Thursday in the Third Week of Advent

Thursday in the Third Week of Advent

Read Matthew 25.1-13
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025.1-13&version=ESV

According to the study notes in the ESV Bible, "it was the Jewish marriage custom for the groom and his
friends to heave his home and proceed to the home of the bride, where the marriage ceremony was
conducted, often at night.  After this, the entire wedding party returned to the groom's home for a celebratory
banquet."

It's not too hard, is it, to see the direct correlation between this parable which Jesus tells and the imagery
of the Lord as groom and His Church as bride.  The Lord (groom) comes to the home of the Church (bride)
to take the Church to the great heavenly banquet, at the end of the age.  And the admonition is for all those
joined to the fellowship of the Bride of Christ to have their lamps ready for the journey out to meet the Lord
at his arrival.

These lamps mentioned were like torches, used for nighttime journeys.  They required refilling with oil, and it
was expected that each person would keep enough oil with them to keep their torch lit for their journey.  So
it is with each of us as we stay prepared for the arrival of the Lord.  Each of us has a personal responsibility to
be prepared through study of the Word, worship, prayer, and any of the other spiritual disciplines which have
marked the lives of Jesus' disciples from the very beginning.  While we are definitely called to do these things
together with other brothers and sisters in Christ, and to encourage one another, none of us can lean on the
actions of another when it comes to being prepared.  We do not do discipleship by osmosis!!

Think about the ways you may have left the work of discipleship to "the professionals", rather than taking an
active role in developing your own discipleship.  Ask God both for forgiveness in presuming on His grace and
for the resolve to begin today a new commitment to follow Jesus with your whole self.

Wednesday in the Third Week of Advent

Wednesday in the Third Week of Advent

Read Matthew 24.45-51
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024.45-51&version=ESV

The fate of the wicked servant in this teaching of Jesus parallels the fate of the wicked tenants
(Matthew 21.33-46) and the unprepared wedding guests (Matthew 22.1-14).  Killed, cast into
outer darkness, or cut into pieces and placed with the hypocrites, the end is not pretty for those
who do not act faithfully or wisely.

In this short teaching of the Lord, faithfulness and wisdom consists in being prepared, and doing
what a servant is supposed to be doing when the master shows up.  These seven verses are really
the conclusion of the passage which began at verse 36, when Jesus reminds the disciples that
the return of Christ will be sudden and without warning, and that the faithful disciple must always
be ready - "Stay awake!" is our standing order!

It's easy to be lulled into complacency when it comes to our discipleship, especially living as we do
in a culture of relative ease.  For one reason or another, we don't feel the same urgency of living
our faith out as other of our brother or sister Christians around the world do.  And it's not much of
a stretch to say that even Christians end up "beating up" our fellow servants or casting our lot with
the drunkards, if only metaphorically.

Pray today for a sense of urgency in living out your discipleship.  Ask God to help you see that
there is a witness for you to give in our world, that there are people to feed with the good news of
the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that you desire to be found prepared when the Master comes.

Tuesday in the Third Week of Advent

Tuesday in the Third Week of Advent

Read Matthew 24.32-44
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024.32-44&version=ESV

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."  There is a permanence to Jesus that
transcends all that we can see, and even what we cannot.  In the middle of his discourse on the coming
end of the age, and the judgment of all over which he will preside, Jesus makes this statement about the
eternal nature of his witness.

We tend to assign permanence to things which are transitory.  Sometimes we assign permanence to these
things (or even people) because we hope that they will be anchors for us - things on which we can depend
for security or even identity.  In our Western culture, we tend to assign such value to the things which we
accumulate.  Yet we know that even the most sturdy of buildings will someday need shoring up, and the new
car we bought last year will need replacing sometime in the future.

Amidst all the changes and insecurities of life, we are encouraged by the Lord to depend upon Him, and Him
alone.  When the New Heaven and the New Earth come to be (Revelation 21), it is the Lord Jesus who will be
the light by which we see.  We will need neither lamp nor sun, so John's vision tells us.

On what or whom do you depend for security and strength?  Consider whether you may put everything (and
everyone) else behind your dependence on the Lord, and live according to His presence and His promises.

Tuesday in the Second Week of Advent

Tuesday in the Second Week of Advent

Read Matthew 22.34-46
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022.34-46&version=ESV

We read in this gospel passage the great Summary of the Law from the lips of Jesus.  While the scribes and teachers of the Mosaic tradition had identified 613 commandments (and a 614th - "Don't forget the first 613") to define the life of the righteous Israelite, Jesus boiled it all down to two:  love of God, and love of neighbor.

