January 2014 Meditations Day 360: Zechariah 14, Psalm 143, Luke 5 Wednesday, January 1, 2013 By the Rev. Emma Percy In today s reading, Zechariah draws his prophecy to its end with a vision of salvation and the true kingship of God. Living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, and the Lord will become king over all the earth. It is a vision of kingship brought about by the smiting of enemies, with dire warnings for those nations who do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord God. Yesterday s chapter in Luke s Gospel ended with Jesus words that he was to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. Today, chapter 5 outlines this work. We find that the kingdom of God is not brought about by smiting of enemies and dire warnings but by the invitation to follow, the healing of the sick, and the forgiving of sins. The fisherman Simon and his colleagues James and John are amazed by the vast catch of fish after their night of catching nothing. Yet they are even more amazed by Jesus. They leave their boats and follow him. A leper is healed, and a paralysed man not only has his sins forgiven but is commanded to get up from his bed and walk. Levi the tax collector finds himself hosting a meal in which those who were outsiders are welcomed by Jesus, and he, too, leaves everything to follow Jesus. And amazement seized them all (Luke 5:26). Yet these events are unsettling to those who feel they know the law and know how a good religious man should behave. The Pharisees and teachers of the law are disturbed by the words of forgiveness, perplexed by the healings, and outraged by the company Jesus keeps. This does not look like the holiness they understand this does not look like the kingdom of God. This is new wine that demands new ways of understanding God s kingdom and the people who are welcome in it. What is your vision of the kingdom of God? Are you sometimes like the Pharisees, holding on to your understanding and judging those who unsettle you? If Jesus called you, could you leave everything behind and follow him? And what would that mean? Lord Jesus, you taught us to pray, your
kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. Help us to share your vision of that kingdom and through our discipleship play a small part in making it a reality in our world. Amen. Day 361: Malachi 1, Psalm 144, Luke 6 Thursday, January 2, 2013 Malachi lived in the post-exilic period when the people were rebuilding their temple and their national life. God declared his love for them, but their harsh question, How have you loved us? (Malachi 1:2), reflects discouragement with the severity of post-exilic life. Their perspective was blinkered because things had not gone as easily as they had hoped, and they faced ongoing hardship. In return, God challenged the people about their less than wholehearted worship. They expected God to turn a blind eye to the poor quality of their sacrificial offerings, but God criticized their narrow vision, which meant they were in danger of being bypassed. In the great post-exilic vision of universal blessing outlined at the end of Isaiah, God s name is great and will be revered among all the nations, way beyond their borders. Just as God accused the returned exiles of breaking the commandments about worship, so the religious leaders accused Jesus of doing so. He had dared to bring God s blessing on the Sabbath day! Again, God s purposes are bigger than the leaders religious boundaries would allow. Among the disciples called by Jesus was one who would betray him and others who would, at times, let him down. Like the returned exiles, the disciples were not perfect. It was up to them what they would make of their discipleship. Jesus set out topsy-turvy blessings and woes and described how they should live with generosity and love for all, not just calling him Lord but doing what he commanded. Faith must lead to action, shown in love for God and for neighbour. If the religious leaders and the disciples were not perfect, neither are we. Yet God calls us to a faith that dares to live in a radically bounteous way because God s vision for the world is so good. As you look back on a year of reading the Bible, what stands out to you about God s way with the world? Whom can you love more generously or bless more radically this week? Gracious God, help us to live more graciously and in a more Christ like way. Amen.
Day 362: Malachi 2, Psalm 145-146, Luke 7 Friday, January 3, 2013 Today s psalms are extolling God s goodness, singing how the Lord sets prisoners free and lifts up those who are bowed down. In the reading from Luke we find Jesus doing just that. He healed the Roman centurion s servant because he was asked to do it and then raised the dead man without being asked, probably out of compassion for a widow in the devastating situation of having no one to support her (the reason the Bible keeps reiterating God s concern for orphans and widows). In contrast to Jesus life-giving actions, Malachi had to censure the priests of his day who perverted justice and religious tradition, calling evil good and complaining when God did not respond as they wanted. God condemned the priests for causing people to stumble because of their teaching. Jesus, too, was exercised by people who were never satisfied with what God was doing but always found something to complain about. Things had slipped badly from the delight of the psalmist in God s goodness! Then there was John the Baptist, in prison. Jesus didn t set that captive free despite John s unwavering fidelity in preparing the way for Jesus. If anyone could expect God s blessing of release, surely it was John? Instead, Jesus told John s disciples to report all the good things that were happening and to challenge John not to take offence that they weren t happening to him. Sometimes that same challenge comes to us. We have to learn to trust God s life-giving goodness that we see elsewhere in the world, even when we do not experience it ourselves. We can complain and blame God or, like John, we can trust that we will find blessing in not taking offence at God. What do you think causes God offence in the world today? What can you do about it? Look back on your life: have you experienced the gratuitous goodness of God at any time? How do these experiences help you to remain faithful to God in times when God s blessing seems to be withheld? Lord Jesus Christ, please help me to follow your example and bring light and life in the world, trusting you to care for me and my needs as I serve others. Amen.
