A Reading from Acts 22:17-29

22 Up to this point they listened to him, but then they shouted, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” 23 And while they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and tossing dust into the air, 24 the tribune directed that he was to be brought into the barracks, and ordered him to be examined by flogging, to find out the reason for this outcry against him. 25 But when they had tied him up with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who is uncondemned?” 26 When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen.” 27 The tribune came and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” 28 The tribune answered, “It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.” Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.” 29 Immediately those who were about to examine him drew back from him; and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

Meditation

Paul’s speech comes to a screeching halt when he describes how the Lord directed him to go “far away to the Gentiles.” Drawn for a few minutes to quiet willingness to listen, the mob erupts again into rejection of Paul and his message. Even if the mob believe that they are “zealous for the law,” as Paul was willing to concede when he began his address, it is now revealed that what is really infuriating them is the assertion that Gentiles — “those people” — are to be brought into the promises of God. This is what started the violence, and now it is rekindled and redoubled. 

Maybe for some, it is true, though faulty, zeal for the law which fuels this reaction. But for others, their zeal masks a sense of superiority by birth over others and a need to cling to that superiority. Gentiles were quite successfully claiming social and cultural superiority over Jews all the time — for some of the crowd, this holy separation from the nations is possibly all they felt they had. 

Yet what Paul claims is not contrary to the law or to the identity of God’s people. Many times the great prophets spoke of a time when “the nations” would be drawn into the relationship with God that the Jews had. The promise began with Abraham himself when God asserted that “all nations” would be blessed through him. Almost in passing and easy to overlook, Paul stated that in his vision, the Lord had directed him, “Get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.” Years later, the situation has not changed, but this time Paul is not directed to flee but to bear testimony. May all of us be as faithful.

David Baumann is a published writer of nonfiction, science fiction, and short stories. In his ministry as an Episcopal priest, he served congregations in Illinois and California.

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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:

The Diocese of Jos – The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
Episcopal Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Marietta, Georgia

A Reading from Luke 6:27-38

27 “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; 28 bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. 29 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. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 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. 35 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. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 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.”

Meditation

Jesus’ way is a new way.

Yesterday’s lesson ended with Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, in which Jesus sharply contrasts the measures the world uses with the standards he sets up for the faithful to follow. Today’s lesson extends that teaching. In short, what Jesus says is this: If you do things the way the world does, “what benefit is that to you?” Commitment to Jesus means following a different standard altogether, and that standard is God’s. Disciples must “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” They are commanded to “love their enemies,” “bless those who curse them,” and “pray for those who abuse them.” They must not condemn others — even when those “others” have truly earned condemnation. 

Way down deep, the faithful are being invited and challenged to accept and live by a completely new standard. It is tough. If we take it seriously, we must answer these questions: Do you truly believe that God is merciful? Do you truly believe that love can overcome injustice and violence? Do you truly believe that the providence of God is more reliable than the security that possessions bestow? Are you truly willing to let God settle things in his own way and time rather than seek revenge, even if doing so would be just? Are you truly willing to see even the worst of human sinners as loved by God and hope for their redemption? Do you truly believe that doing all these things is ultimately the best thing for you? 

The teaching of Jesus is both compellingly attractive in a way unlike anything ever taught by anyone else anywhere at any time — and incredibly difficult. That’s why he describes it as a “treasure” for which one must sell everything that one has. And seeing it in this way is how our week began.

David Baumann is a published writer of nonfiction, science fiction, and short stories. In his ministry as an Episcopal priest, he served congregations in Illinois and California.

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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:

The Diocese of Johannesburg – The Anglican Church of Southern Africa
Saint Francis Ministries

A Reading from Luke 6:12-26

12 Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

17 He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

    for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now,

    for you will be filled.

“Blessed are you who weep now,

    for you will laugh.

22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23 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.

24 “But woe to you who are rich,

    for you have received your consolation.

25 “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.

26 “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Meditation

Choose to embrace belovedness.

Why are the naming of the Twelve and the Beatitudes side by side? Take a closer look, and the deep implications of these events come out. 

Before calling the Twelve, Jesus “went out to the mountain to pray” and “all night continued in prayer.” A mountain is one of the recognized sites of profound, revelatory encounter with God. Jesus selects the Twelve after this prayerful encounter, and the Twelve include “Jesus Iscariot, who became a traitor.” 

By being chosen, was Judas set up? Or did Jesus hope that Judas would remain faithful? But if Judas had not betrayed Jesus, how would the Great Sacrifice for the sins of the world have occurred? We can only guess, although guesswork about the inner life of Judas (or anyone else) is of minimal value. But we can be confident that if Judas had remained faithful, the Father’s will would have been done another way. There are plenty of places in the gospels that describe the fidelity of the Twelve, including Judas, and his fall at the end is a chilling warning to any disciple. Remember that when Jesus said, “One of you will betray me,” the Eleven didn’t look slyly at Judas; they asked, “Lord, is it I?” 

