Friday, March 17, 2023

 

Friday, March 17, 2023


Psalm 40

Genesis 49:22-50:6

Luke 17:1-19


Observance: Patrick, bishop, missionary to Ireland (d. 461)


“So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”


Our God has been so good to us, and only knows of good things between Him and us, that there is a temptation on our part to relax into entitlement. Indeed, in our post-monarchical society, we find it foreign to conceive of a sovereign lord who holds the right to have expectations of us.


But the gospel message comes as both an invitation as well as a command. “Repent, and believe in the good news” is not just a gentle nudge from a friend, but a command from a suzerain. Death is both the logical result of denying the Lord of life as well as the fair judgement from the Lord of righteousness.


The two aspects rest easy with one another. God is good, and warmly draws us into His loving family. He also commands us, upon pain of death, to love Him and to love one another. This gentle but firm rule from the perfect ruler is the foundation of any good society: and the kingdom of heaven is the ideal society.


All our lives we want to do the best by God; out of gratitude, because He died for us, out of excitement, because He is gradually conforming us into the image of Christ, and out of obedience: because He asks us to, and He loves us, and we love Him.


Consider the attitude of Cardinal Wolsey towards his king, Henry VIII: “...understand what joy and delight the Cardinal had to see his prince and sovereign lord in his house so nobly entertained and pleased. This was always his only study, to devise things for His Majesty’s comfort, not weighing the charges or expenses. It delighted him so much, to have the King’s pleasant princely presence, that nothing was to him more delectable than to cheer his sovereign lord, to whom he owed so much obedience and loyalty – as reason required no less, all things well considered.”

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