George Love, Pastor of Hebron Presbyterian Church, continues sharing his thoughts on the Daily Lectionary Series of Bible readings. You will find his most recent comments at the top, with earlier ones below. See earlier ones in previous months by following this link.
We have also added daily links to Presbyterian Church (USA) website where you will find the Scripture readings for that day. We hope you will find this a helpful way to join us in seeking God's message for our daily lives.
October 12
First Reading: Hosea 11:12-12:1
Psalm: Psalm 135, 145, 97, 112
Second Reading: Acts 26:1-23
Gospel: Luke 8:26-39
"When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'" - Acts 26:
"When he saw Jesus he cried out and fell down before him, shouting, 'What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God.'" - Luke 8:28
Today we are going to make a set out of the Apostle Paul and the Gerasene demoniac. They are not an obvious pair. Paul had spent years training to be a Pharisee, and had been a zealous persecutor of Christians. He was zealous, but he was not undisciplined, nor was he acting in a way that could not be understood. He then became arguably the strongest proponent of the good news of whom we have a record. Once he turned to that task, it was still possible to see that while he was passionate, he was also acting rationally.
The demoniac was an entirely different story. `He wasn't a bit rational. He wasn't making a choice to act in ways that were irrational and destructive. It was a demon inside of him that was forcing him to act in a way that was harmful to himself and to others.
Paul says that he was driven to ground and confronted by the risen Christ. In the story from Luke the man possessed by a demon sees Jesus and falls to the ground. In both instances, encountering Jesus changes things. That's the connection. Paul is so impacted by his Damascus Road encounter with Jesus that he stopped persecuting Christians and became one of the strongest advocates for Christian faith. The demoniac goes from terrorizing a town to quiet conversation with Jesus and a deep commitment to Christ's work. How has encountering the risen Christ impacted us? In what ways have we been stopped in our tracks by God? How has experiencing the grace and peace of Jesus fired up our desire to love and serve our Lord?
October 11
First Reading: Hosea 11:1-11
Psalm: Psalm 113
Second Reading:
1 Corinthians 4:9-16
Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28
"When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the more they went from me, they kept sacrificing to the Baals and offering incense to idols." - Hosea 11:1-2
In these final chapters, Hosea is really hitting his prophetic stride. A defining characteristic of the prophetic work of Hosea is his capacity to describe the passion with which God loves us. God rejoices in loving us and God hurts when we can't see our way to accepting that love. When we, often it seems, make choices and take actions that work in ways that create distance between our need of God and our ability to reach back towards God in love.
The passage opens with the language of God as loving parent. When I read the opening words I think of my love for my two children. They were born and I loved them. They didn't need to do anything, they showed up and so did a love more powerful than I could have imagined. God has that love for us. We don't need to do anything for God to love us. God loves us because we are God's children.
Hosea tells us that the more that God called for the people, the more they ran from God. They kept sacrificing to the Baals and offering incense to idols. Here is another place where we need to see the question for us in the prophecy. This passage is not terribly useful to us if we read it and wonder why they couldn't stop with Baal already, and what was causing them to keep offering incense to idols. It becomes helpful when we examine our lives and ask what are the Baals of this present day? To what idols are we offering incense? Where is our devotion? Where is our worship? Where is our praise?
October 10
First Reading: Hosea 10:1-15
Psalm: Psalm 98
Second Reading: Acts 25:13-27
Gospel: Luke 8:16-25
"Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt." - Hosea 10:2
"Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you."
- Hosea 10:12
There is a truth here that over time I have come to see more and more clearly in scripture. I believe it is here again today in today's reading from the prophet Hosea. A heart that is false on our part cannot help but distort our relationship with God. It is not that God moves away from us, but that our keeping of ourselves from God inhibits our ability to experience God's presence and to embrace the gifts of God. When we are knowingly dishonest with God, we carry the heaviness of that dishonesty with us.
Conversely, when we "sow righteousness" through our actions and our intentional practice of discipleship we prepare ourselves to "reap steadfast love." God's love is a constant. When we live in ways that increase our openness to the presence of God we position ourselves to best experience God's love. God's love for us does not diminish when our hearts stray or when we are inattentive followers. The distance we feel is the distance we create.
