Matthew 26:6-13 Believing in God, in Others

 

Observation: I think it's hard for Jesus' disciples to understand what this woman is doing, or conceive of the idea that she's doing it for a good and holy reason. They assume they know better than she does about what she should do with her costly ointment, with her body, with her time, and with her friendship with Jesus. 

Application: The story of the woman anointing Jesus is about faith and faithlessness. The woman shows faith by sacrificing some very expensive ointment, and by acknowledging that Jesus' burial as close at hand, as he has already told his followers. The disciples show lack of faith by failing to see or understand why she's doing what she's doing. They don't want to see God at work in an action like this. I think many of us, including myself at times, can have very strong faith to see God in creation, in world events, or to see God (now and again) inside ourselves. But to see God active in others, especially others whom we don't understand...in that category we are more agnostic, or even atheistic. We can't conceive of the same Spirit who guides us in our own thinking and actions, could also be guiding someone else, who thinks and acts differently. We need reminders, now and again, that any God worthy of our worship is a God who works in the lives of very different people. 

Prayer: God, I believe in you. Help my unbelief. Help my unbelief in my neighbors. Help my unbelief in your Word, your Gospel, your power to form others into shapes I don't recognize. Amen.    

Deuteronomy 32: 18-20, 28-39, A Nation Void of Sense

 

Observation: In this song from the closing few chapters of Deuteronomy, just before Moses' death, Moses uses a tender image, saying God "gave birth" to the people. But Moses also draws attention to the tense and often frustrating relationship between God and God's children. Like a mother, God often shakes her head at Israel's faithlessness, and calls Israel "a nation void of sense".

Application: If it wasn't clear before the pandemic forced us to spend more time at home, it should be now: There is no one who can push your buttons quite like your family. Watching my kids basically have the same squabble over and over, and seeing myself react so strongly over and over, sometimes I shake my head the way God seems to shake God's head. It gives me a sense of what it must be like for God to watch human history unfold, and seeing the same cruelty, carelessness and petty disregard for neighbor echo across the ages. And it's one thing to see it happen among people with no particular spiritual background. But to see that kind of behavior in people who claim to have faith in God--the same God who delivered Israel through the Red Sea, who gave the law to protect them and teach them to live as free people, who led them through the time of Exile, and who became flesh in Jesus Christ, who taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves--I can understand God's harsh words, that we are "a nation void of sense." If knowing the story of God's infinite goodness through the ages doesn't help us to have a little faith and love in our daily lives, it's hard to see what will. I can understand how God would, like my parents when I was young, say something like, "I thought I raised you better than that." And yet even in this song of frustration, there is grace. God still promises to "have compassion on his servants." Not because of who we are, but because of who God is. 

Prayer: God, thank you for your grace. Help us to forgive ourselves and others. Help us be patient with ourselves and with others, as you have been so patient with us. Amen.    

Psalm 138 You Increased my Strength of Soul

Observation: Many of David's psalms talk about God's power to rescue him from enemies. I imagine this would be an important part of his story considering the time he spent on the run from King Saul. But what stands out about this psalm of thanksgiving is verse 3: "On the day I called, you answered me; you increased my strength of soul."

Application: Psalm 138:3 reminds me of a Phillips Brooks quote that's often put in the mouth of JFK or Bruce Lee. The original quote goes, "O, do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks!" On the one hand, I don't want to turn this into unhealthy machismo. I firmly believe there is no shame in asking God's help and rescue in a bad situation. The psalms are full of desperate cries for help. But that help doesn't often come in a miraculous rescue, or a speedy resolution out of nowhere. I find when I ask for God's help, it often comes in the form of "strength of soul." When there is nothing to do but face a tough situation, God often helps me accept it, and face it one day, one hour, one minute, one choice at a time.

Prayer: God, again I ask for grace in this day, to accept with serenity the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish one from the other. I call upon you for the strength of soul I will need for today. In Jesus' name, Amen.

 

Isaiah 66:18-23 All Flesh Shall Come to Worship

 

Observation: At the end of the book of Isaiah, God reveals a grand vision. The heavens and the earth will be remade, and all flesh--all nations, not just Israel--will worship the Lord. 

