I love St. John, for He is the apostle of love and the disciple whom Jesus loved!
At the Last Supper, as with the Lord’s Supper, the stakes of life are raised. The sheep become most clearly sheep who are fed by the Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. But the goats become more clearly the goats, eating and drinking judgment on themselves if they eat and drink unworthily. At the same Last Supper, were both John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, and Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus. The same Jesus was present before them, making the same offer of love and grace. The difference was in the nature of the disciples themselves.
How blessed it must have been to be St. John and to be known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”! Who among us wouldn’t want to be known this way!
This disciple whom Jesus loved was found at the Last Supper “leaning on Jesus’ bosom” (verse 23.) This is the secret of John’s love, and how he earned the name “the disciple whom Jesus loved”: it’s that John was found doing what he loved best, leaning on Jesus’ bosom. John loved to be in Jesus’ presence and to be near Him. I think this is why John is so associated with the love of God.
Was John called “ the disciple whom Jesus loved” because Jesus was playing favorites (God is the one person who would have the right to do so), or did it have something to do with the love with which John received Jesus? Maybe John is the disciple whom Jesus loved because John saw Jesus clearly and therefore His love. Maybe John is the disciple of love, not only because God offered Him His love but also because He received it so openly and freely. Only in John’s Gospel is John called “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” and so maybe this name has everything to do with the way John received the love of God. Jesus knew the love of His disciple John, and it is to John, and not Peter, that Jesus entrusts His mother at the Cross.
Jesus taught His disciples love, by what He said and by what He did. On the night in which He was betrayed, Jesus showed His love in such concentrated form that it overwhelms me. He gave them liquid and solid love when He ate His Last Supper with them and sacramentally shared His Body and Blood. He showed them love by serving them and washing their feet. He gave them the New Commandment for the New Covenant He had instituted, and that New Commandment was to love. “As I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
John learned His lesson as a disciple well. He, above all other writers in the New Testament, writes about love, and he is the only one who records this New Commandment of Jesus’ at the Last Supper. John knew love. Because he had accepted God’s love, he knew love. And because He knew God’s love, He could bring it to others as the apostle of love. This is really what the work of evangelism is all about: knowing God and His love and bringing them to others.
Because the disciple of love became the discipler of love and the apostle of love, we too know about the love of God.
In fact, the most amazing thing in the world to me is that it is not only St. John who is “the disciple whom Jesus loved” – it is also you.
Don’t you see? You are the disciple whom Jesus loved.
It isn’t only John or the other 12 disciples whom God loved: it’s each of you. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
You are the one who is supposed to desire to lean on Jesus’ breast, to hang on His every Word, and to love to be as near to Him as possible.
You are the one whom God loves, and you are the one who is supposed to love others because God first loved you. It is to you and to me that God has given the commandment to love Him with all of our hearts, souls, and minds and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
It is to all of us, including you, that Jesus said: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” By this, our love, as well, the world will know of the love that God has for them.
As John learned from Jesus, let us learn from both Jesus and John to love God that we might be called “the disciples whom Jesus loved,” and so that the world may know the God who sent His Son in love.
Prayer: Merciful Lord, we ask You to cast Your bright beams of light upon Your Church, that it, being illuminated by the doctrine of Your blessed Apostle and Evangelist St. John, may so walk in the light of Your truth, that it may at length obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Points for Meditation:
1. Spend time thinking about the ways God has shown His love to you, especially in light of the birth of His Son.
2. Meditate on the fact that God has made you “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”
3. Find one practical way to intentionally show love to someone today.
Resolution: I resolve today to meditate on God’s love for me and on how well I have loved Him.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
Friday, December 26, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
St. Stephen’s Day - December 26 - Acts 7:55-60
Those of you who are following the Prayer Book lectionary will recognize that I have taken this morning’s lesson from the Epistle Lesson appointed for St. Stephen’s Day, and not from the daily lectionary. We are entering a brief but intense period in the lectionary when there are many special commemorations and therefore special lessons.
At first glance, the life and death of St. Stephen may seem intended to produce a case of theological whiplash. We have just prepared ourselves for and finally participated in the joys of Christmas, and then we hear of the tragic death of Stephen.
Why?
I think celebrating St. Stephen’s Day right after Christmas makes a lot of sense. The point is that the things Jesus Christ came to earth to do are supposed to be continued by His Church. St. Stephen was a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, an example for all Christians, for he followed His master in all things.
Just as the Holy Spirit entered into Mary so that Jesus Christ was born to save the world, so also the Holy Spirit enters into the Body of Christ so that the Church may continue Jesus’ work of salvation. And St. Stephen is the first fruits of Christian martyrdom for the glory of God and the good of the world.
The beginning of the book of Acts is very instructive for understanding what God wishes us to understand by the heroics of the early church: “In my former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach . . . .” By implication, if the St. Luke’s Gospel is intended to record all that Jesus began to do and to teach, then the book of Acts is intended to record what Jesus Christ continues to do through His Church. The most important person in the book of Acts is neither St. Peter nor St. Paul but the Holy Spirit, through whom Jesus Christ continues to act in the world.
So how does St. Stephen continue the ministry of Jesus Christ, for which He was born?
First, we hear that Stephen was a man full of faith and power who did great wonders and signs (Acts 6:8). In a similar way, Jesus is said to be full of grace and truth (John 1:14), though it could equally be said that He was full of faith and power. Stephen’s power to perform signs and wonders comes from Jesus’ own power, demonstrated all throughout the Gospels.
Almost all of chapter 7 is taken up with Stephen faithfully proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, just as Jesus Himself did. And like Jesus, the truth of the Gospel incited the Jews to murder. As when Jesus was baptized, the heavens were opened to Stephen, and Stephen was privileged to see the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
Most striking are the similarities between the way Stephen and Jesus died. The end result of faithfully seeing and proclaiming God was the same for Stephen as for Jesus: death at the hand of the Jews. Both were brought before the council and accused of blasphemy, and both had false witnesses brought to testify against them (Acts 6:11-13.) Both were cast out of the city of Jerusalem where they were put to death for their proclamation of the Good News (Acts 7:58.)
Even as he was being stoned, Stephen called on God and cried, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” His cry was the same as Jesus’ on the Cross”: “Into Your hands I commit my spirit.” At the very point of death, Stephen’s love and mercy came straight from Jesus on the Cross. His “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” could only have been said by the power of the one who first said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
St. Stephen is such a shining example of a Christian disciple that it is easy to see His Master through him. But the point of celebrating St. Stephen’s Day is not just to honor a faithful brother in Christ but to give glory to Jesus Christ Himself who was born and lived and died that men, like Stephen and us, may be made like Him in all things.
