ. He describes the Messiah’s ministry in fine detail. In Judaic interpretation there is much vigorous debate as to the identity of the servant. Suggestions range from Cyrus, Isaiah, Messiah, and the most common interpretation being the nation of Israel as a whole. Christianity interprets the servant as Jesus, the Messiah based on Jesus’ own interpretation of the passage since he said the prophecy refer to himself! Let’s walk our way through the passage.
While the Bible never uses the word “trinity,” it nevertheless teaches one God consisting of three persons. The first verse is a classic First Testament example. The “I” and “my” in the opening sentence refer to God the Father. The “he” in the second sentence refers to Jesus and the Spirit in the third sentence refers to the Holy Spirit. Three persons one God. As a reminder, note the text is LORD, that is YHWH, one God. So, here is an Old Testament example of referring to the trinitarian God.
God speaks through Isaiah concerning his servant, Jesus. God’s plan of redemption first appears in the Garden of Eden. Bear in mind the divine Word, the Logos, is with the Father in heaven as Isaiah writes this. The Father is affirming the Son. He promises to give him strength to bear up against what is coming. Have you noticed this affirmation from God the Father also repeats itself several times when Jesus is on earth seven centuries later with the identical words? (Lk 3:22, Mt 3:17, at his Baptism; Mt17:5 at the Transfiguration; and Jn 12:28-29 during the first days of Holy Week.) I’d like to enlarge a bit on this last reference.
In John 12:27-30, Jesus utters these words, “Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came! Father bring glory to your name.” These words were spoken only a few days before his crucifixion. In response to what Jesus said, a voice (God the Father) spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name and I will do it again.” The people present thought an angel had spoken while others thought it was thunder. Jesus’ response was, “It was for your benefit [people], not mine.” I mention these affirmations of the Messiah’s mission to earth to point out the involvement of the Trinity in all aspects bringing redemption to a very broken world.
Being empowered by the Holy Spirit, the Servant Savior will bring justice to the nations. He will speak tenderly. He will help the weak and give hope. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged. He will not fail or faint in dealing with injustice. This glorious day is yet to come. You note the central theme in this portion of Isaiah’s writing has to do with injustice. The people of Judah were cheating and taking advantage of the poor. The wealthy and power-grabbing ruling class was crushing the ordinary people. It would seem that the same problem remains in our world today.
In the next section Isaiah reminds the people that they are dealing with God the creator, the giver of life, their protector and provider. He will guide and guard the Servant Savior. He will be a light to guide the nations. In Luke 2:32, Simeon speaks these very words when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus for his Presentation at the Temple forty days after his birth. “He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” Once again, we see connections between the Testaments.
When Jesus began his Galilean public ministry in his home synagogue in Nazareth, he quoted this very passage in Isaiah: “You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons” (Lk 4:18-19) thus identifying for the people of Nazareth that the hometown boy is the long-prophesied Messiah from the scroll of Isaiah! The Nazarites wouldn’t believe him and tried to stone him for blasphemy.
Isaiah concludes this portion of our reading with the statement of a true prophet of God. “Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the truth before it happens.” Seven hundred years later, every word he spoke came to pass verbatim! That is the test of a true prophet of God. What do you think the odds are of those things he prophesied that have yet to be fulfilled will come to pass?
What strikes me in this passage is the “affirming personal care” that is reflected from the Godhead as the Son of God dwelt in human form. It wasn’t as though Jesus said, “I’m going on a redemption mission to earth, and since I’m God, there will be nothing to it. I’m God after all.” Were that the case, we could hardly identify with Jesus, and he surely could not feel the pains and weaknesses humans grapple with. In this portion of Scripture, we see once again how very human Jesus was but also how very understanding and tender the Father is now and how present the Holy Spirit is to help and comfort us in our lives. As with Jesus, God is for us.
Music: “The Blind Man Stood on the Road and Cried” Josh White (singing begins at :45)
Prayer:
O God, be Thou exalted over my possessions. Be thou exalted over my friendships. Be thou exalted above my comforts. Be thou exalted over my reputation. Make me ambitious to please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity and my name be forgotten as a dream. Let me decrease that Thou mayest increase; let me sink that Thou mayest rise above. Ride forth upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem mounted upon the humble little beast, a colt, the foal of an ass, and let me hear the children cry to Thee, “Hosanna in the highest.” -A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, p.108
12 Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead.
12 The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors 13 took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted,
“Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel!”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said:
15 “Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey’s colt.”
16 His disciples didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered into his glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about him.
Some thoughts:
Just to give us a little context, we retrace recent events. Jesus had raised Lazarus within the last week to ten days. Many people, both friends and the curious, came to see both Jesus and Lazarus. Jesus was staying just outside Jerusalem in Bethany. The day when the above passage occurred is today, Palm Sunday.
Like an out-of-control forest fire, word has been circulating about Jesus’ raising a man from the dead. Meanwhile as religious tensions are rising because of the perceived threat that Jesus presented to their power, the Pharisees and Sadducees are plotting to do away with Jesus and with Lazarus as well. At this point Jesus knows this will be his final week on earth. His life and mission since his birth have been pointing to these very days. You’ll notice all this coming week that Jesus is completely in control of everything. Even in knowing what lies ahead, there is resolve and anguishing moments but no fear. To prepare for his entry into Jerusalem, he sends two disciples (Peter and John according to tradition) to get a donkey, one on which no one had ever ridden. He tells them where to go and what to say, and it happens just as he said. You know the story quite well.
I want to make a few observations. In his ride down the Mount of Olives, Jesus was announcing himself as Israel’s king. Notice, Jesus asked for a donkey. When kings rode donkeys, they were coming in humility, peace, and reconciliation. When they rode horses, they were coming to do battle, to fight a war. A donkey was a royal, peaceful limousine as it were. Donkeys are humble servant animals. (You’ll recall Jesus was later in the week to wash the feet of the disciples as a servant.) In fact, the First Testament prophet, Zechariah, prophesied (9:9-10) that Israel’s king would enter Jerusalem on the back of a donkey―a donkey’s colt. What is often overlooked is that the passage goes on to say that your king will remove battle chariots and war horses from Jerusalem and destroy all weapons used in battle, and he will “bring peace to the nations.” The people missed the last part of the prophecy. Jesus’ kingdom was not of this world.
King David, an ancestor of Jesus a thousand years earlier, had exited Jerusalem as king on a donkey, fleeing before his son. Incidentally, his son, Absalom, who was attempting a coup, rode into Jerusalem on a mule, an animal for war. Now the true King of Israel, of King David’s royal line, enters Jerusalem again on a donkey, the same road by which David had fled a 1,000 years earlier. What is interesting, at some point in the future, the King of kings will again return to set up his eternal kingdom. This time he will be on a white horse as he comes to rule (Rev.19:11) and destroy the forces of evil forever. Jesus’ Palm Sunday trip down the Mount of Olives and the place of Christ’s Ascension is also the ultimate place of his final Return at the end of the Age. This road on the Mount of Olives is one of the most significant geographical places on the planet. I remember walking down that road in 1996 being aware of these very things!
As Jesus rode down the hill, great crowds gathered singing “hosanna!” (meaning ‘salvation now’) while waving palm branches as was typical in celebrating a hero. The people were undoubtedly hoping and believing that this Nazarene rabbi would lead a revolt against the Roman occupation. 160 years earlier against the Seleucid (Hellenistic) occupation, the Maccabees brothers engineered an overthrow. There was success in that earlier revolt, though latter Israel was again overrun by foreign powers. The people’s hope was that Jesus would set up his own kingdom ousting the hated Romans. Palm branches were waved as a symbolic sign of defiance. This fact was not lost on the foreign occupiers and added to the tensions of the Passover celebration.
The historian, Josephus, writes that at Passover there were some 2 ½ million Jews in Jerusalem, double the size of Rome! Even if he exaggerated, there was a massive swell in the Jewish population. Pilate, the Roman prefect, struggled to keep things under control. The war horse he rode was a show of force in great contrast to the donkey Jesus rode! The political climate was tense on several fronts. So the Romans were justifiably nervous as they were significantly outnumbered as well as intensely hated.
The people sang these glorious words to a victorious king from Psalm 118. “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!” What the people didn’t realize is that Psalm also has these prophetic words, “Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar,” words that would later in the week be fulfilled as Jesus was bound and crucified as the sacrificial Lamb of God. (v.18) It is prophetically ironic the people shouting these texts from the First Testament did not realize the full extent of what they were saying. Within a few days undoubtedly a number of them were yelling “crucify him!” Jesus did not conform to their expectation as to what he should do regarding the Roman occupation.
The Triumphal Entry is a kind of picture of our response to God all too often. We are in a difficult situation wanting release from an imposed stress or an outside pressure, and we pray that God will in effect do our will and get us out of our plight. When God doesn’t do what we think he should or in our time frame, we crab, we doubt, and we get angry at God or each other. Don’t forget. The point in the Triumphal Entry is not the people’s response, but rather the magnificent, costly unfolding of God’s plan to bring healing and restoration to all people. It was not about the people then, and it is not about us and our wills now. Moreover, we need to be careful we don’t dictate how and when God should act. Rather, we should kneel in the Garden of Gethsemane with our Savior praying, “Not my will, but thine be done.” It has a much better outcome. And let’s be the servant donkey, carrying Jesus to the world! Remember, it was about Jesus, not the donkey! He is unfolding his plan for us.
Music: “Ride On King Jesus” Moses Hogan Singers
Bonuses!
“Ride on King Jesus” Jessye Norman
“Hosanna to the Song of David” Cambridge Singers
Prayer:
O Christ, the King of glory who didst enter the holy city in meekness to be made perfect through the suffering of death: give us grace, we beseech thee, in all our life here to take up our cross daily and follow thee, that hereafter we may rejoice with thee in thy heavenly kingdom, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit world without end Amen.
12 Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. 2 A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him. 3 Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
4 But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, 5 “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” 6 Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.
7 Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
9 When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. 10 Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, 11 for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.
Some thoughts:
This is a most interesting passage as all four gospels record an anointing of Jesus. Without going into great detail, it would appear there is more than one anointing. Luke’s account clearly seems to have occurred early in Jesus’ ministry since the location, the one anointing, the one objecting, the context, and Jesus’ response are completely different from the other gospels (Luke 7:36-50). Remembering the gospel writers had different audiences in mind, they had different emphases. In addition, they did not always record events in chronological order. For example, the above passage tells us Jesus arrived in Bethany six days before the Passover at Lazarus’ home. The next verse says a dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. The passage does not say the dinner was prepared the same day Jesus arrived though that may have been the case. Other scholars have interpreted the dinner as being six days before Passover, hence the designation of Lazarus Saturday. Matthew and Mark record the anointing two days before Passover. They also mention the anointing included Jesus’ head, while John and Luke only record Jesus’ feet being anointed. Remember Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience and his citing anointing on the head was significant because Old Testament kings were anointed on the head and Messiah means ‘the anointed one.’ Matthew was concerned with helping Jews make the connection between Jesus as the prophesied Messiah. You begin to see the point in endeavoring to harmonize the various accounts! With some of these various interpretations in mind, let’s look at the anointing itself.
What do you do for the person who brought your dead brother to life? It doesn’t happen very often . . . ok, never. You have a party honoring the one who restored your sibling’s life. That is apparently what Mary and Martha did for Jesus in response to his raising Lazarus from the grave. As usual, Martha was busy serving. And once again, Mary was with Jesus. I have to smile reading this passage. You’ll recall an earlier occasion with Mary, Martha, and Jesus (Lk.10:38-42). Martha was busy preparing a meal and crabbing to Jesus that her sister wasn’t helping but talking with Jesus. In this pericope, we read once again, Martha is engaged in serving and Mary is tuned to Jesus. I see a family dynamic pattern here! The Bible is so real and covers up nothing. Sibling rivalry has been around a long time!
During the meal in the presence of Lazarus and the disciples, Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of very expensive perfume from the essence of pure nard. To give us a better understanding of the value of what Mary did, nard is a product of fragrant roots of a plant of the honeysuckle family grown in the Himalayan mountains between 11,000 and 17,000 feet. You can imagine importing the perfume to Judaea from there would not be cheap. It was worth an entire year’s wage. Now put yourself in Martha and Mary’s home at the party. Can you imagine the aroma of a twelve-ounce bottle of potent perfume filling the air? My guess is that for the following days leading up to the crucifixion, Mary was reminded of the anointing of Jesus as the perfume lingered in her own hair having wiped Jesus’ feet. If it is the same anointing, according to Matthew (26:7) and Mark (14:8), she also anointed his head with the oils running down on his garments. During the coming days, my guess is that Jesus also was reminded of this loving act as the aroma lingered with and on him as well.
Into this beautiful, honoring, loving and tender moment, Judas is the rude crude bull in the China shop. Mary is devoted to the Savior and Judas is devoted to Judas the greedy thief, the betrayer. As we trace the few references to him, he was clearly operating in a different world. I am surprised he was given responsibility for taking care of the money set aside for the disciples since John knew he had sticky fingers. At any rate he makes a crass comment and is rebuked quite strongly and sharply by Jesus. It was not that Judas misunderstood Jesus and his mission; Judas was inherently an evil at the core thief who cared not the least for the poor. He also seemed to be disillusioned and rejected the nature of Jesus’ ministry.
Jesus’ rebuke of Judas in this case is unlike his response to the disciples on an earlier occasion when a “woman of ill repute” anointed his feet, and he gave them an explanation of the implication of what had happened (Luke 7:36-50). In this case, Jesus’ words to Judas were very different . . . with a curt, “Leave her alone.” (Mt.26:10-13) I can’t recall anywhere else in Scripture where Jesus spoke that harshly to a person one on one. He was harsh with groups of people (Pharisees), but never with a one-on-one conversation that I remember. In his following comments, he was certainly not advocating that we don’t need to care for the poor, but rather drawing attention to the significance of his coming death. Mary had expressed extravagant devotion and gratitude to Jesus by what she did, even as she anointed him for his burial.
This portion of Scripture concludes with the spiritual “rubber-neckers” crashing the party to see the “man who did it” and the guy he raised from the dead. It kind of reminds me of the people who slow down to see how bad the wreck was. They don’t really care about what happened, they just want to see the unusual, the spectacular. With the astounding resurrection of Lazarus from the dead, the priests decided this man of miracles was becoming far too popular as more and more people were slipping away from their teachings and believing in Jesus. Hence, he needed to be eliminated. The triumphal procession into Jerusalem, merely confirmed their suspicions and accelerated their murderous plans.
What can we take from this pericope? Don’t be half-hearted or measured in your devotion to the Lord. Mary gave of herself to Jesus at great personal and material cost. She knelt at his feet, the act of a slave. She let her hair down, a very unsocially unacceptable act, to wipe his feet, a very personal act of devotion. (A short time later, Jesus was to do a similar thing in washing the feet of the disciples in expressing his servitude to and love for them.) She did not care what anyone else thought. She expressed her love and complete devotion to her Lord with unrestrained abandon. Judas, on the other hand, was concerned with himself and earthly material—money, money in relation to himself since he stole. Mary anointed Jesus for his burial. Devotion to Jesus carries into eternity. Judas’ betrayal yielded a different eternal story. May we express devotion to Jesus with innocent extravagant abandon like Mary.
Music: “Jesus Shall Reign” Grace Community Church
Prayer:
O Lord, let me not henceforth desire health or life except to spend them for you, with you and in you. You alone know what is good for me; do therefore what seems best to you. Give to me or take from me; conform my will to yours; and grant that with humble and perfect submission and in holy confidence I may receive the orders of your eternal providence and may equally adore all that comes to me from you.
―Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Eerdmans’ Book of Famous Prayers, p.56.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
Some thoughts:
Here we see the heart of the other self-centered brother. While the younger son grabbed what was his and took off, thinking only of himself, the older brother blamed the father for not being generous toward him, thinking only of himself. This was a giant pity party. Serving his father, he called “slavery.” Was he glad to see his little brother? No. Was he concerned about the time his brother had been away? No. Did he feel his father owed him something? Yes. His heart is embarrassingly laid bare before us. Then the father does something with the older son he did not do with the younger. He pleaded with him. Why? When the younger son demanded his inheritance and took off, the father did not plead with him not to go. He gave him that freedom. But here, he pleads with the elder son to rejoice with them in the joy of repentance.
The elder son could not let go of his brother’s past. He was so consumed with himself. Though he was the elder brother, in some ways he was the more immature of the two, for he had not yet “come to his senses.” He remained the childish, reluctant, and joyless joint heir of the wealthy father, a sad place for an heir to be.
What is the bigger picture here that Jesus is getting at? Remember he told three the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. Those listening to him were a large crowd including tax collectors and other well-known sinners plus Pharisees and teachers of the religious law who were annoyed because Jesus associated with sinners in their eyes, failing to recognize their own sinfulness. In the parable of the two sons, the prodigal son represented the tax collectors, prostitutes, and such. The father represented God and the elder son the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Like the elder son, the Pharisees complained that they had kept the law to the nth degree and Jesus wasn’t giving them any credit but was embracing and forgiving the sinners and not honoring them. They were intent on distancing themselves from sinners as evidenced in the phrase “Yet when this son of yours . . ..”
It occurred to me that the father raised two rather self-centered boys. Had he failed as a father? He gave his sons freedom to fail, and both were self-focused. How did he raise such selfish boys? Then, I remembered in this parable, the father is a portrayal of God. We are the sons in this story! It’s a commentary on the Father’s great love. All of his children are prodigals. It is not a commentary on God’s failure as a parent, quite the opposite. It tells of his great love and eagerness to forgive and restore wayward and rebellious children to the point of going to the cross.
Music: “My Song Is Love Unknown” Sylvia Burnside
Prayer: Gracious Lord of joy and delight, grant that I may always rejoice with those who rejoice, cheer for those who are cheerful, laugh with those who laugh, be happy with those who are happy, be enthusiastic with those who are enthusiastic, discover anew with those who discover new things. Forbid that I should ever withhold my heart’s embracing of another’s joy for some silly, selfish, or sanctimonious reason. Your kingdom does not need more “joy monitors.” From sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us! Amen! —Daniel Sharp
22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.”
Some thoughts:
This part of the parable is about restoration and forgiveness. In it we learn something of the father’s heart and focus regarding his son’s escapade. Notice the father [God] barely responds to the son’s words of confession and in fact cuts off his son’s forgiveness speech in the middle. The father then negates the son’s “hired hand” self-designation by calling for a rich ceremonial robe which would be given to an honored guest, giving the son a ring an heir would own, and sandals which only a free man would wear. There is no dwelling on the son’s past foolishness, poor decisions, personal greed, moral failure, and so forth. No “I’m glad you finally learned your lesson! What have you learned from your mistakes? It’s about time you wised up.” None of that.
The father completely restored the son’s position and identity. His coming home called for a celebration! I wonder if the calf was being fattened in anticipation of the son’s returning home. The father’s love for his son never wavered even while the son was deep in debauchery. The father’s words focused on the bottom line of what had taken place. He did not dwell on the surface events of the past, but went to the heart of the issue, the restored soul of his son. Sons and daughters need their father’s affirmation. Notice his words of ‘dead and alive’ and ‘lost and found’ also apply to one’s life before and after coming to Christ. You’ll notice the father’s celebration here affirms Jesus’ words in the lost sheep parable of the great joy in heaven over a sinner who repents and returns to God.
Repentance brings God joy (Zeph 3:17). Do you ever think of God “rejoicing” over you when you turn from your self-will to his will and repent? Are there some “prodigals” for whom you have been praying a long time? Keep it up. They may not have made it to the pigpen yet. Keep watching the horizon and get ready to run! Your heavenly Father did that for you.
Music: “And the Father Will Dance Over You” New England Conservatory Alumni Choir
Prayer: Dearest Lord, may I see you today and every day in the person of your sick, and, whilst nursing them, minister unto you. Though you hide yourself behind the unattractive disguise of the irritable, the exacting, the unreasonable, may I still recognize you, and say: ‘Jesus, my patient, how sweet it is to serve you.’ Sweetest Lord, make me appreciative of the dignity of my high vocation, and its many responsibilities. Never permit me to disgrace it by giving way to coldness, unkindness, or impatience. Lord, increase my faith, bless my efforts and work now and forevermore, Amen. —Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 1910-1997, from Eerdmans’ Book of Famous Prayers, p.99
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
Some thoughts:
We may think of this story as a parable about the two sons, but these verses tell us it may be more about the boys’ father and his deep love for his children. The father is the God figure in the parable. Jesus is teaching the people and us about the nature of God’s great compassion and mercy. There is something here that is unique to all of Scripture. An action happens in this parable that does not happen anywhere else in the Bible. Read the above verses again and see if you can figure out what it is. Except for this parable, nowhere else in Scripture does God ever “run” after people. He does call people to come to him and as the Good Shepherd he goes after his lost sheep. In a patriarchal society it would be considered undignified for the father to run toward anyone.
Jesus walked everywhere. He never ran to a situation, quite the contrary. Remember Lazarus, Mary, and Martha? When Jesus heard the news about Lazarus, he stayed two more days. God never runs after people. He is near to people. He loves people dearly. He is always ready to respond to people. But he does not force his way into people’s lives. He gives them freedom. But here is a beautiful picture of God’s love for the repentant person. The son had turned toward home and the father, filled with love, saw him and ran to him, put his arms around him and kissed him. Some commentators have surmised that perhaps the father went every day to watch and wait for his son’s return. The Savior is patient toward the lost.
God is patiently waiting for us to turn around when we get on the wrong road. He does not impose his will on us. Have you thought how hard that must be for God? Think of your own children making terrible choices. How hard is it to not intervene and take over their life? The father is not pointing a boney-fingered condemnation of the son’s stupidity, but rather offers a warm embrace and expresses great joy in having the repentant son back home. The son doesn’t need to hear how foolish he was. He already knows it which is why he came home. The father even calls for a party and great celebration. Can you offer this kind of love to someone today? As you do, you are reflecting your Father’s heart.
Music: “The Love of God” Gaither Vocal Band
Prayer: Bring us, O Lord God, at the last awakening in to the house and gate of heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but an equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity, in the habitations of thy majesty and thy glory, world without end. —John Donne, 1571-1631
17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
20 “So he returned home to his father.
Some thoughts:
What was I thinking! Have you ever said that? When we first get off the path, it’s hardly recognizable. We used to live in Seattle. We drove to the farm in Illinois every summer. There was a point in eastern Washington where the interstate highway split. We could go straight and go through Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota or choose to make a slight veer to the south and a day later be somewhere in Nebraska, hundreds of miles to the south of where we might have been. At that moment of making the split it was hardly noticeable, but it did set the course for the next several days.
When the prodigal son left home, it seemed to him like a great leap into freedom and the training wheels came off the bike! “I can do what I want. After all, it’s my adventure and I have plenty of money!” As he continued down the path, however, the folly of his course become very clear. If you are in fantasyland or on the wrong road, turn around! (Just to clarify, it is not a sin to drive through North Dakota, though it is if you go too fast thinking there is no speed limit (another story!)
“Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.” —C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p.36
“When he finally . . . came to his senses” is a testimony to God’s grace. Notice the prodigal’s father does not intervene in his son’s poor decisions. The seed of humility in the son we mentioned yesterday finally began to grow. He recognized his sin was against heaven as well as his earthly father. Notice he mentioned heaven first. All sin is ultimately against God and secondarily against others. This realization is an indication of truly understanding the significance of his previous choices. He repented went back to the place where he got off track which was home. Notice how much more there is than a simple “I’m sorry.” We see in the prodigal a complete attitude and heart change giving evidence of true repentance. Where is your path leading you today?
Music: “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” Moses Hogan Chorale
Prayer: Fix thou our steps O Lord, that we stagger not at the uneven motions of the world, but steadily go on to our glorious home; neither censuring our journey by the weather we meet with, nor turning out of the way for anything that befalls us. The winds are often rough, and our own weight presses us downwards. Reach forth, O Lord, thy hand, thy saving hand, and speedily deliver us. Teach us, O Lord, to use this transitory life as pilgrims returning to their beloved home; that we may take what our journey requires, and not think of settling in a foreign country. —John Wesley, Eerdmans’ Book of Famous Prayer, p.64
13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
Some thoughts:
Welcome to the world of “self” son! Should we be surprised that no one gave him anything? Look with whom he was spending his time and money. This was not generally a community that is known for giving or caring about others. No, this was a crowd of self-focused takers. It became particularly evident to the prodigal when everything headed south. Friends of this caliber and character bail as soon as another’s money runs out. The same thing happens today with people and corporations who have “squandered their wealth on wild living.” How many heirs of fortunes, “lottery winners,” and professional athletes are dead broke after a few years of squandering great wealth?
A kind of severe famine has likewise arisen in the prodigal’s country. Have you ever noticed how often a bad decision escalates into even more disasters? A bad tree can’t produce good fruit (Matt 7:18). But as is sometimes the case, here we see the seeds of humility being planted in the son’s soil of desperation. The seeds sprouted as starvation brought a dose of reality and he decided to look for work. Imagine, . . . work! He got a job feeding pigs. Think about the parable Jesus is telling. Pigs were unclean to the Jews. The son’s job was the lowest of the low. He was on a Jewish skid row. He was eating the same pods as unclean animals! (These were not snow pea pods from P.F. Chang’s!) His loneliness was so overwhelming it spurred him to action. This whole parable centers on a wayward heart which had to make it all the way to the bottom and finally being so alone broke the self. The prodigal finally had enough of, no, was sick of himself and decided to act.
Look for people in your life today who may be in the son’s situation and extend a hand in whatever form to bring encouragement and hope. It’s not time to judge, but time to love and encourage. The prodigal didn’t need to be told he had played the fool. He needed to be forgiven. Don’t be the “no one gave him anything” person. God may use you to play the prodigal’s father in another’s life today. Or perchance you may be that prodigal person. If that is the case, go back home. Ask forgiveness. You won’t be disappointed at the response.
Music: “Father of My Heart” Fernando Ortega
Prayer: Lord, I am blind and helpless, stupid, and ignorant. Cause me to hear, cause me to know teach me to do, lead me. —Henry Martyn, 1781-1812
11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
Some thoughts:
This is the third of three parables Jesus told to demonstrate God’s love for the lost, in his giving freedom (prodigal), and the great joy in finding the lost, whether a lamb or a coin. In this parable, the younger son represents the tax collectors and other outcasts, and the older son the religious leaders. Now to the parable . . .
Those four little, simple, short, one syllable words, “I want my share,” speak volumes. A shorter version is, “I want.” And the very shortest version is, “I!” The season of Lent is about helping us to recognize how often that priority of self, guides, shapes, and rules our lives in contrast to Jesus’ giving of himself in his journey to the cross. We live in a society and in our own lives, where we are very aware of our “rights.” Look at all the lawsuits in the media and lawyer commercials on television. It is quite easy to be conscious of me. Where did we get this idea of “mine?” I think we know.
In this parable, the son was a rightful heir, albeit an impatient, self-centered, shortsighted one! I’m embarrassed for him. Notice the Father did not reprimand him, humiliate, nor dishonor him in his demand even though the son was rude and disrespectful of his father. He gave the son what he demanded, knowing full well the consequences of his foolishness.
There are certainly times when our heavenly Father does the same for us. He does not impose his will or force us in any direction in honoring our freedom of choice. Thankfully in his wisdom, God does not always give us what we want or ask for. But here the father does not override the son’s greed, foolishness, and immaturity. There is no “thy will be done” in the son’s demand! Can you imagine a love like this that it is so honoring and strong that God gives the freedom to be foolish? And then welcomes home the fool? As you pray today, be careful of what you ask for. In God’s gracious way, he may give it to you or not. May our words be, “Lord, I want your heart . . .” rather than, “I want my share.”
Music: “The Prodigal Song” Cory Asbury
Prayer: O God our Father, help us to nail to the cross of thy dear Son the whole body of our death, the wrong desires of the heart, the sinful devising of the mind, the corrupt apprehensions of the eyes, the cruel words of the tongue, the ill employment of hands and feet; that the old man being crucified and done away, the new man may live and grow into the glorious likeness thy Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen. -Eric Milner-White, 1884-1964
9 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day.
10 While the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they celebrated Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month.11 The very next day they began to eat unleavened bread and roasted grain harvested from the land. 12 No manna appeared on the day they first ate from the crops of the land, and it was never seen again. So from that time on the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan.
Some thoughts:
This passage of Scripture marks the end of a very long wait for the children of Israel. Most days are pretty ordinary which is good. If every day was a drama, we’d wear out! Then there are those days when something of greater significance occurs. This was such a day for the Israelites. There is also an interesting play on words here. The phrase used by God is “I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt.” The Israelites were camped outside of Jericho at a place called Gilgal which sounds like the Hebrew word galal, meaning “to roll,” indicating that this was the place where God would roll away the reproach of Egypt . . . forty years after the fact.
The great Exodus is an Old Testament type of the redemption story. God’s message to Joshua, “I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt” is an interesting choice of words. For in the New Testament, it was God who rolled away the stone which covered the entrance to Jesus’ (Joshua in Hebrew) tomb. Jesus led the ultimate exodus from slavery to sin by his victorious resurrection thereby opening the way to the ultimate promised land, that of seeing him face to face. God rolled away the shame of our slavery to sin at the tomb of his Son.
The provisions God had supplied in the past (manna) had come to an end in their new setting.
The phrase “and it was never seen again” was another way of saying it’s over and done with, what was necessary then is no longer now, the forty-year miracle is over, and we are in a new chapter. The celebration of the Passover reminded them again how God had brought them out of slavery. The past was past. God continued to supply for their needs, but now the provisions came from their current home. The same holds true as believers look forward and dwelling in God’s presence eternally. In one sense we are all still in the desert relying on daily manna from the Lord. We need to feed on his Word daily. The day is coming when we will be with him in heaven. This is all to say, though God may linger, teaching, disciplining, and training us in the meantime, he is always faithful to the end. Remember his words, “Today I have rolled away the stone.” That day was not ordinary, it made all the difference all the way to today! The greatest day is yet to come.
Music: “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” Sam Robson
Prayer: Heavenly Father, your love, timing, and care for your children are perfect . . . always. Forgive us when we doubt your love, are frustrated at your timing, and wonder if your care for us is really the best. We forget you swell in eternal time. You are utterly faithful in ways we never experience except with you. May our “experience with you” become more and more ordinary in that we would consciously live with greater and greater awareness of eternal time as we look forward to celebrating the “todays of the rolled away stone” with you in the heavenly realm. This we pray in the name of our faithful Savior, Jesus the Christ.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.
14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to delight you; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Some thoughts:
Earlier in this psalm David confessed his sin and focused on his guilt and his desire for the joy of salvation to return. He wanted the Holy Spirit to remain with him. Did you notice how this portion begins? The “then” refers us back to what was just written. David wants to teach others so they may benefit from his sad experience. Rebelling and rejecting God’s laws brings separation and disaster. After moving through all his thoughts and feelings, David comes to the place of naming his sin of having murdered Uriah and asking God’s forgiveness. The naming of sin . . . even audibly at times can be very helpful. The “shedding of blood” is also an expression to include any injustice toward another, not simply his murdering of Uriah.
Here King David writes of his return to joy in the Lord. His mouth is again open to praising God. He makes a beautiful distinction. David had brought hundreds of sacrifices. The burnt offering was a type of sacrifice for atonement, the forgiveness of sin. It also represented the giving of one’s whole self to the Lord. From the early sacrifices of Cain and his bother Abel, God’s words to Cain were, “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” The communion of the worshiper and the Lord was the central significant factor. While offering of the Old Testament sacrifice was necessary and of a significance of the first order, the whole point was the heart of the worshiper. Cain’s heart was dark with respect to the Lord, his brother’s, humble.
Have you noticed the qualities of the heart God is looking for? A truthful heart, a humble heart, a transparent heart, a relentless heart. Honestly, how truthful, humble, transparent, and relentless are you with the Lord? As you pray, ask the Lord to reveal his perspective on your heart.
Music: “Psalm 95 ‘Come Let Us’” Half a Mile
Prayer: Take, Lord, all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my whole will. You have given me all that I have, all that I am, and I surrender all to your divine will, that you dispose of me. Give me only your love and your grace. With this I am rich enough, and I have no more to ask. -Ignatius Loyola 1491-1556
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Some thoughts:
David was aware of his fickle faith. He knew he needed the presence of the Holy Spirit in his life continually. In the Old Testament era, the presence of Holy Spirit would “come upon” a person for a specific task or reason such as ordination for an office. For example, David received the Spirit of God when he was anointed king and the Holy Spirit departed from King Saul for his disobedience when David was anointed (I Sam 16:14). When Saul disobeyed, his reign was ended, the Holy Spirit departed.
