Daily Devotions with the Dean
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalms 40 & 54; Joshua 9:22–10:15; Romans 15:14-24; Matthew 27:1-10
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6-11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 13, BCP, p. 93)
It is sober enough to think of Judas Iscariot’s betrayal in its own right. Despising the high privilege of being a part of Jesus’s circle of twelve, and thinking little of being appointed treasurer of the band that is heralding the coming of God’s kingdom, Judas commits one of the most treacherous acts in all of recorded history.
Perhaps even sadder is the way he handles his self-discovery. The NRSV’s translation at Matthew 27:3 is not exactly inaccurate, but it is a bit misleading: “… he repented.” The Greek term is metamelesthai, and it means literally “to experience a change in what matters.” In this context, the REB’s translation more accurately conveys its nuance: “he was overcome with remorse.” What’s sad is that Judas’s remorse—his “change in what matters”—doesn’t drive him to God. His remorse leads to two dramatic, but empty, gestures: casting away the blood money, and the self-canceling act of suicide. Genuine repentance, rather than mere remorse, might have led to the simplest of prayers: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” But that’s all in the land of what-might-have-been.
Today’s reading of Judas’s bad end juxtaposes with Paul’s meditation on his life’s work: “the grace that was given me” (Romans 15:15).
… a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles … — Romans 15:16. The word that Paul uses to describe himself here—leitourgos (“people” + “worker”)—is someone who carries out a “service to people,” a leitourgia. Our word liturgy comes from this Greek term. The kind of service depends on the venue—from religious or liturgical service (Exodus 31:10; 38:21 LXX; Ezra 7:24) to private service (2 Kings 4:43; 6:15). In the Greco-Roman world, the word was used for someone who was called upon to perform any sort of public service—from underwriting the paving of a road to overseeing civic games. Paul regarded himself as an unworthy recipient of grace. But because of that grace, he would serve not himself, but other people. Lord, give us grace to do likewise.
… in the priestly service of the gospel of God… — Romans 15:16. This is the only—really, the only!—time that any Christian in the New Testament is referred to as doing something “priestly.” (Lest there be any confusion, Episcopalians derive their word “priest” from the Greek word presbuteros, which is usually translated “presbyter” or “elder”—see, for instance, Acts 14:23; 1 Timothy 5:18; Titus 1:5) And Paul’s priestly service is not performing what we would think of as “liturgical” acts—it’s not overseeing the sacraments, or giving assurance of the absolution of sin, or offering a blessing. Well, except that Paul is offering the Gentiles to God—those who have accepted the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, who has ushered them into the blessing of becoming children of Abraham by faith, part of “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:15). This is a wonderful note of the way that God can use any person in “priestly service,” through praying for and sharing the good news with those who do not yet know the Lord.
… I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news… — Romans 15:20. This is one of Paul’s most daring statements, ever. The word translated “I make it my ambition” is philotimeisthai, and it means “love of honor” or simply “ambition.” Philotimia was the social capital of the pagan world; the term is not used to translate any words in the Old Testament canon. Nonetheless, Paul says here, in effect, “I make it a point of honor to proclaim the good news where nobody else has.” Not all of us have such a pioneering spirit. Not all of us are given that same call. But each of us can rightly consider our own distinct call, the particular place we are to serve Christ and his Kingdom. And each of us can “make it my ambition” to be true to that call.
I pray that the grace given will enable each one of us, like Paul, to “love the honor” of offering our own “priestly service,” in the spaces where the Lord has called us.
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+
Noonday Prayer
Daily Devotions with the Dean
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 50; Joshua 9:3-21; Romans 15:1-13; Matthew 26:69-75
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 8 (“The Song of Moses,” Exodus 15, BCP, p. 85); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3-4, BCP, p. 94)
The passage about the Gibeonites’ trickery is intriguing when read against the backdrop of today’s Romans reading about welcoming one another. Indeed, Paul says that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).
