Watch and Pray

Matthew 25:1  "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2  Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3  When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4  but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5  As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.6  But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' 7  Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. 8  The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 9  But the wise replied, 'No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.' 10  And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11  Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' 12  But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.' 13  Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

“The Kingdom of heaven is like....” Matthew’s Gospel uses this phrase repeatedly, using different analogies to invite those who hear Jesus to accept the rule of God over their lives.  This time the illustration draws on a wedding: the bridesmaids are waiting to welcome the groom, who is later than expected. Those who were better prepared were able to accompany the groom, while some were caught unprepared and were left out of the celebrations.

This analogy was probably preserved at a time when the first generation of Christian disciples began to realise that Jesus would not return in their life time: ie: the bridegroom was later than expected, and some members of the church were “falling asleep”. The invitation is issued to remain watchful “for you know neither the day nor the hour.”  

We who follow Jesus are invited to live fully aware of the presence of Jesus in each moment of our lives. This requires the daily practice of what Matthew 25 calls “wakefulness”, or what some might call ‘mindfulness’.

For Thought

Watch and pray that when the Master cometh,
If at morning, noon, or night,
He may find a lamp in every window,
Trimmed, and burning clear and bright.

o    Refrain:
Watch and pray, the Lord commandeth;
Watch and pray, ’twill not be long.
Soon He’ll gather home His loved ones,
To the happy vale of song.

 Frances J. Crosby

Ordinary 33 / Pentecost +26

55 See...Judge...Act

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 335.

This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

In the Twinkling of an Eye

1Corinthians 15:51  Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed,52  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53  For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54  When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55  "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58  Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.

Written in an era when the Roman Empire ruled by force, and the fear of death kept the populace compliant, Paul contests this view: "Death has been swallowed up in victory...Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"  Once the followers of Jesus discover that death is but a temporary interruption of life, they will be able to stand “steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord”.

We who follow Jesus are Resurrection People.

For Thought

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; 

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,

Even so, it is well with my soul

Horatio G. Spafford

Ordinary 32 / Pentecost +25

54 A Resurrection People

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 329.

This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

God has helped

John 11:1  Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2  Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3  So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." 4  But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

....................

Joh 11:32  When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." 33  When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34  He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." 35  Jesus began to weep. 36  So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" 37  But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" 38  Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39  Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." 40  Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" 41  So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42  I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." 43  When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44  The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

Lazarus is Jesus’ friend. His name means “God has helped”[1] and this story speaks to this. Luke tells us that Lazarus gets ill and dies; then he is brought back to life by Jesus.  Key to this story is the teaching that “God has helped.” This is always the truth of life: God has not abandoned us like some clock that is wound up and left   to our own devices.[2] Instead God accompanies us through life.... and death.

Those who follow Jesus choose to believe that death is a temporary state that leads to new life. And that we do not move through life, death, life alone. The One Who created us accompanies us on this journey.   

Ordinary 32 / Pentecost +25

54 A Resurrection People

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 329.

This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

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[1] Lazarus is derived from the Hebrew אלעזר, Elʿāzār (Eleazar) meaning "God has helped."

[2] This argument was developed by William Paley in his 1802 book Natural Theology.

"In him we live and move and have our being."

Acts 17:22  Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23  For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24  The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25  nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26  From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27  so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him--though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28  For 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are his offspring.' 29  Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30  While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31  because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." 32  When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, "We will hear you again about this." 33  At that point Paul left them. 34  But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Paul is in Athens, where he preached in the local synagogue. He is then invited by local philosophers to the Aeropagus to share more about his faith. The interesting thing about this passage is how Paul goes about sharing his faith: Paul points out the “unknown God” within their pantheon of deities; and he lifts a quote from “Creticia”, a poem by Epimenides of Crete.   In his work, Epimenides writes of the Greek god Zeus and says, "In him we live and move and have our being."  (Ἐν γὰρ σοὶ ζῶμεν καὶ κινύμεθ᾽ ἠδὲ καὶ ἐσμέν). The apostle uses this quote and applies it to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. His audience would have known this poem, and so would have understood Paul’s theological shift: Everything finds its source and sustenance in Jesus, and not in Zeus

There are moments when we who follow Jesus become unintelligible to people who do not know our faith. We use religious language that becomes its own code accessible only to those who have learned it. Paul provides a refreshing example of how to ‘think out of the box’ by using thinking that is already familiar to his hearers.  We who follow Jesus need to invest energy and time in explaining our faith in the language and culture of our human communities.   

Ordinary 32 / Pentecost +25

54 A Resurrection People

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 329.

This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

Suffering various trials...

1Peter 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4  and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5  who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6  In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7  so that the genuineness of your faith--being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8  Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9  for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter is written to “to the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (vs1). These are Roman provinces in Asia Minor and their order probably reflects the expected route that this letter would take as it was passed on from church to church. This letter is intended to give followers of Jesus courage as they “suffer various trials”. The letter assures them that they are “protected by the power of God”, and any present suffering is to be understood as the refining process that produces “praise and glory and honour”.   

Two thousand years later we read this with reverence for these spiritual ancestors. Here are men and women who suffered for their faith, some at the hands of Emperors such as Nero and Diocletian, and many more at the hands of others who opposed the Christian message.  Such ‘courage under fire’ provides an inspiring example to Jesus-followers today. We too can dig deep to stand firm for the values of Jesus, despite the unpopularity it might bring on us:

Some examples that come to mind:

·         While a vast majority of Christians persecute gay and lesbian people, I choose to stand alongside as a friend.

·         While many people persecute people for being foreigners, I will choose to be welcoming and accommodating.

·          While our society pushes old people aside by ignoring or mocking them, I will choose to be patient and kind and respectful.

The example of the first followers of Jesus challenges us to embrace the rejection, alienation and abuse suffered today by those who are persecuted by society because of factors such as race, sexual orientation or class.  

Ordinary 32 / Pentecost +25

54 A Resurrection People

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 329.

This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

Tough Love......

Hebrews 11:32  And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets-- 33  who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34  quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35  Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36  Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37  They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented-- 38  of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39  Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40  since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

Heb 12:1  Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2  looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus-followers have very big shoes to fill: we walk in the shadow of people who have been persecuted for their faith, suffering “mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.”  These men and women became the martyrs who are “a great cloud of witnesses” encouraging us all in our Christian life.  

There is no avoiding the fact that being a follower of Jesus is hard. This requires perseverance, commitment, and a willingness to keep our Christian focus. The joy of our faith is that we do not do this alone. We are accompanied by Jesus, who himself endured shame and disgrace. But we are resurrection people – who “run with perseverance the race that is set before us”.

Ordinary 32 / Pentecost +25

54 A Resurrection People

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 329.

This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.

Much will be required...

Luke 12:35  "Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36  be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 37  Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38  If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. 39  "But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40  You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." ..........

Luke 12:48............... From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded. 49  "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50  I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51  Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52  From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53  they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

In this section of his Gospel Luke stresses that those who follow Jesus will be held responsible for their lives. We are to be sensitive to the accountability that goes with discipleship: we are dressed for action, with lamps lighted, and an acceptance that this might test family loyalties.

Following the way of Jesus is not a hobby or an optional extra when one has nothing better to do.  It is a costly commitment that will demand every ounce of creative energy we possess.  And I would not have it any other way.

Ordinary 32 / Pentecost +25

54 A Resurrection People

The Scripture passage for the day is drawn from Reuben Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and other Servants, (Nashville, The Upper Room 1983), 329.

This reflection is from my own devotional exercises for the day.