In this portion of the psalm David asks for a pure heart. David was very aware of the Spirit’s departure from Saul and asked to be spared from the same fate as the result of his sin with Bathsheba. He had acknowledged and confessed his sin earlier in this psalm. Now he asks the Lord to help him have a steadfast spirit. Like David, we all want to be consistent in our walk of faith. Yet we are “prone to wander” as the song says. It seems our old nature keeps creeping back, trying to get its gnarly foot in the door of our house. The key is the presence of the Holy Spirit within us recognizing when the door is being pushed agar. With the advent of Pentecost (Acts 2), the Holy Spirit is available to all believers who put their faith in Jesus for their salvation, a major change from the First Testament. As was the case with king Saul, people are warned in the latter Testament not to grieve the Holy Spirit.
As we continue through this Lenten season, let the Holy Spirit guide us. Ask him to watch the door of your house and keep you alert throughout this day. Live consciously in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Talk with him as you go about your business. Seek the mind and heart of the Lord as you move through the day. At the end of the day, notice what has happened. Something will happen; God is not distant. God is looking for a willing spirit in you. He will sustain you,
Music: “Psalm 51” Praises of Israel (In Hebrew with subtitles)
Prayer: As the wind is thy symbol, so forward our goings. As the dove, so launch us heavenwards. As water, so purify our spirits. As a cloud, so abate our temptations. As dew, so revive our languor. As fire, so purge out our dross. –Christina Rossetti 1830-1894
(Note the use of symbols for the biblical symbols for the Holy Spirit. Pentecost, baptism of Jesus, Transfiguration, Pillar of fire in the desert wanderings, Manna from heaven-dew, etc.)
6 But you [God] desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.
7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice. 9 Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt.
Some thoughts:
Imagine! God wants us to tell the truth even from the womb, (can also mean “inner parts.”) David prays for wisdom from the beginning of life. Then he says, “Purify me from my sins” the literal translation reads “purify me with the hyssop branch.” You’ll recall it was a hyssop branch that was used to put the blood on the door posts at the great exodus from Egypt (Ex 12:22). Here David may be alluding to that event in asking God to pass over and wash him clean by the blood of the lamb, even as the Israelites were spared as the angel of death passed over them. David desires the joy of a clean heart, of being forgiven. His desire is to be guilt free. He does not want to be reminded again and again of is past sins—that’s one of the devil’s joys, throwing past failures in our faces again and again. When you are haunted by past confessed sin, recognize where those thoughts are coming from; it’s not the Lord. It is also David who wrote, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” (Psalm 103:12)
Why is it that we can so easily live in duplicity? There is either a stubbornness, pride, or arrogance that has trouble admitting when we are wrong or have failed. We have a dozen reasons why it was not our fault; why we can be excused for missing the mark; or why we should be granted leniency in this circumstance. In this Scripture passage, the “inner parts” can also be translated “inner being,” in other words our heart, our soul. The Lord wants us to be truthful with ourselves. Why are we reluctant or even afraid to face the truth? When the truth penetrates as to who we really are from God’s perspective, look what follows! Our heart gets a lesson in wisdom and God cleanses our sin completely.
Look what this pericope tells us about God. He wants us to be honest with him, complete transparency. Desire truth. And these are acts God can do on our behalf: teach us, cleanse us, wash us, crush, or break (discipline) us, completely remove our sin, like an ink blotter soaks up and removes ink. All of this is the action of God on my behalf when I am truthful with God. He is the one who does the washing. We physically revive. For unconfessed sin pays a heavy physical and spiritual toll. It eats away at us. Our relationship to God deadens. Confession gets a load off our chest. It is freeing. When that happens, joy returns. Jesus dealt with the truth all the way to the end of his earthly life with the result ending in the greatest joy ever. Are you telling God the whole truth about yourself today?
Music: “Come Let Us Reason” Ken Medema
Prayer:
Dear God, make me think about what I’m doing with my mind, with my body, with my habits, with my study, with my friends, with my hopes, with my parents, with my faith, with life. Amen. —Carl Burke
5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Some thoughts:
With a verse like that, what chance do we have?! As a friend of mine said, “There is very little ‘original’ sin!” From the beginning we were sinners. Did you have to teach your children to say “MINE!” I rest my case. You may have a translation that reads “In sin did my mother conceive me.” The translation above is a far better, more accurate translation. Conception itself is not sin, it’s the beginning of life! But sin is present from conception! This passage means that everyone is part of the fallen human race. No argument there. David writes in another Psalm (143:2) “for no living thing is righteous before you.” No one has ever gotten it right with a single exception. We are not getting better as a human race. Being good is helpful, but it does not solve the sin problem.
Knowing what is right to do surprisingly does not equate with doing right (James 4:17). Our society and culture cling to the hope that with more education, more money, more studies, more time, more love, less hate, we’ll progress as a people and as a culture. Instead, our education has contributed to our problem, in fact, it is the problem, more money has made things worse, our studies are studying fallen human’s material rather than God’s material, the Bible, time is not a friend when one is heading down the wrong road, and our love and hate are self-selected missing the entire point. Do we need any more convincing that sin abounds in sinners?
My brother-in-law tells of an incident when he was flying from LA to San Francisco. He struck up a conversation with the man he was sitting beside. He asked the man how he would sum up the human situation in one sentence. The man’s response was “We are all part of the problem; we are all part of the solution.” Though the man never asked my brother-in-law for his sentence, he told him anyway! His answer? “We are the problem; there is one man who is the solution, and his name is Jesus.” It is only through Christ that we are given the solution to our sin problem.
God of mercy, you sent Jesus Christ to seek and save the lost. We confess that we have strayed from you and turned aside from your way. We are misled by pride, for we see ourselves pure when we are stained and great when we are small. We have failed in love, neglected justice, and ignored your truth. Have mercy, O God, and forgive our sin. Return us to paths of righteousness through Jesus Christ our Savior, Amen. —Worship Source Book, p.563
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
Some thoughts:
Have you ever thought, “Sure I messed up, but it’s not that big a deal. No one got hurt too badly. I’ll just keep a low profile and things will get back to normal. I’ll eventually feel better in my heart. Just give it time for the guilty feeling to go away.” King David would not have gone along with such thinking! Though we go on with life and try to lose guilt by getting busy in the next thing and hoping others will calm down, that method of dealing with my sin does not really work. How do I know this is the truth, . . . personal experience. All sin matters to a holy God.
David thinks, “I know my sins and they won’t go away. They wear on me. I think about them sub-consciously and I can’t get rid of them.” Have you had times when a relentless “cloud on a string” followed you day after day? It didn’t go away, did it? David’s key in dealing with the mess he was in, was acknowledging that his sin was not only against a man but also against God. Confession to others we have sinned against and asking their forgiveness is important. But David also confessed what he had done was wrong in God’s sight, the only one who’s sight ultimately matters.
As we reflect on our own journey with the Lord during these days of the Lenten season, are we cognizant that the sin in our lives, while at times is against other people, is also ultimately against God? Is confession to the Lord for having sinned against him also a part of our prayer? It was so with David. In his words, “against you, you only, have I sinned.” David makes clear that he adopts God’s view of his wrongdoing. As we deal with tempting situations, looking at them from God’s viewpoint, is a great clarifier. Since all sin is against God, he is the only one who can solve our unsolvable problem. He alone paid the penalty. His forgiveness is the one that counts the most.
God of compassion, you are slow to anger and full of mercy, welcoming sinners who return to you with penitent hearts. Receive in your loving embrace all who come home to you. We confess that we have been wayward children. We have disobeyed your commands; our ears have been deaf to your call; our hearts have been cold to your love. In thought, in word, and in deed we have hurt others and dishonored your name. Receive us yet again as your beloved children, not because we are worthy, but for the sake of him who loved us and gave himself for us. Amen. —The Worship Sourcebook, p.562, adapted Daniel Sharp
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
Some thoughts:
What words of pleading. Mercy is not something to be assumed nor guaranteed. Control of the situation is gone. The penitent has nothing to offer. Having been responsible for carrying out a murder, King David pours out this confession to God. In pleading for mercy, he appeals to God’s own character of unfailing love and great compassion. Though David was guilty of a treacherous crime, his past walk with God had shown him God’s character firsthand. It is to this character of God that he appeals in three different ways. He asked to have his sin dealt with. Blot out my transgressions, wash away all my iniquity, cleanse me from my sin. He places no blame elsewhere. David’s words were “my transgressions,” “my iniquity”, and “my sin.” He took full ownership of his past actions. I am not sure how much we realize the significance of God’s character of mercy as shown toward us. We live because God is merciful not wishing anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). How easy it is to assume God’s mercy, not realizing the heavy price paid by God to make mercy toward humans possible.
Our sin is not something that goes away nor is it anything we can remove ourselves. Notice David’s choice of words. It is God who has to blot, wash, and cleanse out of love and compassion for the sinner to be freed from the weight of their sin. Yet, how many people continue to carry their past sin, or the sins of generations past even as part of their identity. David will have none of it. In this prayer David is learning to be merciful himself.
In an almost incomprehensible way, we see this “unfailing love” and “great compassion” of this psalm played out in the Jesus’ embrace of the hard wood of the cross as he takes ownership of all of our sins and the sins of the whole world as he expresses mercy toward a fallen and sinful world. As a result, God has shown us mercy and blotted, washed away, and cleansed us from our sins. Thanks be to God! Let us show God’s mercy toward those around us and may it be part of our character.
Music: “What Wondrous Love Is This?” Robert Shaw Chamber Singers
Prayer: Forgive them all, O Lord: our sins of omission and our sins of commission; the sins of our youth and the sins of our riper years; the sins of our souls and the sins of our bodies; our secret and our more open sins; our sins of ignorance and surprise, and our more deliberate and presumptuous sins; the sins we have done to please ourselves and the sins we have done to please others; the sins we know and remember, and the sins we have forgotten; the sins we have striven to hide from others and the sins by which we have made others offend; forgive them all for his sake, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, and now stands at thy right hand to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. —John Wesley, 1703-1791
“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free! 2 Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.
3 “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David. 4 See how I used him to display my power among the peoples. I made him a leader among the nations. 5 You also will command nations you do not know, and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey, because I, the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.”
6 Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. 7 Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
Some thoughts:
This pericope is so rich in so many ways. Once again, notice the verbs God uses. We are urged to come, to listen, to seek, to call, and to turn. Follow the sequence: come, there is no charge, it’s free; listen with your ears wide open and I will make a covenant with you and bless you; seek the Lord, you can find him; call, he’s right beside you, turn from your waysto the Lord, repent. You will be forgiven. You are deeply loved. Isaiah’s words paint a picture of the Messiah’s love.
Jesus fleshes out this Isaiah passage in John 4 with the woman at the well where he offers her living water . . . and grace is emphasized again. The Lord offers her wine and milk, more costly than water. His is living water, an offering of everlasting life. This gracious invitation of God to come to him recurs in Revelation 22:17 in very similar words. “Come, let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.”
In the second half of verse three through verse five, God reminds his people of the covenant he has made. As is typical in a suzerain covenant, the greater (God) reminds the lesser (his people) what he has already done on their behalf. It is an affirmation of what he has done and will do for them in the future. Isaiah urges the people to seek the Lord and be faithful to him “now while he is near.” Since the invitation will not always be open, it is important to act when God extends an invitation which continues in the present moment.
This passage of Scripture then concludes with two of the more interesting and insightful verses in the Bible. The Lord says very plainly, I don’t think like you think. You can’t even imagine in your wildest dreams the way I work. That’s comforting. Would we want a God who thinks like we do? No. We don’t want an equal; we want God to be God. He then gives us a metaphor. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than . . .” What God does, his plans and actions, and the way he thinks and operates are not comprehensible to us. All the people in the New Testament failed to understand Jesus’ mission until Pentecost. We cannot begin to grasp either his ways or his mind, yet he loves us, guides us, and forgives our petty ways. Humbling, isn’t it?
Music: “23” A Girl Named Tom (These are siblings. Growing up her brothers called her Tom!)
Prayer: You, O eternal Trinity, are a deep sea, into which the more I enter the more I find, and the more I find the more I seek. The soul cannot be satiated in your abyss, for she continually hungers after you, the eternal Trinity, desiring to see you with the light of your light. As the hart desires the springs of living water, so my soul desires to leave the prison of this dark body and see you in truth. —Catherine of Siena 1347-1386
25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Some thoughts:
Did you ever notice how as the last week of Jesus’ life approached; he remained locked in on the events immediately before him? He did not get pushed off course or rush or delay. He was in completely tuned to his Father’s will, rock solid. Isaiah records the Messiah “set his face like flint” and Luke picks up the same idea (Isa 50:7, Lk 9:51). Jesus did not shrink from what was before him. As the Passover neared, he told the disciples “the Son of Man would be handed over to be crucified.” He remained calm with a heavy heart, even as he washed the feet of the one who would betray him and the feet of his disciples who would run away at his arrest. He was composed in the present because he was connected intimately to the will of his Father and to God’s overall plan for restoring the whole created order.
Jesus was always realistic as he dealt with “the day’s troubles.” Make no mistake. Jesus had daily troubles! For example: Mary and Martha being mad at him for not coming sooner when Lazarus was sick or Peter telling him not to ever die. The local people from the synagogue where he grew up getting mad him and even trying to kill him when he told them who he was. The Pharisees calling him a liar and accusing him of being possessed by the devil! Yes, Jesus faced significant troubles from people who did not understand his mission.
His trust was not a “God will work everything out” or a “whatever happens, happens” mindset. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed earnestly hoping there might be another way. There wasn’t, and the Father sent an angel to minister and strengthen Jesus for the ordeal that lay ahead (Luke 22:43). One of the reasons I love and trust the Bible so much is that the Holy Spirit covered nothing up in guiding the writers as they wrote. Nothing is sugar-coated!
In this Lenten season, rather than being overwhelmed by the daily worries and all the things in our lives that need attention, trust the Lord one day at a time as we walk with the Savior through these days leading to the cross. Jesus bowed and submitted trusting everything to his Father’s care and will. Do you see how beautifully Jesus lived out in all circumstances what he preached in his Sermon on the Mount? We are to journey with Jesus in the same way. Set your “face like flint” and stay the course of faith in the Father.
Music: “Rock of Ages” James Ward (a beautiful different tune)
Prayer: Who can tell what a day may bring forth? Cause me therefore, gracious God, to live every day as if it were to be my last, for I know not but that it may be such. Cause me to live now as I shall wish I had done when I come to die. O grant that I may not die with any guilt on my conscience or any known sin unrepented of, but that I may be found in Christ, who is my only Savior and Redeemer. —Thomas á Kempis, (1380-1471)
(In case you thought written out prayers from centuries ago were irrelevant!)
19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
22 “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. 23 But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!
24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Some thoughts:
As we focus in on Jesus’ life as he heads toward the cross, we see more and more clearly how his life demonstrated the words he spoke. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth . . .” was played out in his words “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Jesus did not store up treasure on earth. He had no home, no retirement account, no investments, no transportation except walking, no educational degree of any sort. He stayed with friends. When he was killed, he had nothing other than the clothes he was stripped of. He possessed nothing! But what treasures he stored in heaven is glorious beyond our imagination; glory we will one day get to see!
A legitimate question to ask is “How much of my life (my time) is going into things or pursuits that are of little eternal consequence?” A few events can suck money dry in a very short time. Do you see in Jesus’ words, the point is not even the treasures, but once again, the location of the heart? The quality of the treasure is indicative of the quality of the heart. The character of the heart is central, not the treasure. It is for that heart’s affection that Jesus went to the cross. Where is your heart’s affection today?
Is the light in your eyes set on your treasures? If your eyes see the light of heavenly treasures your eyes are good. But we live in a secular world that thinks it is enlightened. It believes in its own wisdom, insight, and brilliance. It is a culture that arrogantly rejects God and biblical moral values. It lauds fame, earthly wealth, control, and power. Jesus’ words were never more true regarding our present world’s views. His words: “If the light you think you have [world] is actually darkness [and it certainly is!], how deep is that darkness [and it truly is dark]. How great is the need for the Savior.
Put as simple as possible, everyone has a choice—heavenly treasure which is eternal and God’s way, or earthly treasures, which are misleading, temporary, and limited to our days on earth. In truth, the latter worthless when you are in the grave, and the former brings great wealth both in your present time here on earth and in the world to come. As your financial planner, invest wisely. The returns are out of this world!
Prayer: May God support us all the day long, till the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done! Then in his mercy may he give us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at last. —John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
16 “And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. 17 But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. 18 Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
Some thoughts:
Fasting has long been a religious discipline in many faiths. In both the Jewish and Christian traditions it is often associated with repentance. But there are different kinds of fasts. We read in the Scriptures on special occasions of “fasting in sack cloth and ashes.” (David, Esther, Ninevites, Elijah, and Jonah.) Fasting was a part of the life of every major character in the Bible. The longing that comes within us because of a lack of food or water, speaks to us of our complete and utter dependence upon the Lord. The longing we have for that which is being purposefully denied easily transfers into a longing to be closer to God. Upon occasion, fasting can be a symbol of the discipline it takes to turn away from sin. As is the case with so many of the spiritual disciplines, the focus is on the condition of the heart. Have you noticed again and again how Jesus centers on the heart and shows disdain for any show of outward spirituality.
Fasting is not magical. It earns nothing. It does not obligate God to anything. It earns no “bonus points” with God, nor is it always necessarily an isolated, solitary act. Fasting sharpens the mind and spirit and quickens spiritual perception. Sometimes there are short total fasts for a day or more and on other occasions longer fasts. There may be fasts from specific foods, or perhaps choosing to eat only one meal a day for the specific purpose of being liberated from a fleshly habit or desire. Fasting of some sort is a traditional part of Lent from the early centuries of the church.
If this is a new area to you, it might be worth doing your own Bible study on fasting, and then perhaps doing a fast as an occasion arises. As Jesus points out, the whole purpose is to deepen one’s relationship with our heavenly Father. One’s overall physical health should definitely be taken into consideration before embarking on a fast and if necessary, check with one’s personal physician. (Sorry, this sounds like a commercial disclaimer!) From personal experience, I would highly recommend regular fasting . . . (I shouldn’t have said that, now I’ve lost my reward!)
This is a setting of Psalm 42 “As the Deer Pants” sung to a Latin text: “As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after thee.” Thought you would enjoy seeing what they are singing!
Prayer: Come now, little man turn aside for a while from your daily employment, escape for a moment from the tumult of your thoughts. Put aside your weighty cares, let your burdensome distractions wait, free yourself awhile for God and rest awhile in him. Enter the inner chamber of your soul, shut out everything except God and that which can help you in seeking him, and when you have shut the door, seek him. Now, my whole heart, say to God, “I seek your face, Lord, it is your face I seek.” —Anselm 1033-1109
Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. 10 May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today the food we need, 12 and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. 13 And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Some thoughts:
In Jesus’ teaching trilogy of living the Christian life of, giving, praying, and fasting, have you noticed two recurring words? “When you . . . give, pray, fast,” do it in private. Don’t advertise or make a production out of your spirituality. In today’s devotional, right after Jesus talked about the importance of praying, he gave us an example. Notice the similarities between the ancient Jewish prayer the Kaddish and the prayer he taught his disciples. The Kaddish originated during the first century. Jesus may well have known the Jewish prayer which developed not in synagogues, but in the house of study, the beit midrash. It is interesting that Jesus’ is teaching the disciples how to pray in response to their question to learn how to pray. Did you notice how he enlarged a bit on the forgiveness side of things? He knows how hard it is for people to forgive each other and then gives us an example. He begins, “Our Father in heaven . . .” He makes a point of reminding us of whose we are at the same time reminding us of the existence of another world we cannot see. Here is the Kaddish prayer of Jesus’ day.
Kaddish
Magnified and hallowed be His great Name in the world which He created according to His will.
May He establish His Kingdom in your lifetime and in your days, and in the lifetime of all the house of Israel speedily and in a near time. And say ye, Amen. May His great Name be blessed forever and to all eternity.
Perhaps it may be wise to think a little more carefully than we sometimes do in our approach to praying. We’ve all been in situations where someone’s public prayer seemed to be more clever than heartfelt. It might be that “God, we ask you to . . .” may not be the most thoughtful, respectful way to address our Creator. “God” is not meant as a punctuation mark. Notice the way Jesus addresses his Father in John chapter seventeen. He is always mindful of who he is and who his Father is. Certainly, there are times when a prayer is as short and urgent as “Help, Lord!” How we address our prayer can be a great reminder of the one to whom we are conversing. Though Jesus is our friend, he is also our Redeemer, our Savior, our Intercessor, our Master, which does not make us an equal. The Father is our Creator. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher. In his prayers, Jesus was always very aware of the Father/Son relationship. That kind of awareness is perhaps something we can tune our hearts to in our prayers. Just some things to think about,
Music: “The Lord’s Prayer” Andrea Bocelli
Prayer:
Play the Lord’s Prayer again and let Andrea’s voice be yours as you pray.
5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. 6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!
Some thoughts:
The Jews in Jesus’ day had frequent hours of public prayer at 9 AM in the morning and at 3 PM in the afternoon (Acts 3:1). The Pharisees made it a point to be seen prominently at those times. Jesus’ teaching here comes in this context. The original meaning of hypocrite was “actor.” Jesus is drawing our attention to one’s motives in praying. The Pharisees’ hypocritical prayer has the appearance of reality but is only that. No authentic prayer is happening, just babbling words. Jesus makes clear that words and pretense do not make a prayer. God is not impressed by the volume of words, tone of voice, or anything else when we pray. What he does see is our heart motivation. Do we genuinely care about those things for which we are praying, or are we simply moving through our check list? God is not affected by what others think of our praying nor even by what we think of our prayer. In truth we are praying to someone who knows our heart’s concern and our thoughts before we utter them. I’m reminded in my public praying, that I am talking to God, not conveying news, giving advice to those listening to me pray, explaining to God what he already knows, or telling God what I think he should do. God does not need my or your advice!
Again in a simple, beautiful way Jesus simply comments “when you pray.” “When” is a word of action, a word of time. It signals the beginning of an event. So in Jesus’ saying “when,” his full expectation is that prayer is a regular part of a Christin’s daily life. Maybe you want to keep (or start) a prayer list or a prayer journal. While interceding for others is an important part of prayer, don’t neglect adoration, confession, and thanksgiving. Then there is the part of prayer I most often forget, neglect, or rush through . . . that of listening to God. Could one of our goals during this Lenten season be to cultivate time to listen to God if that is not a normal practice? Simply be quiet and listen. How can we converse when we never listen?
In prayer we are turning to God in dependency. There are a great many examples of prayer in Scriptures to guide us along. (Col 1:9-14; Phil 1:3-11; Dan 9:1-19; John 17) Maybe during these forty days you’ll want to build a collection of all the “prayers” you can find in Scripture. Pray them. Study them. Diagram the prayers—you know, like you had to do in high school English class! You will be surprised at what you learn about praying from the saints in the Scriptures. Remember, “your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!”
Music: “Open the Eyes of My Heart” Duffley
Prayer: Lord Jesus, our Intercessor, I open my heart to you, to see as you see. May I be quiet and listen to your voice. May I be obedient to what I hear. May my prayer life with you multiply many times throughout this day. I ask you to bring things to my mind during the day that need prayer. May I be free and recognize those opportunities to pray as I go through the mornings, afternoons, and evenings of our lives. In all of these actions, may you receive glory. Thank you for praying for me continually. I pray these things in your tender name. Amen. —Daniel Sharp
2 When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. 3 But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 4 Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.
Some thoughts:
Notice the simplicity of Jesus’ words above. Most have only one syllable and many have four or fewer letters. His message couldn’t be clearer, the Jesus’ way—profound teaching with uncomplicated words. Lent is often marked by a renewed focus on some of the simple disciplines which demonstrate faith. Christianity expresses itself in actions. Actions demonstrate that the message has registered (cf. Shema: to hear, one’s actions proved one had heard).
Giving to the needy is one of those simple actions that is done not to buy God’s favor or earn salvation. It is done simply to live out one’s relationship with the heavenly Father. Giving to the needy is what Christians do. Jesus was clear. He didn’t say “if you give to the needy,” but rather “when you give to the needy.” Have you noticed that is exactly what he did his whole life? We are the “needy” who continually benefit from his immense giving. Giving is a window into the heart. Generosity is at the heart of God so it makes sense that believers would reflect the same spirit and be generous toward others.
But what about this business of “he will reward you?” While we may think such an idea less than spiritual, Jesus doesn’t, for he said the Father sees everything and rewards accordingly. People don’t do meaningless acts for no reason. It would be very odd if there were consequences for acting badly, but no consequences for good acts or vice versa. Justice requires punishment for bad behavior and reward for good behavior. Humans are moral beings. Jesus’ way of thinking is explicit. But are rewards a motivation for giving? Jesus is most clear that a humble, quiet heart is central as expressed in his right/left hand reference.
So our question is how, when, and where do you give to the needy? God will guide us. Perhaps volunteer or lend financial support to one of the various Christian humanitarian agencies. Put together a “Grace Bag” in your car. In the bag you might have a toothbrush and toothpaste, a little bottle of shampoo, a roll of toilet paper, a bottle of water, a bar of soap, some baby wipes, a can of beans with a pop top and plastic spoon. Then when you see a homeless person, you’ll have something you can give to them. Be extra generous when you tip at a restaurant. Too often I’ve heard from those who work in restaurants that Christians are lousy tippers, especially after church on Sunday!
After all, nothing we have is truly ours. Even the ability to “earn” anything is a gift from God. The capacity to create is likewise a gift from God. You see, we are the needy ones and God gives so lavishly to us. Have you noticed that Jesus has never boasted on what he’s done to bring salvation to the needy. He was outward focused. Jesus perfectly modeled the last two verses.
Hymn: “Take My Life and Let it Be” Norton Hall Band
Prayer: Lord Jesus, our Sustainer and Provider, help us to be your hands and feet to those in need. Tune our hearts to your own generous heart that we may see as you see and do something about it as you guide. Thank you for coming to us in our great need. You are our only hope and salvation. May we bring hope, the hope found in you, to those around us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure, [exodus] which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.
Some thoughts:
We have mentioned in previous writings there is not a word or phrase wasted in the Scriptures. Have you ever wondered why it was “eight days later” and why Luke made a point of putting that phrase in Scripture? (Matthew and Mark say it was six days. They counted only full days whereas Luke counted parts of days. Luke also gives us more detail than either Matthew or Mark.) Why not “four days later” or “two weeks later?” Numbers are significant in Scripture. Numbers often have symbolic meaning in Jewish thought. The number seven is related to Creation and the Sabbath. The number eight is the perfect number of completion. For instance, the Tabernacle was dedicated in an eight-day celebration. So when Luke writes that it was eight days after Jesus had told the disciples that some of them would not die before they had seen the Kingdom of God, it signifies the coming completion of Jesus’ ministry on earth. Jesus was raised from the dead on the eighth day.
Peter, James, and John went with Jesus to a mountain top to pray. As happened later in the Garden of Gethsemane, these same three again fell asleep as Jesus prayed. W and saw Jesus’ body in a glorified state and audibly heard God the Father speak to Jesus from within an engulfing a cloud, “This is my Son, my Chosen One. Listen to him.” Joining them on the mountain were Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets. While the trio of disciples were privy to a conversation among Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, the truth is, they fell asleep and missed the whole thing. Can you imagine being there? These two Old Testament prophets talked with Jesus about his “exodus”, (yes, that is the word) from this world. Moses had first-hand experience with an exodus and the redemption of Israel from the bondage of slavery. Jesus’ “exodus” redeemed all of creation from the bondage of slavery to sin. The men also talked about what shortly lay ahead in Jerusalem. Jesus was about to fulfill completely and permanently the Law (Moses) and all that the prophets had foretold (Elijah-representing all the Old Testament prophets).
As the conversation came to an end, the disciples woke up just soon enough to get glimpses of the Old Testament saints. The completion of Jesus’ journey to bring redemption was nearing an end and God the Father once again audibly affirmed Jesus’ mission. Jesus then told the disciples not to tell anyone what they had seen until after he was raised from the dead.
As these disciples learned, traveling close to Jesus puts us off center at times. Rather than speaking up and moving into some action when we don’t understand or know what to do, the Father’s words were to hold still, be quiet, and listen to my Son. Don’t substitute activity and talking for listening to Jesus, a life-long daily endeavor.
Music: “La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ” Messiaen (1:50:50)
Prayer: As long as Thou art present with us, O Thou whom our soul loveth, we are in the light; all is brightness, all is sweetness. We discourse with Thee, live with Thee and rest with Thee. Arise in our hearts; make Thy light to shine in darkness as a perfect day. Amen. —Henry Vaughan (1622-1695)
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Some thoughts:
Part of what happens during the season of Lent is that of opening anew our hearts and lives to God, our Creator, asking him to show us what things in our lives need attention. Just after describing his anger and disgust with those enemies who defy God, David turns the spotlight on himself with a humble prayer. David concludes this Psalm with the kind of transparency that resulted in God saying of David, “He is a man after my own heart.” Could such a thing be said about you or me? (By the way, these two verses would be an excellent daily prayer.) Note David was more interested in God’s perspective on his life than he was in justifying himself before the Lord. Such a perspective takes courage, faith, and a deep love and trust in the Savior.
Most of the time when speaking of the heart, the Scriptures are not referring to the physical heart. In the language of the Bible and in Hebrew thought, the heart (leb) is the seat of emotions, thoughts, actions, courage, faith, and will. The heart is the core of one’s being, the essence of the person. Your heart shows who you are as a person, what is important to you, and what you believe.
With these things in mind, it is interesting that the Lord proclaims to the people of Judah,
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)
No wonder when we hear, “I just followed my heart” trouble often follows! Countless human relationships have come apart because someone did just that. We can see more clearly the wisdom of David asking the Lord to search his own heart. He doesn’t trust himself, nor should we.
Some of us might be afraid to be that honest with God, because perhaps we don’t know him that well. We’d be embarrassed at what he’d see, as though he doesn’t already see. God looking into our hearts is not for his benefit, it’s for ours. David stepped outside of himself and gave God free rein to look in every nook and cranny of his life because he was in close communion with his Savior. He wanted to know God’s heart. How honorable and transparent are our thoughts? Have courage today and ask God to point out any “wicked way” in you. Be quiet and wait. He will show you. Then ask him to lead you in the way everlasting. Put simply, ask him to lead you in the path he has for your life as you follow his heart.
Music: “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” Moses Hogan Chorale
Prayer: O Lord, the house of my soul is narrow; enlarge it, that you may enter in. It is ruinous; O repair it! It displeases your sight; I confess it, I know. But who shall cleanse it, to whom shall I cry but to you? Cleanse me from my secret faults, O Lord, and spare your servant from strange sins. — St. Augustine, 354-430 AD
19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers! 20 They blaspheme you; your enemies misuse your name. 21 O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you? Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you? 22 Yes, I hate them with total hatred, for your enemies are my enemies.
Some thoughts:
Have you ever noticed the endless scandals, cheating, greediness, arrogance, and power struggles that happen in pre-school do not end there? I can easily identify with David’s voice in the words of today’s pericope. I confess, I get angry when people are defiant of God, mock faith, and ridicule the Bible in a hubristic attempt to defame God and his character. Likewise, I would get angry if someone defamed my wife or my children. You don’t speak ill of family, mine or God’s. But when it comes to God, I realize the critic is completely dead in spirit and my anger turns to pity that a person could have such a dark heart. But this callous disregard for God has been in evidence since the beginning of creation. Enter Cain.
But what is also true upon occasion, is that sometimes the outbursts of bitterness or crass sarcasm is the result of the Holy Spirit bringing conviction as the person is involved in a spiritual struggle. We have only to remember the Apostle Paul’s journey to Damascus.
In contrast to my anger and frustration, God has pity and patience, not willing that any should perish. “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) I confess God is far more gracious than I. But then he knows what eternally awaits those who reject him. In the meantime, Jesus did something about the human alienation from God and each other. He left the glory of a perfect heaven, of perfect communion with the Father and Holy Spirit, of perfect holiness and came to a world filled with evil, sin, and arrogance, to a place of estranged and broken relationships, and to a place of the profane disregard for the sacred. Why? He made the great exchange to make possible the restoration of God’s entire created order.
We see here again why Christmas cannot be celebrated simply as the birth of Jesus. The nativity is part of a rescue mission. We journey with Jesus through the slough of human hopelessness to the victory on the cross. Look for someone today to whom you can give a word of hope and encouragement. Speak up on behalf of the Savior, it may change their future.
Prayer: Teach us, Lord, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for any reward save that of knowing that we do your will. Amen. —Ignatius Loyola, 1491-1556
17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! 18 I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!