Day 363: Malachi 3, Psalm 147-148, Luke 8 Saturday, January 4, 2013 Things come to a head in today s reading from Malachi: God stirs into action and sends the messenger the people are expecting to prepare the long-awaited day of God s coming. But the shock is that this will mean refining and judgment before there can be blessing. God s righteousness has not changed, and neither has the people s waywardness. The whole biblical story has been building to this climax: time and again in the Old Testament, there have been warnings of the consequences of unfaithful action alongside the promise of blessings for fidelity. A last plea is made: bring the full tithe into the warehouse so that there is food in God s house. This food could feed the hungry of the land, just as the women who accompanied Jesus offered their resources to provide for Jesus and his companions (Luke 8:3). In response, God would rebuke the locusts that destroyed their harvests, a promise of restoration previously given through the prophet Joel (Joel 2:18 27). At the end of the Old Testament, things come full circle from Genesis where God gave humans everything that was good for food (Genesis 1:29; 2:9). God s provision has never been in doubt because God does not change. Indeed, the psalmist sings that God gives the animals and birds their food (Psalm 147:9); it is only the people s defiance that has brought them to disaster time and again. It is timely that we read the parable of the sower in Luke as well as this challenge from God in Malachi. When the sower sows in good soil there is an abundant harvest; when he sows in poor soil there is failure. God has been pleading with the people throughout the biblical story to be that good soil in which righteousness can take root and grow. That promise still holds true centuries later. What connections can you make between your duty to God and God s blessing of the world? How would you strengthen those connections? As you near the end of your journey through the Bible, what themes have you noticed throughout it? How have they been developed as the story unfolds? Holy God, guide us to sow in good soil and to produce harvests in our lives. Accept the offerings that we bring today, and use them to bring blessing in your world. Amen. Day 364: Enjoy listening to scripture in church. Sunday, January 5, 2013
Day 365: Malachi 4, Psalm 149-150, Luke 9 Monday, January 6, 2013 By the Rev. Marek P. Zabriskie We started our journey in Genesis as God s Spirit moved over the waters, and we close with fire and brimstone. Malachi warns, Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace (Malachi 4:1). We hear echoes of Isaiah, The mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark; both will burn together with no one to quench the fire (Isaiah 1:31). There is hope, if we abide by God s teaching. Malachi exhorts, Remember the law of my servant Moses (v. 4). Elijah will return on the day of the Lord to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers (v. 6). Five hundred years later, an angel tells Zechariah that his son, John the Baptist, will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children (Luke 1:17). Could John the Baptist be Elijah, preparing the way for Jesus? The final two psalms remind us that the Psalter was Israel s prayer book, full of prayers of praise. Psalm 150 strikes a fitting finale of Hallelujah praise, with an orchestra to glorify God. Today s reading from Luke reminds us that God always calls his disciples to mission and to confess that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, and the keystone of our lives. This confession of faith does not protect us from all evil, for just as Jesus suffered, so will his followers. We must therefore pick up our cross daily and follow him. Yet, we can expect rare moments of spiritual transcendence like the disciples witnessing the Transfiguration reminding us that we follow not a man but the Son of Man. Luke knows that prayer is vital. It guides us to the transfigured Christ. Jesus prays before multiplying the fish and loaves, before questioning his disciples, and before being transfigured. How does prayer and reading the Bible prayerfully transfigure you and allow you to see the glory of God in Jesus, in others, and in yourself? Are God s praises frequently on your lips, and is your life a song of praise to God? Almighty God, as you allowed the disciples to witness the transfigured glory of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, be now the God who transfigures us, so that our lives may reveal your glory as we journey among your people and carry your Word deep within our hearts. Amen. Rejoice! You have completed The Bible Challenge!