Category: Lectionary - Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry

John 3:1-17 - Lectionary for Trinity Sunday

6/4/2020

6/4/20
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 the third chapter of John’s Gospel Jesus affirms God’s supernatural character. He gives birth, even to old people like Nicodemus. But, in verse eight, he does it through means that we will not completely understand.

Do we see some irony here, at least a little bit, when Nicodemus affirms that he doesn’t understand? He want to understand. He’s trying to understand. He assumes that he will eventually be able to understand, because he’s a smart guy!

This is exactly the problem, and it’s a problem that most of us have. We want the kingdom of God to be something that we can grasp clearly with our senses, that we can wrap our mind around. We want to be able to describe everything, and not only describe it, but explain it. When we observe that the world is full of complexities which we can’t explain, such as gravity, which we seem only able to describe, our world will tell us that science is complex because it’s real, but religion is something different.

The fact is, the God who created all this complexity is himself able to be just as complex as he wants to. He gives some descriptions of himself in Scripture, and he allows us to make some sense out of his creation, which may help us understand him a little better, but he remains the one who is inexplicable.

This Trinity Sunday, then, when we confess that God is one in being and three in person, that he has one will and one desire but three persons who arevery different in appearance, yet he is really one, all at the same time, all eternal, all unchanging, we are confessing something we cannot possibly explain without lapsing into some sort of heresy. Like Nicodemus, we can’t fully wrap our heads around God. But he remains the one who is working in our world. He is still the one who rescues us from sin, death, and the grave, through means we really don’t think should be able to do that.

Like Nicodemus, then, we are called to believe on the Lord, not to explain the Lord. Believe on him. He is the redeemer of the world.

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.

Romans 11:33-36 - Lectionary for Trinity Sunday

6/3/2020

6/3/20
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.

For Trinity Sunday our Epistle features what is probably a piece of writing that is older than the rest of the letter to the Romans. In Romans 11 verses 34-36 are typically set off in a way that suggests a quotation, but the quotation is not from anything in the Old Testament. Many scholars would suggest that these passages were theological statements used by the early Christians in their worship, which were then included in the New Testament writings because the familiar snippet accurately reflected what the author wanted to express. By the time Paul is writing Romans they aren’t old enough to be considered ancient, but they may have dated back to the earliest weeks and months of the Christian period, some twenty or so years before the apostle wrote the letter.

Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who is worthy to correct God. Really, who is qualified to say, “God’s Word says [fill in a moral or ethical statement] but we actually know [fill in the opposite]? That’s the work of those who deny the Holy Spirit. It says that God really didn’t know what he was talking about and that if the people he was inspiring to write an authoritative account of his will failed to understand something he was unable to prompt them in the right direction. It’s the height of arrogance, for it places our human reason on the throne and says that God, the creator, redeemer, and sustainer of all is answerable to my inclination.

Really? Do we think we give anything to God so that he owes us something in return? Christianity has always confessed that everything that is good comes from God’s gracious hand, including the things we need and the things we don’t need, in times of poverty and in times of abundance. And we think we are in a position to bargain with God, to loan him something and make him repay?

No, we can do nothing of the sort, nor should we try. All that we have comes from God. We simply return to Him what he has let us borrow.

The entire idea is summed up by the fact that all glory goes to God, forever. We may come up with some sort of glory that seems, at times, to be ours. This is because we are created in the image of God. But it’s just a faint reflection of God’s glory. It’s just enough light to make us think it would be good to have more light.

God’s riches, yes, that’s what we need. And the Lord has graciously poured out those riches upon his people, giving them the gifts they need. Thanks be to God.

Back to the fact that we were apparently quoting something? As long as there has been Christianity, there have been people proclaiming God’s glory. We join with countless other people to do the same.

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.

Psalm 29 - Lectionary for Trinity Sunday

6/2/2020

6/2/20
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 Psalm 29:11 the Psalmist prays the Lord would give strength to his people and bless them with peace. The strength of God’s people is inherent in their peace, but not in the peace they have in this world. This world and its trials may violate our peace. In different times and places throughout history, trusting the Lord has led many to persecution and death. Yet God gives them strength and peace.

What does it mean to us when we know that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ? What does it mean to us when we consider the fact we are called heirs of God in Christ? What does it do for our confidence when we realize that Jesus gives us immortality and life, which none can take away from us? What does it do when we recall that Jesus has broken down the wall of sin which separates us from God? How does it speak to us when the Lord says he will call us to enter into his kingdom as his beloved children? What does it do for our confidence when we think about God’s plan to bring the heavens and the earth under his righteous judgment in the last day?

We are able to do none of this. It is all of the Lord’s devising and his execution. He is the one who has done all things. This again is good news, because he is the one who does all things well.

What is the strength and peace of the Lord intended to accomplish? Quite simply, God spreads the Gospel, the good news that he has accomplished strength and peace for his people. He wants everyone to come to repentance and knowledge of his grace. So it shouldn’t surprise us that he leaves his peace with his people and then tells them to get busy doing peace all around them. I have news for you from this Psalm. He gives his people strength to do it also.

May the Lord of all peace guard your hearts and minds with His peace, as we enter this season of Trinity, that we may together work out the Lord’s perfect love in our world.

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.

Isaiah 6:1-7 - Lectionary for Trinity Sunday

6/1/2020

6/1/20
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.

The appearance of God’s glory to Isaiah in chapter six would shake anybody up. The Lord of all, seated in the temple, his seraphim with him, and their calling to one another all point to the majesty of the Lord. Here we also have suggestions of the trinity. The seraphim have three pairs of wings. They call out about God’s glory, repeating it three times. We get the picture that this is significant. It speaks of God’s nature.

Above all, God, in his nature, is glorious. Isaiah recognizes in verse five that he is lost, undone, unclean, and probably going to die because he has been confronted by God’s glory.

