Reflections on Scripture through the Daily Office (5)
Sunday: Psalm 66, 67; Hosea 2:2-14, James 3:1-13, Matthew 13:44-52
May God be gracious to us and bless us,
and make his face to shine upon us. Selah.
That your way may be known upon earth,
your saving power among all the nations,
Let the people praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon the earth. Selah.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.
The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, has blessed us.
May God continue to bless us;
let all the ends of the earth revere him.
One of the ways I like to engage with the Psalms is to write them out in my own words. It helps me see if I really understand what I’m reading, and perhaps how and why the psalmist thought the way that he did. It’s always surprising to me, too, how by doing this my mind is awakened and my spirit often confronted—it automatically becomes a revealing conversation between my heart and the Spirit.
This is what came, when I rewrote Psalm 67:
What a great thing it is, when God looks at us with His brightness and goodness; His very turning towards us is a blessing upon us. And by His doing so, His ways are known within this wild created order. Primary amongst these ways are His saving power among all the peoples who live on this Earth. Therefore let the house of Israel praise you, O God; indeed let all of the peoples of the Earth praise you. Let all of these nations, past and present and to be, know gladness and sing and dance for joy, because You are the judge who judges without favoritism; each has known guidance by Your hand. And here is yet another reason to praise you with our lips, O God, for by the earth yielding her goods in ever-abundance, we know it as an intentional blessing from You. May it always be so, Lord, and let all of us know it, and revere you, forevermore.
Prayer: Blessed are all thy Saints, O God and King, who have travelled over the tempestuous sea of this mortal life, and have made the harbor of peace and felicity. Watch over us who are still in our dangerous voyage; and remember such as lie exposed to the rough storms of trouble and temptations. Frail is our vessel, and the ocean is wide; but as in Thy mercy Thou hast set our course, so steer the vessel of our life toward the everlasting shore of peace, and bring us at length to the quiet haven of our heart's desire, where Thou, O our God, are blessed, and livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen (St. Augustine of Hippo)
Monday: Psalm 89:1-18; Hosea 2:14-23, Acts 20:17-38, Luke 5:1-11
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break…Then Jesus said to Simon ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’” — Luke 5:4-10
And now, as a captive of the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me. But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace. — Acts 20:22-24
How strange, that this life of ‘success’ in the work of God so often looks like sheer failure in the face of hardship. Yet, when we listen to God, against all odds or inclinations to the contrary, extraordinary, bountiful things happen.
With every reason to not let down the net for the umpteenth time, Peter does so, and is overwhelmed with the catch. Paul, who by the time he is giving this farewell address to the Ephesian elders, has already known multiple public beatings, death plots, and imprisonments—so much so that Paul shows great courage and love, to trust the leading of the Spirit with forewarnings of terrible odds in Jerusalem. The great love the churches of Greece and Asia have for him is true, as is his love for them; why not stay away from dangerous places, when there’s already been enough hardship, and so much more good could be done elsewhere? Yet the only truly safe place is in the center of God’s will, for He is the one who holds the keys to Death and Hades, and only He knows the bigger picture of where the timely word is needed.
Prayer: Oh Lord, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen (St. Paul the Apostle, 1 Timothy 1:15-17)
Tuesday: Psalm 97, 99, [100]; Hosea 4:1-10, Acts 21:1-14, Luke 5:12-26
We looked up the disciples [of Tyre in Syria] and stayed there for seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When our days there were ended, we left and proceeded on our journey; and all of them, with wives and children, escorted us outside the city. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home. When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais; and we greeted the believers and stayed with them for one day. The next day we left and came to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philp the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy. While we were staying there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to us and took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, ‘Thus says the Holy Spirit, “This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.”’ When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, ‘What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’ Since he would not be persuaded, we remained silent except to say, ‘The Lord’s will be done.’” — Acts 21:4-14
I note that Paul, in his response to the weeping and pleading of his traveling companions, takes the words of Agabus’ demonstration further than originally stated. Agabus prophesies that Paul will be bound by his enemies in Jerusalem, but Paul reasons that such a binding could very well lead to his death, and says so to make it clear that he has determined his own readiness to pay whatever price is necessary for the continuing presentation of Jesus’ radical gospel. Though the Spirit has been witnessing to Paul for a while now that trouble awaits him in Jerusalem, it remains Paul’s choice to go ahead with that plan; the Spirit leads and companions, but never forces. We see this when we compare that the followers from Tyre in Syria are speaking “through the Spirit” when they say that Paul ought not go to Jerusalem (Acts 21:4). What does it mean, then, that the believers of Tyre authoritatively say that Paul shouldn’t go, Agabus the prophet prophesies what will happen to Paul if he does, and the companions of Caesarea all conclude that Paul shouldn’t go either, when Paul, by the same Spirit, is convinced he should go no matter what? We see here that while God’s will is pure and unchanging, its outplay in this world of wills is often not straightforward.