Some thoughts:
During the season of Lent, we want to reflect and walk with Christ on the road that leads to Calvary. Time and time again as the disciples traveled the hills of Judea with Jesus, they were surprised by what he said and did. Here David writes of the joys of reflecting on God’s thoughts. He notes the overwhelming scope of the mind of God. The Scriptures are filled with God’s thoughts. The Holy Spirit guides us in our thoughts and brings God’s thoughts to our minds. Wouldn’t you think people would want to spend time conversing with God seeking to find his mind? He has written down in our language many, many of his thoughts to tell us about himself. Maybe take some time with the Scriptures and write down those truths about God. The first thing you notice from this psalm is how very personal God is. You are not one of billions to God. You are known intimately by the one who made you. God knows you better than you know you. Some versions of the Bible translate verse seventeen as “How precious are your thoughts about me O God. They cannot be numbered!”
What would it be like to have a running conversation throughout the day with God asking him what he thinks about various things we encounter? Don’t you ever wonder about all the conversations the disciples had with Jesus that are not recorded in Scripture? John’s gospel gave us much information not found in the Synoptics. John even said there were so many more things that Jesus did and said that are not recorded. Remember John was one of the three disciples closest to Jesus and also the caretaker of his mother Mary following his death, resurrection, and ascension.
I think this idea of “what is on God’s mind in the present circumstance I am facing” is what David is getting at because he writes of his longing to live throughout the day in the presence of the Lord. Did you ever notice how close Jesus was to his heavenly Father and how often he prayed to the Father during the day and night, especially during the Jesus’ last hours on earth? He relished time alone with the Father. Perhaps a model for us? As you go through the day today, converse with the Lord, asking him for his perspective on those things you run into, even when you are buying lettuce at the grocery store! You may even have to turn the car radio off on the way home. He doesn’t usually compete with noise.
An Evening Prayer: Almighty God, in this hour of quiet I seek communion with thee. From the fret and fever of the day’s business, from the world’s discordant noises, from the praise and blame of men, from the confused thoughts and vain imaginations of my own heart, I would now turn aside and seek the quietness of Thy presence. All day long have I toiled and striven; but now, in stillness of heart and in the clear light of thine eternity I would ponder the pattern my life has been weaving.
—John Baillie from A Diary of Private Prayer, p.27.
13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. 15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
Some thoughts:
David has written one of the most powerful passages in all of Scripture regarding a human’s worth and uniqueness in being made in the image of God. In a time when building self-esteem, self-worth, and personal identity are so prevalent, we see in the Scriptures our true selves from God’s perspective. In marked contrast to secular cultural values, David directs our individual identity in a wholly different direction. We see self-worth in the context of “God-worth”. Did you notice we are made of both body and soul? We are made of flesh and spirit. Jesus was human flesh and spirit. Yes, we are made in the image of God with a soul. God’s description is the starting place for all human’s identity. An identity beginning with the self is bankrupt from the start for we are commencing with a deeply flawed product! We can all observe the troubled results of the secular approach to self-identity and the value of human life.
God didn’t make a mistake when he made you. He knew you before the beginning of creation and long before anyone had any idea who you were or what you’d be like (Eph 1:4). People are not all the same and some of us live with greater challenges than others, but we are all wondrous works of God’s loving creative hand. Our personhood and true identity come through God as we are in communion with him. Though we may not see it, there are no mistakes along the way. God’s hand was on us from our conception through our last day on this earth. Do you see here God’s commitment to you as a unique person. (You are not special. If everyone is special, then no one is. Rather, you are unique, there is no one in the entire world like you.) This uniqueness is what keeps life so interesting! Put your trust in the one who knows every day of your life on this earth. Stay close to him. His love for you is great, great enough to die for you.
Music: “O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus” Simon Khorolskiy
Prayer: Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing that you have made, and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent. Create and make us new and contrite hearts, that, lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, we may receive from you, the God of all mercy, perfect forgiveness and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. —Thomas Cranmer, 1489-1556
7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! 8 If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. 9 If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, 10 even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me. 11 I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night— 12 but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to you.
Some thoughts:
Why is it that we want to avoid being confronted with the truth? We somehow imagine that if we just hide, we can avoid facing the reality of who we are or what we’ve done. Here David writes so disarmingly truthful, reminding us that we cannot escape God’s presence nor his knowledge of us. We played “hide and seek” as children but for some people, that little game has continued with God. We are instinctively material thinkers, and our common reaction is such. We are often more comfortable talking about things and events than we are talking about our inner self. We are perhaps more “human doings” than human beings. Our prayers often reflect more on material concerns.
Is there some aspect of your life that you are avoiding talking with God about? Perhaps you are choosing to ignore it. After all, if you are busy with other things, maybe God will forget about it, or at least you will . . . but you won’t. David reminds us that no amount of finagling or neglect on our part makes things go away. Adam and Eve tried hiding from God and it didn’t work then, and it hasn’t worked for anyone since! Not even the dark of night can hide us for God sees and hears everything. Afterall, wherever we go mentally or physically, “God is there.”
Our comfort is that God sees and cares about every part of our lives and isn’t shocked by the way we live, though sometimes it grieves him. In this portion of the psalm, David is helping us see beyond places in the world to get away from God. God is Spirit and it is not possible to escape or hide from a spiritual being, which is why you can’t hide from yourself.
The season of Lent is a time of penitence, urging us to come before our Creator and come clean as we journey with Jesus on his path to the cross. We are challenged to recognize the heavenly world that surrounds us and to live in that world as well as this earthly material one. Is there something in your life that needs God’s attention, rather, that needs your attention? Do you see God’s tender love and care for you expressed in this passage? David has given us a wonderful perspective in this psalm to help us live into what is true. If you are in the dark or running from God, you can’t get away. He knows right where you are and loves you. His hand will guide you and his strength will support you.
Suggested Lenten Reading: C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters (also recorded on YouTube by the actor John Cleese) www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBxpcGfznos
Music: “Psalm 139” Sons of Korah
Prayer: Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name; through Christ our Lord.
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. 2 You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. 3 You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. 4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. 5 You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!
Some thoughts:
Do you ever get nervous when someone comes too close to you? I don’t mean stare but rather someone who knows too much at our deepest level, you know, the parts we hide from everyone. Most of us are a little uncomfortable because deep down we know what’s in us at the core and we’d rather no one find out what those unseemly parts are. Only God knows us at this level. As we read the first five verses, we see a picture of transparency. It is fair to say there is no one on earth who is as “. . . familiar with all my ways.”
We are not even familiar with all our ways! We do too many things without thinking! Yet we have a God who cares about us and knows who we are. He is aware of our physical movement, all the things we think, where we rest, what all our habits are. He knows what we will say before we say it. He protects us and guards us as we move in our paths. My guess is if we could always visually see God’s nearness to us, we would be shocked! We tend to forget the presence of the Holy Spirit. Yet, we have a forgiving God who absolutely cares and is committed to us despite our failures.
David’s response is that this is wonderful news. Is it yours? In this season of Lent where we reflect on our lives and on what Jesus has accomplished in his journey to the cross, we need not carry the baggage of guilt and shame. We’ve all met people who insisted on carrying years and even generations of baggage and shame for something that happened to them or someone in their family a long time ago. That baggage is actually part of their current identity, perhaps causing them to hang on to it out of fear as to who they really are. That obsessive self-focus is debilitating. That person may even be us. God has laid his loving hand upon us, not in anger but as a tender Father who loves his children. Read the passage again noting the verbs associated with God’s knowledge of you . . . searched, know, perceive, discern, hem me in, laid your hand. If you ever wonder who you really are, it would be a good idea to ask God to show you. Our identity comes from him and through him . . . and, he’s right beside and in you! And his hand is on you. How wonderful to know and feel the hand of God.
18 Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. 19 These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.
20 But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you his Spirit, and all of you know the truth. 21 So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies. 22 And who is a liar? Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. 23 Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24 So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. 25 And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us.
26 I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. 27 But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.
28 And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame.
Some thoughts:
The above passage of Scripture was written by the apostle John in the later years of his life. John, along with the other apostles, fled Jerusalem in the late 60’s A.D. due to persecution of the Christians. John eventually settled in what is modern day western Turkey. The letter was written to combat the apostasy that was seeking to pull Christians into heresy. Gnosticism (the belief that Jesus was more of a phantom being and did not have human flesh and blood) was alive and real at the time. The spiritual was real, and material was bad, so what you did with your body was of no consequence, hence debauchery reigned.
What does it mean when John writes, “Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist?” Of supreme, lethal importance is that Jesus is believed as being the Messiah (Christ). Being a moral teacher, a model person, a brilliant preacher is not enough, nor was it his claim regarding himself. In many societies today the latter is the perception of the historical Jesus. He is viewed as a good person to emulate. The world in which we live, wants to leave Jesus in that category. When he claims to be God and deal with individual and corporate sin, then it is something else and he becomes a problem to society. He needs to stay in his place when we can control him so says the world. Jesus’ brand of Christianity is annoying to these people.
Our day is not all that different from John’s day. Christianity is definitely under attack with believers being persecuted all over the world. The culture we live in is decidedly anti-Christian. Biblically held moral views are ridiculed and even characterized in some quarters as “hate speech.” John here urges his readers (and us) to hold fast to the truth of the Scriptures, to be guided by the Holy Spirit, and to remain in fellowship with Christ. The truth of God is not relative. It is written in stone and blood.
Friends do not be pushed or intimidated into modifying nor abandoning the truth. God’s word is clear and certain. The world does come to an end. Christ is coming back. We want to be found living in his righteousness rather than in the “enlightened cultural” ever-shifting view of truth and relevance. As we have said on other occasions, eternity is a long time to be wrong.
Music: “Guide Me Oh Thou Great Jehovah” by Katherine Jenkins
Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault them. Give me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to Thee, “Speak for thy servant heareth.” Let me hear Thee speaking in my heart. Let me get used to the sound of Thy Voice, that its tones may be familiar when the sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be the music of Thy speaking Voice. Amen. —A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, p.83
19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Some thoughts:
When a passage begins “And so…” it behooves us to look at what lies in the previous writing. The entire book of Hebrews up to this point has been explaining and expounding in every way the superiority of Jesus Christ over the Old Covenant. Step by step the author has addressed each of the most significant points of the Jewish law. More than any other book in the New Testament, Hebrews has shown how Jesus is the bridge, the fulfillment of everything in the Old Testament and specifically how the Old and New Testaments are connected in him. Jesus is our High Priest today as you read this praying on our behalf.
In times past OT priests sprinkled the blood of the sacrificed animal for their own sins, which they had to do repeatedly. Not so with Jesus. This High Priest sprinkled his own, perfect blood. Therefore, our consciences have been sprinkled with the perfect blood of our High Priest. It does not need to be repeated.
So if we’ve been forgiven, why did Jesus include in the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us”? Think about this. Do you sin even though you are a Christian? Yes, of course. You are not perfect. You have an old nature, though defeated is not yet completely dead! Sin separates intimacy with our Father in heaven. Confession frees the conscience of guilt and restores closeness with our heavenly Father.
When our oldest son was a little boy, he had done something wrong. His heart was visibly and obviously very heavy with guilt. When we asked him what he had done, he confessed with tears. We hugged him and forgave him. His countenance and spirit changed immediately. His load of guilt was lifted. His comment, “Daddy, I’m happy again!” His response was biblical. Confession cleanses a guilty conscience and brings joy to the heart. (We also promised him we would never bring “it” up again. Reminding one of past failures is not what God does, which resulted in a Sharp family rule, which we occasionally had to be reminded of!) The cleansing blood of Jesus makes all this possible. Hallelujah!
15 “Then Aaron must slaughter the first goat as a sin offering for the people and carry its blood behind the inner curtain. There he will sprinkle the goat’s blood over the atonement cover and in front of it, just as he did with the bull’s blood. 16 Through this process, he will purify the Most Holy Place, and he will do the same for the entire Tabernacle, because of the defiling sin and rebellion of the Israelites. 17 No one else is allowed inside the Tabernacle when Aaron enters it for the purification ceremony in the Most Holy Place. No one may enter until he comes out again after purifying himself, his family, and all the congregation of Israel, making them right with the Lord.
Hebrews 9:7-14
7 But only the high priest ever entered the Most Holy Place, and only once a year. And he always offered blood for his own sins and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 By these regulations the Holy Spirit revealed that the entrance to the Most Holy Place was not freely open as long as the Tabernacle and the system it represented were still in use.
9 This is an illustration pointing to the present time. For the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciences of the people who bring them. 10 For that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies—physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established.
11 So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 12 With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.
13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.
Some thoughts:
Think of one phrase that summarizes the entire Old Testament. What did you come up with? How about “Again and again?” What about the New Testament? Maybe, “Once for all time?” Such a phrase comes pretty close to summing up the redemption story. Leviticus gives us the instructions for Aaron, the High Priest. Combined with the Hebrews passage, we can see why it was necessary for Aaron to offer sacrifices over and over. His practice of sprinkling blood in the Most Holy Place was sufficient ceremonially on a temporary basis. But in terms of eradicating sin, it was clearly ineffective because the blood was sprinkled again and again. If you could wash your hands with “eternal soap,” you’d never have to wash them again. Such is not the case!
In the worship of God, humans on earth seek to commune with God in the heavenly dimension. Since the endeavor is heavenly in its nature, the place of worship cannot have earthly sinful human limitations. The desert Tabernacle was but a “shadow” of the heavenly realm. Aaron was the special God-appointed shadow of what was to come. Because our ultimate God-appointed High Priest entered the heavenly Tabernacle with his own sinless, perfect blood as the sacrificial Lamb of God, his offering was perfectly accepted by the Father witnessed by the rending of the Temple curtain top to bottom, the Father’s debt-cancelling signature.
It means that all our sin and guilt have actually been fully cleansed. We have moved from earthly “shadow” of reality to heavenly reality. Since the sacrifice was perfect and accepted by God as payment in full for all sin, it needs never to be repeated. It is a “once for all time” offering. “Once” is very clear as is “for all.” Neither word allows for exception. There is no time it is not in effect. In other words, it is eternal, beyond time itself. All of your and my sin has already been paid for. For those trusting in Christ Jesus, all the sin in their life right up to their dying breath has been covered already. The righteous of Jesus has been imputed to them. There is no condemnation. Believers do not have to wonder, “am I good enough.” Simple answer is no, but our High Priest is, and we are embraced by our Father. We have that certainty before death so there is no fear in death. Our God’s love for his children is overwhelming. He has done everything in drawing us to himself from the very beginning. Christianity is the only religion or faith where people know their standing with God before they die.
Music: “God So Loved the World” Claire College, Oxford John Stainer
Almighty God, in this hour of quiet I seek communion with thee. From the fret and fever of the day’s business, from the world’s discordant noises, from the praise and blame of men, from the confused thoughts and vain imaginations of my own heart, I would now turn aside and seek the quietness of Thy presence. All day long have I toiled and striven; but now, in stillness of heart and in the clear light of thine eternity I would ponder the pattern my life has been weaving. May there fall upon me now, O God, a great sense of Thy power and Thy glory, so that I may see all earthly things in their true measure. To Thee, O God, be glory for ever. Amen.
—John Baillie from A Diary of Private Prayer, p.27
21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel together and said to them, “Go, pick out a lamb or young goat for each of your families, and slaughter the Passover animal. 22 Drain the blood into a basin. Then take a bundle of hyssop branches and dip it into the blood. Brush the hyssop across the top and sides of the doorframes of your houses. And no one may go out through the door until morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, the Lord will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down.
24 “Remember, these instructions are a permanent law that you and your descendants must observe forever. 25 When you enter the land the Lord has promised to give you, you will continue to observe this ceremony. 26 Then your children will ask, ‘What does this ceremony mean?’ 27 And you will reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. And though he struck the Egyptians, he spared our families.’” When Moses had finished speaking, all the people bowed down to the ground and worshiped.
I Corinthians 5:6-8 6 Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. 8 So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth.
Some thoughts:
Yesterday we spoke something of the significance of blood. In the above description from the book of Exodus, we begin to see the function of blood in God’s plan of redeeming and covering the sin of his people. Have you wondered why the blood was placed over the door posts of the homes? Why specifically there? You will recall that the Lord told Cain that “sin couches at the door.” The thought conveyed here gives the image of danger and or sin lurking at doorways. City gates were also places of vulnerability. The doorway marked the entrance into not only the home, but into the life of the family. On the doorway of the Jewish home was the statement of faith, confidence, and trust in God as contained in the mezuzah, a small box containing the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).Putting blood on the top and sides of the doorpost acted as a covering for the family. The blood of the lamb caused the death angel to pass over the family in that home. They were “covered.” The entryway to their home was safe.
You are aware that the lamb was to be perfect and without blemish. It was chosen from a flock and lived with the family in their home for the four days prior to its being slain as the Passover lamb. The idea was that the whole family would become personally attached to the lamb. It’s death and shed blood would be far more personal as the lamb vicariously took the place of God’s judgment on them. The same applies with the Lamb of God. Jesus is our personal Passover Lamb.In Corinthians, Paul ties Christ’s death directly to the Passover lamb. The church in Corinth had fallen into corruption and grievous moral sin. Paul urged the people to deal with sin in their church as leaven was dealt with at Passover. Leaven, a mark of sin, was to be put away. The early church saw Christ as the fulfillment of the Exodus Passover. Jesus was seen as the new getting rid of leaven in the home is still a part of Passover celebrations in today’s Jewish homes. As with Moses, the Prophet, as the fulfillment of Aaron the high priest, as the sacrificial personal Passover lamb whose blood on the doorposts brought salvation, and finally as the ultimate Redeemer from bondage and slavery to sin, Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Suggested Lenten reading or listening: C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce also available on YouTube as well. Fascinating reading as you journey by bus from hell to the outskirts of heaven! You’ll gain, in a delightful way, insight into human nature and the leaven within.
Prayer: Almighty God, because of Christ’s blood, do not hold against us, poor sinners that we are, any of the sins we do or the evil that constantly clings to us. Forgive us just as we are fully determined, as evidence of your grace in us, to forgive our neighbors. By ourselves we are too weak to hold our own even for a moment. And our sworn enemies—the devil, the world, and our own flesh—never stop attacking us. And so, Lord, uphold us and make us strong with the strength of your Holy Spirit, so that we may not go down to defeat in this spiritual struggle, but may firmly resist our enemies until we finally win the complete victory. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. – from The Worship Sourcebook, p. 565-566
12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord! 13 But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 “This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord. This is a law for all time.
Romans 5:6-11
6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
Some thoughts:
Lent can become a season where we become extremely self-focused. What am I doing with my life? What am I “giving up for Lent?” (Giving something up is not the point of Lent.) While self-denial and introspection can certainly be beneficial and necessary in our walk with Christ, we dare not neglect or overlook the real significance of these days. What was the significance of the transaction between God and humans that was taking place during the days leading up to the death and resurrection of Christ? Some people have found the whole idea of a blood sacrifice very repulsive and yet it is central to the Christian faith. Over the next few days, we want to look a little more closely at the whole sacrificial process in order to gain a greater understanding of the depth of God’s love for his Son and his people as we head toward Holy Week.
To begin with, God is perfectly holy and perfectly just. I’m not sure we understand the significance since “holy” is a word seldom appearing in our society and perfect justice has escaped human beings. We are neither holy nor just, yet God desires communion and fellowship with his people, with you and me. You can easily see we have an enormous problem! God hates sin because its presence brings death, death to any relationship with the people he created in his own image. The wrath of God is poured out on sin. We want a God who expresses wrath toward sin. The alternative is a God who is indifferent toward his people and his world. “God’s wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil.” (J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p.151)
So, how did God go about solving the problem because humans are not capable nor in any kind of position to bridge the insurmountable chasm? As we dig a little deeper into the problem, we begin with blood because it is the source of life. No blood, no life. We learn in the book of Leviticus (17:11) that the “life is in the blood.” Perfect justice demands that sin be judged by God, the perfect Judge. The wages of sin is death. Death is caused by the shedding of blood. If God is going to deal justly with sin, then sin must die. Blood must be spilt and death itself must die. God’s justice is another expression of his love for you and for me. Remember, without the shedding of blood bringing death, there is no forgiveness of sin. Christians are people who live under the blood of Christ shed in their place. The holiness and justice of God is not compromised because of Jesus’ love for you and me and what he did on our behalf. Holiness and justice is imputed to God’s children.
Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding. But gracious Lord, may they bleed to the death. I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of their parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. —A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, p.31, adapted Dan Sharp
Scripture: Psalm 32:1-111 Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! 2 Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! 3 When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. 4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude
5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Interlude
6 Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment. 7 For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory. Interlude
8 The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. 9 Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”
10 Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord. 11 So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!
Some thoughts:
In keeping with the healthy reality of facing life and death head on, it is necessary to likewise face our own sin forthrightly for it is the reason we die in the first place. Honesty with repentance is one of the key themes of this season. Confessing involves facing our sin with courage, not making excuses, repenting, saying no to continued sinning, and resolving to resist the next time the situation arises, and it will. These four steps of recognize, regret, resolve, and refrain are what rabbis call Teshuva.
The word for “confess” in Greek is “homologeo,” meaning “same word.” In other words, to recognize my sin and confess is to agree with God’s perfect assessment of my situation. If God always agrees with me, I have a problem. I do not have the God of the Bible! Confessing is not a negotiation process with God! God does not need my explanation. I need to humble myself and bow before him. Repenting involves viewing our lives as God does.
David writes in the second verse of Psalm 32, “blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against him, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” What matters is not what you and I think about our own sin, but rather, what God thinks about it. The heart is deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). We are also reminded that deceiving ourselves about our sin does not bring blessing either. Keeping quiet about it, ignoring it, or pretending it didn’t happen or doesn’t exist, does not make it go away. Unrepentant sin eats at us continually. It is an osmosis that will not leave or dry out in time. It is more like a fungus!
In verse five David has had enough. He finally acknowledged his sin to the LORD and did not try to cover it up anymore. He said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And wonder of wonders, God forgave him (and us). In fact, God has already forgiven all our sin.
The result is a clear conscience, blessedness (being on the right road), lifted guilt, and protection. Look at what the result of repentance is (v.8-10). The Holy Spirit 1) instructs and teaches us as we move along this pilgrim path; 2) The Holy Spirit counsels us with his loving eye on us. Notice it is his loving eye on us. 3) We are not to be stubborn like animals that need to be driven and controlled. 4) Those people who reject God’s care and voice have a tough time. 5) God’s unfailing love surrounds those who trust him. What joy there is in repentance. Again, notice the emphasis is not on what we have done wrong, but on the joy and care God wants to shower on us.
When one of our boys was little and had misbehaved, he was not a happy boy. After he confessed and was punished for his actions, his words were, “Daddy, I’m happy now!” Oh, the joy of a forgiven heart. Jesus took our punishment and paid the penalty for our sins. In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress we see Christian, upon conviction coming to the place of repentance, cried out, “I perceive by the Book in my hand, that I am condemned to die, and after that to come to Judgment; and I find that I am not willing to do the first, nor able to do the second.” He saw his life as God did and began his pilgrimage of faith.
Music: “Miserere Mei Deus” Allegri, Voces8 k
The song is a Latin translation of Psalm 51 David’s psalm of confession.
Prayer: O Lord our God, grant us grace to desire you with our whole heart, that so desiring we may seek and find you, and so finding you, may love you, and loving you, may hate those sins from which you have redeemed us. –Anselm 1033-1109
12 While the Israelites were still in the land of Egypt, the Lord gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron: 2 “From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you. 3 Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household. 4 If a family is too small to eat a whole animal, let them share with another family in the neighborhood. Divide the animal according to the size of each family and how much they can eat. 5 The animal you select must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no defects.
Hebrews 9:13-15
13 Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. 14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.15 That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.
I Peter 1:18-20
18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.
Some thoughts:
When God instituted the sacrificial system, in his conversation with Moses, he was very specific about every detail. Have you ever wondered why? Elsewhere in the book of Hebrews the writer tells us that the earthly Tabernacle and worship is a copy, a shadow of the more perfect heavenly worship. If our time on earth is but a faint hint of heavenly reality, then every part of what we do and offer carries significance.
The sacrificial offering of a perfect lamb is of greater importance because the lamb represents more than just the lamb. The animal is a placeholder for individual human beings until the ultimate Sacrifice is made. Abel understood this when heoffered his best lamb from the flock to God in worship; his brother, Cain, who gave “some of his crops” played more loosely with God’s directive to his own demise (Gen 4:3). His casual offering reflected his heart attitude toward God.
Worshiping a holy, perfect God, it would seem, would require the most perfect offering humans could make, hence the perfect lamb without defect. Even though the flawless lamb was a valued placeholder, the sacrifice had to be repeated again and again because the sacrifice was “coming from a fallen world” in an offering to a holy God in heaven. The perfect sacrifice on behalf of humanity would have to originate from heaven, and at the same time, have a very earthly, human connection. There is but one Perfect Lamb, the Lamb of God. This sacrifice was perfectly efficacious, and because it was so, it need never be repeated. The price for human sin, and the sin of the whole world for all of time, has been paid in full. God has accepted the perfect sacrifice of his Son as evidenced by the torn veil in the Temple and the glorious resurrection. Glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
Music: “Rejoice Greatly” from Messiah, Sylvia McNair
Prayer: Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. —Jude 24 (Jesus’ earthly brother.)
Saturday, February 17Scripture: Genesis 3:8-13 8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.” 11 “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” 13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” Some thoughts: We mentioned yesterday, the first question in the Bible comes from the serpent, “Did God really say?” Then comes the Fall of humanity in Eve and Adam’s response and the entrance of sin and death into the world. On the heels of this first question comes the second question in the Bible, not surprisingly, it’s a question from God. Like the first question, it too is posed to every living human, and it is a question God asks you today. “Where are you?” These are two questions that need to be answered daily. The first query is important because it requires a knowledge of what God has said in the Scriptures, necessitating careful ongoing study of God’s word and one of the reasons for these devotionals. The second question needs to be answered with the implication from the Lord being, “Where are you in relation to me?” “Are you hiding from me?” “Are you ignoring me?” “Are you ashamed?” “Are you too busy to spend time interacting with me?” “Are you trusting me?” “Are you afraid of me?” “Are you enjoying our relationship?” Another way of dealing with this second question is simply, how transparent and healthy is my relationship with God. Now God knew full well where Adam and Eve were hiding. Adam answered the literal, physical question but the Lord went to the heart of the issue because the “Where are you?” was a heart question. The God/human relationship was now different. It had been severed. Then come more pointed questions from God. “Who told you that you were naked?” “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” God zeros in on the couple. And a final question to Eve, “What have you done?” The Lord was walking on a path in the Garden, a path he had created, a path of closeness. The three of them had been in communion and that relationship was now cut off resulting in an infinite eternal chasm. Adam and Eve were “off the path” and with them, the whole human race. Have you noticed in your own life when you have blown it, how quickly the Holy Spirit hits the bullseye in identifying our sin? Have you ever asked someone you love, when the two of you were experiencing difficulties, this same basic question, “Where are you?” “Where are we?” One of the themes of the season of Lent is that of spiritual self-examination in which we might ask ourselves, “Where am I with the Lord?” Am I where I was last year or am I growing closer and deeper in my journey? And like his relationship with Adam and Eve, the Father knows exactly where you are as you read this and is longing for close communion with you. The answers to these two questions “Did God say?” and “Where are you?” determine the path we take and whether we stay on the path. It’s a daily journey. Ask yourself these questions. (I would suggest that you might read one-half a chapter of Pilgrim’s Progress each day of Lent. If you begin today, read chapter one up to the entrance of Worldly Wisdom. Christian asks this very question, “What shall I do?” echoing God’s question to the pair, “What have you done?” Christian answers it by taking the pilgrimage journey of faith and heading down the path to the Celestial City.)Music: “If Ye Love Me” the King’s Singers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pCUBx0BzzUPrayer: O thou great Chief, light a candle in my heart, that I may see what is therein, and sweep the rubbish from thy dwelling place. —An African schoolgirl’s prayer, from Eerdmans’ Book of Famous Prayers, p.90 First Sunday in Lent, February 18Scripture: Exodus 12:1-5 12 While the Israelites were still in the land of Egypt, the Lord gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron: 2 “From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you. 3 Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household. 4 If a family is too small to eat a whole animal, let them share with another family in the neighborhood. Divide the animal according to the size of each family and how much they can eat. 5 The animal you select must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no defects.
3 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
Some thoughts:
This question of death is one which every person deals with at some point in their life. It is interesting to me that the serpent raised it as his first challenge to human beings. His sly question brought Adam and Eve to a subtle confrontation with the question of their own human mortality. Of course, we are faced with the same question, specifically our own mortality. As has been said, you and I are part the ultimate statistic, one in one die. On this cheery note we look at how we got into this situation because it was not always this way. In the plan of God, people are to live with him forever, but a human problem developed—though people do live forever, it’s a matter of destination.
Let’s trace how human death come about. Our passage contains the first question in the Bible by guess who? Right, the serpent, the ever-lying Satan. His words, “Did God really say?” And Eve’s and Adam’s response to that question is the beginning of a fatal problem that ends in human’s earthly demise. The focus of the serpent’s challenge was on the temporal, the immediate gratification at the expense of obedience and trust. But it is this same question from the serpent which comes to every person who has ever lived, sometimes in slightly different versions, but the bottom line is the same, “Can you trust what God says?” Death and trusting God’s word are intimately and eternally related.
Have you noticed that the devil tempted Jesus with the same sustenance question at the conclusion of the Savior’s forty days of fasting and prayer in the wilderness? “Jesus, can you trust God’s word? You’re hungry. You can turn this stone into something to eat right now. Exert a little independence.” Satan comes at us with the same question. In appealing to people’s pride, it has been a very effective question since creation and is still in widespread use!
To be sure, the resulting death separated our first parents from God. The previous intimacy was no more. But death’s devastating impact extended beyond each other, but to animals, and ultimately, to the earth itself. Paradise was gone, destroyed. Sin rules everywhere. Questioning God’s truthfulness is one of the deceiver’s methods toward his goal of separating humans from intimacy with God. Remember, that is always the purpose of the devil. Separation in that relationship brings eternal death, his hideous goal. Why should he care where people spend eternity? He desires it because of hatred. He has lost the battle and his time as ruler of this world is running out. Trusting and believing God defeats him and defeats death itself. Death has lost its grip. It drives the devil insane. His serpent “sting” is gone.
What happens at death is a mystery for many people with all kinds of personally developed ideas and explanations. Of course, there is the simple “don’t think about it” or “I’ll worry about it when I get closer to that time,” of course hoping we know when that time is. I am writing this entry on a November 2nd, the exact date my father was killed in a farming accident at age 52. When he finished lunch and went out to the barnyard to move a piece of machinery, little did he know he would enter heaven within minutes. Dad had trusted God’s word for his salvation many years before and was very prepared for his sudden departure. Death is the uninvited intruder who never knocks and forces the door open. In contrast, there is another who knocks at the door . . . “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” We will be together, not separated. This guest waits to be invited in, he is the Christus Victor, the conqueror of dust and death!
Prayer: Lord God, our Creator, we thank you for your mercy in pursuing us when we chose our own selfish path. Help us to see the truth when we are tempted to doubt your word, your character, or your promises. May we learn to know you and hear your voice better so that we may not be so easily deceived. Guard us with your Holy Spirit so that we may recognize the first inklings of deceit and lies towards you. This we pray in the name of the Second Adam, who did not fall for the lie, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. —Daniel Sharp
“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19 By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”
Some thoughts:
Just before the passage you just read, we have these beautiful words of creation, “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.” (Gen. 2:7)
We wrote about dust yesterday, but there is more. Really?There is a bit of irony here. In Psalm 72:9 concerning king Solomon we read the phrase, “The desert tribes will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust.” This phrase from the King James Bible later morphed into “bite the dust.” Dust is a fascinating word that is associated with loss or death, like being defeated and falling to earth, getting a mouth full of dust. Dust is nothing more than tiny particles of earth or waste matter lying on the ground that is blown by the wind. We even “dust” to get rid of dust!
In the Garden of Eden, God formed human beings from the dust of the earth. Talk about our humble beginning! Adam and Eve literally “bit the dust” and death entered all of humanity. As a result, these bodies of ours will in fact return to dust (to ash) again as we are reminded each Ash Wednesday, “from dust you came, to dust you will return.” For many people in the world, in their mind, that’s the sad end of their story. You are born, grow up, have as many good experiences as possible and die. But wait! God did something about our “dust!” God took on human flesh; he took on our dust and became one of us. The Son of God, the Creator of dust, identified fully and completely in every way to make possible the great reverse of rebellious sons and daughters. Though a human being in every possible way, his “dust” did not decay to ash. His humanity defeated the dust of death.
