Reflections on Scripture through the Daily Office (3)
This is the third installment of devotionals written for my local church, originally launched in late spring 2024
Sunday: Psalm 63:1-8(9-11), 98; Ecclesiastes 1:1-11; Acts 8:26-40; Luke 11:1-13
…And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’
Jesus wants us to be impudent with Him. Impudent, galling persistence is the lesson Jesus most wishes to impress on us, in Luke’s presentation of his gospel. Indeed, our own impudence lies in not praying, rather than in our praying. Whenever we think to ourselves “God is too busy”, “God doesn’t really care”, “I’m too sinful/insignificant/wayward/unimportant for God to answer”, “God does and knows everything apart from me anyway; he doesn’t need me”…it is in these thoughts that our impudence lies.
For where in these thoughts of ours, naturally occurring throughout our lives, is the true and living God, revealed in Jesus Christ? Dame Julian of Norwich empathizes with our commonly felt experience—“oftentimes our trust is not full, for we are not sure that God heareth us because of our unworthiness and because we feel right nought, feeling barren and dry after our prayers as much as before them. In feeling our folly, it then is cause of our [inaction and] weakness.” However Julian goes on to share what the Lord revealed to her regarding these sincere difficulties. “And all this our Lord brought suddenly to my mind, and shewed by saying “I am Ground of thy beseeching.” Meaning, Jesus Christ is the foundation of our praying. He is our ability to pray, the reason we pray, who we pray by, the one who with the Father and Spirit receives our prayers. He is the giver of prayer, precisely because he is the giver of Himself. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more with the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
Prayer: These words are so beautiful, so eloquent, so moving; they are so soothing and so comforting, so simple and comprehensible, so refreshing and so healing. Therefore we will beseech You, O God, that You will make the ears of those who hitherto have not regarded them willing to accept them ; that You will heal the misunderstanding heart by the understanding of the word; that You will incline the erring thought under the saving obedience of the word; that You will give the penitent soul confidence to dare to understand the word; and that You will make those who have understood it more and more blessed therein, so that they may repeatedly understand it. Amen (Søren Kierkegaard, closing prayer to “Every Good and Every Perfect Gift Is From Above” in Two Upbuilding Discourses)
Monday: Psalm 41, 52; Ecclesiastes 2:1-15; Galatians 1:1-17; Matthew 13:44-52
Why do you boast, O mighty one,
of mischief done against the godly?
All day long you are plotting destruction.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
you worker of treachery.
You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking the truth. Selah
You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.
But God will break you down for ever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
The righteous will see, and fear,
and will laugh at the evildoer, saying,
‘See the one who would not take
refuge in God,
but trusted in abundant riches,
and sought refuge in wealth!’
But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
for ever and ever.
I will thank you for ever,
because of what you have done.
In the presence of the faithful
I will proclaim your name, for it is good.
A feast of paradox greets us today, in all of our Scriptures taken together. Yet I have come to find great relief and good news that paradox is what enshrouds our lives. For paradox is truth seemingly impossible; it is contradiction that in truth is only apparent contradiction. When our reason backs us into a corner, or our emotions leave us either numb or overwhelmed…paradox beckons us out and forward.
We have today the prophet David singing Psalms 41 and 52, espousing confidence in the God of mercy who differentiates between the heart of the wicked and the heart of the righteous. And Solomon the Wise, son of David and Bathsheba, agrees with his father…in part. But there is a problem that cannot be ignored—though wisdom exceeds folly just as light excels the darkness (Ecc 2:13), the same fate befalls both the wise and the foolish, the discerning and the thoughtless, the righteous and the wicked. Why then, should we prefer righteousness and wisdom to evil and folly? It’s obvious, and yet inexplicable. “Have you understood these things?” Jesus asks his disciples when he finishes parables about the kingdom of heaven (Matt 13:51). “Yes we have!” the disciples answer, though in what immediately follows it is shown just how little the disciples really do understand.
The point is not that discernment is impossible; Paul rightly expects the Galatian church to exercise their ability to discern from the gospel they received from the gospel they now hear (Gal 1:6-9). The point is that discernment is both something we can’t live without, and also something we can’t misplace our hope in. We rest and strive in the Good News freely given us.
Prayer: Emmanuel, Emmanuel, Your name be praised. God with us, and God in us, You deserve the highest praise. You are the redeemer of my soul, and you are the keeper of my heart. All power belongs to You alone, and when You have spoken, it surely comes to pass. Holy Spirit, carry me on the wings of eagles, to the place of prayer, to deep deep waters. Take me higher, take me deeper, open the word to me, reveal Jesus to me. Amen (excerpts from the songs of Nathaniel Bassey)
Tuesday: Psalm 45; Ecclesiastes 2:16-26; Galatians 1:18—2:10; Matthew 13:53-58
He came to his home town and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?’ And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house.’ And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.
