2-28-20 - Devil May Care

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
There’s nothing like getting to the finish line. Whether we’re running a race or finishing chemo or turning in a final paper – to suddenly have the pressure lifted, know we’ve survived, be able to let down our guard, rest, recharge – it’s a wonderful feeling. So Jesus comes to the end of his trial period, knowing he’s prevailed. Matthew says angels came and waited upon him.

The reference to angels reminds us of the level of cosmic entity we’re dealing with when we talk about the devil. The New Testament is unequivocal about the existence of the devil, as was the early church, as the church has been for most of its history – witness our baptismal rites. But Christian tradition has never considered the devil God’s equal – he is among a sub-order of angelic beings. The Hebrew Bible talks about the devil as a fallen angel who turned against God in pride and rebellion. He is described as a tempter always seeking to draw humans away from God; as the Accuser and the Father of Lies.

Early Christian thinkers held that evil is the absence of good – evil is what you get where God is not. And the source of evil, in the Christian worldview, is the devil, or Satan. C.S. Lewis once said, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” Martin Luther likewise had a strategy, “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.” (He also said, “The best thing you can do is rap the Devil on the nose at the very start. Act like that man who, whenever his wife began to nag and snap at him, drew out his flute from under his belt and played merrily until she was exhausted and let him alone.”)

Because our story tells us that Christ has overcome the devil, we don’t have to be afraid. We want to be alert and wary about one who seeks to corrupt and harm us, but not give him attention we’re better off directing to God. As with a poisonous spider, you want to avoid its bite, but also know how to deal with its venom. We have been given the antidote – the mercy and forgiveness of the Father; the comfort and advocacy of the Spirit; the power and love of Christ in us.

Today, let’s thank God for providing us protection from this ancient enemy. If you ever feel threatened, you can pray your way through Ephesians 6, putting on the full armor of God. It was always God’s fight, not ours, and Jesus has won it. As Luther wrote, in the great hymn A Mighty Fortress:

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us.
We will not fear for God has willed his truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure; One little Word shall fell him.

That Word is Jesus, the name that frightened demons back to hell. It is the only defense we need, whenever we feel ourselves under spiritual attack: the name of Jesus, who lives in us. He's still winning.

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2-27-20 - Power

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

Who has more real power – the president or the chief of staff? The CEO or the COO? The don or the consiglieri? In the third temptation, the devil is willing to put Jesus in charge of all the kingdoms of the world – as long as he acknowledges him as the real power behind the scenes:

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

This strikes me as a really dumb temptation – didn’t the devil know that Jesus had no interest in temporal power? Of course, Jesus, who held more divine power than any other human being, was even less interested than most in world domination. He cared more about demonstrating the power to be gained in giving away your prerogatives and your life.

There are at least three ways to wield power. There's “power over,” when we have dominion over others, and use it to control them. There is “power under,” an indirect form of power taken by those who use their sacrifices and victimhood to try to control others. And then there's the kind of power Jesus wielded, what I would call “power with.” This comes from a true sense of who we are, joined with an awareness of the power of God alive in us, so that we can use power in a way that empowers others to do the same.

As we read the Gospels, we see Jesus constantly empowering people who had been robbed of power, whether by the Romans, by the religious authorities, by illness or prejudice or poverty. This was ultimately what made him such a threat to those who thought they had power over him. It’s what made him such a threat to the Evil One – because Jesus is still alive, still in the business of empowering us. And empowered, we can resist evil.

When you look at your life, what kind of power is most often at play in your relationships, in your work, in your health? Are there things and people you’d like to dominate?
Are there things and people whose thumb you feel you are under? Neither is a good position to be in.
Are there ways you employ “power with” in a way that allows you to be true to yourself, true to God, and empowers others to be the same?

This is part of what it means to participate in God’s mission to bring wholeness to the world – when everyone exercises “power with,” the power of Good overwhelms the power of evil. Poor devil really never had a chance.

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2-26-20 - Security

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

On the face of it, this devil’s bargain is for the birds:  Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Who on earth would toss himself off a high tower and see if God will protect him? Nobody sane... And yet, don’t we take lesser risks with big consequences? “Sure, texting while driving is dangerous, but I can handle it…” “Sure, the doctor said if I keep on getting fries with everything I’m headed for quadruple bypass, but what I eat today is okay…” Or how about: “Sure, the ozone layer’s thinner and I need to wear sunscreen now, but it’ll be alright this once…”

Feeling safe and protected is important to most of us. Yet the further away dangerous consequences are, the more risks we seem to take. Is this one of the ways we fall prey to the temptations of the Enemy? After all, Christians claim that the devil desires to draw us away from the love of God. God is often the first one we blame when bad things happen, because we forget human complicity, and because we may believe we have an unspoken contract with God guaranteeing our protection. Dig yours out of the file and check it – God never signed it. God promises us presence and power and peace in all circumstances, not protection.

I understand how facile this might sound in light of people fleeing for their lives, or mourning a daughter shot dead at her school; I don’t undervalue the very real desire for life and safety. I share it. I just try to remember there’s a bigger story. When security becomes our objective, we often try to get it for ourselves, turning away from God’s provision. And why not, if God hasn’t promised to protect us!

Because there’s a deeper gift in the relationship we gain when we decide to trust God with all that we cannot control. This temptation to Jesus is really about trying to control our circumstances. What’s high on that list for you? Can you in prayer today entrust – to the extent you’re able – the people and things you value most to God’s care? Because we can’t keep them safe from everything, and because we trust in God’s love? See how far you can extend your trust today, and then come back another day and see if you can stretch a little further in yielding control.

As we live into the fullness of our identities as beloved of God and chosen in Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, we can move past a focus on security and live from an eternal perspective. From that vantage point, though what happens in this life matters a great deal, and when others are hurt, we hurt, we also see that this life is not the end of all things. Rather, for Christ followers, it is the beginning, the training zone, the love lesson.

