7 March 2018 - law abiding citizen

Today's Readings (Audio)

Observe them carefully,
for thus will you give evidence
of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations,
who will hear of all these statutes and say,
'This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.

This isn't what the nations think they will think about moral law. They think they will find a people subjugated and mindless, not able to think for themselves. But what they think they will find is not actually what they find. If we walk off a cliff to express our freedom from gravity it makes gravity no less real. If we walk off the cliff of sin in protest of the limits of morality we find that the realities and consequences it describes are no less real. Defying moral laws, just as with physical laws, does not give us more freedom but less. Keeping the laws allows us to stand firm as the forces of society press against us. Just as knowledge of the structures of chemistry and physics allow us to build better, stronger, and more efficient technology, so too does the law of God allow us to build better, stronger, and more efficient lives in this world.

Jesus did not come to take away the law.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

He came to perfectly fulfill the law. We ourselves learned the rules but could not keep them by our own strength. All of our moral technology was being overwhelmed by the forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil. But not Jesus. Jesus overcomes the world! He conquers the devil. He puts sin to death in his own flesh. And he offers us union with himself so that we can share in his victory.

But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is the greatest in the Kingdom. Our only greatness is found in union with him!

Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.

6 March 2018 - mercy flow

Today's Readings (Audio)

Do not let us be put to shame,
but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.
Deliver us by your wonders,
and bring glory to your name, O Lord.

If we want mercy we must be open to mercy. We must be willing to let mercy flow through us to others. We would prefer a version of mercy where we are forgiven the sins of which we are guilty but which still allows us to live a self-centered exist. The mercy of God is not like that.

His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?'

How can we receive the mercy of the King and remain unchanged? How can he forgive us a debt we can never repay and still harden our hearts? How can we ever hold a grudge against anyone after being forgiven so much at so great a cost? Let us ask the LORD for the humility to receive his mercy and be transformed.

But with contrite heart and humble spirit
let us be received;

This means that forgiving others who trespass against us is serious business. Each time we do we say yes to the mercy of the Father. Each time we don't we close our heart to that mercy.

So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.

The LORD knows that we struggle to show mercy as wrecklessly and selflessly as he does. He is able to do it precisely because of his absolute humility which does not count wrongs nor seek self-interest. He wants to guide us to be like him.

Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
he teaches the humble his way.

5 March 2018 - as many times as it takes

Today's Readings (Audio)

I thought that he would surely come out and stand there
to invoke the LORD his God,
and would move his hand over the spot,
and thus cure the leprosy.

How rigid are we in imagining how the LORD might choose to work? Do we assume that he will only act in a certain way or only heal certain (presumably holy) people?

It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.

The LORD is asking us not to limit him with our expectations. Our expectations do just that. They confine the ways in which the LORD will show his blessings and the people to whom he will show them.  He wants to heal us. But we need to be willing to submit our will to his and the ways he chooses for us. He may not have his prophet just move a hand over us. It may not be enough to bathe just once in the Jordan. We might have to do it once, again, and seven times to be cleansed. But if we get frustrated at attempt six, thinking the LORD couldn't really mean this, and we stop attempting it, it is our loss.

The LORD wants to make all things new, starting with our hearts. He wants to give us the hearts (and eventually the flesh) like little children. He wants us to be made clean. Let us do whatever he asks of us to receive those blessings. When we hear from him, let's not second guess it. Let's thirst for his touch so much that we pursue him no matter what.

Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?

4 March 2018 - law for order

Today's Readings (Audio)

The LORD brings us out from the place of slavery in Egypt. He leads us out by way of his cross and resurrection, by way of our baptism, to a place of freedom from sin.

He leads us out from Egypt but our hearts stay in Egypt. He gives us freedom but we are so accustomed to slavery that we don't embrace it. God is infinitely higher than creatures. In him is the only possible source of freedom. Yet we turn from him to choose creatures and creation over him. When we do this we choose to squander our freedom. To prevent this God gives us the law. The law is not antithetical to freedom. It is rather the minimum conditions necessary for freedom.

I, the LORD, am your God, 
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
You shall not have other gods besides me.

Jesus understands how essential it is that first things be first.

"Take these out of here, 
and stop making my Father's house a marketplace."
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, 
Zeal for your house will consume me.

If we insist on serving idols we end up with less and less freedom. We become slaves of the flesh. But God intends for us to have the freedom of the Spirit (see Second Corinthians 3:17), the glorious liberty of the children of God (see Romans 8:21). On our own we find that we can't comply with even the most basic requirements of freedom. The law reveals to us our weakness and shows us our need for a savior.  Unless we welcome Jesus into the temples of our own hearts and allow him to chase out the idols we end up worshipping things which are less than God and surrendering our freedom to them. Only Jesus has sufficient zeal for the Father's house. But he is more than willing to use it in our hearts for the sake of our freedom.

