11 July 2014 - new hearts
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
Right at the moment when we would want to be the most prepared we are called to rely on God even more. But it makes sense. There is no part of this that we can do on our own. God is "pleased with sincerity of heart" but to get it we need him to create it in us. We ask:
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
After all we are not just going out as sheep in the midst of wolves. We are going out as sheep for the sake of wolves. In a certain sense, we are even willing to be their food, just as Jesus is willing to be ours. We are called to love our enemies. But on our own we have trouble loving even those we love consistently, "with a steadfast spirit".
We need God to create a clean heart in us, a heart that can witness before governors and kings and pagans for the sake of Jesus.
The gospel is divisive precisely because it insists on our freedom to receive or to reject it. We see in our own time just how divisive it can be. We do see brother handing over brother and father handing over child. We do see Christians hated and persecuted for the sake of Jesus. He tells us that "whoever endures to the end will be saved." But what does it mean to endure? Among other things, it means to keep a "steadfast spirit" that continues to love our enemies. It endures the crosses they send, praying all the while for their forgiveness. It is much easier to try to plan this sort of thing ahead of time, to worry about how we are to speak and what we are to say. If we plan it all we can attempt it without engaging our hearts. We can keep a safe distance from truly loving our enemies. But the LORD insists on more. He wants to open our lips in those hardest of moments so that we can proclaim his praise.
We were once enemies of God too. We were all defectors. It is only by grace that anyone comes into his presence. We still cling to idols, too. We ought to have the greatest of sympathy for the wolves to whom we are sent. They are ravenous because they do not have the bread from heaven. We know that Jesus wants to bless them in the same way he blesses us. It is not earned. It is a gift of mercy.
I will heal their defection, says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel:
he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots.
His splendor shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade
and raise grain;
They shall blossom like the vine,
and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Thursday, July 10, 2014
10 July 2014 - through the grapevine
10 July 2014 - through the grapevine
God loves us and there is nothing we can do about it.
The more I called them,
the farther they went from me,
Sacrificing to the Baals
and burning incense to idols.
Even so, even when we were chasing after our own idols, when we were dead in our sins and enemies of God Jesus died for us (cf. Rom. 5:8). We not only have no way to earn God's love, no way to pay the debt we owe, but at first we don't even want to do so. But he keeps on loving us anyway.
My heart is overwhelmed,
my pity is stirred.
I will not give vent to my blazing anger,
I will not destroy Ephraim again;
For I am God and not man,
the Holy One present among you;
I will not let the flames consume you.
He is the vinedresser. We are often more trouble than we imagine ourselves to be worth. God sees us differently. Even though we are "a wild olive shoot" we are grafted onto the the tree and allowed to "share in the rich root of the olive tree" (cf. Rom 11:17). We are made to be branches of the vine which is Jesus himself (cf. Joh. 15:1). We all require pruning to bear fruit. But we can see that God is committed to this project, to this new Garden he wants to grow. So with the psalmist we are not afraid to ask:
Take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted,
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
Amazingly, no matter how much he wants this Kingdom to grow, how much he wants this vine to spread and bear fruit, he will not force it. The proclamation is made:
‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.
But the choice is still left to individuals. Do we want to be grafted onto the vine or not?
As you enter a house, wish it peace.
If the house is worthy,
let your peace come upon it;
if not, let your peace return to you.
Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words --
go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.
It is only with profound dependence on the vine from whom we have life that can go out, with none of our own resources, no gold or silver or copper for our belts; no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick, can propose the invitation to the Kingdom of heaven. It is great intimacy that can be so exposed. It is great intimacy that can put oneself out in spite of inevitable rejection. Jesus is able to offer all he has to mankind in spite of the rejection he receives so often because he trusts in his Father. And if our life comes from the vine are able to offer ourselves fearlessly as well.
Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.
God loves us and there is nothing we can do about it.
The more I called them,
the farther they went from me,
Sacrificing to the Baals
and burning incense to idols.