That perspective doesn’t change our circumstances; it can transform the way we live them. Not a bad reminder on a day when many of us will hear the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

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2-25-20 - Hunger

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

Here’s the understatement of the New Testament:
“He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished.”

After Jesus’ forty days and nights of fasting and prayer, and perhaps other temptations we don’t know about, the devil brings on the big guns. Logically, he begins with the most obvious area of need – physical hunger: “The tempter came and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.' But he answered, 'It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

I don’t think Jesus refused because he wasn’t hungry, nor because his power didn’t extend to the physical world – at other times, he easily wields power over molecules, plants and animals. My guess is he was unwilling to use his spiritual power on a party trick, or to prove his identity. That power in him – which, by faith, is also in us, when we but trust it – is connected to the will of the Father. Maybe Jesus was unwilling to try to bend the will of God to this end for an audience and a purpose so unworthy of it.

Once again, the temptation begins with an attempt to undermine the target’s sense of self: “If you are the Son of God…” Jesus is too smart to fall for it. We aren’t always so confident. If we remembered who we are, and whose we are as beloved sons and daughters of the Living God, we might not be so prone to take matters into our own hands or fall into patterns destructive to ourselves and others.

Our appetites are an area in which we are most vulnerable to making choices that are not life-giving. Let’s take stock of how our perceived need for some things can become distorted and cause us to turn away from the Life of God and toward things we think will fill us. In "some things” I include food, alcohol, sex, work, screen time, relationships, affirmation, importance, power, accomplishment… even exercise can become excessive if our motives are unhealthy.

It’s not the “what,” or even the “how much,” so much as it is “why do I need this,” and “how much of my energy goes to craving this, securing it, consuming it?” If this is an area of distorted need in our lives, we'll tend to feel somewhat empty as soon as we've finished that cycle.

How do we interrupt the cycle when it hits us? We might use Jesus’ words – “One does not live by               alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” We might ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with God’s presence so we don’t hunger for things that can’t fill us. (I will try this at the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper tonight when the abundance of delicious carbs and fats lures me to excess!) We might ask Jesus to sit with us and give us his peace.

We might even dare to sit with our hunger or desire or need and not rush to fill that empty place. Sometimes we need to feel the feelings that come from that emptiness. Certainly our Good News tells us that God shows up in pretty amazing ways in empty spaces.

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2-24-20 - Temptation

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

Every first Sunday in Lent our Gospel reading tells of Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. This year it’s Matthew’s version, which begins simply: "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished."

This event comes right on the heels of Jesus’ baptism, a high point followed immediately by a trial. Couldn’t he have basked awhile in his anointing by the Spirit, in the Father’s affirmation of him as beloved? Or was this necessary to prepare Jesus for his mission to make known to the world the power and love of God, to reconcile humanity to the God from whom we had become estranged? Did he need toughening up? Did the Son of God have to prove his sinlessness? Did he need to get to know his adversary?

We’ll get into Jesus’ skirmishes with the tempter this week. Today, let’s talk about temptation. How does it work, and why are we vulnerable? We have a “root story” to explain it, the story of First Man and First Woman in the Garden of Eden. In this ancient mythic story woven to explain the disconnect between Creator and creation, we see some classic temptation tricks wielded to great effect:

1. Divide and conquer. The tempter doesn’t approach both humans – he starts with the woman.
2. Distort reality. The serpent asks the woman, “Did God say not to eat of any tree?,” when God had said they could eat of every tree, except one.
3. Undermine your target’s sense of identity. When the serpent contradicts God’s instructions, he causes the woman to question God’s goodness and authority and her place in that relationship.
4. Make disobedience appealing. They likely would not have flouted God’s instructions for a wormy, overripe piece of fruit.
5. Get an accomplice. The woman is quick to invite the man to join her transgression, and he puts up no fight.

This is how temptation works, whether in life or in advertising. If we want to stay grounded in the goodness and love we are offered as children of God and followers of Christ, we’d do well to get hip to the wiles of the evil one and say, “No thanks,” when temptation comes our way. Of course, that's a little over-simplified, and sometimes the temptation seems to originate in our own hearts and minds. That’s a mystery for another day – and the rest of our lives.

Today, let’s think through the last time we yielded to temptation to do, say or think something not in our best interest or harmful to another, whether it was eating more than we needed or passing along a tidbit of gossip, or indulging in some judgment about someone (remember how broadly Jesus defined sin!). Break down the process; where might you tighten your defenses? And think of a time when you resisted and stayed true to yourself and your hopes.

The point of this exercise is not to feel bad about ourselves. We are vulnerable because we are alive and have been given the gift of free will, to choose, and choose, and choose again. As we become more aware of how temptation works on us, we are able to develop strategies for resisting it.

The most important strategy of all is to remember that we are beloved of God, and that God doesn’t turn away from us no matter how often we stumble. God’s forgiveness and mercy abound. That’s the best defense of all.

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2-21-20 - Perfected

This week we focus on the gospel for the 7th Sunday in Epiphany instead of Last Epiphany (here is a link to that Friday in 2017 if you want to follow that thread.) You can listen to this reflection here.

We end the week with the kicker: "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Is Jesus is kidding or indulging in hyperbole? Or is he is gently nudging his followers both into aspiration and reality? He’s asked them (and us) to yield to people trying to control us, open ourselves to people trying to hurt us, give to people trying to take from us, and love people who hate us. And, in case we want to feel better about how we measure up by comparing ourselves to others, he says that’s too easy – even tax collectors and “gentiles” know how to love their own kind. No, he says, if you want to compare yourself to anyone, compare yourself to your Father in heaven – don’t stop till you’re perfect.

