Friday, April 22<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Peter 1.13-25: 1 Peter 1:13-25: This section is an invitation to hope (verses 13,21). Christian hope is sustained by a twofold consideration. First, it is inspired by the final goal of the life in Christ (verses 13-17), and second, by the initial grace of the life in Christ (verses 18-21).<\/p>\n
With respect to the first, hope is directed to the final \u201crevelation of Jesus Christ,\u201d his \u201cbeing made visible\u201d (apokalypsis<\/i>\u2014verses 7,13; 4:13). Relying \u201ccompletely\u201d (teleios<\/i>) on this hope, believers refuse to conform to the deeds of their past, aware of their responsibility to be holy, even as God is holy (verses 14-16; Leviticus 19:2; 18:1-5,30; Clement of Rome, To the Corinthians<\/i> 29.1\u201430.1).<\/p>\n
In the New Testament the expression \u201cbe not conformed\u201d (me syschematizesthe<\/i>, in which we observe the English word \u201cschema\u201d) is found only here (verse 14) and in Romans 12:2—\u201cAnd do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.\u201d (We observe in passing that both of these works are associated with the church at Rome.) No less than the Chosen People of old, Christians are called to be a holy people in the midst of an unholy world. The latter is characterized by \u201cignorance\u201d and \u201cpassions\u201d (verse 14). We may compare this passage with 1 Thessalonians 4:5\u2014\u201cnot in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christians are reminded that God\u2019s judgment discerns the difference between His \u201choly ones\u201d (\u201csaints\u201d) and the world (verse 17). In view of this divine discernment, Christians are to be ever mindful of the coming judgment (Romans 14:10-11; 1 Corinthians 3:12-15; 4:4; 2 Corinthians 5:10-11). Christian hope is not without this appropriate \u201cfear\u201d (en phobo<\/i>—verse 17; cf. 2:18; 3:2,16; Acts 9:31).<\/p>\n
Ezekiel 7: If the Bible likens good to a seed that grows, develops, and matures, the same is likewise true of evil. Like the enemy that Jesus described as sowing tares among the wheat, Ezekiel says that Israel is about to behold the blossoming and fruit of many years of evil sowing.<\/p>\n
The scene of the coming judgment portrayed in this chapter is marked by the same cataclysmic finality that characterizes Jesus\u2019 own predictions of the fall of Jerusalem. The \u201cland\u201d of Israel cursed in this chapter is to be understood in a geographical, not just a political, sense. That is, the very earth is cursed, as the ground is cursed in Genesis 3. Drawn from the earth, man pollutes that source by his accumulated sins. God\u2019s patience is immense, but, as it relates to times and seasons, it is not infinite. The end has come, says Ezekiel. When God is \u201cfed up,\u201d there is nothing in this earth that can prevail against His judgment.<\/p>\n
Saturday, April 23<\/b><\/p>\n
Matthew 28.16-20: The remaining Eleven, instructed by the women who had visited the tomb, go to the Galilean mountain where Jesus had directed them. The Great Commission, with which Matthew closes, was given specifically to these eleven men, the first Apostles. It was not a general mandate given to all Christians, even though all Christians, under the pastoral leadership of those men and their successors, are needed to fulfill it. The Commission itself, however, was specific to those men, who were officially charged with the ministry of Word and Sacrament.<\/p>\n
Those same men, although some of them were still weak in faith, adored the risen Christ (verse 17). In this respect we notice that Matthew, who tells of only two post-resurrection appearances of Christ, mentions the adoration of the Church in both instances.<\/p>\n
The Great Commission itself is rooted in Jesus\u2019 fulfillment of prophecy, specifically that of Daniel (verse 18; Daniel 7:14). Its mandate is directed to all the nations and not only to the Jews (verse 19).<\/p>\n
Jesus\u2019 presence \u201cwith us\u201d (verse 20) forms an inclusio<\/i> with that same theme at the beginning of Matthew (1:22-23).<\/p>\n
Ezekiel 8: This startling, detailed, and dramatic vision of Ezekiel occurred on September 17, 592 B.C. He is carried \u201cin the Spirit\u201d to Jerusalem to witness the abominations for which the city was to be punished with the wrath and the inevitability that we observed in the previous chapter. The material of this vision will occupy Ezekiel through Chapter 11, at the end of which he will be returned to Babylon. Prior to Jerusalem\u2019s downfall in 586 many of the prophets fellow exiles in Babylon maintained the hope of returning home soon. The purpose of this and other visions of Ezekiel was to destroy such a hope by showing it to be groundless.<\/p>\n