The good news of the gospel is that those who put their trust in Jesus, will get a renewed body, not a “dusting up” of the old one. The mortal earthly body of dust, flesh and blood gets a “new” body that will never die. The mortal body takes on immortality. “Just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly [dusty] man, so shall we bear the likeness of the [dust-free] man [Jesus] from heaven.” (I Corinthians 15:42-54) Dust cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We will all be changed in the twinkling of an eye. “Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Corinthians 15:57)
The sign of the cross made in ashes on the forehead proclaims that death is defeated forever. Our “dust” will be recreated by the One who created us in the first place . . . and He does really good work! You will never bite the dust again!
Music: “What Wondrous Love is This?” Concordia Choir
Prayer: Glorious God, give me grace to amend my life, and to have an eye to my end without begrudging death, which to those who die in you, good Lord, is the gate of a wealthy life. And give me, good Lord, a humble, lowly, quiet, peaceable, patient, charitable, kind, tender, and pitiful mind, in all my works and all my words and all my thoughts, to have a taste of your holy, blessed Spirit. Give me, good Lord, a longing to be with you, not to avoid the calamities of this world, nor so much to attain the joys of heaven, as simply for love of you. And give me, good Lord, your love and favor, which my love of you, however great it might be, could not deserve were it not for your great goodness. These things that I pray for, give me your grace to labor for. Amen. –Thomas More, 1478-1535
13 Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”
14 Then the Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. 15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
16 Then he said to the woman,
“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”
17 And to the man he said,
“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19 By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”
Matthew 27:45-50
45 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. 46 At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
47 Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. 48 One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. 49 But the rest said, “Wait! Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”
50 Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit.
Some thoughts:
In the Garden of Eden, God formed man from the dust of the earth. Did you notice where else the word “dust” appeared in this Genesis passage? The serpent is condemned to groveling “in the dust as long as you live.” Think about it. The serpent never rises above the dust, a symbol of death. Humans are raised from the dust into beings fashioned after the image of God into which God breathes the breath of life and man becomes a living soul. But it is in the dust that the serpent creates havoc bringing death to all of mankind. As a result, this body of ours will in fact return to dust (to ash) again. Mankind drags itself down into the dust by a selfish desire to rule itself.
You and I have two days that are like no others, the day we were born and the day we die. You see, the Nativity is one of the two days in Jesus’ life that was never to be repeated. God took on human flesh, combining the dust of the earth, represented by Mary, with the eternal glory of heaven, the Holy Spirit’s overshadowing of her. In the Incarnation of Christ, the human “dust of earth” was immersed in the eternal Word. Two worlds, earth and heaven, were perfectly united in the holy Son of God, wholly God, wholly human. His death on the cross was that second day, never to be repeated. In Jesus’ death, he mortally crushed the serpent’s head meaning the dust of evil was utterly, eternally defeated. The power of death was destroyed and the human dust of the earth took on immortality. When Jesus released his spirit (Mt.27:50), the grave did not capture his dust, nor will it ultimately hold our dust as we receive resurrection bodies which will never turn to dust. God did something about our dust!
You see, while Ash Wednesday reminds us of our mortality, it also proclaims the way to heaven has been cleared. The price for our sin has been paid and we are forgiven. Our second unrepeatable day, at the same time, becomes our eternal birth day in glory. In heaven, there is no second unrepeatable day! Hallelujah to the Savior!
As you listen to this piece, notice the joy and delight of the first part, almost like taking delight in going astray. Sinning can be fun at the moment. But also notice how the ends of the musical phrases “fade away.” Then as the piece concludes, notice the dramatic musical shift as the heavy reality of what the “going astray” has done as the Lord bears the weight of our sin. Sin is never without heavy consequence as poignantly reflected in Handel’s music.
Prayer:
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against thee in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved thee with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we earnestly repent. For the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in thy will, and walk in thy ways, to the glory of thy Name. Amen.
Most days are very ordinary. We get up in the morning, eat breakfast, do the normal things. We go work or engage in a project of some sort. We may take a break and eat some lunch and then go back to our task. The afternoon may provide a contrast or change of pace in the day and then it will be time for dinner (or supper if you live on a farm!) The day may conclude with a little bit of reading, (some people still do that), or watching a little television or catching up on emails and then off to bed. Such is life most days. Then there are some days that are very different. There are birthdays, wedding days, graduation days, the first day on a new job, or the first day of vacation. There are, however, two days in everyone’s life that are completely unique and unrepeatable, the day you were born and the day you depart this earth. Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the season of Lent yearly reminds us of the significance of those two days.
For some people, Lent means having to give up something like not eating meat. For others, focusing on death may be their primary thought regarding Lent. Both ideas are a fundamental misunderstanding of Lent. That is not what Lent is about. The root of the word “lent” simply means “spring,” new life, buds, blossoms, the end of the long winter. A better way to view Lent is to focus more on transformation through repentance and humility to a new life made possible because of Jesus’ journey to the cross. Likewise, we take up our cross daily in following our Savior through this season.
The heart of the Christian faith is our participation in the life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus as Lord. Jesus’ work affects us personally. While Advent is concerned with the final Judgment, the Incarnation, and the birth of Jesus, this season points us to the price paid for redemption in bringing us new life. It is our prayer that these days leading up to Easter Sunday will further shape and form us into the image of Christ as we reflect with repentant hearts what he has done to free us from the bondage of our sinful selves and grow in our understanding of our new life in Christ. “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone, a new life has begun.” (2 Cor. 5:17)
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The work on the book continues to progress. I’m working on the second re-write and continue editing. There will be no devotionals from Easter to Pentecost this year due to the book project.
Thank you all for your encouragement and support. You are much appreciated. Always glad to hear from you.
12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
13 The Pharisees replied, “You are making those claims about yourself! Such testimony is not valid.”
14 Jesus told them, “These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don’t know this about me. 15 You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone. 16 And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. 17 Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact. 18 I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.”
19 “Where is your father?” they asked.
Jesus answered, “Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”
Some thoughts:
Epiphany is about the revelation of the incarnation. The visit of the magi, the wedding feast, and the baptism of Jesus are all central themes of Epiphany all shedding light on the person and ministry of Christ. We’ll focus on the baptism and wedding at Cana in the next few days.
I have to wonder how often we are like the Pharisees when God is moving in our midst and we are so oblivious and engrossed in our small individualistic worlds that we fail to recognize his working among us. Our spiritual “light” doesn’t go on. We don’t see him working through those around us. We live with such low expectations. An epiphany escapes us.
I have discovered over the years, the more we know of Jewish practice and mindset in Old Testament times, the better we’ll understand the New Testament Scriptures and the more times a “light” goes on as we study. Such is the case here. This discourse of Jesus took place in the fall during the Feast of Tabernacles or, as it is sometimes called, the Feast of Booths or Shelters (also known in Hebrew as Succoth or Sukkot). It is significant in Judaism because it was one of three required pilgrimage feasts, which meant Jews from near and far would come to the Temple in Jerusalem to celebrate. There are Messianic expectations associated with the Feast of Tabernacles.
One of the ceremonial celebrations of this feast was the lighting of sixteen golden bowls on four menorah stands each filled with olive oil giving great light in this part of the Temple court, a place where the people were allowed only for this festival during the year. To quote, “The light celebration was reminiscent of the descent of the Shekinah glory in Solomon’s day and looked forward to the return of the Shekinah in the days of the Messiah pointing to God’s presence among his people (Exek.43:1-6).”[1]
It is in this context that Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world.” His words would have registered with the Jews as the words of Isaiah pointing to the coming of the Messiah. As proof, the Pharisees immediately picked up his Messianic and accused him of lying in his assertion. So, Jesus answered them quoting the Torah which requires at least two witnesses to validate any claim to truth (Deut. 19:15). Jesus and his Father were the witnesses. The logical question was exactly what they then asked. “Where is your father?”
What immediately comes to mind are Jesus’ words, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” It then becomes very clear the Pharisees do not recognize who Jesus is because they do not know God the Father but are lost in their interpretation of the law’s regulations and rules. Had they truly known God, they would have recognized the one in their midst.
The other morning when I started working on these devotionals again, I had a bright kind of flash in my eyes that wouldn’t go away. I had difficulty reading my screen. I had to stop. I was scared. I prayed and asked the Lord to heal the problem. I immediately told Nancy and she prayed. I looked up what the trouble could be. What I found was not comforting, I needed to act. So, I pulled up our insurance page to find an eye doctor. When “Finding an Eye Doctor” came up, the flash in my eyes immediately went away as did some floaters that I’ve had for several years. My eyes have been fine ever since. Do I think God had a hand in this? Yes. What’s the point? The Light of the world is alive and well. We need to keep our eyes and ears open. His witness is all around us. Today look for his Light in your world.
Music: “Sweet Little Jesus Boy” Mahalia Jackson
Prayer: An Evening Prayer
O Divine Father, whose mercy ever awaits those who return unto Thee in true lowliness and contrition of heart, hear now one humble suppliant who needs Thy help. Bravely did I set out this morning upon the life of a new day; now I lie down ashamed and burdened with memories of things undone that ought to have been done and things done that ought not to have been done and things you Lord, did which I missed entirely, not even recognizing your hand working in my midst. Bring to me afresh, O God, Thy healing and cleansing power so that again I may lay hold of the salvation which Thou hast offered to me through Jesus Christ my Lord. Quicken my heart to look for your presence and working as I go through the day tomorrow. Thank you for your grace, mercy and protection as I close my eyes at the ending of this day. In the name of the Light of the world, Jesus, I pray. Amen. ―A Diary of Private Prayer, p.79, adapted Daniel Sharp
[191/1002 19% 8v.]
[1] Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal, The Feasts of the Lord, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson), p.140.
January 5, 12th Day of Christmas FROM HEAVEN TO EARTH
Scripture: John 1:10-13
“10He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.”
Some thoughts:
As you consider the passage you just read, I am asking you to put yourself in the place of Christ for a moment. I realize this is a very naïve concept falling far short of any reality which in truth is not possible to comprehend, but let’s try in simple humility.
You are the one through whom the Father created the universe simply by his speaking everything into existence. You know every person who has ever existed in greatest detail even before they came into being. While creation started out perfectly, the first two people you created rebelled as did those who followed. To a person, all the people who ever lived have rebelled and rejected you seeking their own ways. Yet, to this day your love and care continue for every single person. You have come to earth to offer the way back to the Father at great cost to yourself by your crucifixion. You have made the way available to everyone to be reborn spiritually, not just your chosen people, Israel. You have provided the only way for the physical world to be united with the heavenly world for eternity. You have made possible a direct intimate relationship with the God of all creation. There is nothing any person can do to aid the transaction; they are hopeless without you. It is a matter of their receiving a gift which has been purchased on their behalf at great cost to God.
Why would anyone reject your offer? Yet sadly, people out of pride, arrogance, and host of reasons do dismiss their only hope. I watched a debate involving the atheist, Christopher Hitchens. His condescension and caustic comments revealed a very angry, sad, and defiant person. He lived in a very, very dark world. Pray for all people who live in a dark world of anger, indifference, defiance, and rebellion who have yet to receive the Savior. Repentance leads to truth and eternity is a long time to have been wrong, stubborn, and selfish.
Music:“From Heaven Above” Westminster Choir
From heav’n above to earth I come
To bear good news to everyone!
Glad tidings of great joy I bring
Whereof I now will say and sing.
To you this night is born a child
Of Mary, chosen virgin mild
This little child, of lowly birth
Shall be the joy of all the earth.
Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto us His Son hath given!
While angels sing with pious mirth
A glad new year to all the earth.
-Martin Luther
Prayer:My Father in heaven, as we ponder the wonder of the Incarnation, help us to see more and more of its mystery and majesty. Forbid it, Lord, that we should ever take lightly what you willingly did on behalf of this fallen creation. How you laid aside your power as God and willingly became completely human is truly more than we can comprehend. Having prayed that, help us to wrestle with the great truth that you are fully God and fully man. In the joy and festivity of this season, may we not shy away from the great theological truths that have changed the course of history. We fervently pray for those who have yet to receive you. May it come to pass this year and may we be faithful in prayer. In the name of the Incarnate Christ we pray. Amen. –Dan Sharp
January 4, 11th Day of Christmas HOLY GROUND, MOSES
Scripture: Exodus 3:1-5
3 One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. 3 “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it.”
4 When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
“Here I am!” Moses replied.
5 “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.
Some thoughts:
In today’s Scripture we come to the familiar passage of Moses and the burning bush. We have previously mentioned that God does not seem to be in a hurry in accomplishing his purposes. His people have been in slavery to the Egyptians for 400 plus years. He has “remembered” his people (God’s “remembering” means he has decided to act, to move forward.) Now God has chosen an eighty-year-old man to lead the exodus of a million plus people!
Moses was minding his own business caring for the sheep. He had never in his life encountered God directly before this time. Curiosity leads him to this puzzling bush afire. As he approached, an angel of the Lord from the middle of the bush spoke his name. Imagine a voice coming from a bush! This angel of the Lord is none other than the God the Word (John 1:1). The bush was not consumed because God came to save people, not to consume them. God is often represented by fire throughout Scripture: Cherubim in the Garden of Eden, fire on the top of Mt. Sinai, pillar of fire leading the Israelites in the desert, “our God is a consuming fire” (Heb.12:29).
At this point, Moses was a novice in dealing with God. God’s words were, “Do not come closer” after which he immediately told Moses the reason. “Take off your sandals, you are standing on holy ground.” Why take off the sandals? Nothing dead is to stand between God and man. Sandals were made of leather, the skin of a dead animal, plus there was to be nothing “common” when coming into contact with the holy. The entire book of Leviticus makes the point that God is wholly other. When we speak of holy in relation to God, not only does it mean “completely other than human,” even pagan religions in this time spoke of their gods as holy. The Bible is unique in that when speaking of God, holy also describes God’s moral character, his moral perfection.
Moses, like Jacob hundreds of years before, failed to realize he was standing in God’s presence. But like Jacob, God spoke to Moses helping both men see the bigger picture of what he was doing. I am wondering how often we enter worship like Moses, unaware of where we truly are? We might come out of curiosity or habit, pretty much oblivious that we are in the presence of God. How many times have we missed realizing we are standing on the holy ground of God’s action in our lives? Something to think about. Familiarity can be a dangerous word when it comes to God, as Uzzah found out (2 Samuel 6:6-7). An epiphany isn’t relegated to January 6th as Jacob and Moses discovered.
Music: “Infant Lowly, Infant Holy” Chris Rupp and The Hound and the Fox
Prayer:
Praise and glory be to the omnipotence of the eternal Holy Father, who in his providence created the world out of nothing. Praise and glory be to the wisdom of this only-begotten Holy Son, who redeemed the world with his blood. Praise and glory be to the living kindness of the Holy Spirit, who enlightened the world in faith. Praise and glory be to the holy and undivided Trinity, who formed us without our deserving it in their image. We give praise and glory to you, most blessed Trinity, for the blessing of our creation, by which you granted us bodies and souls, you adorned us with your image and likeness, and added us to your Christian flock, making us sound and whole in our senses and in our members, above all the creatures who are beneath the heavens, and gave us your holy angels as our guides and ministers. For all this be pleased that we may praise you, Holy God, world without end. Amen.
―Latin, 11th century, from The Oxford Book of Prayer, p.60
10 Meanwhile, Jacob left Beersheba and traveled toward Haran. 11 At sundown he arrived at a good place to set up camp and stopped there for the night. Jacob found a stone to rest his head against and lay down to sleep. 12 As he slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.
13 At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. 15 What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”
16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” 17 But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”
John 1:49-51
49 Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” 51 Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”
Some thoughts:
Today we come to a familiar Old Testament story. Here is an example of the pacing of God unfolding his grand plan some 1800 years ahead of the arrival of God’s Son. This story is two generational steps further down the road from God’s covenant with grandfather Abraham. Jacob is on his way to find a wife among his relatives. On his journey, he stops for the night. You know the story; he has a dream.
In that dream he sees angels “ascending and descending.” We might ask, if the stairway, (ladder) is connecting heaven and earth, wouldn’t it seem that the angels (malach in Hebrew meaning “messenger”) should be descending and ascending rather than the other way around? But the stairway is the path connecting earth to heaven and heaven to earth. If you will, it moves us from where we are (earth) and bridges us to heaven (the presence of God).
A further word here about this stairway is helpful. We may think of a stairway as grounded on the first floor and ascending to the second floor. The Hebrew words here paint a slightly different and significant picture. Think more of this stairway as descending to earth and ascending to heaven, more of a floating stairway, connecting two worlds, generated from heaven, not from earth. The angelic traffic on this bridge was executing God’s will to communicate and commune with his people.
You’ll recall in the New Testament Jesus picks up this very phrase (John 1:51) where he is talking with Nathanael who had just affirmed Jesus, calling him the Son of God, a phrase Jesus did not use of himself as he began his public ministry, but rather referred to himself as the Son of Man. Jesus went on to say to Nathanael, “I tell you the truth (another way of saying what follows is really important), you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.” Whereas Jacob had his name changed to Israel, which means in Hebrew “contending with God,” Nathanael, whose name means “God has given,” took a step of faith right away. In other words, where Jacob (Israel) was contending with God, Nathanael, an Israelite, was not contending with God and believed right away without “contention.”
Jesus is the one who makes it possible for humans to move from earth to heaven. Carrying this thought further (Luke 22:67-70), in Jesus’ trial just prior to the crucifixion, as he stood before the religious leaders when asked if he was the Messiah, Jesus responded, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.” They all shouted, “so, are you claiming to be the Son of God?” And Jesus replied, “You say that I am.”
What is the significance of Jacob’s vision? There is no amount of effort, planning, technology, or determination that will ever connect man to God, earth to heaven. Unless God reaches to earth in making himself known, Jacob and all of humankind are doomed. The Tower of Babel proved that. God loves his children and comes after them and goes with them . . . and with you and me.
Jesus interpreted Jacob’s vision for all time. He is the stairway enabling all human beings to connect with their Creator. In Christ, that stairway is open even as you read this. Jacob is the prototype for every person on earth. For being made in the image of God means there is a longing to know the Creator while at the same time there is the desire to rule oneself. There is an “Israelite” nature, contention with God, in every person and the stairway of Jesus Christ is the solution.
Music: “On Christmas Night All Christians Sing” King’s College Cambridge
Prayer:
Gracious Lord, grant us a truer understanding of the wonder of connecting heaven and earth and earth with heaven. We are so fraught with earthly endeavors, and earthly delights, and earthly ideas, that the temptation to believe in the reality of earth and the seeming unreal nature of heaven is all too real. May we better experience, trust, and live in Christ that we would know the great truth that God has come to earth bringing earth to heaven and bring redemption and restoration to the whole created order. May Jacob and Nathanael’s experiences become our experience today as we walk around in this world. And grant that we may see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one and only stairway between heaven and earth. In the name of Jesus, Amen. —Daniel Sharp
January 2, 9th Day of Christmas JESUS ALWAYS EXISTED
Scripture: John 1:1-3, 10-18
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.
10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
15 John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”
16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
Some thoughts:
Today’s passage of Scripture is one of the most profound in all the Bible. Books, doctoral dissertations, debates, and countless pages of theology have been penned regarding these few verses. Building on these verses, eighty-five percent of John’s gospel is unique from the Synoptics. As many of his readers had never seen or heard Jesus speak (John is writing about 60 years after the resurrection), his focus is on the God/Man Jesus, the Son of God. So, he starts at the beginning of the man Jesus. The theological word encompassing this discussion is Incarnation.
Everything you can think of has a beginning point. A human life begins when the egg and sperm unite. A novel is launched when that first word is written down and music starts at the downbeat. A day commences when the sun peeks over the horizon. Likewise, faith begins the moment someone puts their trust in Jesus. This “beginning point” truth is what makes the first sentence of today’s pericope so unique. John begins his gospel the same way Moses began Genesis.
“In the beginning the Word already existed. Having always existed means the Word dwells outside existence itself because he is the Creator of “existence.” It is worth stopping a moment to ponder that truth . . . yet he chose for a period of time to dwell within the creation he made in order to redeem it. The word used is actually “tabernacled” among us. In other words, the Old Testament Tabernacle in the desert housing the presence of God above the Ark of the Covenant, was replaced by the presence of God in human flesh, in which Jesus was the Tabernacle. When the baby was born in the manger, it wasn’t as if he had not existed previously. But then there was that moment . . . a beginning of the “in the flesh” Word. The Word was always with God because the Word was God. There was never a “beginning” to that relationship nor did it change when Jesus took on human flesh.
John is writing from firsthand eyewitness experience when he says, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” You’ll recall that John was one of the three, along with Peter and James, to observe Jesus’ interaction with Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration (Matt 17:1-13). As the encounter concluded the brilliant light and glory of God showed forth in Jesus and the disciples fell to their knees in fear and wonder.
I am wondering if the Incarnation were to occur in our lifetimes rather than two millennia ago, how would we respond? Like the Jews, we would have been looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. We’d have been waiting 4,000 years since the time of Abraham! And now, here was a remarkable man healing every person with an illness, he has brought back to life some people we know who have died, he has restored limbs and instantly healed people with Alzheimer’s. He talked continually about the kingdom of heaven and asked us to “follow him” leaving what we were doing. Would we commit our life to believing that this human being was truly the Creator of the universe and all that exists, who has never not existed and was in fact God in the flesh, the long-awaited Messiah? Would you leave your job to follow him when he said, “follow me”? How would you respond? What would your friends and family say? That was the call to the disciples.
You’ve figured out by now that this scenario is exactly the situation today. When Jesus came the first time, very few people recognized who he was. Even the Jews, his own people, rejected him. In our day, very few people in our world pay any attention or give a second thought to the claims of Jesus of Nazareth. In their minds he is nothing more than a dead historical figure from the distant past. In their mind, there are more pressing questions and important things to consider.
But what a contrast for those who do believe! As his adopted children, they experience a spiritual birth. Whereas the Son of God came from heaven born into humanity into a natural physical body, the natural physical bodies of human beings are reborn to a spiritual body to eventually dwell in heaven. This spiritual birth comes as a gift from God, not something human beings can generate.
These are all things we all know and have heard before. But for many, many people around us, they have never grasped these glorious truths. They have yet to realize that Jesus of Nazareth is not a dead historical figure from ancient history but is alive now in a physical glorified human body, transforming the lives of all who put their trust in him. During this coming year, let each of us endeavor to encourage those around us to consider contacting the One who created them. He’s always available. In his Spirit he is tabernacled among us and in us!
Music: “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” Cambridge Singers
Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, the wonder of the humility and love you have shown simply leaves us without words. We kneel before you, trusting you with our lives for all eternity. This we pray through you Jesus, who reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, throughout eternity. Amen. ―Daniel Sharp
January 1, 8th Day of Christmas The Holy Name of Jesus
Scripture: Luke 2:21
“Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived.”
Some thoughts:
Mary and Joseph were given great responsibility in the raising of God’s Son. Talk about pressure! How do you raise a perfect child? Nevertheless, we see at every significant point, they were up to the task though at times a little uncertain. It was Jewish law that on the eighth day after the birth of a boy child, he was to be circumcised (bris, the circumcision ceremony)) and given his formal name (Gen 17:12, Lev 12:3). Often the name was chosen to reflect the character, the God-given uniqueness of that infant, and even perhaps reflective of the little one’s path in life. It is interesting that Mary was told she would become pregnant and bare the Son of God, but it was in Joseph’s dream that the angel told him the child’s name would be Jesus, meaning “God saves his people.” The Hebrew version is “Joshua.” In many cultures throughout history people chose names for their babies which carried a specific meaning or quality. But Mary and Joseph did not pick out the name of their firstborn son, God did. So, you can see in Jewish culture, the naming carried great weight as the meaning of the name was a reminder of the character and mission of the child. You can begin to see the significance of Jesus’ name. Could there be a better name for our Savior?
In addition, the circumcision of the male was an outward sign reminding one and all that this child is part of the covenant God made with Abraham. As we mentioned, baby boys were circumcised and given their name on the eighth day after their birth. Why so specific about this particular day? It’s in accordance with the ancient Jewish law and as it turns out, there is a good medical reason as well. Normally, prothrombin, the material that causes blood to clot reaches 100%, though not in the very first days after birth. On the eighth day it hits 110%, the only time it ever gets that high, and then settles back to the normal level. So, circumcision on the eighth day allows the blood its maximum clotting potential. God thought of everything! Then after his circumcision (it’s eight days since Christmas Day), Mary and Joseph went back to the Temple thirty-two days later for the rite of purification (February 2nd is forty days from the birth). You’ll note from the scriptural evidence that Mary and Joseph were practicing Jews keeping the laws―the naming Jesus on the eighth day, observing the purification ceremony on the fortieth day, regular attendance at synagogue, and Jesus’ own bar mitzvah at age twelve. Jesus was clearly an observant Jew his entire life―reading as usual from the scroll in his hometown synagogue (Lk 4:16), his observances of Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2), Hanukkah (John 10:22), Pentecost (Lk 24:49), and of course, Passover. Not only did he keep the Law, but he also fulfilled the Law and fulfilled his name.
The meaning of his name is interesting when looking back at the Old Testament in relation to the Law. God made a covenant with Abraham and the sign of that covenant was circumcision. (Gen 17:9-14) God gave Moses the Law. But by following the Law, no one could ever enter heaven because no one could keep it perfectly, hence symbolically, Moses was not able to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land (a type of heaven) through observing the Law. Moses broke the Law through disobeying God and died without entering Canaan, the Promised Land.
After Moses’ death, Joshua (Jesus in Greek), led the people across the Jordan (through the river of death) into the Promised Land! Joshua was a “Christ figure” in some ways in the First Testament. When Jesus said I have not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it, it became very clear indeed, “the Lord saves.” While Joshua was a type, Jesus is the real Savior. What’s in his name? Salvation!
Music: “At the Name of Jesus” Holy Childhood Schola Cantorum
Prayer:
Glory be to thee, O Christ, whose praises the angels sing, whom the heights of heaven adore. In the miracle of thy stable-birth and in the mystery of thine incarnation thy people everywhere rejoice this day. To thy name help us to bow the knee and all its worshiping, bow the head and all its thinking, bow the will and all its choosing, bow the heart and all its loving. Glory be to thee, O Father, who by the birth of thy Son didst give a great light to dawn on the world’s darkness. Glory be to thee, O Holy Spirit, who hast again in these days hung forth a star in the lowly heaven of every Christian soul and seekest to lead us in the ways of humility and the paths of peace. Blessed be God, the only God: three persons in one eternity of love. Blessed now and blessed for evermore. Amen. ―Prayers for Sunday Services, p.74
Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! 2 As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! 3 When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! 4 For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! 5 You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? 6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. 7 Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over[c] to our sins.
8 And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. 9 Don’t be so angry with us, Lord. Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people.
Some thoughts:
Israel is in turmoil. And they wonder why God seems far away when the people have been engaged in sin and rebellion? Surprised? The people were in difficult times, not unlike our day. Their relationship to God is estranged, not unlike our day. Israel has been at war with a frequent enemy and distant relative, the Edomites, descendants of Esau, Jacob’s twin brother. Rejection of God does not bode well for people or nations.
Notice the overall structure of this pericope: 1) God is acknowledged as Creator; 2) the people have fallen away from God; 3) the people repent of their sin; and 4) the people desire restoration with the Lord. Isaiah’s concern is that the people would reflect a reverence for the Lord which was not happening, not unlike our day. The prophet, in talking with the Lord, begins this passage by declaring “when you [God] came down long ago.” To what is he referring? Creation. “Since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you.” (Paul much later quotes this same verse in I Cor. 1:9.)
The world of Isaiah had dismissed God as irrelevant, not unlike our day. The transparency of Isaiah’s confession before the Lord is powerful . . . “we are not godly, we are constant sinners, we are all infected and impure with sin, our sins sweep us away, no one calls on your name . . .” again, not unlike our day. “Infected” seems like the perfect word to describe the days of Isaiah and the days of our own world. We live in a culture with a rampant, pandemic sin infection which has but One cure. As the people of Israel in Isaiah’s day, our society is in need of genuine repentance. Our problems are spiritual in nature and remain unperceived in a secular world. The passage concludes with this strong word of hope . . . in spite of our gross, continued failures, you are our Father, God. You made us. As your children, Lord, forgive our sins. . .
If you reread the passage, you’ll notice at the beginning a longing for God to again “come down.” We are a people deeply infected by sin. In these unsettling times, a great deal of repentance and healing needs to take place in every person as we await the Savior’s return. This passage of Scripture concludes with “Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people.” Yes, we are all made in the image of God. Today, let us live as his children.
Music:
“O Come, Let Us Adore Him” Voctave
Prayer:
O Son of God and Son of man, Thou wast incarnate, didst suffer, rise, ascend for my sake; Thy departure was not a token of separation but a pledge of return; Thy Word, promises, and sacraments show thy death until thou come again. Grant that I may, with all diligence, walk in a manner worthy of my status as a child of Thine. May I live with a repentant heart, humble soul, Spirit-quickened mind, and a quiet spirit until that great day when all will see Thee face to face. In the Savior’s name. Amen.
December 30, 6th Day of Christmas IDENTITY UNITED IN CHRIST, ethnic unity
Scripture: Galatians 3:23-29
23 Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed.
24 Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. 25 And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.
26 For you are all childrenof God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.
Some thoughts:
I’m not sure we fully grasp these words; we certainly have a different understanding than did the people of Galatia. The Jews knew they were God’s chosen people. Though they were born his chosen people, the heart aspect of a relationship to God had escaped many of them. Paul went to great lengths to drive home that there was more than ethnicity involved in being God’s children. Jesus challenged the Jewish religious leaders again and again on this very point. Faith was essential. No one could keep the law perfectly. Simply being Jewish was not enough.
In reading the last paragraph above you can begin to see how striking it would be to Jews, Greeks, and Romans realizing how radical this truth was considering their very separated cultures. The gospel unites all ethnicities as one people under God. Now you have unity between slave and free, male and female. The gospel is the most inclusive faith the world has ever seen.
Have you noticed how hard some factions in society work to separate people into various groups where each defines itself by its own system of beliefs and values. The secular mind seeks its identity with ethnicity, with sexual identity, with victimhood, with political perspective, with various causes to champion, and/or with various moral or social values to promote. To this mind, being united as brothers and sisters in Christ is a foreign concept, for God has no place in the secular mind. There is no Christian worldview in the secular mind so why would we expect anything other than the bitterness and anger toward other people groups. For this mindset, the starting place is not God but self. There is little interest in any kind of unity among people of this persuasion. Differing ethnicities are viewed with suspicion or even condemnation as people struggle to accept or discover their own identities.
The beauty of the gospel is that being united by saving faith in Christ and dying to self and being buried with him in baptism brings a oneness that spans ages, cultures, languages, economic states, and all peoples. As people are committed to Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit transforms personal values, uniting people with the mind of God; put simply, he is Lord of all. Ideally, every follower of Christ endeavors to live out a Christian worldview.
As you walk around today doing what you normally do, look at the people around you, (don’t stare!), and realize every person can be one of Abraham’s heirs through faith in Jesus. Pray for them as you go your way and pray for all those who have yet to discover their true identity in Christ.
Music: “Mary, Did You Know?” Vocative with Mark Lowrey
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, this world is filled with nations, tribes, ethnic groups, peoples and factions hopelessly fractured and warring with one another. Nations squabble. People groups within nations wage vitriolic verbal wars. Civility barely survives. Lord God of heaven and earth, Creator of all that is seen and unseen, source of redemption, love, and healing, grant that as this new yar begins, the birth of the Savior may in some remarkable way point this troubled world to unity in the person of your perfect Son, our Savior. May the celebration of the nativity by millions of your children serve to draw many others to repent of their ways and callous hearts and receive forgiveness, discovering the joy of true fellowship with all peoples as brothers and sisters in Christ. And Lord, may we be useful to you in that process. In our Savior’s name we pray. Amen. ―Daniel Sharp
His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!
32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
Some thoughts:
How long does forever last? We live in a world fixated on time. There is a phone near at hand much of the time. We are always working for faster and faster transactions of data. So far, the shortest measure of time is the theoretical “attoseconds” (1.2 x 10^-17 seconds) whatever that means! And what is the point? I’m reminded of the word Jesus spoke in “The Chosen” television series, “soon.” His response when asked by a disciple was, “Ah, such an interesting word. Does it mean today, this year, or some time in the next thousand years?” How often have children asked, “When will we be there?” And the answer was, “We’ll be there soon.” And their response . . . “Well, how soon is soon?”
Contrast “soon” with “forever.” Our mindset is often so very different from the eternal. We have trouble grasping a concept of “time” outside of our own. Isaiah and Gabriel both speak of the reign of the Son of God as never ending. The closest we may get to understanding eternity is a stream of endless days. Think of eternity not as endless hours, but no hours at all! It is more like those rare moments in our life when we are so overcome or absorbed by the events of the moment that awareness of time is not even on our radar. What if the present moment was so engaging that we never came out of the moment and the present never ended?