Even so, even when we were chasing after our own idols, when we were dead in our sins and enemies of God Jesus died for us (cf. Rom. 5:8). We not only have no way to earn God's love, no way to pay the debt we owe, but at first we don't even want to do so. But he keeps on loving us anyway.
My heart is overwhelmed,
my pity is stirred.
I will not give vent to my blazing anger,
I will not destroy Ephraim again;
For I am God and not man,
the Holy One present among you;
I will not let the flames consume you.
He is the vinedresser. We are often more trouble than we imagine ourselves to be worth. God sees us differently. Even though we are "a wild olive shoot" we are grafted onto the the tree and allowed to "share in the rich root of the olive tree" (cf. Rom 11:17). We are made to be branches of the vine which is Jesus himself (cf. Joh. 15:1). We all require pruning to bear fruit. But we can see that God is committed to this project, to this new Garden he wants to grow. So with the psalmist we are not afraid to ask:
Take care of this vine,
and protect what your right hand has planted,
the son of man whom you yourself made strong.
Amazingly, no matter how much he wants this Kingdom to grow, how much he wants this vine to spread and bear fruit, he will not force it. The proclamation is made:
‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.
But the choice is still left to individuals. Do we want to be grafted onto the vine or not?
As you enter a house, wish it peace.
If the house is worthy,
let your peace come upon it;
if not, let your peace return to you.
Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words --
go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.
It is only with profound dependence on the vine from whom we have life that can go out, with none of our own resources, no gold or silver or copper for our belts; no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick, can propose the invitation to the Kingdom of heaven. It is great intimacy that can be so exposed. It is great intimacy that can put oneself out in spite of inevitable rejection. Jesus is able to offer all he has to mankind in spite of the rejection he receives so often because he trusts in his Father. And if our life comes from the vine are able to offer ourselves fearlessly as well.
Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
July 2014 - feeling sheepish?
July 2014 - feeling sheepish?
Yesterday we saw Jesus moved with pity for the crowds because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He was curing every disease and illness but the crowds still felt troubled and abandoned because his plan for them involved more laborers than just himself. The first stage of this plan was to call the Twelve. But before even this he prayed. And he not only prayed, but he asked his disciples to pray as well. He not only set an example for the future wherein disciples should always pray to discern the building of the kingdom by praying himself. He also allowed the disciples to begin to have agency in the building of that kingdom by inviting them to pray.
Building the kingdom is the priority of the heart of Jesus. He doesn't want his people to feel troubled and abandoned. His heart is moved with pity when he sees it. But the very fact of his localized physical presence as the Incarnate Word means that he is not, in that sense, everywhere at once. From the moment Jesus takes on flesh his plan for the Church is also implied. He needs a body that can embrace the whole world. And now "we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others" (cf. Rom 12:5). And as "a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ" (cf. 1 Cor. 12:12).
The body shares the priority of Jesus himself. His body seeks first his kingdom so that no sheep need ever feel lost as if they have no shepherd. He has finally given us shepherds after his own heart (cf. Jer. 3:15). He has given us Peter and his successors to feed his sheep (cf. Joh. 21:17). No one need feel abandoned. No one need feel forsaken.
But Jesus means for us to do our part. If we are part of this body we must move in unison with its purpose. We must not be atrophied and paralyzed. We must let him use us. We pray to the master of the harvest that the laborers be sufficient to the task at hand. And then we go forth to proclaim, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand." Where once there was only Jesus proclaiming the good news and healing now we all summoned to participate. We all move as one for the kingdom.
Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.
The fields of the world are overgrown with selfishness and idolatry. This isn't going to be easy. But we are part of something bigger than us. As a part of his body we do not fear the task at hand.
“Sow for yourselves justice,
reap the fruit of piety;
break up for yourselves a new field,
for it is time to seek the LORD,
till he come and rain down justice upon you.”
If we trust in the resources of the world we will not be able to build the kingdom. "Since they do not fear the LORD, what can the king do for them?" But as long as we remember to "Seek always the face of the Lord" there is nothing that can stand between us and the mission of Jesus.
