7 February 2019 - things visible and invisible

Today's Readings 

(Audio)

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two
and gave them authority over unclean spirits.

Jesus sends us out and calls us to trust in him, rather than ourselves or the world.

He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick
–no food, no sack, no money in their belts.
They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.

There will come times when it really feels like we are going to come up short if we don't take matters into our own hands. It will feel like we must turn aside from God's call to take care of our needs for ourselves. But if we are following God's call we don't have to obey such feelings. They are merely that: feelings. We know that God can be trusted. All his plans are good. We can't live the life we are meant to live until we begin to trust in the providence of God.

We need to learn to recognize the deeper spiritual reality that underlies our day-to-day experiences.

"I am terrified and trembling."
No, you have approached Mount Zion
and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and countless angels in festal gathering,
and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven,
and God the judge of all,
and the spirits of the just made perfect,
and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,
and the sprinkled Blood that speaks more eloquently
than that of Abel.

We need Jesus to be the anchor of our hope. If we keep our eyes fixed on the one who is the author and perfecter of faith then nothing will be able to stop us from living the life God wants us to live. It is not simply a life of privation of the things we give up or don't provide for ourselves in following Jesus. That privation makes room for participation, even now, in the life of heaven, together with the angels, before the throne of God.

Mount Zion, "the recesses of the North,"
the city of the great King.
God is with her castles;
renowned is he as a stronghold.

6 February 2019 - disciplined disciples

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? 

We tend to forget who Jesus is. We substitute a prophet or good teacher in our minds because Jesus is beyond our understanding and from that point of view a threat to our sovereignty over our own lives. We speak well of him and marvel at his gracious words. But we don't want him to really shake things up. 

Endure your trials as "discipline";
God treats you as his sons.

If we take offense at Jesus then the discipline we are meant to receive as sons won't make sense to us. Trials in our lives will only cause us to take greater and greater offense. It seems like the world is conspiring against us and trying to make us suffer.

So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.

If we want to see mighty deeds we must let Jesus be LORD. We must give him the freedom, for he will not demand it, to speak truth into our lives, even to discipline us if he chooses. We must allow him to be the judge of our lives more than ourselves. We must allow him to surprise us when he starts to work on a new area of growth in our spiritual lives. His discipline is given out of love, and it leads to the peaceful fruit of righteousness which has been our secret desire all along. If we take offense at him we won't agree with him about mighty deeds being done. We'll only desire them for pleasure or entertainment and therefore not in accord with his purpose and plan. We will actually set our will against his plans so that we don't need to change our ideas or behavior.

So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.
Make straight paths for your feet,
that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed.

We are called, this morning, to let Jesus be LORD, to discipline us, and to welcome the fruit of peace that follows.

Strive for peace with everyone,
and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

We need not fear or take offense. We have a Father in heaven. Jesus loves us as our elder brother who knows our weaknesses. They desire more than we can ask or imagine. They have the power to bring it about. Come, LORD Jesus! Reign in us!

As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him,

5 February 2019 - run like heaven

Today's Readings

(Audio)

How do we persevere in running the race? It is easy to quit. The "woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years" who "had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had" but "only grew worse" seemed like someone who would be likely to give up. People from the synagogue official's house gave up when they heard that the official's daughter had died. If we're honest, don't we often give up when things don't change or when they simply seem hopeless? How do we keep running the race at such times? 

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us
and persevere in running the race that lies before us
while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,
the leader and perfecter of faith.

We have a cloud of witnesses urging us not to give up. We must lay aside burdens and sin because these things prevent us from trusting in the LORD. Sin causes us to walk or stand still or change directions when we should be running after Jesus. It misleads us so that we do not enter his healing presence. Instead of sin, we need to believe the truth about Jesus and his power. We need to keep our eyes fixed on him and the truth that is in him.

He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you.
Go in peace and be cured of your affliction."

When we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and follow in the path of the saints there is nothing that can prevent us from entering his healing presence. In that presence nothing is impossible.

He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum," 
which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!"
The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.
At that they were utterly astounded.

Most of us haven't resisted sin to a heroic degree, to the point of shedding blood, but the crowd of witnesses urges us on, showing us that nothing need stop us. They show us that the destination is worth any endurance that is demanded. The goal, Jesus, is before us. Seeing him is itself the source of the power which keeps us moving.

4 February 2019 - a swine time

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Meeting Jesus causes transformation. We begin, to some degree, like the man dwelling among the tombs whom "no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain." We too began near the tombs, under the power of death. We too began unable to control sinful impulses within us. We too lacked integration within such that we were just bundles of desires that might well be called Legion pulling us one way and then another.

As they approached Jesus,
they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion,
sitting there clothed and in his right mind.

Jesus will visit places that are unclean if it means he can rescue new children for the Father. He will visit places where unclean creatures are kept. But he will turn such places upside down.

Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened
to the possessed man and to the swine.
Then they began to beg him to leave their district.

Keeping herds of pigs was livelihood for these people. As the animals go crashing into the sea the people must wonder how they will provide for themselves. When following Jesus demands that we stop investing in impure and immoral things are we willing to follow him or do we beg him to leave us alone? If we experience the transformation he offers we won't readily turn aside.

As he was getting into the boat,
the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.
But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead,
"Go home to your family and announce to them 
all that the Lord in his pity has done for you."

For us, transformation in Christ comes is how we have faith. Faith in turn is how we are transformed. It is the same faith that the heroes of the Old Testament possessed.