We celebrate St. Stephen’s Day because Jesus Christ is this very day raising up more St. Stephens to faithfully proclaim Jesus Christ. The same Jesus Christ that St. Stephen served and saw standing at the right hand of God is the same Jesus Christ we serve and who is still standing at the right hand of God in heaven. The same Holy Spirit that filled St. Stephen is with us, for this is the meaning of Immanuel, “God with us.”
What does St. Stephen have to do with Christmas?
Everything!
The Holy Spirit that entered Mary and that descended on Jesus Christ at His baptism and filled St. Stephen is the Holy Spirit that dwells in you. From St. Stephen to St. Paul to countless others, for generation after generation, God has called His disciples to faithfully follow Him.
Who will dare to be a St. Stephen in our generation?
Prayer: Grant, O Lord, that, in all our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of Your truth, we may steadfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, may we learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of the first martyr St. Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to You. Grant that we may, through the Holy Spirit, be made Your faithful disciples and filled with faith and power, O blessed Jesus, who stands on the right hand of God to help all those who suffer for You, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.
Points for Meditation:
1. Meditate on the fact that Jesus Christ continues His ministry through His Church. What response does this provoke from you? What implications does this have for your life?
2. What keeps you from being more like St. Stephen? In what ways has God already worked through You to teach and to do His will? In what ways may you have been resisting His call?
Resolution: I resolve to consider how God is calling me to more faithfully follow Him this year.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
At first glance, the life and death of St. Stephen may seem intended to produce a case of theological whiplash. We have just prepared ourselves for and finally participated in the joys of Christmas, and then we hear of the tragic death of Stephen.
Why?
I think celebrating St. Stephen’s Day right after Christmas makes a lot of sense. The point is that the things Jesus Christ came to earth to do are supposed to be continued by His Church. St. Stephen was a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, an example for all Christians, for he followed His master in all things.
Just as the Holy Spirit entered into Mary so that Jesus Christ was born to save the world, so also the Holy Spirit enters into the Body of Christ so that the Church may continue Jesus’ work of salvation. And St. Stephen is the first fruits of Christian martyrdom for the glory of God and the good of the world.
The beginning of the book of Acts is very instructive for understanding what God wishes us to understand by the heroics of the early church: “In my former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach . . . .” By implication, if the St. Luke’s Gospel is intended to record all that Jesus began to do and to teach, then the book of Acts is intended to record what Jesus Christ continues to do through His Church. The most important person in the book of Acts is neither St. Peter nor St. Paul but the Holy Spirit, through whom Jesus Christ continues to act in the world.
So how does St. Stephen continue the ministry of Jesus Christ, for which He was born?
First, we hear that Stephen was a man full of faith and power who did great wonders and signs (Acts 6:8). In a similar way, Jesus is said to be full of grace and truth (John 1:14), though it could equally be said that He was full of faith and power. Stephen’s power to perform signs and wonders comes from Jesus’ own power, demonstrated all throughout the Gospels.
Almost all of chapter 7 is taken up with Stephen faithfully proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, just as Jesus Himself did. And like Jesus, the truth of the Gospel incited the Jews to murder. As when Jesus was baptized, the heavens were opened to Stephen, and Stephen was privileged to see the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
Most striking are the similarities between the way Stephen and Jesus died. The end result of faithfully seeing and proclaiming God was the same for Stephen as for Jesus: death at the hand of the Jews. Both were brought before the council and accused of blasphemy, and both had false witnesses brought to testify against them (Acts 6:11-13.) Both were cast out of the city of Jerusalem where they were put to death for their proclamation of the Good News (Acts 7:58.)
Even as he was being stoned, Stephen called on God and cried, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” His cry was the same as Jesus’ on the Cross”: “Into Your hands I commit my spirit.” At the very point of death, Stephen’s love and mercy came straight from Jesus on the Cross. His “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” could only have been said by the power of the one who first said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
St. Stephen is such a shining example of a Christian disciple that it is easy to see His Master through him. But the point of celebrating St. Stephen’s Day is not just to honor a faithful brother in Christ but to give glory to Jesus Christ Himself who was born and lived and died that men, like Stephen and us, may be made like Him in all things.
We celebrate St. Stephen’s Day because Jesus Christ is this very day raising up more St. Stephens to faithfully proclaim Jesus Christ. The same Jesus Christ that St. Stephen served and saw standing at the right hand of God is the same Jesus Christ we serve and who is still standing at the right hand of God in heaven. The same Holy Spirit that filled St. Stephen is with us, for this is the meaning of Immanuel, “God with us.”
What does St. Stephen have to do with Christmas?
Everything!
The Holy Spirit that entered Mary and that descended on Jesus Christ at His baptism and filled St. Stephen is the Holy Spirit that dwells in you. From St. Stephen to St. Paul to countless others, for generation after generation, God has called His disciples to faithfully follow Him.
Who will dare to be a St. Stephen in our generation?
Prayer: Grant, O Lord, that, in all our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of Your truth, we may steadfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, may we learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of the first martyr St. Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to You. Grant that we may, through the Holy Spirit, be made Your faithful disciples and filled with faith and power, O blessed Jesus, who stands on the right hand of God to help all those who suffer for You, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.
Points for Meditation:
1. Meditate on the fact that Jesus Christ continues His ministry through His Church. What response does this provoke from you? What implications does this have for your life?
2. What keeps you from being more like St. Stephen? In what ways has God already worked through You to teach and to do His will? In what ways may you have been resisting His call?
Resolution: I resolve to consider how God is calling me to more faithfully follow Him this year.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Christmas Day - Luke 2:1-20
With apologies to those at St. Chrys who heard this as a sermon, I offer this Christmas meditation. The inspiration for it came from Ephraim the Syrian, a 4th century Christian who wrote several excellent Nativity Hymns.
At Christmas the question sometimes arises, “What do you get for the man who has everything?” For us, the question is, “What should we give to a God who has everything and has done everything for us?”
The answer is that we should give ourselves, body, mind, and soul, for it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Let us learn from the whole creation which was represented at the birth of Jesus Christ. The whole creation offered itself up to its Lord and Creator. The whole creation became mouths to Him, and cried out concerning Him. They came and did not fail to confess Him as the Creator of all things and the Redeemer of the fallen world. They came and gave themselves to Him.
In the Star of Bethlehem all heavenly objects came and worshiped Jesus Christ, bringing all of their honor and glory and power to His feet. The greater lights and the lesser lights, each of which is only a reflection of His eternal and immense glory, came from afar to see the God of gods and Light of lights become part of His creation. At His birth, the heavens declared the glory of God, and the firmament showed His handiwork.