How will Isaiah manage to deal with this appearance of God’s glory? In fact, he can’t deal with it. Only God and his messenger can do it. Isaiah is touched with a burning coal from the sacrificial fire of God. With this he is purified. He is not merely redirected. He is purified. His guilt is taken away. His sin is atoned for.

What’s significant about this? In the appearance of God, in His glory, we are confronted with our sin and failure. We cannot stand on our own. We recognize there is no earthly way we can face God. Yet the seraph tells Isaiah his guilt is taken away. Who takes it away? It isn’t the seraph. It’s God himself. Isaiah’s sin is atoned for. Again, Isaiah doesn’t do it, nor does the seraph. God does it.

It is by God’s mercy that we have forgiveness. His righteous wrath has been turned away. And the great mystery in all of this is that God does it himself. This is the work of Jesus, God the Son, who, having one will with the Father and the Holy Spirit, chooses to have the wrath of God poured out on himself rather than on us. Yes, God pours out His anger about your sin, my sin, and the sin of the whole world, on himself, accomplishing two impossible things.

First, as Jesus bears the sin of the world, God the Son dies. The immortal God lays down his life for you. Yes, this is impossible, but God does it, and he willingly dose the impossible because it is the way to rescue you.

Second, by his death, Jesus gives you his righteousness. He transfers your sin to himself and his righteousness to you. Again, this is impossible, but nothing is impossible for God.

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord our God. Our sin has been atoned for. Thanks be to God.

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.

John 14:23-31 - Lectionary for Pentecost Sunday

5/28/2020

5/28/20
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 John 14:27 we are given a great promise by Jesus, sadly a promise that we ignore. Jesus promises to give his peace to his people, not the kind of peace that the world gives, but a divine peace. They should not let their hearts be troubled. Why? Because they have God’s peace with them.

The increasing secularization of some parts of the West have also been filled with increasing strife and anger. To this bush league analyst, the anger seems to be rooted in an insecurity. “Our world is falling apart, it isn’t working the way we want it to, we want to have love and peace, but it isn’t where we expected to find it. It’s threatened, so we’re going to scream profanities and break things.” It seems to me that the people who would like to be known as being all about tolerance, love, and peace are the exact same people who threaten violence against others who are not like them, especially against Christians.

Some Christians have, at times, responded with anger, or at least frustration. That isn’t the right response. What did Jesus promise? He promised the peace of God. This is a peace which passes all understanding. It is able to guard us from fear. It has proven able to keep the Chrsitian saints and martyrs over the ages. It has enabled many to go fearlessly with the message of the Gospel to warring factions, to tribes of headhunters, to the sickbeds of people suffering from plagues, and to lay down their lives in countless other ways.

Why can we do this? It’s because in God’s peace our hearts are not troubled.

My thoughts may be troubled by the evils all around me. They should be. My actions may be changed because of knowledge of risks and dangers. That’s fine. But my heart cannot be troubled if it is kept in Christ’s peace.

This is perplexing to those who have been taught that Christianity is about power, oppression, bigotry, and hostility. They don’t know what to do when they encounter the love of God. They may be mistrustful. We can understand it. They may be frustrated to find that people they thought were no different are, in fact, different because of the work of the God they were taught was an illusion. They may scream. They may threaten violence. They may break things, including our bodies. But they cannot shake the peace of God, though they try.

How does the Christian respond? Come, you frustrated, anxious, troubled people. The peace of God is there for you as well. Trust that Jesus is the one who sends the Holy Spirit, who works forgiveness, who breaks down the alienation between you and God, and who gives life and immortality. Receive the peace of God which passes all understanding. It is for you as well.

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.

Acts 2:1-21 - Lectionary for Pentecost Sunday

5/27/2020

5/27/20
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.

Apocalyptic. For some reason, that’s become a popular descriptor of unpopular situations. Plagues, famines, earthquakes, tidal waves, acts of war. Apocalyptic. Dare I mention . . . no, better not. Everyone’s been talking about that for the last two weeks to flatten the curve.

In Acts chapter two, the disciples start speaking of the glories of God. The people from many different nations, cultures, and language groups, all gathered in Jerusalem because of their desire to be present for the feast of Pentecost, hear them speaking in their native languages, from all around the region. God is communicating with them all about his glory, telling them about it in the language dear to their hearts, the language in which they dream.

Is it necessary for God to provide this gift so they would understand? Yes and no. Notice when Peter explains it to them, he does not seem to have the gift operating. He is heard from them in the very language in which he speaks, and he is understood. The people can understand what is happening. They didn’t need a translator. But they did need an interpreter.

How often are we confronted with God’s glory, his majesty, his works of mercy, and we fail to notice? We don’t need a translator, but we do need an interpreter. We need to be kicked in the shins and told to look at how Jesus is working a miracle when a baby is brought for baptism. We need someone to tug on our ears and remind us to listen up to the reading of God’s Word because he will create faith through it. Our minds wander in prayer and we need someone to catch our attention and tell us, once again, that this is a real live chance to bring our needs before God and that He is listening. We need that interpreter to tell us about the times.

Sometimes, though, we realize that the situation is apocalyptic. It is going to lead to an unveiling of God, which will bring a final judgment. We still need the interpreter for this. Some of the people in Jerusalem who were having faith created in their hearts by God’s Word were fearful about the time of the end. Some people in our culture are as well. Notice I used the term “apocalyptic” only for things we would consider to be terribly destructive? What does Peter have to say about them?

They are frightening, yes. But they are part of God bringing his people to himself at the end of time, gathering them as a mighty community from every place and every age, showing them that they are partakers of his mercy and grace, that nothing can harm them in the end. Peter gives apocalyptic signs as signs of hope.

In this coming season of Pentecost, may we have grace to watch for Jesus’ gracious presence and the signs of his coming. It will be a time to see!

