Daily Liturgy and Scripture

The connection we have with Christ is unbreakable, because it was made by Christ himself. But what is it for? Certainly we have eternal security, but that isn’t meant to be some secret, personal possession that we keep to ourselves. It is a shared bond among the entire body of Christ, and draws new additions by the power of the Spirit.

Eternal life isn’t just a bonus we get when we die. It’s part of the life we live now. The Spirit that raised Jesus is that very spirit of life, and the spirit’s purposes should be played out as we join with God to bring glimpses of the Kingdom now. The passage from 1 Samuel today is a great example of that otherness. Sometimes, it’s so easy for us to choose what comes naturally to our own thinking. But we are not slaves to our own set of choices. The spirit lives within us, and we can show a degree of holiness that is only found when it’s gifted from God.

Why was The Transfiguration necessary? Certainly it was more than a good show. It was a combining of symbols. Moses represented the law, Elijah represented the prophets. They were cornerstone in Israel’s history. When they leave, it’s just Jesus. Why? Because he is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. They are not destroyed, but made complete in the life of Christ.

Slaves of God instead of slaves to sin? As Paul continues laying out what the church looks like, he’s made a real progression. Jews and Gentiles equalized by the cross, doing nothing of their own accord, saved only by Christ… but now we are slaves to righteousness? It’s difficult to imagine being drawn to righteousness in the same way we’re drawn to sin, but the good news is that it’s still not our initiative or our own power that gets us there. It’s still the power and initiative of God, and the Spirit lives among us to bring this reality to life in us.

If anything we did were to bring about God’s salvation, it would be incomplete. Only God’s initiative to our sinfulness would fully recover us. This is where Christ did the work we could never do: by God becoming man, being obedient to God, and dying in our place. Paul’s placement of Christ at the center of our salvation leaves no room for any other explanation, and we could have never done enough to save ourselves.

Paul continues his explanation that through Christ, Jew and Gentile are now the same. This time, he goes backwards, beyond Abraham: how was Abraham set right before God if there was no law? It was his faith, and this is once again the place that Christ enables us to be. 

Paul seems to be running down his fellow Jews pretty hard, but his point isn’t just to insult the Jews. Instead, he is trying to show his readers that all are now equal under the cross. The Jews and the law are not to be forgotten, because Jesus was also a Jew, and he fulfilled the law. But holding onto the first half of God’s covenant won’t do. Now it’s about Jesus, and all people are included under his kingship. (Side note: forgive the change in the sound. I’m traveling and not in my usual space.)

Paul continues to outline the difference between those in Christ and those outside, and he isn’t giving Israel a free pass. Paul has certainly been down that road himself, since he was among the elite of Jewish leadership, and now he gets pretty blunt: that’s not enough. Obedience to God is the key, not just a birthright connected to Abraham. Being God’s chosen people is a big deal, but the chosen people need to live out their calling.

As we start Romans today, we are getting into a letter written by Paul to a church he had never visited. He talks a lot about that as he opens, as well as his desire to see them at last. Then, never one to mince words, Paul dives into a pretty important topic: the critical need to pursue the things of God instead of our own wisdom. He draws some pretty specific lines as he sets this letter up, but he’s not done yet. He’s laying out a strong foundation in Christ that he hopes brings together a young and fragmented church.

As he closes the letter, Paul isn’t messing around. He has discussed the insults against him, he has even taken on the personal of those insults. He has pleaded, he has reminded them of his connection to Christ. Now he tells them it’s time to clean up their act, cast off the old ways that they knew before they were in Christ. (This also seems like a pretty good indication of the difference between his message and that of his opponents.) But at the end he encourages joy and harmony. No problem, once we start acting like the people we’re supposed to be, right?