Our yardstick might be too short, but isn’t his a little … impossible? How on earth can we be perfect as God is perfect? Well, a raw egg doesn’t get soft-boiled in a moment, right? It takes minutes to achieve perfect consistency. We become perfect as God is perfect, one moment, one decision, one day at a time.

The throughline I discerned in these teachings of Jesus, all of which concern how we interact with other people, especially ones who cause us trouble, is to always look out for the humanity, the individuality of others. Seeds of Peace is an organization that began by bringing Israeli and Palestinian children together for summer camps. When campers came face to face with the “Other” and found they were children like themselves, barriers began to break down. As U2 sings in Invisible, “There is no them, there is no them, there’s only us… there’s only you, there’s only me.”

We can cultivate the spirit Jesus asks of his followers one person at a time. Jesus wouldn’t have asked it of us, were he not planning to equip us.

I have heard grace explained this way: Because of what Christ accomplished for us on the cross, and because we are united with Christ, when the Father looks at us it is Christ's righteousness he sees, projected onto us. In Christ, then, we are already perfect. We spend this life living into what that means, bringing that spiritual reality into the reality of the here and now.

In prayer today ask God to show you who it is God sees when s/he looks at you. Let’s try to catch a glimpse of the perfection that is already ours, even as we slowly realize it.

We can cultivate the spirit Jesus asks of his followers one person at a time. Jesus wouldn’t have asked it of us, were he not planning to equip us. Elsewhere Jesus remarks, “With humans it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.” Even being perfect.

Especially being perfect. In the fullness of time and relationship, so our promise goes, all is being perfected. Even us. Imagine that.

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2-20-20 - Xtreme Love

This week we focus on the gospel for the 7th Sunday in Epiphany instead of Last Epiphany (here is a link to that Thursday in 2017 if you want to follow that.) You can listen to this reflection here.

“Love your enemies,” Jesus says. Sure. If we do everything else Jesus said, we won't have any. We will love everyone equally, no matter what they do for or against us. Yikes!

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.”

This is one of the hardest of all Jesus’ challenging teachings. Or is it? It comes with its own E-Z-Bake instructions – “Pray for those who persecute you.” That is something we can do, no matter how much we fear or loathe someone. We can always pray for them. And that often results in a big change of perspective. Many enemies have become allies through that kind of prayer. Why? Because it re-humanizes them.

“Enemy” is a label, and labels tell only part of the truth. The person who may in real life be our personal or national enemy is also a son or daughter, a friend to someone, good at some things and lousy at others – in other words, a flesh and blood person. And Paul reminds us that our fight is “not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers of this dark world.” Even when that flesh and blood person means us very real flesh-and-blood harm.

In our polarized climate, the idea of “the enemy” is alive and well, constantly fanned by strident fundraising emails and social media posts. Christ-followers are called to a higher standard. That means that, horrified and disgusted as I am at, say, climate change deniers, or people who gun down teenagers for playing loud music and hide beyond “Stand Your Ground” laws to excuse murder, I am not to see them as the enemy. I am to see them as people in the grip of evil – and thus to pray for them.

And more: I am supposed to find a way to love them. Not what they represent, not what they do, but the human being underneath all the lies and distortions. Ouch.

Jesus says it’s too easy to love the ones we find easy to love. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others?”

Let’s go for it today: Think of a person or kind of person you consider an enemy or close to it. In your imagination, envision them surrounded by the light of Christ. Ask God to bless that person, and to show you a glimpse of the humanity you’re having trouble seeing. If it’s difficult, imagine sitting next to Jesus and bringing that person into the room, to sit between you on a couch or something. What do you feel or say? Sit with it a while.

We who walk with Jesus need to develop our capacity to love. Those muscles don’t get much of a workout with people we naturally care for. Let's consider this command “extreme fitness” training. If we can love those whom we truly loathe, we will have learned to love in a way that God can use. And believe me, God will use us.

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. The readings for next Sunday (Last Epiphany, which we are not reflecting on in Water Daily this week) are  here.

2-19-20 - The Extra Mile

This week we focus on the gospel for the 7th Sunday in Epiphany instead of Last Epiphany (here is a link to that Wednesday in 2017 if you want to follow it.) You can listen to this reflection here.

What on earth was Jesus up to. It’s one thing to preach radical submission to the will of God; quite another to command submission to other people: 

“…And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.”

For anyone who’s been forced to do anything, the instruction to go further, to give even more, to satisfy every demand – it’s challenging, to say the least. Troubling, baffling. Having read the description of one man’s experience as a POW at the mercy of the Japanese during the Bataan Death March, it is hard to find grace in those words.

And what about what comes next: 

“Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.” 

Anyone who’s lived in a city with many people begging will question that wisdom.

A natural response to these instructions is, “But when does it stop? Am I supposed to go forever at someone else’s whims? Give till I have nothing left?” Well, Jesus kind of did… Okay, and maybe he’s exaggerating again, to make a point. But where does that leave us?

Maybe that’s the wrong question. What if our response to this seemingly unreasonable command is not to throw up our hands and say, “What about me?” What if rather we put ourselves in the shoes of the person demanding something of us? Not to lose ourselves – to gain ourselves; to take mastery by choosing to yield. As we train ourselves to be other-directed in our interactions, we might find the giving becomes motivated by compassion for the other, even if that other is trying to control or manipulate us.

There’s more than one way to choose not to be a victim. We can resist. Or comply – by our own choice, even against our own benefit, because we want healing for the other person. I don't think Jesus was talking about situations of pathology or abuse. And yet… and yet, I suspect this is what Jesus was getting at: to value the other above yourself. It's the choice we see him make repeatedly, power in weakness. And remember that thing He also said – “When you feed/clothe/ visit/give to the least of these, you have done so for me?” Can we look for him in the beggar, in the one driving us on?

