Daily Devotion for Lent 2024, Wrap-up for Easter Sunday

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a bramble bush.  The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil, for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks."

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?  I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them.  That one is like a man building a house who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built.  But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it quickly collapsed, and great was the ruin of that house.”

                                                                    Luke 6:43-49 (NRSVue)

 

Can a leopard change its spots?  

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

Can you make a silk purse out of a sow's ear?

These old adages allow us to stay set in our ways as if change were impossible.  They become easy excuses for us to hold onto when we know we need to make some fundamental shift in the way we are doing things.

Change is difficult.  I've heard it said that when people are told to alter their diets or they will surely eat themselves into the grave, the majority are unable to make a long-lasting adjustment.  So old habits do seem to die hard.  

It would take a miracle to change.

For Christians, we celebrate this miracle in the world through Easter.  The resurrection allows us to see others differently and it allows us to see ourselves in a new light.  It forgives the sins that lead to death and declares that they are not as powerful as we make them out to be.

Easter reveals that you are good fruit today and that we can throw yesterday's thorns in the trash.  

The important part of reading through the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain through Lent will come tomorrow.  How do we integrate these messages into our lives?

What does Easter mean on Monday?  or Tuesday?

Can we develop an Easter foundation for our house?

Jesus believes we can or he wouldn't have wasted his time preaching this message. 

We can turn a new leaf.

We can start from scratch.

We can wipe the slate clean.

But on Easter, we recognize that we don't have to do this of our own accord.  Life and light have won over death and darkness.  That is enough for me and for you.

Prayer for the day: Loving God, we give thanks for the teachings of Jesus that give us life.  When we see them in light of the resurrection, they begin to take a new shape for us.  Help us to live out these sermons of resurrection in the everyday.  May we be more like the saints Jesus declares us to be.  And may our foundation in Christ never waver.  We pray these things in the name of the risen Lord.  Amen.

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New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2024, Day 40 Holy Saturday

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?  A disciple is not above the teacher, but every disciple who is fully qualified will be like the teacher.  Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye."

                                                                        Luke 6:37-42 (NRSVue)

 

This passage also reads a little more somberly on Holy Saturday.  One thing about death is that it usually quells our sense of judgment.  

The old saying, "do not speak ill of the dead" crosses cultures and comes out of such antiquity that its origin is untraceable.  When I am eulogizing someone, I try to paint the deceased in the best light possible.  One person at a funeral thought I was a little too glowing and made the remark that they weren't the saint I painted them to be!

I responded that they were in Christ and that God sees them through this lens in judgment.  We don't stand on our own merits but through the grace of Jesus.  We should try to see our brothers and sisters in the same way God sees them - especially in death.  

If I am too judgmental and this is the measure I share with everyone else, people close to me may begin to wonder, "Does he see me in this way too?"  I can certainly see how this is a pit that is easy to fall into.  

Many times, the difficult thing for us in judging the dead may be that we have some unresolved anger toward them.  Sometimes this anger may revolve around them dying and leaving us.  It can stir up abandonment issues that are often difficult to name.   

I wonder if the disciples were feeling something similar on this day so many years ago.

Did they second-guess Jesus' behavior or did they blame themselves?  Did some think, "We should have tried harder to talk him out of coming to Jerusalem during the Passover."?  Did the anger that comes with grief centralize around the Roman authorities or the Jewish leaders?  This kind of anger can certainly blind us.  We might even fall into a pit.  What kind of measure do you think they allowed for their enemies at this point?

What if this was how we always saw people?

This is helpful for us to realize that our capacity to be gracious often rises and falls depending on our circumstances in life.  We all know what it is to blow up at someone who happened to say the wrong thing at the wrong time.  Overreaction comes when our tank is empty.

The most important thing for us is to be self-aware at these times.  To recognize when we don't have it together.  And to admit it and ask for a little grace.  I believe that in this way, we can have a better chance of avoiding hypocrisy.  And if we've extended the same grace to those around us, we are more likely to receive it when we need it.

Sometimes our own blind spots are difficult for us to identify.  If you had to make a list of your top five places that you have difficulty with in relationships, what would they be?  Sometimes if we name the log, it begins to shrink!

Prayer for the day:  Gracious God, guide us on this day as we revisit the grief the disciples had for our Lord.  Help us to recognize who we are with all of our faults and misgivings but also for all of our strengths and gifts.  Let us be thankful for the totality of our identity and allow your Holy Spirit to shape our negatives that they may actually inform our assets.  May this understanding allow us to live into becoming more grace-filled people who are generous in how we see others.  We pray this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ who pulls us out of the pit.  Amen. 