In this vision there are four scenes, each illustrating a discrete abomination in the temple. The first scene is at the north gate of the wall that separated the outer court of the temple from the outside world (8:3-6). (Ignore and omit the word \u201cinner\u201d from verse 3, in accord with the more accurate Greek text of the Septuagint. The received Hebrew text of this chapter is notoriously corrupt.) Ezekiel finds a pagan shrine in this place, an affront to the Lord\u2019s presence in the temple.<\/p>\n
In the second scene (8:7-13) Ezekiel goes through the wall of a chamber adjacent to the gate, where he finds Israel\u2019s elders worshipping images of animals.<\/p>\n
In the third scene (8:14f) he crosses the outer court toward the temple\u2019s inner court. Not yet entering the latter, Ezekiel beholds Israelite women crying for the death of Tammuz, a Mesopotamian god of vegetation. Even this alien cult is found in God\u2019s temple.<\/p>\n
Finally, in the fourth scene (8:16-18), Ezekiel enters the inner court, where he discovers sun-worshippers. Israel\u2019s idolatry is complete. These men have turned their backs to God and are giving adoration to a creature.<\/p>\n
Sunday, April 24<\/b><\/p>\n
John 20.19-29: In the story of Lazarus, which we read fifteen days ago, we saw Thomas\u2019s dark reaction to the prospect of a return to Jerusalem. He sensed<\/i> the coming tragedy of the Cross. And he braced himself to deal with it. Indeed, Thomas was the first among the Apostles to embrace the imperative of the Cross. Unlike Peter (\u201cGet behind Me, Satan!\u201d), he put up no resistance to the news. It was Thomas who found within himself the generous strength to say, \u201cLet us also go, that we may die with Him\u201d (John 11:8, 16). Thomas was no skeptic. He was, rather, very much the realist, the man who discerns the stark realities awaiting His Lord at Jerusalem, and he was resolute with respect to his own course in the matter. When it came to the prospects for tragedy, Thomas was not deceived by any inappropriate optimism. If there was one thing he knew how to take with a stiff upper lip, it was bad news. It was, so to speak, his specialty.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s story, Thomas must learn—somehow!—to deal with good<\/i> news. The upper room is suddenly filled with a great light. New evidence has arrived and stands now undeniable on the scene. Doubting Thomas senses that his long-established thinking is about to be rather deeply shaken. However embarrassed, he turns toward the entering light, bracing himself for the grief-shattering shock of the Gospel.<\/p>\n
Ezekiel 9: The marking of the foreheads of the Remnant is a sort of renewal of the marking of the houses of the Chosen People in Egypt on Passover night.<\/p>\n
Those thus marked will be spared on the day of wrath, for the simple reason that they \u201csigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in Jerusalem.\u201d Sometimes the just man is left so powerless in this world that all he can do, in the face of overwhelming evil, is \u201csigh and groan.\u201d<\/p>\n
The temple offers no sanctuary from the punishment; those in the temple are the first to fall, because they have defiled God\u2019s house. The divine judgment begins, then, not with the world, but with the household of God.<\/p>\n
The seven heavenly figures \u2014 the scribe and the six executioners \u2014 are angelic figures representing God\u2019s just will in what is about to transpire in Jerusalem. Revelation 7 is a very good text to read with this chapter, which is surely in part its literary inspiration.<\/p>\n
Monday, April 25<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Peter 5:1-14: There are two things that may be noted about Christian humility. First, the mutual humility that Christians are to cultivate with respect to one another is rooted in each person\u2019s humility before God. That is to say, to be properly humble to one another, it is necessary that each of us be humbled under the mighty hand of God. Our spirit humbled before God is the source of our proper relationship to one another. A person habitually humbled in God\u2019s presence is not a person who will be haughty or proud toward anyone else.<\/p>\n
Second, the person who lives in this humble disposition will be without anxieties: \u201cTherefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you\u201d (verses 6-7). Pride, after all, is the source of many of our anxieties. We become anxious in large measure because we have some status to maintain or some image of ourselves to be advanced.<\/p>\n
Only the truly humble person, therefore, can really cast all his anxieties on the Lord, because the Lord really does look out for the humble. The proud, on the contrary, are the objects of God\u2019s active resistance (verse 5). The proud cannot rely on the care of God, for the simple reason that God does not<\/i> take care of the proud.<\/p>\n
