Tough Love

Our readings for Sunday, January 25 focus on the call of Prophets (Jonah) and Apostles (Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John). It is common for us to assume the Old Testament prophets are about God’s wrath while the New Testament apostles are about God’s grace. But the readings below, from both Testaments, tell of proclamations of judgment. These are not easy or comfortable words for us to hear – there seems to be no “Good News” in them.

Some have likened the spiritual disciplines to the practice of medicine because they focus on curing the soul of all that would pull it away from God. In many ways the readings that prepare us for Sunday are like a dire diagnosis, for they reveal to us the dire condition of the world. The theologian Karl Barth likened the cross, which is the ultimate revelation of the world’s rebellion against God, to a notice that a building has been condemned because it is no longer safe to live in. A building often needs to be condemned before it can be rebuilt. In a similar way prophets and apostles reveal the faulty foundations of the world not so they can gloat or point fingers, but to prepare the world for God’s new creation. What ills and faulty foundations do these readings reveal to you?

Thursday, 1/22
Jeremiah 19:1-15
Revelation 18:11-20

Friday 1/23
Jeremiah 20:7-13
2 Peter 3:1-17

Saturday 1/24
Jeremiah 20:14-18
Luke 10:13-16

Read Psalm 62:5-12 each of these three days