When we realize it is time to "seek the Lord," and when we act on that realization, we go towards rather than away from God. When Adam and Even attempted to hide from God in the Garden of Eden, they were never truly hidden from God. We don't have that ability. What we do in such moments is create a sense of guilt and shame within ourselves, that is not God's desire for us, but the result of our actions. Let our hearts be guided to seek God, and prepare ourselves to know what it is to have God rain righteousness upon us.
October 9
First Reading: Hosea 9:10-17
Psalm : Psalm 51
Second Reading:
Acts 24:24-25:12
Gospel: Luke 8:1-15
"You desire truth in the inward being, therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart." - Psalm 51:6
"'If you have ears to hear, then hear!'" - Luke 8:8
Truth in the inward being is a challenging idea. It sounds good, but when Jack Nicholson's character in A Few Good Men defiantly states, "You can't handle the truth," he was pulling the curtain back on a hard reality. There are times when the truth we tell ourselves is the truth we would like rather than the actual truth. This becomes more of a problem when we begin to believe our fictional version of the truth rather than having a hard look at the actual truth.
We'd prefer a truth where we are without fear and able to fully trust that God will guide our lives. We'd like for the truth to be that we are kind, loving, merciful, and forgiving. And, if there is any doubt in our minds at any moment, we'd like for the truth to be that we can somehow keep God out of the loop on our doubts and anxieties, on our regrets and failings.
Jesus says that wisdom is available to us if we have the ears to hear. To truly hear the real unvarnished truth, rather than the truth of our own construction - truth that is not truth at all. The Psalmist teaches us that honesty with God begins with real truth in our inward being. It isn't just saying the right things and keeping up a good appearance. It is being truthful with God and with ourselves in our deepest inner selves, in our secret hearts. When we aim to have ears to hear and seek to be honest before God, we move into sacred space and deeper relationship with our Maker.
October 8
First Reading: Hosea 9:1-9
Psalm: Psalm 97
Second Reading: Acts 24:1-23
Gospel: Luke 7:36-50
"But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little." - Luke 7:47
Two debtors. One owes five hundred denarii, the other owes fifty. When the moneylender forgives the debt, which debtor feels a larger sense of gratitude? That's the question that Jesus poses to his dinner host. The answer, clearly, is the one with the larger debt. So why does Jesus ask the question? A woman who the host of the party thinks is of questionable character has crashed the party and washed and anointed Jesus' feet. The host takes exception.
Jesus' explanation is that the person who is most aware of their need for Jesus and the life-giving gospel he has come to proclaim will be more grateful than someone who does not know they need such a gospel. Jesus' teaching was applicable at that dinner party and is still applicable today. The fundamental truth is that Jesus came for all of us, because all of us need him. There is no one who is doing fine on their own and has no need of God's mercy, forgiveness, and love.
What does exist, however, are those of us who at times may be tempted to imagine there is a hierarchy of need for Jesus. That, sure, we need Jesus; but we can think of someone who needs Jesus more. The problem isn't so much our capacity to recognize the need of someone else for Jesus. In that we are right. The problem is if we fail to recognize our need for Jesus. There are no four hundred and fifty denarii gaps in our need for God. There is only the truth that, as Paul wrote in Romans, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Good news is always good news, but to receive it we must first recognize that we need it.
October 7
First Reading: Hosea 8:1-14
Psalm: Psalm 1
Second Reading: Acts 23:23-35
Gospel: Luke 7:18-35
"For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind." - Hosea 8:8
Hosea is calling the people on their lack of fidelity to God. They have chosen in a variety of ways to prioritize other things than their relationship with God. They know their history. They know what God has done for them. They know the covenant; the promises that have passed between them and God. Still, they make choices that tear down, rather than build up their relationship with God. They make choices that are inconsistent with their covenant promises. Hosea asks that they consider the ramifications of their actions.
When you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind. Today's poor choices will not end with today. Today is only the start. The poor choices of the present moment will take root and grow and expand over time and what began as a breeze, becomes an out of control tornado as one thing spirals into another.
