7 November 2019 - lost and found

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus comes to seek and to save what was lost (see Luke 19:20). He doesn't care that they are sinners. He seeks them out anyway. All those who are like sheep without a shepherd merit his compassion (see Matthew 9:36) and have a special place in his heart. He will leave the ninety-nine in the desert. They are not lost. They are united. They are like the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son. They are safe. But Jesus can't abide the thought of the one lost sheep.

For this is why Christ died and came to life,
that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Jesus even leaves the land of the living to find and give life to those who died in the hope of the Messiah. He wants to be our LORD and the LORD of those who died as well. He wants there to be one flock under one shepherd (see John 10:16). There is no dividing wall he won't cross, gender, race, or nationality, even death won't stop him from seeking out and bringing back the lost. He will shine his light and not stop searching until all are found.

As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bend before me,
and every tongue shall give praise to God.

Jesus wants everyone to share the joy he has when the lost are found. The lost find the true purpose of their lives once they are found. They begin to dwell in the house of the LORD, gaze on his loveliness, and contemplate his temple. They have discovered the bounty of the LORD in the land of the living. Instead of being lost apart from Jesus they begin to lose themselves in his praise.

In just the same way, I tell you,
there will be rejoicing among the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.

In what ways are we ourselves lost? The LORD is searching for us. He will light up the darkness to find us. He will leave the ninety-nine for our sake. We are called to share in his concern for the lost. To whom can we ourselves extend this mercy of seeking and finding? Who do we know that is lost and needs to be found? Perhaps Jesus wants to find them through us. It may take us away from the ninety-nine, away from safety. But if we are willing, they can be found. It is something so great that the angels themselves rejoice.

6 November 2019 - the battle belongs to the LORD

Today's Readings

(Audio)

If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.

We are supposed to love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even our own life. But we are not supposed to love them apart from our love for Jesus. Only in Jesus, by the power of his Spirit can we love in a way that fulfills the law.

Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

No one before Jesus fulfilled the law absolutely. And after him no one can fulfill the law without the love that is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We build towers we can't finish and fight battles we don't have enough troops to win. The love we give apart from Jesus cannot be complete. There is no way that such love can respect the end for which other people are designed, which is to spend eternity in the embrace of Jesus himself. We tend to love people unto temporary pleasures. Jesus would have us love others unto eternity in heaven.

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.

Only in the cross is the law truly fulfilled. Only there is true love to be found. But without Jesus we cannot embrace the cross. Without Jesus there is no victory in the cross, only defeat.

But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.

Jesus wants to show us how to renounce our own resources for loving and to rely instead on the love that he gives us. We don't have to do it all at once and forever. Let us look for little ways where we can show the love of Jesus to others. From there that love can grow.

He dawns through the darkness, a light for the upright;
he is gracious and merciful and just.

5 November 2019 - to the highways and hedgerows

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves.

Why do we excuse ourselves from the great banquet to which God invites us? Our reasons sound a lot less fun the a great feast. Examining a field or examining oxen that we've purchased really don't sound like good alternatives. Even a recent marriage sounds more like an excuse than a genuine reason. Perhaps we have the sense that our so-called 'real life' will collapse without us there keeping watch over it at every moment. We choose not to enter into the providence of God because we refuse to relinquish control, or as is actually the case, the illusion of control.

The feast is incomplete when we refuse to participate.

We, though many, are one Body in Christ
and individually parts of one another.

God uses us to invite others to the feast. He uses us to nourish one another once we do arrive. He puts all of our gifts to use in bringing together his people for celebration.

Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us,
let us exercise them:
if prophecy, in proportion to the faith;
if ministry, in ministering;
if one is a teacher, in teaching;
if one exhorts, in exhortation;
if one contributes, in generosity;
if one is over others, with diligence;
if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

The feast, then, is not merely something passive. It is not that we turn aside from the control of our own lives and circumstances to be merely receptive. Rather we are called to cooperate with the grace we are given. God's desire is to feed the nations with the bread from heaven. We each have a part to play.

Do not grow slack in zeal,
be fervent in spirit,
serve the Lord.

Let us not neglect the invitation nor grow weary in exercising our gifts with zeal. There are those who are weeping who need an understanding ear. There are those who long to find others with whom they can rejoice in the LORD. Perhaps we fear the differences between the peoples invited to the feast. From a worldly point of view this is a challenge. But to God, bringing together "the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame" and people from "the highways and hedgerows" will make us stronger and more complete than any sort of homogeneity.

Have the same regard for one another;
do not be haughty but associate with the lowly.

Let us come to the feast!

4 November 2019 - banquet of mercy

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.

Jesus is calling to move beyond a kind of love where we are still mostly concerned with what we can get out of it. He is asking us to love more like he loves. We ourselves are loved by Jesus in spite of our inability to repay him. We are poor, crippled, lame and blind; still he invites us to his banquet.

Just as you once disobeyed God
but have now received mercy
because of their disobedience,
so they have now disobeyed in order that,
by virtue of the mercy shown to you,
they too may now receive mercy.

We see such disobedience in the world today. If we are honest we see it on ourselves as well. The great mystery of this is that God permits it precisely so "that he might have mercy upon all." In our failures God shows us mercy. This mercy is meant to give hope to the world that there is no one too broken to be healed or too lost to be saved. There are none who are abandoned. Failing to understand what mercy is all about, we think that we must repay him. But there is no one who can give God anything.