Application: It's humbling to realize that I am just one tiny part of what God is doing with the whole universe. The heavens and earth will be renewed. A new harmony will be established between humanity and the divine...and not just humanity, but all life, and the creation itself. This is the work of reconciliation and peace that flows from the cross of Christ, into every aspect of reality. And I get to be part of it. But it doesn't depend on me. Nothing I do or fail to do will reverse the flow of this river of life. Nothing I do or fail to do will make it flow any faster. I'm just one little raft, a fellow traveler among many, here to make the journey a little easier for those around me. Maybe I can point out a few obstacles or beautiful sights along the way. I hope I can stop a moment to get one or two upturned canoes back in the water. But it's God who will get us where we need to go. 

Prayer: God, thank you for your grand visions in the book of Isaiah. Help me bear witness to your new creation to come, by honoring nd helping fellow travelers on your river of life. 

Isaiah 43:8-13 What is Real?

 

Observation: God makes a bold statement in a time when most people believed in multiple gods. Not only is Israel's God the ruler and creator of all, but in fact there are no other gods who exist. 

Application: Even though, as a Christian, I believe there is only one God, I don't always act that way. We all have moments where we put our ultimate trust in something or someone else for protection, security and life itself. Maybe it's the stock market, or the economy. Maybe it's the government or our ideology about how it should be run. Maybe it's ourselves, as though if we worry enough about the right things, we can head off any imagined catastrophe. My mind is really good at coming up with fictional narratives of how, if everything goes right today, I can fix everything and save everyone. It's just not true. At the end of the day, I need constant reminders to put my faith in God alone. I can never know what the future holds. I can only know who holds the future.   

Prayer: God, you are real. You are more real than my anxiety, more real than my fear or my anger. Help me live each day fully connected to reality. Help me live trusting in you. Amen. 

Psalm 67 Let All the Peoples Praise You

 

Observation: This psalm feels very universal. "Let your way be known upon earth; your saving health among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise you." God is the creator of all things. God provides for all nations. Everyone should know. Everyone should be thankful. 

Application: When I read, speak or sing this psalm, asking God to make God's own ways known, it feels like a prayer that comes with homework. With anything we ask God to do, we should be ready to help out. If we want it to be known that God is a savior and a healer, we should be ready to enlist our own words, hands and feet in that effort. It reminds me of the verse from Romans that says "How are they to believe in someone of whom they have never heard? and how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? and how are they to proclaim unless they are sent?" 

Prayer: God, may your ways be known across the earth, and your saving health among all nations. And let me know what are the things I can to today, right now, to push forward on that goal. You are worth knowing! Amen.   

Revelation 15:1-4 It's the Same Old Song

 

Observation: This text is from the "messy middle" of Revelation, in which John recounts some frightening and confusing visions. Yet the text says these seven plagues, unleashed by angels, are the very last. And at its end there is a praise song, the "song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb." 

Application: The Book of Revelation can be frightening and confusing. It is a type of writing called an "apocalypse" where a human author will see the curtain pulled back, and a deeper reality of Divine action in the world is revealed. If we understood every detail of what God is saying and doing there, I'd be suspicious that this was more of a human thing. That said, Revelation's message is remarkably simple. Are you the Lamb of God? No? Okay, so are you an angel? No? So you are in fact, just a mortal human being? Yes? Then your job is to give praise and Glory to God. Sing that same old song. The one Moses knew. That God is in control, and God saves. That's it. No further instructions. Keep praising and stay faithful until further notice, and, spoiler alert, there won't be any because God has the end times stuff well in hand. Period. No predictions, speculations, extra visions, underground bunkers or billboard ad campaigns needed. Just continued praise, trust and love.  

Prayer: God, help us to remain faithful. Help us to praise you in good times and bad. Amen. 

Psalm 18:1-19, So Shall I Be Saved

 

Psalm 18:1-19 (NRSV)

​¹I love you, O LORD, my strength.
²The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
³I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
so I shall be saved from my enemies.
⁴The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of perdition assailed me;
⁵the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
⁶In my distress I called upon the LORD;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
⁷Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
⁸Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
⁹He bowed the heavens, and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
¹⁰He rode on a cherub, and flew;
he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind.
¹¹He made darkness his covering around him,
his canopy thick clouds dark with water.
¹²Out of the brightness before him
there broke through his clouds
hailstones and coals of fire.
¹³The LORD also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice.
¹⁴And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them.
¹⁵Then the channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O LORD,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
¹⁶He reached down from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of mighty waters.
¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy,
and from those who hated me;
for they were too mighty for me.
¹⁸They confronted me in the day of my calamity;
but the LORD was my support.
¹⁹He brought me out into a broad place;
he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

Observation: The Psalm speaks in the future tense in v. 3: "I will call upon the Lord...so shall I be saved." For assurance that this is so, the psalmist turns to ways God has saved her/him in the past.