The angels came, the heavenly host, the citizens of heaven. They shouted, and their voices were a great thunder that reawakened the earth on the Day of Birth. On behalf of every cherubim and seraphim, the 4 Living Creatures, the 24 elders, and every heavenly creature, they came to bring their praise, for which they were specially created.
The shepherds were there as well, bearing the best gifts of their flock: sweet milk, clean flesh, and proper praise. They gave Joseph the flesh, Mary the milk, but to Jesus the Son of God they gave the praise! Drawn by the Good Shepherd, the shepherds came as little lambs to become part of His one great flock that is made up of every nation on the face of the earth.
The shepherds came and brought their human occupation and labor on behalf of all mankind. They stopped leading and learned to follow the Lamb who was the Great Shepherd and overseer of their souls.
The sheep and lambs came, whole families together, on behalf of the animals of the world, all birds of the air and fish of the sea and every animal that creeps or walks upon the earth. They knew the voice of their Master, even when He was a baby, and they came to follow Him that we might follow their example.
The shepherds brought and presented a suckling lamb to the Paschal Lamb, a first-born to the First-Born, a sacrifice to the Sacrifice, and lamb of time to the Lamb of Truth and Eternity that sits upon the throne. The lamb bleated as it was offered before the First-born of all creation, before the High Priest and Temple made without hands. It praised the Lamb who had come to set free the flocks and the oxen from sacrifices. All the sheep brought their flesh and blood to the one who offered Himself instead of them and became the perfect Sacrifice.
The shepherds rested upon their staffs, the symbol of the authority God has given men. They blessed the Good Shepherd because He was the one who had reconciled the wolves and the lambs within His fold. They blessed the Babe who was older than Noah and who came to reconcile all creatures within the ark which was Himself.
Righteous Abel, the first shepherd, whose blood was first shed by wicked men like an innocent lamb, was represented there by the shepherds. His acceptable sacrifice was made acceptable by the blood of the spotless Lamb of God, and He was made righteous by the righteousness of Christ.
The rod of Moses came with them, for as the Red Sea was parted by Moses and His rod, the heavens were parted by the birth of Jesus. The rod of Moses praised the Rod of Jesse, and in it Moses praised Joshua or Jesus who came to lead His people into the true Promised Land. It sang of the victory of God over His enemies by the Prince of Peace.
The rod of Aaron was there, too. Though it was dead and wooden, it budded before the Source of Life. That which was dead became alive again and began to bear fruit. The Tree of Death, the Cross, became the Tree of Life and the instrument of salvation.
The wise men sought Him with all of their learning and wisdom and offered to Him again the mind of mankind. They came from far away to behold the One who is Wisdom Incarnate and who created what man cannot even understand. They came bringing gifts rich and rare but the greatest gift they gave was themselves. They gave their praise and worship and royal glory to the child who was the King of kings.
Their gold represented the wealth and treasure of mankind, which was worth nothing to them until they had become poor in spirit. The gold of the idols, the gold of Egypt, came and worshiped before Him. The gold which had become the idol and master of mankind came, proclaiming that it was not worthy.
Their frankincense was with them, the offering of the aromatic trees, to purify the air where He breathed. It came to Him who took away the pollution of mankind and made the earth a heaven suitable for mankind and God again. It was burned and rose, the prayers of God’s people, a sweet-smelling aroma in His nostrils.
Their myrrh was there as well, the perfume that went into the wine to offer it to mankind, the perfume that was used to bury the dead. With the myrrh came the remembrance of death, which would be put to death and buried by the One who had just been born.
Joseph came, the earthly father, to worship his son, the Son of God. He came on behalf of all earthly fathers and brought his faithfulness to the manger. He offered it with all of the other treasures that were brought. He came to serve the heavenly Son who was greater than the earthly father; he brought his obedience and courage in vowing to protect and raise the God made man. He offered his life to serve the Son.
Mary came, the earthly mother, and treasured all these things in her heart. She who bore the Son of God bore the hope of the New Creation, of souls born again and made acceptable to God again. She worshiped silently because God had come to be with her and had chosen to dwell with man. She offered her body as a holy vessel for her Child and offered her worship to the Son of God. She offered her faith, devotion, and service as an example for all born of woman.
These all came to Jesus at His birth, for all things come from Him and of His own we are to give to Him. These all came, offering the one gift that He had asked for: they came and willingly offered themselves to Him.
Let us come and give ourselves to Him, body, mind, and soul.
For it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Prayer: Father, thank You for Your love in sending Your only Son to earth to become one of us. Lord Jesus Christ, praise be to You because You are the Creator and Giver of all and at Christmas You gave Yourself to us. May I exchange with You the gift of love so that in all things I may be made like You and join in Your New Creation. Amen.
Resolution and Point for Meditation: I resolve to continue my Christmas meditations on the coming of Jesus Christ. Today, I resolve to meditate on how I can offer myself to the Lord more fully this year, the one gift He has asked for this Christmas.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
At Christmas the question sometimes arises, “What do you get for the man who has everything?” For us, the question is, “What should we give to a God who has everything and has done everything for us?”
The answer is that we should give ourselves, body, mind, and soul, for it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Let us learn from the whole creation which was represented at the birth of Jesus Christ. The whole creation offered itself up to its Lord and Creator. The whole creation became mouths to Him, and cried out concerning Him. They came and did not fail to confess Him as the Creator of all things and the Redeemer of the fallen world. They came and gave themselves to Him.
In the Star of Bethlehem all heavenly objects came and worshiped Jesus Christ, bringing all of their honor and glory and power to His feet. The greater lights and the lesser lights, each of which is only a reflection of His eternal and immense glory, came from afar to see the God of gods and Light of lights become part of His creation. At His birth, the heavens declared the glory of God, and the firmament showed His handiwork.
The angels came, the heavenly host, the citizens of heaven. They shouted, and their voices were a great thunder that reawakened the earth on the Day of Birth. On behalf of every cherubim and seraphim, the 4 Living Creatures, the 24 elders, and every heavenly creature, they came to bring their praise, for which they were specially created.
The shepherds were there as well, bearing the best gifts of their flock: sweet milk, clean flesh, and proper praise. They gave Joseph the flesh, Mary the milk, but to Jesus the Son of God they gave the praise! Drawn by the Good Shepherd, the shepherds came as little lambs to become part of His one great flock that is made up of every nation on the face of the earth.
The shepherds came and brought their human occupation and labor on behalf of all mankind. They stopped leading and learned to follow the Lamb who was the Great Shepherd and overseer of their souls.