For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given him anything
that he may be repaid?

Yet though we can do nothing for him God does delight to share his mercy, his love, peace, and joy, his eternal happiness with us. He empowers us to live in a new way that depends on him utterly and entirely, a way to live for him completely, because living in that way is where we find fulfillment.

For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To God be glory forever.  Amen.

Therefore we must not despair when we see a world full of broken and disobedient people. Instead, we should trust in the LORD's plan, not just in general, but in the particulars of the brokenness we encounter in our daily circumstances. He wants to "save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah." We can trust him to do it, no matter how things appear.

The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

3 November 2019 - stature update

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature.

How often are we the crowd, pressing in on Jesus ourselves, but ignoring those who want to see him but cannot? Jesus is calling us to not overlook even those who would be easy to miss. He is calling us to notice those whom the world does not value and holds in low esteem. Jesus himself gives the example of the hearts we ought to have.

"Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house."

Jesus is always moved with compassion for the crowds are like sheep without a shepherd. The further they are from the shepherd the more compassion he has. He trains disciples not simply to fill the space around him but also to go out with his peace and his presence into the world.

First we receive Jesus.

And he came down quickly and received him with joy.

Then we are transformed.

But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
"Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
and if I have extorted anything from anyone
I shall repay it four times over."

Once salvation comes to our house we ourselves become lights for the world. We do not and cannot simply rest on our laurels. We join the Son of Man who "has come to seek and to save what was lost."

There are none whom God does not love. 

For you love all things that are
and loathe nothing that you have made;
for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.
And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it;
or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?

We can rejoice in these words when we ourselves don't feel worthy of love. The degree to which we let this attitude become our own, the degree to which the grace of Jesus move through us to love those who seem altogether unlovable, is the degree to which we become able to love even ourselves at our worst and most broken.

We always pray for you,
that our God may make you worthy of his calling
and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose
and every effort of faith,
that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you,
and you in him,
in accord with the grace of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.

Who are the people we struggle to welcome? Let us pray for ourselves and for them that we might both together receive the LORD with joy.

The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.

2 Novembers 2019 - in the hands of God

Today's Readings

(Audio)

And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.

We are given to Jesus by the Father that we may be saved and have eternal life. We are joined to Jesus in baptism. It is here that we are first given by the Father and received by and into Jesus. As Jesus receives us and makes us a part of himself he is already submerging us in the grace of his death and resurrection. In baptism we are buried with him into death. It is a death we could do nothing to merit. In fact, we receive it while we are still enemies. It is only his death and resurrection that can make us friends.

Indeed, if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son,
how much more, once reconciled,
will we be saved by his life.

There is much transformation that we still require after baptism. But baptism shows us the unshakable nature of the promises we have received. All that is necessary for our redemption and sanctification is already present not because of anything we have done but simply because he decides to love us.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.

The LORD refreshes us with the waters of baptism. He feeds us with the bread of eternal life. He himself is the source of strength who makes us able to walk through the dark valley and assures us that we make it to the other side. 

Our own sinfulness sometimes seems so monumental. It seems like we will never be sanctified so sufficiently as to be made fit to be citizens of heaven. How will we ever love so perfectly, to delight in worship so completely, to surrender ourselves so thoroughly? Jesus reminds us that it isn't all about us, in the end. It is about his promise. And so if we, like most people, aren't completely sanctified in this present life, even so Jesus won't let us slip out of his hand. Even so his promise of love is good and endures. As long as we don't turn back through mortal sin Jesus will ensure that the transformation we need happens.

For if before men, indeed, they be punished,
yet is their hope full of immortality;
chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,
because God tried them
and found them worthy of himself.

The fire of God's holiness will consume the dross that remains in us. We shall have the holiness without which no one sees God (see Hebrews 12:14). And though it may well take place in the twinkling of an eye (see First Corinthians 15:52) it may still feel much longer. It is much better for us to cooperate as fully with our will here and now as we can, but not being overwhelmed by our weakness, knowing that God will not abandon us.

For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day.

Let us pray for the holy souls now being transformed. We can then be assured of their prayers when the time for our own final purification arrives.

1 November 2019 - when all the saints

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

This is no trivial thing said simply to console those who choose a more ascetic path.

After this I had a vision of a great multitude,
which no one could count,
from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
They cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne,
and from the Lamb."

This multitude once mourned but is now comforted. It is made up of those who were meek but they have inherited heaven and earth. They fought for and desired righteousness. Now the bread of life and living water sate them for all eternity. These were the ones who showed mercy to others and have now received the fullness of mercy. By grace their hearts were cleaned and now they behold God forever.

We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure,
as he is pure.

These are the ones who sought and strove after peace. It was not the peace of this world that they sought, but rather the peace that only Jesus could give. The peace they discovered is a peace that comes in the first place from knowing who we are.

See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.

Knowing that we are God's children we trust in his ability and desire to provide for us (see Luke 11:13). We make our requests known to him and his peace guards our hearts and minds (see Philippians 4:7).

The peace of God enables us to endure even persecution for the sake of the Kingdom. It enables us to proclaim the gospel in season and out of season (see Second Timothy 4:2), without fear.

Today we celebrate around the throne together with those in heaven who have made the teachings of Jesus concrete and real in their own lives. We give thanks for their example and teaching. We rely on their intercession as we ourselves pursue the path they trod.

 Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.