Yet all these, though approved because of their faith,
did not receive what had been promised.
God had foreseen something better for us,
so that without us they should not be made perfect.

Let's allow Jesus to change us from within. If we do, the challenges and demands we face will be nothing compared to the promise of the one who began a good work in us.

Let your hearts take comfort, all who hope in the Lord.

3 January 2019 - the more excellent way

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Jesus declares glad tidings to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth. They, unfortunately, don't allow themselves to be poor enough to receive them. Jesus proclaims liberty to captives, but they are like the Pharisees who insist that they have never been slaves to anyone (see John 8:33). They would love to see the miraculous healing of blindness but don't realize it is they themselves who are blind and in need of healing.

Jesus has not come simply to impress them with the things that they hard were done in Capernaum. He has not come merely to do this or to say that. He has come to offer himself. And while some of his words impress them, they cannot imagine surrendering entirely to his authority. They know him too well, or so they think.

And he said, "Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place.

They see Jesus as just another man, with some good words perhaps, but not one worthy of an entirely change of life. And Jesus does not and cannot have the change he wants simply by miracles. Prophecy, tongues, and knowledge are all insufficient, even when they demonstrated to be true, for the claim Jesus is making. Other prophets have done all of these things. Yet Jesus is more than any of them. What he claims of himself is greater than any of them. The question is can we welcome him? He does not come without proof, exactly. It is just that the proof he does provide is the proof of love, first and foremost. He proves his power over creation only as a consequence and after effect of love, love which lays life down for a friend.

Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, it is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude, 
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

The question is not so much whether Jesus has wisdom and power as whether he has love. And this is why the cross and resurrection perfectly demonstrate the truth of his claims. His love in obedience to the Father is rewarded. His love for our sakes is vindicated. It is not by argument, nor by mere demonstration of power. It is love alone that never fails.

Love seems like the most fragile of things. Yet in actual fact it is the strongest. Saints like Theresa of Calcutta or Therese of Lisieux seem like the least significant of people, yet their impact in the world echoes and reechoes more than the so-called great men of history. Let us too choose the more excellent way.

Be not crushed on their account,
as though I would leave you crushed before them;
for it is I this day
who have made you a fortified city,
a pillar of iron, a wall of brass,
against the whole land:
against Judah's kings and princes,
against its priests and people.

We who have seen the love of Jesus must sing his salvation to all the world. If Nazareth is not yet ready we must keep knocking on the door. For God never abandons those for whom Jesus died.

2 February 2019 - paying dues

Today's Readings

(Audio)

How can we fulfill the purposes of our lives? We live as we are meant to when we live in a way that is pleasing to God. This is what it means to "offer due sacrifice". It means giving God his due. And what is due to God? Everything! Since all creation, including our very selves, is from him there is nothing that is not his due.

We often fail at offering all that we are to God. We tend to hold things back out of fear. We lack the trust we'd need to really be all in for God. To destroy this fear is exactly why Jesus himself took on flesh and blood. This secret is hidden in the mystery of the Presentation that we celebrate today.

Since the children share in blood and flesh,
Jesus likewise shared in them,
that through death he might destroy the one
who has the power of death, that is, the Devil,
and free those who through fear of death
had been subject to slavery all their life.

The LORD whom we seek comes to the temple this morning. He is the messenger of the covenant telling us our long slavery to fear is at an end.  He shares in our flesh and blood and purifies it so that our sacrifices to God may be made without fear, entirely acceptable, nothing held back.

We try to overcome death with worldly power, with science and politics. On the one hand we hope we can cure it. On the other we hope we can at least delay it. But the solution that God provides, that one that leads beyond fear, is one we would never have guessed.

he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:

"Now, Master, you may let your servant go 
in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel."

A child is the one who can make those who seek God rise and those who oppose him fall. He reveals our hearts because he gives us that which we truly desire. Even as his flesh is circumsized and first pours out his precious blood for us his human weakness is already at work revealing a greater strength in which he himself trusts and with which he wants to clothe us as well.

therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters
in every way,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God
to expiate the sins of the people.

This child is the king of glory! Let us open that wide the gates of our hearts to Christ!

1 February 2019 - endurance works

Today's Readings

(Audio)

You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.

Faith is more the a feeling. Endurance proves that point. Feels are fickle and they fail us. But faith trusts in the hidden reality even when transient emotions are not present.

We are not among those who draw back and perish, 
but among those who have faith and will possess life.

Faith is how we don't give up at once when we begin something and don't get immediate results.

This is how it is with the Kingdom of God;
it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
and would sleep and rise night and day
and the seed would sprout and grow,
he knows not how.

Faith reveals the true value in things which seem to small and trivial to make a difference.

It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground,
is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants
and puts forth large branches,
so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.

By faith we endure while we await the growth of the hidden seed, even as all sorts of different conditions transpire above the surface of the soil. By faith we are able to trust in the value of the mustard seeds we are given to plant in the world. We may not see their full growth at all ourselves, but if it is Kingdom seed we know they will provide shade and shelter as God intends.

It's one thing to talk about endurance. It's another thing to endure suffering and lack of results. What should we do when times get hard and it seems that all we have is faith?

Take delight in the LORD,
and he will grant you your heart's requests.
(Suggested memory verse. - Psalm 37:4).

Let us seek to find the LORD's will more and more in our circumstances. It is his will that faith make us grow. When we believe that the LORD is at work in us we can at least delight in that even if we feel dryness or desolation. We can believe that what the LORD is doing is worth it for us. This delight may start off as a mustard seed, but there is enough in it to give us shade and shelter in hard times.