Reflections on Scripture through the Daily Office (2)
This is the next week’s worth of devotionals I wrote a year ago for my local Episcopal church. It started on Resurrection Sunday, so the themes are all focused on Easter.
For further background or reflection on this publication series, please visit my first posting here. There will be four to follow this one before we are caught up to the present day.
Sunday: Psalm 148, 149, 150; Exodus 12:1-14 or Isaiah 51:9-11; John 1:1-18; Luke 24:13-35 or John 20:19-23
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’
Hallelujah, Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!
He is risen, in his crucified, killed body. And yet too, resurrection has done something to his body—it is entirely as it was before, and yet different enough that his friends do not, at first, recognize him (Mary has just mistaken him for the gardener; John 11-18). Physics do not apply to our risen Jesus in the same way they do us either—Jesus walks into a locked room, into the midst of his frightened disciples.
And he says to them, while still in their terror “Peace be with you.” And he shows them the very marks they knew had been applied to Jesus, their crucified Rabbi. And only then do the disciples see with eyes of recognition and understanding. And they rejoice.
Note that John does not say “Jesus Christ,” but intentionally says “the Lord” in the disciples’ recognition of him. In seeing Jesus, the disciples now understand that the Lord looks like and speaks and acts and simply is Jesus of Nazareth, who has done far more to the title of Messiah and Savior than they had ever before fathomed.
And how do the disciples see the Lord? As one with the marks of suffering and death—wounds still healing, in his hands and along his side where the spear pierced deep. How do they see the Lord? As one who, with marks of suffering and death, says not “what are you doing?”, or “here I am!”, or “Do not be afraid” (even as the angel had said to his astonished mother, or as he said after walking upon the raging waters, i.e. John 6:20). No, he says “Peace be with you,” and not once, but twice. And they recognize him.
Prayer: Oh Lord Jesus Christ, You who came into the world in order to suffer, and who has borne the heaviest of all sufferings. You who’s suffering was only intensified by the knowledge of Your suffering in advance, from the beginning of Your life, freely accepting it even while having the power to prevent it…You who suffered all of Your life and finally suffered an ignominious death—we thank You for sanctifying suffering. For by Your life and by Your holy actions, You clarify for our happiness the meaning of that suffering, which for natural man remains an eternal darkness. Thanks be to You! May the person who suffers never forget such a consolation as this. May Your suffering abundantly strengthen and illuminate ours. May we not have the presumption to forget this humbling distinction, that You suffered innocently for the guilty. May we not forget this difference, which still consoles beyond all measure—that Your death was our reconciliation. Amen (Søren Kierkegaard, p. 94 The Prayers of Søren Kierkegaard; edited for modern readers)
Monday: Psalm 93, 98; Exodus 12:14-27; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Mark 16:1-8
This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall hold a solemn assembly, and on the seventh day a solemn assembly; no work shall be done on those days; only what everyone must eat, that alone may be prepared by you. You shall observe the festival of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your companies out of the land of Egypt: you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a perpetual ordinance. In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day, you shall eat unleavened bread. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether an alien or a native of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread. Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Go, select lambs for your families, and slaughter the passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. None of you shall go outside the door of your house until morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike down the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down. You shall observe this rite as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children. When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. And when your children ask you, “What do you mean by this observance?” you shall say, “It is the passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.”’ And the people bowed down and worshiped.
This text is so rich with imagery, it is impossible to speak of all that there is in such a small space.
Yesterday’s Old Testament reading, Exodus 12:1-12, spoke of selecting, preparing, and eating the lamb for the Lord’s Passover, a meal to be eaten in haste, with staff in hand and sandals on feet. It’s called ‘Passover’ because the angel of death was to pass over any house that had the blood of a lamb adorning it’s posts and entryway.
