Who Feeds Us?

Devotional Reflection, Friday, May 24, 2024

Proper 2, The week of Pentecost Sunday.

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s epistle reading:

7 Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist! 8Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive a full reward.

You will find the full text of today’s epistle reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 967)

AM Psalm 16, 17; PM Psalm 22

Prov. 8:1-21; 2 John 1-13; Matt. 12:1-14

David’s Reflections

Mary Oliver, in her poem “Blue Heron” wrote:

Like a pin

of blue lightning

it thrusts

among the pads,

plucking up

frogs, flipping them

in mid-air, so that they

slide, neatly

face-first, down

the long throat.

I don't know

about God,

but didn't Jesus say,

"This is my body,"

meaning, the bread--

and meaning, also,

the things of this world?

This isn't really

a question.

It is the hard

and terrible truth

we live with,

feeding ourselves

every day.+

How profoundly insightful—to see the truth of Holy Eucharist acted out in a blue heron’s feeding on fish.  The bread of Jesus’ flesh indeed is linked intimately to the things of this world.  As Oliver puts it, quoting Jesus’ words at the Last Supper, “’This is my body,’ meaning the bread—and meaning, also, the things of this world?”  And, she is right that it is “the hard and terrible truth we live with, feeding ourselves every day.”

The writer of this Epistle (probably the same person who wrote 1 John) feels deeply concerned that some within their larger community have departed from the faith because they do not take the real humanity of Jesus seriously.  In verse 7 he refers to those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in flesh, that is that Jesus of Nazareth was a flesh and blood person.  For them, Jesus only appeared to be a person;  he was a heavenly being who looked like a person but really was a divine being not experiencing the daily grind of real humanity.

This Epistle and Mary Oliver’s poem call on us to reaffirm  that Jesus indeed was and is a genuinely real  human  being, as totally human  and vulnerable as any of us.  Yes, we do worship him as divine.  Yes, he is the second member of the triadic manifestation of God we call Holy Trinity.  But, prior to the resurrection and to a period of reflection on his person, his closest followers did not think of him as divine  or God, and they certainly did not worship him as divine.  He was so truly human, deity was so thoroughly crammed into and concealed within flesh, that they experienced him as another flesh and blood person like themselves.

We stake everything on this.  Christian faith has a profoundly world-affirming orientation.  God created the world and Genesis 1 calls it very good. God's presence lurks in the inanimate and animate world. God sent God’s son to be immersed in its life as a real person.  That lies at the heart of our faith.  Even a blue heron’s feeding connects us to the Holy Table where we feed on the real presence of Christ in bread and wine.  Christ feeds all of life on this planet, as Christ feeds each of us each Sunday. As the author if Colossians put it, “He himself is before all things and in him all things hold together.” (Col. 1:17)

+I have ten volumes of Mary Oliver’s poetry but, when I put this one in my anthology, I did not annotate its source and I cannot verify which volume contains it.

Collect of the Day,  Pentecost:Sunday

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 227)

Of the Holy Cross

Especially suitable for Fridays

Almighty God, whose beloved Son willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross for our redemption: Give us courage to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (BCP, 253)

In the Order of Worship for Evening

Almighty, everlasting God, let our prayer in your sight be as incense, the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice. Give us grace to behold you, present in your Word and Sacraments, and to recognize you in the lives of those around us. Stir up in us the flame of that love which burned in the heart of your Son as he bore his passion, and let it burn in us to eternal life and to the ages of ages. Amen.  (BCP, 113)

A Collect for Mission

O God of all the nations of the earth: Remember the multitudes who have been created in your image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of your holy Church, they may be brought to know and worship you as you have been revealed in your Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 257)

Daily Office Epistle, 2 John 1-13

1 The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth, 2because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us for ever:

3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from* Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

4 I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. 5But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. 6And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it.

7 Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist! 8Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we have worked for, but may receive a full reward. 9Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10Do not receive into the house or welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching; 11for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person.

12 Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink; instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

13 The children of your elect sister send you their greetings.

Daily Offices in the Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 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