Prayer: O my God! I ask You for myself and for those whom I hold dear the grace to fulfill perfectly Your holy will, to accept for love of You the joys and sorrows of this passing life, so that we may one day be united together in heaven for all eternity. Amen (St Thérèse of Lisieux)
Wednesday: Psalm 101, 109:1-4(5-19)20-30; Hosea 4:11-19, Acts 21:15-26, Luke 5:27-39
When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us warmly. The next day Paul went with us to visit James; and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. When they heard it, they praised God. Then they said to him, ‘You see, brother, how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and they are all zealous for the law. They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Join these men, go through the rite of purification with them, and pay for the shaving of their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself observe and guard the law.” — Acts 20:17-24
Paul’s courageous conviction to meet up with the Jerusalem church has great benefit. The elders welcome Paul and his companions with warmth and gladness, praising God when they hear Paul’s account of how God was continuing to work amidst the Macedonians, the Greeks, the Galatians, the Cappadocians, and the wider Roman world. As the gospel continues to spread through the Jewish world, and more are added to their number, so too do pagan believers of Jesus grow in number—'no longer is there Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or freeman, for all are one in Jesus the Messiah’ (Galatians 3:28).
But this is the great threat to the church, too. Though the Jewish elders and apostles rejoice that God has rained the Holy Spirit upon all people who confess Jesus as Savior (Acts 8:26-40; 9:15; Acts 10—11:18), an increasing number of Messianic Jewish converts are seeing Paul, the Jewish convert and apostle from Tarsus, as spreading a dangerous falsehood. The Messianic Jews (“zealous for the law”) think Paul is teaching Jewish converts to forsake the law of Moses by interacting with pagan converts—they believe that by not requiring pagans to first become Jews before following Jesus as Messiah, Paul is abandoning the faith altogether.
What is to be done? In the immediate context, we see the wise and shrewd efforts of Jerusalem’s leadership to appease the Messianic Jews; they know that Paul is not abandoning the faith as a revolutionary or a traitor to Judaism, but they also know deep disagreements about what it means to follow Jesus are not going to be smoothed over easily or quickly. Thus Paul shows his love and respect for the church and her elders by submitting to this purification plan—whatever he may have thought of his theological opponents, Paul knew that unity in the body was of a greater importance than his wish to be recognized as right.
Prayer: O good Jesus, the word of the Father, the brightness of the Father's glory, whom angels desire to behold — teach me to do Thy will; that guided by Thy good spirit, I may come unto that blessed city where there is everlasting day and all are of one spirit; where there is certain security, and secure eternity, and eternal tranquility, and quiet felicity, and happy sweetness, and sweet pleasantness; where Thou, with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, world without end. Amen (St. Gregory the Great)
Thursday: Psalm 105:1-22; Hosea 5:1-22, Acts 21:27-36, Luke 6:1-11
When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, who had seen him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd. They seized him, shouting, ‘Fellow-Israelites, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place; more than that, he has actually brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.’ For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then all the city was aroused, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. While they were trying to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. Immediately he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the tribune came, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; he inquired who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd shouted one thing, some another; and as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. When Paul came to the steps, the violence of the mob was so great that he had to be carried by the soldiers. The crowd that followed kept shouting, ‘Away with him!’
It is hard to not see parallels between Jesus’ last days in Jerusalem before his crucifixion, and Paul’s last visit to Jerusalem. Both travel to the city, one knowing he is going to die and the other suspecting that he very well could. Both are seized by a group of Jews who are so angry that they wish to kill the man they see as a threat. Both are accused with trumped up charges through twisting the meaning of their teachings and words. And both ultimately end up in the hands of the Romans. But while Pilate knowingly sends an innocent man to die in the name of appeasement and peace-keeping, we see the Spirit use the Romans and Paul’s submissiveness to eventually get Paul to where he wished to go—to the seat of the empire, Rome itself (Acts 19:21). In Paul’s case, it is the Roman soldiers, unbelieving Gentiles, who save his life. Paul was about to be killed in a way not too dissimilar to how he had once stood approvingly by (Acts 7:54-8:1), but through a twist of irony, the system-loving Romans intervene, and will not abide a public execution without first hearing the charges against Paul. Death is delayed, for a time.
Prayer: Dearest Father God, put a guard over our hearts, that we might not hold resentment or evil against our neighbors and our enemies; and when we do, cleanse us of such malice, cruelty, or spitefulness. Grant us faith to believe that You do not judge us for the unhealed wounds harboring within us. Help us to see You in the other, help us to bless and to forgive. Help us seek healing from anger and hatred in You. Only in the outpouring of Yourself on the cross, taking and drinking the bitter cup for us, do we place our hope. Amen (prayer written out of the accounts of Huda Kuttab Awad and Bishara Awad in Yet in the Dark Streets Shining)
Friday: Psalm 102; Hosea 10:1-15, Acts 21:37—22:16, Luke 6:12-26
‘…I beg you, let me speak to the people.’ When he [the tribune] had given him permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the people for silence; and when there was a great hush, he addressed them in Aramaic, saying: ‘Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense that I now make before you.’ When they heard him addressing them in Aramaic, they became even more quiet. Then he said: ‘I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today. I persecuted this Way up to the point of death by binding both men and women and putting them in prison, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I went there in order to bind those who were there and to bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment. ‘While I was on my way and approaching Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” I answered, “Who are you, Lord?” Then he said to me, “I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.” Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. I asked, “What am I to do, Lord?” The Lord said to me, “Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told everything that has been assigned to you to do.” Since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, those who were with me took my hand and led me to Damascus. A certain Ananias, who was a devout man according to the law and well spoken of by all the Jews living there, came to me; and standing beside me, he said, “Brother Saul, regain your sight!” In that very hour I regained my sight and saw him. Then he said, “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear his own voice; for you will be his witness to all the world of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’ After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw Jesus saying to me, “Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.” And I said, “Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. And while the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing by, approving and keeping the coats of those who killed him.” Then he said to me, “Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.”’ Up to this point they listened to him, but then they shouted, ‘Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.’ — Acts 21:39—22:22
Why does Paul address such an angry crowd? Even now, he sees it as an opportunity to both dispel the misinformation they’ve heard, and to preach. He shares how he sees himself in their zeal for the upholding of the law, and shows he feels an affinity and compassion towards them.