The sheep and lambs came, whole families together, on behalf of the animals of the world, all birds of the air and fish of the sea and every animal that creeps or walks upon the earth. They knew the voice of their Master, even when He was a baby, and they came to follow Him that we might follow their example.
The shepherds brought and presented a suckling lamb to the Paschal Lamb, a first-born to the First-Born, a sacrifice to the Sacrifice, and lamb of time to the Lamb of Truth and Eternity that sits upon the throne. The lamb bleated as it was offered before the First-born of all creation, before the High Priest and Temple made without hands. It praised the Lamb who had come to set free the flocks and the oxen from sacrifices. All the sheep brought their flesh and blood to the one who offered Himself instead of them and became the perfect Sacrifice.
The shepherds rested upon their staffs, the symbol of the authority God has given men. They blessed the Good Shepherd because He was the one who had reconciled the wolves and the lambs within His fold. They blessed the Babe who was older than Noah and who came to reconcile all creatures within the ark which was Himself.
Righteous Abel, the first shepherd, whose blood was first shed by wicked men like an innocent lamb, was represented there by the shepherds. His acceptable sacrifice was made acceptable by the blood of the spotless Lamb of God, and He was made righteous by the righteousness of Christ.
The rod of Moses came with them, for as the Red Sea was parted by Moses and His rod, the heavens were parted by the birth of Jesus. The rod of Moses praised the Rod of Jesse, and in it Moses praised Joshua or Jesus who came to lead His people into the true Promised Land. It sang of the victory of God over His enemies by the Prince of Peace.
The rod of Aaron was there, too. Though it was dead and wooden, it budded before the Source of Life. That which was dead became alive again and began to bear fruit. The Tree of Death, the Cross, became the Tree of Life and the instrument of salvation.
The wise men sought Him with all of their learning and wisdom and offered to Him again the mind of mankind. They came from far away to behold the One who is Wisdom Incarnate and who created what man cannot even understand. They came bringing gifts rich and rare but the greatest gift they gave was themselves. They gave their praise and worship and royal glory to the child who was the King of kings.
Their gold represented the wealth and treasure of mankind, which was worth nothing to them until they had become poor in spirit. The gold of the idols, the gold of Egypt, came and worshiped before Him. The gold which had become the idol and master of mankind came, proclaiming that it was not worthy.
Their frankincense was with them, the offering of the aromatic trees, to purify the air where He breathed. It came to Him who took away the pollution of mankind and made the earth a heaven suitable for mankind and God again. It was burned and rose, the prayers of God’s people, a sweet-smelling aroma in His nostrils.
Their myrrh was there as well, the perfume that went into the wine to offer it to mankind, the perfume that was used to bury the dead. With the myrrh came the remembrance of death, which would be put to death and buried by the One who had just been born.
Joseph came, the earthly father, to worship his son, the Son of God. He came on behalf of all earthly fathers and brought his faithfulness to the manger. He offered it with all of the other treasures that were brought. He came to serve the heavenly Son who was greater than the earthly father; he brought his obedience and courage in vowing to protect and raise the God made man. He offered his life to serve the Son.
Mary came, the earthly mother, and treasured all these things in her heart. She who bore the Son of God bore the hope of the New Creation, of souls born again and made acceptable to God again. She worshiped silently because God had come to be with her and had chosen to dwell with man. She offered her body as a holy vessel for her Child and offered her worship to the Son of God. She offered her faith, devotion, and service as an example for all born of woman.
These all came to Jesus at His birth, for all things come from Him and of His own we are to give to Him. These all came, offering the one gift that He had asked for: they came and willingly offered themselves to Him.
Let us come and give ourselves to Him, body, mind, and soul.
For it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Prayer: Father, thank You for Your love in sending Your only Son to earth to become one of us. Lord Jesus Christ, praise be to You because You are the Creator and Giver of all and at Christmas You gave Yourself to us. May I exchange with You the gift of love so that in all things I may be made like You and join in Your New Creation. Amen.
Resolution and Point for Meditation: I resolve to continue my Christmas meditations on the coming of Jesus Christ. Today, I resolve to meditate on how I can offer myself to the Lord more fully this year, the one gift He has asked for this Christmas.
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Christmas Eve - Luke 1:67-80
After Zacharias’ tongue is loosed again, and after he has demonstrated his faith by obediently naming John what God had named him, Zacharias is filled with the Holy Spirit. And what does the Holy Spirit inspire Zacharias to do? To sing a hymn of praise to God with his newly loosened tongue.
Zacharias is a picture of how we are to respond to God and his mercy.
As we learned yesterday, with Zacharias and through him, it’s better to believe and obey God than to disbelieve and disobey Him. We’ve been trying to learn this lesson ever since Adam and Eve. God is the one in charge, and He is the one who has authority over names and their meanings, and lives and their meanings.
And so when God names something, we are to give the name that God has given. When God says that something is good we are required to say that it is good, and when God says something is a sin we are required to say that it is a sin. We are to faithfully repeat God’s Word and His truth, for this is the calling of every true prophet and the calling of every true Christian.
Our faithful response to the presence and authority of God in our lives takes other forms as well. Today, not only has Zacharias chosen to faithfully respond to God with belief and obedience but also with praise and singing. One of the ways we repeat God’s truth back to Him is by singing. God sings His beautiful song of creation, and we sing it back to Him by being what He has created us to be. That’s why birds sing! God sings His even more beautiful song of redemption, and we sing it back to Him. And when God’s redemption comes through His Son, singing His most beautiful love song, we are to sing it back to Him.
I think this is why God created music, because just talking about God or even to Him isn’t always sufficient. The beauty of God should be answered with beauty, and the glory of God with glory. We should respond to the faithfulness of God with faithfulness so that even our lives become a song of joyful response to being in the presence of God.
Zacharias’ Benedictus might be seen as a hymn to God’s mercy and a meditation on the meaning of his son’s name, a renaming what God has first named (John means “God is merciful.”) It is a song of mercy about what God has done for Israel (the people of God) as well as what God has done for Zacharias and Elizabeth themselves – and a song about what He has done for you.
Zacharias sings because God has had mercy in visiting and redeeming His people (verse 68).
Zacharias sings because God has had mercy in raising up a horn of salvation (verse 69).
Zacharias sings because God has performed His mercy promised towards our fathers (verse 72).
Zacharias sings because God has had mercy in delivering us out of the hand of our enemies (verse 74).
Zacharias sings because God has had mercy in remitting our sins (verse 77).
Zacharias sings because God has had mercy in visiting us with the dayspring from on high (verse 76).
Zacharias’ song is to continue, and we are now to sing it as well. It has been preserved by the Church as the Benedictus, and now it is our turn to sing it.
