Morning Devotion for the Season of Advent
December 22, 2021
Invitatory
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end.
Amen.
Our king and Savior now draws near; Come let us adore him.
Reading: Titus 2:11-3:8a
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds. Declare these things; exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one look down on you.
Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others, hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs in hope of eternal life. This saying is sure.
Meditation – Peter Vanderveen
In what way was Jesus good? – I mean this not in the usual, run-of-the-mill sense of this word, but in the way that Jesus was purported to be impressively and overwhelmingly good: good like God. More to the point, we might ask how Jesus himself defined or redefined what good is, such that, through knowing Jesus, we understand good to be wholly transformed by him.
If we could neatly answer this, it would be so much easier to emulate Jesus, which is often said to be a key part of the Christian life.
In the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life, however, there is almost nothing said about this – at least directly. Jesus’ teaching varies greatly; each encounter he has has its own context and response. But there’s no sermon delivered that, once and for all, provides us a unambiguous direction on how to discern and accomplish what is good. Just as there’s no clear statement about what is indubitably evil. Jesus never draws a line in the ground, stating that some list of actions were always and irretrievably wrong, while others are unquestionably good. He lived within the morass of human life and history, and he encountered others within this morass. From all that the texts offer, Jesus had no vision of a perfected society that might be made possible by everyone conforming to a singular division of the good. He approached persons in a different manner.
Our temptation is to read texts like that from the letter to Titus as if it were calling us to a certain moral responsibility. In the RSV translation, the description of being “self-controlled” is rendered “sober.” It’s not a winning command. And such recitations as this incline us, then, to believe that faith consists of upholding a kind of goodness defined most by constraint. Giving up “worldly passions” can feel like a significant concession: as if they were all the things that everyone else is so excited about. Which makes faith merely an exercise in sacrifice – frequently of what we enjoy most.
But this isn’t the main thrust of Paul’s urging. He doesn’t try to define Jesus’ goodness either, at least not in the terms that we’d expect. Jesus’ goodness is an abstract grace; but it’s one that, apart from any specific moral attachments, makes it possible for us to be detached from a double hatred – that which is directed at us and that which we direct at others. It’s the quality of not being diverted by the wrongs of our own or of others, so that we can see all things through the lens of redemption. Which makes faith the practice of an astounding freedom, rather than a conformity to a pinched and joyless set of restrictions. Think of this in the crucible of our own time, when hate is continually metastasizing.
We have trouble believing in this freedom. By its dependency on the good, hate is inveigling. But if read Paul with an eye to Jesus’ grace, then all that he says here is a means to live within promise.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