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 New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2024, Day 39 Good Friday

“But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you;  bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you.  If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.  Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again.  Do to others as you would have them do to you.  “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.  If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.  If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive payment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.  Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.  Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

                                                                    Luke 6:27-36 (NRSVue)

 

On Good Friday, how does this read?  

At the cross, Luke records that the soldiers cast lots to divide his clothing.  This is a somber ratification of "do not withhold even your shirt."

When we are attacked, do we have the ability to respond differently?  Jesus indicates that we do.

In a Hollywood movie, what would the Son of God do to his enemies on the cross?  He would call down fire from heaven and light them up!

Jesus may have been tempted by his own disciples to do this.  In Luke 9:51-56, Jesus is not well-received by a Samaritan village.  James and John ask him, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"  Jesus rebukes them and lives out today's teaching.

We are offered a better way to light up our enemies.

It is only in Luke's Gospel that Jesus offers his enemies forgiveness from the cross.  Luke 23:34 has Jesus utter before his death, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

"Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return."

Jesus lives this out on Good Friday.

And lest, we deign to think that this is unattainable behavior, Luke shows us that it is absolutely lived out by the early church.  Luke also wrote the "Acts of the Apostles" as a follow-up to the Gospel.

The apostle Stephen was preaching about Jesus and his audience didn't appreciate the light in which he painted them.  They took him outside the city and began to stone him.  In Acts 7:60, it reports that just before Stephen died "... he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.'”  Today's teaching is not a lofting goal reached only by God but is lived out by the followers of Jesus.  Luke shows us that this expectation may be why the church flourished.

One of the people witnessing the stoning of Stephen was Saul who later became the apostle Paul.  Most of the letters in the New Testament were written by Paul or a school of Paul's thought.  Just before Paul began to start churches throughout the Mediterranean, the church was at a precipice.  Would it live into this teaching?  Saul was on the way to Damascus to arrest more Christians and was struck blind.  In a show of irony, Jesus sends him to a Christian in Damascus named Ananias for healing.  

What would Ananias think about this?  This was the man coming to arrest and harass his family!

When Jesus tells him in a vision to heal Saul, Ananias basically says, "Lord, this guy is our enemy!" As if Jesus wasn't aware of all his faults!  Do we ever wrestle with doing the right thing?

Because Ananias lived out the highlighted teaching from the Sermon on the Plain, the church thrived.

Maybe in a world where enmity comes so easily today, we have an alternate path.

Rather than light up our enemies, we can show them the light of Christ that shines through an act of love on a cross.  An act that gives us the strength to love.

May it be so today of all days.

Prayer for Good Friday: Teach us, good Lord, to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor and not to ask for any reward, except that of knowing that we do your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. 

 

Prayer by Ignatius of Loyola, Spain, 16th Century.

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New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2024, Day 38 Maundy Thursday

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.  Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.  Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.  Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets."

                                                Luke 6:24-26 (NRSVue)

Luke's Gospel is the only one to feature these counter-statements to the Beatitudes.  Matthew tended to spiritualize the sayings (i.e. blessed are the poor in spirit) while Luke was more basic in the characterizing.

What does it mean that Jesus gives these woes?

The Common English Bible translates it as "how terrible for you..." rather than woe.  "Woe" does seem to be a bit archaic in that we don't use it very often in everyday speech.  The Scholar's Version which was made up of Jesus Seminar New Testament professors use the phrase "Damn you" instead of woe in that they wanted to get the intensity of Jesus to come across.  Saying them as a curse is truly opposite of saying them as a blessing.

As I consider my own life, I am not doing very well with regards to today's woes:

I am more well-off financially than the majority of the people in the world.

I am full to the point of needing to shed a few pounds.

I laugh more than I weep.

People do speak well of me (at least to my face).

Maybe this is what Jesus means.

Today, being Maundy Thursday, we also remember the Last Supper.  In Holy Communion, we recognize our need for God's grace.  We confess our sins prior to the meal and hopefully, we take our brokenness seriously.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer labeled Communion without confession as "cheap grace" in his landmark book, The Cost of Discipleship.

When I am woeful to the point of having all of these characteristics, maybe this makes it harder to confess my own brokenness.  When we are well-off, the need for God may not seem as urgent.  So we are more likely to imagine ourselves as self-sufficient.  