The pressure is off; there is no due date! No wonder there is peace. We are often admonished in Scripture to set our minds on “things above.” C. S. Lewis comments, “Aim for heaven and you will get earth thrown in, aim for earth and you’ll get neither.” I believe this idea is part of what he was driving at.
Coming out of an eternity not measured by time, our Savior entered this world in Bethlehem for a few short years and then left our world from the Mount of Olives to return to his Father. For that brief period, the Son of David, lived among us. But that is only the “timed” portion of the story. He has reentered eternity preparing a place for each of his children to join him when time is no more. Can you imagine being so engrossed by being the presence of God that you never check your phone for updates! God has everything under perfect control. Peace and justice abound. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies rules in compassion and love. Jesus reigns overall.
We need always to see the Nativity in the context of the eternal. In addition to the fact that you are living on the earth, you are also a part of the eternal right now. Set your sights on heaven. Remember, Jesus’ last words in the Bible are, “Yes, I am coming soon!”
Almighty God, who of Thine infinite wisdom hast ordained that I should live my life within these narrow bounds of time and circumstance, let me now to forth into the world with a brave and trustful heart. It has pleased Thee to withhold from me a perfect knowledge; therefore, deny me not the grace of faith by which I may lay hold of things unseen. Thou hast given me little power to mold things to my own desire; therefore, use Thine own omnipotence to bring Thy desires to pass within me. Thou hast willed it that through labor and pain I should walk the upward way; be Thou then my fellow traveler as I go. And grant that I be not so distracted with this world that I lose track of the eternal world to which I go. This I pray in the name of the pioneer of our faith, even Jesus Christ, the Lord. Amen.
-adapted from A Diary of Private Prayer, John Baillie/Daniel Sharp, p.85
December 28, 4th Day of Christmas Feast of the Holy Innocents
Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12, 16-18
2 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”
3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”
5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:
6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”
9 After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
16 Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance. 17 Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
18 “A cry was heard in Ramah— weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead.”
Some thoughts:
This third day in Christmastide has been observed since the fifth century in parts of the Western Church as the Feast of the Holy Innocents, a remembrance of Herod’s slaughter of the little boys in Bethlehem in a desperate effort to kill Jesus. At a deeper level, Herod was used by the devil in an effort to thwart God’s plan of redemption. God had previously communicated news to Joseph regarding Mary’s pregnancy via an angel and here again an angelic visitation in a dream warns them to leave Bethlehem because the murdering king is seeking to kill their little boy. Joseph gathers up Mary and Jesus and leaves for Egypt that very night.
Interestingly, Luke’s gospel refers to Jesus as a baby, whereas in Matthew’s record, he refers to Jesus as a child. He also records the visit of the magi to a house rather than an inn or a stable. There is reason to believe that Mary and Joseph may have stayed a while in Bethlehem after the census before escaping to Egypt, noting that Herod’s decree was to kill all boys under two years of age.
Herod, “king of the Jews,” was hated by the Jews. He descended from the Edomites (Esau’s lineage rather than Jacob’s) which meant he was not a descendant of King David. His Jewish heritage was a continual sore point and his ascent to the throne questionable. He was also despised for his collaboration with the occupying Romans. Knowing he was not accepted by the Jews resulted in his paranoia, always afraid someone would take his throne. He killed two of his wives, his brother, three of his sons, two husbands of his sister, among others, out of fear that they were plotting against him! He kept kosher law, so people said it was safer to be his pig than his son! He died a slow very painful death.
In a similar story some 1400 years earlier, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, ordered all baby Jewish boys to be killed in a kind of prefiguring of Herod’s cruelty. Moses, the redeemer of the Israelites, was spared to lead his people under bondage out of Egypt to freedom. In much the same way, God calls Jesus, the ultimate Redeemer into Egypt for protection to ultimately lead all people out of the bondage of sin to forgiveness and freedom.
The reference to Rachel weeping for her children may seem odd and bears some comment. Jeremiah recorded (38:15) the people of Israel being led into exile passing by the village of Ramah on their way to captivity in Babylon. Ramah was right near Bethlehem. You’ll recall Jacob’s wife, Rachel, dying while giving birth in Bethlehem to Benjamin, one of the twelve sons of Israel (Jacob) was buried in Ramah. The idea may be that from her grave, Rachel is weeping as the Israelites, descendants of her sons pass by her grave on the way into Babylonian captivity. But Jeremiah records that the Lord tells her they will return to the homeland in these words, “Let your voice cease from its bitter weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work . . . they will return.” (Jer 31:15-16)
Just as the Jews would return from exile to their homeland, so Jesus would return from his exile in Egypt back to Israel. Since Rachel had lived about 800 years before Jeremiah, it is interesting that Rachel is apparently still aware of what is happening on earth. But then we have Samuel coming from the grave to appear to King Saul knowing Saul’s situation, Moses and Elijah appearing at the Transfiguration to talk with Jesus about his upcoming “exodus” from earth. It would appear in some cases at least, that people who have died may be aware of what is happening on earth to some degree. This last observation is not doctrine, just interesting and another example of the connectedness of the whole of Scripture.
Music: “Away in a Manger” Libera
Prayer:
Almighty God, who canst give the light that in darkness shall make us glad, the life that in gloom shall make us joy, and the peace that amidst discord shall bring us quietness, let us live this day in that light, that life, and that peace, so that we may gain the victory over those things that press us down, and over the flesh that so often encumbers us, and over death that seemeth for a moment to win the victory. Thus we, being filled with inward peace, and light, and life, may walk all the days of this our mortal life, doing our work as the business of our Father, glorifying it, because it is Thy will, knowing that what Thou givest Thou givest in love. Bestow upon us the greatest and last blessing, that we, being in Thy presence, may be like unto Thee for evermore. These things we do ask, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt.”
13 After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, 15 and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”
Some thoughts:
The mysterious ways of God are certainly evident in these passages. Put yourself in the position of Mary or Joseph. Play it through in your mind; You have become a parent to a baby both you and your spouse believe to be the Son of God. You both have had encounters with an angel on separate occasions. Only a couple of people believe your story about the “virgin birth.” And now, while you are still in Bethlehem, Joseph has another dream in the middle of the night, a dream so vivid and urgent that he wakes up Mary with the news “we need to leave for Egypt right now.” And while it is still in the middle of the night, they hurriedly leave Bethlehem.
It almost sounds like someone has an overactive imagination! Yet notice again and again throughout the Old Testament how a “type,” a shadow is fulfilled in the New Testament. While it is doubtful that Hosea was thinking he was writing prophecy at this point, the text was not lost on Matthew who was writing to convince the Jews that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. The above Hosea pericope refers specifically to the massive Exodus of Israel from Egypt. God, in this case, refers to Israel as his son. Israel was redeemed from the bondage and slavery to the Egyptians. Moses was called out of Egypt to lead God’s people to freedom. The blood of the lambs covered the Israelites saving them as the death angel passed over their homes. God saved them from an earthly death temporarily. The call was to leave Egypt for the destination of the Promised Land.
In the same way God called his Son, Jesus, out of Egypt to lead all his children to freedom from the bondage of sin and into an eternal life. I’m guessing Joseph wasn’t thinking about the Hosea passage after his angel dream! He just knew they had to leave pronto. Have you noticed how the unfolding of daily events coincide with God’s overall plan of redemption? It is very clear that the devil was trying to thwart God’s purpose by killing his Son. The angels of heaven protected Jesus here and later in his life.
Tough things can happen to God’s children, but they will never derail his overall plan. I’m sure Mary and Joseph wondered about the uniqueness of their situation wondering what was next, but they obeyed and walked in the path before them and, as a result, fulfilled all that was said in the Scriptures. Your path today may not be as exciting or it may be very challenging, but just walk in it. Who knows where it may lead? Rest assured, he does.
Music:“The Coventry Carol” Assyrian Group dedicated to children who have suffered in Middle Eastern war.
Bless all who worship You, from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same. Of your goodness, give us; with Your love, inspire us; by Your Spirit guide us; by Your power, protect us; in Your mercy receive us now and always. Amen. –5th century An Ancient Collect
December 26, 2nd Day of Christmas Stephen martyrdom
Scripture: Acts 7:51-60
51 “You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! 52 Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. 53 You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.”
54 The Jewish leaders were infuriated by Stephen’s accusation, and they shook their fists at him in rage. 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 56 And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!”
57 Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him 58 and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died.
Some thoughts:
In October of 2017 we celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. One of the things our family did was to watch the movie, Luther, with Joseph Fiennes and Peter Ustinov. (By the way, I would highly recommend it if you haven’t seen that particular version if you can find it.) One of the most powerful lines in the film is when Luther responds to his spiritual mentor who had asked him to back off because what he was doing was splitting the Roman church. In Luther’s words, “Did you not think there would be a heavy cost?” At times, holding to the truth brings harsh conflict.
On this first day after Christmas, the early church marked it with what is known as the Feast of St. Stephen. For those unfamiliar with this tradition, this Scripture may seem like an odd choice. But there is a reason, Stephen was the first adult martyr of the faith. This passage occurs at the end of a powerful message and challenge he gave to the Jewish leaders. He traced their Jewish history from the call of Abraham through Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, to King David. He chided his accusers for resisting the testimony of the Holy Spirit, reminding them of their long history of killing the prophets who predicted the coming of the Messiah. When he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” that pushed his indicters over the edge. When Jesus spoke those same words to Caiaphas in his trial, the response of the Jewish leadership was the same angry explosion (Matt 26:64, Daniel 7:13, Ps 110:1). When Stephen identified Jesus as the divine Son of Man spoken of in the book of Daniel, it was akin to blasphemy, deserving of stoning to death under the law, which they did.
In his dying moments, Stephen prayed words similar to those of Jesus on the cross, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin.” Only months after Pentecost following Christ brought persecution and sorrow as Saul, a consenting witness to the death of Stephen, was to learn. The soul of Mary, the mother of Jesus, was indeed pierced as Simeon had prophesied at Jesus’ dedication forty days after his birth (Lk.2:35). From the beginning, following Jesus was not without cost, then or now.
If we take grasp the significance of God’s coming to earth to bring restoration to a fallen world at the most extreme cost of his Son, why should we think there would be no earthly cost to us to stand against evil? The irony is that while the gift of salvation is free, that gift can bring with it persecution, imprisonment, ostracizing, ridicule, or death. In fact, Jesus told his disciples there would be persecution (Jn.15:20-21). What does this have to do with Christmas? It reminds us of the greater significance of the birth of Jesus.
We may think of martyrdom as something that happened to past believers. Not so. Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places in the world for Christians. One of my IWS students from Nigeria was murdered along with his pregnant wife a few of years ago. Christianity and Judeo-Christian values are under constant attack. Should we be surprised? No. Jesus said such would be the case. Christianity goes against the social and political order of the day.
While we have wonderful feelings of joy about the Christmas season, we dare not forget the wood of the manger is the first step to the wood of the cross to the Carpenter from Nazareth. It’s important to always remember that Christmas and Calvary are part of the same story, just different chapters . . . they are not self-contained, isolated events. Tertullian in the second century is credited with saying, “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.” There were times when Roman soldiers were so amazed at the Christians facing martyr’s death, that they converted to Christianity on the spot and died as martyrs alongside those they had come to kill. Never under-estimate your witness to those around you.
A few more words about the Feast of St. Stephen. This day is also known as Boxing Day in the British Empire. The idea being it was a day to collect alms for the poor among us in honor of Stephen’s martyrdom. As the story goes . . . In the 10th century Good King Wenceslas, the Duke of Bohemia, risked his life on this day to feed a peasant who was gathering wood on this freezing cold night. The idea carried on with the giving Christmas boxes to the poor and needy, or in our day, small gifts to thank people who serve us throughout the year.
Music: “Good King Wenceslas” Traditional Choir with text
Father of Jesus, cause me to be a mirror of thy grace, to show others the joy of thy service. May my lips be well-tuned cymbals sounding thy praise. Let a halo of heavenly-mindedness sparkle around me and a lamp of kindness sunbeam my path. Teach me the happy art of attending to things temporal with a mind intent on things eternal. Send me forth to have compassion on the ignorant and miserable. Help me to walk as Jesus walked, my only Savior and perfect model, his mind my inward guest, his meekness my covering garb. Let my happy place be amongst the poor in spirit, my delight in the gentle ranks of the meek. Let me always esteem others better than myself, and find in true humility an heirdom to two worlds. —from The Valley of Vision, p.136
Christmas Day, December 25 JOHNGENESIS LIGHT, PURPOSE
Beginning today and for the next twelve days we enter the time known as Christmastide. The Council of Tours in the sixth century established this season in order to celebrate the Nativity not one day but twelve. Christmas themes continue.
Scripture: 1 John 1:1-7
1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.
5 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. 6 So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. 7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Some thoughts:
The pairing of yesterday’s Luke 2:1-20 and today’s pericope is profound. (You may want to reread Luke’s account.) The 1 John passage sounds a great deal like the opening of John’s gospel since “the one whom Jesus loved,” wrote both. What you have in his gospel is John’s declaring the One who has existed from the beginning is the Word of life (John 1:1-2). Like Peter (2 Peter 1:16-18), he appeals to his own firsthand primary source eyewitness evidence as to the authenticity of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, the giver of eternal life. Though it is obvious, it is so important to remember that John and Peter knew Jesus personally. This letter is not a “hand-me-down” account as some people might suggest. They touched Jesus; they lived with Jesus. They travelled and ate with Jesus. They knew what his speaking voice sounded like. (Don’t you wish you knew?)
In his gospel, John hearkens back to Genesis 1 with references to God and light, where God spoke light into being and that light brought order to the chaos and darkness at the very dawn of creation. In this epistle, John again refers to the light as associated with creation bringing order to chaos and darkness, not to an earthly darkness, but a spiritual darkness ruling the land.
The Lukan passage narrates the thread of the creation of fellowship with God from a little different perspective. Here the Light enters the world in the form of a flesh and blood human baby as God’s grand plan comes into full play, that of bringing hope and salvation to the chaos of a broken, dark world. This Word of life came from the very presence of the Father. Just as the Spirit of God hovered over the waters at creation, so that same Spirit hovered over the virgin Mary at the conception of the Son, the Word of life. The Light of the world opened the door for a new creation, but now it was a spiritual creation of fellowship with the God and other believers via the cleansing blood of Jesus.
Christmas leads to Easter; Easter leads to the Ascension; the Ascension leads to Pentecost; Pentecost leads to the Second Coming and the eternal reign of King of kings. The purpose of creation is fulfilled, that of bringing glory to God. A further purpose is the invitation to all to share in the love and fellowship of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And by the grace of God, all this from a baby born in Bethlehem, Israel some 2,000 years ago. “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Music: “Fanfare and Carol, O Come, All Ye Faithful” Phillip Jones Brass Ensemble and Bach Choir
Bonus: “Many Moods of Christmas” all four Suites of Christmas Music about an hour
In length. Atlanta Symphony and Chorus and Robert Shaw
Almighty God, we give thee thanks for the mighty yearning of the human heart for the coming of a Savior, and the constant promise of thy Word that He was to come. In our own souls we repeat the humble sighs and panting aspirations of ancient men and ages, and own that our souls are in darkness and infirmity without faith in Him who comes to bring God to man and man to God. We bless thee for the tribute that we can pay to Him from our very sense of need and dependence, and that our own hearts can so answer from their wilderness, the cry, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” In us, the rough places are to be made smooth, the crooked straight, the mountains of pride brought low, and the valleys of despondency lifted up. O God, prepare Thou the way in us now, and may we welcome anew Thy Holy Child. Hosanna! Blessed be He who cometh in the name of the Lord. Amen ―Rev. Samuel Osgood, 1862, Prayers Ancient and Modern, p.360
Christmas Eve, December 24REALITY NATIVITY, anamnesis
Scripture: Luke 2:1-20
2 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.
6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.
8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.
Some thoughts:
What do you notice about these opening lines? “’Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse . . . “ and “And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.” One line comes from fiction, one from history. Without intending to on our part, both can slip into fiction.
A case in point, many years ago my wife was with one of our sons at a Christmas pageant with the manger, kings, live animals, and flying angels in a beautiful production. As a huge camel walked by our third grader asked his mother, “Mom, is this real?” Thinking he was wondering if the camel was real, she asked what he meant to which he responded, “I mean, is the story about Jesus real or pretend?” His is a subtle significant question. I would guess you have heard the passage from the Bible read on Christmas Eve almost as many times as you are years old! Having become so familiar with the story it can subconsciously slip into the genre of nostalgic prose, negating the power and significance of the event, in effect, inoculating us to its impact year after year, so how do we approach what we’ve heard many times before?
We have historical information which is of some help in deromanticizing the story like—At this specific time in Roman history, there were also censuses being taken in Spain, Syria, and Gaul in addition to Judea. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was about ninety miles. Even riding a donkey we’re talking of a trip of several days. But notice the Bible says nothing about a donkey. The phrase “while they were there” seems to indicate Mary and Joseph may have been in Bethlehem for an extended period of time. At any rate, Jesus was born during their stay. We don’t know exactly when Jesus was born during that day, but we do know the shepherds found out the news from the angels that night. Matthew tells us of their nighttime escape to Egypt to avoid Herod’s decree. Luke, who most likely got this information from Mary herself. Being very familiar with the story, how do we move past rehearsing facts?
There is a word in my mind that unlocks the “too familiar story.” That word is anamnesis. It is related to our word amnesia as you might guess. The word (anamnesin) is used in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in the “words of institution” (I Cor 11:24). In the biblical sense it refers to bringing an event in the past into the present. How does that work? The significance of what happened historically still has impact on the present. It is “remembering” an event in the sense that time has been suspended and we are present in the moment. We are not pretending but rather letting the moment become present. We do this every Lord’s Supper when we partake of the bread and the wine.
Every year we hear those glorious words from the second chapter of Luke, we are in a different place from the year before. We are older. Much has happened in the world and in our lives. We are at the manger. We’ve never been here before. Our journey has come from a different place. What happened then is affecting us now. Some of our carols reflect this truth.
Did you ever notice that the verb tenses of “Silent Night” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem” are present tense verbs? We sing those songs from the perspective of being present the night of the Savior’s birth.
Since the dawn of creation and that devastating moment in the Garden of Eden when a perfect, sinless relationship between man and God was permanently destroyed, humans and all of creation looked forward to a coming Redeemer. After waiting for thousands of years, on this glorious day the Creator of the universe emerged from the womb, God in human flesh, fully human in every way and fully divine as he had been for all eternity. Could this birth have been a more humble surprising entrance? The one who created vast worlds measured in light years, arrived as the Light of the world with a cry that pierced his own universe. That cry still penetrates our hearts today with the words, “Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” The impact of the babe in the manger is daily.
Music: “Silent Night” Sissel
Prayer:
O God, who hast caused this holy night to shine with the illumination of the true Light: Grant us, we beseech, that as we have known the mystery of that Light upon the earth, so may we also perfectly enjoy him in heaven; where with thee and the Holy Spirit he liveth and reigneth, one God in glory, everlasting. Amen. ―Book of Common Prayer
“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. 47 How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! 48 For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. 49 For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. 50 He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him. 51 His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. 52 He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. 54 He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful. 55 For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.”
Some thoughts:
Here we have what is known as the Magnificat, meaning “magnified,” named such for the first word of the Latin text in the Vulgate, as translated by Jerome in the early fifth century. Mary is a most significant person in Scripture and one who has at the same time been viewed differently as to her position and role in Christendom. A discussion of these differences is beyond the scope and purpose of these devotionals.
What I would like to do for us is to note Mary’s involvement in Jesus’ life during her entire life and then reflect on her role in relation to Eve at creation. We saw how Mary, as a young girl, humbly accepted her call to be the bearer of God’s Son. She followed the Jewish law in his eighth day circumcision and redeeming her first-born son on the fortieth day. According to the Scriptures, she bore at least six other children (Mark 6:3). She was most concerned when he was lost at the Temple at the age of twelve but didn’t understand his response to her question. While for unknown reasons Joseph apparently died at some point before Jesus began his public ministry. Mary was present for his first miracle at the wedding in Cana. Later she went with her other sons to “bring Jesus home” fearing maybe he had “lost it” (Matt 12:46). He affirmed that those who were his disciples were his “real family.” I’m guessing Mary was wondering what exactly that meant. When he was crucified, she was among those that were present at the cross, as Jesus commended John to take care of her. Following his death and resurrection, she was among the believing community and was mentioned as being part of the praying community at Pentecost and became a part of the early Christian community (Acts 1:14). The point is that throughout her life she was deeply involved in the life of her son as his earthly mother, in the early church, and in the spreading of the gospel following Pentecost. The first line of her Magnificat bears witness to her life, “How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!”
There is one other most important thing here concerning Mary. Sometimes she is referred to as the “Second Eve.” Elizabeth’s comment at the end is noteworthy. “You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.” In other words, Mary put herself in the Lord’s hands, submitting her whole self in trusting what God had said regarding her. The result was she gave birth to the Second Adam, as Jesus is referred to by Paul (1 Cor15:45). Eve when confronted with the choice of believing what God had said or believing a lie, chose the lie. The first Adam followed his wife, and the result was that man experienced natural earthly death and became a slave to sin. The Second Adam, born of a Second Eve (Mary), believed the Father and opened the way to a spiritual eternal body and restoration of a fallen creation. The first Eve’s response was “I want my way” and her husband went along with her, whereas Mary’s response was “I am the Lord’s servant” and her earthly husband honored her faith. Her Son followed with “Not my will but thine be done.” Whereas our earthly mother, Eve, brought sin and death, the earthly mother, Mary, brought forth the Son of God who offers forgiveness for sin and eternal life ushering in a new creation.
Music: “Magnificat” Johann Sebastian Bach UNAVAILABLE FIND ANOTHER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo1x-62WmrI
Translation:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden:
for behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Lord of all creation, we have erred and gone our own way from the beginning. We were born in sin and it didn’t take us long to confirm that truth! Our lives have been a long battle to humble ourselves and walk in your path. Discipline continues to be a challenge for us. We are continually guided by what we think, what we want, and how we feel rather than how you think, what you want, and how you feel. We live all too often by our fallen dead spirit rather than by your transforming Holy Spirit. We have doubted your word like our human mother Eve rather than believe you. Give to us grace and strength to walk in obedience as did your earthly mother, Mary. This we pray through Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen. ―Daniel Sharp
Third Friday in Advent MAGNIFICAT & HANNAH’S SONG 20
Scripture: 1 Samuel 1:24-2:11
24 When the child was weaned, Hannah took him to the Tabernacle in Shiloh. They brought along a three-year-old bull for the sacrifice and a basket of flour and some wine. 25 After sacrificing the bull, they brought the boy to Eli. 26 “Sir, do you remember me?” Hannah asked. “I am the very woman who stood here several years ago praying to the Lord. 27 I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. 28 Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And they worshiped the Lord there.
2 Then Hannah prayed:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord! The Lord has made me strong. Now I have an answer for my enemies; I rejoice because you rescued me. 2 No one is holy like the Lord! There is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
3 “Stop acting so proud and haughty! Don’t speak with such arrogance! For the Lord is a God who knows what you have done; he will judge your actions. 4 The bow of the mighty is now broken, and those who stumbled are now strong. 5 Those who were well fed are now starving, and those who were starving are now full. The childless woman now has seven children, and the woman with many children wastes away. 6 The Lord gives both death and life; he brings some down to the grave but raises others up. 7 The Lord makes some poor and others rich; he brings some down and lifts others up. 8 He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, placing them in seats of honor. For all the earth is the Lord’s, and he has set the world in order.
9 “He will protect his faithful ones, but the wicked will disappear in darkness. No one will succeed by strength alone. 10 Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered. He thunders against them from heaven; the Lord judges throughout the earth. He gives power to his king; he increases the strength of his anointed one.”
11 Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samuel. And the boy served the Lord by assisting Eli the priest.
Some thoughts:
We have often commented that the First Testament contains shadows of the Latter Testament. Such is the case with the passage for today. In this historical account, a barren woman, Hannah, has prayed to God for a child which she vowed to give to the Lord should he answer her prayer. As you recall, God answered her prayer and gave God her a son whom she named Samuel. He lived and served in the Tabernacle of the Lord as a young boy alongside an old priest named Eli. Samuel was Israel’s last judge and first prophet who functioned additionally as a priest. He also anointed Israel’s first two kings, Saul and David.
There are a number of similarities between Samuel and John the Baptist and Jesus. As she gave her Samuel to ministry at the Tabernacle, Hannah’s song reminds us of Mary upon learning she would bear the Messiah. Since Mary would have been familiar with the Old Testament in her day, it is quite possible she was well acquainted with the song of Hannah which may have served as a model for her own song of joy. Both women believed what they were told, and both sang songs of rejoicing as a result. Additionally, there are likenesses in Mary and Joseph taking the infant Jesus to the Temple to redeem the first born with sacrifices and Hannah and Elkanah taking Samuel to the Tabernacle and offering sacrifices in dedicating him to the service in full-time ministry at the place of worship.
Hannah’s song of praise has great similarities to Mary’s song in the first chapter of Luke’s gospel (the Magnificat). Compare their songs of praise:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord! The Lord has made me strong.” (Hannah)
“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!” (Mary).
“No one is holy like the Lord! There is no Rock like our God.” (Hannah)
“For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.” (Mary).
“Stop acting so proud and haughty! Don’t speak with such arrogance.” (Hannah)
“He has scattered the proud and haughty ones! He has brought down princes.” (Mary)
“Those who were well fed are now starving, and those who were starving are now full.” (Hannah)
“He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.” (Mary)
“The Lord makes some poor and others rich; he brings some down and lifts others up.” (Hannah)
“He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.” (Mary)
“He will protect his faithful ones, but the wicked will disappear in darkness.” (Hannah)
“He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful.” (Mary)
Both songs point to exalting the poor and bringing down the rich and powerful. In Hannah’s day, the rich and powerful were Eli and King Saul; the poor were Samuel and David. Eli and Saul were brought to humbling, humiliating deaths and Samuel and David rose to positions of great power and influence in the nation of Israel. In Mary’s day, King Herod died a painful infamous death while Jesus rose to an exalted eternal position as King of kings. Samuel, a special child of a previously barren woman, anointed David as king. John the Baptist, a special child of a previously barren woman, and the Holy Spirit anointed Jesus, the Messiah.
Samuel, a prophet and descendant from the priestly tribe of Levi, was born at the perfect time in God’s larger plan. He would anoint Israel’s greatest king, but more importantly God would then make an everlasting covenant with David, of the tribe of Judah, that one of his descendants would reign as an eternal king, the Messiah, the ultimate fulfillment of Prophet, Priest, and King. Hannah and Mary are two most significant women in Scripture, each faithfully fulfilling the role God had given them.
So, we see in this pericope another instance of a close connection between the two Testaments and the one grand story of God unfolding throughout the Scripture. Was Hannah aware at the time of the significance of what she was a part of? All we know is that she acted in faith and God rewarded her. I wonder how many of our answered prayers have a much larger impact than we realize or ever hear about? The important thing is faithfulness to whatever lies before us. God is the one working out his plan. We can be his agents. Like in the songs of these two women, you’ll notice Jesus is most often attracted to the poor and needy . . . that would be us!
Music: “Angels We Have Heard on High” Libera
Prayer:
O Savior of sinners, thy name is excellent, thy glory high, thy compassions unfailing, thy condescension wonderful, thy mercy tender. I bless thee for the discoveries, invitations, promises of the gospel, for in them is pardon for rebels, liberty for captives, health of the sick, salvation for the lost. I come to thee in thy beloved name of Jesus; re-impress thy image upon my soul; raise me above the smiles and frowns of the world, regarding it as a light thing to be judged by men. May thy approbation be my only aim, thy Word my one rule. This I pray in the name of Jesus, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
Third Thursday in Advent BABY JOHN IN UTERO, 19 MARY & EVE
Scripture: Luke 1:39-45
39 A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town 40 where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”
Some thoughts:
Let’s walk through the events you’ve just read and then make some observations. After hearing the news from Gabriel concerning her own pregnancy, the angel also informed her of Elizabeth’s pregnancy! The news about her cousin’s condition seems like an affirmation of the uniqueness of her own situation. The now pregnant Mary headed off to visit Elizabeth, whom some traditions believe is the sister of Mary’s mother.
We’re not sure when Joseph heard the news. My guess is that Mary told him immediately and maybe they decided it would be best if she left town for a while. At any rate, Mary stayed for the next three months with Elizabeth and Zechariah leaving them around the time John was born. When Mary first entered Elizabeth’s home and greeted her, the sixth month in utero baby John, leaped for joy upon hearing Mary’s voice, at which point Elizabeth was also filled with the Holy Spirit.
Now for some general observations. During this most stressful time, Mary went to a relative where she could feel more comfortable among loved ones and have some time to process what had happened. No doubt the general population of Nazareth did not believe her story and assumed she was lying. This is confirmed from elsewhere in Scripture (Luke 4:22). In unsettling times, often close family can bring comfort, support, and solace.
From the jumping boy in the womb, we know that six-month-old babies can hear and that an unborn child can be filled with the Holy Spirit. A baby waiting to be born has a soul and is a living person from the moment of conception (Jer 1:5, Ps 119:73, Isa 49:1, Eccl 11:5). John was a most remarkable infant with astounding spiritual perception. Since the Lord has ordered each day of our lives and has known us from the dawn of creation, he certainly starts his “ordering” from the first day of conception months before we enter this world as we are developing and being prepared for our arrival. In the words of the Orthodox Study Bible p.1364, “This truth deals a fatal blow to the idea that abortion is justifiable because the fetus is not yet a person.” We are loved into being by our heavenly Father. Paul writes, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lies in you and was given to you by God. You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body” (I Cor.6:19-20). These words are quite a contrast to the erroneous oft-repeated idolatrous slogan, “My body, my choice” which frankly sounds like Eve’s perspective, and we know how that path has turned out!
Music: “Mary Did You Know?” 7thAve Band with Chris Rupp
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, may we have the trusting transparent faith of Mary, the supportive, steady faith of Joseph, the rejoicing faith of Elizabeth, the exuberant faith of unborn baby John, and the submissive faith of the baby in the manger who humbled himself to the point of death that he might bring reconciliation to the fallen world of our first parents. We pray this in the name of Jesus, who reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen. ―Daniel Sharp
Third Wednesday in Advent MARY 18 ANNUNCIATION,conception, lineage
Scripture: Luke 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israelforever; his Kingdom will never end!”
34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail.”
38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
Some thoughts:
In these days leading up to the Nativity, we’ll focus more specifically on the very familiar and wondrous events surrounding the birth that brought reconciliation to the world in carrying forth God’s plan. The marvelous thing about God’s Word is that one can go back again and again to familiar passages and discover new insights. The Bible is truly the living word. Let’s look at the Annunciation.
The actual month of Jesus’ birth is unknown. Of course the Bible does not say exactly when he was born. Speculations vary from September to springtime. The month of December is possible as winter temperatures in Bethlehem vary from 47 to 57 degrees Fahrenheit during the month though that is not the best time for sheep to be in the fields at night. Many reasons have been put forth supporting various months and theories. Without getting on a rabbit trail, Zechariah’s time in the Temple and his visit from the angel Gabriel can be dated to roughly mid-June, based on Jewish festivals and priestly service schedules. (We know which priestly group he belonged to. Refer back to First Saturday in Advent devotional.) If that is the case, John would have been born in March of the following year. Since Mary visited Elizabeth in her sixth month, just after she had conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit, Mary would have been visited by Gabriel in December meaning Jesus would have been born in September. While nothing is certain, this is one possible scenario put forth for example. The point I’m getting at is to help us balance the reality of what happened in real time in history with the more nostalgic viewpoint of Jesus’ birth.
Mary was minding her own business in an ordinary day when the angel Gabriel appeared to her. Ask yourself what you would think if an angel told you that you are favored by God and “the Lord is with you.” Nothing else. Just those words. Then the angel repeats the words “You have found favor with God.” As often happens in such circumstances, the heavenly messenger explains the opening statement in greater detail (E.g., Zechariah, Daniel). I remind us that Jews living in the New Testament era knew the Old Testament very well and were well versed with the prophecies. One of the reasons I believe Mary was responsive to Gabriel comes out of what the angel said. Mary would have known Isaiah’s―“behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son . . . Son of the Most High,” another familiar phrase.
