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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.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

11 February 2015


“Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.” Could these words be true in our day?  They are absolutely true.  Postmodernity denies truth as it is meant in the Bible is even possible.  We live in a world where truth is relative to a person and the idea of universal truth is thought laughable or dangerous.  To believe in the Bible as “the” truth is considered as not just objectionable but perhaps actionable at law.  It can be “a” truth or “my” truth but to speak as though it was “the” truth can be considered hate speech because it condemns some things that the world celebrates.  To depart from evil can be difficult and it can have not only societal but legal consequences as some have recently learned when they refused to bake cakes or work as photographers for gay weddings and then were penalized at law.  It is the world we live in and that world says there may be a price for pursuing righteousness as defined in the Bible.  The promise is that He is our redeemer.  Isaiah saw this redeemer and the redemption was in this life.  Jesus took on flesh and suffered for righteousness that we might have the ultimate vindication and redemption, eternal life.  Is that enough to encourage you to pursue and persevere in righteousness as He did?  It may be all you get, so you have to decide if it is enough.  Ask the early church.

The key question in this conversation is from Jesus, “What did Moses command you?”  Who gave the command concerning divorce that is at issue?  Moses.  When Jesus gives His answer He makes clear they are arguing from Moses while He is arguing from God, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’  We, the church have failed on this one.  We have failed to uphold marriage the way God sees it and intends it.  At best, we heard that infidelity might be grounds for divorce and made it into a principle that said it was absolutely grounds for divorce.  We have become hard-hearted just like the Israelites when it comes to marriage.  Repentance and forgiveness are not even considered any longer.  How committed are we really to marriage?

Paul talks about being ashamed a good bit in the first part of the letter to Timothy.  His arrest and imprisonment caused many, it seems, to abandon him just as the disciples abandoned Jesus when He was arrested.  We have become accustomed to a certain ease in our Christianity that allowed us to give nodding understanding to the suffering of Christians down the centuries and in those difficult places in the world today.  Is the church in the west prepared to suffer and to stand with Jesus when we no longer have a comfortable place?  We have had so much freedom and prosperity that we have lost our first love and chased after so many secondary things that when we no longer have these or any hope of them we lose our faith.  What is the hope in you that your faith is built upon?


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