Daily Devotion for September 29, 2010
Prayers
Scripture
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
The extraordinary positive energy of Alex Boyé pours into a contemporary, Africanized mashup of Brand New Day and Amazing Grace (in English and Swahili).
Save Your Servant
Bow down Your ear, O Lord, hear me;
For I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am holy;
You are my God;
Save Your servant who trusts in You!
Be merciful to me, O Lord,
For I cry to You all day long.
Rejoice the soul of Your servant,
For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive,
And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;
And attend to the voice of my supplications.
In Christ’s name, I pray,
Teach me Your Way
Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; Unite my heart to fear your name. I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify your name forever more. Great is your mercy toward me, and You have delivered my soul from the depths of hell. All praise be to You, Oh God my Redeemer, today and forever.
Meditation
[Am I pure and high-minded in thought, word, and deed, striving to honor God and man in all the opportunities and privileges of my life?]
Benediction
The blessing of the Lord rest and remain upon all his people, in every land, of every tongue; the Lord meet in mercy all that seek him; the Lord comfort all who suffer and mourn; the Lord hasten his coming, and give us, his people, the blessing of peace, this day and always.
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.
From A Forest Hymn
Of the great miracle that still goes on,
In silence, round me — the perpetual work
Of thy creation, finished, yet renewed
Forever. Written on thy works I read
The lesson of thy own eternity.
~ William Cullen Bryant
John 10:32-42 (ESV)
Jesus at the Temple Festival [Part 2]
Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”
The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.
Notes on the Scripture
esus once again engages his enemies with wordplay, turning their own scripture against them. They can hardly condemn him to death because he has healed and taught; rather they seek to kill him for calling himself the son of God. But he teases them; he cites to them Scripture that calls true believers “gods.”
He actually does not say anything that is necessarily blasphemous under Jewish law. Remember, speech is not capitalized; many Bibles affect capitalization to distinguish between the Son of God, meaning Jesus, and the children of God, being all of us. But the distinction does not exist in the spoken word.
Many people in the Jewish Bible (generally speaking, the Old Testament) were consecrated by God and sent by him on some sort of mission. So neither is that outright blasphemy, as defined by the Jews.
Christ also gives them a reasonable alternative: If they do not believe him, believe in his works. There really is no reason they cannot let him live in peace, except for their pride and envy. His only crime is that he threatens the absolute authority claimed by the Pharisees. And even the Roman governor will refuse to find Jesus guilty—and the Romans were by no means hesitant to execute colonial troublemakers.
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