Devotion for June 7 and 8 in Ordinary Time (LCMS Daily Lectionary)

Above:  Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

Proverbs and John, Part II:  Spiritual Obliviousness and Self-Deception

NOT OBSERVED IN 2019

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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning:

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,

that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,

which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

–The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236

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The Assigned Readings:

Proverbs 4:1-27 (June 7)

Proverbs 5:1-23 (June 8)

Psalm 86 (Morning–June 7)

Psalm 122 (Morning–June 8)

Psalms 6 and 19 (Evening–June 7)

Psalms 141 and 90 (Evening–June 8)

John 12:1-19 (June 7)

John 12:20-36a (June 8)

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The readings from Proverbs pertain to how to glorify God.  Love wisdom, hate evil, pursue the path of righteousness, and choose one’s lover well, they say.  Indeed, to do the opposite of any of these does not glorify God.

Those who plotted to kill Jesus (since John 11) and Lazarus (in Chapter 12) did not love wisdom, hate evil, and pursue the path of righteousness.  Yet their violent perfidy did not thwart the glorification of God.  In fact, in the Gospel of John, the crucifixion of Jesus is our Lord’s glorification.  And his resurrection from the dead was most glorious.

I derive great comfort from the knowledge that, despite human efforts, much of the time, God wins.  And I think it better to function as one of God’s willing partners on the path or righteousness rather than as one through whom God works in spite of one’s wishes and actual purposes.

I suspect that none of those who plotted to kill Jesus and Lazarus woke up on any day and asked themselves,

What can I do today to thwart God’s will?  Let me count the ways.

We humans justify ourselves to ourselves quite often, do we not?  So I wonder how often I do not function as one of God’s wiling partners on the path of righteousness while thinking that I am.  This is a question of spiritual obliviousness and self-deception.  To point it out among the long-dead is easier than to diagnose it in the person one sees in the mirror.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

JULY 8, 2012 COMMON ERA

THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR B

THE FEAST OF BETTY FORD, U.S. FIRST LADY AND ADVOCATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

THE FEAST OF ALBERT RHETT STUART, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF GEORGIA

THE FEAST OF BROOKE FOSS WESTCOTT, ANGLICAN BISHOP

THE FEAST OF SAINT GRIMWALD, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT

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Other Devotions for Today:

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/proverbs-and-john-part-ii-spiritual-obliviousness-and-self-deception/

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