It is interesting to read Paul’s account of his trips to Jerusalem, Syria, and Cilicia in Galatians against Jesus’ trip to his hometown, because the difference of their reception stands out. Both are coming in as teachers, even though in Paul’s case he is a teacher who is undergoing the process of coming into his authority, while Jesus already comes in authoritatively, astonishing those who hear him in the synagogue. This among other reasons lend to why Jesus and Paul receive different welcomes.
But what strikes me now, is that God has granted us the ability to turn our hostility into hospitality. This is a process that Henri Nouwen has recently articulated for me—put another way, we have power to be persons of welcome and hospitality to those who come our way, even to the extent that our fears and weariness can be transformed into this new life. “Turning the other cheek means showing our enemies that they can only be our enemies while supposing that we are anxiously clinging to our private property, whatever it is: our knowledge, our good name, our land, our money, or the many objects we have collected around us. But who will be our robber when everything he wants to steal from us becomes our gift to him? Who can lie to us, when only the truth will serve him well? Who wants to sneak into our back door, when our front door is wide open?” (Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life). Precisely because Jesus was serious when he said “my burden is easy and light” in Matthew 11, and just as serious when he said “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26), I feel bold enough to wish such a hard thing for myself.
Prayer: My prayer, oh Lord, is that I might become a person of welcome. By Your aid and Your help, would You take my hostilities and give me a heart of hospitality? Nothing is too hard, or too burdensome, for You, and by Your way alone do I tread in light and pleasant places. Amen
Wednesday: Psalm 119:49-72; Ecclesiastes 3:1-15; Galatians 2:11-21; Matthew 14:1-12
What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.
I see here, in Solomon’s struggles and frustration, a great spokesperson for the confusion of our souls. He is speaking out humanity’s lament, and already by the beginning of chapter 3 (which it is useful to remember was demarcated for us by Stephen Langton in the early 13th century; the ancient writer of Ecclesiastes didn’t use chapter breaks)…already in chapter 3 I feel an almost softened, defeated admission about who God is from Solomon. God has given an unhappy business to human beings (Ecc 1:13), God alone imparts pleasure, wisdom, and joy (Ecc 2:24-26). But after the sudden, interruptive listing of that which “for everything there is a season” (Ecc 3:1-8), we have these admissions and recaps about God (Ecc 3: 8-15).
Indeed, it is the most Solomon has yet said about God in Ecclesiastes so far. God has given business, work, toil for human beings to be busy with. God has made everything suitable for its time, and God has put eternity in the hearts of humankind. Yet, with this sense of eternity, this setting of the world, this sense of past and future, human beings simply cannot find out what God has done from beginning to end. Solomon also knows that there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy life, that being able to do so is God’s gift, especially in one’s toil.
But then, this turn of tone happens as Solomon continues the train of thought. He knows that whatever God does cannot be added to or taken away from; it endures forever. He knows that God has done all of this so humankind and creation might stand in awe of Him. And then, what cannot help but leap out to me as prophesy, Solomon concludes his train of thought like this: “That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.” Solomon has just uttered his own hope, for himself and for all of us, more true than what he could have imagined at the time. For the cross of Jesus Christ has definitively transformed all of space and time. Before Solomon and David and Abraham was, I AM, and He is drawing all unto Himself (John 8:58, John 12:32).
Prayer: Ah blessed absence of God, how lovingly I am bound to you! You strengthen my will in its pain, and make dear to me the long hard wait in my poor body. The nearer I come to you, the more wonderfully and abundantly God comes upon me. In pride, alas, I can easily lose you, but in the depths of pure humility, O Lord, I cannot fall away from you. For the deeper I fall, the sweeter you taste. Amen (Mechthild of Magdeburg)
Thursday: Psalm 50; Ecclesiastes 3:16—4:3; Galatians 3:1-14; Matthew 14:13-21
Now when Jesus heard this [that John the Baptist was beheaded], he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Earthiness. In the midst of the miracle, we focus on the heavenly, on ‘the supernatural,’ and miss the profundity of what Jesus is doing with His own creation. He takes bread and flesh, he creates a meal, he involves his friends and followers in the sharing and the partaking. He provides an abundance out of nothing; he does all of this on earth, for the blessing of the earth, and for the redemption of the earth.
Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 meets with Psalm 50, human and divine meet in our Savior—“The fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other…humans have no advantage over the animals, for…all go to one place, all are from dust, and all turn to dust again”; ‘I will not accept a bull from your house, or goats from your folds, for every wild animal of the forest is mine…If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?…Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me’ (Psalm 50:9-15). Christians are not Docetists or Nestorians; we proclaim that Jesus really is God and really is human. “The marvelous truth is, that being the Word, so far from being Himself contained by anything, He actually contained all things Himself. In creation He is present everywhere, yet is distinct in being from it; ordering, directing, giving life to all, containing all, yet He Himself the Uncontained, existing solely in His Father” (St Athanasius). This is the Jesus who breaks the bread and the fish for us.
Prayer: Lord, grant that I may always allow myself to be guided by You, always follow Your plans, and perfectly accomplish Your Holy Will. Grant that in all things, great and small, today and all the days of my life, I may do whatever You require of me. Help me respond to the slightest prompting of Your Grace, so that I may be Your trustworthy instrument for Your honour. May Your Will be done in time and in eternity by me, in me, and through me. Amen (St Theresa de Ávila)
Friday: Psalm 40, 54; Ecclesiastes 5:1-7; Galatians 3:15-22; Matthew 14:22-36
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools; for they do not know how to keep from doing evil. Never be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few. For dreams come with many cares, and a fool’s voice with many words. When you make a vow to God, do not delay fulfilling it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Fulfil what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not fulfil it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your words, and destroy the work of your hands? With many dreams come vanities and a multitude of words; but fear God.
I wish to share with you a thought of Søren Kierkegaard’s on this passage. His tone is a bit tougher here than he sounds in other writings (which is on purpose—that’s a longer story), but he does this in order to help us take Paul’s “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” seriously rather than flippantly. For those familiar with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Kierkegaard was Bonhoeffer’s forerunner on the concept of cheap grace.
“Watch your step when you go to the house of the Lord—and why? Precisely because in the house of the Lord the one and only deliverance, the most blessed comfort is offered to you; the highest of all, God's friendship, his grace in Christ Jesus. Therefore we should not cease to invite people to come to God's house; we should always be willing to pray on behalf of others as well as for ourselves, that our visit to God's house may be blessed. But therefore, for that very reason, we should not hesitate to cry out to people, ‘For God's sake, take care! Above all be on guard, so that you worthily use what is offered to you—precisely because there is everything to win, there is also everything to lose. Use it in faith!’” It does us well to remember that we are gathering in the presence of the living God when we come to the place of worship, and that God cares dearly about our lives, in all of its parts. This is an awe-some thing. For “no word commits one as does the petition that calls upon God for help, because it now commits you unconditionally to let God help you as he wills.”
Prayer: O Lord, please apply the oil of Your Spirit to my mind. Both at the conscious and sub-conscious levels of my thought-life, enable me to act and react just as You would. Amen (Philip Keller, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23)
Saturday: Psalm 55; Ecclesiastes 5:8-20; Galatians 3:23—4:11; Matthew 15:1-20
Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified [made righteous] by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise. My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods. Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits? How can you want to be enslaved to them again? You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years. I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted.
There is so much here, and too little space to expound, ruminate, and discuss. Perhaps that is best.
Coming off of this week of considering Ecclesiastes, Galatians, and Matthew together, it is these famous lines of Paul’s that jump out at me: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ.” Thinking back to Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 and Wednesday’s thoughts, it is neat to see Paul provide a specific name and a specific title for Solomon’s prophetic protestation, that ‘what God does endures forever, and nothing can add or take away from it; that what He has done already has been, and what is to be already is. And all should stand in awe of this (Ecc 3:14-15).’ Paul speaks of Jesus’ coming at the fullness of time (Gal 4:4), which fulfills and overflows Solomon’s observation that all things have their season (Ecc 3:1-8). There is baptism now, in “the time to be born, and the time to die.” There is a turning over of our ways, from “the time to kill” to “the time to heal.” Jesus fulfills and subsumes and transforms all. With Solomon’s practical eye, we recognize with him that of course there are Jews and Greeks, slaves and freemen, males and females. Differences exist. But, these differences do not divide…for all are one in Christ. Hallelujah!
Prayer: Dearest Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Precious Holy Spirit—you have made us one, even though we are not the same. We hurt each other, we do it again and again. But You are Love, You are the temple and the higher law. You ask us, each of us, to enter and approach You, even if sometimes we feel only able to crawl. We can’t bear each other’s and our own hurt, but by Your love, and Your blood, and Your life, You give us life. You’ve made us brothers and sisters; You’ve given us one life, even though we are not the same. Help us to carry each other, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen (“One” by U2, turned into prayer)