There is a way to avoid at least some future whirlwinds. At the start, sow better. Sow devotion to God. Sow a commitment to discerning God's will and acting in accord with that discernment. God desires to work with us and longs for us to join in with God's activity in the world. When we choose to ignore the wisdom of the one who created us, can the whirlwind be far behind? Psalm 1 gives a concise overview of two paths - delighting in or marching away from God's path. How we sow, using Hosea's language, or the path we choose, to think with the Psalmist, can make all the difference.
October 6
First Reading: Hosea 7:8-16
Psalm: Psalm 133
Second Reading: Acts 23:12-24
Gospel: Luke 7:1-17
"But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed." - Luke 7:7
Faith can be complicated and challenging. Hard things happen in the lives of good people, and we are left with questions about how such things can be. Sometimes the challenge to our faith is the distance between where we are and where we imagine our lives should be. How can God be with us while we feel so disconnected from the outcomes we want, and God does not seem to be feeling the situation with the same intensity that we are?
Then there are the moments of clarity. The centurion in the passage from Luke's gospel has such a moment of clarity. Jewish community leaders seek out Jesus to heal this man's servant. The man is a benefactor to them, having shown kindness to them in the past as well as providing the funding for their synagogue. Jesus agrees to go to the man, but the man intercepts him on the way. His belief is strong and unwavering. He believes Jesus doesn't even need to come to his home. Jesus can say the word and it will be so.
This story is followed by Jesus encountering a widow in a place called Nain. Her son has died. Jesus sees her along with a great crowd making their way to bury her son. He calls the son back to life. Luke tells us these stories so that we may understand more fully the power of Jesus to heal and transform, and also so that we can see the impact Jesus has on the communities in which he lives and works. May we experience moments with that sort of clarity of faith and have eyes that see, hearts that feel, and minds that know the power of Christ at work in our world.
October 5
First Reading: Hosea 6:7-7:7
Psalm: Psalm 5, 145, 82, 29
Second Reading: Acts 22:30-23:11
Gospel: Luke 6:39-49
"'Why do you call me "Lord, Lord," and do not do what I tell you?'" - Luke 6:46
The question is so straightforward. Why call Jesus Lord and not do what he asks of us? I will immediately confess I don't have to wonder abstractly about what such a circumstance might feel like. I want to follow Jesus and I want to do what Jesus asks of me, but in a variety of ways I struggle at times to do what I believe is Jesus' first choice for me. I can be stubborn. Sometimes I do not listen well. Sometimes that poor listening is related to a belief that I know what the answer is before verifying that with Christ. I hope that there are times when Jesus sees my desire and my intent to be a faithful follower; but to reiterate, I completely understand Jesus' question.
I don't believe Jesus is angry with us. I believe that Jesus knows what our lives could be if we would not only acknowledge him as Lord, but also live our lives at all times in ways that bear witness to the truth of what we confess to believe. This is why living our lives of faith in community becomes so important. Accountability. We are all accountable to Jesus, and when we live in community, we have each other as partners in that accountability. Once more, the goal is not to catch each other, but to support and encourage one another. To help each other correct our course when such navigation help is needed.
If we are calling Jesus Lord, we are making great steps in the right direction. Confessing the Lordship of Christ is a powerful step towards what comes next. And what comes next? Living in such a way that it appears we meant what we said when we made that good confession.
October 4
First Reading: Hosea 5:8-6:6
Psalm: Psalm 117
Second Reading:
1 Corinthians 2:6-16
Gospel : Matthew 14:1-12
"Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God." - 1 Corinthians 2:12
There are things about our lives, our world, and the way God desires us to live in and experience the world that will never be clear to us independent of the guidance of God's Holy Spirit. The good news is that God wants us to understand. God's Holy Spirit is available to us. God invites us to listen and to seek to discern, to engage in spiritual disciplines that help us to intentionally seek the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not optional. The Holy Spirit is essential. And the work of the Holy Spirit is what ultimately connects us with our God-given gifts in a way that helps us to both recognize them and then begin to understand what to do with them. Towards the end of this passage Paul writes that we "have the mind of Christ." (2:16) When we engage the world with the mind of Christ we see what we otherwise would not see and we are enabled to act more faithfully when that vision is unlocked.
