Hebrews 4:1-13 Having chronic fatigue, I can definitely relate to rest. It makes me tired just to think about it. And yet what a heavenly concept! Unfortunately, we are a culture and a people who can find no rest. Despite having more leisure than most people have had and despite having labor-saving devices, our lives are ones of constant activity. But unlike God, we can’t always find rest by being able to say what we have done with all of... Read more
Revelation 19:11-16 There was a little Jewish boy born many years ago and circumcised on the 8th day in accordance with the Law. Such a small way to begin the biggest thing of all. But that boy, as well all know, did not stay a boy, and His circumcision and keeping of the Law was only the beginning of His obedience to the Father. Out of that small beginning comes the Lord we meet today in Revelation. Do you remember... Read more
Hebrews 3 Good day, partakers of Jesus Christ! Partakers, that is, if you hold the beginning of your confidence steadfast to the end and if you do not depart from the living God. But I am persuaded of better things for you. God has called you to be a partaker of Jesus Christ. If you partook of the Holy Communion recently, then you were a partaker of Jesus Christ at that time. But that’s not the only way we are... Read more
Hebrews 2:9-18 Jesus Christ, the God-man, is a mystery, but thankfully a mystery that God Himself has revealed to us. The God who made Himself man for us continues to amaze and mystify us. More importantly, He continues to save us! In Chapter 1, the writer of Hebrews composed a superb description of the supremacy and glory of Christ, who is the brightness of God’s glory – because He is God Himself. As with John’s illumination of Christ in the... Read more
Holy Innocents – Mark 10:13-16, 23-31 I find it helpful in understanding the love Jesus has for children to remember that I am a child of God. Jesus loves the little children as children, but He especially loves all who come to Him as children, regardless of age. The main point about children and their relationship to Jesus, in the context of Mark 10 and the Feast of the Holy Innocents, is that children are helpless. They were helpless when... Read more
St. John the Evangelist – Revelation 1 Who is Jesus Christ? There are many ways in which He has revealed Himself to us, and all of these are important. Sometimes I think the dominant way contemporary Christians see Jesus is as a good friend. He’s kinda just one of the guys, though definitely the leader of the pack. We can almost picture Him in blue jeans, and we’re sure He would never be caught dead wearing vestments! At other times,... Read more
St. Stephen’s Day – Acts 7:59-8:8 How blessed St. Stephen was to be the first Christian martyr, and how blessed the world was by his faithful witness and life! At the end of St. Stephen’s life, it becomes clear that he died like Jesus Christ: speaking the Truth in love, gazing into Heaven, asking the Father to receive His Spirit, and asking that the sins of his murderers be forgiven them. We don’t know much about the life of St.... Read more
1 John 4:7-14 Merry Christmas! By now you’ve heard sermons and messages about Matthew and Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus Christ. By now, for some of you, Christmas is pretty much over. But in reality, it’s just beginning! I seem to remember something about the 12 days of Christmas. Actually, now the calendar has shifted so that Christmas doesn’t begin on Christmas and last until Epiphany: it starts the day after Halloween and ends on Christmas. Of course,... Read more
Revelation 21:1-8 Initial, progressive, final. Remember that: it will help you understand how Revelation can actually be a revelation of Jesus Christ in your life. Too often, we approach St. John’s Revelation as if it were St. John’s Obfuscation. I can hear it now: “The first lesson is taken from the twenty-first chapter of The Obfuscation of St. John.” And all the people said, “Huh?!” I know I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it one last time: I don’t... Read more
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January 3 – Hebrews 4:14-5:10
Hebrews 4:14-5:10 Do you remember the vision of Jesus Christ that St. John had in Revelation 1? I want that image to be seared into your memory forever. Maybe we should all go out and stare at the sun for a few seconds to remind us of who Jesus really is. He is not the baby-faced, Bearded Girly Man Christ of Victorian pictures: He is the visible glory of God the Father. He is the retina-dissolving sun! “And there is... Read more