A Reading from the Gospel of Luke 21:29-38
29 Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
34 “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place and to stand before the Son of Man.”
37 Every day he was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as it was called. 38 And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple.
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Meditation
We are told over and over again in the gospels that Jesus was remarkably popular with the people. It was not only his miracles; it was his teaching. We are told that he “taught with authority.” We are told that the religious leaders were jealous because of the enormous crowds that came to him. In today’s lesson we are told that “every day [Jesus] was teaching in the temple” and “early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.” The description “early in the morning” more than suggests that the crowds didn’t want to miss a word.
We are elsewhere told that Jesus “knew people’s hearts”; the parables he told showed that he knew people’s lives, for he talked about farming, family relationships, common merchandising, life’s hopes and frustrations, and contemporary political tensions. In all of these things, he revealed the love, power, and demands of God, and through them the ultimate promise of the Kingdom of God. Jesus gave common people, including tax collectors, Roman soldiers, rich young men, hurting single women, and experts in the Jewish law access to the deepest desires of their lives and how those desires were known to God as their loving Father. He told them that “the kingdom of God is near.”
Suppose Jesus taught today. Would he have podcasts and Facebook livestreams? And what would his stories include? What else but the things that connect to our lives?: Big Business, immoral and self-seeking government officials, mortgage payments and student debts, public education, computers, and the media. There would be uncompromising condemnation of many things, but only as a part of the greater, deeper, super-authoritative, unquestionably reliable message that at the heart of all things, at the heart of every human being, “the kingdom of God is near,” and God is a loving Father.
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David Baumann served for nearly 50 years as an Episcopal priest in the Dioceses of Los Angeles and Springfield. He has published nonfiction, science fiction, and short stories. Two exuberant small daughters make sure he never gets any rest.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Offa – The Church of Nigeria
Church of the Redeemer, Sarasota, Florida
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