Blessed be the Lord God of the Church, for He has visited and redeemed His people.
We sing because God has saved us and done what He has promised to do in our lives.
We sing because God has delivered us from our enemies and is in the process of delivering us out of the hand of our enemies.
We sing because God has forgiven us our sins.
And we sing because God has had mercy on us in visiting us with the dayspring from on high.
So what God has spoken to Zacharias is what He has spoken to us: let our response be that of Zacharias. Sing about God’s mercy and blessing and give glory back to Him today!
Resolution: I resolve to sing the Benedictus today, or some other appropriate hymn in praise to God for His mercy.
Prayer: Blessed are You Lord God because You have visited and redeemed me. Blessed are You Lord God because you have saved me from my enemies. Blessed are You Lord God for You have brought me into the light of Your Son. Amen.
Points for Meditation:
In what ways has God visited me recently for which I should give thanks and praise?
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
Zacharias is a picture of how we are to respond to God and his mercy.
As we learned yesterday, with Zacharias and through him, it’s better to believe and obey God than to disbelieve and disobey Him. We’ve been trying to learn this lesson ever since Adam and Eve. God is the one in charge, and He is the one who has authority over names and their meanings, and lives and their meanings.
And so when God names something, we are to give the name that God has given. When God says that something is good we are required to say that it is good, and when God says something is a sin we are required to say that it is a sin. We are to faithfully repeat God’s Word and His truth, for this is the calling of every true prophet and the calling of every true Christian.
Our faithful response to the presence and authority of God in our lives takes other forms as well. Today, not only has Zacharias chosen to faithfully respond to God with belief and obedience but also with praise and singing. One of the ways we repeat God’s truth back to Him is by singing. God sings His beautiful song of creation, and we sing it back to Him by being what He has created us to be. That’s why birds sing! God sings His even more beautiful song of redemption, and we sing it back to Him. And when God’s redemption comes through His Son, singing His most beautiful love song, we are to sing it back to Him.
I think this is why God created music, because just talking about God or even to Him isn’t always sufficient. The beauty of God should be answered with beauty, and the glory of God with glory. We should respond to the faithfulness of God with faithfulness so that even our lives become a song of joyful response to being in the presence of God.
Zacharias’ Benedictus might be seen as a hymn to God’s mercy and a meditation on the meaning of his son’s name, a renaming what God has first named (John means “God is merciful.”) It is a song of mercy about what God has done for Israel (the people of God) as well as what God has done for Zacharias and Elizabeth themselves – and a song about what He has done for you.
Zacharias sings because God has had mercy in visiting and redeeming His people (verse 68).
Zacharias sings because God has had mercy in raising up a horn of salvation (verse 69).
Zacharias sings because God has performed His mercy promised towards our fathers (verse 72).
Zacharias sings because God has had mercy in delivering us out of the hand of our enemies (verse 74).
Zacharias sings because God has had mercy in remitting our sins (verse 77).
Zacharias sings because God has had mercy in visiting us with the dayspring from on high (verse 76).
Zacharias’ song is to continue, and we are now to sing it as well. It has been preserved by the Church as the Benedictus, and now it is our turn to sing it.
Blessed be the Lord God of the Church, for He has visited and redeemed His people.
We sing because God has saved us and done what He has promised to do in our lives.
We sing because God has delivered us from our enemies and is in the process of delivering us out of the hand of our enemies.
We sing because God has forgiven us our sins.
And we sing because God has had mercy on us in visiting us with the dayspring from on high.
So what God has spoken to Zacharias is what He has spoken to us: let our response be that of Zacharias. Sing about God’s mercy and blessing and give glory back to Him today!
Resolution: I resolve to sing the Benedictus today, or some other appropriate hymn in praise to God for His mercy.
Prayer: Blessed are You Lord God because You have visited and redeemed me. Blessed are You Lord God because you have saved me from my enemies. Blessed are You Lord God for You have brought me into the light of Your Son. Amen.
Points for Meditation:
In what ways has God visited me recently for which I should give thanks and praise?
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
Monday, December 22, 2008
Tuesday of Advent 4 - Luke 1:26-38
While Roman Catholics may exalt Mary to an inappropriate place and Protestants may ignore her altogether, Mary is to be an example of faith for us. There is no denying that she was, to quote the angel, “full of grace.” But Mary is a prototype for us, and what was true for her is now true for us. And therefore, today, God says to you: “Hail, Christian, full of grace!”
The first thing to notice about Mary’s blessed relationship with God is that it is God who initiated a gracious, special relationship with Mary, and not Mary with God. God announced Himself to Mary through His Word, through His messengers. Why is Mary called highly favored? Because God has chosen to visit her. God chose to come and bless her – not on account of her own merit, but because of His sovereign grace.
There is no indication that Mary had done anything special to merit being the mother of her Lord, for if she had, then it would no longer be of grace but a reward. There is also no indication in Scripture, which is the oldest and most authoritative Tradition, that she was without sin. Her sinlessness (related to the doctrine of her Immaculate Conception) doesn’t appear to have been in the first several centuries, and, in spite of teachers such as St. Thomas Aquinas and Bernard of Clairvaux opposing it, this doctrine was not dogmatized until 1854.
The fact that Mary sinned like us is precisely the point: that God has come to dwell with sinners, not with those already righteous, because only God is righteous. If Mary were sinless, this point would be obscured. She would be actually less of a model for us because she would be unlike us, without sin and not in need of salvation herself. That God can and does inhabit sinful people is a greater testimony to the power of God in Mary’s life and ours – than if she were sinless. This is the real miracle of Pentecost and of God’s mighty salvation: that God has come to be with His people, even though they are sinful. This is why Mary is so meaningful to me: because, like me, she was a sinner to whom God miraculously gave His grace. Like sinful Mary, God has made me the Temple of His Holy Spirit.
Mary responds to this grace with faith. Though she was astounded by the astounding words of the angel, she was believing. The things she felt are very instructive for the way that we should feel toward God and His grace in our lives. We find that Mary wondered at the things the angel had told her. Like Mary, we should wonder at the things God has promised to us and actually given us. Mary also believed. Though what God told her was outside of her experience, or anyone’s, she believed. Did she understand it all? Obviously not. Did she believe? Obviously so.
Mary also was troubled by the saying of Gabriel, and this is perhaps what most separates her from us. Mary was troubled that she could be found worthy to be the mother of her Lord. She was troubled that she would give birth before she knew Joseph. God has told us equally amazing things and done equally marvelous things for us, but we aren’t troubled by the presence of God. Somehow, God’s presence among us is too familiar and too tamed. God is not to be feared in any sense, because He’s just a warm tingling inside and not a consuming fire.
