Daily Liturgy and Scripture

Think you've been misunderstood? Try being the Son of God, becoming the Son of Man, and walking among men! How do you explain that? Jesus lived with being misunderstood, but he also became an empathetic judge in his becoming a man. Because he became one of us, he knows completely what the life of humans looks like. That should be a great comfort when we hear that he is our judge.

Can you imagine being healed by Jesus, only to be immediately criticized by the very people who should have been celebrating your wholeness? Religious leaders were so wrapped up in the rules that they missed the real miracle in their midst. Hopefully, our spiritual eyes will be more closely attuned.

On this week of Epiphany, we're still reading of outsiders who came to know Jesus. A Samaritan woman would have been one of the last people a Jewish rabbi would have thought to make a disciple, and yet this Samaritan woman becomes one of the first evangelists. And then a politician? Not much is known of this government official, they could have been Gentile or Jewish. Whatever they were, they were not a religious insider, and yet Jesus gives them the same treatment as someone he describes as having "great faith" in Matthew 8: he heals their family member without even being present. 

Jesus was often very secretive about his messianic identity, but to this outsider, he was very clear. How odd that he didn't do something like set up a shop in the temple court with a sign that said, "Messiah, ask me anything," but rather chose to be among the people showing the signs of his direct communion with the Father. Such should be our approach. While we certainly aren't claiming to be God, our communion with God should be obvious not by a business card or a bumper sticker, but in the way we treat others. That still includes outsiders.

Today is Epiphany! If you're not Jewish, today is the day you get to celebrate the birth of a Jewish messiah who came to redeem us all. (Jewish folks can celebrate too... but today we remember we're included!) And certainly our Savior came to be the Savior of all, to show what God looks like to all who have eyes to see.

Watching how Jesus and John handle "competition" between their disciples is inspiring. Especially in the case of John, he is willing to actively become the lesser teacher so that Jesus can increase his discipleship. This is pretty incredible. If we loved our brothers and sisters across churches and denominations the same way, the landscape of churches would be very different than it is today.

How do you deal with feelings of rejection? Cain's example is certainly one to avoid. When God called his offering inadequate, he didn't go and learn how to make better offerings. He killed the one who God had accepted. When Jesus comes, we see him once again offering God's blessing, but only on God's terms. To try and approach God any other way, in our own way, is the approach of Cain. Hopefully, we are at least not quite so deadly as he was.

Today, we see God dealing with corruption. The corruption of the Garden of Eden, his first temple; the corruption of the temple in Jerusalem as John captures Jesus driving out commerce in the place of the Holy. Why such a big deal? Why can't Jesus calm down, God just forgive and forget? Because the place of the Holy should be different, it should be set apart. We should not be casual in our approach to the Holy, because it should feel like it demands more of us than our average day-to-day.

Revelation is one of God's greatest gifts. I don't mean the book, although that book is indeed full of revelation. I mean his act of revealing things. In Genesis, he unveils his prize creation, man. Then he gives man the task of ordering creation, being an active part of what God is doing. God is unveiling new things and man is part of it. But when Jesus comes, he is the thing to be unveiled. To John the Baptist, God reveals that the spirit will descend to reveal the Holy One. To the disciples, Jesus reveals himself in small ways, ways those around them could very well have missed. Today, he still reveals himself to us as well.

On the day which marks the beginning of our new year, we also remember where we all begin. In Christ, present with the Father and the Spirit, we find creation and new life. In this first day of the new year, I hope you are able to find yourself re-created by him in even your common daily tasks.