The Beatitudes are in a form different from that found in Matthew. In Luke, we have four blessings and four woes. They describe varied circumstances of life, along with faithful or unfaithful responses. The blessings are all about conditions the world looks down on: poverty, hunger, weeping, and being hated. And the woes are all about conditions the world honors: wealth, satiety, laughter, and having a good reputation. This is a challenge to the world, but also a pattern for those who would live as beloved, rejoicing in God rather than rejecting him, in all the mystery of life and human choosing.

David Baumann is a published writer of nonfiction, science fiction, and short stories. In his ministry as an Episcopal priest, he served congregations in Illinois and California.

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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:

Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, Wausau, Wisconsin
The Diocese of San Joaquin – The Episcopal Church

A Reading from Acts 21:15-26

15 After these days we got ready and started to go up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came along and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.

17 When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us warmly. 18 The next day Paul went with us to visit James; and all the elders were present. 19 After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 When they heard it, they praised God. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and they are all zealous for the law. 21 They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs. 22 What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. 24 Join these men, go through the rite of purification with them, and pay for the shaving of their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself observe and guard the law. 25 But as for the Gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our judgement that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.” 26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having purified himself, he entered the temple with them, making public the completion of the days of purification when the sacrifice would be made for each of them.

Meditation

Today’s lesson is a fitting follow-up to the passage from James we read last Sunday, about the searing damage done by the tongue. Christian leaders in Jerusalem welcome Paul and rejoice when he recounts God’s successes among the Gentiles. Then they tell Paul about the “thousands of believers among the Jews” who are “zealous for the law,” and who have been lied to regarding Paul’s teaching about circumcision. They have been told about you. A report of gossip. This is how Paul’s time in Jerusalem begins. 

The power of gossip to do harm cannot be underestimated. For gossip to be effective, it must be originated by people willing to betray others, but with no courage to come out of the shadows; then it must be believed by those who hear it (often with relish), and passed on. At the time of Paul’s visit to Jerusalem, “thousands” have believed gossip and passed on a lie. We can never know who started the rumor (though Christian Jewish believers vehemently opposed Paul in Galatia and Antioch, and never let up), but whatever the source, this gossip would bring about the violent assault on Paul in the temple, his arrest, his two-year confinement in Judea, his being sent to Rome in chains, and eventually his martyrdom. Gossip would kill that generation’s best apostle. 

How very easy it is for believers of that time, of every time, to receive and pass on gossip that is titillating, encourages smug self-righteousness, creates a bogus sub-community of “those who know,” and smears another person who is, of course, absent and undefended. Gossip deserves zero tolerance. It is damnable. Satan is “the father of lies” (John 8:44), but Jesus is “the truth” (John 14:6). Can it be clearer than that?

David Baumann is a published writer of nonfiction, science fiction, and short stories. In his ministry as an Episcopal priest, he served congregations in Illinois and California.

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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:

The Diocese of Jerusalem – The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and The Middle East
Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Longwood, Florida

A Reading from Luke 5:27-39

27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And he got up, left everything, and followed him.

29 Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others reclining at the table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

33 Then they said to him, “John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.” 34 Jesus said to them, “You cannot make wedding attendants fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise, not only will one tear the new garment, but the piece from the new will not match the old garment. 37 Similarly, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins and will spill out, and the skins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine but says, ‘The old is good.’”

Meditation

Jesus doesn’t erase distinctions. He reveals the lines of grace.

In this lesson are some familiar and customary boundaries and practices that Jesus, almost quietly, redefines. Or, maybe better put, he takes them to greater depths and shows the marvelous open secret that they hide. 

First there is the boundary between “Pharisees and teachers of the law” and “tax collectors and sinners.” When the former ask Jesus why he eats and drinks with the latter, he both affirms the boundary and redefines it. He contrasts “the healthy” with “the sick,” and “the righteous” with “sinners.” These are boundaries and definitions that the Pharisees and teachers of the law could understand and accept, but what makes Jesus’ distinction different is that the Pharisees consider sinners to be beyond hope — “This mob knows nothing of the law — there is a curse on them” (John 7:49) — while Jesus sees sinners as those who need help: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). 

Similarly, the Pharisees ask Jesus why his disciples do not fast — presumably according to the customs that the Pharisees follow. Jesus’ answer appeals not to a custom but to a person — namely, himself, as the bridegroom. That is, he puts the emphasis not on tradition or custom, but on the deeper reality of a relationship with the one about whom the traditions and customs were first established. 

There is no sense of tension or opposition in these lessons (though that is found in other encounters), but mere query. Jesus summarizes his answers in the teaching about patching a garment or storing new wine. Many chapters later, Jesus will mourn over Jerusalem (19:41-44), which brings into sharp focus what we see in today’s relatively peaceful encounters: in dedication to custom above all else, those who claim to be faithful show themselves to be willfully blind to the presence of the Messiah.

David Baumann is a published writer of nonfiction, science fiction, and short stories. In his ministry as an Episcopal priest, he served congregations in Illinois and California.

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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:

The Diocese of Jebba – The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
The Episcopal Diocese of West Texas