…so that by steadfastness… There is a dogged determination—a will to survive—about the Gibeonites that is admirable. The Gibeonites’ fear of Yahweh drives them toward him rather than away from him. So, unlike the six kings who unite to attack Yahweh’s people (Joshua 9:1), the Gibeonites conspire to unite with the Israelites and to come under their God’s protection. Stories have circulated among the Gibeonites for a generation about the Israelites’ miraculous deliverance from Egypt and their irresistible march toward Canaan. The Gibeonites are prepared—here’s the steadfastness—when the time comes. They have a plan. They are ready to produce dry and mouldy bread, and not-so-gently worn garments and sandals—all trappings to pull off the illusion that they have come from beyond the borders of the territory subject to Yahweh’s ban (Deuteronomy 20:10-18).
…and by the encouragement of the scriptures… Joshua and the rest of Israel’s leaders, fail to consult Yahweh the way they should. Their rashly mediated covenant with the Gibeonites puts them in a position in which they have to disobey God’s command to annihilate inhabitants of the land (Numbers 30:2 versus Deuteronomy 7:1-5; 20:16-18). Nonetheless, Yahweh withholds his wrath and ultimately gives his own blessing to the covenant by fighting for the Gibeonites (tomorrow’s reading). It’s encouraging to know that the Lord works for our good and the good of others even through our failures.
There’s even encouragement in noting the wisdom of assigning the Gibeonites to serve “for the altar of the Lord in the place that he should choose” (Joshua 9:27). Rather than potentially becoming tempters to idolatry (one of the principal reasons for putting the resident nations under the ban—see Deuteronomy 20:18), the Gibeonites are conscripted to support the worship of Yahweh, “to continue to this day” (Joshua 9:27).
…we might have hope. The Gibeonites’ shrewdness is an implicit faith, and it obliquely points us to Israel’s mission to bring God’s light to the nations. Their machinations and Israel’s covenant-that-never-should-have-been become an ironic, but redemptive, foretaste of the uniting of Jew and Gentile in the good news of Jesus Christ (servant of the circumcision and bringer of mercy to the Gentiles—Romans 15:8-9) that Paul celebrates. Paul’s produces a sequence of Scriptures that forecast what has now happened in Christ: Jews and Gentiles are united “with one voice” to offer praise to God through his anointed Messiah-King, Jesus. The God of hope will win through in the end.
That’s why Paul can close this remarkable paragraph with these words of blessing: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). I pray that is abundantly true for you.
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+
Midday Eucharist
Daily Devotions with the Dean
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 119:49-72; Joshua 8:30-35; Romans 14:13-23; Matthew 26:57-68
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1-3,11a,14c,18-19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68-79, BCP, p. 92)
But Jesus was silent. — Matthew 26:63. In John’s gospel, Jesus is straightforward about his identity: “Before Abraham was I AM” (and expounded in seven “I AM” sayings). In the Synoptics, Jesus’s approach is more oblique, leaving it to others to figure out his identity and the nature of his mission—until he decides to clarify. Pressed by the high priest, Jesus finally acknowledges his identity as the “Son of Man” figure that Daniel had prophesied. The unfolding events would eventuate in his “coming” into his authority at the right hand of Power. In a word, “Yes,” Jesus is saying, “I am the Son of God” (Matthew 26:64). At that point, the Jerusalem leadership finally “got it” (but not in a good way).
With today’s reciting of the blessings and curses at Mounts Gerizim and Ebal in Joshua 8, renewing the covenant between God and his people, we are reminded of the most significant choice any human being on planet Earth has: what am I going to do with God’s claim on me? Do I track with the Bible’s account of creation, fall, and redemption—is the cosmic and global story contained in the Scriptures my own as well? If so, how do I find my way to live faithfully, truthfully, and consistently with that story?