How do we pray into today’s reading? Like yesterday, bring to mind anyone whom you feel is forcing you to do more than you want to – at work, at church, at home, in a relationship. Ask God to show you something about what motivates that person to try to control others. Maybe see the woundedness that drives the behavior. Then pray for them, and ask God to guide your response. Maybe you go an extra mile, maybe you don’t – respond with the Spirit’s guidance, not on your own.

Similarly, pray about your giving and your lending. Elsewhere Jesus says, when you lend, do it without expectation of return. So then it’s a gift, and a blessing. Who are you being called to bless at this time? Can you find joy in that gift?

The expression, “If it were easy, everyone would be doing it…” comes to mind right about now. The Way of Jesus is not easy, and often counter-intuitive. It has also been for many the Way to true life, the kind of life he said we’d gain when we are willing to lay our prerogatives aside and live for him. Aren't we lucky to have so many people to practice with?

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. The readings for next Sunday (Last Epiphany, which we are not reflecting on in Water Daily this week) are  here.

2-18-20 - Giveaway Gospel

This week we focus on the gospel for the 7th Sunday in Epiphany instead of Last Epiphany (that’s always the Transfiguration, and I have 7 years’ worth of posts on it; here is a link to that Tuesday in 2017.) We need more to hear what Jesus said about loving our enemies. You can listen to this reflection here.

“…And if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well.” Imagine a group of people standing in deep winter, shivering away without coat or cloak to warm them. Asked why they are coatless, they answer, through chattering teeth, “Because Jesus said so…”

Okay, so we’re not supposed to fight back when attacked, and we’re just supposed to roll over when taken for all we’re worth? Did Jesus mean us, or just his first century disciples?

How are we to interpret this teaching in our materially laden lives? It’s easy enough to say, “Inventory your closet and get rid of everything you don’t really need. How many sweaters do you own? How many pairs of shoes? How many coats?” I defend my overstuffed closet because I shop less, leaving more monetary resources for charity, right? Works for me…

Let’s go deeper, though. What does it mean to us to not protect our “stuff,” even our bank accounts and insurance policies? Jesus was inviting his followers into a radical dependence upon God’s provision, something he repeatedly demonstrated for them in multiplying scarce resources. I believe Jesus also invites us to sit more loosely to our material goods, to enjoy bounty when we have it, and trust in God's “enough” when we feel short.

Some of the poorest people in the continental United States live in South Dakota, on Lakota Indian reservations. And at most major life occasions – weddings, funerals, pow-wows – a family will host a give-away. They will give away whatever they must to ensure that everyone there receives something, from hand-made star quilts to leftover containers. They’re not giving it away because they have so much. They’re giving it away because the values of hospitality, generosity, and community matter more than having enough.

Perhaps many of us make an unspoken agreement with God – “I will give voluntarily to charities of my choice, and you won’t ask me to part with more than I want to give." We might ask in prayer whether God signed on to that agreement. Are we willing to let the Spirit guide our relationship with our goods? The more we can do that, the more we let the Spirit guide our doing good.

I can’t preach the “give it all away” gospel – which I do believe Jesus was preaching – because I can’t live it. Yet. I am a work in progress. That doesn’t free me from continuing to live into Jesus’ invitation to freedom from need, and radical generosity. Here’s a prayer I can start with:

I can reflect once a week or once a month on all that I have more than enough of – home, clothes, funds, furniture, insurance, stuff… and give thanks. That might take awhile! And then to ask Jesus to show me who might be asking for some of what I have… and imagine in prayer handing that over to someone who needs it. See how that feels in prayer, and then maybe take it into action.

Then we can ask Jesus to give us the joy of blessing someone who needs something we have more than enough of. And trust in the “enough” of the One who gave it all away for us.

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. The readings for next Sunday (Last Epiphany, which we are not reflecting on in Water Daily this week) are  here.

2-17-20 - Don't Fight Back

This week I will focus on the gospel for the 7th Sunday in Epiphany instead of Last Epiphany (that’s always the Transfiguration, and I have 7 years’ worth of posts on it. Here is a link to that Monday in 2017.) In our times, we need more to hear what Jesus said about loving our enemies. You can listen to this reflection here. 

In the part of Jesus’ training talk we explored last week, he was expanding on existing commandments. This next portion shows him going beyond existing law to interpretations so radical, I imagine at least some of his listeners said, “Is this guy nuts? I’m outta here.” Some of Jesus’ would-be followers in every generation since have said that when confronted by the dissonance between what Jesus taught and how “the world works.” “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:8)

As we wade in, let's remember that Jesus was introducing his followers to life in a realm wholly other than this present world we perceive with our senses. This “kingdom” life of God for which he was preparing them is both contiguous with the sense-known world, and is its own realm, perceivable by faith. It’s as though he is explaining how things work in, say, Indonesia, what laws you need to know to live there. We can decide whether or not to go – but if we want to follow Jesus, that’s where we’re going, and we need to learn the ways of that place, the Life of God.

The first law he offers is: Don’t fight back. 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also…”

How are we to live in this world if we just accept attacks and don’t respond? What about self-defense? What about victims of abuse? I don’t hear Jesus saying you can’t defend yourself, or those you love. But I do hear him ruling out retaliation, which is hard enough for us on a human level.

Beyond those questions, I sense an invitation to go deeper in conflicted situations, to respond in a counter-intuitive way, not meeting aggression with force, but with manoeuvers that use the attacker’s force, the way certain martial arts moves work. Or the classic, opening a door someone’s trying to force open, so they fall into the room. Jesus’ battle with Satan can be viewed in that light.

Jesus sets a higher goal: the transformation of our attackers. As frightening as that prospect may be, we have stories in our own time of quite extraordinary courage resulting in even more amazing outcomes. Remember the story of Ashley Smith, the Georgia woman taken captive by a fugitive on trial for rape. Despite the risk, she managed to reach his humanity by being human herself, making him eggs, reading to him from The Purpose-Driven Life, sharing her own story of transformation and healing with him. (Here is a transcript of Smith’s whole story – truly amazing.)

