8 May 2019 - scatter plot

Today's Readings

(Audio)

There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem,
and all were scattered

Circumstances arise that seem to thwart God's plans. They seem to run counter to his intention that all men be saved and come to knowledge of the truth (see First Timothy 2:4).

Stephen was an effective preacher. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and power. And now he was gone. The Church had been strong and united in proclaiming Jesus. And now it was scattered. It was not fanning out intentionally but running from persecution.

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.

Even in difficult times we are called to have hope. The circumstances of the world seem to say one thing. It seems to tell us to despair because defeat is inevitable. A world of basic human decency seems less and less possible from a human perspective, much less a truly Christian civilization. Yet although the circumstances of the world say one thing the Father says something else.

Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.

When the world tries to stop the Father's plan it ends up accelerating it. When Satan tried to stop Jesus he caused the death that led eventually to the victorious resurrection. God makes all things work together for the good of those who love him (see Romans 8:28).

We can't predict in advance the ways in which dire circumstances will end up working out for our good. But we can and should hope in God no matter what we face. This focus makes us like Philip who is still clear about his message even after having fled the persecutions.

With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip
when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.

The will of the Father is that the world beholds the Son and believes in him. He will let no height not depth nor any created thing comes between him and those whom he calls.

"Let all on earth worship and sing praise to you,
sing praise to your name!"

7 May 2019 - into your hands

Today's Readings

(Audio)

What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?

We often put Jesus to the test with questions that are similar to this. We don't really need them for faith. In fact, Jesus just miraculously multiplied the loaves in this same chapter of John. The crowd isn't so interested in Jesus as they are in the possibility to have a ready supply of bread. Wouldn't it be nice if provisions were so miraculously provided that their labor was no longer required? Thus might have begun a thought spiral that goes as follows. Jesus did do a thing that would make life easier. He could keep doing it for me. Therefore he should. Therefore if he is truly God he will. So the soul without the fear of God is given to think.

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.

Jesus does not simply deny the crowd. He does not utterly reject their desires. Rather he explains that their natural desires are meant to point toward higher and more supernatural ones.

So they said to Jesus,
"Sir, give us this bread always." 
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.

The followers of Jesus have been some of the hungriest and thirstiest at times. One thinks of Maximilian Kolbe being starved in Auschwitz. Yet spiritually, he was among the most sated. He sang hymns of praise even in so dark as place as a concentration camp because his hidden food was Jesus Christ.

Stephen, similarly, depended more on Jesus than on himself. He was more interested to share heaven with him than to preserve himself on earth. Because this was his priority the vale between worlds became very thin for him even as he moved toward his goal.

But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit,
looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God
and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and Stephen said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

Stephen was not so hungry for more mortal life that he was willing to change his story or proclaim anything other than the saving truth of Jesus. Yet this perspective didn't make him an enemy of those who rejected him. In fact, it connected him all the more profoundly with the one who was waiting to welcome him home. Through Jesus he was able to love even his enemies. So too can we.

"Lord, do not hold this sin against them";
and when he said this, he fell asleep.

A single line of a psalm that Stephen and Jesus both recited can serve us as well.

Into your hands I commend my spirit

6 May 2019 - the work of God

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you. 

We need to ask the LORD to raise our minds to care more about spiritual things than concerns of the flesh. It is obvious that if we care too much for life here below that we won't be able to follow Jesus as martyrs. It is less obvious all the ways in which preferring our earthly lives to our heavenly destiny causes little betrayals on our part. This even extends to the smallest details of someone arguing about a coupon with the cashier in front of us making us impatient rather than loving. It skirts under the radar as someone races past us in a construction lane merge on the freeway. The freeway and the grocery store can be hard places to set our minds on the food that endures for eternal life, but we can, and we must.

We ask, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?"

We're sure that if we just get where we're going faster, control all the variables perfectly, that the work of God will be accomplished. If we play our part well enough, we tell ourselves, there will be no more pain, sadness or tears, anymore. But this is not our part.

Jesus answered and said to them,
"This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."

Our part is to believe in Jesus. We do the work before us with that as our base, our confidence, and our hope. Jesus is the one who will wipe away the tears and bring sorrow to an end. 

When we truly live by faith our small betrayals will cease. We'll be able to stand firm like Stephen, proclaiming the Kingdom amidst even aggressive opposition. And we will maintain our peace.

All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him
and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

5 May 2019 - love beyond limits

Today's Readings

(Audio)

We must obey God rather than men.

The Easter proclamation will never be politically correct. Telling the world that Jesus's blood was shed for the sins of all mankind, that he was raised, and that only with him as leader as savior can anyone receive repentance and forgiveness of sins, this will never be popular or socially acceptable.

The God of our ancestors raised Jesus,
though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior
to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.

We can't let others silence us. But so too must we not allow our own flesh, the old self, to keep us silent out of fear or the desire to be accepted. Some things are more important than fitting in. The eternal destiny of souls if chief among them.

When we experience difficulty we often choose to seek refuge in the familiar.

Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing."
They said to him, "We also will come with you."

But the LORD is risen and gathering us around his table.

Jesus said to them, "Come, have breakfast."
And none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?"
because they realized it was the Lord.

He is calling us to move beyond our failures and our difficulties into love for his people, the sheep of his flock, and those who are meant to be.

"Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."
Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

Our love must not remain chained by anything that is merely human. Jesus gives us the power to love beyond those limits.

He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.
And when he had said this, he said to him, "Follow me."