Throughout Paul’s letter to the Romans, he has developed and delivered that very roadmap. He has shown the way Jesus—his divine person and his redemptive work—is the crown, the telos—of an elaborate and profound story line. Adam was “type of one who was to come” (Romans 5:12-21). Abraham was “father of all of us” who believe (Romans 4:16). The Passover prefigured the setting forth of an atoning sacrifice, and Moses’s leadership prefigured a Spirit-led journey from slavery to freedom (Romans 3:21-25; chapters 6-8). David gave us a preview of a royal Son who rises from weakness to power, and who sings God’s glory among the nations (Romans 1:3-4; 15:9).
I once recall a professor declaring, “If your metanarrative is stable enough, you can allow wiggle room around the periphery.” At the beginning of Romans 12, Paul looks back on this grand story, this metanarrative, and then commends a lifestyle of worship that is congruent with that story. “I appeal to you, in view of the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifices” (Romans 12:1). Thus, with Paul’s help, we have God-honoring guidance for responding to situations where there is disagreement. Part of that living sacrifice is extending to one another grace in disputable matters—not because they don’t matter, but because the whole is more important than the periphery.
In today’s reading, Paul is discussing a situation where some believers feel free to eat meat offered to idols, while others feel it is sinful to do so. Paul’s instruction is that it is wrong to flaunt one’s freedom in that matter, or to lead others to do something they think is wrong. “Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died.”
There are any number of modern-day equivalents we can use to illustrate the kind of situation Paul addresses, but an example about pork might offer some insight. Some Christians believe that the Old Testament prohibitions against eating pork still apply today. Others believe those prohibitions no longer apply. If a child from a “non-pork” family was a guest in your home, it would be wrong for you to knowingly serve him, or persuade him to eat, bacon for breakfast. Before God, according to your own conscience, eating pork is not a sin, but to your brother in Christ, it is sin. “Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat.” Leading someone, adult or child, to violate their own conscience does not make for peace or mutual upbuilding. Flaunting one’s freedom is not “walking in love.”
In today’s paragraph, Paul sketches important priorities concerning Christian liberty:
Those of us who think of ourselves as having, before God, freedom regarding some debatable, but peripheral matters, have the responsibility for reining ourselves in for the sake of brothers and sisters who would be led to violate their consciences by our examples (Romans 14:15, 23).
Negatively put: I may not “destroy” my brother or sister with my liberty (Romans 14:20). Positively put: my job is to “pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding” (Romans 14:19).
We can, with integrity, deny ourselves some liberties, without denying our identity in Christ. In fact, this is one way we take on a Christ-shaped identity (looking ahead to tomorrow’s reading): “For Christ did not please himself” (Romans 15:3).
Forcing our practices on others is not what the kingdom of God is about. The kingdom is about “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
If the central storyline of Jesus Christ’s work of redemption for sinners is intact, then it’s actually OK to allow each other some breathing room. We don’t need, nor can we demand, that there be complete agreement between us on lesser points of teaching, worship, and practice. “The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve.”
I pray that today you know, in all things, righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+
Midday Eucharist
Daily Devotions with the Dean
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 45; Joshua 8:1-22; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 26:47-56
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 13, BCP, p. 93)
Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. — Matthew 26:52. When Jesus tells Peter (named in John 18:10-11) to put his sword away, a pivot in the ages takes place. As today’s reading of Joshua’s conquest of Ai perfectly exemplifies, God’s conquest had come via the sword in the past. But a kingdom established by the sword is a short end game—the sword does not confer life. Jericho, to this day, exists as an archaeological dig, a tell. And the city that had once stood at Ai—well, not even its name has survived. The name “Ai” means “waste,” and the Israelites imposed that name after the destruction. Despite the heights to which Israel rose after the conquest of Canaan, it was inevitable that it would fall: The confederacy of tribes under the Judges was too frail. Saul was corrupt of heart. David’s hands were covered in blood. Solomon’s son provoked division. The Northern Kingdom was swept away by the Assyrians, and the Southern Kingdom was exiled by the Babylonians. The Persian release ushered in a series of vassalages, the latest being the one under Rome in Jesus’s day. God’s eternal Kingdom ultimately would not come by the sword, by conquest, or by power politics. That was never the way God intended to restore his fallen world.
