Daily Liturgy and Scripture

Many want to be Jesus... but there is only one Jesus. He works with the Father and the Holy Spirit to bring us into the Kingdom both now and in the future.

How do you describe the power of God? Today's Psalm makes a pretty good start. Isaiah tells of his power to judge those who oppress his people, and Jesus talks about God judging his own people. But a loving God cannot show love if he doesn't judge evil.

Jesus isn't often immediately identified as a witty intellectual, but today he demonstrates that he certainly is. His authority was easily recognized, but his ability to say the right thing at the right time can't be understated. As quickly as he dispatched his debate opponents, though, we must remember that he also showed incredible grace and mercy.

God is worthy of our trust. He will not allow injustice to remain. In today's passages, God has judged mighty nations, and Jesus allows the bad stewards of God's house to expose themselves.

This is outside the reading plan. Psalm 139 is a great way to reflect on who God is, and how deeply we are known by him. The Psalms are a wellspring of spiritual depth, and they can do amazing work in us if we let them take us to the throne of God.

Jesus is bringing his ministry into its final days, and his disciples still don't get it. They still don't process what he means by his dying. In the midst of celebration, he executes a judgement on the temple. Things are getting wild, and the disciples have no idea what they're walking into. But he doesn't abandon them, despite their slowness of understanding. He is walking right into the complet...

On All Saints Day, it is important to remember those who have given their lives for their faith. It is also important to remember the Savior we serve: not only our redeemer, but also the judge over those who create martyrs.

It's important that while God is loving, he also judges the nations. Isaiah spends a lot of time talking about what judged nations look like, but Jesus once again brings us back to the assurance that he isn't only choosing the elite, he's calling out to the damaged and dying. And if we belong to Christ and have been damaged because of the cruelty of another, we must leave judgment in his hands.

Both Psalms and Isaiah are calling us today to praise God for who he is, and Jesus shows us who he is indeed. May we all approach God as children approached Jesus: with awe and wonder, ready to live in his Kingdom.

Jesus had great power, but he didn't want to define his disciples by the power they wielded. It wasn't what defined his own ministry, either. Instead, he wanted his disciples to submit to one another, and for their greatest ambition to be the serving of others.

We must remember that although God is near, he is still the amazing, all-powerful creator of the Universe. He dared not let anyone see all of him, because nobody could survive even seeing him. In today's scripture, we're reminded to offer praise, and they're we're reminded why in the Transfiguration: Jesus really is that amazing.

Today, once again, Jesus takes a blind man aside to heal him. This time, it's interesting that the man seems to heal a little slowly. On the first pass, everything is blurry. Jesus touches him again, and he's able to see fully. Aren't we like this sometimes? Especially among instances of Jesus telling the disciples that they have eyes and ought to see, it's refreshing to see that Jesus doesn't giv...

Today does something huge (preserving Jerusalem from their enemies, despite their great anxiety) and something he doesn't want anyone to hear about (the private healing of the deaf man). What a curious range of glories. It should certainly give us hope that while God can certainly show up in a big way, he's just as likely to be present in quiet, personal  moments.

Despite the prevalence of sadness in today's readings, there's also a lot of hope. The second underlying message is that we're not doing anything to earn God's love or God's protection, he is sovereign and is looking out for the good of his people. It's tough to hold onto faith when we're surrounded by enemies, but God is only out to love us.

Today we get a glimpse of what it looks like to draw close to God. As Isaiah accepts his call and Jesus shows his disciples how he cares for them, these are not the activities of every believer. These are times when God did something extraordinary to show how extraordinary he truly is.

Yesterday was our disappointment with God, today we talk about God's disappointment with us. God disciplines those he loves, and that is sometimes hard to accept. We don't want to think that we're wrong, but somewhere in the midst of this we should be learning to trust God.

How do we handle disappointment with God? Sometimes it's hard to admit we even feel it. Jesus recognized this, and he came through to surprise everyone. Things don't always end like that, but God is always close by.

Today Jesus is escaping the crowds to make a beeline for a demon-possessed outcast. This flies in the face of our tendency to try to build the biggest crowd we can in our churches: not only did Jesus flee popularity, he actually made himself unpopular by upsetting the local livestock trade. God's ways don't always make sense, but they are worth standing up and taking notice of.

It must have been amazing to be in Jesus' inner circle. Sometimes you were confused, but you had a front row seat for all the action. God has always invited people, even the small and seemingly insignificant, into that place. 

We are chosen God to participate in the work he is already doing. This was taking place in both the Old and New Testaments, and continues today. But we aren't alone; God continues beside us in his own work.

Wholeness and flourishing: those are the things God intended to define our lives. Jesus performed healing miracles on the Sabbath, and I don't think it was just because he ran into sick people in the temple. I think it's a portrait of what Sabbath is for: bringing wholeness back to our lives.

When God's people show obedience and walk with him, he shows up for them. Even in the presence of deceitful neighbors and uncertain time, he still invites us: "follow me."

Sometimes it can feel like we're waiting for our moment to come. In Maccabees, we see one great leader falls, while someone else is called up to take his place. Jesus is very careful about not letting fame interfere with ministry, and often tells people who have been healed not to even make it known. Timing is everything. God's timing may take longer than we expect, but it's always worth waiting f...

I admit I am growing weary of Maccabees. So much fighting.. but today's scripture is actually a good balance. The Psalms give us an opportunity to glorify God for who he is, and the calling of Jesus' disciples reminds us that his only qualifier for discipleship was the willingness to follow. This is refreshing to me. God isn't always showing up only in a firefight, he's also working in the common...

The way God works isn't always the same. Sometimes he stands with the strong, other times he stands with the weak. Sometimes he's declaring that things are about to change from the lips of a charismatic wild man in the desert. Always, his character is to extend his love and draw us into his Kingdom.