But Mary was troubled, and we should be, too. Not troubled as in anxious or doubtful, but troubled in that if we understand God Almighty to be present among us, and having seen Him for Who He Is, we appropriately tremble.
Equally important, Mary was humble. She knew that the miraculous things she heard were of God, and not of herself. She knew that she was an unworthy servant, not someone who deserved and therefore expected what she received. Of all of the things that Mary felt and said and did, one of the most meaningful to me was her simple summary of her response to God in her life: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord.” After graciously receiving the miraculous grace of God, her response was not to think too highly of herself but to stand, ready to serve in the way that He had called her.
In time, God blessed Mary by being with her, through His Son and through the work of the Holy Spirit. Gabriel tells Mary, “The Lord is with you.” First, the Father comes with His promise, and then the Holy Spirit overshadows her, and then the Son of God comes to her, and so we remember, in this season of Trinity, that the entire Trinity came and blessed Mary, just as He comes to us.
The point, again, is that having been blessed by God like Mary, we are to be like Mary in faith. As with Mary, God offers you His grace. You have been visited by the messengers (angels) of God - the other Christians in your life. You have heard His Word: it comes to you every time you hear or read the Holy Scriptures.
And you must respond with faith, humility, and obedience – just like Mary. If God could and did enter into Mary, He can do the same with you. If God can use Mary, imperfect but humble and faithful Mary, He can use you. If He can dwell in Mary by His Holy Spirit, then He can dwell in you by His Holy Spirit as well. You, and not just Mary, are the God’s chosen vessel and the locus of His special presence. You are called the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and so you have the Holy Spirit as did Mary. The Holy Spirit didn’t turn Mary into God Himself any more than He turns us into God. Rather, God’s gracious presence through His Holy Spirit redeems us, the fallen ones.
As Mary bore Christ, so can you all be Christ bearers, “Christophers.” This is the importance of the Incarnation to us, not just that Jesus became man but that Jesus became man so that man could now live with God and even become the Temple of the living God. As with Mary, Christ is to be born in us, and we are to bear Him every day. It’s not as if 9 months later He goes outside of us: He has tabernacled with us permanently, through His Spirit. And this is the meaning of Pentecost.
What should our response be to such glad and joyful tidings? It should be the same as Mary’s. We should be troubled by the presence of God in our lives, but we should also believe. And we should show our belief by saying “Behold, the servant of the Lord,” and then go out and serve not only as servants of Jesus Christ but also as bearers of Jesus Christ.
Rejoice, highly favored one! The Lord is with you; blessed are you among men.
Prayer: My soul magnifies You, Lord, and my spirit rejoices in You, for You are my Savior. Come and glorify Yourself in me by coming to be with me. Fulfill Your promises to me through Your Son, and as You make me Your chosen vessel and servant, give me the Spirit of Jesus Christ that I may more faithfully serve. Amen.
Point for Meditation:
1. What do you see in Mary’s faith that makes it worth emulating? Choose one of these and work on manifesting it more in your life today.
2. What changes in your life would you need to make to have faith like Mary’s?
Resolution: I resolve to see myself today as one to whom God has come to bless. I resolve to meditate further on Mark 1:28, hearing the Lord say to me, “Rejoice, highly favored one, I am with you. Blessed are you among men.”
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
The first thing to notice about Mary’s blessed relationship with God is that it is God who initiated a gracious, special relationship with Mary, and not Mary with God. God announced Himself to Mary through His Word, through His messengers. Why is Mary called highly favored? Because God has chosen to visit her. God chose to come and bless her – not on account of her own merit, but because of His sovereign grace.
There is no indication that Mary had done anything special to merit being the mother of her Lord, for if she had, then it would no longer be of grace but a reward. There is also no indication in Scripture, which is the oldest and most authoritative Tradition, that she was without sin. Her sinlessness (related to the doctrine of her Immaculate Conception) doesn’t appear to have been in the first several centuries, and, in spite of teachers such as St. Thomas Aquinas and Bernard of Clairvaux opposing it, this doctrine was not dogmatized until 1854.
The fact that Mary sinned like us is precisely the point: that God has come to dwell with sinners, not with those already righteous, because only God is righteous. If Mary were sinless, this point would be obscured. She would be actually less of a model for us because she would be unlike us, without sin and not in need of salvation herself. That God can and does inhabit sinful people is a greater testimony to the power of God in Mary’s life and ours – than if she were sinless. This is the real miracle of Pentecost and of God’s mighty salvation: that God has come to be with His people, even though they are sinful. This is why Mary is so meaningful to me: because, like me, she was a sinner to whom God miraculously gave His grace. Like sinful Mary, God has made me the Temple of His Holy Spirit.
Mary responds to this grace with faith. Though she was astounded by the astounding words of the angel, she was believing. The things she felt are very instructive for the way that we should feel toward God and His grace in our lives. We find that Mary wondered at the things the angel had told her. Like Mary, we should wonder at the things God has promised to us and actually given us. Mary also believed. Though what God told her was outside of her experience, or anyone’s, she believed. Did she understand it all? Obviously not. Did she believe? Obviously so.
Mary also was troubled by the saying of Gabriel, and this is perhaps what most separates her from us. Mary was troubled that she could be found worthy to be the mother of her Lord. She was troubled that she would give birth before she knew Joseph. God has told us equally amazing things and done equally marvelous things for us, but we aren’t troubled by the presence of God. Somehow, God’s presence among us is too familiar and too tamed. God is not to be feared in any sense, because He’s just a warm tingling inside and not a consuming fire.
But Mary was troubled, and we should be, too. Not troubled as in anxious or doubtful, but troubled in that if we understand God Almighty to be present among us, and having seen Him for Who He Is, we appropriately tremble.
Equally important, Mary was humble. She knew that the miraculous things she heard were of God, and not of herself. She knew that she was an unworthy servant, not someone who deserved and therefore expected what she received. Of all of the things that Mary felt and said and did, one of the most meaningful to me was her simple summary of her response to God in her life: “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord.” After graciously receiving the miraculous grace of God, her response was not to think too highly of herself but to stand, ready to serve in the way that He had called her.
In time, God blessed Mary by being with her, through His Son and through the work of the Holy Spirit. Gabriel tells Mary, “The Lord is with you.” First, the Father comes with His promise, and then the Holy Spirit overshadows her, and then the Son of God comes to her, and so we remember, in this season of Trinity, that the entire Trinity came and blessed Mary, just as He comes to us.