I pray none of us is faced with circumstances that traumatic. But I imagine we’ve all been hurt at some points in our lives, and faced the choice whether or not to retaliate. Are there some times when you did? Any times when you were aware of making a different choice? Are you faced with circumstances in your life today, where that choice is before you, whether to hit back or to absorb and transform?

One way we can choose to not resist evildoers is to ask the Holy Spirit to be right there with us when we feel attacked. In the Spirit’s power we might even see those who oppose us with compassion, even pray for their wholeness. Who knows what marvels God might work with such a prayer.

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. The readings for next Sunday (Last Epiphany, which we are not reflecting on in Water Daily this week) are  here.

2-14-20 - God's Funny Valentine

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

Water Daily has been hard going this week. I suspect Jesus’ first century audience had as much trouble interpreting his training talks as we do in the twenty-first. As love letters go, these don’t soar.

Yet I do believe these teachings are given in love, as was the God-in-Man who offered them – God’s “funny valentine” to the world. The prophet Isaiah's words, so often thought to prefigure Christ, say, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him… [Yet] he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” 

Okay, so it’s not quite “Your looks are laughable, unphotographable, yet you’re my favorite work of art…” – but work with me…

If Jesus is God’s ultimate love letter to his creation, Jesus’ life and teachings are his love letter to those who would call themselves his followers. And Jesus could hardly love us without instructing us how we are to live in the new life he ushers us into, the God-Life he called the “kingdom of heaven,” anymore than we bear children into this world and expect them to just figure out how to live in it. As we teach our children, so Jesus teaches his followers.

Here it’s about truth and integrity: 

"Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all… Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one."

This teaching seems to need less “unpacking” than others this week – it’s pretty straightforward. Let your word stand for something. Don’t bear false witness against others, or yourself, by saying one thing and doing another. Don’t swear oaths – just let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No” be “No.” Ah, what a nice world it would be if everyone did that simple thing. But so often we seem to feel the need to hide behind falsehoods, small and large.

Never mind for now the cover-ups for major infractions. How about the little white lies, the need to tell people what we think they want to hear instead of what’s honestly in our minds; the need to embellish our resumes as we speak, or to engage in people-pleasing like promising to attend an event or do a task that we’re not sure we’re going to follow through on. What is the remedy for these kinds of responses?

It goes back to love. The key is to stand firm in our belovedness. When we are rooted in our belovedness before God, that fills the picture, and there is less room for shame or insecurity or a desire to control, all those feelings that cause us to say one thing and do another.

Valentine’s Day is a good day to reflect on how loved you are – you might list the people who love you, and meditate on the ways you experience God’s love in your life. You might list the people whom you love, and why. Love is a lot broader than romantic connection, sweet as that is when it happens.

Love is the code in which the holy, wholly Other God communicates with God’s creation, including hard-headed creatures like us. The better we learn that code, and how to communicate in it, the truer we will be, in every sense.

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2-13-20 - Divorced From Reality?

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

Jesus’ teaching on divorce should come with a trigger warning; it's hard for people who've been divorced, especially due to domestic abuse, hear Jesus equate divorce with adultery. This is part of a bigger point he was making, and he's not being nuanced: 

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." 

Great! In a nation where some half of all marriages end in divorce, where many find themselves in more mature and even godly relationships in a second marriage, what do we say to this? “Get with the times, Jesus?” Do we ignore this teaching, which goes beyond even the stringent codes of the Mosaic law? And can we ignore this and other challenging teachings without undermining our trust in Jesus’ authority?

He was telling his would-be disciples that part of the discipline of following him would mean faithfulness. And guess what? Even though they walked and talked with Jesus for three years, they weren’t always so faithful. They may have stayed faithful to their marriages, but not always to him, or to each other. It doesn’t mean the standard wasn’t there – it means they failed to meet it. Jesus did not reject them. I don’t believe he rejects us when we fail, either.

Yes – this standard for marriage matters; anyone who’s been through the pain of a broken relationship will tell you that. But it cannot be isolated from all the other areas of sin and pain and failure we endure and inflict, all of which we are invited to bring before the loving, judging eye of the God who made and redeemed us.

So, is divorce sinful or is it forgivable? Yes. There can be no absolute answer – choose one, and you end up condemning someone who has suffered deeply, either because they have divorced, or because they haven’t. Sin is sin and humans are humans. And God is bigger and more powerful than all of it.

And that might be the point of this whole teaching, as Jesus so widens the standards of sinfulness no one can escape. If we are as liable for what we think and feel as what we do, we all have to admit we stand in need of redemption. The man whose teaching here seems so harsh is the same man who reminded a crowd about to execute an adulterous woman that they should feel free to cast stones only if they themselves were without sin. Who among us could in good conscience pick up a stone?

Today we might pray about times when we have been hurt or affected by the dissolution of a marriage. Perhaps the wound is still fresh, even many years later – divorce has that kind of power to hurt and keep hurting. We cannot give ourselves to another with all the hopefulness that marriage entails and remain unscathed when that hope dies, even if new life arises from the ashes. So pray for those involved. Pray for the grace to forgive if you need to. Imagine each person blessed by God.

And ask how you can support marriages you know to be difficult or shaky. More than two people are responsible for a marriage – it is meant to be carried in community. When a marriage fails, so has the community. So even people who are single are involved in the enterprise of marriage.

Divorce reveals a failure of love. There is a gap we can help fill, to pour our love into the void, to bring healing and wholeness, in concert with the God whose love goes beyond death, into life.