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.

Psalm 143 - Lectionary for Pentecost Sunday

5/26/2020

5/26/20
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 read an article not too long ago, I forget when and where, and at my age “not too long ago” might be 20 years. But it was about the therapeutic effects of singing the blues. The author pointed out that there is a distinct difference, in his opinion, between traditional blues and, say, the nihilistic kind of stuff that passes for music among many young people these days (and maybe for the past 200 years). The examples of actually “singin’ the blues” he used normally brought people’s expressions through a period of sadness, even a time of desperation, to a realization that we wouldn’t even be able to sing if all were lost. There’s an affirmation of hope, sometimes merely implied hope, but it’s still there. What’s the result? I’m singin’ the blues today, I may be singin’ the blues tomorrow, but I’ll still be singing because in the end I do have hope.

The question we need to ask, of course, is what kind of hope we have. I was speaking with someone recently who was fixated on needing to have hope, and the fact that she planned to find that hope in herself and her love for herself. As much as she allowed me, I encouraged her that love for yourself is identified in the Bible as a problem, but that maybe having a healthy respect for your innate dignity is a good thing. She consistently returned to needing to love herself more. Why was she troubled?

We are not trustworthy. Within me there is nothing that I can depend on or hope in. I need to look outside of myself, as the Psalmist does in Psalm 143. Everything has fallen apart. I’m in desperate straits. I remember God’s works, not my works. I reach out my hands and, wonder of wonders, I realize that the Lord my savior is already holding my hands. I’m afraid of falling. But God is holding me up and is there right under me as a firm foundation. I can’t see God in my troubles. He turns on the light, He is the light of the world. It’s the brightness of his presence that hides him.

When we are distressed, like the Psalmist, we look to the Lord. And we can take courage from the fact that he looks to the Lord again and again and again in this Psalm. We also can realize that we are singing the blues today and that we will likely sing them many more times. But who is the hope? It is the Lord of all creation, the triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Blessed be His name.

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.

John 15:26-16:4 - Lectionary for Easter 7

5/21/2020

5/21/20
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.

Jesus promises his followers an abundant life. He promises that he will always be with them. He promises that no harm will come to them. And in this week’s Gospel reading from John 15:26-16:4, He adds some promises. “They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God” (16:1-2, ESV).

These aren’t the daily promises from Jesus that you want to have come up on your phone app that gives you God’s word for the day, in bite size inspirational format. Really, when I say I want some good news, I don’t want an answer such as “it could be worse, much worse.”

There is, however, great hope in this passage. The reason that Christians may end up as outcasts and even targets of terrible, murderous acts, is that those who do these awful acts didn’t know the Father or the Son (16:3). People who are not partakers of God’s promises end up throwing all sorts of anger and hatred toward those who know God’s grace. People who have no hope of eternal life really have a hard time with those whose hope is steadfast.

Christians have a sure and certain hope, and it is a hope in the resurrection. We have an abundant life, a destiny of all we will ever or can ever need, in the future. It matters little what happens to us in the meantime. Our pleasure is found in the heavenly realms, and, sometimes - often - by God’s grace, to some extent, we have great comfort and pleasure in this life as well.

Christians have a promise of the presence of Jesus with them, day by day, through the end of the age. It’s the risen Lord, the one who has even been through death on our behalf. And if he is with us to the end of this age, he’ll be around when our mortal bodies wear out and die. It’s all right. He’s been there before. He defeated that enemy called death and promises us safe passage right on through.

Christians have a promise that no eternal harm will come to them. Will they be cast out of the synagogue? Sure. Will they be threatened? More than likely. Will some of them be killed? That’s without a doubt. But the promise isn’t against pain and suffering. It is that, regardless of what happens in this life, Christians are partakers of the resurrection. We may endure terrible things here and now, but our Lord Jesus is able to protect us and take us to our eternal home.

He didn’t tell the disciples all those things before he was about to leave them. He knew they would forget. In fact, they seem to have forgotten in the hours and days shortly before and after Jesus’ execution. But he showed them, through his resurrection and his appearances, that he is able to be with them.

Whatever the temporal situation, we have a confidence that will not fail.

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.

1 Peter 4:7-14 - Lectionary for Easter 7

5/20/2020

5/20/20
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.

1 Peter 4:10-11 tells us to use the various gifts of God appropriately. Then, oddly enough, Peter gives us only two gifts as examples. Yet they are strong examples, which may well encapsulate all that we do. Let’s look at them.

First, the one who speaks should be “as the one who speaks oracles of God.” In whatever we speak, we should desire to be certain. We speak with confidence. We strive for accuracy and relevance. Among all the useless chatter of our age, which has been prevalent in every age, Chrsitians speak as those who know what God has said. We speak of reality, even when that reality is unseen. And, like the early Christians, we make efforts not to obscure meaning in the ramblings of the pagans and philosophers, but to cut directly to the truth. This applies to all our speech. Through those words we can bring refreshment and hope to those around us.

Second, the one who serves, does it by the strenth Christ supplies. Jesus, who rose from the dead, will raise us as well. Jesus, who cared for the poor and needy while he himself was walking around with just the clothes on his back, helps us care for the poor and needy as well. Jesus, who understands all the intricacies of our world of work, supplies us with wisdom and understanding to navigate that world. Jesus, who knows how to preserve life, enables us to preserve life as well. Jesus, who knows how all the rhythms of this world work, gives us a rhythm of work and of rest.

In the end, we find our life is shown to others in word and in deed, the two elements Peter has identified as gifts of God. When those gifts are used in subjection to the Lord, they prove of great benefit to our entire world.

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.

Psalm 51:1-12 - Lectionary for Easter 7

5/19/2020

5/19/20
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.