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Why do we go first to Israel and not to pagan territory or Samaritan towns? These are the hearts that feel the most lost and abandoned. These are the people who have been prepared. They are waiting. We go first to them because they need us to do so. And from there, together with the sheep who have now been found, we go to the ends of the earth (cf. Mat. 28:19).
Yesterday we saw Jesus moved with pity for the crowds because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He was curing every disease and illness but the crowds still felt troubled and abandoned because his plan for them involved more laborers than just himself. The first stage of this plan was to call the Twelve. But before even this he prayed. And he not only prayed, but he asked his disciples to pray as well. He not only set an example for the future wherein disciples should always pray to discern the building of the kingdom by praying himself. He also allowed the disciples to begin to have agency in the building of that kingdom by inviting them to pray.
Building the kingdom is the priority of the heart of Jesus. He doesn't want his people to feel troubled and abandoned. His heart is moved with pity when he sees it. But the very fact of his localized physical presence as the Incarnate Word means that he is not, in that sense, everywhere at once. From the moment Jesus takes on flesh his plan for the Church is also implied. He needs a body that can embrace the whole world. And now "we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others" (cf. Rom 12:5). And as "a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ" (cf. 1 Cor. 12:12).
The body shares the priority of Jesus himself. His body seeks first his kingdom so that no sheep need ever feel lost as if they have no shepherd. He has finally given us shepherds after his own heart (cf. Jer. 3:15). He has given us Peter and his successors to feed his sheep (cf. Joh. 21:17). No one need feel abandoned. No one need feel forsaken.
But Jesus means for us to do our part. If we are part of this body we must move in unison with its purpose. We must not be atrophied and paralyzed. We must let him use us. We pray to the master of the harvest that the laborers be sufficient to the task at hand. And then we go forth to proclaim, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand." Where once there was only Jesus proclaiming the good news and healing now we all summoned to participate. We all move as one for the kingdom.
Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.
The fields of the world are overgrown with selfishness and idolatry. This isn't going to be easy. But we are part of something bigger than us. As a part of his body we do not fear the task at hand.
“Sow for yourselves justice,
reap the fruit of piety;
break up for yourselves a new field,
for it is time to seek the LORD,
till he come and rain down justice upon you.”
If we trust in the resources of the world we will not be able to build the kingdom. "Since they do not fear the LORD, what can the king do for them?" But as long as we remember to "Seek always the face of the Lord" there is nothing that can stand between us and the mission of Jesus.
Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Why do we go first to Israel and not to pagan territory or Samaritan towns? These are the hearts that feel the most lost and abandoned. These are the people who have been prepared. They are waiting. We go first to them because they need us to do so. And from there, together with the sheep who have now been found, we go to the ends of the earth (cf. Mat. 28:19).
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
8 July 2014 - find your voice
8 July 2014 - find your voice
Their idols are silver and gold,
the handiwork of men.
They have mouths but speak not;
Idols have no voice. This is in stark contrast to our God. Our God speaks. He does not even speak in secret. In days past his words were partial, leading us to long for more. But now he speaks to us the incarnate word, Jesus Christ. The Father speaks to us through the Son (cf. Heb 1:2). He speaks Jesus, a living message of love. He speaks Jesus, a living offer of repentance unto life eternal.
Even ignoring those partial words before Jesus was perilous. Now the stakes are even higher.
For if the word announced through angels proved firm, and every transgression and disobedience received its just recompense, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? Announced originally through the Lord, it was confirmed for us by those who had heard.
Today we read about one of the perils of ignoring this word.
Their makers shall be like them,
everyone that trusts in them.
At this we perk up. We notice that the demoniac in the gospel has fallen under this condemnation. He has become like the idols of this world. Scripture does not say how he become mute but we might imagine that his voice was in the service of the idols of the world. We imagine him using his voice to say things that seem to promise life but actually promise nothing, words which mean less and less until he is saying nothing at all.