Humility and freedom from anxiety are two sides of the same coin, each necessary to the other. The habit of humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God is inseparable from casting all our anxieties on him.<\/p>\n
Ezekiel 10: The wooden statues of the Cherubim, with their wings spread over the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, were but symbols of the angels of the Presence, the heavenly Cherubim who serve to support the Throne of God.<\/p>\n
Now Ezekiel sees these heavenly spirits themselves, and they are identical with the Four Living Creatures that he had beheld in his inaugural vision in Chapter 1, where they bore, as here, the Cloud of the divine Presence. They will appear again, of course, in Revelation 4.<\/p>\n
The burning coals from within their whirling wheels, full of the divine holiness, are destructive of those whose brows have not been marked by the angelic scribe, who also appears again in this chapter.<\/p>\n
Besides destroying the wicked, this divine fire purifies God\u2019s loyal servants (cf. Isaiah 6:6f). As the chapter closes, the action moves to the east gate of the temple, facing the Mount of Olives. It is at this gate that Ezekiel will receive the two oracles in Chapter 11.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, April 26<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Peter 2:13-25: When we have turned to Christ and received His grace, being incorporated into His Church through the Sacraments, we still find ourselves living in the world. More specifically, we still find ourselves someplace in the structures of society, our obligations to that society not a whit diminished. Indeed, it may occur to us to inquire just how our responsibilities in society may be altered by our new status as Christian believers.<\/p>\n
That is to say. How am I, now that I am a Christian, to live as a husband? Or as a wife? Does being a Christian lay some special obligations on me as a son or daughter, perhaps obligations of which I was not aware before? What are my duties, as a Christian, with respect to my being a buyer or seller, an employer or employee? Suppose, indeed, I am a slave. How, as a Christian slave, am I to be different than I was before? In fact, suppose I own slaves. What are my duties to them, whether they are Christian or not? All such concerns about one\u2019s station in life fall under the heading that Martin Luther called Haustafel<\/i>, \u201chousehold code.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Christians from the very beginning have struggled to understand how the Gospel affects their duties in whatever state they find themselves, it is not surprising, therefore, that early Christian pastors addressed such concerns at length. This is true of the Apostle Paul (Colossians 3:18\u20144:1; Ephesians 5:22\u20146:9; 1 Timothy 2:8-15; 6:1-2; Titus 2:1-10), Ignatius of Antioch (Polycarp<\/i> 4.1\u20146.3), Polycarp of Smyrna (Philadelphians<\/i> 4.2\u20146.3), and Clement of Rome (Corinthians<\/i> 270-275,286-291). It also appears in standard pre-baptismal catechesis of the period (Didache<\/i> 4.9-11; Pseudo-Barnabas<\/i> 19.5-7).<\/p>\n
Ezekiel 11: The first oracle in this chapter addresses a slogan going around Jerusalem at the time, descriptive of the city\u2019s coming destruction. The slaying of Jerusalem\u2019s citizens, says the oracle, will ultimately be the fault of its leaders, not of the Babylonian besiegers. The latter are but instruments in the divine judgment.<\/p>\n
The leaders back at Jerusalem planned big things for themselves, and their big plans are addressed in the second oracle. When Ezekiel and his other companions, including the cream of Jerusalem society and its most competent citizens, were taken hostage to Babylon in 597, some of those Israelites who remained in the Holy Land began to feel pretty good about their own prospects, now that the better rivals were gone. With respect to their brethren who had been carried away, they reflected: \u201cWell, too bad for them, but that leaves more for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The burden of this second oracle is to reassure those captives in Babylon that the Lord had not forgotten them and that He was determined to restore them. Indeed, it was on them that His coming blessings would fall, for their restoration is the substance of the great prophecy here about newness of heart, which becomes so important a theme in the New Testament (See especially Hebrews 8.)<\/p>\n
As this chapter ends, the Cloud of the divine glory moves east onto the top of the Mount of Olives, and Ezekiel is restored to Babylon, where he narrates his visions and oracles to his companions in exile.<\/p>\n
Wednesday, April 27<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Peter 3:1-12: In the first few verses Peter finishes his treatment of the Haustafel<\/i> from the previous chapter.<\/p>\n