Finally, Gabriel refers to the “throne of his ancestor David,” his reign over Israel forever and the Kingdom of this baby conceived in her will never end. Notice, unlike Zechariah, Mary didn’t balk at any of the angel’s words, she just wanted to know how it could happen. The angel explained the conception process very simply (the power of the Most High will overshadow you). The phrasing for the conception of Jesus uses the same words as when the Spirit “hovered” over the waters at the dawn of creation (Gen. 1:2). In other words, the conception of Jesus was by the power of God. Gabriel further affirmed his message telling her about her relative, the sixth month pregnant Elizabeth! Mary’s response to Gabriel’s news was simply, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”
I want to go back and look a little further at Mary’s Jewish heritage which I believe gives added insight into this whole event. Jews in this era knew their own lineage far more than we know ours today. Genealogies are extremely important in Jewish history for a great number of reasons. There is thought that while Matthew, in writing to Jews, traces Jesus’ genealogy beginning with Abraham through David through Solomon to show Joseph’s legal line. Luke, who has more to say about Mary than the other gospel writers, traces her genealogy all the way back to Adam through David through Nathan to show that the gospel is for gentiles as well and that she also is in the Messianic line. Mary’s lineage comes through Solomon’s brother Nathan’s line. Hence, while Joseph was Jesus’ legal and earthly father, he was not in Jesus’ bloodline, God was the source of Jesus bloodline. Mary supplied the humanity and God supplied the divinity in the infant God-man born to the virgin mother.
One other passing thing to note. God had cursed the bloodline of a descendant of Solomon, Jeconiah, stating that no descendant of his would ever be king (Jer. 22:30). Joseph was of that lineage, in other words, no descendent of Joseph would ever be a king, further confirming he was not the father of Jesus. The bloodline of Jesus was divine in its origin traced through Mary (Nathan) thereby making the shedding of his blood on the cross efficacious on our behalf. (A baby’s blood and blood circulation is completely different from its mother’s. They have their own blood type.) It truly was royal sinless blood having been created by God, not Mary. The wonder of the Incarnation―which we’ll explore in some depth in the coming days.
Music: “Long Ago, Prophets Knew” Chet Valley Churches
Prayer:
O Lord God, enlarge our soils with a divine charity, that we may hope all things, endure all things; and become messengers of Thy healing mercy to the grievances and infirmities of men. In all things attune our hearts to the holiness and harmony of Thy kingdom. And hasten the time when Thy kingdom shall come, and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
―James Martineau, from Prayers Ancient and Modern, p.356
24 For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. 25 And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. 26 If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.
27 And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, 28 so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.
Some thoughts:
As we draw closer and closer to celebrating the day of Jesus’ birth, I would like us to consider the above passage in a contrasting context.Sometimes the Nativity of Christ is referred to as the “Great Exchange.”
“For Christ did enter into an unholy place marked with human rebellion, which was the authentic fallen world. He entered this world to appear now before man on God’s behalf. He did enter earth to offer himself one time and one time only on the Most Despicable Cross, not with the blood of sacrificed animals, but with his own perfect blood. His sacrifice and shed blood removed all the sin since the beginning of the world.
The truth is, we all die once and then comes judgment. In the same way, Christ died once on earth which resulted in the sins of many earthbound people being forgiven permanently. He returned to heaven and he’s coming back to complete the redemption journey for all those waiting for him.”
The universal story of humanity is that of reaching either to the heavens to find some kind of god or futilely exploring within themselves to find the god within. Pagan religions “fed” the gods through sacrifices, sometimes infant sacrifice, killing babies. (Can you imagine killing your own baby? Sadly, our world has no problem in doing so by the millions.) Human strivings have never reached, nor can they ever reach a holy God. Undaunted by repeated failure, people continue to strive to rule themselves and one another bending the truth as they see fit.
But in God’s great love, he came to earth out of a heavenly context to make it possible for all peoples on earth to commune with himself. God’s plan is that Jesus will take our place at our moment of judgment. The condemnation that is justly ours he has covered. Had Jesus not come to the world in which we live, we would all be damned with no possibility of ever solving our sin status with God. Only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ covering our sin is forgiveness even possible. Sometimes I wonder if we realize how utterly hopeless our situation is without Christ. Yet millions of people all around us live in that very reality. How can we keep silent?
The believing world rests in the Savior awaiting his return. His first arrival in Bethlehem was rather quiet as most of the world missed it. Much of the world is still ignoring his presence today. His next arrival on earth will be missed by no one and it won’t be to deal with sin but salvation and judgment.
Music: “The Wexford Carol” Alison Kraus and Yo-Yo Ma
Prayer:
O God, praise waiteth for thee, and to render it is my noblest exercise; this is thy due from all thy creatures, for all thy works display thy attributes and fulfil thy designs; the sea, dry land, winter cold, summer heat, morning light, evening shade are full of thee, and thou givest me them richly to enjoy. Thou art King of kings and Lord of lords; at thy pleasure empires rise and fall; all thy works praise thee and thy saints bless thee. Let me be numbered with thy holy ones, resemble them in character and condition, sit with them at Jesus’ feet. May my religion be always firmly rooted in thy Word, my understanding divinely informed, my affections holy and heavenly, my motives simple and pure, and my heart never wrong with thee. Deliver me from the natural darkness of my own mind, from the corruption of my heart, from the temptations to which I am exposed, from the daily snares that attend me. I am in constant danger while I am in this life; let thy watchful eye ever be upon me for my defense. Save me from the power of my worldly and spiritual enemies and from all painful evils to which I have exposed myself. Until the day of life dawns above let there be unrestrained fellowship with Jesus; until fruition comes may I enjoy the earnest of my inheritance, and the first fruits of the Spirit; until I finish my course with joy may I pursue it with diligence, in every part display the resources of the Christian and adorn the doctrine of thee my God in all things. Amen. ―The Valley of Vision, ed. Arthur Bennett, The Banner of Truth Trust: Edinburgh, p.14
15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 16 But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. 17 All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.
I Timothy 2:5-7
5 For, there is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. 6 He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.
This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time. 7 And I have been chosen as a preacher and apostle to teach the Gentiles this message about faith and truth. I’m not exaggerating—just telling the truth.
Some thoughts:
If we are not careful, we can view Jesus’ life as a series of singular events, his birth being the first in a long line of wonderful stories. It is important that our children and grandchildren, amid their joy, excitement, and presents, begin to realize the complete story of the baby Jesus. The Nativity, Passion, Ascension, Pentecost, and the Return are all part of God’s one grand story of bringing redemption and restoration to a fallen creation . . . the story of the Bible. Now that might be a bit much for a five-year-old to focus on in light of that intriguing present under the tree!
Paul has reduced the mission of God in Christ to “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” Any five-year-old can realize this baby Jesus came to save them. After all, “time outs” are real, even in some cases the result of sin! To make his point, Paul reminds us of his sinful past, one in which he consented to the murder of Christians! His point is that our past is not a disqualifying liability in becoming a believer in Jesus. (“Time outs” do not last forever.)
As you read on, Paul helps us see the significance of the birth of Jesus with these words “there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus,” the baby born in a manger in Bethlehem. His life and death (Christmas and Easter) purchase freedom and eternal life for everyone who would believe. Paul’s use of the words “one God and one Mediator” would have registered significantly with the Jewish believers, reminding them of the Shema. “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone” (Deut 6:4-9). In the “one God” reference Paul is helping his readers understand God’s whole story began in the First Testament. He then brings the past into the present with another phrase, “God gave to the world at just the right time.” The word Paul uses is kairos, meaning at an opportune time. In the mystery and wonder of God, who encompasses all of time, he moves into the universe he created out of his great love, appearing on a tiny speck of a planet in one of a hundred billion galaxies at just the right time! We know, since it was God acting, this was the perfect time and the perfect place. What’s more, at just the right time, God extends his offer of salvation and redemption to all. When is that right time? As Paul writes elsewhere in II Corinthians 6:2, “Now is the day of salvation.” Perhaps today you’ll have opportunity to share God’s biggest story with someone . . . maybe while you sit on the floor and put that new bike together!
Sovereign God, Thy cause, not my own, engages my heart, and I appeal to thee with greatest freedom to set up thy kingdom in every place where Satan reigns; glorify thyself and I shall rejoice, for to bring honor to thy name is my sole desire. I adore thee that thou art God, and long that others should know it, feel it, and rejoice in it. O, that all men might love and praise thee, that thou might have all glory from the intelligent world! Let sinners be brought to thee for thy dear name! To the eye of reason everything respecting the conversion of others is as dark as midnight, but thou canst accomplish great things; the cause is thine, and it is to thy glory that men should be saved. Lord, use me as thou wilt, do with me what thou wilt; but, O, promote thy cause, let thy kingdom come, let thy blessed interest be advanced in this world! O do thou bring in great numbers to Jesus! Let me see that glorious day and give me to grasp for multitudes of souls; let me be willing to die to that end; and while I live let me labor for thee to the utmost of my strength, spending time profitable in this work, both in health and in weakness. It is thy cause and kingdom I long for, not my own. O, answer thou, my request! Amen. ―from The Valley of Vision, ed. Bennet, Arthur, Carlisle, Pa: Banner of Truth Trust, p.177 [169/917 18% 6v
Mobilize! Marshal your troops! The enemy is laying siege to Jerusalem. They will strike Israel’s leader in the face with a rod.
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf. 3 The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies until the woman in labor gives birth. Then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land. 4 And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored around the world. 5 And he will be the source of peace.
Some thoughts:
The Scriptures often have meanings on several levels at the same time. While they apply to the immediate situation, they may also be a shadow of what is to come at a later time, or they may be a more general commentary on life. Therefore, it behooves us to pay attention to each word and phrase of God’s Word. Such is the case in this most familiar prophetic passage from the First Testament.
The diet of the nomadic Hebrews consisted primarily of bread, meat, and liquids. The “staff of bread” is the “support of life.” To the Hebrew, bread was essential to life. So, when Jesus said to the Jews, “I am the bread of life” they would have heard that statement as far more profound than we might think. The “I am” harkened back to the burning bush where Moses asked God what his name was and God responded, “I AM that I AM.” So, God, bread, and life are all tied together in this word. Now, the house of that “bread” was Bethlehem, meaning “house (beth in Hebrew) of bread (lechem in Hebrew),” God’s first house on earth.
This little village, about six miles southwest of Jerusalem, figured prominently in God’s grand unfolding story. It was the burial place of Rachel who died giving birth to Benjamin, the last of the twelve sons of Jacob. It was here that the Moabitess, Ruth, met Boaz, the son of Salmon and Rahab, the prostitute, who was instrumental in the destruction of Jericho. In both of these circumstances by grafting two non-Jewish women into the covenant of his people, God was indicating that the inclusive gospel extended to all peoples. It was here in Bethlehem that a descendant of Boaz and Ruth’s marriage, David, Israel’s greatest king (c.1000 BC), called home. Micah, the prophet and author of this book, lived around 725 BC, during the exile. At the time of this writing Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, was a prominent leader bringing the exiles back to Jerusalem. He was the focus of Israel’s hope for deliverance, but he mysteriously disappeared ending any fulfillment to this prophetic passage.
This pericope is another example of the prophetic accuracy of Scripture as the various intricacies are precise in detail while spanning many centuries. At the time the ordinary everyday events were occurring in such a humble place, I wonder if the players had any awareness of the significance of the part they were playing in God’s grandest design. I wonder if we even grasp the significance. You see, the last verses of this passage have yet to be fulfilled, as we await the return of the Prince of Peace, the Bread of Life, the kingly Son of Bethlehem.
Music: “O Little Town of Bethlehem” Salt Lake Vocal Artists
Prayer:
O Holy child of Bethlehem descend to us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels, the great, glad tidings tell. O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel. ―Phillip Brooks
28 “But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway. 30 Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go.
31 “Which of the two obeyed his father?”
They replied, “The first.”
Then Jesus explained his meaning: “I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. 32 For John the Baptist came and showed you the right way to live, but you didn’t believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to believe him and repent of your sins.
Some thoughts:
In this Advent season, having been in ministry in the church for several decades, having planned scores of Christmas Eve services, and having sat through well over 100 such observances with well over 100,000 worshipers, I’ve noticed how some people grasp the significance of the worship while others come for the candle-lighting at the end. We don’t usually see the candle lighting aficionados again until Easter (for the brass and Hallelujah Chorus) or perhaps next Christmas Eve. These people are the “younger son” Jesus’ parable. Theirs is more of a lip service to faith, but no follow through. Then there is the “older son,” the person who stumbles into the service off the street who was simply looking for a place to get warm and stays for all the services. They grasp the truth of the gospel they have been rejecting and return the following Sunday, having begun a transformed life. Of course, there are the faithful who embrace the wonder and glory of the nativity who are the living part of the church.
A little understanding of Jewish background might be helpful here. Jesus is telling this parable during Monday of Holy Week in still another effort to help the Jewish leaders see who he is, the Messiah, and who they are, sinners in need of a Savior. John the Baptist represents the father. The despised tax-collectors and prostitutes represent the older son. The older boy’s negative response to his father’s command would have been viewed as disrespecting his father’s authority, in other words, a rejection of John’s message. After an initial no, the “older boy” changed his mind, saw his need, and embraced John’s message and repenting of his sin, and entered the Kingdom of God. The fact that these social outcasts would be admitted to the Kingdom of God was unthinkable to the Jewish leadership, a scandal in their understanding of the Law. Their own interpretation of the Law was their true authority not God.
The second son, (the Jewish leaders in this parable,) said he would obey his father, yet in actual practice, he refused to go. These authorities, as children of Abraham, believed their righteousness made it unnecessary for them to repent and thus rejected John’s message of repentance and as a result, rejected Jesus as the Messiah. They gave lip service to God but did nothing. Repentance was for the “sinners,” not for them. In their minds, they didn’t need to repent. Jesus assured the former would get into the kingdom and the latter would be cast out.
This message is always the challenge of a Christmas Eve service helping people realize the sanctuary is filled with sinners all in need of repentance despite pretty clothes, candles, and singing “Silent Night.” Remember, Christmas Eve is not about celebrating Jesus’ birthday. He has none. It’s about the eternal Ancient of Days, the Alpha and Omega, God’s Son, entering our world in human flesh to save us sinners in need of repentance and who, apart from him, are hopeless. Be sure to invite Aunt Agnes and Uncle Fred again this year!
Music:
“Go Tell It on the Mountain” Home Free
Prayer:
O Lord Jesus our God, who called people from their daily work saying to them ‘Come ye after me’, may we your children today hear your voice and gladly answer your call to give our lives to you, to serve your Church, to offer our gifts, and give away our hearts to you only. May our response be not only one of intent, but one of relentless faithful obedience. May we not flack in zeal and spirit. Grant that we may reflect your humble spirit, Jesus, and pick up our crosses daily and follow you to the glory of your Father in heaven who with you and the Holy Spirit, reign one God, world without end. Amen. ―Anonymous
Second Friday in Advent TRANSFORMATION OF PEOPLE 13 UNCLE
Scripture: Philemon 1:1-7
1 This letter is from Paul, a prisoner for preaching the Good News about Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.
I am writing to Philemon, our beloved co-worker, 2 and to our sister Apphia, and to our fellow soldier Archippus, and to the church that meets in your house.
3 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
4 I always thank my God when I pray for you, Philemon, 5 because I keep hearing about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God’s people. 6 And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ. 7 Your love has given me much joy and comfort, my brother, for your kindness has often refreshed the hearts of God’s people.
Some thoughts:
Today is a bit of a change of pace from our reflections on John. These thoughts deal with more of the social aspects of Advent! I read today’s passage in Philemon and thought how am I ever going to relate this to anything about advent or Christmas? In this brief letter, Paul is asking a friend to accept back an “employee,” (actually a slave Onesimus,) who quit on the job and ran away . . . and perhaps funded his journey with some of his master’s money. During the time of his “one way journey,” Onesimus ran into Paul and became a believer in Jesus Christ! His life was totally transformed, and he became a useful helper during Paul’s time in prison. This letter is written to Paul’s friend, Philemon, who was the master of Onesimus. In those days in some cases, a runaway slave was subject to death, so this situation was a very serious matter.
Paul’s clear words to Philemon are to accept back Onesimus as a “brother in Christ.” In other words, take him back as an equal before God, a radical concept considering the times. Paul offered to repay any stolen money on Onesimus’ behalf. In a nutshell, Christ can transform anyone into a new person. And you are thinking at this point, “Nice, but where is the connection with Christmas?” Thank you for asking!
My guess is that many of us will be with extended family at some point over the coming days. If your family is like everyone else’s, there are those “unique” relatives, some of whom are delightful, and others not so much. Our tendency is often to react to the way people used to be. Take up Paul’s challenge to Philemon. Approach this year’s gathering with the mindset that God may have been working on that “uniqueness” in Uncle Fred and molding him more and more into the image of his Son or drawing him closer and closer to himself. Who’s to say that God hasn’t been working on Aunt Agnes. That’s what Paul was getting at in this little letter. In other words, give God credit for the ability to transform a person into a new creation. After all, I trust that is what God has been doing with your “uniqueness!” Christmas is about setting in motion the transformation of the entirety of creation. Have you noticed changes in yourself this past year? You are certainly not the same person you were last year. Where is God working in you? “Merry Christmas, Uncle Fred, Aunt Agnes! What’s new?” After all, you may even be Uncle Fred!
Gracious God, who never gives up on any of his creation, grant that I might attain that loving heart towards all with whom I come in contact over these next weeks and in the months to follow. Father, you have been gracious and patient with my stubborn heart. I thank you for pursuing me when I have resisted you fighting the transformation you were working on. May I be the one in my family who encourages joy and honors the love and care you are giving to those “unique” people in my family, including me. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for humbling yourself to become one of us and living in Israel so many years ago. That is almost more than we can imagine, but it beautifully demonstrates your love and commitment to your people. We do wonder at your great love which led you to die for us. We love you and thank you for loving us to the point of death on a cross and for living in us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. ―Daniel Sharp
PS And may I be a blessing to Uncle Fred and Aunt Agnes!
Second Thursday in Advent USEFUL TO THE KINGDOM? 12
Scripture: Isaiah 30:19-26
19 O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries. 20 Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes. 21 Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left. 22 Then you will destroy all your silver idols and your precious gold images. You will throw them out like filthy rags, saying to them, “Good riddance!”
23 Then the Lord will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock. 24 The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by the wind. 25 In that day, when your enemies are slaughtered and the towers fall, there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill. 26 The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days in one! So it will be when the Lord begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them.
Some thoughts:
Sometimes these pericopes may seem a little distant. They were spoken to a specifically to Jewish people at a particular time in their troubled history. They had been in rebellion toward God and had paid a price. My guess is their situation is not all that dissimilar to the world of today. The food of our society seems to be adversity, much of it via manmade sin. Like the Israelites, one could rightfully say our society and culture have little regard for God at any level. While Isaiah’s words were spoken at a specific moment in history, they are equally apropos for our day. These beautiful words of healing and comfort still ring true and God’s calling is the same: “He will be gracious if you ask for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.”
I don’t know if you have anything on your mind today that has you a little off center. If so, heed Isaiah’s words. You may be tempted to think that the small details of my little life are not worth God’s time. After all, he is holding the universe in place! Does God know my incidental thoughts? Yes, I’ll give you an example. A little while back I was wondering if my life in ministry really made any difference to anyone. Was I being useful to His kingdom? My conclusion was pretty pessimistic. The day I was struggling with that thought was the very day I got an email “out of the blue” (right!) from someone who had been in the choir thirty years ago commenting on the spiritual impact it had on his life. I had lost complete track of this person. In my book, that was “a smile from God” saying, “Dan, I know exactly where you are and what you are thinking. I’m answering your question with the voice of someone you know.”
“You will see your teacher with your own eyes.Your own ears will hear him.” Years later the Jews did see and hear the rabbi Jesus with their own eyes and ears. But it is that same voice to which we are to listen. Take ten minutes today of silence and do nothing but open your heart to listen for his voice and then walk in his path.
The final portion of this section points to a day, a glorious day in the future when God makes all things new. Part of the dialogue reminds me of God’s conversation with Adam and Eve in the Garden. This description is reminiscent of the Garden of Eden when the whole creation will be “Edenized,” that is, God will bring healing to his people and make all things new in a sinless restored creation.
May the time not be distant, O God, when Thy name shall be worshiped in all the earth, when unbelief shall disappear, and error be no more. We fervently pray that the day may come when more and more people invoke Thy name, when corruption and evil give way to purity and goodness, when superstition no longer enslaves the mind, nor idolatry blinds the eye. We pray to the end that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Then shall Thy kingdom be established on earth and the word of Thine ancient seer be fulfilled. The Lord will reign for ever and ever. Amen. ―freely adapted from the Evening Service for the Day of Atonement, Union PrayerBook, Cincinnati: Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1930, p.126, Daniel Sharp
18 The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples, 19 and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?”
20 John’s two disciples found Jesus and said to him, “John the Baptist sent us to ask, ‘Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?’”
21 At that very time, Jesus cured many people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he restored sight to many who were blind. 22 Then he told John’s disciples, “Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” 23 And he added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.”
Some thoughts:
John the Baptist is a unique character to say the least! For a couple of reasons, he is actually the last Old Testament prophet even though he appears in the New Testament. First, the sins of the people in Old Testament times were not actually atoned for which was why sacrifices were still offered over and over in Jesus’ day. Jesus repeatedly told those he healed to go to the priest and make the proper offering. The sacrifices were but a shadow of what was to come and pointed to the ultimate sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Second, Malachi―the last book in the First Testament― ends its prophecy with these words: “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.” (Mal. 4:5-6) 400 years of no prophets with no message from God, and then out of the desert comes this weird (there’s no other way to say it) prophet preaching fire and brimstone. To no one’s surprise, his novelty attracts large and curious crowds, some of whom actually repent and become his disciples.
The person and preaching of John became quite controversial among the political and Jewish religious leaders which resulted in his imprisonment. Coloring outside the lines had its magnetic attractiveness! Rabbis in those days had their own disciples called talmid (singular) or talmidim (plural).The talmidim left all and dedicated their lives to following a rabbi, absorbing everything they could about his way of life, his way of thinking, becoming as much like their rabbi as possible. One of John’s talmidim was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Some of John’s talmidim told him of the miracles Jesus was doing so John sent Andrew to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah “we’ve been waiting for the last 400 years . . . or should we keep waiting and watching.” Now when you think about it, this could be a little puzzling because John and Jesus were cousins six months apart in age, John being a little older. Had they ever interacted as boys? John was trying to put it all together, hence his question to Jesus.
There is a principle here bearing comment. John in proclaiming the coming Messiah, the King of the Jews, may have assumed Jesus would at this point be assembling an army to overthrow the occupying Romans. Since Jesus was not doing that, he sent Andrew to find out if Jesus was the Messiah or if someone was coming after him to set up God’s kingdom. John was searching to understand what Jesus was doing.
We live in a world where we often have ideas as to what God should be doing about various situations we face as Christians, as a society, or as a country. And God doesn’t do what we think should happen. We may wonder if God is doing anything. Did you notice how Jesus answered John’s question? He quoted Scripture reminding John the promises God had made concerning the Messiah. That is why it behooves us to spend time each day in the Scriptures as Jesus’ talmidim seeking the face of God to find his mind and heart. Notice Jesus’ pattern of answering questions was repeatedly to refer people back to the Scriptures. The same holds true for us.
Music: “What Child Is This?” Chris Rupp and Home Free
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, your ways are so different from what we expect. You came as a baby in a manger visited first by shepherds, the lowest class of society. You went into exile as an infant to avoid death. As a twelve-year-old, you taught the most brilliant theological minds of the day. You never had a home of your own. You spent more time with the poor and powerless in society than with the leaders. Your kingdom was not what anyone expected. Sometimes your ways are still peculiar to us. You seem to be out of touch . . . or actually, it is we who are lost in our world and are out of touch with what you are doing. Christ Jesus, grant that our hearts and minds wouldn’t be so stuck in our preconceived ideas about you, that we would spend time with you to trust you more and not run ahead in our own time but rest in yours. Help us to move from ideas about you to a deeper relationship with you. This we pray in your Holy Name. Amen. ―Daniel Sharp
7 When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 9 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”
10 The crowds asked, “What should we do?”
11 John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”
12 Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.”
14 “What should we do?” asked some soldiers.
John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”
15 Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah. 16 John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.” 18 John used many such warnings as he announced the Good News to the people.
Some thoughts:
We continue on in the life of John in his adult ministry with some of the social and theological dynamics surrounding his remarkable life. For many years John had been alone in the desert. Remember he is six months older than Jesus so he’s about thirty years old at this point. He suddenly appears out of the wilderness at the Jordan River baptizing converts unto repentance, warning all of the coming day of God’s wrath. Some forty years later one aspect of his words proved true with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD.
In that first century, after 400 years of waiting, there was great expectation among the Jewish people that the Messiah would come and overthrow Roman rule and set up his kingdom. The Messiah was in the lineage of King David. According to God’s promise to David a thousand years earlier, one of his own descendants would be on the throne forever (2 Samuel 7:16). Israel had reached its zenith during the reign of King David and so now the Jews were looking and hoping for the coming Messiah to set up his reign and reestablish the glory days of peace and prosperity like in the days of King David. Was this strange man that person?
Into this Roman occupied Jewish world comes this raving strange prophet saying the coming of the Messiah is near and to repent of your sin in preparation. However, the people believed that since they were descendants of Abraham they did not need this kind of repentance. As is written in the Torah, they may have been circumcised physically, but not in their hearts which was the essential point John was making (Deut 30:6). Their faith should have resulted in righteous living. Instead, their lives were far from godly. A portion of the crowd of people understood John’s message as some responded with, “What shall we do?” A hated Jewish tax collector asked the same question. Additionally, some soldiers repeated the question. John told them all to share with the poor, be honest, be content with what you have and tell the truth. Bottom line, repent of your sin. The way you are living is sinful.
Given John’s unexpected and startling arrival and fiery message, the people wondered if he, in fact, might be the Messiah. In giving answer to their question, John pointed to the greater One who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John’s words were fulfilled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost when tongues of fire settled on each of those gathered. Further, while John’s baptism was with water, the Messiah’s would be with the Holy Spirit (John 7:39). Note the same fire that baptizes with the Holy Spirit is the one that burns the chaff with never ending fire at judgment (Jesus’ parable of the Rich man and Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham Luke 16:24). The writer of Hebrews reminds us that “Our God is a devouring fire” (Heb.12:29).
What else is contained in John’s message? We should live as a reflection of a repentant life, a life lived in close relation to God. Are we even aware of the sin in our lives? Now, a naked blunt question. When was the last time you repented of your own sin? Confessing sin in a worship service is part of true worship, but I’m asking about you personally. Do we hear that voice of the Holy Spirit that says, “Dan, you just got off the path. Turn around. Repent.” John’s message is always relevant. It’s the only way for a clear conscience and peace with God.
Music: “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear” 7th Avenue
Prayer:
Lord God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, from whom no secrets are hidden, enlighten our minds by the pouring of the Holy Spirit; give us grace to know our sins, to love you perfectly, and to praise you worthily, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
―Raccolta, from In the Presence of My Father,p.138
3 In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, 2 “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” 3 The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said,
“He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”
4 John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. 5 People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. 6 And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 9 Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”
Some thoughts:
In this second Monday in Advent, the message of the prophet, John the Baptist, emerges. Prophecy is a consistent recurring theme in the First Testament. You’ll notice throughout the Scriptures God gives hints; he points to what is coming to those who are paying attention. In the past, he sent prophets time and again to challenge the Israelites to repent of their sin. You will also notice that those prophets, to a person, paid dearly for proclaiming God’s truth. The gospel confronts the heart then and now. The gospel means to put people off center.
After the prophet Malachi nothing, nothing for 400 years. Then suddenly John the forerunner, the “Elijah,” burst on the scene. And this John the Baptizer was not subtle! He had not taken sensitivity training! Some people’s feelings were hurt by what he said and they were deeply offended. Imagine that! His message was direct; God’s Kingdom was coming. Repent of your sin. The fact that you are a Jew does not give you special privilege with God. That in itself was shocking to those Jews of the first century. Apparently, the kingdom of God was for everyone?
How does this truth relate to us today? Sometimes we may be inclined to think that because we are a “Christian,” we get a pass with God. God is our “friend” and gives us breaks. Our sin is minor and doesn’t make that much difference. John reminded the Pharisees (and us), who have perhaps become “too familiar with God,” that God has great power, even the power to turn rocks into his children! When he says “children of Abraham” he means faithful children of his Covenant. To further remind the Pharisees and Sadducees of the nature of the God they claim to know and speak for, John speaks of fire, the fire of judgment, the fire of the Holy Spirit, (Pentecost), and the fires of hell! Repentance is serious necessarily repetitious business.
Advent is historically a penitential season as John the Baptist reminds us all again to turn our hearts in humility to the Lord, for he is coming again for the final harvest. Let us not become so familiar with God, that we become “business as usual” in our Christian life, becoming comfortable in our own sin. We are in the process of becoming God’s handiwork. Repentance of our sin is one of his tools as he molds and shapes us. Jesus even included it in the prayer he taught his disciples. Martin Luther’s first of the Ninety-five Theses read: “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, in saying, “Repent ye, etc.,” intended that the whole life of his believers on earth should be a constant penance.” In other words, Jesus intended that the entire life of believers would be repentance. Remember, a cross looms over the manger. That picture proclaims the significance of John’s message. A society in need of repentance begins with individuals repenting. Let it begin with me.
Music: “Let All Mortal Flesh” Fernando Ortega
Prayer:
Blessed Lord Jesus, give me that purity of conscience which I can receive only from Thee, which alone can respond to Thy inspirations. For my conscience is tainted with my rebellious heart. My ears are dull, so that I cannot hear Thy voice. I must confess dearest Lord, that there are times I do not want to hear Thy voice. My eyes are dim, so that I cannot see Thy tokens of affection and kindness. Thou alone canst quicken my hearing, and lift the shadowed veil surrounding my sight, and cleanse and renew my heart. ―John Henry Newman, 1801-1890, adapted Daniel Sharp
Second Sunday in AdventJOHN BENEDICTUS 8 CHARADES, PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
Scripture: Luke 1:68-79
“Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people. 69 He has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David, 70 just as he promised through his holy prophets long ago. 71 Now we will be saved from our enemies and from all who hate us. 72 He has been merciful to our ancestors by remembering his sacred covenant— 73 the covenant he swore with an oath to our ancestor Abraham. 74 We have been rescued from our enemies so we can serve God without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness for as long as we live.
76 “And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. 77 You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. 78 Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”
Some thoughts:
I am intrigued by the verbs in this passage. Think about the setting and put yourself right amid the people gathered around Elizabeth and Zechariah. This lady, well along in years, has just miraculously given birth to their first son. Everyone has been waiting for this moment. She has been somewhat of a novelty the past nine months being pregnant in her “later years!” Her husband has been mysteriously unable to talk during the whole time. The baby arrives in great joy. In what must have looked like the game of charades, you all ask Zechariah a question. He motions for a tablet on which he writes the baby’s name is John. His tongue is loosed, and he begins to speak.
Notice the opening references to the Messiah are in past tense, as though Jesus’ birth has already happened. (Has visited, has redeemed, has sent, we have been rescued). “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb.11:1) These verb tenses demonstrate Zechariah’s faith; he believes in what is yet to come. The Messiah is not present. Jesus will not be born for another six months! Zechariah’s words then move to the future tense regarding his own newborn son. You, baby John, “will be called a prophet, you will prepare, you will tell.” It is only at the end of his song that the old priest moves into the present tense, “the morning light is about to break upon us!”
This is a marvelous example and pattern of faith. Notice what exercising faith does; how it plays with time. It treats the future as “past” (certainty v.68-69) and the present as “future” (anticipated certainty v.76-79) and the past as “present.” (absolute certainty v.71-74). Faith transcends time. As you consider the events and concerns in your life today, let Zechariah’s faith model guide you.
Music:“O Come, O Come Emmanuel” Voces8
Prayer: Our omniscient Father, who dwells in heaven and who knows the exact time of our Savior’s return to earth, grant that we may live in ready anticipation of that great day; may the activities of this day enhance our preparation; may our minds be tuned to see our surroundings as you do; may we not become so engrossed in this world so as to make the next a fantasy, a dream, an unreality. Ground our waiting, our anticipation in the certainty of the Lord’s glorious Return. This we pray in the name of the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen. –Daniel Sharp
First Saturday in Advent JOHN ZECH & ANGEL,Abijah 7
Scripture: Luke 1:5-17
5 When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.
8 One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. 9 As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. 10 While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying.
11 While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. 12 Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. 13 But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. 14 You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.16 And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. 17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”
Some thoughts:
Friends, there is such richness I that first paragraph. Our tendency is to read the words and move on. It pays to linger and ponder why Luke included each phrase that is there. When Herod was king of Judea (37-4 BC) put Luke’s account in time, in other words, this is an actual event in history. Of course, Christians believe this but not everyone does. It is history that requires a response. Now, to the text.