Psalm 51 is a deeply inward-focused reflection. In a time of social isolation, such as many of us have dealt with recently (and maybe are still dealing with it), we end up looking inside ourselves. The image of a depressed person spending the day inside with the curtains drawn and the lights off, wishing someone would call and hoping nobody will call comes to mind. We are all able to engage in introspection, whether a health or an unhealthy version. As in verse five, we realize our sin and failure.

What do we do with that realization? How do we deal with it when we realize our poverty before God? Verse six brings us very good news. God delights in truth in the inward being. Wait, even when the truth is toxic? Yes, even then.

The fact is, God has never looked at the heart of any fallen person and seen a heart without sin and shame. You can look all the livelong day for the person with a pure heart. You won’t find him, anywhere. But God still delights in truth.

We will never learn the wisdom of God as long as we think too highly of ourselves and our ability to change. We will never, ever, grow in grace as long as we think we’re just fine. It’s God’s delight to make us learn the truth of our inward person. That’s the way he convicts us of sin and changes us. That’s how he turns us to him. That’s how he brings healing and truth.

So we look at ourselves. Yes, the lights deserve to be off, the curtains deserve to be closed, and we probably don’t want to answer the phone or the doorbell. But God brings to light our sin and his healing love. Turn on the lights, Lord.

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.

Ezekiel 36:22-28 - Lectionary for Easter 7

5/18/2020

5/18/20
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.

Our world is full of negative examples. To a great extent, we seem to thrive on those negative examples. Certainly the radical social and political movements that war with one another use them. The family is redefined because many families fail to live up to a theoretical, somewhat abstract concept of what a family could be. Big business is criticized because some large corporations have engaged in bad business practices with disregard for their employees, their communities, or the environment. Small business is criticized because the small business owners don’t have the resources to care for their employees, their communities, or the environment to the same extent that larger businesses might.

In Ezekiel 36:22, God says that He is going to act not for the sake of Israel, but for his own sake. Israel has brought shame on His name. What have they done? They have claimed to be God’s people but have not acted like who they are. They are the very nation God has chosen to be a blessing to the entire world, to live differently from the rest of the world, to be a haven for those who are in need, a beacon of justice. Yet they have acted no differently from the rest of the world.

By living this way, Israel has brought shame on God’s name. So God, in bringing judgment not only on the surrounding nations, but also on Israel, is acting in defense of His name. He is pointing out that his chosen people have failed.

What does this have to do with our negative examples? I’ll just give one. The Scripture calls God the husband and father of his people. Yet over many years ministering to families I have seen many, many instances of husbands and fathers who are abject failures. Many of them are physically or verbally abusive. For their family members it is difficult to be confronted with a Scriptural picture of God as the husband or father. For the person who has been stuck in an abusive situation, depicting God with the formal title held by their abuser is a dreadful idea.

The Bible does call God the father. The Bible calls God the shepherd, caretaker, in effect, the husband of his people. How do we deal with this?

We remember that the failure of humans to live up to the high calling God has given them says nothing negative about God, but everything negative about them. What’s that ideal father like? Caring, nurturing, providing, making a place of safety, giving opportunity to grow, to ask questions, to fail and to succeed? That may not be much like your father. My father, who did rather well, managed to fail at those tasks, though he also succeeded a good bit of the time.

God never fails. He is the one in whom we can depend. Let God be God!

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.

John 16:23-33 - Lectionary for Easter 6

5/14/2020

5/14/20
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.

Jesus tells his disciples, in today’s Gospel reading, that there will come a time when they will be asking the Father directly for things, in Jesus name, and that they will receive what they are asking for. The disciples received this news joyfully. In verse 30 they seem to think it’s about time they were recognized as spiritual people who will no longer really need Jesus. They have decided, since he is now finally thinking highly of them, that he must have come from God.

Now that I put it that way, we see how tremendously haughty the disciples were, and how little they regarded Jesus. They don’t seem to care that he is their one and only hope for reconciliation with God. They don’t think it matters that God’s attitude of care for them is based on the fact that they have believed that Jesus came from the Father. They really haven’t latched on to anything Jesus has said about laying his life down for their sakes. Not at all. They are glad that Jesus has finally recognized that they are the kind of people who should be able to speak directly with the Father.

Sadly, I fear that many in my culture and generation have the same attitude toward Jesus. They are possibly glad that he came and did . . . something . . . but they aren’t really sure what it was, why it mattered, or how it applies to them. After all, we’re good people and the Father ought to be really glad that He knows us!

Am I the only one who finds this attitude offensive? And by that I mean, am I the only one who would look at it and honestly say it is offensive to God, who gave his one and only Son to die for the sake of sinners who were at enmity with God? Do we not see that the only way we can stand before the Father is because of the Son?

What happens when the disciples think they are able to stand in their own righteousness? Jesus is executed and the disciples scatter, plunged into hopelessness and despair. May it never be so for us. Rather, may we have the wisdom and grace to look to Jesus, the one and only savior, finding in his righteousness that we can stand before the Father. Jesus, who came from the Father and has exited from this world, now sits at the right hand of the Father making intercession for his people. Therefore, we can stand before God, clothed in the righteousness of the Son. This is our confidence.

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.

James 1:22-27 - Lectionary for Easter 6

5/13/2020

5/13/20
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.

James 1:22-27 are sometimes thought to be in conflict with the apostle Paul’s emphasis on salvation by grace alone through faith alone. After all, James certainly here tells us to do the things of God’s Word. We are told to practice our religion by visiting those who are less fortunate and by living a holy life, in verse 27. What do we do with the passage?

In verses 23-24 the person who hears God’s word and doesn’t do it is compared to someone who forgets what his face looks like, after looking in a mirror. This concept is key to understanding the passage.

