PENTECOST • 24

What are you seeking to see?

This week’s passages demonstrate how God graciously shows himself to us when we're seeking to see and please him.

reading for: 21 October

MATTHEW 22:34-46

Seeking to see and love the invisible God by serving others

  • READ

Our world today equates love with an intense emotion. It’s a sort of passive response to something outside us. But, biblical love is not passive and it is not strictly emotional. In the Old Testament, there are references to many kinds of love, but the love referred to here by Jesus is the love of Deuteronomy 6:5, the love of God. This love is far from passive. It is our active response to the love of God. 

To love God with all our heart, mind, and soul seems nearly impossible when we think of love as an emotion. How does one generate feelings for something as remote, mysterious, and disembodied as the concept of God? We cannot look into God's eyes, wrap our arms around the Spirit, or even see the face of Jesus. Yet we are commanded to love God with our entire being. 

To love neighbour - a human-being created in God’s image - is to love God the Creator. And this form of Biblical love is something we do. It is loving-kindness, merciful action that is both generous and continuous. To love neighbour as oneself is to act toward the other as one would act toward those close to us. We treat the stranger as well as we treat those that we love emotionally. 

We can love in many ways. We can love with our heart: through generosity to God's people. We can love with our soul: by worshiping God and praying for our neighbours and ourselves. And we can love with our minds: studying God's Word and letting it correct us, enlighten us, and send us out in loving action to the world. 

After answering the Pharisees well Jesus in Matthew 21-22, Jesus now turns the tables. He has his own question for the Pharisees, and his question is really a riddle that will silence his opponents (22:46). Jesus raises the identity question, asking the Pharisees whose son the Messiah is (22:42). They give an expected answer: the son of David.

Yet, while their answer is accurate, it is not good enough. Jesus cites Psalm 110:1 (Matthew 22:44) and asks the Pharisees how it is that David could call his own son "Lord" in a text that clearly elevates this "Lord" to a place of rightful authority and power over his enemies. Jesus concludes with the riddle: "If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" (22:45). Although no one in the story was able to answer Jesus (22:46), we know that the Messiah is Jesus, who is both a son of David by ancestry (1:1-17) and Lord, since he is the Messiah, whom God will show to be the appointed King, by raising him to life above all his enemies at his resurrection.

  • REFLECT

Is it possible to say we love God and yet hate another human being? Can you see the imprint of God on the faces of those around you? What is one way you can love God & neighbour this week? (see further Matthew 25:31-46). 

reading for: 22 October

DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12

Seeking to see God the Promise-keeper and His Promises 

  • READ

    The Israelites are finally about to enter the land promised to Abram and his descendants back in Genesis 12, after forty years of wandering through the wilderness. Because of Moses’ actions in Numbers 20, God forbade him to lead the people into this new land, but God shows Moses the entirety of the land before Moses dies.

    Moses may not be able to see from the Nile to the Euphrates (Genesis 15:18), but he is shown the Promised Land from Dan in the north, to the sea in the west, to Zoar in the south, and in verse 4, God affirms that this is the land that God had sworn to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

    ‘Seeing’ is an important theme in this passage. In verse 1, God causes Moses to see the land, and in verse 4, God tells Moses, “I have let you see it with your eyes” and we are reminded that Moses had 20/20 vision (34:7). The chapter also ends by remembering the wonderful things that Moses did “in the eyes of all Israel” (34:12).

    In verse 6 after Moses’ death, the Hebrew reads, “and he buried him in the valley … ” Because Moses is dead, the “he” most likely refers to God. How amazing the intimacy of relationship between Moses and God for Him to be the one to bury Moses! The intimacy is not so surprising, however, when we go on to hear in verse 10 that God knew Moses “face-to-face.” Though Moses is also described as unequaled among all the prophets and leaders, it may be that we can imitate Moses in his intimacy with God and be people who similarly seek after God’s face.

