Jesus’s Infectious Goodness
- davidwperk
- Apr 24, 2024
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Wednesday, April 24, 2024
The week of the fourth Sunday of Easter
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:
17 ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 961)
AM Psalm 119:49-72; PM Psalm 49, [53]
Exod. 33:1-23; 1 Thess. 2:1-12; Matt. 5:17-20
Today we celebrate Genocide Remembrance Day. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
There is an old Hasidic saying:
"God is not nice
God is not an uncle
God is an earthquake."*
Today’s Gospel communicates something of that feeling, especially in the last verse. We are told that our righteousness must exceed that of the most scrupulous in Judaism or else we have no chance of being admitted to the kingdom of heaven. What happened to “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”? I can hope for poor in spirit. But, this level of demand in verse 20? God. . . . IS an earthquake.
Jesus says in verse 17 that he came to fulfill the law and prophets (shorthand for the entire Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament). And, he expects us to take seriously his life and teachings, which live out, complete, and actually expand the moral and spiritual reach of the Old Testament. To live by Jesus’ teaching would to go beyond any expectation the scribes and Pharisees could find in the law and prophets. (As we shall see in the Gospel readings for the next several days.)
To whom are we accountable for our lives? To whom do we answer? I certainly respond negatively to the half-baked strictures of Bible-thumping believers, well intentioned though they may be. I don’t want to be told by them what my responsibilities are toward God and others. I am not accountable to them.
Yet, some external guide, some external authority keeps us from establishing our own moral guidelines. We require accountability to authority outside ourselves. You may have heard about the person who went around shooting holes in the sides of barns and then drawing bull’s eyes with those holes in the center. If we are left to our own designs, our reading of Holy Scripture and church traditions might not be the most emotionally honest and forthright. We might be continually painting bulls eye around our personal conduct. Or, as Walter Wink observed, whittling Jesus down to our own size.
Will we embrace the life and teaching of Jesus, taught, preached, and discussed in community as an adequate moral and spiritual guide for our lives? We might find ourselves called to account by a sermon, a remark, a conversation with a loving fellow believer, or a moment of reading and reflection. Our eyes might be opened to a place where evil has done its insidious work, to a place of personal inconsistency, to a place of relational failure. We are called to embrace accountability to God for our lives.
In those moments, we hope we can remember that Jesus is not only an external moral and spiritual compass but also an internal loving presence. Then perhaps we will not find ourselves striving to imitate so much as seeking to discover and receive his transforming presence. He did come to fulfill. We can trust him to bring that fulfillment into our personal experience with transforming love and grace, to draw us persistently toward the full humanity he embodied and embodies even now in his heavenly existence.
Anglican preacher and poet, G. A. Studdert-Kennedy refers to:
. . .the thrilling discovery that, impossible as He was, this Person was alive, alive and infectious; that though His goodness could not be taught or learned, it could be caught, and could catch you; and though it still remained beyond you, it could draw you towards it, and very slowly, and often painfully, transform you into its own image. The Jesus order of goodness is not only impossible and inevitable, it is also, thank God, infectious. +
*Cited by Leonard J. Sweet, "The Rainbow Church," in The Christian Ministry 17(March 1986): 5.
+G. A. Studdert Kennedy, I Believe: Sermons on the Apostles’ Creed (New York: George H. Doran, 1921), pp. 139-41.
Collect of the Day, Fourth Sunday of Easter
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 225)
Today we celebrate Genocide Remembrance Day.
Collect of Genocide Remembrance Day
Almighty God, our Refuge and our Rock, your loving care knows no bounds and embraces all the peoples of the earth: Defend and protect those who fall victim to the forces of evil, and as we remember this day those who endured depredation and death because of who they were, not because of what they had done or failed to do, give us the courage to stand against hatred and oppression, and to seek the dignity and well-being of all for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, in whom you have reconciled the world to yourself; and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for 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)
Disturb Us, Lord
Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little, when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of the things we possess we have lost our thirst for the water of life.
Stir us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery, where in losing sight of land we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hope, and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope and love. Amen.
(Attributed to Sir Frances Drake upon departing to sail to the New World, 1577. Cited by The Right Rev. Clay Matthews, Clergy Retreat, Diocese of So. Virginia, 2004.)
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
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, Matthew 5:17-20
17 ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18For 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. 19Therefore, 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. 20For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
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
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