Mad Padre: Daily Devotional for Tuesday, 18 August, 2020

Prayers at Mid-day for Tuesday, 18 August, 2020 (Proper 20, Trinity10)

Invitatory

O God, make speed to save us.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.

Amen.

The Lord is our refuge and our strength: O come, let us worship.

Hebrew Scriptures (The Migration of Dan)

Judges 18.1-15

http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=464745338

Psalm

Psalm 124

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side

—let Israel now say—

if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,

when our enemies attacked us,

then they would have swallowed us up alive,

when their anger was kindled against us;

then the flood would have swept us away,

the torrent would have gone over us;

then over us would have gone

the raging waters.

Blessed be the Lord,

who has not given us

as prey to their teeth.

We have escaped like a bird

from the snare of the fowlers;

the snare is broken,

and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

Epistle

Acts 8.1-13

http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=464745554

Gospel

John 5.30-47

‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgement is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.

‘You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?’

Commentary (Father Michael)

We may think that “glory” is a somewhat outdated word (few people today seem to talk about “death or glory”, for example), but we as a society are certainly concerned with fame and prestige, which are almost the same thing as glory. I’ve worked in the army and in the university, and I’ve seen reputation in a large row of medals on someone’s chest, or in a distinguished academic chair and prestigious publications, and yet these things are no guarantee that the person with these accomplishments is anyone that you might want to know. The same, sadly, can be said of the church and of some clergy that I have known.

In today’s reading, Jesus notes that his glory (doxa in Greek, from which we get our word doxology) does not come from human reputations and opinions, but from his Father, “the one alone who is God”. Ironically, he says, while the people around him have plenty of human testimony (eg, from John the Baptist, from Moses and from the Hebrew scriptures) which all point to Jesus being who he says he is, they can’t or won’t make the connection. Consequently, Jesus says, such people have neither the presence of God or the love of God “in you”.

Today’s reading challenges us to ask, “what of Jesus do I have in me, in my thoughts, in my heart, and in my actions”? For me, a priest with a list of degrees and bookshelves that I can be sometimes overly fond of, this is a real question. Learning is fine, and biblical commentaries and theology books are great, but unless I can show that I have Jesus abiding in me, then I have missed the point.

Questions

Do you think that Jesus is abiding in you? If not, what can you do about it? What other questions come to mind in today’s passages?

Intercession

Let us pray in faith to God our Father, to his Son Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Spirit, saying, “Lord, hear and have mercy.”

For the Church of the living God throughout the world, let us ask the riches of his grace. Today we pray in the Anglican Communion Cycle of Prayer for the clergy and people of these Dioceses and for their bishops: Okinawa (Japan) The Rt Revd David Eisho Uehara, and Bukuru (Nigeria) The Rt Revd Jwan Zhumbes

In our Diocesan cycle, we pray for the clergy and people of St. Matthias, Bellwoods