  • REFLECT

    How would you rate the level of intimacy between God and you? Can you see God’s blessings in your life? Can you see the glorious inheritance he has in store for you? Ask him to show you. 

reading for: 23 October

1 THESSALONIANS 2:1-8

Seeking to see God’s approval rather than man’s

  • READ

    What does it mean to please God in our proclamation of the Gospel? It means being faithful to the Gospel, of course, but it is more than that. God sees our actions and tests our heart. For us, pleasing God means responding to others in the same way that God has responded to us: with generosity and grace. It also means recognizing that what we say and do either shines light or casts a shadow on God; we can be a path or an obstacle, so I must discern when to speak or act, and when to let another speak or act.

    In contrast, what does it mean to please humans rather than God? Today, pleasing humans is often thought of in terms of allowing or even approving moral behaviour that is viewed as contrary to the Gospel. In other parts of the letter, the Thessalonians are reminded to exercise control over their passions (in contrast to the Gentiles,(non-Jews) and not to exploit economically their brother or sister. 

    The concern here is motive: not just what we hope to accomplish, but also (if we are honest) what it is that we hope to gain. There is nothing wrong with gaining satisfaction, or pleasure, but praise or privilege easily displaces the focus, drawing it to ourselves rather than God. 

    Paul’s fatherly affection for the Thessalonians comes through in verses 7 & 8. His gospel is preached both in words and life which he willingly and openly shares with them.

  • REFLECT

    Why is it so important that we are more concerned to please God than others? Do an ‘integrity-check’ and invite the Holy Spirit to search your heart and motives. How much of your life do you openly share with fellow brothers and sisters? Do you allow them to know you and do they allow you to know them? (under what circumstances would it be ok to share more and under what circumstances would it be unwise to share too much?)

reading for: 24 October

PSALM 90:1-6, 13-17

Seeking to see the eternal love of God as our hope in our short lives

  • READ

    This is the only psalm attributed to Moses. We are invited to hear Psalm 90 as a prayer offered by Moses on behalf of the people in response to the crisis of exile. For instance, the plea for God to "Turn" (verse 13) recalls Moses' request for God to "Turn" in Exodus 32:12.  In short, as Moses interceded for the people in the face of God's anger over their creation of the golden calf (Exodus 32:1-6), so Psalm 90 portrays Moses as intercessor in the face of God's anger expressed in verses 7-11. 

    The concept of time is important in this Psalm. “generations”, “thousand years”, “yesterday”, “long”, “days”, ‘morning’, “evening” (see words or phrases related to time in verses 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16); and one of the most surprising aspects of Moses' life is that, in effect, he ran out of time - that is, he died before entering the land of promise, because God was angry with him. So Moses is the perfect person to offer a prayer about time or about the discouraging reality that our human lives are all too fragile and short. And in verses 3 – 6, the contrast between humanity's limited time and God's enduring time is drawn very sharply. 

    Our Lectionary reading then jumps to the concluding verses, 13-17. Daily dependence upon God is capable of transforming how we see and experience time. When we entrust life and future to God, then we can experience the passage of time as something other than an oppressive reality to be endured.  The "morning" can bring the fulfilling and joyful experience of God's love (verse 14; compare verses 5-6). Our "days" and "years" can bring gladness (verse 15; compare verse 9), not merely "toil and trouble" (verse 11). Entrusted to God, even our human "work" (twice in verse 17) can endure, insofar as it contributes to God's "work" (verse 16). Through God's "pity" (verse 13) and "steadfast love" (verse 14), human time partakes of eternity. In short, when life and future are entrusted to God, there is hope. 

    For the psalmist, recognizing the shortness of human life is not finally cause for despair, but rather an occasion for prayer. And in humble, honest, faithful prayer, the psalmist arrives at the good news that the hope of the world is grounded in God's "compassion" and "steadfast love".  

  • REFLECT

    Can you see God’s love and compassion amidst the challenges in the world around you? Are you trusting and depending on God daily for your life and future? Take time to re-calibrate and rediscover his will and purpose for your life. 

Season of PentecostCNL