With their silver and gold they made
idols for themselves, to their own destruction.
Cast away your calf, O Samaria!
my wrath is kindled against them;
The demoniac is mute. Things have reached the point where he can't escape the symptoms of his idolatry. But even so he cannot free himself. As Zechariah needs God to loose his tongue so too does this man.
A demoniac who could not speak was brought to Jesus,
and when the demon was driven out the mute man spoke.
He is brought to Jesus, the word of God. God's "many ordinances" are given form in Jesus. They are lived perfectly. And because Jesus loves this man the ordinances of God can no longer be "considered as a stranger's." Finally, a real word. Finally, something worth saying. The tongue of the demoniac is loosed.
The crowds are amazed. They are so used to the words of the world, almost void of meaning. But now in the presence of Jesus they see tongues being loosed and truth being spoken. Idols are being cast off and hearts are being set free.
“Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
Except, of course, the Pharisees, who are still quite attached to their own words. Their words are powerless and empty, but without them, how will they stand out and assert themselves over the rest?
There are many diseases and illnesses in the world and Jesus wants to cure them all at their fundamental level. He wants to cure the hearts that are troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. He wants to tell them that they are not abandoned, that their shepherd is here, and that he wants to speak to them individually. They need not run off to idols. Their God, Emmanuel, is right here with them. But to do this, he insists on our help:
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Their idols are silver and gold,
the handiwork of men.
They have mouths but speak not;
Idols have no voice. This is in stark contrast to our God. Our God speaks. He does not even speak in secret. In days past his words were partial, leading us to long for more. But now he speaks to us the incarnate word, Jesus Christ. The Father speaks to us through the Son (cf. Heb 1:2). He speaks Jesus, a living message of love. He speaks Jesus, a living offer of repentance unto life eternal.
Even ignoring those partial words before Jesus was perilous. Now the stakes are even higher.
For if the word announced through angels proved firm, and every transgression and disobedience received its just recompense, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? Announced originally through the Lord, it was confirmed for us by those who had heard.
Today we read about one of the perils of ignoring this word.
Their makers shall be like them,
everyone that trusts in them.
At this we perk up. We notice that the demoniac in the gospel has fallen under this condemnation. He has become like the idols of this world. Scripture does not say how he become mute but we might imagine that his voice was in the service of the idols of the world. We imagine him using his voice to say things that seem to promise life but actually promise nothing, words which mean less and less until he is saying nothing at all.
With their silver and gold they made
idols for themselves, to their own destruction.
Cast away your calf, O Samaria!
my wrath is kindled against them;
The demoniac is mute. Things have reached the point where he can't escape the symptoms of his idolatry. But even so he cannot free himself. As Zechariah needs God to loose his tongue so too does this man.
A demoniac who could not speak was brought to Jesus,
and when the demon was driven out the mute man spoke.
He is brought to Jesus, the word of God. God's "many ordinances" are given form in Jesus. They are lived perfectly. And because Jesus loves this man the ordinances of God can no longer be "considered as a stranger's." Finally, a real word. Finally, something worth saying. The tongue of the demoniac is loosed.
The crowds are amazed. They are so used to the words of the world, almost void of meaning. But now in the presence of Jesus they see tongues being loosed and truth being spoken. Idols are being cast off and hearts are being set free.
“Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
Except, of course, the Pharisees, who are still quite attached to their own words. Their words are powerless and empty, but without them, how will they stand out and assert themselves over the rest?
There are many diseases and illnesses in the world and Jesus wants to cure them all at their fundamental level. He wants to cure the hearts that are troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. He wants to tell them that they are not abandoned, that their shepherd is here, and that he wants to speak to them individually. They need not run off to idols. Their God, Emmanuel, is right here with them. But to do this, he insists on our help:
“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.”
Monday, July 7, 2014
7 July 2014 - reconnect
7 July 2014 - reconnect
We are accustomed to feeling a disconnect from bible times. We read of amazing things happening.
She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.”
Jesus turned around and saw her, and said,
“Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you.”