He begins with the wives, whom he exhorts to be submissive to their husbands. This is to be the case, says Peter, even in those instances where the husband is an unbeliever (verse 1). (This is the situation in which a woman already married becomes a Christian. In no case may a Christian woman actually marry an unbeliever\u20142 Corinthians 6:15-18.) In this case, as in the case of a Christian living in civil society (2:15), Peter hopes for the good influence of the believer on the unbeliever.<\/p>\n
Peter probably intends some of his comments here to pertain to Christian women generally, and not just to wives. This is surely the case respecting chastity and modesty (verse 3-5). His concern in this regard is similar to that of Isaiah (3:16-24), who apparently enjoyed poking fun at the way the women in the eighth century loved to preen themselves.<\/p>\n
In spite of Abraham\u2019s frequently unhappy home life, much of it caused by wife\u2019s dramatic mood swings, Peter still holds out for Christian wives the example of Sarah (verse 6). This is not the only time in the New Testament where Sarah is \u201cgiven a pass\u201d (cf. Hebrews 11:11 compared with Genesis 18:12-15).<\/p>\n
Christian husbands are to be good husbands precisely because<\/i> they are Christians (verse 7). What is owed to the wife is \u201chonor,\u201d and this because she is \u201cweaker.\u201d This does not refer physical weakness generally (and certainly not to any alleged intellectual or moral weakness in women, something that only an inexperienced fool would fancy), but to a certain delicacy in the female. Peter is quietly presuming that a woman\u2019s constitution, which is far more \u201ccomplicated\u201d than a man\u2019s, renders her inherently more vulnerable to danger, much like the delicacy of an expensive vase. Indeed, Peter even uses the metaphor of a \u201cvessel.\u201d This is a dining room vessel, not a ship. Certain things of beauty and delicacy in the home are given special honor. Wives are to be treated in a similar way by Christian husbands. They are NEVER to be handled roughly, not even in thought and most certainly not in word.<\/p>\n
Ezekiel 12: Once again Ezekiel is charged to act out an elaborate pantomime as a message for his fellow Israelites in exile. Whereas the previous such actions, in Chapters 4-5, had to do with the destruction of Jerusalem and the sufferings of her citizens, the present instance is concerned with the experience of the coming new exile of those who still remained back home.<\/p>\n
When his fellow exiles ask him, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d (12:9), Ezekiel responds with a stirring oracle by way of explanation: To those Jewish exiles already in Babylon who are imagining that they may soon be returning to the land of Judah, Ezekiel is stressing the point, \u201cYou think this is exile? You haven\u2019t seen anything yet!\u201d<\/p>\n
He emphasizes in particular the suffering destined for Zedekiah, the King of Judah. Ezekiel\u2019s walking with covered face (\u201cthat you may not see the land\u201d) is an eerie prophecy of the day when the Babylonians would gouge out the eyes of Zedekiah, so that the execution of his sons would be the last thing he saw in this world before going into exile (2 Kings 25:4-7; Jeremiah 39:4-7; 52:7-11).<\/p>\n
In verse 17 the prophet begins yet another pantomime, this one much simpler, and in verses 21-28 Ezekiel is charged to challenge two more cynical slogans popular at the time. These slogans, concerned with apparently unfulfilled prophecies, will lead into his condemnation of false prophets in the next chapter.<\/p>\n
Thursday, April 28<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Peter 3:13-22: To be baptized into Christ is to be associated with His sufferings. As Christ was victorious over death by His Resurrection, so will be those who belong to Him. Baptism, because it unites believers with the Resurrection of Christ, is a pledge and promise of their own victory over death.<\/p>\n
In verses 18-22 Peter speaks of Christ\u2019s descent into hell, which took on so pronounced an emphasis in Christian faith and worship that it became an article in the Nicene Creed. Peter says that Christ \u201cwent and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us\u2014baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
The relationship of Christian Baptism to the Flood and Noah\u2019s Ark, found here explicitly for the first time, became a common trope in Christian biblical exegesis:<\/p>\n
\u201cRighteous Noah, along with the other mortals at the Deluge, that is, with his own wife, with his three sons, and with their three wives, all of them being eight in number, were a symbol of the eighth day, whereon Christ appeared when He rose from thee dead, first in power forever. For Christ, being the firstborn of every creature, became again the head of another race regenerated by Himself through water, and faith, and wood, containing the mystery of Cross, even as Noah was saved by wood when he rode upon the waters with his family\u201d (Justin Martyr, Dialogue With Trypho<\/i> 138).<\/p>\n