And while Jesus, even in the Garden of Gethsemane, acknowledges that it would be possible to save the moment through force, the result would be to replace one regime of force with another. A church built by the sword would need to be enforced by the sword—and in the end, would fall by the sword. But because Jesus went the route of suffering, his church did not perish. Her foundation is different, and so is her destiny: “Not by might and not by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). The church that forgets that lesson, becoming just another player in the world of power-politics and secular influence—whether accommodating to the right or to the left—is in peril.
Jesus gives himself over to death, thereby conquering death, to win life, and taking up an invincible reign, where the logic is (looking ahead to tomorrow’s epistle reading): “[T]he kingdom of God is … righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). Throughout Romans 14, Paul applies that logic to relationships. The proof of Christian truth, it turns out, lies in the way we treat one another. That’s why Romans, with all its dazzlingly profound theology about how we are justified and sanctified in Christ, leads to what can seem like an odd crescendo in this appeal: “If a person’s faith is not strong enough, welcome him all the same without starting an argument” (Romans 14:1 Jerusalem Bible).
Progressive (“strong”) consciences in Rome’s house churches want to explore Christian liberty. Conservative (“weak”) consciences want to preserve traditional principles of holiness. Progressive believers look upon traditionalists condescendingly; traditionalists look upon progressives judgmentally. Paul refuses to resolve their issues in one direction or the other. The church Jesus is building is the church for all, both “strong” and “weak.” More critically, all believers need to understand that the Lord Jesus is lord of the conscience—He, and he alone, can and will, judge.
People must recognize that even if other believers are wrong about something, “It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand (Romans 14: 4). The Christian, whether young or old in the faith, is guided, encouraged, or indicted by the Holy Spirit who dwells within. This day, may we all examine our own consciences, listening for that voice to speak into us words of indictment, encouragement, or guidance, as we wait for the perfect unity of Christ’s body—his precious church—built with love, not swords—on earth as it is in heaven.
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+
Noonday Prayer
Daily Devotions with the Dean
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalms 41 & 52; Joshua 7:1-13; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 26:36-46
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2-6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3-4, BCP, p. 94)
Achan sinned by taking personal booty from Jericho (compare Joshua 6:17-19, with 7:1). His sin was a perfect expression of what, centuries later, Paul would describe as making “provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14). The children of Israel were called to bring “the day” of God’s presence to a region that had been living in “the night” of the dominion of evil (Romans 13:12-13—think Conan the Barbarian). The utter destruction of Jericho and the dedication of all its valuables to the Lord were a matter of bringing things into God’s purifying, purging, and cleansing sunlight.
Achan chose the darkness, and Israel’s mission suffered—thus, the failed campaign against the city of Ai.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus does not succumb to the darkness. His “not my will but Thine” opens a window onto one of the deepest and most wonderful of theological mysteries: the covenant made in eternity by which the Eternal Son assents to the mission of our rescue on behalf of the Father’s love. That mission called for the Son, having been “made man” (per the Creed), to drink the cup of judgment that all the Achans of the world—from Adam and Eve in that other garden, to you and me—deserve to drink:
For in the Lord’s hand there is a cup,
full of spiced and foaming wine, which he pours out,
and all the wicked of the earth shall drink and
drain the dregs. (Psalm 75:8 BCP)
The result of Christ’s “not my will but Thine,” in order to drink that cup is that we are privileged to drink, instead, the cup of blessing:
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call upon the Name of the Lord. (Psalm 116:11 BCP)
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;You anoint my head with oil;My cup runs over. (Psalm 23:5 NKJV)
And precisely because the cup of blessing “runs over” for us, even the Law, once a terrible threat and reminder of our sin, now takes on a different role. The law, no longer our bitter accuser, is now, in the hands of the Holy Spirit within us, our wise companion. For, having now been loved with the love of God’s eternal covenant poured out on the cross for us, we learn to love: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10).
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+