And from that hour the woman was cured.
And perhaps we do not see those same things happening around us. But why? Jesus tells his disciples that they will do greater works than even his own (cf. 14:12). He tells us that his disciples will be known by the miraculous signs that accompany those who believe (cf. Mar. 16:17). Paul puts this into practice with proclamations which "were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God."
These works are not just for a past generation. They are for ours as well.
Generation after generation praises your works
and proclaims your might.
They speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.
So why do we stop discoursing about the power of his terrible deeds in our own time? Why does his greatness become something abstract and lifeless? When we try to spread his fame and sing of his justice, why does it sound like it has so little to do with our own times? The LORD is not different. He is the same LORD in whom there is no shadow of change (cf. Jam. 1:17).
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
We are afraid of the Holy Spirit. Welcoming the Holy Spirit is playing with fire. It is to welcome a force entirely beyond our ability to control. He may choose to do things that make us uncomfortable. He may reach out to people that we would neglect. And at other times he might not reach out when we would.
“Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping.”
And they ridiculed him.
Even with the Holy Spirit we encounter situations where the world looks like it is proceeding as it did before Jesus, as it has gone on in many places since then. It ridicules the apparent powerlessness of God. But if God allows this girl to experience that which the world considers death it is only so that the Holy Spirit can demonstrate that the game has changed.
When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand,
and the little girl arose.
And news of this spread throughout all that land.
But we have to be willing to accept the ridicule. We have to be willing to seem powerless even while we believe that God's power is absolute. We have to be able to see the appearance of a world that goes on as it has, to see suffering, dying, and death, and to not let this change our expectations of Jesus. We must not let it change the expectations we have for the power of his Holy Spirit in us.
But our expectations have been muddled. So let us listen to the LORD as he draws us back.
I will allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak to her heart.
She shall respond there as in the days of her youth,
when she came up from the land of Egypt.
Here in the desert God has more direct access to our hearts. Here the world's insistence on its own finality begins to fade. Here we no longer look to the world and its solutions, its "baal" but we begin to trust in the LORD as our "husband". Our bond to him is revealed to be forever, our bond to the world transitory and passing.
I will espouse you in fidelity,
and you shall know the LORD.
We are accustomed to feeling a disconnect from bible times. We read of amazing things happening.
She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.”
Jesus turned around and saw her, and said,
“Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you.”
And from that hour the woman was cured.
And perhaps we do not see those same things happening around us. But why? Jesus tells his disciples that they will do greater works than even his own (cf. 14:12). He tells us that his disciples will be known by the miraculous signs that accompany those who believe (cf. Mar. 16:17). Paul puts this into practice with proclamations which "were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God."
These works are not just for a past generation. They are for ours as well.
Generation after generation praises your works
and proclaims your might.
They speak of the splendor of your glorious majesty
and tell of your wondrous works.
So why do we stop discoursing about the power of his terrible deeds in our own time? Why does his greatness become something abstract and lifeless? When we try to spread his fame and sing of his justice, why does it sound like it has so little to do with our own times? The LORD is not different. He is the same LORD in whom there is no shadow of change (cf. Jam. 1:17).
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
We are afraid of the Holy Spirit. Welcoming the Holy Spirit is playing with fire. It is to welcome a force entirely beyond our ability to control. He may choose to do things that make us uncomfortable. He may reach out to people that we would neglect. And at other times he might not reach out when we would.
“Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping.”
And they ridiculed him.
Even with the Holy Spirit we encounter situations where the world looks like it is proceeding as it did before Jesus, as it has gone on in many places since then. It ridicules the apparent powerlessness of God. But if God allows this girl to experience that which the world considers death it is only so that the Holy Spirit can demonstrate that the game has changed.
When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand,
and the little girl arose.
And news of this spread throughout all that land.
But we have to be willing to accept the ridicule. We have to be willing to seem powerless even while we believe that God's power is absolute. We have to be able to see the appearance of a world that goes on as it has, to see suffering, dying, and death, and to not let this change our expectations of Jesus. We must not let it change the expectations we have for the power of his Holy Spirit in us.