Love of God comes first - we orient our lives by ascribing to God the greatest devotion.  From God we receive life itself - and all the blessings and challenges that come with living according to His will.  In practical terms, we love God by living in humility and obedience, as Jesus shows us in his life as the Son of the Father.

Love of neighbor flows from our love of God - but Jesus suggests there is an intermediate step.  For he says, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself."  Some have suggested this means, 'You should love your neighbor as much as you love yourself."  Maybe.  Or maybe what Jesus means is that when we love God with all our being - heart, soul, and mind - we come to understand that we are beloved children.  As followers of Jesus, who put all our trust and faith in Him, we know we have been adopted as very sons and daughters.  If we accept that gracious truth, then we are able to look at our neighbor and also see one who is loved by God with an everlasting love.

Today, consider the earth-shattering truth that you are, by your faith in Christ, adopted into God's family.  Then let that truth overwhelm you.  And, as you encounter people today, ask God to help you see them in the way that He does.

Monday in the Second Week of Advent

Monday in the Second Week of Advent

Read Matthew 22.23-33
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022.23-33&version=ESV

We read today a story which shows it was not only the Pharisees who attempted to trap Jesus in a theological corner.  The Sadducees concoct a ridiculous scenario, with seven apparently extremely unhealthy brothers who all end up married to the same woman.  And the Sadducees ask Jesus to resolve a question about the resurrection - something about which they don't even believe.  Perhaps they ask the question expecting that Jesus' answer will illustrate what they perceive to be ridiculous about belief in the resurrection of the dead to judgment.

Jesus, as usual, confounds his critics.  He makes a point about marriage (it is, as a sacrament of God's grace,
provided for us here on earth - when we are in heaven, we will not need sacraments as we will be in the presence of God Himself!) and also makes an astonishing statement about the patriarchs of the Faith - that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are living and not dead.  It's a statement that Jesus makes as someone with firsthand knowledge, as if he says: You believe these ancestors are dead, but you are wrong - they are alive to God!

Jesus corrects the Sadducees for both their lack of understanding and their inability to let God be God!  Perhaps we can accept the Lord's correction as one directed at us as well, but as an incentive to do the opposite.  That is, use our time well in seeking to understand the Scriptures; as the Anglican collect says, to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Word!  And also, to always live in awe of God's power; we must accept that God is God and we are not!

As this second week of Advent opens up to us, pray for the grace to understand the Word as we have received it, and for the humility to be awestruck by the God who comes to our rescue at Christmas.

Second Sunday of Advent

Second Sunday in Advent

Read Luke 1.57-68
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%201.57-68&version=ESV

The collect for this Second Sunday in Advent reads as follows:  Merciful God, who sent your messengers
the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation:  Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

This second Sunday in the season of Advent turns our attention to the role of the prophets in preparing the way for the coming Messiah.  The background of this passage from Luke's gospel has Zechariah, a priest in the Temple and the husband of Mary's cousin Elizabeth, stricken dumb by the angel Gabriel for refusing to believe that God would bring a child to them in their old age (Luke 1.18-23).  It's clear in this later part of the story that Zechariah and Elizabeth have had some conversation about the boy and his identity, for it's Elizabeth who first proposes the name John for their son.

When Zechariah confirms Elizabeth's choice by writing "His name is John" on a tablet, his tongue is loosed
and he is able to speak - his doubt has given way to faith, and he is free to proclaim the goodness of God's
promises.  Zechariah's prophecy in verses 68 and following has become known in the Church as the "Benedictus", and is the usual gospel canticle recited at Morning Prayer.

The arrival of John the Baptist on the scene tells us the time is drawing near.  Like the prophets of the Old
Testament (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the rest), John understands his role to be a voice which calls people back to
the Word of God, and the ways of God.  John's ministry is to point to Jesus, the fulfillment of all the longings
of Israel and all the promises of God.

Today, rejoice in the truth that God always keeps His promises.  Thank the Father, in your prayer time, for choosing to send His Son to redeem us and all the world - not because of our deserving, but because of His mercy.

Saturday in the First Week of Advent

Saturday in the First Week of Advent

Read Matthew 22.15-22
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022.15-22&version=ESV

Those wily Pharisees - they seem to delight in trying to catch Jesus in a bind.  His popularity with the people
is a source of anxiety to them, and we can imagine them wringing their hands in secretive meetings wondering
how best to turn the tide against him.  While they were outwardly motivated by the meticulous keeping of
God's law, they were surely inwardly motivated by insecurity and perhaps even jealousy for the way in which
the Lord attracted people to himself.

