Good Morning Friends,
The combined mystery of Jesus being fully God and fully Man is perhaps the greatest mystery in the Bible. It dovetails with the reality of Jesus being the Word made flesh… Calling upon others to develop the longing for Christ to help us is central to this connection with the divine. We are to believe in a Jesus who runs to our cries for help, when we and others are in distress. This act of prayer, calling upon God during times of need and especially as we share our belief is the task of every Christian. And whether the distress is formed from the sufferings or the temptations of life makes little difference, for Christ understands the human condition and the need to share the Word incarnate in his/His very being as a means of defeating the demons of life. You see there was a time in the history of the world when the Word of God was a very rare thing. Oh, Jesus was there but quietly preparing. One would think that the Word of God would never be out of season, however history indicates that it too has an ebb and flow. So too I think there is a season of miracles associated with the cultural expression of our worship. We see the reality of both conditions in today’s lectionary text.
And it makes me wonder about how receptive we are to God in our lives after the intensity of the holidays and how much we are paying attention to our situations when we share the Gospel as a season of contemplation during Lent is just around the corner. So, I pose this pre-Lenten question for us to meditate on. Do We Believe That God Is Still Praying For Us When We Share The Gospel?
Scripture: If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.
For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
1 Corinthians 9: 16-23 (NRSV)
Praise the Lord! How good it is to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting. The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the downtrodden; he casts the wicked to the ground.
Psalm 147:1-6 (NRSV)
“Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a laborer? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like laborers who look for their wages, so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I rise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing until dawn. My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out again. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to their end without hope. “Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good.
Job 7: 1-7 (NRSV)
As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
Mark 1:29-39 (NRSV)
And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.
John 17: 11 (NRSV)
Message: In today’s Gospel reading Jesus is one busy person as he is revealed to be the Son of God. Jesus struck the people of Galilee like a tidal wave upon wave of teaching, preaching, and healing. He was like nobody else. He was in many ways the divine answer to Job’s lament. Now as you probably already know, Job was a tragic character, persecuted by Satan with God’s permission. His crops and livestock and caretakers are stolen or slaughtered by evildoers. His children die in a terrible windstorm, and his body is afflicted with what reads like chronic leprosy. But I think we all in our own lives have had a long night full of tossing till the dawn. We empathize with the reality that our days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and come to their end with us wondering what comes next. We all have had problems that kept us awake most of the night and prompted us to plead with God most of the day for relief. It is true that human life, though a gift from God, means hard service on earth. But before Our Lord, it also meant anxiety about what would happen to us after our hard service on earth. So much of the hope of scripture is in the good news despite the not yet reality of the Kingdom. So, in this lament, we ask God to speak into our lives with understanding that surpasses our understanding. And hopefully we are listening even though it is uncomfortable. And as I think on this, I conclude, and perhaps you will as well, that we must trust that the Lord will pray for us and others as we share the good news to overcome the evil of the world. But in this we need to know that God will be silent in invoking the Spirit to those who do not want to listen. So, we are to anticipate God’s presence in scripture and in our interactions but realize that all will not want to hear. And for this reason, we need to realize how Jesus deals with this challenge. Today’s Gospel passage gives us an intimate look at the daily life of Jesus as he interacts with those who have yet to fully hear. But first he prays. In the reading, it becomes clear that we have physical as well as spiritual needs just as we have physical as well and spiritual ways of communicating. We see this in the ministry of Jesus and how he showed great love, grace, and compassion to shine a light on the message and caste out the darkness in people’s hearts. You see, Jesus always responded in power and grace and continues to meet our needs according to His gracious provision when we step out to serve those being tested. This supernatural connection is what we are to be hoping for in our hearts. So, look for glimpses of grace and you might just hear the Lord in your heart sharing a prayer like that in John 17. Recognize the timing, the troubles, the touch of life’s experiences and listen. Understand the momentum of the situations we face and the reality that there are people who have yet to hear the Gospel. Friends, there is a challenge to sharing the Gospel for those who are not listening for the Lord. That is why we like Jesus must be compassionate and gracious to all people realizing that people have needs that only Jesus can meet in a supernatural way.
And So, prayer was indispensable for Jesus. And he came to it and was changed by it. He prayed like he needed to take time for prayer. And today’s scripture is not the only time and place we see that happening. I understand that there are more than thirty references to Jesus praying in the Bible. Which is intriguing. But I wonder why God would need to pray to God. But the Bible is clear, Jesus prayed, and it seemed to give clarity to what he was to do next to fulfill his vocation and I believe guides us too. Prayer in connection seems to help Jesus focus. We too can have centering prayers especially when we are busy. And let us be honest Jesus was a very busy person and busier than most. Interestingly he did not hurry in the three most ministry packed years ever. We are to be instructed in the reality that God prevails even in the busy schedule all because love. The thing is that the life we have been called to can get busy and thankfully God can use us even if our life is cluttered with activity. It was true for Jesus and it is true for us too. So, pray for the work of justice knowing our future must have forgiveness born out of the peace of Jesus praying in us and for us. There is just a little over a week left for our Lenten preparation. My hope for you is that God plan out for you not so much what you are going to give up, as what you are going to share, in time, talents and treasure. Immerse yourself in the scriptures. Read at least one Bible chapter daily, but do it slowly, meditating on the scenes from the Bible and applying them to your walk with Christ. And volunteer for some good work, but do not forget to pray.
Pray we have visions of God as we read prayerfully the scriptures. Pray we listen for God. Pray we are not so concerned about God hearing us as us hearing from God. Pray that even though we often do not hear God’s voice or feel the divine touch, we still believe that the Lord can still speak to us and heal us through prayer. Pray we put ourselves in the hands of God. Pray God give us the strength and wisdom to serve. Pray we have faith in the Word of God even when it is so rare as to be thought a fantasy by those around us. Pray we genuinely feel hope. Pray we realize that God speaks to the ones who are listening. Pray we show great love, grace, and compassion as we share the good news. Pray God open all our hearts, minds and ears and hands to the work of the Kingdom to come. Pray we patiently keep listening even when doing so seems to have gone out of season. Pray the movement of the Spirit reveal to us what areas of our lives need correction. Pray we seek Jesus and find him in prayer. Pray we thank and praise God before we pray, as we pray and when we think we are finished with praying.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 