The Christian, when he looks at God’s Word, sees what the Christ is, and also what he himself is like. God’s Word shows what a person who has been purchased from bondage by Christ looks like. It shows what God delights in. It shows how God and His people can love and serve their neighbors. It shows us our identity, which is as a child of the Lord, adopted and ready to inherit his kingdom. It shows us what our Father’s attitude is toward us and toward our neighbor.

If we walk away from the Word of God and ignore all it has just told us about who we are, who God is, and what our neighbor needs, we have forgotten ourselves. There’s something wrong with our Chrsitian faith when we reject God’s care and love for our world.

Does that mean we are not Christians? Not at all. The realization of our sin should call us to repentance, to receive God’s forgiveness, and to get busy about living as the people God has called us to be.

How should the Christian respond to the person who attempts to force us into particular behaviors or values which we don’t think are primary to our calling in Christ? We need to weigh the claims carefully against God’s Word. This happens frequently in matters of politics and social programs. For instance, the Christian will be told by others that if we really loved our neighbors we would have a national policy of open borders so as to let our neighbors who come from other countries receive the help they could only get in our country. Is that God’s call? In fact, the Bible doesn’t clearly affirm open borders as the primary way to love neighbors. It also doesn’t clearly reject the idea.

I am going to love and serve my neighbor in ways that the Scripture makes clear are in accord with God’s care for my neighbor. That means some people will be disappointed. Some will even try to use this passage of Scripture to tell me that I need to do things which I know not to be God’s will. In the end, the Christian is judged by the Word of God and the gracious Lord who gave us His living Word to make atonement for our sins. As he has loved me, so I will love others.

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.

Psalm 107:1-9 - Lectionary for Easter 6

5/12/2020

5/12/20
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.

Our nation, no, strike that. Our entire world is dealing with life as described in Psalm 107. I started out thinking of a global pandemic, but it’s actually more serious than that. We need to take this passage of Scripture very seriously. Our entire world is dealing with the situation described for us in Psalm 107:4-5. We are wandering in a desert.

Augustine, commenting on Psalm 63, points out that a desert is not just dry. It is also a place with no roads, or virtually no roads. There are landmarks, but those can change as well, given a good windstorm or the (rare) rainstorm. What does that mean? When we go wandering in a desert, we are very likely to get lost. And in case you think Augustine doesn’t have anything reasonable to say about that, remember he lived much of his life sandwiched between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert.

We are wandering around in a desert. We really don’t have much guidance. We may know where we intend to go, but it’s extremely difficult to get there. We can’t find the city. This is before electric lights. Cities are basically dark at night. Today we might be able to find a city by looking for a fan of light in the desert at night. Not so way back when. Once people blow out their candles, if they use candles at all, it’s dark. You won’t find home.

In the end, wandering in this desert, we’re faced with desperation. We despair of ever making our way to safety. We know we can’t face too much more time in a place that is sometimes blazing hot, sometimes frigid, and in which our skin is cracking as all the moisture is sucked out of our bodies.

What are we going to do? Go hide? Where? Who will find us? And in what condition? That won’t do us any good.

The Psalmist gives us a solution. We cry out to God and we find out that he is our eternal home. We cry out to God and find that rather than being in the desert, we live in that habitable zone until the end of our earthly life, then we are promised an eternity of blessedness, peace, and rest.

Whether you are in the desert of a wordwide health crisis or in some other desert - job loss, lack of skills, lack of opportunity, or simply a realization that you can’t make your own way, the answer is the same. We turn to God in Christ, who guides us into a place of safety. He is the one who can provide the care we need. He is the one who brings us safely home to himself. By grace, through faith, in Christ alone, we have an eternal hope to reach home. Thanks be to God.

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.

Genesis 11:1-9 - Lectionary for Pentecost Sunday

5/11/2020

5/25/20
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.

During the recent pandemic crisis many Christian organizations, particularly church ministries, have been eager to reinvent themselves. I’m sure this has applied to many other types of organizations which have always worked with a model involving face to face gatherings. Since most religious groups are nearly entirely dependent on this sort of gathering, it has made them extremely busy.

A friend complimented me on what I have done with Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry, how while I was in quarantine due to some travels of family members, missing a few days of work before a regularly scheduled break, I managed to put virtual meetings into operation by the end of that week and how they mostly ran relatively smoothly. He may or may not have used the word “reinvented” and I seem to remember something about “making a name for yourself.” It was a kind conversation and I appreciate that kind of feedback. After all, we would all like to be told that we did something outside of our comfort zone and that it came off well.

However, the idea also reminds me of our Old Testament passage for this week, from Genesis 11. Here the people, as society tended to drift up the Fertile Crescent, decided to make a name for themselves. They wanted to show their superiority and establish a lasting monument to their ingenuity. It would provide unity for them. So they took the tools at their disposal and began the work of building.

What’s the problem that God sees in their work of making a name for themselves? He knows that, even with the best of intentions, humans are sinful. They will fall into evil, they will use the power they establish for their own ends, which always end up including harm to themselves and others. Whenever we make a name for ourselves, we exalt ourselves to a position that rightfully only belongs to God. And it belongs to God because he alone is free from sin and evil.

The people wanted to avoid being scattered throughout the earth. That was the way they planned to establish themselves. So God scattered them, with different languages and, rather quickly, different cultures and traditions. Rather than being a unified and powerful people who would use that centralized power for evil, they became less unified and less powerful peoples who would serve to keep each other’s power in check.

As we approach Pentecost, we recall that God’s gracious work in Acts chapter 2 was an undoing of the scattering of Babel. It was a way of pulling the nations back together, but this time in Christ, rather than in their own power. As people unified by Jesus’ death and resurrection, by his forgiveness and grace, God’s people can dwell together so as to bring God glory and praise. They can be transformed into a people of peace.