Not anyone could become a priest. One didn’t audition or send in a résumé for the job. It was required to be born into the right family . . . the tribe of Levi and specifically, the family line of Aaron. (That is one of the reasons genealogies are so important in the Bible and why the scribes took such great care in recording them.) Both Aaron and Moses were of the tribe of Levi. Aaron was God’s chosen priest and established the protocol for priestly duties. If we look in I Chronicles 24:10 we find that Abijah, mentioned here in Luke, was a descendant of Eleazer, one of the two remaining sons of Aaron. (Nadab and Abihu offered unholy fire and died.) Abijah was chosen as the eighth of the twenty-four lots. Move forward 1,000 years. Now it was the eighth lot’s turn to serve in the Temple and Zechariah was chosen by lot to be the one to serve from his division. The privilege to serve may come but once in a priest’s lifetime and so it was a great honor to be chosen. When Zechariah’s name was drawn there was much excitement for the old couple and my guess is many of his friends were waiting outside for him to finish his duties to find out what it was like. When he was delayed in coming out, they figured something was amiss. Perhaps the excitement was too much, and he died! God’s hand was at work all the way back to the First Testament!
Why such care with details? God chose to work through the priestly line to raise the prophet who would announce the coming of the Messiah, the Anointed One. As it turns out both Zechariah and Elizabeth were from the priestly line of Aaron. As a result, their marriage was viewed with even greater distinction further magnifying the social stigma of being childless. Have you noticed barrenness in childbearing is a recurring theme of Scripture? Sarah-Isaac, Rebecca-Jacob, Rachel-Joseph, the unnamed mother of Samson, Hannah-Samuel, and Elizabeth and John. In every case the resulting sons born to the women were used by God in significant ways in the unfolding of God’s plan for his people.
The appearance of the angel in the Temple was unsettling to say the least, but his message was clear. Zechariah and Elizabeth were to become parents of the forerunner of the Messiah. The Scripture tells us that John was filled with the Holy Spirit while still in utero. Our wonderful God worked through an ordinary occurrence, even rolling the dice to select a person for a specific task (!), and accomplished his will in a remarkable, priestly, and miraculous way. All the details were in perfect order from centuries earlier. A prophet miraculously conceived from the priestly line, was to announce the coming of the King, One who was the Prophet foretold by Moses the Levite (Deut 18:18) proclaiming the gospel to the world, and the High Priest who lives to continually intercede on behalf of his children was the coming King. God’s hand is on all his children. Look today for God’s hand in the ordinary things of your life. They may become extraordinary in the future! God is the master orchestrator of life and time. After all, God’s word says, “You are a chosen people . . . royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession.” Follower of Jesus, that’s you, a royal priest.
Music: “Every Valley Shall Be Exalted” Kurt Streit
Prayer:
Almighty Lord our God, as your royal priests on earth, direct our steps into the way of peace, and strengthen our hearts to obey Thy commands; may the Dayspring visit us from on high, and help us to shine the light of your gospel to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; so that they may adore Thee for Thy mercy, follow thee for Thy truth, desire Thee for thy sweetness, who art the blessed Lord God of Israel. Amen. – An Ancient Collect, adapted Daniel Sharp
[299/1065 28% 13v.] cut half 13 and 14-16 to get to 25 %
9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. 2 All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. 3 I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. 4 But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.
5 “And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. 6 If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beingsin his own image. 7 Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.”
8 Then God told Noah and his sons, 9 “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, 10 and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11 Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”
12 Then God said, “I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. 13 I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. 14 When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, 15 and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. 16 When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.” 17 Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”
Some thoughts:
In today’s passage, much like the initial account of creation, we find this blessing from God. His words were, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth” (Gen 1:28). After all, the world was starting over! We see in this part of the account of the Flood that some basic things have changed. Whereas previously man was to reign peacefully over the animals, now animals are to live in fear of man. Why? Man has been given permission by God to increase his diet to include meat. Again, harkening back to the original creation we see the great significance in the sanctity of life in man’s being made in the “image of God” (Gen 1:26).
We look further into the covenant God made with Noah and all creation. “Covenant” means a “bond.” Despite human beings’ continued unfaithfulness, our faithful God made a covenant promise to Noah and all creation that such a flood would never happen again as a judgment on the world. In God’s graciousness, he gave Noah a visible seal of this covenant, a sign we still see today, the rainbow. Not only is it the signature on God’s promise not to destroy the earth with a flood, but God’s rainbow also is a reminder that rebellion toward God and ungodly immoral living brings the certainty of divine judgment. It is also a reminder that righteous living in God’s sight brings salvation. Such is the true purpose of the rainbow, God’s invention. It’s a tragedy that a secular society has embraced the rainbow as its symbol espousing a totally corrupt and opposite purpose and message from godliness. Judgment will come.
The next time you see a rainbow, realize God is still speaking. There is this little phrase we read that puts a qualifier on the Covenant, “as long as the earth remains.” In Revelation we read of the final judgment by fire not water and a reference to a “rainbow of color” (Rev 4:3). It’s God’s rainbow. Have you noticed how all Scripture points to the consummation of history where Christ assumes his royal throne and establishes his eternal Kingdom? Every beautiful rainbow in the sky points to that glorious end, which as C.S. Lewis writes at the conclusion of The Last Battle, “now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” (p.184)
Music: “Joy to the World” John Rutter and Cambridge Choir
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, until the day comes when all of your creation sees you coming on the clouds with the hosts of heaven to bring to an end this world, when you will right all wrongs, heal every disease, solve all the mess we’ve made of ourselves and your creation and separate the sheep and the goats, we have your rainbow to remind us of that coming day and your promise to us in the meantime. In these Advent days of anticipation, help us to watch and wait with expectancy of your glorious return. It’s good for us to try to imagine what it will be like to be in your very presence in our resurrection bodies and seeing you face to face, not dimly nor through a mirror for then we will see rainbow colors like we have never seen! Lord Jesus, make me more aware this day of that certain reality. You are my faithful God who will certainly bring it all to pass. I love you Lord and eagerly await that day, either during this lifetime or when I depart for the next better chapter to be with you. In my wonderful Savior’s name. Amen. ―Daniel Sharp
“Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. 15And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring (her seed). He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
16 Then he said to the woman,
“I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”
17 And to the man he said,
“Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you.
Matthew 1:18 [New Testament, prophecy fulfilled]
18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Some thoughts:
You recall the context of this very familiar passage of Scripture. Adam and Eve had just rejected God and decided to go their own way. The result was immediate separation from God with deadly consequences to follow. In their expulsion from the Garden, having lived in the very presence of their Father, they were given a word of hope even in the curse. God, in his mercy and grace, would provide a way back to communion with himself. He would take the form of a human; at great cost, he would become one of us.
The boldfaced verse fifteen in the above passage has an unusual phrase. When we think of conception of a baby, the “seed” comes from the man to fertilize the “egg” which comes from the woman. (As you see, this is quite ‘technical’!) But the wording used here is that “her seed” comes from the woman and is fertilized by the Holy Spirit, (Mt. 1:18) hence, Luke traces Jesus’ genealogy through Mary, making it clear that Joseph was not Jesus’ birth father, God was. “Her seed” is her offspring, referring to Christ.
For his coming to be efficacious, God had to be involved in the conception the infant God/man. At the same time, that child must be fully human in order to redeem humans. A purely spiritual being, like an angel for instance, would not solve the human problem of sin, for there would be no personal identity with human beings, no empathy, no understanding of what it is like to be human. So, God took a human egg of a virgin girl, though not sinless, and by the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit created a perfect human, a holy Redeemer, fully God and fully human. The same “overshadow” word was used in relation to the Spirit of God hovering over the waters at the dawn of creation, of God’s presence in hovering over the Ark of the Covenant, and again in the accounts of the Transfiguration. As only God could, the Son of God took on human flesh in a most miraculous working of his Father, something only God could accomplish.
There are hundreds of prophecies in the First Testament that give us hints of what is to come regarding the Messiah. Here is a prime example. From the earliest time, God revealed to humans his plan of redemption. In a most remarkable way, the “seed of Eve” would come to earth in the flesh, pure, perfect, and holy human flesh.
Music: “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” Caitelen
Prayer: The radiance of the Father’s splendor, the Father’s visible image, Jesus Christ our God, peerless among counselors, Prince of Peace, Father of the world to come, the model after which Adam was formed, for our sakes became like a slave: in the womb of Mary the virgin, without assistance from any man, he took flesh . . .
Enable us, Lord, to reach the end of this luminous feast in peace, forsaking all idle words, acting virtuously, shunning our passions, and raising ourselves above the things of this world.
Bless your church, which you brought into being long ago and attached to yourself through your own life-giving blood. Help all orthodox pastors, heads of churches, and doctors [theologians].
Bless your servants, whose trust is all in you; bless all Christian souls, the sick, those tormented by evil spirits, and those who have asked us to pray for them.
Show yourself as merciful as you are rich in grace; save and preserve us; enable us to obtain those good things to come, which will never know an end. May we celebrate your glorious birth, and the Father who sent you to redeem us, and your Spirit, the Giver of life, now and forever, age after age. Amen. (A Syriac Christmas liturgy – late third or early fourth century)
First Wednesday in Advent PERFECT KINGDOM COMING 4
Scripture: Isaiah 9:6-7 6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!
Luke 1:29-33
29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
Some thoughts:
In the swirl of everyday concerns and pressures it is quite easy to lose a larger perspective. Too often we wake up and grab our phone or I-Pad to see what happened overnight. Were there any tragedies or great disasters? What did the world’s leaders do while we slept? The immediacy of the news is relentless. It is quite easy to become addicted to sound bites. We feel we’re behind trying to catch up and we’re not out of bed yet! Maybe things are not that drastic, but such is too close to the truth for too many of us. What would be different if our first thoughts and words every morning were “Thank you Lord for the rest and restoring of my soul and body. You have all things under control and in that I rejoice.”
In today’s pericope, we have a description of that perfect world we long to wake up to. Isaiah wrote this description 2700 years ago of a government that is yet to happen! Isaiah’s words were written some seven centuries before the time of Christ. Talk about being ahead of the game! Eventually, a government will be set up under King Jesus, a perfect kingdom, with a perfect Ruler where peace will rule forever! No lying. No bribery. No corruption. No scandals. No political “spin.” No necessity for presenting “two sides of the story.” No need for media, lawyers, doctors, politicians, police, or preachers. No AI or technology needed. In short, there is nothing for this world to contribute to the kingdom of God except us!
In his kingdom truthfulness and compassion abound. No documentaries on scandals or breaking the laws. This glorious rule of Christ lasts for all eternity! The best news is that it will happen and those who have been redeemed by the blood of the King will be there. We won’t be reading about it; we will be there! We will be part of it. While we dare not escape this world with all its difficulties and uncertainties, yet we must ever be aware that there is a certain world coming that is unseen at present, yet more certain and real than the present! Advent is the season which compels us to be ever watchful and living each day with anticipation for the return of the Prince of Peace.
The apostle Paul says it so beautifully in 2 Cor 4:17,18. “7 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
Music: “And the Glory of the Lord” Voces 8
Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
First Tuesday in Advent LAST DAYS God’s word scarce 3
Scripture: Amos 8:4-11
4 Listen to this, you who rob the poor and trample down the needy! 5 You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless. You measure out grain with dishonest measures and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales. 6 And you mix the grain you sell with chaff swept from the floor. Then you enslave poor people for one piece of silver or a pair of sandals.
7 Now the Lord has sworn this oath by his own name, the Pride of Israel: “I will never forget the wicked things you have done! 8 The earth will tremble for your deeds, and everyone will mourn. The ground will rise like the Nile River at floodtime; it will heave up, then sink again.
9 “In that day,” says the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth while it is still day. 10 I will turn your celebrations into times of mourning and your singing into weeping. You will wear funeral clothes and shave your heads to show your sorrow— as if your only son had died. How very bitter that day will be!
11 “The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord.
Some thoughts:
You might be thinking at this point, “I wonder why all this attention to the Last Days and Final Judgment?” Good question. As we said, it is important to remember to grasp the whole of the significance of the Nativity of Jesus. This baby came essentially to die to make possible the restoration of a fallen creation. The Fall meant that sin had entered the world and there was only one solution―God himself in the form of a baby.
In Amos’ day, not unlike the days in which we live. The accumulation of wealth by any and every means was the driving force of those in business. The Sabbath was barely tolerated; in truth it was like any other day. Sound familiar? The merchant cheated by adding chaff to the grain to make it bulk up visually. Then their quart basket wasn’t quite a quart. They would use heavy weights when the buyer put their coins on the scale to pay. Not surprisingly, the buyer would then have to add more coins to balance the scale. In effect, they were being cheated twice. To no one’s surprise such kind of activity continues to this day. Through Amos, the Lord condemned this kind of activity.
But what does this have to do with advent? Amos is reminding the people that though the Lord is long-suffering, he will bring judgment on all who oppress the truth then and in our day. There are haunting words in this passage about “a day when the sun goes down at noon and darkens the earth while it is still day” and your celebrations turn into times of mourning and weeping and sorrow. Do those words remind you of the sun growing dark at noon on Good Friday . . . and sorrow in Amos’ words, “as if your only son died?” How bitter that day will be. As often happens in Scripture, a specific prophecy can speak to several levels. There is the immediate situation, but it may also be a shadow of a future event. Such is the case here.
Our pericope concludes with another prophecy that challenges our day. “The time is surely coming when I will send a famine on the land―not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord.” [Italics mine.] Not only has our secular culture utterly rejected any aspect of Judeo-Christian values, but many mainline Christian denominations have abandoned the authority of the Scriptures succumbing to the culture, making their own twisted interpretations resulting in the hearing of the infallible words of the Lord scarce. The world is filled with all manner of “spirituality” though absent of the presence of the Holy Spirit of God.
Through Amos God is warning his people and us that his ultimate plan for final judgment and the restoration of all his peoples and creation will most certainly come to pass. He closes his prophecy with wonderful words of healing and fulfillment to the children of Israel. His final words are, “I will firmly plant them there in their own land. They will never again be uprooted from the land I have given then,” says the Lord your God (9:15). That came true in 1948. The baby of Bethlehem will most certainly return as Lord and King. Amos give us God’s word, warning, and promise.
Music: “Advent Hymn” Christy Nockels
Prayer:
Grant us, Lord, to imitate the watchfulness of those who waited for your resurrection, so that day and night, Lord, our souls may be turned toward you. In that hour when we shall be separated from men, from the traffic of men, be to us, Lord, a Giver of good things; bring joy to our sadness, your peace into our hearts, and your rest to all our striving, that the darkness of that night may be to us as day. Amen. ―St. Ephraim, from In the Presence of My Father, p.173-174
36 “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.
37 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. 38 In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. 39 People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.
40 “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.
42 “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. 43 Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into. 44 You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.
Some thoughts:
This passage of Scripture is part of a conversation Jesus had with his disciples during Holy Week, just a few days before his Crucifixion. Jesus has spoken about the destruction of the Temple that was yet to come (it occurred in 70 AD) but he also spoke of the coming of the Son of Man. The point in his words to the disciples has to do with the suddenness of the end of time as well as the people’s lack of awareness of God’s ultimate redemption of the whole created order. The Lord is coming again. This truth is not simply a verse in the Bible. My guess is that most of the people you encounter today, if they even believe or thought of the Lord’s Return, would think of it only as a line in the Bible, not something to take very seriously, certainly not something that could actually happen in their lifetime. The people in Noah’s day were completely, unabashedly consumed with the present, not unlike people today. Jesus’ strong warning to his disciples―keep watch! Always be ready for the coming of the Son of Man.
What many Christians have forgotten is that we hold two identity cards simultaneously. We are citizens of this earth, and we are citizens of heaven concurrently. The latter is the more significant of the two. We are seated with Christ in heaven right now. Though this is the world we currently see, make no mistake, we are united with Christ in the heavenlies as Paul writes (Eph.1:4). Live this day as a practicing citizen of heaven until the time when heaven will be visible and this earth a faint, dim memory . . . if that.
Just a passing note. Jesus most often referred to himself as the Son of Man throughout his ministry, a Messianic phrase associated with the book of Daniel (7:13) and the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek 2:1). In referring to himself in this manner, he was emphasizing the humanity of Christ while claiming to be the Messiah in a more subtle way. He generally avoided using Son go God directly, more often by implication. It was not until he appeared before the Jewish high council at his trial early in the morning of Good Friday when asked by the high priest point blank, “Are you the Son of God?” that Jesus replied, “You say I am.” This affirmation was the most direct claim made by Jesus in referring to himself with this phrase. Later we hear these words coming from the lips of the Roman soldier stationed at the cross. At that point, his identity as Lord of heaven and earth was emphatically stated, our dual citizenship papers stamped in the blood of the Lamb, the power of Satan was shattered, and the certainty of Jesus’ is coming again! Our part? Keep watch!
Music: “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying” Luther Nordic Choir
Prayer:
O Lord, I live here as a fish in a vessel of water, only enough to keep me alive, but in heaven I shall swim in the ocean. Here I have a little air in me to keep me breathing, but there I shall have sweet and fresh gales. Here I have a beam of sun to lighten my darkness, a warm ray to keep me from freezing; yonder I shall live in light and warmth forever. My natural desires are corrupt and misguided, and it is thy mercy to destroy them. My spiritual longings are of thy planting, and thou wilt water and increase them. Quicken my hunger and thirst after the realm above. Here I can have the world, there I shall have thee in Christ. Here is a life of longing and prayer, there is assurance without suspicion asking without refusal. Here are gross comforts more burden then benefit, there is joy without sorrow, comfort without suffering, love without in constancy, rest without weariness. Give me to know that heaven is all love, where the eye affects the heart, and the continual viewing of thy beauty keeps the soul in continual transport of delight. Give me to know that heaven is all peace, where error, pride, rebellion, passion raise no head. Give me to know that heaven is all joy, the end of believing, fasting, praying, mourning, humbling, watching, fearing, repining and lead me to it soon. This I pray through the Son of God. Amen. ―Valley of Vision, p.203
The subscriptions went over 1000 so I had to upgrade the plan this morning! So things should be normal from now on with 5 AM EST sending. The devotional is below. Dan
As some of you know, I am in the process of writing a book which may turn into four volumes of devotionals for the entire Christian year. It is a large undertaking. I am making great progress on the first volume which goes from Advent to Ash Wednesday. Because of this undertaking, I do not have time to write an additional Advent devotional for this year. So, my wife suggested I use some manuscript from part of the book for this year’s daily devotionals. They will be unedited and not the final copy, but you will get a devotional each day as in the past. I would welcome any typo’s, misspellings, etc. you find! There will undoubtedly be some re-write as well! Not sure what the title will be at this point!
How to Read This Year’s Devotionals
There are some unique challenges in writing such a book since the starting dates of Advent, Ash Wednesday, Easter, and Pentecost all vary from year to year! But I’ve figured out a way to make it work regardless of when those seasons begin. This year Advent begins on December 3rd, the latest it could ever begin meaning Christmas Eve is on Sunday, December 24th. That also means the fourth week of Advent is a single day!
Accordingly, the devotionals are based on weeks of Advent rather than specific dates. So, we begin with the First Sunday in Advent followed by First Monday in Advent, First Tuesday, and so forth. This year since Christmas Eve is the fourth Sunday in Advent, you’ll have no more days for the fourth week. (All the days of the fourth week do appear in the book, so regardless of what year Advent starts, you’ll always have a devotional. The book will continue with devotionals for each day until March 10th, the latest possible date for Ash Wednesday. There will be an index listing the first Sunday in Advent through 2075 so you will know when Advent begins every year.)
A Word about Advent
The Christian life is about burrowing deeper and deeper into our faith. What do we mean? If we can picture the Christian Year (Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Ordinary time, Christ the King) as a corkscrew boring down deeper and deeper year by year, we have a good picture of the nature and purpose of the Christian Year. We are not simply repeating stories, as if we are going around and around in a circle.
As we move from season to season each day leads us through the life and ministry of Jesus, but it is not simply a rehearsal of the earthly life and works of Christ. Certainly, there have been changes in both the world and us during the past year, so the readings come in a different context. We are invited anew into God’s story and life of the living Christ as we move through God’s story in our days on earth. We are observing time with a greater awareness of Jesus’ life by walking through God’s story as the Holy Spirit forms and matures our spiritual life in earthly days.
Much of the time, our lives revolve around the civil or academic calendars. The result is that we are often trying to fit our “spiritual lives” into our daily routines rather than the other way around. Without an awareness of “Christianly time,” we are simply fending day-to-day trying our best to make sense of the events around us. No wonder we lose perspective! The walk through the Christian Year gives us a Holy Spirit perspective as our spiritual life is molded and shaped by Christ himself. May these devotionals contribute to the work he’s begun in you.
Above all our primary purpose is to have a daily encounter with the Lord and to hear his voice. Begin each devotional with a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you through his written Word. In addition, our hope is: 1) to help give us a better grasp of the unity of the Bible as one grand story and increase our knowledge of this Library of Books; 2) to assist us in developing a daily pattern of reading Scripture; 3) to provide us with a daily encounter with a wide variety of vocal and choral music of substance to inspire our faith; 4) and to introduce us to the prayers of some of the saints of the past and “sinners” from the present! I can think of no better way to start the day. St. Paul writes, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.”
If you find these daily excursions into the Scriptures rewarding, I would greatly appreciate your help in passing the word along. As always, subscribing is simple and free. Have the person go to: sharpdevotional.com and put in their email address to subscribe. That’s it. (You can unsubscribe at any time.) Then they will automatically receive the emails in their boxes 5:00 AM each morning EST. Be sure to Whitelist our email to reduce the chance of getting caught in spam filters!
The version I have used is the NLT (The New Living Translation).
4 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, “The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed—roots, branches, and all.
2 “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture. 3 On the day when I act, you will tread upon the wicked as if they were dust under your feet,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
4 “Remember to obey the Law of Moses, my servant—all the decrees and regulations that I gave him on Mount Sinai for all Israel.
5 “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. 6 His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
Some thoughts:
Christmas is coming! In the swirl of the season, we can easily focus too narrowly on this single day. It is helpful to remember that God’s purpose for the birth of the Redeemer is to bring restoration to everything God has created. So, we begin observing the Christian Year at the very end of time, the final advent of Jesus, and work backwards through the season to his birth and then forward to his Passion, Ascension, and advent of the Holy Spirit. You see, the Nativity has a much grander scope than simply the birth of baby Jesus. It is so much more significant than a Jesus’ birthday party!
This passage from Malachi is both a warning and a joyous promise to us as well. There is no doubt these words will come to pass and there will be judgment for all. Though his words were strong and clear, there is no evidence that the majority of those who heard Malachi’s message changed their crooked ways. As in those days many who hear the gospel today reject the offer of forgiveness and salvation. Nevertheless, those who repented were forgiven by God and spared a severe judgment.
All people who honor the Lord will experience an abiding joy even in awful times. For them, there is no fear in judgment. The image of “leaping calves being led out to pasture” is another vivid image to a farm boy like me! How well I remember when in late March or early April, we opened the barn doors for the first time and let the calves, which had been penned up during the cold winter months, out into the fresh spring air. They ran and jumped around like little lambs or goats, almost out of control! Their little legs were wobbly with excitement! We loved to watch the joy of those first minutes of newly discovered freedom. Malachi writes of this kind of joy along with the reminder to “remember our history” and what God has done and requires.
The Scriptures give us the repeated reminder to keep God’s biggest story in mind. The Older Testament concludes with the admonition to be on the alert for Elijah and the coming of Messiah. The Newer Testament ends the same way with the admonition to look for the Return of the Messiah and concludes with the call, “Come, Lord Jesus,” the conclusion to the final advent!
Music: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” Anna Hawkins
Prayer:
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is accomplished. Lord, how we long for your return. In your mercy come again and receive us unto yourself, grant us a safe lodging in our heavenly home, the home you are preparing for us, and grant us a holy rest, and peace at last through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
―John Henry Newman 1801-1890, from Eerdmans’ Book of Famous Prayers (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1984), p.70, Compiled Veronica Zundel,adapted Daniel Sharp
4 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, “The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed—roots, branches, and all.
2 “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture. 3 On the day when I act, you will tread upon the wicked as if they were dust under your feet,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
4 “Remember to obey the Law of Moses, my servant—all the decrees and regulations that I gave him on Mount Sinai for all Israel.
5 “Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. 6 His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
Some thoughts:
Christmas is coming! In the swirl of the season we can easily focus too narrowly on this single day. It is helpful to remember that God’s purpose for the birth of the Redeemer is to bring restoration to everything God has created. So, we begin observing the Christian Year at the very end of time, the final advent of Jesus, and work backwards through the season to his birth and then forward to his Passion, Ascension, and advent of the Holy Spirit. You see, the Nativity has a much grander scope than simply the birth of baby Jesus. It is so much more significant than a Jesus’ birthday party!
This passage from Malachi is both a warning and a joyous promise to us as well. There is no doubt these words will come to pass and there will be judgment for all. Though his words were strong and clear, there is no evidence that the majority of those who heard Malachi’s message changed their crooked ways. As in those days many who hear the gospel today reject the offer of forgiveness and salvation. Nevertheless, those who repented were forgiven by God and spared a severe judgment.
All people who honor the Lord will experience an abiding joy even in awful times. For them, there is no fear in judgment. The image of “leaping calves being led out to pasture” is another vivid image to a farm boy like me! How well I remember when in late March or early April, we opened the barn doors for the first time and let the calves, which had been penned up during the cold winter months, out into the fresh spring air. They ran and jumped around like little lambs or goats, almost out of control! Their little legs were wobbly with excitement! We loved to watch the joy of those first minutes of newly discovered freedom. Malachi writes of this kind of joy along with the reminder to “remember our history” and what God has done and requires.
The Scriptures give us the repeated reminder to keep God’s biggest story in mind. The Older Testament concludes with the admonition to be on the alert for Elijah and the coming of Messiah. The Newer Testament ends the same way with the admonition to look for the Return of the Messiah and concludes with the call, “Come, Lord Jesus,” the conclusion to the final advent!
Music: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” Anna Hawkins
Prayer:
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is accomplished. Lord, how we long for your return. In your mercy come again and receive us unto yourself, grant us a safe lodging in our heavenly home, the home you are preparing for us, and grant us a holy rest, and peace at last through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
―John Henry Newman 1801-1890, from Eerdmans’ Book of Famous Prayers (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1984), p.70, Compiled Veronica Zundel, adapted Daniel Sharp
Another year has passed as we enter into the season of Advent beginning THIS Sunday.You’ll receive your first devotional at 5 AM this Sunday morning and the following days through Epiphany, January 6th.
Our primary purpose for these writings is for us to have a daily encounter with the Lord and hear his voice. Begin each devotional with a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you through his written Word. In addition, our hope is:
1) to help give us a better grasp of the unity of the Bible as one grand story and increase our knowledge of this Library of Books
2) to assist us in developing a daily pattern of reading Scripture
3) to provide us with a daily encounter with a wide variety of vocal and choral music of substance to inspire our faith
4) and to introduce us to the prayers of some of the saints of the past and “sinners” from the present! I can think of no better way to start the day. St. Paul writes, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.”
If you find these daily excursions into the Scriptures rewarding, I would greatly appreciate your help in passing the word along. As always, subscribing is simple and free.
If you missed an email I sent a couple of weeks ago, this year’s Advent is a little different. (If you read the earlier email, you can skip reading this.) . . . or review!!
ADVENT 2023
As some of you know, I am in the process of writing a book which may turn into four volumes of devotionals for the entire Christian year. It is a large undertaking. I am making great progress on the first volume which goes from Advent to Ash Wednesday. Because of this undertaking, I do not have time to write an additional Advent devotional for this year. So, my wife suggested I use some manuscript from part of the book for this year’s daily devotionals. They will be unedited and not the final copy, but you will get a devotional each day as in the past. I would welcome any typo’s, misspellings, etc. you find! There will undoubtedly be some re-write as well! Not sure what the title will be at this point!
How to Read This Year’s Devotionals
There are some unique challenges in writing such a book since the starting dates of Advent, Ash Wednesday, Easter, and Pentecost all vary from year to year! But I’ve figured out a way to make it work regardless of when those seasons begin. This year Advent begins on December 3rd, the latest it could ever begin meaning Christmas Eve is on Sunday, December 24th. That also means the fourth week of Advent is a single day!
Accordingly, the devotionals are based on weeks of Advent rather than specific dates. So, we begin with the First Sunday in Advent followed by First Monday in Advent, First Tuesday, and so forth. This year since Christmas Eve is the fourth Sunday in Advent, you’ll have no more days for the fourth week. (All the days of the fourth week do appear in the book, so regardless of what year Advent starts, you’ll always have a devotional. The book will continue with devotionals for each day until March 10th, the latest possible date for Ash Wednesday. There will be an index listing the first Sunday in Advent through 2075 so you will know when Advent begins every year and a similar calendar for the beginnings of Ash Wednesday.)
ADVENT 2023 (In case you missed the first sending. Advent begins December 3rd.)
The Annunciation, Phillipe de Champaigne, 1644
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
As some of you know, I am in the process of writing a book which may turn into four volumes of devotionals for the entire Christian year. It is a large undertaking. I am making great progress on the first volume which goes from Advent to Ash Wednesday. Because of this undertaking, I do not have time to write an additional Advent devotional for this year. So, my wife suggested I use some manuscript from part of the book for this year’s daily devotionals. They will be unedited and not the final copy, but you will get a devotional each day as in the past. I would welcome any typo’s, misspellings, etc. you find! There will undoubtedly be some re-write as well!
How to Read This Year’s Devotionals
There are some unique challenges in writing such a book since the starting dates of Advent, Ash Wednesday, Easter, and Pentecost all vary from year to year! But I’ve figured out a way to make it work regardless of those starting dates. This year Advent begins on December 3rd, the latest it could ever begin meaning Christmas Eve is on Sunday, December 24th. That also means the fourth week of Advent is a single day!
Accordingly, the devotionals are based on weeks of Advent rather than specific dates. So, we begin with the First Sunday in Advent followed by First Monday in Advent, First Tuesday, and so forth. This year since Christmas Eve is the fourth Sunday in Advent, you’ll have no more days for the fourth week. (All the days of the fourth week do appear in the book, so regardless of what year Advent starts, you’ll always have a devotional. The book will continue with devotionals for each day until March 10th, the latest possible date for Ash Wednesday. There will be an index listing the first Sunday in Advent through 2075 so you will know when Advent begins every year.)
A Word about Advent
The Christian life is about burrowing deeper and deeper into our faith. What do we mean? If we can picture the Christian Year (Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Ordinary time, Christ the King) as a corkscrew boring down deeper and deeper year by year, we have a good picture of the nature and purpose of the Christian Year. We are not simply repeating stories, as if we are going around and around in a circle.
As we move from season to season each day leads us through the life and ministry of Jesus, but it is not simply a rehearsal of the earthly life and works of Christ. Certainly, there have been changes in both the world and us during the past year, so the readings come in a different context. We are invited anew into God’s story and life of the living Christ as we move through God’s story in our days on earth. We are observing time with a greater awareness of Jesus’ life by walking through God’s story as the Holy Spirit forms and matures our spiritual life in earthly days.
Much of the time, our lives revolve around the civil or academic calendars. The result is that we are often trying to fit our “spiritual lives” into our daily routines rather than the other way around. Without an awareness of “Christianly time,” we are simply fending day-to-day trying our best to make sense of the events around us. No wonder we lose perspective! The walk through the Christian Year gives us a Holy Spirit perspective as our spiritual life is molded and shaped by Christ himself. May these devotionals contribute to the work he’s begun in you.
Above all our primary purpose is to have a daily encounter with the Lord and to hear his voice. Begin each devotional with a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you through his written Word. In addition, our hope is: 1) to help give us a better grasp of the unity of the Bible as one grand story and increase our knowledge of this Library of Books; 2) to assist us in developing a daily pattern of reading Scripture; 3) to provide us with a daily encounter with a wide variety of vocal and choral music of substance to inspire our faith; 4) and to introduce us to the prayers of some of the saints of the past and “sinners” from the present! I can think of no better way to start the day. St. Paul writes, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.”
If you find these daily excursions into the Scriptures rewarding, I would greatly appreciate your help in passing the word along. As always, subscribing is simple and free. Have the person go to: sharpdevotional.com and put in their email address to subscribe. That’s it. (You can unsubscribe at any time.) Then they will automatically receive the emails in their boxes 5:00 AM each morning EST. Be sure to Whitelist our email to reduce the chance of getting caught in spam filters!