The point, again, is that having been blessed by God like Mary, we are to be like Mary in faith. As with Mary, God offers you His grace. You have been visited by the messengers (angels) of God - the other Christians in your life. You have heard His Word: it comes to you every time you hear or read the Holy Scriptures.
And you must respond with faith, humility, and obedience – just like Mary. If God could and did enter into Mary, He can do the same with you. If God can use Mary, imperfect but humble and faithful Mary, He can use you. If He can dwell in Mary by His Holy Spirit, then He can dwell in you by His Holy Spirit as well. You, and not just Mary, are the God’s chosen vessel and the locus of His special presence. You are called the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and so you have the Holy Spirit as did Mary. The Holy Spirit didn’t turn Mary into God Himself any more than He turns us into God. Rather, God’s gracious presence through His Holy Spirit redeems us, the fallen ones.
As Mary bore Christ, so can you all be Christ bearers, “Christophers.” This is the importance of the Incarnation to us, not just that Jesus became man but that Jesus became man so that man could now live with God and even become the Temple of the living God. As with Mary, Christ is to be born in us, and we are to bear Him every day. It’s not as if 9 months later He goes outside of us: He has tabernacled with us permanently, through His Spirit. And this is the meaning of Pentecost.
What should our response be to such glad and joyful tidings? It should be the same as Mary’s. We should be troubled by the presence of God in our lives, but we should also believe. And we should show our belief by saying “Behold, the servant of the Lord,” and then go out and serve not only as servants of Jesus Christ but also as bearers of Jesus Christ.
Rejoice, highly favored one! The Lord is with you; blessed are you among men.
Prayer: My soul magnifies You, Lord, and my spirit rejoices in You, for You are my Savior. Come and glorify Yourself in me by coming to be with me. Fulfill Your promises to me through Your Son, and as You make me Your chosen vessel and servant, give me the Spirit of Jesus Christ that I may more faithfully serve. Amen.
Point for Meditation:
1. What do you see in Mary’s faith that makes it worth emulating? Choose one of these and work on manifesting it more in your life today.
2. What changes in your life would you need to make to have faith like Mary’s?
Resolution: I resolve to see myself today as one to whom God has come to bless. I resolve to meditate further on Mark 1:28, hearing the Lord say to me, “Rejoice, highly favored one, I am with you. Blessed are you among men.”
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Monday of Advent 4 - Luke 1:1-25
I love the opening of St. Luke’s Gospel because I feel, even more than in the other Gospels, that St. Luke is talking to me. “You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me?” we ask.
St. Luke’s answer (which is really God’s) is, simply, “Yes.”
Why do I feel as if St. Luke is talking to me?
First, Luke is the only Gentile privileged to have been inspired to write a book of the Bible. In fact, he was privileged to write two: his Gospel, and the Acts of the Apostles (which I think of more as “The Rest of the Words and Acts of Jesus Christ”). In St. Luke, we see the coming of Christ to the Gentiles incarnated.
Second, Luke is the only one who has given us an account of how he came to write his book of the Bible. Knowing that we Gentiles needed a different kind of proof, and understanding the Western mindset, which most of us have now inherited, he gives us a brief account of how he came to write his Gospel. Others had taken in hand to set in order a narrative of the things which had been fulfilled (presumably Matthew and Mark), but Luke wanted to write his own orderly account.
Luke, being a companion of St. Paul, had a perfect understanding of the things concerning Jesus Christ from the beginning, and so he was in a position to write his own account. Though Luke himself was not an eyewitness of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, he received the facts of his account from such eyewitnesses. Luke was, therefore, privileged not only to have the eyewitness testimony of some of the original 12 apostles but also the revelations and insights of St. Paul.
The third reason that Luke seems to be talking to me is that I am Theophilus. We aren’t sure who the original Theophilus is, but I consider myself Theophilus, a “lover of God.” Luke’s account is written to and for all who are truly lovers of God and want to know and follow Jesus Christ. I’m also Theophilus because I am “loved by God,” and the name Theophilus could mean either “lover of God” or “loved by God.” I prefer to think that it means both.
Finally, Luke is speaking to me because he tells me why he has written his account: it’s for me (Theophilus)! It’s so that I may know the certainty of those things in which I have been instructed.
Having been so personally welcomed into the Gospel of St. Luke, I feel inclined to walk into the pages of his Gospel and make myself at home there. I feel as if I belong in these pages, and even as I’m writing I feel like a kind of St. Luke, and, as I read and consider verses 5 and following, I feel like Zacharias and Elizabeth.
I feel barren sometimes. In all honestly, I feel a little like that this morning. I’m not feeling particularly perky or motivated. It’s difficult for me to get up in the mornings, and I’m not sure at what moment of any given day you might actually consider me awake. For that matter, I’m not sure sometimes that I ever fully wake up. And so sometimes, my life feels barren. For other reasons, I’m sure some of your lives feel barren at times, and may, in fact, actually be so.
But God loves barren lives. They are the kind of soil into which He loves to plant His garden (apparently, He loves a challenge and loves taking the dead and making it alive). He begins by planting His seed, which is His Word. And so we read the beginning of Luke’s Gospel this morning. As I read, unwilling though my body might be, and as I meditate on His Word, I know that something real has taken root inside me.
And then God comes and waters me by what Luke has written. God speaks to me this morning, and I begin to feel revived a little. Sometimes He also waters me by something so simple as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, to which I’m now listening (more specifically, my favorite moment: the end of the 3rd movement [the Presto] of the Summer concerto).
Suddenly, I am like Elizabeth. I, who woke up barren, have had the Word planted in me and have been doused by the Living Water during this season of Pentecost, and I conceive. Life springs within me, a life that God has given me, and I am able to say with Elizabeth that this very day is the day when the Lord not only spoke to me but also looked on me and took away the reproach of my barrenness.
He looked at me! I still remember the barren years before God favored me with the presence of the Lady J (Jackie, my wife). I remember being in high school and college and feeling honored when a good-looking girl would look at me (more likely she was looking over me, or overlooking me). I even wrote a poem once based on such occasions:
Sue Ann was beautiful
very, very beautiful
and she looked at me once
or maybe even twice.
But this morning I have a more heavenly poetry being recited to me by St. Luke, for he’s telling me, through the words and experience of Elizabeth, that God has looked at me. Not some girl that I never had the nerve to even talk to, but God Almighty Himself. And unlike the beautiful girls who may have overlooked me because I wasn’t attractive to them, God delights to look at me.
This is all the more amazing because spiritually, I have really greasy hair that hasn’t been washed in a month and zits and pimples erupting over the surface of my face like miniature Krakatoas and Vesuvii. I have eyes so weak that you can’t even see them but only my glasses, and my pants are so short they come up to my calves. My voice is as squeaky and irregular as a spastic chimp playing Vivaldi on a broken Stradivarius with one string, and I have a lot of annoying and gross habits that you really don’t want to hear me talk about (spiritually speaking, of course).
