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The intent of Pilgrim Processing is to provide commentary on the Daily Lectionary from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. The format for the comment is Old Testament Lesson first, Gospel, and Epistle with a portion of one of the Psalms for the day as a prayer at the end.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

13 January 2014


Anything we worship other than Yahweh is too small for worship.  He says, “Lift up your eyes on high and see…”  Look above all things to the creator of all things and there find something or actually, someone, worth worshipping.  When we worship and are in relationship with the One who is over all things, we can find the rest we need.  So long as we look to lesser things, we will always be subject to something greater, something unknowable, and we won’t find peace because something else controls those.  The world looks chaotic until you get high enough to see from God’s view that He has all things under His control.  We can’t know with specificity His plans but He gave us the general outline of them so that we can find our rest in Him, not in our knowledge or our end times charts and graphs but in the One who holds all things in His hands because He is everlasting.  Those who wait upon Him alone will indeed renew their strength, run and not grow weary, walk and not faint.  He is faithful and in Him all things cohere.

Jesus begins His ministry with the same message John had given, repent.  The change is that His message is that the time is fulfilled, the kingdom is at hand and the step after repentance is to “believe the Gospel.”  It would be a curious thing to be able to ask the people to whom this message was preached what they understood the Gospel to be.  Immediately, Jesus began to gather men to Himself as disciples and then to teach in the synagogue in Capernaum.  His teaching was astonishing in its power and because it had authority, an authority that comes from knowing the Law and its intent and interpretation perfectly.  The man with the demonic presence cries out in recognition of Jesus’ identity and power and in the deliverance, Jesus commands it with the same authority to come out without speaking.  People were beginning to wonder at the power of this man.

We are called in hope to Jesus but Paul’s prayer is that we would know what that hope is, not be deceived into believing it is something else.  That hope is related to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, not the hope of everything working out well in this life.  From an earthly perspective you will surely die, the hope to which you are called is the sure and certain hope of resurrection from the dead to life.  There is no promise in the New Testament that you can have it all in this life.  There is only the promise of something far more glorious that is ahead of us but that doesn’t mean this life doesn’t matter.  Paul worked with all his might for the spread of the Gospel, the understanding of this hope, and the understanding of what this life means now.  We have been freed from those littler hopes to a greater one that we can’t work to secure, it is already secure.  His power is greater than anyone imagined.


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