Embracing the Shape of Jesus’ Life
- davidwperk
- Aug 6
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Wednesday, August 6, 2025
Proper 13, the week of the eighth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrase for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:
34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary readings (BCP, 978)
AM Psalm 119:97-120; PM Psalm 81, 82
2 Samuel 9:1-13; Acts 19:1-10; Mark 8:34-9:1we
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish philosopher and poet, died of a heart attack during the Spanish Civil War after a confrontation with a rebel general. He was escorted at gunpoint from a public debate and died shortly thereafter. One of his poems speaks of the cross as suffering rooted in our misery and foundational to our existence. His life pattern reinforces his words. He understood the necessity of suffering for one’s beliefs.
a reflection of God’s face …
through the night the round moon proclaims to us
that the sun is breathing beneath the earth
and so also thy light, since thou alone
dost bear witness to God, in this night alone
by thee do we reach the Father Eternal.
It is thy moonlight alone in our night
that tells us the sun lives.
And yet the Cross
is rooted in the earth of man’s misery.
Thou art the Man, the King of the Universe!
Beneath the white mantle of thy flesh, naked
and regal, we see the frame of thy skeleton,
structure of the world: proportion, support
and pattern of the creation.+
In today’s reading, Jesus invites us to share in his suffering and rejection. In fact, he makes our answering his call contingent on our willingness to do so. Unless we take up our cross and share his rejection we cannot follow him, we cannot have our lives determined by the pattern of his. Jesus identified with those outcast in his context, which meant he shared their marginalization and rejection.
Jesus spoke of the passions that drove his life. “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Mark 10:45) “My meat is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” (John 4) In the Garden of Gethsemane, facing rejection and excruciating death, Jesus asked that the cup be removed, the cup of suffering. But, his passion for us and for God burned so intensely that he added, “Not my will, but yours be done.”
How badly do I want those I know and love to experience God’s love and forgiveness? How badly do I want them to share in the loving Christian community that I know? How long am I willing for them to stumble along, deprived of the experience of God’s love and living at risk and do little or nothing to change that? Just how much do I care? Am I willing to risk shame and rejection, to unite myself with Jesus’ suffering? Am I willing to express God’s love, which sparks my own, knowing that love often meets with rejection?
Unamuno put it so well, “In this night alone by thee do we reach the Father eternal.” Jesus brings the face of God to us, a God who chooses to endure the shame of rejection because of a passion to reclaim us that regards the shame and suffering a price worth paying. His agony for us makes our risking the rejection of a friend over coffee look small by comparison.
This passage leaves me with haunting questions about how much I care, about how deeply my commitment reaches, and about how my life would change were my passion for God and for others more intense? Perhaps my prayer should be that God’s Spirit would blow on the smoldering embers of my commitment and fan it into a flame? Where would such a prayer take me? It certainly will get me in trouble, as well it should? Dare I take that risk? Do I dare become more openly expressive of my faith in the face of the threat of rejection?
Will I embrace the shape of Jesus’ life as the template for my own?
This link has died and I have not been able to source the poem.
The Collect of the Day, Proper 13, the eighth Sunday after Pentecost
O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 231)
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration
Collect of the Feast of the Transfiguration
O God, who on the holy mount revealed to chosen witnesses your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in his beauty; who with you, O Father, and you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Grace
Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)
For those we Love
Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to your never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come, knowing that you are doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 831)
A Collect for the Presence of Christ
Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of your love. Amen. (BCP, 124)
A Collect for Mission
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (BCP, 101)
Daily Office Gospel, Mark 8:34-9:1
34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’
9:1And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.’
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
Comments