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Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 - Lectionary for Joseph, Guardian of Jesus

3/4/2021

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3/4/21
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

In Matthew chapter 2, Joseph receives messages from God's angel telling him specifically how to care for Jesus' safety. Knowing that Herod was planning to seek out the child, Joseph moved his family in the night.

This move is often compared in our modern American context as a period of homelessness requiring government assistance, or a move of a refugee illegally crossing a border to live in a foreign country. Those analogies don't work very well. Though Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were political refugees, they were fleeing a specific threat from a regional authority who would tareget their family. They left the region, crossed a border which was open freely to traffice, and took up residence in a nation where they were allowed to be. We have no reason to think they asked for any particular assistance.

When Joseph received the "all clear" he brought his family back, choosing to settle in Galilee, where he thought the poligical situation might be friendlier.

We make a lot of decisions based on the circumstances we see around us. God directs us in many ways. In the case of Joseph, the direction was very clear. Above all, he laid down his life to care for his family. This noble action describes what we can all do, living out God's loving care in our community.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Romans 4:13-18 - Lectionary for Joseph, Guardian of Jesus

3/3/2021

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3/3/21
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

We humans have a reflex which makes us relate cause and effect to one another. In particular, we want to receive God's promises as a result of our obedience. The apostle Paul describes this in terms of law and gospel, or law and promise. If we receive God's promises on the basis of our obedience, the result is not a promise after all.

Rather than gaining an inheritance on the basis of obedience to the law, the Christian looks for an inheritance which comes entirely from God's promise. Paul says this is the faith of Abraham. Abraham received his promise from God, based on God's grace, not Abraham's obedience. He believed and received.

God's promise is for his people who believe God is able to do all things by his own mercy. This is the Gospel.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Psalm 127 - Lectionary for Joseph, Guardian of Jesus

3/2/2021

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3/2/21
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

I admit that I really like Psalm 127:2. Perhaps it is my "life verse." I don't like to wake up early. I don't like to work late. And through my life, I have dealt with enough times of hardship, of wondering whether it will be possible to provide food for my family, that I have lost a good bit of sleep.

What should we realize when we read Psalm 127? God gives sleep to his beloved children. There is no need to fear. Yes, we work, and we work very hard sometimes. And sometimes that work will prevent us from having the times of rest we normally need. I recall one time when I actually had a productive meeting with the administrator of a residential care facility at about 2:30 in the morning, after having spent much of the day watching over a relative who had been transferred to the hospital. There wasn't any too much sleep that night.

In the end, though, the Lord was caring for the situation. It was by his provision that the administrator was filling in for someone else on a night shift. It was by his provision that the facility was having a quiet night. It was by his provision that we were able to accomplish some good in a care plan not only for my relative but to look at some creative ways the facility could better care for other residents as well.

Through times of toil, through times of rest, we recognize with the Psalmist that the house is built, the city is protected, and our family and its future is secured through the Lord's work. It is not of our own doing. The Lord God, who never needs to sleep, who is always able to watch over all troubles, who is able to ward off all dangers, is the one who accomplishes his purposes.

God's purposes are good. Are we ready to rest in them?

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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2 Samuel 7:4-16 - Lectionary for Joseph, Guardian of Jesus

3/1/2021

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3/1/21
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.

Ask around if you doubt it. We think we work pretty hard. Especially Americans seem to take pride in their long work days, their short vacations, answering emails and texts wherever they are, even for the last few years wearing watches that will flash them notifications so they don't have to look at their phones, but just glance at their wrists. I also fall into that trap sometimes, though I unashamedly leave my phone silenced in my pocket and check it when I feel like it.

Our Old Testament reading for the commemoration of Joseph, the Guardian of Jesus, is from 2 Samuel 7:4-16. Here God points out to David the king that it is not David who has gained the kingdom, but God who has done it all. God took David from his work, a good and noble work, caring for sheep, and appointed him to be king over Israel, the flock of God's people. God is the one who establishes the kingdom. God is the one who makes David have a dwelling place. It is not David who gives God something he needs.

Did David work? Yes, he worked very hard. He endured hardship, toil, and mortal peril. But God's attitude about it all is that David was simply working as God's instrument. If anything good happened, it was due to God's intervention in David's life and in the life of Israel.

Looking forward, the message of God was that one day David's offspring would have an eternal kingdom. This is not a message about an earthly king. It's about someone who reigns in immortality. It's a message about Jesus.

What was Joseph's role in raising Jesus? Joseph seemed to work hard. He was apparently not a wealthy man. By the fact that Joseph is never mentioned when Jesus is an adult we assume that he didn't live to the time of Jesus' public ministry, his death, burial, and resurrection. Yet through the labors of his servant Joseph, God assured that Jesus, the king who reigns forever on David's eternal throne, was nurtured, nourished, and provided for as he grew up. 

Joseph deserves some honorable mention. He worked hard, no doubt, just like David. But all the true accomplishments are due to God's work, not Joseph's, not David's. 

Likewise with our vocations. We are working for God. We are laborers in His kingdom. It isn't the other way around. Our good accomplishments bring honor to God, not to us. We are simply willing servants.

What's our priority? Is it answering that text, sending off another email, or trusting that God is able to work in us and through us to accomplish his purposes? May it always be the latter.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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