When Jesus Make His Appointment With Us
- davidwperk
- Sep 10, 2024
- 7 min read
Devotional Refection, Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Proper 18, the week of the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:
. . . we bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16In past generations he allowed all the nations to follow their own ways; 17yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good—giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.’ 18Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.
You will find the full text of today’s Acts reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 983)
AM Psalm 45; PM Psalm 47, 48
Job 29:1-20; Acts 14:1-18; John 10:31-42
Today we celebrate the Feast of Alexander Crummwell. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
Unamuno, the Spanish poet and philosopher paints a vivid image of God’s witnessing love in these lines:
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.
Even when night hides the sun, the moon’s light bears witness to its existence. Those of us who have heard the message of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ have had the good fortune to receive the light of the sun itself. The narrator of the Acts account tells us how the hearers in today’s reading were getting their first glimpse of the sun’s bright light in the preaching of Paul and Barnabas. Previously, their only view of the content of their message had been like the indirect light of the sun reflecting off the moon.
In this Acts scene, Paul affirms that God always had borne witness to his hearers. They had been gazing on the moonlight of God’s saving love in the created world and in every other form of witness that God could muster. Now, that same God had sent them an even more brilliant sunlight of witness in the message about Jesus, a message fully congruent with the light they had been seeing.
If God indeed is universally witnessing to the divine saving love and to God’s nature as savior, then that light is congruent with the light shining out of the story of Jesus. I find strong encouragement in knowing that my foot can tread no ground, my witness reach no ear, my hospitality receive no soul that first has not encountered God’s witnessing and saving love in other ways and from other persons. The moon glows only because of the sun. Light about God apart from faith in Jesus Christ takes on power and authority only insofar as it resonates with the sunlight reflecting off its moon-like face.
Methodist preacher and native of Sri Lanka D. T. Niles put it so well in a classic little book about Jesus. The use of the masculine pronoun here speaks to the date of composition.
. . . when Jesus Christ makes his place and time of appointment with men, he does not always give his name. . . . The point is not that there are alternatives to commitment to Christ--other ways by which men can be saved--but that to speak of the finality of Christ is not to tie oneself to where his name is actually pronounced. As he himself tells us, he determines the form and occasion of his presence, and where and to whom he will come incognito.*
Our task is to trust grace to embolden us to bear witness, as Paul and Barnabas were in this story. After all, if God is stretching to bear witness by all means, the only way we can be walking in synch with God in the world is to take up that witness and bear it ourselves. One scholar referred to it as “exposing the ever present Christ.” That Christ makes appointments with each person. Even if they don’t know his name when they meet, it’s still him.
*D. T. Niles, Who is This Jesus? (Nashville: Abingdon, 1968), p. 102.
(Note: Niles was an outstanding leader in the ecumenical movement and a remarkable preacher. He died prematurely at age 62. You can read his obituary in this New York Times piece published at the time of his death. https://www.nytimes.com/1970/07/18/archives/dr-dt-niles-62-a-church-leader-ceylonese-methodist-and-an.html)
Collect of the Day, Proper 18, the sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast in your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 233)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Alexander Crummwell, priest, educator, missionary (died 10/12 Sep 1898 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Alexander Crummwell
Almighty and everlasting God, we thank you for your servant Alexander Crummwell, whom you called to preach the gospel to those who were far off and to those who were near: Raise up, in this and every land, evangelists and heralds of your kingdom, that your church may proclaim the unsearchable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
A Collect for Peace
Most holy God, the source of all good desires, all right judgments, and all just works: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through the mercies of Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen. (BCP, 123)
Of the Departed
Eternal Lord God, you hold all souls in life: Give to your whole Church in paradise and on earth your light and your peace; and grant that we, following the good examples of those who have served you here and are now at rest, may at the last enter with them into your unending joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 253)
A Prayer for Light
Lighten our darkness, we beseech you, O Lord; and by your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of your only Son, Jesus Christ, Amen. (BCP, 111)
A Collect for Mission
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP, 100)
Daily Office Epistle, Acts 14:1-18
14:1The same thing occurred in Iconium, where Paul and Barnabas* went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers. 2But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace by granting signs and wonders to be done through them. 4But the residents of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles. 5And when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to maltreat them and to stone them, 6the apostles* learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country; 7and there they continued proclaiming the good news.
8 In Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet and had never walked, for he had been crippled from birth. 9He listened to Paul as he was speaking. And Paul, looking at him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, 10said in a loud voice, ‘Stand upright on your feet.’ And the man* sprang up and began to walk. 11When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, ‘The gods have come down to us in human form!’ 12Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. 13The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city,* brought oxen and garlands to the gates; he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifice. 14When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting, 15‘Friends,* why are you doing this? We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16In past generations he allowed all the nations to follow their own ways; 17yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good—giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.’ 18Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.
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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