grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Tuesday, 24 February 2015 - "Story: God's people preparing the way for Jesus"

grow. pray. study. The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection Daily Guide in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Tuesday, 24 February 2015 - "Story: God's people preparing the way for Jesus"
Daily Scripture: Exodus 12:40 The time the people of Isra’el lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of 430 years to the day, all the divisions of Adonai left the land of Egypt. 42 This was a night when Adonai kept vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt, and this same night continues to be a night when Adonai keeps vigil for all the people of Isra’el through all their generations.

Psalm 23: (0) A psalm of David:

(1) Adonai is my shepherd; I lack nothing.

2 He has me lie down in grassy pastures,

he leads me by quiet water,

3 he restores my inner person.

He guides me in right paths

for the sake of his own name.

Isaiah 42:2 “Here is my servant, whom I support,

my chosen one, in whom I take pleasure.

I have put my Spirit on him;

he will bring justice to the Goyim.

2 He will not cry or shout;

no one will hear his voice in the streets.

3 He will not snap off a broken reed

or snuff out a smoldering wick.

He will bring forth justice according to truth;

4 he will not weaken or be crushed

until he has established justice on the earth,

and the coastlands wait for his Torah.”

Reflection Questions:
The journey from creation to Jesus' cross was long. God's people had highs (the deliverance from Egypt at the Exodus, the beautiful sanctuary—cf. Exodus 31:1-6—and Temple—cf. 1 Kings 6:1-10) and lows (idolatry and exile). The profound poetry of the Psalms gave way to the warnings of the prophets. But all along, as reflected in Isaiah's enigmatic, appealing picture of God's Servant, God was preparing to come as the promised Messiah.
In Exodus 35:30-35, Moses introduced the two skilled artists/craftsmen who led in building the intricately beautiful desert sanctuary. Exodus 36:4-5 said the builders told Moses that the Israelites were giving "too much material"—so much it got in their way! In what ways were the skilled workers who built the sanctuary similar to those creating the stained glass window for Resurrection? If the sanctuary's artistry pleased God, do you believe the window is likely to do the same?
Isaiah wrote that God's servant had a God-given mission to bring justice to the earth. He would not, however, seek justice in the ways we often think of—he would not raise his voice, or use tactics that would break even a bruised reed. When New Testament Christians read these words, Jesus immediately came to their minds. What do Isaiah's words teach us about the ways we need to carry out Jesus mission today?
Today's Prayer:
God, I ask for a heart willing to hear your call, to follow you as my shepherd. Give me clarity to recognize all you have given me, and ready me to do wholeheartedly whatever you set before me. Amen.Insight from Rev. Glen Shoup

Rev. Glen Shoup is the Executive Pastor of Worship and a Congregational Care Pastor.
When I was in seminary, I had a theology professor who was fond of randomly saying…right in the middle of a lecture…“most of you won’t be college or seminary professors, most of you will be preachers; and as a preacher you better always remember that if Jesus is not essential to your sermon–then you need to throw it out and go get yourself a Christian sermon…cause whatever you’ve got in your hand may be a good study or lecture—but if it doesn’t need Jesus in order to make sense—it isn’t a Christian sermon”.
Those words have always stuck with me (and I’ve had a few sermons through the years that needed to be thrown out) and those words come back to my mind when I read today’s scriptures. For you see, in each of today’s passages, I would suggest a Christian thinker can see glimpses of Jesus. In Exodus, we can see Jesus in the liberation and redemption the Hebrew children received from both “the Lord” and representatively in the leadership of Moses—who in the hindsight the gospel provides—was a Christ-like figure to the people. In Psalms, we rightly can see Jesus in the Good Shepherd. And in Isaiah, we can see Christ-likeness in the characteristics describing God’s servant. In each of today’s readings, the hindsight of the gospel enriches and layers these passages with an ability to see aspects of the Jesus that Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the other New Testament writers describe.
To be sure, I’m not suggesting the kind of non-scholarship that leads some to see Jesus around every corner and in every nook and cranny of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). Rather I’m naming the epistemological (it means the theory or way we know…plus it makes me feel smart to use it) reality that, as Christians, we see Christ as the eternal fulcrum of the human story. Jesus became fully Incarnate around 3 B.C.E., but Jesus didn’t come into being around 3 B.C.E. Jesus has always been and will always be. Jesus is the eternal Word of God…who became flesh around 3 B.C.E. Hence, Jesus has never not been—so seeing the foreshadowing of Jesus in parts of the Old Testament isn’t sloppy scholarship, but rather its Christian understanding.
And all of this is why my old seminary professor would heartily embrace our stained glass window…because it’s not just a great study or lecture about multiple contributors to the human story told through art…but rather it is a powerful and compelling Christian sermon—preached through art. We see through the lens of the gospel our need of the gospel in the very early scenes—Adam and Eve saying not Thy will, but mine be done; and on from there the lure of self-sovereignty veraciously pursues all its myriad destructive outcomes. But no matter how broken things become, ultimate hope and redemption were foreshadowed in the occasional choosing of life and salvation until the central historical moment occurred when God’s eternal word became flesh…and made his dwelling among us and the fulcrum of the human story chose a die on a tree in a garden and thereby ultimately redeem and make new for all of humankind the tree of life and original paradise lost in the first garden…allowing through salvation for all…the power to choose and live daily towards Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven—Revelation 22 style.
My old seminary professor was right, and what he’d most love about this stained glass windowisn’t that it simply meets the essential criteria for a Christian sermon; but what he’d most love is that centuries after we’re all dead and gone, the Christian sermon captured artistically in this window will still be powerfully and compellingly preaching!
Church of the Resurrection

gpsonline@cor.org

The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection

13720 Roe Avenue

Leawood, Kansas 66224 United States
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