But our expectations have been muddled. So let us listen to the LORD as he draws us back.
I will allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak to her heart.
She shall respond there as in the days of her youth,
when she came up from the land of Egypt.
Here in the desert God has more direct access to our hearts. Here the world's insistence on its own finality begins to fade. Here we no longer look to the world and its solutions, its "baal" but we begin to trust in the LORD as our "husband". Our bond to him is revealed to be forever, our bond to the world transitory and passing.
I will espouse you in fidelity,
and you shall know the LORD.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
6 July 2014 - little ones
6 July 2014 - little ones
Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion,
shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king shall come to you;
a just savior is he,
meek, and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of an ass.
King Jesus comes to us. He does not come as one who conquers, but as one who is welcomed. He does not force his way into our hearts. He asks us to welcome him. If we realize how good his presence is, how much we need what he does in us, we will join the crowds in shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David" when he comes.
He is the king of heaven yet he stoops down to meet us where we are. He is in the form of God but doesn't grasp equality with God if it means that he is thereby able to reveal the Father to us. He allows himself to become poor that we might become rich. Jesus has this meekness because, in a sense, he is the little one of the Father. He is able to trust the Father entirely and therefore to offer himself completely. He doesn't have to insist on his own rights because he knows the Father protects him.
By becoming a little one Jesus reveals the greatness of the Father. But it is not only indirectly that he reveals this. He invites us to share in his own relationship with the Father. He invites us to embrace his littleness and his trust. Only if we do will the Father truly be revealed to us. Only when he is thus revealed will we find rest.
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
When we do come to Jesus, when we welcome him with shouts of Hosanna, his Spirit begins to dwell in us. We can truly embrace what it means to be little ones. Obedience, even obedience unto death, is possible if we walk in the yoke of Jesus, the yoke from his loving Father. This is true because we know that no matter what we face, we can trust the Father to get us through it. Even death doesn't have the last word.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit that dwells in you.
We once lived according to the flesh. But that way of life leads to death. And if we face death on our own apart from the Spirit we cannot make it through to the other side. Fortunately, God delights to give us his Spirit, so that we can embrace his yoke, and receive life even to our mortal bodies through his Spirit in us.
We are not consistently faithful or holy. We are constantly falling. We are constantly bowed down in failure. But we have the ever greater Father in heaven to support us. And he is all we need.
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion,
shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king shall come to you;
a just savior is he,
meek, and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of an ass.
King Jesus comes to us. He does not come as one who conquers, but as one who is welcomed. He does not force his way into our hearts. He asks us to welcome him. If we realize how good his presence is, how much we need what he does in us, we will join the crowds in shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David" when he comes.
He is the king of heaven yet he stoops down to meet us where we are. He is in the form of God but doesn't grasp equality with God if it means that he is thereby able to reveal the Father to us. He allows himself to become poor that we might become rich. Jesus has this meekness because, in a sense, he is the little one of the Father. He is able to trust the Father entirely and therefore to offer himself completely. He doesn't have to insist on his own rights because he knows the Father protects him.
By becoming a little one Jesus reveals the greatness of the Father. But it is not only indirectly that he reveals this. He invites us to share in his own relationship with the Father. He invites us to embrace his littleness and his trust. Only if we do will the Father truly be revealed to us. Only when he is thus revealed will we find rest.
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
When we do come to Jesus, when we welcome him with shouts of Hosanna, his Spirit begins to dwell in us. We can truly embrace what it means to be little ones. Obedience, even obedience unto death, is possible if we walk in the yoke of Jesus, the yoke from his loving Father. This is true because we know that no matter what we face, we can trust the Father to get us through it. Even death doesn't have the last word.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit that dwells in you.
We once lived according to the flesh. But that way of life leads to death. And if we face death on our own apart from the Spirit we cannot make it through to the other side. Fortunately, God delights to give us his Spirit, so that we can embrace his yoke, and receive life even to our mortal bodies through his Spirit in us.
