Look at Jesus: see God

 Morning: Psalms 1, 2, 3; Micah 7:1-7; Acts 26:1-23

Evening: Psalm 4, 7; Luke 8:26-39

Why learn about Jesus? After Jesus heals a man possessed by demons, the man wants to follow Jesus. It is easier to leave town with Jesus than to live - no longer possessed, but whole - in the very community that experienced his former wild behaviour. But Jesus sends him home to tell his family how much God has done for him. He does go home and, instead, tells them how much Jesus has done for him. Notice how, for the author of Luke’s Gospel, a new, radical possibility has emerged ... Look at Jesus: see God.

Your faith can help your children become themselves

Morning: Psalms 146, 147; Micah 6:1-8; I Corinthians 4:9-16

Evening: Psalms 11, 112, 113; Matthew 15:21-28

I discovered when my sons were grown that kids teased them because I was a priest. I think they felt ungrounded and vulnerable because I may not have shared my faith with them enough. The faith of the Canaanite woman who meets Jesus helps in her daughter’s healing. I am sure it is never too late to help our children heal the loss they suffered because we were cautious about sharing our faith with them. If we do that now (including our doubts and fears), it can only help them become more fully themselves, more whole. I will keep trying.

 

Pay attention to how you listen

 

Morning: Psalms 137, 144; Micah 5:1-14, 10-15; Acts 25:13-27

Evening: Psalm 104; Luke 8:16-25

“Pay attention to how you listen.” ... I never noticed this phrase in Luke’s Gospel before, which proves Jesus’s point! Sometimes, I think I know exactly what Jesus is saying, so I listen without care. But behind his words lie new understandings of our life and purpose here. Listening well to the Word sheds light on your path (Psalm 119:105). Jesus teaches: listen well before you act! Listen to others; learn from one another. Jesus’s family comprises those who “hear the Word of God and do it”. Before you act, give him time; listen to him again.

The company of women who risk following Jesus

Morning: Psalms 140, 142; Micah 3:9-4:5; Acts 24:24 – 25:12

Evening: Psalms 141, 143:1-11; Luke 8:1-15

Among Jesus’s followers are women: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Chuza and Susanna. For women to risk following him is shocking for Jesus’s culture. Yet his teaching takes root and bears fruit in the lives of women. Many cultures exclude women from leadership or significant roles in their societies, but Jesus calls women perhaps as much as he calls men, expecting their lives to bear fruit for God. Jesus’s own male-dominated culture does not celebrate female leadership any more than our culture does. However, both then and now, women are central figures in the Jesus movement, often “bearing fruit with patient endurance”.

 

Don’t give up on love: break the cycle of violence

Morning: Psalms 131, 132, 133; Micah 3:1-8; Acts 24:1-23

Evening: Psalms 134, 135; Luke 7:36-50

It must have been very wearying for Jesus that people would regularly criticize him whenever he did an act of kindness or grace ... like healing on the sabbath or declaring someone forgiven, or even eating with his critics! Basic goodness is devalued or mocked by those who behave without regard for others and who do not seem to care. But love does not give up. Love is powerful. You keep believing, even when others may abuse or persecute you, that love and grace and kindness will transform their hearts. When you break the cycle of violence, people change.

 

How did you expect God to act?

Morning: Psalm 119:145-176; Micah 2:1-13; Acts 23:23-35

Evening: Psalms 128, 129, 130; Luke 7:18-35

Here is the familiar human story ... We resist faith because God fails to fulfill our expectations. Jesus asks: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” People are disappointed that neither John the Baptist nor Jesus meets their expectations of how God ought to act. Many of us are at odds with God because God does not meet our expectations. We think we know what God should be like, or what God should do. Funny how for all our God-like knowing about how things ought to be, we ourselves still can’t quite get things right.

 

Tuesday October 6th - God’s compassion received >> a new creation

Morning: Psalms 121, 122, 123; Micah 1:1-9; Acts 23:12-24

Evening: Psalms 124, 125, 126, 127; Luke 7:1-17

Two stories demonstrate Jesus’s power over death. This is his purpose ... to bring life. Nobody asks Jesus to act here. He hears about the mortal illness of the centurion’s slave and cures him. He sees the widow whose son has died and raises him. Jesus’s compassion, which is the compassion of God, is life-giving. God’s compassion depends on nothing you do or do not do. It is freely offered. St. Paul says: “If anyone is in Christ, there is a New Creation.” All the centurion and the widow (and you) have to do is receive Jesus’s gift of compassion.