Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God, the Almighty; he was, he is and he is to come.
Apoc.4:8
In John's apocalyptic vision, four beasts cry out an ovation before God on his throne, defining who God is... holy and timeless.
As we near the end of the Church's year our gaze is led to end times. Scripture tries to describe the indescribable. It always comes back to God's holiness and timelessness. Death is defeated and never ending joy comes.
Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus come. Alleluia!
So if all that we have in common means anything to you, welcome him as you would me.
Phil.17
Paul, a prisoner in chains, writes to a wealthy convert, Philemon, a letter to accompany the return of a slave, Onesimus. What do a prisoner, a rich man and a slave have in common? Jesus Christ.
Jesus levels the playing field. A pauper and a king are each the same before Jesus. All mankind is greatly loved. This is as revolutionary today as it was two thousand years ago.
This truth is both a blessing and a responsibility. I am blessed knowing God has no favourites, that power and position hold no sway with him. I bear a responsibility to enact this truth in my relationships with every human being I meet, be he a prisoner, a rich man or a slave.
Jesus, help me treat all I meet today as you would treat them, with dignity, respect and love.
Saint Paul, please pray for me.
It seems that no one has come back to give praise to God, except this foreigner.’ And he said to the man, ‘Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.’
Lk.17:17-19
Jesus has healed ten lepers. Only one gives thanks. What is it that has truly saved the life of this leper? Not his healing, which will have only a temporary effect. It is his faith as shown by his gratitude.
An attitude of gratitude. What a great way to enter my day. Somehow gratitude makes the glass always appear half full. It's time to start counting my blessings.
"One, two, three up to infinity
I'd run out of numbers
Before I could thank You for everything
God, I'm still counting my blessings
For all that You've done in my life
The more that I look in the details
The more of Your goodness I find"
by Seph Schlueter
But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed...
Jn.2:22
Jesus has cleared the temple of people using it as a marketplace, reconcercrating it for worship. Then he reveals God is not found just in a physical building but within him, and that he is risen and alive.
That Jesus rose from the dead is central to my Christian Faith. As Saint Paul says, if this is not true then we of all people are to be most pitied.
But in fact Christ is risen. We are a resurrection people of joy and hope. Every day is Easter. Christ is risen, Alleluia!
Jesus, you are alive. Today I live in the joy of your resurrection.
‘The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.’
Lk:.6:8
Jesus tells a parable that at first appears to be encouraging me to be selfish. The key to my understanding of the parable lies in a word from Jesus in the last verse. Astute.
Astute: Having an ability to accurately assess situations or people and turn this to one's advantage.
Jesus sees astuteness as something to desire when dealing with other believers. This makes sense when remembering that the world Jesus calls me to, the world of "light", is the opposite of this present world. Instead of always looking for my own advantage, Jesus calls me to think of others first, to look for their advantage. I'm to be astute in calling forth good in others.
Jesus, this is hard. Help me intentionally step into the world of light and love others as I love myself.
So stand your ground, with truth buckled round your waist, and integrity for a breastplate...
Eph.6:14
Satan ultimately wants my heart. So does Jesus. Paul gives the perfect armour for guarding my heart. Integrity.
Integrity: The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. This reminds me of Jesus' description of people represented by the good soil in his parable of the sower of seeds. The good soil is people of noble and generous heart. You could say, people of integrity.
Jesus, let a noble and generous heart be my breastplate today.
He said to them, ‘Try your best to enter by the narrow door, because, I tell you, many will try to enter and will not succeed.
Lk.17:24
I'm reminded of Mrs Turpin's end-times vision in Flannery O'Connor's short story, Revelation.
"She saw the streak as a vast swinging bridge extending upward from the earth through a field of living fire. Upon it a vast horde of souls were tumbling toward heaven. There were whole companies of white trash, clean for the first time in their lives, and bands of black niggers in white robes, and battalions of freaks and lunatics shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs.
And bringing up the end of the procession was a tribe of people whom she recognized at once as those who, like herself and Claud, had always had a little of everything and the given wit to use it right…. Yet she could see by their shocked and altered faces even their virtues were being burned away."
I know I'm going to be shocked at who is ahead of me on the narrow road, the freaks and lunatics shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs. Their naked need is more honest and welcome in heaven than my forced piety.