The smaller the print I am looking at the more I struggle to read it. I have many pairs of reading glasses and most of them help to one degree or another. But I have one pair, with a particular type of lens, that brings things into focus the others won't touch. I imagine that is a way of understanding the work of the Holy Spirit, and why it is so important for us to seek to engage with the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit will bring things into focus that nothing else will touch.
October 3
First Reading: Hosea 5:1-7
Psalm: Psalm 125
Second Reading: Acts 22:17-29
Gospel : Luke 6:27-38
"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." - Luke 6:36
Jesus is not an easy, multi-step, self-help teacher. Love your enemies. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Me merciful as God, our Father, is merciful. Jesus doesn't teach these things because they are little steps we can easily take that we just hadn't thought of yet. He is teaching a way to orient our lives that points us in a direction that will challenge us, but will ultimately bring life to us and to our world.
A place to begin is to think of God's abundant mercy. How good and how reassuring is it to consider the grace and mercy of God at work in our lives? God desires what is best for us and each time we experience God's forgiveness we are intimately aware of a gift beyond measure. Jesus' suggestion is that the grace we love receiving from God, become the model for the way we interact with friends, family, and, really, everyone.
Every person, every relationship becomes an opportunity to aim to love like God loves. There is a part of our mind that should be asking how that is even possible. There is a part of our heart that knows that, if it is possible, it is because of the grace of God we've already experienced. To know the mercy of God is to be filled with gratitude. That gratitude becomes the first step towards being more gracious, more merciful, and more loving ourselves. Jesus' invitation is to live in that direction.
October 2
First Reading: Hosea 4:11-19
Psalm: Psalm 25
Second Reading:
Acts 21:37-22:16
Gospel: Luke 6:12-26
"A wind has wrapped them in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their altars." - Hosea 4:19
The wind Hosea is referencing here is not a positive wind. It's the kind of wind that blows the window open and then proceeds to increase and make a mess of the house. At the same time, I think it's the kind of wind that you maybe don't notice at first. It begins as a gentle breeze, picks up, gathers strength, but never in one dramatic burst, but just gradually, gradually…
Eventually everything is out of sorts. Not where it belongs because the gentle wind has a lot of force to it and it isn't going anywhere. This is what has happened to the people according to the prophet. The relationship that began so well with God has taken a turn. The people did not nurture the relationship. They instead took it for granted and began pursuing other interests. The other interests have taken over and completely crowded out their devotion to God. And it all happened…gradually.
One day Hosea promises us, if we do not maintain our relationship with God, we will find ourselves at an altar that is unrecognizable to us. We will imagine our energy and devotion are directed towards God. A moment will come when our eyes will be opened. We will find that the chaos of the winds of sin in our lives has redirected our devotion and commitment to things we care little about; and we will be ashamed of the new altars we have built. The hopeful thing here is to remember that the prophet is saying these things to call the people and to direct us back to faithfulness to God. We protect against what happens gradually by daily nurturing and tending to our relationship with God.
October 1
First Reading: Hosea 4:1-10
Psalm : Psalm 130
Second Reading: Acts 21:27-36
Gospel: Luke 6:1-11
"'Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?'" - Luke 6:2
"'The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.'" - Luke 6:5
The back and forth over the purpose of the Sabbath in Luke 6 neatly gives insight into the thinking of the Pharisees and of Jesus. For these particular Pharisees the Sabbath is a day of rules to be observed. There are things which are permissible and much that is not permissible on the Sabbath. For Jesus it is not a practice of law, but a practice of faithful living with God and with other people.
If anything, the intent of the rules of the day was to help people to enhance their relationship with God and to live out their faith more fully. The intent, going back to the inclusion of Sabbath in the ten commandments, was never, as with any of the other commandments, simply about rigidly adhering to a law. The intent was always about helping to shape a group of people into a fully functioning community.
The end goal of Sabbath wasn't to do nothing. It was to open yourself more fully and intentionally to God, by making the way clear of obstruction to attention to that relationship. Jesus' challenges to Sabbath practices are intended to question how a practice that was meant to deepen relationship with God, would lead to an outcome where a person who was suffering and could be made well, would be bound to continue to suffer, at least for another day.
Faith is never intended to be reduced to a list of rules to be kept. The laws, rules, or guidelines of our faith are not ends, but means towards the end of loving God and one another, and living more fully towards the future that God intends.