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2-12-20 - Lust In Our Hearts

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

Jimmy Carter caught a lot of flak back in 1976, when he confessed to two Playboy reporters that, while he had remained faithful to his marriage vows, he had looked on women with lust and “committed adultery in my heart.”  He was just quoting Jesus: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Here again, Jesus says that what we think and feel matters spiritually as much as our outward behavior does.

What’s so bad about lust, which often comes unbidden, before we can even think about it? Well, it depends on how you define it. “Lust” as the church understands it is not the same thing as a desire to be intimate with another person. It is a desire that objectifies another, that – here’s that word again – temporarily dehumanizes someone so s/he becomes for us a source of gratification and not a full person with his or her own story, gifts and needs.

Adultery is sexual and emotional intimacy with someone other than your committed partner. It need not always be defined by lust – in some ways, fully emotional relationships can be more damaging adulterous attachments, because they require one to break trust with another, and necessitate lying to people one loves, risking harm to whole families and communities. As natural as it may be to love more than one person intimately, Jesus upholds fidelity as a higher calling.

Fine - but does Jesus really suggest we’re better off dismembered than being led by our physical appetites? I believe he exaggerates to make a point: We are best able to give and receive love, to know and be known, when our focus is on the love of God. If a person or thing becomes the source of what we think we need, be it sexual, emotional, or ego gratification, we turn away from the Source of love. We worship the object. Our culture places romantic and sexual love on a pedestal and devalues the difficult, day in, day out work of being real and generous in a committed relationship, letting yourself be fully known. Jesus wants his followers to love this way, to be nurtured in authentic relationships that model the love of God.

Today let’s inventory our relationships – the intimate ones, and the more distant ones. Is there anyone from whom you want something? Not necessarily lustfully – sometimes we want others to make us feel better about ourselves, or to keep us from being lonely or meet other needs.

Can you see that person apart from what they can do for you? Can you see her or him as a fellow child of God? Can you offer your desire or need in prayer, asking God how God would provide for you? Can you want something for him or her instead of from? That's a good place for prayer today.

It is ironic to read this gospel during Valentine’s Day week. Marriage does not represent the fullness of God’s revelation – but at its best it is an icon of God’s love, a transforming power that crosses boundaries of otherness to know and be known. That alone is reason to allow the Spirit to make us faithful, in our hearts as well as our bodies.

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2-11-20 - Sticks and Stones

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Who else grew up on that misguided little ditty? It denies the truth that hurtful words can cause deeper, longer-lasting wounds, and suggests that using words to inflict pain doesn’t have real consequences, to perpetrator or victim. Jesus says otherwise: “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; ...But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool’, you will be liable to the hell of fire."

Whoa, Nellie! Is Jesus really saying that insulting someone is on a par with murder? Invective tossed around in anger is a form of violence? Calling someone an idiot is like killing them? Thank God Jesus isn’t on social media… or in politics!

When we insult or libel another person, we temporarily dehumanize them, not honoring them as a fellow child of God, created for life, redeemed in love. I know that when I have been the target of scorn, gossip, or harsh criticism, I have felt “un-selfed.” That’s what we do when we ridicule or insult another – we un-self them. That is a kind of death-dealing, and it causes deep spiritual injury. It may not be actionable in a court of law, but Jesus wants his followers to go beyond the law to its heart.

Jesus suggests that we too are damaged when we use words as weapons. We usually do that out of a feeling of anxiety or powerlessness, to feel elevated as we run someone else down. But it also diminishes us, and renders us less whole, less fully who God made us to be. Those who would follow Christ cannot be complacent about this area of sin.

If we seek to be reconciled with God (“So when you offer your gift at the altar…”) while in a state of estrangement with people in our lives (“if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you…”), we need to face that and deal with it, restoring them and us to our full humanity in full humility: "Leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.”

Elsewhere, Jesus offers a process for such reconciliation. Today, let’s keep it simple. Is there anyone in your life who causes you anger, annoyance, anxiety? Sit quietly in prayer and let those names and faces float up in your mind's eye. And then pray for them to be blessed beyond measure. Yes, blessed with all the fullness of God’s blessing. Think about it – if they’re blessed, you benefit too. And it’s a way to begin to move toward forgiving them, if that is called for.

And is there anyone whom you have injured with words to or about them? Even words you’ve only thought? They’re toxic enough in our own minds. Can you pray for that person to be blessed and ask them for forgiveness? If that seems impossible, play it out in your imagination first, going to see them with Jesus at your side. What do you say? What do they say? What does Jesus say?

Being critical and sarcastic takes so much energy; loathing another even more. Think what God can do through us and for us when we yield that space to the Holy Spirit. When all our interactions are life-giving, our lives will bear the fruit of such abundant peace, it can only spill over to the people around us.

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2-10-20 - When Good News Sounds Bad

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

This is one of those weeks when I question my “ordering principle” for Water Daily, to reflect on the following Sunday’s appointed Gospel passage. This week's isn’t much fun. As Jesus continues training his new disciples, he seems to set standards for them more stringent even than the Mosaic Law. He looks at the commandments against murder, adultery, divorce and perjury and ratchets up the penalties for merely being in the vicinity of such sins. Or does he?

Why is Jesus so hard on his new recruits – and by extension, later followers like us? Might it be the old drill sergeant tactic – break down your troops as you prepare to rebuild them stronger? I don’t know if this is what Jesus was up to – but he did know they would face a lot of suspicion and adversity. They needed to be focused and strong. So do we, facing indifference and complacency.

Or is Jesus pruning? At the end of his time with these disciples, Jesus will say, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:1-2) The teaching Jesus gives here, harsh as it sounds, reflects the priorities of that Master Gardener who desires that we bear good fruit.