And yet, spiritual nerd and geek and wimp and loser that I am, God looks at me. I think, “Lord, who am I that you would look at me?” To which He says, “It’s not who you are but who I AM.”
Who am I? I am the one who the I AM has looked at. I am the one who is last but who God has made first. I am Theophilus, loved by God so that I may be a lover of God.
Resolution: I resolve to listen today to God’s proclamation of His Good News in my life, and to meditate on the fact that He has looked at me.
Prayer: Father, I thank You for inspiring St. Luke to write for me an account of the life of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You for looking at me and giving me the sight to be able to look at and see You. By Your Word, by Your Son, and by Your Spirit, may You make the barren places of my life the place where You dwell. Amen.
Point for Meditation:
1. Remember a time in your life when you experienced joy because of something wonderful that suddenly happened to you. Transfer that joy to the fact that God has looked at you today.
2. In what ways is your life barren? When God offers Himself to You, do you receive Him as you should, and do you believe the promises He has made to you?
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
St. Luke’s answer (which is really God’s) is, simply, “Yes.”
Why do I feel as if St. Luke is talking to me?
First, Luke is the only Gentile privileged to have been inspired to write a book of the Bible. In fact, he was privileged to write two: his Gospel, and the Acts of the Apostles (which I think of more as “The Rest of the Words and Acts of Jesus Christ”). In St. Luke, we see the coming of Christ to the Gentiles incarnated.
Second, Luke is the only one who has given us an account of how he came to write his book of the Bible. Knowing that we Gentiles needed a different kind of proof, and understanding the Western mindset, which most of us have now inherited, he gives us a brief account of how he came to write his Gospel. Others had taken in hand to set in order a narrative of the things which had been fulfilled (presumably Matthew and Mark), but Luke wanted to write his own orderly account.
Luke, being a companion of St. Paul, had a perfect understanding of the things concerning Jesus Christ from the beginning, and so he was in a position to write his own account. Though Luke himself was not an eyewitness of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, he received the facts of his account from such eyewitnesses. Luke was, therefore, privileged not only to have the eyewitness testimony of some of the original 12 apostles but also the revelations and insights of St. Paul.
The third reason that Luke seems to be talking to me is that I am Theophilus. We aren’t sure who the original Theophilus is, but I consider myself Theophilus, a “lover of God.” Luke’s account is written to and for all who are truly lovers of God and want to know and follow Jesus Christ. I’m also Theophilus because I am “loved by God,” and the name Theophilus could mean either “lover of God” or “loved by God.” I prefer to think that it means both.
Finally, Luke is speaking to me because he tells me why he has written his account: it’s for me (Theophilus)! It’s so that I may know the certainty of those things in which I have been instructed.
Having been so personally welcomed into the Gospel of St. Luke, I feel inclined to walk into the pages of his Gospel and make myself at home there. I feel as if I belong in these pages, and even as I’m writing I feel like a kind of St. Luke, and, as I read and consider verses 5 and following, I feel like Zacharias and Elizabeth.
I feel barren sometimes. In all honestly, I feel a little like that this morning. I’m not feeling particularly perky or motivated. It’s difficult for me to get up in the mornings, and I’m not sure at what moment of any given day you might actually consider me awake. For that matter, I’m not sure sometimes that I ever fully wake up. And so sometimes, my life feels barren. For other reasons, I’m sure some of your lives feel barren at times, and may, in fact, actually be so.
But God loves barren lives. They are the kind of soil into which He loves to plant His garden (apparently, He loves a challenge and loves taking the dead and making it alive). He begins by planting His seed, which is His Word. And so we read the beginning of Luke’s Gospel this morning. As I read, unwilling though my body might be, and as I meditate on His Word, I know that something real has taken root inside me.
And then God comes and waters me by what Luke has written. God speaks to me this morning, and I begin to feel revived a little. Sometimes He also waters me by something so simple as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, to which I’m now listening (more specifically, my favorite moment: the end of the 3rd movement [the Presto] of the Summer concerto).
Suddenly, I am like Elizabeth. I, who woke up barren, have had the Word planted in me and have been doused by the Living Water during this season of Pentecost, and I conceive. Life springs within me, a life that God has given me, and I am able to say with Elizabeth that this very day is the day when the Lord not only spoke to me but also looked on me and took away the reproach of my barrenness.
He looked at me! I still remember the barren years before God favored me with the presence of the Lady J (Jackie, my wife). I remember being in high school and college and feeling honored when a good-looking girl would look at me (more likely she was looking over me, or overlooking me). I even wrote a poem once based on such occasions:
Sue Ann was beautiful
very, very beautiful
and she looked at me once
or maybe even twice.
But this morning I have a more heavenly poetry being recited to me by St. Luke, for he’s telling me, through the words and experience of Elizabeth, that God has looked at me. Not some girl that I never had the nerve to even talk to, but God Almighty Himself. And unlike the beautiful girls who may have overlooked me because I wasn’t attractive to them, God delights to look at me.
This is all the more amazing because spiritually, I have really greasy hair that hasn’t been washed in a month and zits and pimples erupting over the surface of my face like miniature Krakatoas and Vesuvii. I have eyes so weak that you can’t even see them but only my glasses, and my pants are so short they come up to my calves. My voice is as squeaky and irregular as a spastic chimp playing Vivaldi on a broken Stradivarius with one string, and I have a lot of annoying and gross habits that you really don’t want to hear me talk about (spiritually speaking, of course).
And yet, spiritual nerd and geek and wimp and loser that I am, God looks at me. I think, “Lord, who am I that you would look at me?” To which He says, “It’s not who you are but who I AM.”
Who am I? I am the one who the I AM has looked at. I am the one who is last but who God has made first. I am Theophilus, loved by God so that I may be a lover of God.
Resolution: I resolve to listen today to God’s proclamation of His Good News in my life, and to meditate on the fact that He has looked at me.
Prayer: Father, I thank You for inspiring St. Luke to write for me an account of the life of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You for looking at me and giving me the sight to be able to look at and see You. By Your Word, by Your Son, and by Your Spirit, may You make the barren places of my life the place where You dwell. Amen.
Point for Meditation:
1. Remember a time in your life when you experienced joy because of something wonderful that suddenly happened to you. Transfer that joy to the fact that God has looked at you today.
2. In what ways is your life barren? When God offers Himself to You, do you receive Him as you should, and do you believe the promises He has made to you?
© 2008 Fr. Charles Erlandson
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