Ezekiel 13: This chapter contains an oracle against false prophets (13:2-16) and an oracle against false prophetesses (verses 17-23). The major problem with all such folk is that they \u201cprophesy out of their own minds\u201d and \u201cfollow their own spirit\u201d and \u201cdivined a lie.\u201d Thus, grave spiritual harm befalls those who listen to their fantasies and follow their counsels.<\/p>\n
Even though a wall is just about to fall, says Ezekiel, they daub it with whitewash to make it look new and secure. Well, the whole thing is about to come down, he warns, in spite of the false hopes raised by false prophets.<\/p>\n
In his oracle against the false prophetesses, Ezekiel speaks of wristbands and headbands (if these things are, indeed, what these rare Hebrew words mean), evidently the paraphernalia of their rituals and incantations. We should probably think of these women as fortune-tellers, the sort of charlatans that are still among us. The prophet\u2019s point here is that this sort of thing is not harmless; foolish individuals, who probably need sound counsel for important decisions, really do pay heed to such imposters, rather often to the harm of their souls. God will thwart the designs of these deceivers, says Ezekiel, by showing their predictions to be false.<\/p>\n
Friday, April 29<\/b><\/p>\n
1 Peter 4:1-11: Once gain the Apostle turns to the theme of Christ\u2019s sufferings (cf. 2:21-24; 3:18) in order to draw out the practical implications of the Cross in the life of Christians (verse 1). Considering the Passion of Christ, believers are to arm themselves (hoplisasthe<\/i> with \u201cthe same way thinking\u201d (ennoian<\/i>). That is to say, they are to take the remembrance of Christ\u2019s sufferings as the guide to their thoughts and sentiments.<\/p>\n
The Apostle Paul taught the same thing: \u201cLet this mind be in you (touto phroneite<\/i>) which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross\u201d (Philippians 2:5-8).<\/p>\n
Such a one, first of all gives up the life of sin (verses 2-4). Otherwise he betrays the Cross, which paid the price of those sins. Similarly, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans: \u201cHow shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin\u201d (Romans 6:2-6).<\/p>\n
Ezekiel 14: In verses 1-11, the elders who came to consult Ezekiel got more than they anticipated, because the prophet was given insight into the deeper idolatry of their hearts. These men were apparently looking for some prediction about the future, only to be told that God\u2019s prophetic word is not truly available for the unrepentant. That is to say, the prophet\u2019s task is not to satisfy human curiosity about future events, but to call sinners to the due consideration of their souls. To borrow a concise expression from Saint Augustine, the prophet\u2019s task is often that of prescribing, not predicting: praecipientis videlicet, non praedicentis modo<\/i>—The City of God<\/i>15.7).<\/p>\n
Thus, instead of responding to their query about the future, Ezekiel summons these men to look inside themselves, at the idolatry in their hearts, before it is too late.<\/p>\n
The second oracle in this chapter (verses 12-23) insists that the whole society, if it is unfaithful to God, will be punished as a whole. The Lord will not spare any society simply for the sake of a few just men in it, even if these latter include the likes of Noah, Daniel, and Job. While the just individuals themselves will be respected, this will have no affect on the lot of the whole, because God is fair and will render to each man according to his deserts.<\/p>\n
Before God\u2019s throne of judgment, therefore, it will not matter \u201cwho you know.\u201d This thesis, which will be repeated throughout the Book of Ezekiel, is identical to that in the Book of Jeremiah (for instance, 15:1-4), and is a great deal tougher than we find, for instance, in Genesis 18, where it appears that the presence of five just men would have spared the destruction of Sodom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Friday, April 22 1 Peter 1.13-25: 1 Peter 1:13-25: This section is an invitation to hope (verses 13,21). Christian hope is sustained by a twofold consideration. First, it is inspired by the final goal of the life in Christ (verses 13-17), and second, by the initial grace of the life in Christ (verses 18-21). With … Continue reading April 22 – April 29, 2022<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1848"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1848"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1849,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1848\/revisions\/1849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.touchstonemag.com\/daily_reflections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}