I don't believe that we need to apologize if we share in any of today's attributes as some of the Puritans may have done.  I believe that God would like a strong, full life for all people on earth.   But it may be that we need to determine if our wealth is at the expense of someone else's well-being.  Do I find it easy to forget the hunger in my own community?  Am I laughing with or at the object of my mirth?  And is my status of favor with others in conflict with God's role for my life?

These are difficult Lenten questions making this text appropriate for today.  I invite you to linger on them a bit and if you find the opportunity to take Holy Communion, pray on these questions at the kneeling rail.

Prayer for the day:  God, you have given us your word to bring us life.  May we receive it in a way that honors you and our neighbors.  May we also receive it in a way that honors ourselves.  As we remember this night in the life of our Lord, we also remember that this was when he washed our feet.  He then bid us to go forth and do likewise for the world.  May we take the love we have received and pass it along generously.  Amen.

 

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New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2024, Day 37

“Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.  Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets."

                                        Luke 6:22-23 (NRSVue)

This sounds like a good part of my time as a district superintendent during disaffiliation.  There were certain people in authority who were clearly leading others away from The United Methodist Church - some laity and some clergy.  In a denomination as large as ours, outliers can be found on just about any topic and these were often lifted up as normative in order to move people against our church.  

I don't mind healthy discussion but when people have been riled up - it often degrades into slander and harmful rhetoric.  I made the comment (many times), "I am tired of trying to convince people to uphold the vows they took."

I had many people - United Methodists that stayed included - who told me to just let them go.  Why fight it?  I will say that I handled different churches differently.  I would go and present The United Methodist witness and answer questions to the best of my ability.  But where I perceived that it was over 90% in agreement, I didn't stand in the way.  Where there was a significant United Methodist presence that wanted to keep their church, I felt in these instances that I either became their pastor or had to stand in support of the pastor who was trying to hold their church together. 

In these instances, I received hateful words, exclusionary words, reviling words and defaming words.  I was painted in a public court of law as a tyrant who did not order the church fairly.  I felt derision by former church members that I worked with, conducted funerals for family members, and aided personally in moments of natural disaster.  I did not feel blessed but I did feel that I stood in this path for the sake of the Son of Man.

The difficulty of this is when we realize that those seeking to leave - and even those doing the reviling - were also doing so out of a faith position.  Most had a sense of righteousness around the issue of human sexuality that differed from mine.  I believe that many felt persecuted by my wielding authority in a way that tried to call them into accountability.  They likely saw it as an abuse of power.  I recently made the quip at a public gathering that I put the grace into gracious exit.  It got some laughs which indicates that people recognized my difficulty of trying to hold accountability among people who saw things very differently.

As we continue in Holy Week, one thing that's helpful for us to recognize is that our persecutions are not in the same league with what Jesus faced.  It doesn't compare to the way the early disciples were treated.  It wouldn't even be a blip on the radar for how the early church fared against the various government harassment, restrictions and arrests.   

Sometimes we have to stand up for the faith.  My faith begins with loving God and loving neighbor.  I want to do this in a way that provides respect to all.  But I will also ask for the same consideration and when I am in a place of power and authority, I will expect it. 

And while it doesn't feel blessed to do so, it is helpful to see how Jesus considers blessing in the Sermon on the Plain: poor, hungry, weeping.  Hated and reviled.

The outsider is lifted up by God.

I can rest in that.

I will continue to stand for the outsiders and am in solidarity with them.

Prayer for the day:  God, I must confess that I don't want to be hated or reviled.  I would just like to get along with others.  But when we give a voice to the voiceless, people may begin to exclude us as well.  It is easier to let things go.  It is easier to go with the flow and say nothing.  But you call us to be disciples.  Help us to walk this week with Jesus even though we know where he is going.  Give us the strength to carry his cross for a bit.  For Jesus' sake we pray.  Amen.

 

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New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily Devotion for Lent 2024, Day 36

“Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.  Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh."

                                                        Luke 6:21 (NRSVue)

These Beatitudes continue to differ slightly from the Sermon on the Mount.  Rather than hunger for righteousness, we see the blessed are just hungry.  We also see "weep" instead of "mourn" with the result being laughing which seems a more dramatic turnaround over the comfort offered in Matthew.

These are in the same vein as the poor being favored in Luke.  

For the crowds that Jesus was preaching to, many of them would understand what it is to be hungry.  If a day laborer didn't work, he may not have any savings on which to eat.  It is not likely that they thought of themselves as being blessed by God while in this condition.  It is more likely that they may have been asking, "What's God got against me?"