Jesus is also driving home a point he has already made – that the ways of this world and the ways of God’s Kingdom, or God-Life, are not the same. Those who would be Christ-followers need to learn how God thinks and what God requires. Remember what Jesus said just before this: “…unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

When Jesus talks about entering the “Kingdom of heaven,” he is not talking about heaven as a place we go when we die. He is talking about the God-Reality that is already around us, here and now, which he came to demonstrate and open a door into. That is what Jesus was about. He’s not being punitive here; he is simply stating truth: Those who would learn to dwell in God-Life need to be able to perceive things the way God does. His followers need to go beyond the behavior the Law demands, to reflect a heart yielded to God.

What Jesus is offering is discipline, as a trainer or a coach does. The question for us is, Do we want to be disciples, those who take on a discipline? Do we want to be trained? Do we want to bear fruit?

Here’s my prayer suggestion for today, before we launch into Jesus’ tough teaching: Let’s get in touch with the love of God that has us reading this reflection on a Monday morning in the first place. Get centered as best you can, and invite the Holy Spirit to fill you with love, to surround you with love. Ease into it, as you would into a hot bath. Let it fill your heart, whatever that feels like or looks like. Say thank you for every reminder of God’s love you can think of. And, if you’re willing, say you’re open to being trained.

Whatever else Jesus is up to, he is also reflecting God’s love, the way a loving parent might speak harshly to keep a child from traffic or a hot stove. We are God’s children, in every sense. Jesus loves us enough to want to see us thrive.

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Sunday’s readings are  here.

2-7-20 - Best Behavior

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

In my sixteen years (today!) as a priest, I have preached consistently that the Christian life is not about being good; it is about being loved into goodness. It is about relationship with the One who made us and loves us too much to suffer estrangement from us.

That message – which is expressed throughout our salvation story – is pretty directly contradicted by the following words of Jesus: 

"Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Wait a minute. What happened to, “Unless you become as a child, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven?” and “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit?” Didn’t Jesus say those things too? If it all comes down to commandments and righteous behavior… why do we need a savior? If it’s a matter just of gritting our teeth and trying harder, we’re pretty much sunk, most of us.

Thankfully, this isn’t the only thing Jesus says on the subject. Another time, after setting what his disciples think is an impossible standard, he says, “With humankind this is impossible; but with God, all things are possible.” Phew.

Still, I am caught by this remark, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees…” The scribes and Pharisees, the religious elite of Jesus’ time, were known for their uprightness and fidelity to the Law. They appear to have been arrogant and legalistic, but certainly righteous. What can it mean to exceed their righteousness?

Here’s my guess: it means to go beyond the mere observance of the Law to the intention at its heart. It means to go beyond rules and rituals to relationship, relationship with the living God made possible through His Son. It means to invite the power of the Holy Spirit to be manifest through us for healing and restoration of all things. It means to truly believe that Jesus is who he said he was and to follow his way of living God-life in the world. That is truly going beyond the legalistic righteousness of the scribes.

Yesterday I invited you to reflect on where you might be stuck in “rule-following” rather than Jesus-following. If something occurred to you, invite Jesus to transform that part of your life, or to transform you in it.

And if the idea of having a “relationship with Jesus” or “relationship with God” seems abstract or odd to you, there’s something to explore. For me, it developed as I opened myself to prayer that included silence, imagination and listening. The Holy Spirit brings us into the presence of God – and then Jesus often becomes marvelously specific.

Repeatedly in the psalms and prophets we hear God saying, “I don’t want your rituals and your sacrifices – I want your heart. And don’t worry if your heart is hard – I will break your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put a new heart and a new spirit within you.” We just need to say yes – and then we find we’re in the Life of God already.

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Sunday’s readings are  here.

2-6-20 - The New Old

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

This Sunday’s gospel puts us front row at one of Jesus’ training sessions for his new disciples. After the "salt and light" chat, he switches gears: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.” 

Since Jesus often argued with the standard bearers of the religious Law, we might think he superseded the old revelation or “Testament.” I doubt Jesus would divide the holy scriptures into “new” and “old” the way we have. He articulates a continuity that frustrates our neat categories. Jesus critiques not the Law, but the way the Law has been interpreted. He accuses the Pharisees and other leaders of being heavy-handed and hypocritical in their expectations of people, emphasizing the letter of nitpicking rules while ignoring the spirit of love behind the whole of Torah.

He pulls back the camera for a big picture view. When religious leaders want to stone a woman caught in adultery, he doesn’t address the law that permits her execution. He shows it is wrongly administered, indicting the accusers for ignoring their own sinfulness. When attacked for healing on the Sabbath, he reminds his detractors how they act when their families or possessions are at risk. Over and over, he suggests that it is in interpretation that the leaders get it wrong. The Law of God was intended as gift, and instead became distorted as an instrument of judgment – often wielded by people who weren’t nearly as compliant as they expected everyone else to be. None of us immune to this – we hope for wiggle room in some areas, while in others expect people to toe the line.

In what areas do you have high expectations of behavior from others – and from yourself? These may be the same areas in which high standards were expected from you by someone else, a parent or teacher or friend. One way to identify those areas is by noticing what causes us to become indignant or self- righteous. Are you being called to be more merciful to any person or group?

And what are the issues about which you feel more lenient? What do you think God is saying to you about those areas – has God lowered standards, or do you just more fully understand God’s grace?

We must hold in tension God’s righteousness and God’s mercy – we can never fully comprehend how those irreconcilables go together. But, happily for us, they are both true. Jesus did not seek to abolish the Law – only to show that no one is righteous enough to keep it, let alone hold it against others.

Until he came along. Jesus’ gift was to fulfill the demands of the Law in such a way that we are set free from its condemnation – and thus we are free to live fully into the Love at its heart. Let's try that on today.

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Sunday’s readings are  here.

2-5-20 - Let It Shine!

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

Someone once asked me if I see better with my contacts than with glasses. I replied, “Actually, not as well. But I don’t wear contacts to see better. I wear them to be seen better." Vanity, vanity.

