A Lenten Reading of Matthew - Day Three

Scripture Reading: Matthew 2:1-23 (NRSVUE)

This is the dark part of the Christmas story.  King Herod is a client king of the Roman Empire over the territory of Judea.  Although raised Jewish, he must have believed that his true allegiance was to Augustus Caesar in Rome.  Augustus often used the title "son of a god" as he was the adopted son of Julius Caesar who considered himself divine.

Herod likely believed that in order to retain power, he must bend the knee.  While most Judeans of that day were hopeful for the Messiah to come and free them from foreign domination, Herod becomes frightened when he hears this news.

A Jewish leader instilled with the hope of God would rejoice at the coming of the Messiah. This would be seen as synonymous with God's reign.

Instead, Herod feels threatened and massacres the infants around Bethlehem, hoping to eliminate his rival.  His actions remind of those of Pharoah who had Jewish babies killed in the book of Exodus.  So rather than ushering in freedom for the people under his charge, Herod takes away their hope by killing their children.  He is an anti-Messiah or anti-Christ.

It is easy to see and root against Herod's villainy.  But the difficult question it presents revolves around the slippery slope of maintaining one's status, power or prestige.  People may sometimes make decisions that become more and more questionable until they ask themselves, "How did I get here?"

These usually start out with minor indiscretions.

As we continue in Lent, let us take a moment to ask ourselves, "Where are we going?"  What kind of goals do we have as people?  Do we include religious or spiritual goals as a part of these?

It is never bad to review one's life from time to time and Lent is the season for this kind of reflection.  This may keep us from ending in a place we would regret.  No healthy person wants to be remembered for their bad behavior.

Prayer for the day:

Lord, be with us this day,
Within us to purify us;
Above us to draw us up;
Beneath us to sustain us;
Before us to lead us;
Behind us to restrain us;
Around us to protect us.

Amen.

Prayer by Patrick of Ireland, 5th Century

Photo by RK Bentley via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2025, Day 28

Today's Reading: Job, Chapter Twenty-nine

One of the universal traits of the human condition is nostalgia for the good ol' days.

This is especially true if you were on top and had it all.

Of course, another universalism is that nothing stays the same.

Change becomes inevitable and if nothing else, the human body begins to age as it experiences wear and tear through the years.  

As we look at Job, he is longing for the past when the world was his oyster.  He doesn't list anything negative - it was all good - in contrast to his current predicament.  

Sometimes our monuments are obvious
to everyone but ourselves

When someone today speaks about their own exploits and goes on and on, I start to question their humility.  It may seem to me that they have a need to convince me that they are important.  This can often come from poor self-esteem.  It can also stem from poor self-awareness.

I once heard of a pastor in my conference who confessed to another minister that he didn't always feel the need to pray the prayer of confession in worship.  He was close to retirement and felt that he didn't sin as much as he used to.

Now this is possible and is certainly the goal of United Methodist pastors in sanctification.  But even if I felt this (someday?), I would never say it out loud!  The sin of pride can be confessed if nothing else.

It could be that Job is not quite as innocent as he claims and may be in denial.  Sometimes we have the biggest difficulty in confessing the sins to ourselves.  But true growth can only happen when we are honest about where our sticking points are.

As we continue to see Job as a stand-in for the country of Judah during the exile, it is interesting that the critiques of the prophets for why the people went into exile are the very things that Job says that he used to accomplish on a regular basis.  Sometimes the donor and the recipient see things a little differently.

How can we cultivate greater self-awareness as we move through Lent?

Prayer for the day:

Write deeply upon our minds, O Lord God, the lesson of your holy word, that the pure in heart may perceive you.  Leave us not in the bondage of any sinful inclination.  May we neither deceive ourselves with the thought that we have no sin, nor acquiesce idly in anything of which our conscience accuses us.  Strengthen us by your Holy Spirit to fight the good fight of faith, and grant that no day may pass without its victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer by Charles John Vaughan, Church of England, 19th Century

Photo by John Eikleberry via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.