Already, on the heal of Easter Sunday, do we see connections between the lambs slain for the Israelites, and the Lamb of God slain for all? Even between their meal and our meal—they ate the flesh of the lamb, we eat the bread that Jesus declared to be his flesh; they adorned their houses with blood from the unblemished lamb (which could be from either a goat or a sheep, Ex 12:5), and we drink wine as his unblemished blood, being sanctified by his poured out life, slain (and risen!) so that we might live.
When I say “imagery,” too, I do not mean to imply that there is a fiction to this text, as if the history of the ancient Israelites are in question. There is no either/or between historical event and true meaning, between empirical proof and metaphysical truth claims. It is possible to have both; indeed, it is essential that we have both. J.R.R. Tolkien puts it well: while the cynic asks ‘don’t we walk on the solid earth in bright daylight, and not in legends or fairytales?’, the wise man replies to him ‘One may do both! For not we but those who come after us will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day!’
Prayer: O holy Jesus, Gentle friend, Morning star, Midday sun adorned. Brilliant flame of righteousness, life everlasting and eternity, Fountain ever-new, ever-living, ever-lasting. Heart’s desire of patriarchs, Longing of prophets, Master of apostles and disciples, Giver of the Law. Prince of the New Testament, Judge of doom, Son of the merciful Father without mother in heaven, Son of the true virgin Mary, without father on earth. True and loving brother, Grant us your holy grace. Amen (The Broom of Devotion, 8th century Welsh prayer)
Tuesday: Psalm 103; Exodus 12:28-39; 1 Corinthians 15:12-28; Mark 16:9-20
The Israelites went and did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his officials and all the Egyptians; and there was a loud cry in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. Then he summoned Moses and Aaron in the night, and said, ‘Rise up, go away from my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord, as you said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you said, and be gone. And bring a blessing on me too!’ The Egyptians urged the people to hasten their departure from the land, for they said, ‘We shall all be dead.’ So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading-bowls wrapped up in their cloaks on their shoulders. The Israelites had done as Moses told them; they had asked the Egyptians for jewelry of silver and gold, and for clothing, and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And so they plundered the Egyptians. The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. A mixed crowd also went up with them, and livestock in great numbers, both flocks and herds. They baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt; it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
This is a great deliverance and victory for the Israelites, something truly to celebrate. But what about the Egyptians? How do we understand their suffering in this text, in the light of Christ? I think this question is common for readers, and is also more than reasonable to ask. It is a challenging passage, when we humanize the Egyptians.
Much relies upon Jesus Christ, the firstborn of Mary. Yes, He is the lamb that was slain for the Israelites, the fulfillment of the hope that was given to his people. But Jesus is also a firstborn, an innocent who dies and is wept over.
Jesus Christ, Risen and Ascended, is the good news for all of space time. Jesus is not just good news for those who are ‘on the right side of the timeline.’ Indeed, He is the very creator of time, and is not bounded by it. Through his death he is the harrower of hell, and this is part of the scandalousness of the gospel. The God who commands us to love our enemies, and who loved us while we were enemies towards Him, is the good news for our enemies as well. St John Chrysostom says it powerfully: “Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.” The God of justice is the God of mercy.
Prayer: Dearest Lord, bountiful is Your hand of Providence, and Your gifts are not so bestowed as to seduce us into indolence, but to rouse us to exertion. Why don't we go about boldly? You are more ready to grant forgiveness than we are to ask for it. Save us from any ruinous tranquility lodged in our spirit. Amen (William Wilberforce; words turned into a prayer, out of his only book: A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Middle and Higher Classes in this Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity)
Wednesday: Psalm 97, 99; Exodus 12:40-51; 1 Corinthians 15:29-41; Matthew 28:1-16
The time that the Israelites had lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. At the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, all the companies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. That was for the Lord a night of vigil, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. That same night is a vigil to be kept for the Lord by all the Israelites throughout their generations. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: This is the ordinance for the passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, but any slave who has been purchased may eat of it after he has been circumcised; no bound or hired servant may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the animal outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. The whole congregation of Israel shall celebrate it. If an alien who resides with you wants to celebrate the passover to the Lord, all his males shall be circumcised; then he may draw near to celebrate it; he shall be regarded as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it; there shall be one law for the native and for the alien who resides among you. All the Israelites did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. That very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, company by company.