Did I reinvent myself? Not really. Did I reinvent Wittenberg Door Campus Ministry? Actually, no. It was much more like having a change of meeting location and putting up a new sign to show people how to find it. Same old thing - being brought together by Christ for the good of the community. And we’re getting close, as I write this, to considering face to face meetings again. May God be glorified, as nothing is impossible for him.

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.

Numbers 21:4-9 - Lectionary for Easter 6

5/11/2020

5/11/20
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 Numbers 21:4-9 we have a brief description of a brief plague. God’s people began complaining against God and His provision. We remember that this provision is a daily dewfall of heavenly bread, enough for everyone to eat that day. All they needed to do was to pick it up.

Somehow we are never content with the provision God has given us. We always want more. Our plans are better, at least to our thinking. While that’s the same kind of thinking that makes us inventive, a creative society that can bring great advances, it can easily turn against the living God. We want to do it ourselves, thinking that our plans are better than God’s plans.

God’s response, a plague of serpents which proved deadly in nature, caused the people of Israel to call out for help. Was there a complaint in their cry for help? Possibly so. The plague certainly attracted the attention of the people and turned their attention to the simple fact that they were unable to survive without God’s help.

The response of God is very interesting. The very God who has condemned the idea of making a “graven image” to worship has Moses make a “graven image” not to worship but to be a sign for the people. This one is lifted up on a pole. The significance is easy to miss. I’ll just point out a few ways this action is important. First, the image is of that which kills them. Christ, who became sin for us, is a visible image of the sin-bearer, a representation of what kills us. Second, it is not a real serpent on the pole. Jesus is not a real sinner, though he is a real human. The sin is transmitted to him, though he is unable to walk in it. Third, the serpent is lifted up on a pole. This is what you do when you want everyone to know something has been killed and is on display. Christ was crucified for our sin, lifted up on a pole, and was placed on display for us all.

Those who looked to the serpent on the pole were rescued from the venom. Those who look to the crucified Christ for salvation are rescued from sin. When we see trials all around us, then, when we realize we are unhappy with something in this life, let us look to Christ for us. We look to him realizing that this earthly life would be unsustainable without his grace. We look to him in eager anticipation of his promise of eternal life and salvation. We look to the savior we need.

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.

John 16:5-15 - Lectionary for Easter 5

5/7/2020

5/7/20
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.

John 16:8-11 gives us an unexpected view of the work of the Holy Spirit. He convicts the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment. But those three elements of his conviction aren’t carried out in exactly the way we would think.

Usually we think of sin as things we do or fail to do. But here, the conviction of sin is because the world has not believed in Christ. That’s at the heart of sin. We’re normally uncomfortable with that because, after all, it is very indistinct. Stop sinning! Believe on Jesus! All right, how do I do that? Belief isn’t exactly something we do, certainly not the same way we would mow the grass or take out the garbage. It’s hard to see how we are doing on it. But that is the opposite of sin. Believing on Jesus is how we fall into righteousness. The Holy Spirit tells us to do this.

When the Holy Spirit convicts of righteousness, likewise, he doesn’t show us how we are supposed to be righteous. Jesus explains the conviction of righteousness “because I go to the Father.” That’s an odd way for us to understand righteousness. But in God’s presence everything must be holy. Jesus is the one who is holy and goes to the Father. He promises to bring us also. The Holy Spirit convicts us of righteousness. Not only do we see that Jesus is the righteous one but that he will gather us together with him.

Finally, the Holy Spirit convicts us of judgment. Is it our judgment? Not at all. What about those other people, the people we don’t like? No. It’s judgment upon “the ruler of this world.” That’s the devil. He stands judged. His plans will fail. This is very good news. The devil gives us all sorts of grief. Day after day we hear that God is irrelevant, that we did whatever is good ourselves, and that man is the measure of all things. This is not so. It’s an idea that was crushed to death by Jesus’ death on the cross. The death of Christ killed the devil’s rule. We just haven’t gotten over all the effects yet. But it’s done. The Holy Spirit reminds us that the devil has been defeated.

These three areas of conviction - of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment - direct our eyes to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who has brought healing and life to this world. We are rightly glad in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

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.

James 1:16-21 - Lectionary for Easter 5

5/6/2020

5/6/20
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.

James 1:19-21 points out to us in no uncertain terms that we are called to a righteous peace before God and before one another. We are ready to hear both from other humans and from God’s Word. We are slow to speak, as we need to take time to understand others well. We are slow to anger. After all, how might I have sinned against others and provoked them to anger rightly?

In a world characterized by increasingly violent and sexually explicit language use, and a world in which people increasingly use their platforms of power to assault others, regularly shutting down actual productive discourse by shows of rage or launching into screaming tantrums, we are told that “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires” (James 1:20, NKJV).

Sometimes we are told that the ideas of dignity and morality, as well as respectful speech and actions, are a throwback to the 1950s, some sort of a standard which should no longer apply and which we have superimposed upon the time of the New Testament. Yet this is not the case at all. We can read in the second through fourth century Christian writers that Christianity stood in stark contrast to the greater culture in these specific ways. Christians would refrain from murder, from slander, from using their power to oppress others, from engaging in financial dealings which would bring harm to others, all the kind of things which were PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE IN THE BROADER SOCIETY (yes, I was yelling that).

Christians stand in contrast to their world. And we stand apart from the world in ways that are decidedly good for our world. What if this lifestyle according to God’s Word is rejected by our community? It is still good. Through it we receive the implanted Word, which is able to save our souls.

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.

Psalm 66:1-8 - Lectionary for Easter 5

5/5/2020

5/5/20
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.

Psalm 66 calls the reader to shout for joy to the Lord who is so powerful that, in verse three, his enemies cringe before him. At first glance, this should make us uncomfortable. We usually fear a culture of authoritarian power and control. That’s why, in Western culture, we’ve almost always had the attitude that the best government is normally the one that leaves us alone and lets us do what we please. We think of it like the milkman of bygone days, whose horse knew the route and stopped at the homes of all the customers. The milkman doesn’t have to exercise much control at all.