The version I have used is the NLT (The New Living Translation).
As some of you know, I am in the process of writing a devotional book which may turn into four volumes of devotionals for the entire Christian year. It is a large undertaking. I am making great progress on the first volume which goes from Advent to Ash Wednesday. Because of this undertaking, I do not have time to write an additional Advent devotional for this year. So . . . my wife suggested I use some of the manuscript from the book for this year’s daily devotionals. They will not be the final copy, but you will get a devotional each day as in the past. I would welcome any typo’s, misspellings, etc. you find! There will undoubtedly be some rewrite as well! The book and devotional formats are the same. Not sure what the book title will be at this point!
How to Read This Year’s Devotionals
There are some unique challenges in writing such a book since the starting dates of Advent, Ash Wednesday, Easter, and Pentecost all vary from year to year! But I’ve figured out a way to make it work regardless of when those seasons begin. This year Advent begins on December 3rd, the latest it could ever begin meaning Christmas Eve is on Sunday, December 24th. It also means the fourth week of Advent is a single day!
Accordingly, the devotionals you will receive are based on weeks of Advent rather than specific dates. So, we begin with the First Sunday in Advent followed by First Monday in Advent, First Tuesday, and so forth. This year since Christmas Eve is the fourth Sunday in Advent, you’ll have no more days for the fourth week. (All the days of the fourth week do appear in the book, so regardless of what year Advent starts, you’ll always have a devotional. The book will continue with devotionals for each day through March 10th, the latest possible date for Ash Wednesday. There will be an index listing the first Sunday in Advent through 2075 so you will know when Advent begins every year . . . even perhaps long after you have left this earth!)
A Word about Advent
The Christian life is about burrowing deeper into our faith. What do we mean? If we can picture the Christian Year (Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Ordinary time, Christ the King Sunday) as a corkscrew boring down deeper and deeper year by year, we have a good picture of the nature and purpose of the Christian Year. We are not simply repeating stories, as if we are going around and around in a circle.
As we move from season to season each day leads us through the life and ministry of Jesus, but it is not simply a rehearsal of the earthly life and works of Christ. Certainly, there have been changes in both the world and us during the past year, so the readings come in a different context. The world is very different this year than it was last year. We are invited anew into God’s story and life of the living Christ as we move through God’s story in our days on earth. We are observing time with a greater awareness of Jesus’ life by walking through God’s story as the Holy Spirit forms and matures our spiritual life in our earthly days.
Much of the time, our lives revolve around the civil or academic calendars. The result is that we are often trying to fit our “spiritual lives” into our daily routines rather than the other way around. Without an awareness of “Christianly time,” we are simply fending day-to-day trying our best to make sense of the events around us. No wonder we lose perspective! The walk through the Christian Year gives us a Holy Spirit perspective as our spiritual and daily life is molded and shaped by Christ himself. May these devotionals contribute to the work God has begun in you.
Above all our primary purpose is to have a daily encounter with the Lord and to hear his voice. Begin each devotional with a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you through his written Word. In addition, our hope is: 1) to help give us a better grasp of the unity of the Bible as one grand story and increase our knowledge of this Library of Books; 2) to assist us in developing a daily pattern of reading Scripture; 3) to provide us with a daily encounter with a wide variety of vocal and choral music of substance to inspire our faith; 4) and to introduce us to the prayers of some of the saints of the past and “sinners” from the present! I can think of no better way to start the day. St. Paul writes, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.”
TO SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE
If you find these daily excursions into the Scriptures rewarding, I would greatly appreciate your help in passing the word along. As always, subscribing is simple and free. Have the person go to: sharpdevotional.com and put in their email address to subscribe. That’s it. (You can unsubscribe at any time.) Then they will automatically receive the emails in their boxes at 5:00 AM each morning EST. Be sure to Whitelist our email to reduce the chance of getting caught in spam filters!
TO THOSE WHO HAVE SUBSCRIBED, THE FIRST DEVOTIONAL WILL ARRIVE IN YOUR EMAIL BOX AT 5 AM SUNDAY MORNING DECEMBER 3RD AND DEVOTIONALS WILL CONTINUE EVERY MORNING THROUGH EPIPHANY JANUARY 6TH, 2024.
Thank you all and may the Lord use his word to further shape us into the likeness of his Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Have a wonderful Advent and Christmastide season!
Blessings as always,
Dan
The version I have used is the NLT (The New Living Translation).
As some of you know, I am in the process of writing a book which may turn into four volumes of devotionals for the entire Christian year. It is a large undertaking. I am making great progress on the first volume which goes from Advent to Ash Wednesday. Because of this undertaking, I do not have time to write an additional Advent devotional for this year. So, my wife suggested I use some manuscript from part of the book for this year’s daily devotionals. They will be unedited and not the final copy, but you will get a devotional each day as in the past. I would welcome any typo’s, misspellings, etc. you find! There will undoubtedly be some re-write as well!
How to Read This Year’s Devotionals
There are some unique challenges in writing such a book since the starting dates of Advent, Ash Wednesday, Easter, and Pentecost all vary from year to year! But I’ve figured out a way to make it work regardless of those starting dates. This year Advent begins on December 3rd, the latest it could ever begin meaning Christmas Eve is on Sunday, December 24th. That also means the fourth week of Advent is a single day!
Accordingly, the devotionals are based on weeks of Advent rather than specific dates. So, we begin with the First Sunday in Advent followed by First Monday in Advent, First Tuesday, and so forth. This year since Christmas Eve is the fourth Sunday in Advent, you’ll have no more days for the fourth week. (All the days of the fourth week do appear in the book, so regardless of what year Advent starts, you’ll always have a devotional. The book will continue with devotionals for each day until March 10th, the latest possible date for Ash Wednesday. There will be an index listing the first Sunday in Advent through 2075 so you will know when Advent begins every year.)
A Word about Advent
The Christian life is about burrowing deeper and deeper into our faith. What do we mean? If we can picture the Christian Year (Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Ordinary time, Christ the King) as a corkscrew boring down deeper and deeper year by year, we have a good picture of the nature and purpose of the Christian Year. We are not simply repeating stories, as if we are going around and around in a circle.
As we move from season to season each day leads us through the life and ministry of Jesus, but it is not simply a rehearsal of the earthly life and works of Christ. Certainly, there have been changes in both the world and us during the past year, so the readings come in a different context. We are invited anew into God’s story and life of the living Christ as we move through God’s story in our days on earth. We are observing time with a greater awareness of Jesus’ life by walking through God’s story as the Holy Spirit forms and matures our spiritual life in earthly days.
Much of the time, our lives revolve around the civil or academic calendars. The result is that we are often trying to fit our “spiritual lives” into our daily routines rather than the other way around. Without an awareness of “Christianly time,” we are simply fending day-to-day trying our best to make sense of the events around us. No wonder we lose perspective! The walk through the Christian Year gives us a Holy Spirit perspective as our spiritual life is molded and shaped by Christ himself. May these devotionals contribute to the work he’s begun in you.
Above all our primary purpose is to have a daily encounter with the Lord and to hear his voice. Begin each devotional with a prayer asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you through his written Word. In addition, our hope is: 1) to help give us a better grasp of the unity of the Bible as one grand story and increase our knowledge of this Library of Books; 2) to assist us in developing a daily pattern of reading Scripture; 3) to provide us with a daily encounter with a wide variety of vocal and choral music of substance to inspire our faith; 4) and to introduce us to the prayers of some of the saints of the past and “sinners” from the present! I can think of no better way to start the day. St. Paul writes, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection.”
If you find these daily excursions into the Scriptures rewarding, I would greatly appreciate your help in passing the word along. As always, subscribing is simple and free. Have the person go to: sharpdevotional.com and put in their email address to subscribe. That’s it. (You can unsubscribe at any time.) Then they will automatically receive the emails in their boxes 5:00 AM each morning EST. Be sure to Whitelist our email to reduce the chance of getting caught in spam filters!
The version I have used is the NLT (The New Living Translation).
January 2, 9th Day of Christmas JESUS ALWAYS EXISTED
Scripture: John 1:1-3, 10-18
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.
10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
15 John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”
16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
Some thoughts:
Today’s passage of Scripture is one of the most profound in all the Bible. Books, doctoral dissertations, debates, and countless pages of theology have been penned regarding these few verses. Building on these verses, eighty-five percent of John’s gospel is unique from the Synoptics. As many of his readers had never seen or heard Jesus speak (John is writing about 60 years after the resurrection), his focus is on the God/Man Jesus, the Son of God. So, he starts at the beginning of the man Jesus. The theological word encompassing this discussion is Incarnation.
Everything you can think of has a beginning point. A human life begins when the egg and sperm unite. A novel is launched when that first word is written down and music starts at the downbeat. A day commences when the sun peeks over the horizon. Likewise, faith begins the moment someone puts their trust in Jesus. This “beginning point” truth is what makes the first sentence of today’s pericope so unique. John begins his gospel the same way Moses began Genesis.
“In the beginning the Word already existed. Having always existed means the Word dwells outside existence itself because he is the Creator of “existence.” It is worth stopping a moment to ponder that truth . . . yet he chose for a period of time to dwell within the creation he made in order to redeem it. The word used is actually “tabernacled” among us. In other words, the Old Testament Tabernacle in the desert housing the presence of God above the Ark of the Covenant, was replaced by the presence of God in human flesh, in which Jesus was the Tabernacle. When the baby was born in the manger, it wasn’t as if he had not existed previously. But then there was that moment . . . a beginning of the “in the flesh” Word. The Word was always with God because the Word was God. There was never a “beginning” to that relationship nor did it change when Jesus took on human flesh.
John is writing from firsthand eyewitness experience when he says, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” You’ll recall that John was one of the three, along with Peter and James, to observe Jesus’ interaction with Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration (Matt 17:1-13). As the encounter concluded the brilliant light and glory of God showed forth in Jesus and the disciples fell to their knees in fear and wonder.
I am wondering if the Incarnation were to occur in our lifetimes rather than two millennia ago, how would we respond? Like the Jews, we would have been looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. We’d have been waiting 4,000 years since the time of Abraham! And now, here was a remarkable man healing every person with an illness, he has brought back to life some people we know who have died, he has restored limbs and instantly healed people with Alzheimer’s. He talked continually about the kingdom of heaven and asked us to “follow him” leaving what we were doing. Would we commit our life to believing that this human being was truly the Creator of the universe and all that exists, who has never not existed and was in fact God in the flesh, the long-awaited Messiah? Would you leave your job to follow him when he said, “follow me”? How would you respond? What would your friends and family say? That was the call to the disciples.
You’ve figured out by now that this scenario is exactly the situation today. When Jesus came the first time, very few people recognized who he was. Even the Jews, his own people, rejected him. In our day, very few people in our world pay any attention or give a second thought to the claims of Jesus of Nazareth. In their minds he is nothing more than a dead historical figure from the distant past. In their mind, there are more pressing questions and important things to consider.
But what a contrast for those who do believe! As his adopted children, they experience a spiritual birth. Whereas the Son of God came from heaven born into humanity into a natural physical body, the natural physical bodies of human beings are reborn to a spiritual body to eventually dwell in heaven. This spiritual birth comes as a gift from God, not something human beings can generate.
These are all things we all know and have heard before. But for many, many people around us, they have never grasped these glorious truths. They have yet to realize that Jesus of Nazareth is not a dead historical figure from ancient history but is alive now in a physical glorified human body, transforming the lives of all who put their trust in him. During this coming year, let each of us endeavor to encourage those around us to consider contacting the One who created them. He’s always available. In his Spirit he is tabernacled among us and in us!
Music: “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” Cambridge Singers
Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, the wonder of the humility and love you have shown simply leaves us without words. We kneel before you, trusting you with our lives for all eternity. This we pray through you Jesus, who reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, throughout eternity. Amen. ―Daniel Sharp
January 2, 9th Day of Christmas JESUS ALWAYS EXISTED
Scripture: John 1:1-3, 10-18
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.
10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
15 John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”
16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
Some thoughts:
Today’s passage of Scripture is one of the most profound in all the Bible. Books, doctoral dissertations, debates, and countless pages of theology have been penned regarding these few verses. Building on these verses, eighty-five percent of John’s gospel is unique from the Synoptics. As many of his readers had never seen or heard Jesus speak (John is writing about 60 years after the resurrection), his focus is on the God/Man Jesus, the Son of God. So, he starts at the beginning of the man Jesus. The theological word encompassing this discussion is Incarnation.
Everything you can think of has a beginning point. A human life begins when the egg and sperm unite. A novel is launched when that first word is written down and music starts at the downbeat. A day commences when the sun peeks over the horizon. Likewise, faith begins the moment someone puts their trust in Jesus. This “beginning point” truth is what makes the first sentence of today’s pericope so unique. John begins his gospel the same way Moses began Genesis.
“In the beginning the Word already existed. Having always existed means the Word dwells outside existence itself because he is the Creator of “existence.” It is worth stopping a moment to ponder that truth . . . yet he chose for a period of time to dwell within the creation he made in order to redeem it. The word used is actually “tabernacled” among us. In other words, the Old Testament Tabernacle in the desert housing the presence of God above the Ark of the Covenant, was replaced by the presence of God in human flesh, in which Jesus was the Tabernacle. When the baby was born in the manger, it wasn’t as if he had not existed previously. But then there was that moment . . . a beginning of the “in the flesh” Word. The Word was always with God because the Word was God. There was never a “beginning” to that relationship nor did it change when Jesus took on human flesh.
John is writing from firsthand eyewitness experience when he says, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” You’ll recall that John was one of the three, along with Peter and James, to observe Jesus’ interaction with Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration (Matt 17:1-13). As the encounter concluded the brilliant light and glory of God showed forth in Jesus and the disciples fell to their knees in fear and wonder.
I am wondering if the Incarnation were to occur in our lifetimes rather than two millennia ago, how would we respond? Like the Jews, we would have been looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. We’d have been waiting 4,000 years since the time of Abraham! And now, here was a remarkable man healing every person with an illness, he has brought back to life some people we know who have died, he has restored limbs and instantly healed people with Alzheimer’s. He talked continually about the kingdom of heaven and asked us to “follow him” leaving what we were doing. Would we commit our life to believing that this human being was truly the Creator of the universe and all that exists, who has never not existed and was in fact God in the flesh, the long-awaited Messiah? Would you leave your job to follow him when he said, “follow me”? How would you respond? What would your friends and family say? That was the call to the disciples.
You’ve figured out by now that this scenario is exactly the situation today. When Jesus came the first time, very few people recognized who he was. Even the Jews, his own people, rejected him. In our day, very few people in our world pay any attention or give a second thought to the claims of Jesus of Nazareth. In their minds he is nothing more than a dead historical figure from the distant past. In their mind, there are more pressing questions and important things to consider.
But what a contrast for those who do believe! As his adopted children, they experience a spiritual birth. Whereas the Son of God came from heaven born into humanity into a natural physical body, the natural physical bodies of human beings are reborn to a spiritual body to eventually dwell in heaven. This spiritual birth comes as a gift from God, not something human beings can generate.
These are all things we all know and have heard before. But for many, many people around us, they have never grasped these glorious truths. They have yet to realize that Jesus of Nazareth is not a dead historical figure from ancient history but is alive now in a physical glorified human body, transforming the lives of all who put their trust in him. During this coming year, let each of us endeavor to encourage those around us to consider contacting the One who created them. He’s always available. In his Spirit he is tabernacled among us and in us!
Music: “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” Cambridge Singers
Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, the wonder of the humility and love you have shown simply leaves us without words. We kneel before you, trusting you with our lives for all eternity. This we pray through you Jesus, who reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, throughout eternity. Amen. ―Daniel Sharp
28 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
I Corinthians 15:51-58
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Music: “Worthy Is the Lamb and Amen Chorus” from Messiah Voces8 Glorious!!!
I’d recommend watching and listening to the entire Messiah by Voces8. It is magnificent.
Thank you all for this journey through the Lenten season concluding with the Resurrection, but remember, there is so much more. It didn’t all end there. Forty days later Jesus ascended to his Father in heaven in a glorified physical body where he sits at his Father’s right hand interceding on our behalf. At a time known only to the Father, Jesus will return to bring to final completion and restoration of the entire created order. He will establish his Kingdom and he will reign forever and ever . . . and we’ll be there!
In the last few years, I have written daily devotionals for the fifty days of Eastertide, the time between Easter and Pentecost. This year I am foregoing doing that because I am in the process of writing a book that will cover daily devotionals for every day from Advent to Pentecost. There are several things that need to be negotiated, but the project is underway. The book’s contents will be very similar to what you normally read. I am not sure how this will impact my writing the Advent devotionals for 2023, we’ll have to see. Over the years I’ve had a number of requests to make daily devotionals extend beyond the main seasons of the Christian year. I am in the process of working through sixteen years of writing, editing, and re-writing. I’ve worked out a system that will accommodate whenever Advent or Easter occur. I’ll appreciate your prayer in this book writing endeavor. Thank you all again for passing the word along! The Lord be with you.
50 Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, 51 who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God. 52 Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. 54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
Some thoughts:
This particular Saturday was undoubtedly the darkest day in the history of the world. The disciples and followers of Jesus, the Messiah, were disillusioned, grief-stricken, hopeless, fearful, utterly lost, and completely confused. All their hopes and aspirations were totally destroyed. The One in whom they had hoped, their leader, was viciously tortured and murdered. There was no place to go. The Jewish religious leaders hated Jesus and the Romans feared him. He did not fight back or lead a rebellion. Now he was dead. Had his followers been fooled? Now, what were they to do? Go back home, forget the past months, and return to their previous lives? Note the women followers of Jesus planned to prepare spices for the body of Jesus so they followed Joseph to find out exactly where he was buried, but they ran out of time as the sun set, ushering in the Sabbath. I can imagine the Sabbath services that night and morning.
There are two things to do today. First, reflect on what it would have been like to have been one of Jesus’ disciples. What would you have thought? It is easy for us who know the resurrection is coming to skip through this day preparing for a big Easter dinner and cleaning house for the guests coming tomorrow and give little thought to the solemn nature of this day. I think if we put ourselves in the mindset of the disciples, we gain a deeper understanding of theological joy of the resurrection. I’m not sure we always reflect on the impact of what happened and the difference it makes now. Our tendency is to rehearse the events and move on. Maybe not, but something to consider. Maybe plan ahead so there is as little activity on this Saturday as possible. I realize some things have to be done in advance.
Second, read the following Scripture passages. The Christians in the first centuries after Christ held Easter Vigils. They had a special midnight service to usher in the Resurrection. During that service they read the following passages which told God’s story from the beginning, his story of bringing redemption to the whole of creation. Today is sometimes called Silent Saturday, a day of silence, fasting, prayer, reflection, and Scripture reading.
The Beginning
Genesis 1:1-2:3
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Did you notice that Jesus Christ rested in the tomb on the seventh day, his work on the cross completed? His words also were, “It is finished.”
God Provides Deliverance for his people
Exodus 14:10-31
10 As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, 11 and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? 12 Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’”
13 But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. 14 The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”
Escape through the Red Sea
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving! 16 Pick up your staff and raise your hand over the sea. Divide the water so the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will charge in after the Israelites. My great glory will be displayed through Pharaoh and his troops, his chariots, and his charioteers. 18 When my glory is displayed through them, all Egypt will see my glory and know that I am the Lord!”
19 Then the angel of God, who had been leading the people of Israel, moved to the rear of the camp. The pillar of cloud also moved from the front and stood behind them. 20 The cloud settled between the Egyptian and Israelite camps. As darkness fell, the cloud turned to fire, lighting up the night. But the Egyptians and Israelites did not approach each other all night.
21 Then Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the Lord opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind. The wind blew all that night, turning the seabed into dry land. 22 So the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on each side!
23 Then the Egyptians—all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and charioteers—chased them into the middle of the sea. 24 But just before dawn the Lord looked down on the Egyptian army from the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw their forces into total confusion. 25 He twisted their chariot wheels, making their chariots difficult to drive. “Let’s get out of here—away from these Israelites!” the Egyptians shouted. “The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt!”
26 When all the Israelites had reached the other side, the Lord said to Moses, “Raise your hand over the sea again. Then the waters will rush back and cover the Egyptians and their chariots and charioteers.” 27 So as the sun began to rise, Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the water rushed back into its usual place. The Egyptians tried to escape, but the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 Then the waters returned and covered all the chariots and charioteers—the entire army of Pharaoh. Of all the Egyptians who had chased the Israelites into the sea, not a single one survived.
29 But the people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, as the water stood up like a wall on both sides. 30 That is how the Lord rescued Israel from the hand of the Egyptians that day. And the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the seashore. 31 When the people of Israel saw the mighty power that the Lord had unleashed against the Egyptians, they were filled with awe before him. They put their faith in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Exodus 15:20-21
20 Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine and led all the women as they played their tambourines and danced. 21 And Miriam sang this song:
“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has hurled both horse and rider into the sea.”
Invitation to theLord’s Salvation
Isaiah 55:1-11
“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk— it’s all free! 2 Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.
3 “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David. 4 See how I used him to display my power among the peoples. I made him a leader among the nations. 5 You also will command nations you do not know, and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey, because I, the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious.”
6 Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. 7 Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
10 “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. 11 It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
The Resurrection
Luke 24:1-12
24 But very early on Sunday morningthe women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.3 So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes.
5 The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground. Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? 6 He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Manmust be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”
8 Then they remembered that he had said this. 9 So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. 11 But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it. 12 However, Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.
Sin’s Power Is Broken
Romans 6:1-11
6 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
Music:Part II of Messiah(Passion Portion) Octopus Chorus (50:00)
“Requiem” John Rutter Rivertree Singers (37:00)
Prayer: How holy is this day, when wickedness is put to flight, and sin is washed away. It restores innocence to the fallen and joy to those who mourn. It casts out pride and hatred and brings peace and concord. How blessed is this night, when earth and heaven are joined and man is reconciled to God. May Christ, the Morning Star who knows no setting, find it ever burning, he who gives his light to all creation, and who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen
Scripture: Psalm 31:9-16 9 Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress. Tears blur my eyes. My body and soul are withering away. 10 I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Sin has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within. 11 I am scorned by all my enemies and despised by my neighbors— even my friends are afraid to come near me. When they see me on the street, they run the other way. 12 I am ignored as if I were dead, as if I were a broken pot. 13 I have heard the many rumors about me, and I am surrounded by terror. My enemies conspire against me, plotting to take my life.
14 But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, “You are my God!” 15 My future is in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly. 16 Let your favor shine on your servant. In your unfailing love, rescue me.
Some thoughts:
This psalm of David has shadows of Golgotha. It is not hard to read it from the perspective of our Savior as he transverses his final steps and hours. It could easily be read as his prayer in Gethsemane pouring out his heart to his Father. This is a true and honest psalm of lament, something that is often overlooked in our walk of faith. Not everything is rosy in life and turns out well. There are dark moments to be expressed and here David helps us.
There is an interesting phrase in the latter part of verse ten. “Sin has drained my strength.” No doubt sin is draining and weighs us down. But have you ever thought of Jesus’ carrying the sin of the world as he went to the cross? Jesus suffered enormous physical torture and exhaustion to be sure. But even of greater significance, he bore the total weight of the sin of the whole world since the beginning of time; all the sin ever committed by humanity through thousands of years was borne by one man, the Son of God, at one point in time! Such a truth is beyond our comprehension. Yet Jesus did it out of love for those he created.
The wrath of God toward sin was poured out in full in those moments. Such wrath is not anyone’s; it is that of the holy God, the uncreated Creator. We cannot possibly comprehend the draining on Jesus’ life. He took the full force of God’s justice being served. As the song says, “It was our sin that nailed him to the tree.”
A little later in the psalm we read “even my friends are afraid to come near me. When they see me on the street, they run the other way . . .” These lines remind me of the Garden of Gethsemane . . . and all too often, me. The loneliness of that drain Jesus bore alone in the Garden as his three closest friends slept, the very time he could have used their encouraging prayers. Yet, he prayed alone. Despite the horror of bearing sin as a man without sin and being betrayed by those closest to him, our Lord responded with, “My future is in your hands . . . into your hands I commit my spirit.” Let us take up our cross daily praying his words, “Father, my future is in your hands . . . into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Gracious Lord, in truth I do not often think of the horror of sin. Too often it is simply a “mistake” or “bad judgment.” When I read and begin to grasp the horror of what Jesus accepted, what he willingly took on, I am sobered. Too often it seems minor and just not that significant. For the most part, our world has lost all sense of sin, so it is not surprising that there is little attention paid to its devastating effect and impact. Holy Father, help me to see more clearly the horror of my own sin and not simply think that since Jesus paid the debt long ago, my sin is not of that great of concern today. Thank you, Father, for your Son through whom is my cleansing and salvation. Quicken my heart to recognize the seriousness of sin as I bow before my Lord in gratitude for his redeeming work. In the name of the Savior who suffered, bled, died, rose, ascended to the Father, and even now, intercedes on my behalf. Amen. –Daniel Sharp
33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Some thoughts:
In this passage, Jesus uses an endearing term “my little children” in addressing his disciples. Followers of rabbis were often referred to as children and learners. He tells them clearly that he is not going to be around much longer and where he is going, they cannot follow. These are men who have been traveling with Jesus for the past three years so the idea that “we can’t come with you” is perplexing to the twelve. So, Thomas circles back to the question in chapter fourteen. How would they function without him? What impresses me about the disciples is that though they had some idea who Jesus was as the Son of God, they were not afraid to ask him questions when they didn’t understand something. They are a model for us.
If you knew you were going to die in the next day or so, what would you say to your family and closest friends? My guess is you would be telling them how much you loved them. Jesus does that but he also introduces something new. “A new commandment” I give you. He is indicating a new kind of community of faith as a result of his Passover departure from this world. The new community is based on Jesus’ love for them. Without knowing his love firsthand, loving one another is not possible. His love is the cornerstone of the building of the spiritual community. Without that block, we have just an ordinary human powered community, and we’ve seen how successful those are!
In order for people to love one another, they must understand the love of Jesus as expressed in the Passover death on their behalf and in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus describes and enacts that love and care in chapters 13, 14, 15, & 16. In chapter 17 we get to listen firsthand to Jesus’ conversation, his prayer to his heavenly Father. Chapters 13 through 19 cover less than twenty-four hours and account for about a third of the entire book of John. The apostle John did us a great favor in recording these final conversations of Jesus. Over the next couple of days, take your time and read these passages several times, putting yourself in the midst of the disciples and listen to a dear Friend who knows he is about to die. What do you notice?
Music: “Ubi Caritas” -4th century (text written specifically for Maundy Thursday worship possibly as early as the 4th century)
The love of Christ has gathered us into one flock.
Let us exult, and in Him be joyful.
Let us fear and let us love the living God.
And from a sincere heart let us love each other (and Him).
Where charity and love are, there God is.
Therefore, whensoever we are gathered as one:
Lest we in mind be divided, let us beware.
Let cease malicious quarrels, let strife give way.
And in the midst of us be Christ our God.
Where charity and love are, there God is.
Together also with the blessed may we see,
Gloriously, Thy countenance, O Christ our God:
A joy which is immense, and also approved:
Through infinite ages of ages. Amen.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, like Judas, we have betrayed you; like Peter, we have denied you; and like the other disciples, we have forsaken you. Yet you remain faithful to us unto death, even death on a cross. We plead for your forgiveness and mercy. And we ask that you strengthen us so that we do not turn aside but follow you to the very end-for the final victory belongs to you.
21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”
22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”
25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” 28 But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
Some thoughts:
Betrayal is one of the most difficult, if not the most horrendously awful acts between supposed friends. To be disregarded and despised by a friend is horrible. The betrayer must put self and self-interest above the relationship and the other person. Betrayal is an evil, malicious disregard of the friend and relationship. In order to betray, one must connivingly gain complete trust from the one betrayed.
Judas was all about money and power. He was apparently a crook long before this incident. One who looks out for the best interest of another will not betray. Jesus shows us how to respond when betrayed. Knowing what was to happen, Jesus washed the feet of Judas anyway. Can you imagine what was going on in the mind of Judas?
The last four words of this pericope are so significant on several levels. I’m reminded of the passage in Isaiah (9:2), “the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light . . .” Judas walked for several years next to the Light of the world. He heard Jesus say, “If the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!” Yet, at a crucial moment Judas sought the darkness of night and the cover of darkness. I would guess more evil happens in darkness than in light. In Judas’ descent into night, he opened his soul to Satan, the epitome of evil and betrayal. Satan consumes all who make a deal with the devil.
Jesus let the consequences of Judas’ action deal with Judas. Jesus’ words were “I did not come to judge the world but to save it.” Remember, betrayal pays its own horrendous dividend, always. On the other hand, Jesus offers forgiveness to the repentant sinner. Just ask Peter. When betrayed, Jesus is our model. When we betray, Peter is our model.
Bonus: “My Song is Love Unknown” St. Martins Church Choir, Beautiful setting! Great singing
Prayer: I bind unto myself today the power of God to hold and lead, his eye to watch, his might to stay, his ear to hearken to my need. The wisdom of my God to teach, his hand to guide, his shield to ward; the word of God to give me speech, his heavenly host to be my guard. I bind unto myself the name, the strong name of the Trinity; by invocation of the same, the Three in One, the One in Three, of whom all nature hath creation; Eternal Father, Spirit, Word, Praise to the Lord of my salvation, Salvation is of Christ the Lord. –Patrick of Ireland 390? -461?
37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:
“Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”[a]
39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”[b]
41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.
42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved human praise more than praise from God.
44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. 49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
Some thoughts:
How many times have you heard, “If I can just see it, I’ll believe it.” It’s not true, there is more to it. We read here that some people saw and believed, yet others saw the same thing and did not believe. The Scriptures even say that God hardened their hearts! As human beings we like to have clear, definitive conclusions, so generally, we are very confident of our own abilities to discern and form our opinions, even when we are wrong! What was it about the hearts that made them hard? What the hard-hearted saw did not fit with what they knew. Their inability and unwillingness to let go of what they knew created a flint-like heart.
We can see and still not believe, especially when it comes to faith. Remember the story Jesus told of Abraham, Lazarus and the rich man after they had died? The rich man told Abraham to have Lazarus tell his brothers he was tormented in Hades and that they should believe God so they wouldn’t have to come to his place of torment. Abraham’s response was if they didn’t believe Moses and the prophets, they wouldn’t believe someone coming back from the dead. Seeing someone rise from the dead did not result in belief. Unbelief in Jesus’ resurrection continues to this day.
Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead and done other miraculous signs in the Pharisees’ presence and still they would not believe. Many others did believe. Apparently, a major factor in the unbelievers was, “What will my friends think?” The believing leaders were unwilling to openly express their faith. How many times have you and I kept our mouths shut in regard to the various social issues of this day because of what others would think or speaking the truth about abortion, gender, or biblical marriage would have made for an awkward moment? May our hearts never become hardened.
Music: “Ah, Holy Jesus” –Johann Heermann, early 17th century
Prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, you have said that you are the way, the truth, and the life. Suffer us not to stray from you, who are the way, nor to distrust you, who are the truth, nor to rest in anything other than you, who are the life. –Erasmus, 1469-1536
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint[a] of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.[b]” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.
7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you,[c] but you will not always have me.”
9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.
Some thoughts:
How is it that two people can look at one situation and see things so completely differently? For the Jews, touching the feet of someone was very degrading experience, normally reserved for slaves or people of low honor. Yet in this public setting, Mary anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. In her act, we are reminded of Jesus’ washing his disciples’ feet a few days from now, both acts of which were culturally inappropriate for a normal person. Yet Mary saw Jesus as one to honor while from Judas came a disingenuous condemnation. John is blunt in telling us why Judas responded the way he did. The actions days later would reveal the true heart of each; Mary was among the first to see the risen Christ, and Judas hanged himself in remorse.
How does what Mary did relate to what Jesus said in the passage above? There is a connection. The perfume which Mary used to anoint Jesus was worth a year’s wages. It may well have been her dowry for marriage. But her humbling act anointed Jesus for his death and burial. Mary saw the deeper significance of the moment, that of preparing him for his departure from this world. He accepted what she did and gave Judas a curt response, “Leave her alone.” (Jesus never spoke to any of the other disciples that way.) Jesus was not saying don’t help the poor. He was saying Mary recognized the significance of the moment.
How many significant moments with the Lord have we missed? Our head was elsewhere, and we failed to see the God given opportunity to honor our Lord right in front of us. Mary was focused on her Lord, oblivious of those around her or what they thought and she gave her all.
Music: “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” –Isaac Watts Keith and Kristyn Getty
Bonus: “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” A family gathering to sing!
Prayer: Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: grant your people grace to love what you have commanded and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. -from Book of Common Prayer