I’ve said that Jesus Christ is in the lamb, and I’ve said that he is in the firstborn too. On this last day of considering Exodus 12, let’s tie up these seeming opposites with some thoughts from Melito of Sardis, who lived and preached in the second century, and chose this very text for his celebratory Pascha message (the earliest Christians celebrated both the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ in one feast [while we do so from Good Friday to Easter Sunday], and they celebrated during the celebration of Passover. “Pascha” comes from the Hebrew word pesach, which means Passover. The Aramaic word for pesach is pascha).
Read this both quickly and slowly, starting with whatever is most comfortable.
1) The Scripture of the exodus of the Hebrews has been read, and the words of the mystery have been declared;
how the sheep was sacrificed,
and how the people was saved,
and how Pharaoh was flogged by the mystery.
2) Therefore, well-beloved, understand,
how the mystery of the Pascha is both new and old,
eternal and provisional,
perishable and imperishable,
mortal and immortal.
3) It is old with respect to the law, new with respect to the word.
Provisional with respect to the type,
yet everlasting through grace.
It is perishable because of the slaughter of the sheep,
imperishable because of the life of the Lord.
It is mortal because of the burial in the ground,
immortal because of the resurrection from the dead.
4) For the law is old,
but the word is new.
The type is provisional,
but grace is everlasting.
The sheep is perishable,
but the Lord,
not broken as a lamb but raised up as God,
is imperishable.
For though led to the slaughter like a sheep, he was no sheep.
Though speechless as a lamb,
neither yet was he a lamb.
For there was once a type, but now the reality has appeared.
5) For instead of the lamb there was a son,
and instead of the sheep a man;
in the man was Christ encompassing all things.
Hallelujah, Jesus Christ is the fulfillment and encompass-er of all things. He inverts what we thought we knew, and is found where we least expect. He is the hope and salvation of all peoples—He is our praise, He is our boast, He is our hope.
Prayer: Abba Father, help us to seek and search for You while You may be found. Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let us return to You, Lord, that You may have compassion on us, for You abundantly pardon. As Your thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways Your ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are Your ways higher than our ways, and Your thoughts than our thoughts. For You declare that Your Word shall accomplish what You will and purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which You send it. Praise be to You, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen (Isaiah 55:6-11, condensed into prayer)
Thursday: Psalm 146, 147; Exodus 13:3-10; 1 Corinthians 15:41-50; Matthew 28:16-20
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living being’; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Here towards the end of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church, he takes up the matter of the resurrection of the dead. How is it that some of you in the church say that there is no resurrection of the dead (verse 12)? We are all to be greatly pitied, if we proclaim resurrection, and resurrection is in truth impossible and therefore false. For Paul, the good news is nothing short of Jesus Christ having died (yes, really died) and raised (yes, really raised) from the grave. No metaphorical or partial deaths are at work here—only his physical death and physical resurrection carry good news of great joy.
Borrowing Jesus’ own imagery of the seed that must die in order to flower, Paul explains that all physical bodies must die in order to gain life afterwards, which is spiritual. But, he carefully notes, this does not mean disembodiment any more than Jesus’ resurrected body was disembodied! (And Paul emphasizes this with witnesses—go ask the 500+ people who walked and talked with Jesus; 1 Corinthians 15:6). His arguments about Adam’s body in this passage try to show this even further.
What happens to Jesus’ body, on our behalf, will also happen to our bodies, when He raises us to himself in the fullness of hope. He is the God who raises the dead to life.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Thy presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others. Amen (Mother Theresa)
Friday: Psalm 136; Exodus 13:1-2, 11-16; 1 Corinthians 15:51-58; Luke 24:1-12
Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’
‘Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?’
