Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
June 3, 2024
Invitatory
Be still, then, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Ame
Matthew 13:44-52
‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls;on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’
Meditation-Rebecca Northington
A couple of years ago I introduced the kids of the youth group to Pascal’s Wager. It is a fascinating philosophy that argues we cannot definitively know if there is a God, or no God. With that premise, Pascal suggests that we pursue life as though there was a God, so that when we get to the pearly gates our life’s choices will provide entrance, verses ignoring the possibility and damming ourselves eternally to the fires of hell-if there is a hell.
The reception of this theory was not without criticism, and when considering God, I cannot deny, it feels sacreligious to use the word wager. But within the context of his times approaching the Age of Enlightenment, I can understand why Pascal would use logic to approach God. And playing both sides of the outcome, is logical. How many of us do this I wonder?
As I introduced it to the kids I asked them to be conscious of the decisions they were making regarding their faith, because I think some of us subconsciously make this wager. For example, how many non believing people pray when they are in moments of crisis, when the plane goes down, or a child or loved one is in trouble? We keep God in our back pocket just in case, but we don’t always put God first, giving daily thanks for the gift of life with all its complications.
This text from Matthew suggests that when we discover God we should be ready to part with everything in order to be closer to God. These three parables come towards the end of Matthew when Jesus is really trying to help the disciples understand what it is they have been shown and how to continue to unravel the mystery of scripture and the treasure of God.
When I think of Pascal's Wager I think of an arranged marriage. There is no real passion or love perhaps, but there is an agreement that two people will play their part in an established relationship-until the end. It is logical. I think of finding the treasure of God and the trinity as more akin to Romeo and Juliet and the complete transformation it calls from us. All we can do is surrender to the love, and put it at the center of our lives. It is all consuming.
This is scary talk for us Main Line Episcopalians; sell everything and follow Christ? Let passion overwhelm logic? Don’t worry, I am not speaking literally, but figuratively; yet still a far cry from a wager. We are not playing the odds here, but are being offered the ultimate freedom…in God. We must treasure Christ or we will not be with Christ in the end. You cannot treat a love with indifference and expect it to stay alive. You must work to stay vulnerable to this love, open to its eternal mystery and the role that it can play in your life; you must attempt to put it at the center.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. Amen
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