The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville, Tennessee, United States "Some Women" for Sunday, 18 March 2018

The Upper Room Daily Reflections in Nashville, Tennessee, United States "Some Women" for Sunday, 18 March 2018
Today’s Reflection:
WHO ARE THE WOMEN you know who belonged right up there with the twelve and “some women” in their devotion to following Jesus and helping proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God?
The first woman who comes to my mind is my mother, Maggie Leola Wright. Her devotion wasn’t just the sit-down-and-pray kind (although prayer and worship were an important and integral part of her life); her devotion was also expressed in an active, following-in-Jesus’-footsteps way.
She, with my father, the Rev. Arthur Jerome Wright, welcomed twelve foster children into our home, created and ran a home for the aged, loved the left-out, and bound up the brokenhearted. In the segregated South of my childhood, they worked hard so that every child knew himself or herself to be a beloved child of God. …
[My mother’s] life was a picture of what it looks like when we really live out the inclusive, enormously loving, always forgiving good news of Christ with faithfulness and generosity. Think of those you celebrate who, like her, have lived lives in faithful response to that call. And then ponder how you can evermore faithfully follow Jesus like the twelve and “some women.” (Marian Wright Edelman, Disciplines)
From page 176 of The Upper Room Disciplines: A Book of Daily Devotions 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Upper Room Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question: Give thanks for the women who have shaped your faith.
Today’s Scripture: Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24, NRSV)

This Week: Pray for persons who experience chronic pain.
Did You Know?
In need of prayer? The Upper Room Living Prayer Center is a 7-day-a-week intercessory prayer ministry staffed by trained volunteers. Call 1-800-251-2468 or visit The Living Prayer Center website.
This week we remember: Patrick of Ireland (March 17).

Patrick of Ireland
March 17
British-born Patrick was captured by Irish pirates when he was sixteen and taken to Ireland as a slave. During this difficult time of his life when he was forced to herd livestock in the mountains, the youth drew strength from his Christian faith. When he was able to escape six years later he somehow found his way home to England. The young Patrick, much-changed by his years as a captive, decided to study for the priesthood.
In a series of dreams, Patrick heard Irish voices imploring him to return to Ireland. For the next thirty years he wandered around Ireland. In his ministry as an Irish bishop Patrick established a large network of churches and monasteries, trained Irish clergy, and baptized countless people as Christians.
Did he really drive all snakes from Ireland? Or explain the concept of the Trinity with a shamrock? We'll never be able to separate truth from legend, but the evidence of what he actually accomplished is in the centuries of a strong Irish Catholic Church that endures today. He died around 461.
If Patrick of Ireland had taken the Spiritual Types Test, he probably would have been a Prophet. Patrick of Ireland is remembered on March 17.
Image by Andreas F. Borchert from Goleen Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea, and St. Patrick North Wall Fourth Window Saint Patrick Detail.

Lectionary Readings for Sunday, 18 March 2018
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 51:1-12
Hebrews 5:5-10
John 12:20-33
Scripture Texts: Jeremiah 31:30-34 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

30 (31) “Here, the days are coming,” says Adonai, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Isra’el and with the house of Y’hudah. 31 (32) It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by their hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt; because they, for their part, violated my covenant, even though I, for my part, was a husband to them,” says Adonai. 32 (33) “For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Isra’el after those days,” says Adonai: “I will put my Torah within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 33 (34) No longer will any of them teach his fellow community member or his brother, ‘Know Adonai’; for all will know me, from the least of them to the greatest; because I will forgive their wickednesses and remember their sins no more.” (Complete Jewish Bible)

Psalm 51:1 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David, 2 when Natan the prophet came to him after his affair with Bat-Sheva:

3 (1) God, in your grace, have mercy on me;

in your great compassion, blot out my crimes.

4 (2) Wash me completely from my guilt,

and cleanse me from my sin.

5 (3) For I know my crimes,

my sin confronts me all the time.

6 (4) Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil from your perspective;

so that you are right in accusing me

and justified in passing sentence.

7 (5) True, I was born guilty,

was a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me.

8 (6) Still, you want truth in the inner person;

so make me know wisdom in my inmost heart.

9 (7) Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

10 (8) Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness,

so that the bones you crushed can rejoice.

11 (9) Turn away your face from my sins,

and blot out all my crimes.

12 (10) Create in me a clean heart, God;

renew in me a resolute spirit.

13 (11) Don’t thrust me away from your presence,

don’t take your Ruach Kodesh away from me.