Certainly, people who have wept in grief have experienced the anger that often comes with loss.  Many times this anger may be directed to God.  I've heard many people say, "Why did God take my loved one now?"  

There's often a lot of theological statements made in the moment that are designed to comfort but really say some awful things about God's character.

"God needed another angel."

"It was just their time to go and we can't understand God's reasons."

"It must have been God's will."

Often these statements are designed to protect God's sovereignty or the idea that God is in complete control of the universe.  Of course, Wesleyans believe in free will which is God's self-limitation on divine control over everything.  

I believe that God weeps with us when we weep.  What does it mean to be blessed in weeping?  

Both of these - hunger and weeping - are conditions that Jesus claims give us favored attention by God.  These would have been a reversal of the common thought of the day.  They are a reversal for us today in how we normally think.

I think what this communicates for Jesus' followers is that God is concerned with those who are hurting.  I think about my grandmother who loved me.  She would sit by her refrigerator during every meal so that she could easily get anything that someone might want.  No matter what time we arrived, she would have something warm on the stove for us (much of the time it was some kind of homemade cobbler). She never wanted any of us to go hungry.  This could have been because she had both of her children during the Great Depression and was widowed while pregnant with my uncle.  She showed her love with offering sustenance - meeting a basic need. 

She was extra concerned with those who were hungry!

I think this is how God operates with the hungry and the despondent.

How do Christians show the hurting world that God cares?  We, like my grandmother, are also interested in feeding hungry people through a great variety of ministries.  We also provide care for those who are grieving.  As we move through Holy Week, we may have special concern because this is the week that Jesus may not have had an appetite.  We know he wept in the garden as he prayed.  

May we be part of someone's blessing this week.

Prayer for the day: Loving God, thank you for showing special favor to those who lack food.  Thank you for sending comfort to those who are weeping, whether it be from grief or fear or pain.  Help us to be attentive for you.  And when we may feel at the end of our rope, give us the strength to be able to offer love and care in any circumstance.  We pray these things in Jesus' name.  Amen.

 

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New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Daily Devotion for Lent 2024, Day 35

Then he (Jesus) looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God."

                                                                Luke 6:20 (NRSVue)

Luke gives us the Sermon on the Plain which is named from Jesus coming down to a level place in verse seventeen.  After healing the crowds, he begins to teach them.

The first Beatitude in Luke differs in that Matthew's spiritualizes poverty.  Luke's version is simple.  Blessed are the poor.  It is even more direct in that he is preaching to the masses and those who are poor (and present) are counted among the favored.

This is a bit shocking to our sensibilities.  How in the world are the poor blessed?  The Contemporary English Bible translates it as "Happy are you who are poor, because God's kingdom is yours."  

Some have said that God favors the poor over those who have enough.  This also goes against the grain that God loves everyone equally.  It would be like a parent saying, "Well, this child is my favorite."  That makes us feel bad for the children who are also plying for their parent's love and are coming up short.

I'm reminded of the story of the little girl with the cleft palate who had multiple issues including a crooked nose, lopsided teeth, a misshapen lip, and difficulty hearing out of one ear.  She didn't believe that anyone outside of her family could love her - or even like her.  They had a whisper test in her elementary school and Mrs. Leonard, her teacher, would whisper something to the student that they would have to repeat back.  The little girl who may have been the least popular child in her class waited to go last.  She wondered what her teacher would say to her and she said that God must have surely put the seven words into her mouth that changed her life.  Mrs. Leonard whispered to her, "I wish you were my little girl."

Would you say that it was wrong in that moment that she was favored by her teacher?

When Jesus says, "Blessed are you who are poor," it may be God saying to them, "I know you have a lot of issues.  I know that you are not seen by others.  I know that you are not given dignity or respect much of the time.  But you are important to me.  All that is mine is yours."

We live in a world today that is vastly different than that of Jesus.  But it also has some very fundamental similarities.  I think about how I see others and wonder if I make some of the same mistakes that they did in Jesus day.  I don't do is consciously.  When I consciously think about others, I can apply respect and dignity.  But subconsciously, I'm sure that I fail much of the time.  

Maybe that means I have to make up for that overtly at other times.  Maybe that's what Jesus means by this Beatitude today.  As we move toward the cross this week, that may not be too much to ask.

Prayer for the day: God, I thank you for all of the blessings I have received through my years here on this earth.  I have more than I need and yet, often feel lacking in this or that.  Help me to see that the lack I feel is an illusion.  And as I see other people, let me look beyond the superficial and see them as you do.  May we all share in your kingdom in this way, as they invite me in.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

 

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New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.