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
I read the opening lines here and can’t help but hear the beautiful baritone from Handel’s Messiah immediately sound.
It is indeed a great mystery, that Jesus Christ has already conquered death through his death, and that through His death, we too are to receive eternal life. And to call it a mystery is not to say it is something we cannot understand. It means that we cannot perfectly understand; that we cannot fully wrap our arms around it, when instead the mystery wraps around us. Formulas and explanations are important and indispensable tools…but mysterious truths cannot be encapsulated or exhausted by the precision of a formula. Instead, the more we learn, the richer our understanding becomes—while the mystery is inexhaustible.
Note too, we do not exchange perishability for imperishability—rather, our perishability “puts on” imperishability, the mortal body “puts on” immortality. The stories atheists (rightly) like to scoff at, of people disembodied in heaven with nothing to do, sleepily strumming a harp without concern, care, or even memory of the physical earth below…nothing could be further from Paul’s (and the New Testament’s) understanding of what the New Heavens and the New Earth will be like. The Father, through the free will and love of His incarnate Son, took on human flesh to redeem it. He called, and still calls, His creation “good.”
Thanks be to God! While we still feel the sting and power of sin, we know also that it has no final hold upon us—we have been given victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, let us labor in work known not to be in vain, let us “take more risks,” as Brother Andrew said soon before he died (1928-2022).
Prayer: My God, here I am all devoted to Thee. Lord, make me according to Thy heart. Amen (Brother Lawrence, 1611-1691)
Saturday: Psalm 145; Exodus 13:17-14:4; 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10; Mark 12:18-27
Praise. Of David.
I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name for ever and ever.
Every day I will bless you,
and praise your name for ever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
his greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall laud your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
The might of your awesome deeds shall be proclaimed,
and I will declare your greatness.
They shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness,
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
The Lord is good to all,
and his compassion is over all that he has made.
All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
and all your faithful shall bless you.
They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom,
and tell of your power,
to make known to all people your mighty deeds,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
The Lord is faithful in all his words,
and gracious in all his deeds.
The Lord upholds all who are falling,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand,
satisfying the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is just in all his ways,
and kind in all his doings.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of all who fear him;
he also hears their cry, and saves them.
The Lord watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.
My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and all flesh will bless his holy name for ever and ever.
Let us slow down, pray and linger, meditate over this psalm together. After this week’s readings, full of the wonder and the joy of Easter, of Jesus Christ’s conquering of death and the grave, let us sing together with David.
“One generation shall laud your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.”
How profound it is, that God uses us the way He does. The generations before us lived and then wrote and then passed down the Scriptures. Jesus of Nazareth came and fulfilled what was written in those Scriptures. Paul, “the least of these,” is counted among the company of witnesses spreading the word of a good message. Onwards, from generation to generation, until we get to our present day…God is using people, to do His good work.
“The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.”
How often, Oh Lord, do I doubt this of You? The extent of Your goodness, Your compassion, mercy, steadfast love? And yet these characteristics are unchanging, immovable, in You. You are the most trustworthy Person to come to, in the smallest of my worries and the greatest of my sins. Would that I might come more quickly, more often, and receive the gifts You wish to bestow upon me. (You wish to bestow gifts to me? The incredible thought!).
“You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing…The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.”
Is this a contradiction? No…it is an accounting of how wickedness cannot fathom that God loves, creates, sustains, and is unchanging in His goodness. It is Wickedness’s own misery that blames and misunderstands the hand of God (I’ve met no better illustrator of this than C.S. Lewis, in his book Til We Have Faces. A moment in The Last Battle illustrates it well too).
Prayer: Father in heaven, help us to not be unhappy in our weakness. When we feel no courage or strength for the practice of virtue, help us see this weakness itself as a grace—that it is a time to rely fully upon Jesus. Help us recognize and see Your help, which often is subtle and imperceptible. Help us remember that love can do all things, for You are love. Amen (Thérèse of Lisieux, adapted into prayer)