We are not consistently faithful or holy. We are constantly falling. We are constantly bowed down in failure. But we have the ever greater Father in heaven to support us. And he is all we need.
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
Saturday, July 5, 2014
5 July 2014 - bridegroom with us
5 July 2014 - bridegroom with us
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
This makes sense when we hear it. But Jesus is claiming a centrality that might be shocking to his listeners. The metric for whether or not it is time to fast doesn't have anything to do with old cloaks or old wineskins anymore. It only has to do with how close he is.
Before Jesus there may have been any number of reasons to fast. People might fast in order to try to grow in holiness, to acknowledge God, to move toward the various aspects of virtue. Each reason implicitly chose some greater good over lesser ones. But now, with Jesus, the greatest good of all has come.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.
He himself brings our joy. The rhythms of fasting cannot make sense without reference to him. Indeed we read yesterday about a famine of the word of God. So when the word of God is present in all of his abundance we obviously need to take advantage of that and feast. Yet he does provide that there is a place for fasting in the Christian life. In our lives and in the liturgical life of the Church we live out a rhythm of greater and lesser distance from him. And it is appropriate to acknowledge his supreme good by fasting from lesser goods at those times when he is distant. We don't try to partially assuage the gap his distance creates with lesser goods. We let ourselves hunger for him, knowing that he will fill us.
Without him at the center no other goods we choose will restore us in the way that we need to be restored. Only Jesus sees that full blueprint for creation. Only he sees the entire plan. He knows just where to store the new wine he brings. He doesn't clothe us in patched robes of the Old Covenant. He clothes us in new baptismal garments. We are clothed with Christ himself (cf. Gal. 3:27).
I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel;
they shall rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities,
Plant vineyards and drink the wine,
set out gardens and eat the fruits.
I will plant them upon their own ground;
never again shall they be plucked
From the land I have given them,
say I, the LORD, your God.
The LORD is speaking to us of peace. It isn't a peace we can create in ourselves, no matter how well we practice asceticism. Let us listen so that we can receive all he wants to give us.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD–for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
This makes sense when we hear it. But Jesus is claiming a centrality that might be shocking to his listeners. The metric for whether or not it is time to fast doesn't have anything to do with old cloaks or old wineskins anymore. It only has to do with how close he is.
Before Jesus there may have been any number of reasons to fast. People might fast in order to try to grow in holiness, to acknowledge God, to move toward the various aspects of virtue. Each reason implicitly chose some greater good over lesser ones. But now, with Jesus, the greatest good of all has come.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.
He himself brings our joy. The rhythms of fasting cannot make sense without reference to him. Indeed we read yesterday about a famine of the word of God. So when the word of God is present in all of his abundance we obviously need to take advantage of that and feast. Yet he does provide that there is a place for fasting in the Christian life. In our lives and in the liturgical life of the Church we live out a rhythm of greater and lesser distance from him. And it is appropriate to acknowledge his supreme good by fasting from lesser goods at those times when he is distant. We don't try to partially assuage the gap his distance creates with lesser goods. We let ourselves hunger for him, knowing that he will fill us.
Without him at the center no other goods we choose will restore us in the way that we need to be restored. Only Jesus sees that full blueprint for creation. Only he sees the entire plan. He knows just where to store the new wine he brings. He doesn't clothe us in patched robes of the Old Covenant. He clothes us in new baptismal garments. We are clothed with Christ himself (cf. Gal. 3:27).
I will bring about the restoration of my people Israel;
they shall rebuild and inhabit their ruined cities,
Plant vineyards and drink the wine,
set out gardens and eat the fruits.
I will plant them upon their own ground;
never again shall they be plucked
From the land I have given them,
say I, the LORD, your God.
The LORD is speaking to us of peace. It isn't a peace we can create in ourselves, no matter how well we practice asceticism. Let us listen so that we can receive all he wants to give us.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD–for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
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