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Morning Devotion for the Season of Epiphany

January 27, 2023

Invitatory

I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of 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 for ever. Amen.

The Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him.

Reading - Luke 21:12-15

But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.

Meditation - Winnie Smith

"Let us always guard our tongue; not that it should always be silent, but that it should speak at the proper time." - John Chrysostom

Today the Episcopal Church recognizes and celebrates John Chrysostom, one of the early Church Fathers, a monk, a bishop, writer, and preacher. Chrysostom means “golden-mouthed,” and is an apt description for a man known for exceptional preaching, whose orations drew huge crowds in the fourth century. He lived as a monastic for years as a young man, then moved to a larger city and became a priest and then bishop. He often spoke out against human authorities and power and was ultimately exiled by a Roman empress for his unabashed opinions.

Jesus warns, in today’s Gospel text from Luke, that the world will be upended in the future, in what some Christians view as the “end times.” Perhaps Jesus is referring to that time far off in the future in which everything we know will be destroyed and Jesus will return and walk among us bodily. But perhaps he is telling his disciples about a much nearer, more palpable transformation of the world that will occur when he is resurrected. When he defeats death to save every person, and in doing so does completely transform the world. Living today in a post-resurrection world, many Christians are faced with hatred, persecution, even pity for believing in such a story. Maybe the “end times,” as they are known, are our times now. Wars, insurrections, nations rising against nations, earthquakes, famines, plagues - these are the things Jesus describes and these are all things we face today. End times, or modern times?

“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you...because of my name.” It sounds absurd in a majority-Christian country today, but to truly be a Christian, to try and live out and teach the radical love proclaimed in the Gospel is counter-cultural. When the world is in shambles and we are repeatedly preaching a Gospel of hope, we seem out of step. When John Chrysostom was appointed as a leader of the early church in a Roman Empire very newly accepting of Christianity and then preached against the power and authority of that empire, it was counter-cultural.

What Jesus teaches in this text is that we are armed with his words as our defense, and because of that, we can handle whatever comes. “For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.” The key for us is to listen closely for God’s words, to have patience for and awareness of those words so that God can work through us. Jesus gave the words to Chrysostom that made him the golden-mouthed preacher. He gives words to all those who are willing to stand up against the forces of evil and of injustice, as he did. Jesus is always ready to give us the words we and the world need to hear. The challenge to us is to be listening and ready to hear them.

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.