Scripture Scribbles: January 30, 2022

the Gospel

Lk 4:21-30

Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, saying:
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?”
He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb,
‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say,
‘Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’”
And he said, “Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place.

Indeed, I tell you,
there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built,
to hurl him down headlong.
But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.

the devotion

Here it is. The stunning reality of Emmanuel. God with us. Of Jesus. God Saves.

Today. In my hearing, in front of my eyes, in all of my senses. He is presently fulfilling his promises of mercy and love.

My heart aches with the prayer that I may always see him in his strange and incomprehensible beauty. That I may never pass over him without being wrecked anew by the magnitude of his incredible love. That his presence in the Eucharist and his image on the crucifix would never grow common to me.

What great privilege I have to know his name. To read Sacred Scripture. To participate in the Sacred Liturgy. I often forget how totally incredible that is. And when I do, I join the world in trying to cover him in commonness (“Isn’t this the son of Joseph?”). Because if he is common, he isn’t God. And if he isn’t God, I don’t have to change.

But he is God.
​
Emmanuel. God with us. Jesus. God Saves.

Sweet King. You are so lovely. So gentle. So holy. So present. You are love and mercy itself. You are so much more than I can understand or describe. Thank you for defying understanding and description. Help me see you with first-time sight. To behold you with wonder. Help me to be utterly consumed and transformed by your overwhelming beauty and mercy. To be so desperately hungry that the sight and smell and taste of you, the Bread of Life, brings me to my knees, crushed with gratitude. Every. Single. Time.

Today’s devotion was written by Lucia Parker.