Of course, we know that that attractiveness was more than human charisma - Jesus spoke and lived out the
Truth, and he shared the grace and compassion of God.  His power to heal, and his authority to correct and
teach all came from the same place:  his identity with the Father as the only-begotten Son sent to bring healing
and redemption to the world.

In this exchange with the religious leaders, Jesus calls them and us to be good citizens of the state in which
we live.  We are to obey the laws of the state to the extent to which they do not conflict with the laws of God -
we are to give Caesar his due and we are to give God His due.  While we recognize that those dual allegiances
may at time cause us conflict, we also accept the teaching of the Lord to be mindful of our civic duties while
we seek to be faithful to Him.

As we close this first week of Advent, perform a little week-in-review.  In the past week, as you've read these
Gospel passages, how has the Lord come closer to you?  How has prayerfully meditating on these portions of
Scripture helped you to prepare for the Lord to come once more into your life?

Good Stuff from "The Jesus Manifesto"

The fact is, Jesus was the greatest human being who ever lived, and if all we have to look forward to in life is the frustration of trying to be someone we are not, then we've got better ways of enjoying the interval between birth and death.

But the "good news" is that Jesus doesn't want us to be "like" Him. He wants us to share His resurrection life with us. He doesn't want us to imitate Him; instead, Christ, the Unspeakable Gift, wants to live in and through us.

The gospel is not the imitation of Christ; it is the implantation and impartation of Christ. We are called to do more than mediate truth. We are called to manifest Jesus' presence.

p. 71

Friday in the First Week of Advent

Friday in the First Week of Advent
Read Matthew 22.1-14
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022.1-14&version=ESV

"...invite into the wedding feast as many as you find."

Yet another parable told by Jesus on the Temple grounds about unfaithful and wicked servants,
Tenants and caretakers who are found unworthy of their master's calling.  Yet another picture of
Kingdom boundaries - some are in and some are out. And yet tucked into this parable is a word
of hope, as the king sends his servants out into the roads to invite everyone they meet into the feast. 

Perhaps as much a word of prodigality as it is hope, this part of the vignette is intended to show the
abundant grace of God, who will invite all to participate in the joy of His presence.  We are told in
Scripture that God does not wish that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Peter 3.9).
When the king in Jesus' story does in his wicked subjects, he quickly turns his attention to others

to whom he can extend the gracious invitation to share in the wedding banquet. 

And so the servants invite as many as they find - both good and bad, so the story goes.  And there
are some who accept the king's invitation who are not prepared to sit down and eat - they do not have
the proper garment.  We are not told why - simply that they are not prepared.  This resonates with our
Advent theme of preparation - be ready!

So we have accepted the king's invitation, the Lord's invitation to follow Him.  We know that our God is
gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and yet that he demands justice for the
ways in which we have disobeyed.  As we await the coming King, we give thanks with great joy that He
who comes is the very One who gives us the garment of righteousness, through our faith in Him, so
that we may sit down and enjoy the abundance of God's feast. 

Today, prepare for the coming of the Lord by giving gratitude to God that he has invited you into his
family, and that he has adopted you as a son or daughter.  Rejoice that you are washed by the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ, and that through Him you are a worthy guest.

Thursday in the First Week of Advent

Thursday in the First Week of Advent

Read Matthew 21.33-46
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2021.33-46&version=ESV

Despite the inclination of our modern culture to paint Jesus as a meek and mild Gandhi-like mystic, we are often confronted in the gospels with a man who did not shy away from saying hard things.  Here, as in many other places, Jesus articulates the reality of a Kingdom which has boundaries.  Some will be in the Kingdom, some will not.  These repeated sayings of Jesus argue pretty convincingly against a universalism which is very popular these days, even among some Christians.

Yet, as is the case always with Jesus, saying the hard thing is often the same as saying the right thing.  Jesus always spoke the Truth of God - he was incapable of doing otherwise.  He always bore witness to the Truth, for he was and is the Truth of God.  When Jesus challenged the Pharisees in this parable, clearly identifying them as the wicked tenants of the vineyard, he expressed a remarkable truth:  God will make a way for his kingdom to flourish.  He will find people who will bear witness to the ways of God and live according to His precepts.  The Way that God chose was, of course, to send his very own Son to inaugurate the Kingdom in a way that would endure until the end of time itself.  The Kingdom takes root in the hearts of all the faithful, by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

What kind of tenant have you been of God's vineyard?  Take a moment today to prayerfully ponder on how you have tended the gift of the Gospel in your own life.  How have you nurtured the Truth of Jesus Christ in your daily disciplines of prayer and study of the Word?  How have you lived out the Kingdom principles of mercy and compassion in your interactions with others? Pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit to be more and more like the One by whose name you are called:  Christian.