But here we have a picture of a God before whom you would rightly cringe! How do we respond to this picture? Is that the kind of Lord who would cause you to rejoice? Perhaps it’s the kind of ruler who would execute you if you stopped clapping too soon at one of his rallies? That isn’t the case at all, as we read on through the Psalm. In verse 6 he made a way for his people to cross the Red Sea and the Jordan river without even getting their feet wet. And he did it because of the enemies who were pursuing them or waiting for them. God is the one who protects his people when they are in trouble. That’s the heart of his glory, as described in Psalm 66.

When I’m in trouble, when enemies are threatening me, that’s exactly when I want a Lord before whom the enemies will cringe. Especially when I reflect that the Lord not only allows but encourages all people to come before him in trust, so as to be the people under his protection! God in his mercy welcomes all to come to him, trusting that he is the creator and redeemer of the world. He welcomes all who come to him as partakers of his mercy and kindness. He will protect them from all evil. And, as he changes our attitudes so we desire the things he desires, he normally leaves us to proceed in an orderly manner, just like that milkman’s horse. He shows us the route. We keep to it, as it is the pleasant and right place to be.

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.

Isaiah 12:1-6 - Lectionary for Easter 5

5/4/2020

5/4/20 Read the passage here.
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.

One of the glories of God, brought out in Isaiah 12:1-6, is that he forgives things which anger him. This is something we really misunderstand terribly. In verse one it lays the picture out clearly. God is angered with his people. They are sinful. They do bad things and it provokes God to anger.

What does God do? He turns his anger away. This should be an earth-shattering concept to us. It isn’t that sin doesn’t anger God. It isn’t that God is never angry. It isn’t that sin doesn’t deserve penalty. None of that. In fact, sin is bad. It angers God. God sees enough sin to anger him every moment of every day, and he has been doing this since the fall in the garden in Genesis chapter three. The person who sins deserves death, and that includes every last one of us.

God turns his anger away from us. He resolves his anger, not by taking it out on us or on our world. He takes it out on himself. God the Son, Jesus, who is of one will with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, receives in himself the penalty for our sin. That’s why he dies on the cross. That’s why he was despised and rejected by people. That’s why he cries out to the Father from the cross, recognizing that he is forsaken. That’s the only way he can die.

Yes, God dies for our sin, for your sin, for my sin, for the sin of the world. Sin is really that bad. And God hates sin so much that he would rather die than let you bear the penalty for sin.

This is a show of God’s glory. The Lord is our strength, and he has done gloriously.

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.

John 16:16-22 - Lectionary for Easter 4

4/30/2020

4/30/20 Read the passage here.
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 John 16, Jesus tells his disciples that he is going to go away for “a little while.” They really don’t understand what he is talking about. In retrospect, we have a fairly good idea, as did John when writing the Gospel, what Jesus meant. As with many prophecies, there are two fulfillments.

First, Jesus is going away from his disciples. He is going to be arrested, tried (sort of ), crucified, and killed (really, entirely). He will be laid in a tomb and left there. Yes, he’s going to rise from the dead, something his disciples failed to remember. But he is going away. This should bring joy, as through his death, burial, and resurrection Jesus works the way of salvation to all who believe. After being dead for a few days, he will show his disciples that he is victorious over death. That’s really good news.

Second, Jesus goes away from the disciples and all Christians. Granted, we could have a discussion, and it is an important one, about the real bodily presence of Jesus in communion. But for now, let’s simply concede that from the time of Jesus’ ascension, 40 days after his resurrection, until his second coming, he is not walking around with the disciples. He is not telling them things. He is not entertaining their questions and answering them the same way, walking down the road or sitting on a rock or a chair somewhere. However, during this time, which may seem like the absence of Christ, he sends the Holy Spirit, he speaks to us through the written Word of Scripture, and he guides us in every way we need. He promises that he will be with us always, and he keeps his promise. During this time while we wait for Christ’s return, we recognize that he is creating reason for rejoicing in the world. He is drawing all nations to himself, redeeming them from sin, death, and the power of the devil. This is great news, because now, instead of only speaking to and influencing those people walking around in Israel where Jesus is walking around, he is reaching the entire planet, through his disciples who speak his word.

Because Jesus has gone to the Father, we have hope that he will continue to bring his words of forgiveness and life into all the world until he comes again. Thanks be to God for his great love!

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.

1 John 3:1-3 - Lectionary for Easter 4

4/29/2020

4/29/20 Read the passage here.
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.

It’s easy to dream about being king for the day, or, better yet, for a few weeks. There are all sorts of things we might be tempted to try, given a possibility of abundant resources and power. Forget the fact that most kings throughout history haven’t had anything like limitless resources or power. It’s still interesting to dream.

1 John 3:1-3 speaks of being the children of God. Those who believe on Christ are called God’s children, heirs of all the riches of God. As we read the Scripture carefully, we realize that does mean limitless resources and power. Or does it?

We read in Philippians chapter two about Christ humbling himself rather than grasping to the power of the Godhead. This is a telling attitude about power and authority, sadly an attitude that many Christians are slow to adopt. Jesus is exactly the kind of God and Lord who humbles himself, takes on our frailty, and even gives his life for our good.

When we act like people who deserve privilege, who should be able to trample on others, who should have all sorts of advantages, all we are doing is denying the way Jesus came to save us. Jesus comes for sinners. He comes as a meek and lowly person so as to lift us from our fallen and desperate condition.

Now, just because he has lifted us up, given us his righteousness, freed us from bondage, and told us we are to be heirs of his kingdom, we might think our lives would change! And they do, they change for the better, but not because of authority or power that we gain, not because of a promise of divine resources, but because he gives us the care for the lost and downtrodden that he himself has.