Jesus tells his followers, “You are the light of the world.” That can mean many things. Here, Jesus seems to use light less as something that helps you see than as something that helps you to be seen. “A city built on a hill cannot be hid,” he points out, And, lest they don’t connect cities on hills and lights of the worlds, he elaborates: “No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Were Jesus’ original followers Episcopalians? Faithful and devoted, but not wanting anyone around them to know that – "Shhhhh – I go to church… I believe in God… I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but I don't want anybody to know….” Did they figure everyone already knew? Did they think modesty was a virtue?

Well, guess what? It’s not a virtue when we’re talking about our faith! When it comes to proclaiming the incredible news that God is on a mission to love the world back into wholeness, we’re invited to be as loud and immodest as we possibly can. There are a lot of people with broken parts who need that news, you and I among them.

I don’t know when so many in Christ’s church became so quiet about the power of God’s life at work in the world. We need to get over it. The world needs the light we carry, and we need to shine it brightly to give light to “all in the house.” We need to let our good works show, not so we can get credit, but to highlight God's power and inspire others to join us. Sometimes the “good works” we do – the outreach projects, shelter meals, food pantries, visiting ministries – are the easiest place for people we know to join us in our faith lives. And once they’re working with us, it’s not so hard to talk about our spiritual selves.

Where in your life do you feel you are most visible as “the light of the world?” Where are you least? What is it about the first that allows you to be “out” as a Christ-follower, or hope-bearer? What is it about the second that inhibits you?

What are you most proud of in your Christian life? Can you trumpet that, show it off? It glorifies God when we give thanks for what God is doing through us.

Elsewhere in the gospels we read that Jesus is the Light of the world, and here he says we are. That’s a part of his identity we get to share. If he calls us that, we can be sure he will fill us with his light – and his light doesn’t quit. His light conquers the darkness. His light sets up a glow in us that the whole world can see - as we let it shine.

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Sunday’s readings are  here.

2-4-20 - Salt

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

Salt and light. Jesus turns to these metaphors to explain what his followers are to be: 

"You are the salt of the earth."

As we know, salt has many functions – flavor-enhancer, food-preserver, fluid-retainer are a few that come to mind. Jesus appears to refer chiefly to the first – an agent that adds flavor to food, and brings out flavors in other ingredients. He suggest that this is a critical function of faith communities – that they both add and elicit flavor. Iif they’re bland or watered down… why bother?

Jesus sounds harsh about the consequences of salt having lost its flavor. “…but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.” Is he talking about the lukewarm, semi-corrupt religious leadership of Israel in his day? Is he warning his followers to maintain their identity as disciples no matter what comes at them?

How do we interpret this call to be “salt” in our spiritual lives and communities? First, let’s think about where we add flavor and zest. What sectors of your life do you enliven because of who you are, and because of your connection to God? Work, school, family, ministry, play, church – these are some of our spheres; you might name more. Can you can think of any that need pepping up? Ask God to show you how God can work through you in those spheres.

And how about this second function of salt, to bring out the natural flavors of other ingredients. How do you elicit the gifts and enthusiasms and generosity of the people with whom you interact in those spheres? How does – or doesn’t – your faith community do that within its larger context? I am setting a goal this year at my congregations that fifty percent of volunteers for any initiative come from outside the congregation. How better to build relationships in our community that might lead to conversion and connection?

If you want to play with this metaphor, write out a recipe for a "life stew," including all the “ingredients” that are around you in one or more of those spheres. Who is adding salt to your life? Who is bringing forth your natural flavors? Does the interaction work to make something greater than the parts?

At its most basic level, this teaching of Jesus reminds us that our spiritual engagements need to be full of life and flavor, not rote, dull, lukewarm, complacent, or tired. And further: God wants our whole lives to reflect the savory flavor of God’s love and mercy, justice and peace. And we are how that flavor gets in to what God is cooking up. So into the shaker we go - get ready to be sprinkled.

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2-3-20 - Blessed Are You

(You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.)

Recruitment phase has ended for the moment; now we’re deep into training. Jesus settles with his disciples on a mountain in Galilee and begins to teach them. And teach. And teach. This has become known as “The Sermon on the Mount,” and if we had to boil it down, Jesus’ message is: 

“The way God thinks is not the way humans think; and the way things work in the Realm of God is different than the ways you’re used to the world working. Way different.”

Jesus’ discourse begins with the Beatitudes, a series of “blessed are you’s” which reverse the normal order of things. The last “blessed are you” is, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Jesus is giving his new recruits a dose of reality. "Being my disciple is not going to be fun and games. No prophet worth his salt is popular – too much acclaim can be a clue that you’re telling people what they want to hear, not what God wants to tell them." He is saying they’re in good company… and look out. More than look out – rejoice and be glad!

We will unpack some of Jesus’ teaching this week. Today, let’s think about blessedness. When do you feel most blessed – and by blessed I don’t just mean fortunate. I mean having a sense that God has gifted you in some way. When are you aware of feeling blessed?

That’s important to know, because it's one of your connection points with God’s love and God’s power. We all feel those connections differently – for some blessedness comes through relationships, and for others through ministry or work of some kind, or feeling led to give a gift to someone else. Name your connection point - and pray for God to send you more of those opportunities.

And can you think of a time when you took some flak for being a Christ-follower, or standing up for something in Jesus’ name? Are there times you wish you had?

Jesus wanted his followers to know that he was going to teach them a whole new way to live, how to rely on Spirit power instead of the world’s. That was, and remains, a hard lesson for us, because we are wired to respond as earth-dwellers, not citizens of heaven. Part of growing into the full stature and likeness of Christ is allowing God to rewire us.

That means there may be sparks at times… and blessing. Amazing blessing.

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Sunday’s readings are  here.