Beyond the limits of ourselves and our own weakness what do we find when the love of God is truly all in all? Glory beyond imagining.

"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain 
to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength,
honor and glory and blessing."
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth
and under the earth and in the sea,
everything in the universe, cry out:
"To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor, glory and might,
forever and ever."

With the four living creatures and the elders let us fall down in worship.

4 May 2019 - not afraid

Today's Readings

(Audio)

It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.

Darkness, strong winds, and Jesus nowhere to be found. We've all been there. We've all been far from shore. We've all been afraid with nowhere to turn. In his providence Jesus could keep us from such trials. The disciples for their part had the expectation that Jesus would be there. We see in the line "Jesus had not yet come to them" that they were expecting him. It is precisely in waiting on him that they encountered this darkness. Why would Jesus allow that to happen?

He reappears after His retirement, teaching them what it is to be forsaken, and stirring them to greater love; His reappearance manifesting His power. (John Chrysostom)

Did it in fact stir them to greater love? 

But he said to them, "It is I. Do not be afraid."

They learned that it was not only when Jesus was obviously present that he was guarding them and keeping them safe but also in times of his apparent absence. Even when the winds and the waves are permitted they cannot overcome the souls of those whom the Good Shepherd protects.

Jesus was helping the disciples to get over the idea that they were the main protagonists of their story. He was showing them that they were now supporting cast in his story. They just experienced a theophany, a revelation of the divinity of Jesus. Is it any wonder they wanted to take him into their boat? Yet it wasn't meant to be about their boat. It wasn't done just so they could stay there and celebrate. It was ordered toward mission, toward their role in the story of Jesus.

They wanted to take him into the boat,
but the boat immediately arrived at the shore
to which they were heading.

Here is a lesson for us as well. We tend to want to dwell in the consolations rather than allowing the consolations to bear fruit. We almost begrudge coming quicker to the shore where there is work to be done. But his words give us courage on land in mission just as they do in the storm.

"It is I. Do not be afraid."

There is something about this strong sense of our individual role in the mission of Christ that we also see in the reading from Acts.

It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table.

Let us not turn inward, away from mission. We aren't meant to setup camp on the Mount of Transfiguration. God will help our boats arrive where we need to be. He will use our specific gifting.

Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men,
filled with the Spirit and wisdom,

It may seem like we're heading back out into another storm, but now we know that Jesus is the one whom even the wind and the seas obey. We are not afraid, LORD, send us.

See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.

3 May 2019 - face id

Today's Readings

(Audio)

"Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us."

We look at Jesus but we don't always (or perhaps even often) behold the Father. Philip helps us to grasp the importance of seeing the Father by his desire. Jesus in turn makes clear that he is unique on earth in that he reveals the Father just by who he is. He is the way to the Father, the truth of the Father, and the life from the Father precisely because his entire being is a gift from the Father and his way is the way of returning that gift and that love.

Do our hearts cry out, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us"?

Do we know how much we need that revelation? Moses saw only God's back as he passed by (see Exodus 33:18-20). We see the face of God in Christ Jesus.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (see Second Corinthians 4:6).

Our hearts are all of them restless just like Saint Augustine. Yet we don't fully realize that seeing the Father is what we desire, much less that Christ offers us this revelation in Word and Sacrament. If we realized that the Father is what we truly desire and that Jesus is revealing him we would not hesitate to draw near when Jesus calls.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures;

James, Philip, and all the apostles are witnesses to the resurrection of Christ. It is through his resurrection that we see the fullest evidence of the Father's work in Jesus. It is this very resurrection power that fuels the Sacraments and which guides our minds when we open Scriptures. It is this power which shines forth from the face of Christ. It is the glory for which we long even as it is the power whereby we come unto that glory.

Just as the resurrection was the Father's answer to the Son so now anything we ask in his name will be granted that the glory of the resurrection, that truth of the Father's life in the Son and the Son's life in the Father, will be manifest.

And whatever you ask in my name, I will do,
so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.

2 May 2019 - no ration, all grace

Today's Readings

(Audio)

For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.
He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.

Through the Son we receive the words of God and the gift of the Spirit. Believing these words and receiving this gift are the keys to having eternal life. If we reject the words of Jesus or resist too strongly the work of his Spirit in us will remain under the wrath of God.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,
but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life,
but the wrath of God remains upon him.

Do we believe the words of Jesus? We often believe them when they are easy and make us feel good. What about harder words? Jesus never speaks hopeless condemnations to us (when we hear such words it is the Enemy), but he sometimes speaks to convict us. He calls us higher. He asks us to let his word and his Spirit bear fruit in the world. But when we hear challenging words we tend to do one of two things. We either reject them outright, or dash headlong into achieving them through human effort.

We gave you strict orders did we not,
to stop teaching in that name.
Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching
and want to bring this man's blood upon us.

The Sanhedrin were being called out from their complacency to a new life in Christ but they rejected his words, trusting rather in their own words, preserving their status quo. The alternative did sound challenging. They were to accept responsibility for the blood of Jesus Christ, for whose blood we are all indeed responsible. But they preferred comfort. 

We must obey God rather than men.

Let us always choose the words of God over our words and the fruits of his Spirit over our effort. The initial call might be a challenge but grace is given to meet the challenge. The eternal reward is more than worth it.

The God of our ancestors raised Jesus,
though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior
to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.
We are witnesses of these things,
as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.

Let us receive his grace. Let us taste and see that his promise true.