Application: When Christians hear the word "saved," we often focus on how God "saves" us from sin and death, and offers us eternal life. But in the Hebrew Bible (and even to some extent the Gospels) the word "saved" is about more than just eternal life. God saves us from illness, despair, danger, injustice, and a whole host of other this-worldly problems, too. Looking back over my life, and thinking of the many ways, big and small, in which God has saved me, helps me have a hopeful outlook on the future. God will save me, because God has already done so many times. 

Prayer: God, thanks for saving me. Help me trust in the many times, many ways you will save me in years to come. Amen. 

Acts 17:10-15 Examining the Scriptures

Acts 17:10-15 (NRSV)

​¹⁰That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas off to Beroea; and when they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so. ¹²Many of them therefore believed, including not a few Greek women and men of high standing. ¹³But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Beroea as well, they came there too, to stir up and incite the crowds. ¹⁴Then the believers immediately sent Paul away to the coast, but Silas and Timothy remained behind. ¹⁵Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and after receiving instructions to have Silas and Timothy join him as soon as possible, they left him.

Observation: the Jewish families in Beroea receive the message about Jesus--a pretty huge shift--but only after examining the scriptures everyday "to see whether these things were so."

Application: It's hard to put myself in the place of the Jewish people of Beroea, many of whom were of high standing in the community, and say I would have readily accepted a brand new message about this Messiah from rural Nazareth. But I really appreciate their method: when in doubt, you go to God's Word, you read it, you talk about it, and you listen for God's guidance if a change is necessary. It's easy to articulate, but hard to actually live by that, and be open to a radical change. But if communities of faith can agree to keep gathering around the Word, God can help us with any big changes that come our way.

 

Prayer: God, open my eyes to read your Word, my ears to hear it from others, and my heart to internalise it, and act on it. Amen.

Matthew 15:32-39 A Repeat Performance

Matthew 15:32-39 (NRSV)

​³²Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way." ³³The disciples said to him, "Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?" ³⁴Jesus asked them, "How many loaves have you?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish." ³⁵Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. ³⁸Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children. ³⁹After sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

Observation: This is Jesus' second feeding miracle in Matthew (the first is in chapter 14). Mark also has two versions of this story. Jesus needs to remind his disciples that God doesn't just provide once. We can count on God every day.

Application: It's amazing and disheartening how quickly I forget important, mountaintop moments with God as they fade into the rearview mirror. No matter how powerfully present God was yesterday, the problems of today always seem so insurmountable. But if Jesus was willing to "redo" one of his most well-known feeding miracles for his disciples and the crowds, I can trust that Jesus will find a way of showing up for me today, just like yesterday.

Prayer: Jesus, thank you for remembering me, for feeding me, and for reminding me of your compassion. Amen.

Psalm 78:1-8, 17-29 So That They Should Set Their Hope in God

Observation: This Psalm tells a brief poetic history  of God's people. The recurring theme is that the people continue to grumble, rebel, and lack in faith, yet God remains faithful. The psalm says the law is taught to children "so that they should set their hope in God."

Application: We often forget, especially in easy times, why we teach the faith. Too often we see it as an intellectual or cultural merit badge for our kids, and in our increasingly pluralistic times, a less relevant one than it used to be. Why do we stress over whether our kids can name three of the Ten Commandments, or know who Abraham begat? It's not a head thing. It's a heart thing. We read and study the Bible, and we teach it to our kids, not like just any other school subject. We do it because when life gets hard, and it will, they need to remember the story of God, who made us, named us and saved us on purpose. They need to have hope, and God wants to give it to them. 

Prayer: God, I pray for my kids, and all the kids of our country today. More than ever, they need a foundation for hope. In these scary times, may they hope in you.