What does a child of God act like? He lays down his life for his neighbor who is in need, just like God in Christ has done. What if you are king for the day? Will you help your subjects who are in need? That’s what our Lord does.

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.

Psalm 147:1-11 - Lectionary for Easter 4

4/28/2020

4/28/20 Read the passage here.
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 this time of pandemic, especially in places which have been hit hard by the disease, there is a lot of talk about grief. Not only do we experience reactions of grief when we lose someone who know, but times of crisis and destruction bring out those feelings of loss and abandonment. We even find ourselves dealing with grief reactions sometimes when we confront uncertainty. What if our lives are changed forever? As I write this, about two weeks before it posts, it’s been a month since a large part of my nation shut down. The death toll in my country has been over twice that of the 9/11/01 attacks, which threw us into an intense period of grief and uncertainty. In fact, when I was driving to pick up family members at O’Hare airport in Chicago on March 13, I observed public reactions and behavior which looked very much like it did shortly after September 11. There was a lot of uncertainty. People were really quiet. They were tense. Perhaps it is a kind of grief.

Our reading from Psalm 147 has a lot to say about this situation. What does God do? He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. This is the work of a healing God who is visiting his people in a time of displacement and disaster. He brings hope. It is not that the trouble has never been there. He doesn’t undo the past. He doesn’t undo the present either. He makes his people able to face their troubles and find their identity as those he has gathered and redeemed.

The apostle Paul writes about this in 1 Thessalonians 4:13. He reminds the Christians who have endured loss that they don’t grieve as people who have no hope. Jesus has proven himself victorious over death itself. Those who die in Christ are resting in the hope of the resurrection. Those who mourn their passing can also hope in the resurrection. There’s no abandonment there. No loss. No uncertainty. It’s a hopeful message.

This is why God’s people hope in the Lord. He is the one who has entered the world with his steadfast love. He is the one who can care for his people through thick and thin. There’s no fear in that. Thanks be to God.

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.

Isaiah 40:25-31 - Lectionary for Easter 4

4/27/2020

4/27/20
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.

Western culture, especially since the 20th century, has been very suspicious of a surveillance state. Though in some circles we have become more accepting of security cameras, checkpoints, and being tracked by our cell phones, we generally don’t like being watched. Hopefully nobody will ever actually review all that footage that could be used to follow our actions and possibly either accuse us of something we didn’t (or maybe did) do, distracting us from what we would like to be doing, or possibly detaining us.

In Isaiah 40:25-31, however, we find God portrayed as the one who sees everything and is always watching everything. Not only is he watching everything, but he created it and knows precisely how it works. This could lead us to considerable fear. Is there some charge that will catch up with me? When I consider my life carefully I realize it falls short of the perfection God demands. What do I do about that? Perhaps we were hoping God wouldn’t notice our sin, or at least that he would overlook it. Maybe compared to everyone else’s failings, what I did or didn’t do wasn’t that bad after all!

God’s justice requires action. He who demands perfection will not accept a lesser standard. And the soul who sins must die. That’s God’s rule, not one I would make up. After all, if I were making the rules, I would have a different standard with a bunch of loopholes. Certainly my family and I would escape from judgment, along with the friends I actually like.

Thankfully, God’s judgment doesn’t work that way. He understands our weakness, our frailty, In verses 28-31 he promises to care for us even in our times of failure. How can he do that? Our failure should be our death sentence! But that is the good news of this Easter season. Jesus himself, God the Son, served as a substitute for us. He, the one who lived a life of perfect righteousness gave his own life to satisfy God’s justice against all our sin. He, through his love for that countless host of humanity, which he created and understands, chose to replace us in death so that we could receive his life.

God’s justice desired action, and that action was death. But he, by himself, put sin to death by dying in the place of sinful humanity. He is great, and able to do all that he intends. He has accomplished salvation. Therefore we can stand before him, receive his strength, run and not be weary, walk and not faint. Thanks be to God.

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.

John 10:11-16 - Lectionary for Easter 3

4/23/2020

4/23/20
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 John 10:11-16, Jesus draws a sharp distinction between the person who is actually responsible for the good and future of a work (the shepherd) and the person who is merely hired to do a job (the hireling). I don’t know quite why this is, but many in our culture seem to have confused the situation, thinking that the bosses/owners/CEO type of people are those who pillage and plunder, leaving everything to go to ruin, as opposed to the lower level employees who supposedly actually know what is best, and will do it.

The leaders, particularly in business and industry, have a vested interest in the long-term well being of their companies. At least they should. After all, if you should run a business which not only can make you financially comfortable or even wealthy, but which also provides for the needs of those you employ, for the good of the community, and delivers good products or services at a fair price, allowing for many others to thrive, there’s a good deal to take pride in. We all know of an employer in our community for which people will say, “That’s a good place to work.” We also know of some that inspires responses such as, “Really, you don’t want to end up there.”

Jesus says that the true shepherd, the one who is responsible for the long-term good of the business (in this case, oviculture), is going to be diligent. He takes it as an assumption which all his listeners would share. The others, who happen to work for the shepherd, will flinch and run away when under pressure. In the final analysis, they don’t do what is best.

Jesus presents himself as the good shepherd. He is the one who lays his life down for his sheep, his people. He is the one who would work from sunup to sundown, and beyond, to care for his people. He is the one who shows mercy and kindness even to those who hate him, who would fight against him. He is the shepherd who insists the sheep get their medicine even when they don’t want to take it. He is the shepherd who interrupts his sheep in their pleasure to bring them to a place of safety when he sees danger approaching.

Have we arrived in a world where the sheep will insist on ruling? I hope not. It will not be a good world. Jesus, the good shepherd, knows what we need and how to guide us to those places we need to be. He gathers us together into one flock, following one shepherd, a shepherd who is able to provide all we need.

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