Day 37 Exodus 23:14-25:40; Matthew 24:29-51; Psalm 30:1-12; Proverbs 7:24‐27 The Dwelling Place of God Exodus 24:9-10 – “Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like…
Day 36 Exodus 21:22‐23:13; Matthew 24:1‐28; Psalm 29:1‐11; Proverbs 7:6‐23 Building a Living Temple One of the most amazing experiences when traveling to the Holy Land is to go to what is commonly called the Wailing Wall. Built by Herod in the 19th Century B.C., the Western Wall is all that is left from the…
Day 35 Exodus 19:16‐21:21; Matthew 23:13‐39; Psalm 28:1‐9; Proverbs 7:1‐5 Whitewashed Tombs Each time we attend a Eucharist service we hear the words, “. . . and from him no secrets are hid.” God sees our hearts regardless of anything that distinguishes us among human beings. In today’s reading from Matthew, Jesus has just stated…
Day 34 Exodus 17:8-19:15; Matthew 22:34-23:12; Psalm 27:7-14; Proverbs 6:27-35 Fire Next to Our Chest What is the difference in perspective between a child and a mature adult when it comes to laws? The child sees rules only as restrictions to their desires, and the mature person has come to understand both the protective compassion…
Day 33 Exodus 15:19‐17:7; Matthew 22:1‐33; Psalm 27:1‐6; Proverbs 6:20‐26 Marital Reunion in Heaven When the Pharisees and the Herodians failed to trap Jesus with their questions on paying taxes, the Sadducees in their own smug way thought they had succeeded where the others had failed. Because they didn’t believe in resurrection, they thought they…
Day 32 Exodus 13:17-15:18; Matthew 21:23-46; Psalm 26:1-12; Proverbs 6:16-19 Quick Repentance: Knowing and Doing In our attempts to understand good and evil, very few of us will brave the shame of ever putting ourselves in the latter category. The real shame of this is that when we ignore our demons, it becomes remarkably easy…
Day 31 Exodus 12:14-13:16; Matthew 20:29-21:22; Psalm 25:16-22; Proverbs 6:12-15 Passover Perhaps you have had the privilege of sharing in a Passover celebration with a Jewish family, or perhaps your family or church participates in the “Seder Suppers” which have become common during Holy Week in Christian circles. Passover has become familiar to us, so…
Day 30 Exodus 10:1‐12:13; Matthew 20:1‐28; Psalm 25:1‐15; Proverbs 6:6‐11 Fear Factor A popular TV show in recent years was the reality show “Fear Factor.” It showed people facing their greatest fears in some really weird ways. Why do we watch such fake shows when there are real fears in our world today? Just watch…
Day 29 Exodus 7:25‐9:35; Matthew 19:13‐30; Psalm 24:1‐10; Proverbs 6:1‐5 Can We Get “Good Enough”? In today’s reading from Matthew, Jesus is called “Good Teacher” by the man inquiring how to inherit eternal life. Jesus assures him no one is “good” except God, and that to go to heaven, he needs to keep God’s commands….
Day 28 Exodus 5:22‐7:24; Matthew 18:23‐19:12; Psalm 23:1‐6; Proverbs 5:22‐23 God Uses Whom He Chooses We all know that Moses looked just like Charlton Heston in his heyday—strong, tan, well built, great hair, and a sonorous voice. I can’t read the words of today’s reading from Exodus without the mental images of “The Ten Commandments,”…
Day 27 Exodus 4:1-5:21; Matthew 18:1-22; Psalm 22:19-31; Proverbs 5:15-21 Give Us Grace, O Lord Today’s readings from Exodus and Psalms speak about proclaiming the salvation of the Lord. In Exodus, Moses doubts his own ability to get Israel to believe the word the Lord has given to him for Pharaoh. If his own people…
Day 26 Exodus 2:11-3:22; Matthew 17:10-27; Psalm 22:1-18; Proverbs 5:17-24 Murderer Moses and Disciples of Little Faith Look at Moses, the greatest prophet of the Hebrew people, the bringer of the 10 Commandments. Look at the disciples—our churches are named St. Peter’s, St. Thomas’, St. Matthew’s. Look at them, sinful and faithless. And yet as…