And it is amazing that the crowd listens without protest, when Paul claims to have heard Jesus of Nazareth speak to him from heaven. They don’t protest either, when Paul recounts that Ananias declared him a special envoy of God’s, “chosen to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear his own voice.” It’s only when Paul arrives at the part of his story where God tells him to go to the Gentiles that they lose control, jumping right back to calling for Paul’s death. This crowd will only have Jesus of Nazareth and God through their own understandings of them; nothing else will they abide.
We can cling very tightly to our biases and our self-understandings. We’re often offended to even have them called as such when they are, and refuse to listen to reason or alternative accounts when we feel they are threatened. In such a dreadful predicament, truly only the love of God has the power to shift our hearts, drop the scales from our eyes, and enlarge our minds. Only He is the one we can trust to do this, too; by security in Jesus Christ, we can risk that kind of mind change or love.
Prayer: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console, to be understood, as to understand, to be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen (St. Francis of Assisi)
Saturday: Psalm 107:33-43, 108:1-6(7-13); Hosea 11:1-9, Acts 22:17-29, Luke 6:27-38
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
and offering incense to idols.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks.
I bent down to them and fed them.
They shall return to the land of Egypt,
and Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
The sword rages in their cities,
it consumes their oracle-priests,
and devours because of their schemes.
My people are bent on turning away from me.
*To the Most High they call,
but he does not raise them up at all.*
How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
I will not execute my fierce anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and no mortal,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
In just 9 short verses, some of the greatest mysteries known to humanity are presented to us. Why does Israel (why do we) so thoroughly and consistently resist God? Why is it so difficult to recognize, follow, or remain steadfast to God? Why are idols so enticing (and so hard to recognize)? How is it that God will contend with such blatant and repeated disregard by a stubborn people? Why doesn’t God give up on Israel (why doesn’t God give up on us)? That we spurn love and goodness is one of the profoundest mysteries there is.
Here we don’t get reasons, but instead emotions which are God’s reasons. How could I give you up? God asks. How could I hand you over to worthlessness, emptiness, insanity, even annihilation? God Himself feels heartbroken and spurned, but refuses to act out of this anger.
And here we do get a revealing reason—why won’t God act out of His anger? Because He is God; He is holy, He is in the midst of the people already, and simply put, as God he cannot act unlike Himself. It is on this grounding that God gives us reason to act like He does too—because God went to the utter end of Himself, paying the ongoing, ultimate cost (“Jesus will be in agony until the end of the world” (Blaise Pascal)). He doesn’t ask us to do something He hasn’t already done. “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36).
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, we call you our Savior and Redeemer, and you came to earth in order to free us from the chains in which we were bound, or in which we had bound ourselves, and in order to rescue the redeemed. This was your task, which you have completed and which you will complete until the end of time, for just as you yourself have said it, so will you do it: lifted up from the earth, you will draw all to yourself. Amen (Søren Kierkegaard, Practice in Christianity, p. 151)
[*note—the NRSV footnotes that verse 7, stared above, is uncertain in the Hebrew, and this is easier to see when it’s compared with translations that made different choices, such as the NASB, the JPS (Jewish Publication Society), or Nicolas King’s translation of the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of Hebrew scripture). I think it’s helpful and important to see, because the ESV and NIV accord with the NRSV, confusingly stating that “To the Most High they call, but he does not raise them up [exalt them] at all.” The verse could also be rendered these ways: “Though they call them to the One on high, none at all exalts Him (NASB)”; “For My people persists in its defection from Me; when it is summoned upwards, it does not rise at all (JPS)”; “His people are hanging from his dwelling-place, but God shall be angry with his precious things, and shall not exalt him at all (King, LXX).” Read in context, it makes sense to balance the consequences of Israel turning back to Egypt and Assyria with God’s wondering out loud what to do about Israel’s choices in the following verses. It is less likely the people are calling to the Most High all of a sudden and then being rejected by Him, and more likely that the verse is relaying how God does not approve of Israel’s choices, and that He will not exalt or recognize or pretend to be a stand-in for their idol worship.]