It is counterintuitive, even paradoxical, that we only find freedom in service and that we only find life when we take up our cross. But this is true wisdom.

Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, 
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Let us welcome Jesus into the temples of our hearts. Let us ask and pray that he sets our hearts in proper order to offering fitting worship to the God who longs to set us free.

3 March 2018 - house of blessing

Today's Readings (Audio)

Let us return to the Father's house. Let us not wander in search of satisfaction. The risk is to not realize that all the Father has is ours when we choose to live with him. In not realizing that we may choose to leave looking for more. Or perhaps we stay, but we hold a grudge, not realizing the blessings which are ours.

My son, you are here with me always;
everything I have is yours.

Let us remain with the Father, rejoicing that all he has is ours. This attitude of thankfulness will prevent us from holding a grudge when brothers and sisters return from a life of dissipation. Let us learn to celebrate when brothers and sisters return to join us again. Without thankfulness, without knowing what the Father does for us, we hold it against others when we see them blessed, especially since it is clear that they haven't earned that blessing.

Quickly, bring the finest robe and put it on him;
put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Take the fattened calf and slaughter it.
Then let us celebrate with a feast,
because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again;
he was lost, and has been found.

We see the magnanimous and unmerited love of the Father. When we don't realize how much we receive from and depend on that same love we often get upset when we see others receive it. But again, we need to realize more what we already have. We need to plant ourselves more firmly in the Father's house. We need to not let his blessings simply sit on the tables and the shelves. We need to recognize that these blessings are ours and put them to work in our life.

For both those that wander and those who forget to be thankful there is a God who is ready to forgive and who delights in clemency and compassion.

You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins;
You will show faithfulness to Jacob,
and grace to Abraham,
As you have sworn to our fathers
from days of old.

There is a shepherd who longs to keep his sheep in one flock. He longs to feed the  flock of his inheritance. Let us neither wander from nor fail to appreciate his love. Let us avail ourselves of the food with which he feeds us in Bashan and Gilead. Let us see the wonderful signs he shows us.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.

2 March 2018 - due attention paid

Today's Readings (Audio)

Finally, he sent his son to them,
thinking, 'They will respect my son.'

The Father sends his Son to us constantly. But we do not respect him. We're more worried about the vineyards we have on loan from him. We're too focused on blessings which we do not have but that we desire. We are envious of things which others have which we do not. We are envious of blessings which to which we feel entitled.

This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.

We don't actually kill anyone. But the way we focus our attention on our own wants and needs and completely shut out and ignore God and neighbor does this implicitly. Choosing to put ourselves first is not a victimless crime. It is a way is saying 'I wish you didn't exist' with our intentions.

The LORD sends his Son to us even in spite of knowing that we almost never show him the proper respect and awe that is his due. He does this because he is confident that he can win us over to his love, to more and more convince us to trust and to follow him. We may sell Joseph to Ishmaelites but God will eventually use even so great a sin as that to save his people from famine.

Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

Even though we ourselves kill the Son and must be put to a wretched death that isn't the end of the story. We need to recognize this tendency in our spirits to desire independence from God. In recognizing it, we must repent of it. If we trust in the LORD's mercy, death to sin in baptism leads us to life again, changing us from a people who hoard the fruit to a people who give God the produce at the proper time. 

The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?

1 March 2018 - the time is now

Today's Readings (Audio)

Abraham replied, 'My child,
remember that you received what was good during your lifetime
while Lazarus likewise received what was bad;
but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.

Let's not wait to do the right thing. Let's stop choosing comfort over righteousness. No matter what we have to endure now for the sake of righteousness, no matter what persecution, it is ultimately more than worth it.

When the poor man died,
he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.

We are invited to a deep and abiding concern for the poor. We should at least make sure that the scraps of our tables aren't going to waste when resources which we casually discard can make a difference to others. This is a little bit uncomfortable because we know how little thought we give this. Many of us aren't living lives of profound luxury. But we do occasionally have leftovers. We do have resources with which to help. Do we consider the difference we can make or do we choose self-indulgence instead?

Concern for the poor doesn't mean that we can never go on vacation or that we should only eat rice and beans and give away all else. We need comfort above the absolute minimum to be effective in the vocations we are given. But all of our decisions should be made knowing that our resources are not our own and that the poor of the world are entitled to have their needs met. A vacation is then an investment in ourselves so that we can in turn be more effective for helping others.

The secret we need to learn is to put the LORD first in all things. If we trust in men we end up like the rich man, having succeeded according to the standards of men, but in a way that is empty and does not have a future. If we trust in the LORD than we can enjoy blessings when they are available and not turn aside even in difficult times. 

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose hope is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters
that stretches out its roots to the stream:

Let us plug in to the source of life that the poor man now enjoys forever in heaven. Let us drink from the streams of delight that flow from the LORD and his temple. These and these only are true wealth. They make us able to act with prudence and use well the dishonest wealth of the world.

Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.