Readings and Reflections for the Last Sunday After Pentecost
Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Psalm 93
Revelation 1:4b-8
John 18:33-37
Dear Friends,
The verses from Daniel 7 give us an image of God, the Ancient of Days, sitting in judgment. “One like a son of man” is presented to God and is given rule over all the peoples of the earth. Christians will see this as a reference to Jesus, who as the Apostles Creed says, is “seated at the right hand of God, from where he will judge the living and the dead.”
John 18 contains the conversation between the Roman governor Pilate and Jesus about the charge that Jesus claims to be the Messiah (Jewish King) – placing him in rebellion against Roman authority. Jesus describes a kingship that does not belong to human categories. Only those who can hear truth can hear and recognize the authority of Jesus.
Revelation 1 tells us Good News: the one who comes in judgment is equally “him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father.” We join in saying a great Amen!
Comment: My life – my thoughts, words and deeds – is placed alongside the truth of God. I am under judgment, as is our world, and this is ultimately very good news. I dearly want this torn and troubled world to be brought under God’s truth, just as I so dearly need that same truth to redeem my own living. And that is exactly what Jesus does. He makes God’s truth visible to me in human form and calls all that is false in me to account. This is not punishment – it is redemption! It is God’s good pleasure that we be set free by the truth, and as we are unable to accomplish this on our own, he “loves us and frees us from our sins” by the offering of his own life to be laid down for us. And more, his life is given to come alive in us now as we say “yes” to his grace and listen to his voice.