14 (12) Restore my joy in your salvation,

and let a willing spirit uphold me. Complete Jewish Bible)

Hebrews 5:5 So neither did the Messiah glorify himself to become cohen gadol; rather, it was the One who said to him,

“You are my Son;

today I have become your Father.”[Hebrews 5:5 Psalm 2:7]

6 Also, as he says in another place,

“You are a cohen forever,

to be compared with Malki-Tzedek.”[Hebrews 5:6 Psalm 110:4]

7 During Yeshua’s life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions, crying aloud and shedding tears, to the One who had the power to deliver him from death; and he was heard because of his godliness. 8 Even though he was the Son, he learned obedience through his sufferings. 9 And after he had been brought to the goal, he became the source of eternal deliverance to all who obey him, 10 since he had been proclaimed by God as a cohen gadol to be compared with Malki-Tzedek. (Complete Jewish Bible)

John 12:20 Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greek-speaking Jews. 21 They approached Philip, the one from Beit-Tzaidah in the Galil, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Yeshua.” 22 Philip came and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Yeshua. 23 Yeshua gave them this answer: “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless a grain of wheat that falls to the ground dies, it stays just a grain; but if it dies, it produces a big harvest. 25 He who loves his life loses it, but he who hates his life in this world will keep it safe right on into eternal life! 26 If someone is serving me, let him follow me; wherever I am, my servant will be there too. My Father will honor anyone who serves me.

27 “Now I am in turmoil. What can I say — ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour. I will say this: 28 ‘Father, glorify your name!’” At this a bat-kol came out of heaven, “I have glorified it before, and I will glorify it again!” 29 The crowd standing there and hearing it said that it had thundered; others said, “An angel spoke to him.” 30 Yeshua answered, “This bat-kol did not come for my sake but for yours. 31 Now is the time for this world to be judged, now the ruler of this world will be expelled. 32 As for me, when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate what kind of death he would die. (Complete Jewish Bible)

John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes: Jeremiah 31:31-34
Verse 31
[31] Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Behold — And not only with the Jews, but all those who should be ingrafted into that Olive. It is not called the new covenant, because it was as to the substance new, for it was made with Abraham, Genesis 17:7, and with the Jews, Deuteronomy 26:17,18, but because it was revealed after a new manner, more fully and particularly, plainly and clearly. Nor was the ceremonial law any part of it, as it was to the Jews, a strict observance of that. It was likewise new in regard of the efficacy of the spirit attending it, in a much fuller and larger manner.
Verse 32
[32] Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Not according — The covenant which God made with the Jews when they came out of the land of Egypt, was on God's part the law which he gave them, with the promises annexed; on their part (which made it a formal covenant) their promise of obedience to it.
Verse 33
[33] But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
With — That is, with those who are Jews inwardly.
And write it — The prophet's design is here to express the difference betwixt the law and the gospel. The first shews duty, the latter brings the grace of regeneration, by which the heart is changed, and enabled for duty. All under the time of the law that came to salvation, were saved by this new covenant; but this was not evidently exhibited; neither was the regenerating grace of God so common under the time of the law, as it hath been under the gospel.
Verse 34
[34] And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
I will forgive — God makes the root of all this grace to be the free pardon, and the remission of their sins.

Psalm 51:1-12
Verse 4
[4] Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Thee only — Which is not to be, understood absolutely, because he had sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah, and many others; but comparatively. So the sense is, though I have sinned against my own conscience, and against others; yet nothing is more grievous to me, than that I have sinned against thee.
Thy sight — With gross contempt of thee, whom I knew to be a spectator of my most secret actions.
Justified — This will be the fruit of my sin, that whatsoever severities thou shalt use towards me, it will be no blemish to thy righteousness, but thy justice will be glorified by all men.
Speakest — Heb. in thy words, in all thy threatenings denounced against me.
Judgest — When thou dost execute thy sentence upon me.
Verse 5
[5] Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold — Nor is this the only sin which I have reason to bewail before thee; for this filthy stream leads me to a corrupt fountain: and upon a review of my heart, I find, that this heinous crime, was the proper fruit of my vile nature, which, ever was, and still is ready to commit ten thousand sins, as occasion offers.
Verse 6
[6] Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Truth — Uprightness of heart; and this may be added; as an aggravation of the sinfulness of original corruption, because it is contrary to the holy nature and will of God, which requires rectitude of heart: and, as an aggravation of his actual sin, that it was committed against that knowledge, which God had wrote in his heart.
Verse 7
[7] Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Hyssop — As lepers, are by thy appointment purified by the use of hyssop and other things, so do thou cleanse me a leprous and polluted creature, by thy grace, and by that blood of Christ, which is signified by those ceremonial usages.
Verse 8
[8] Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Joy — By thy spirit, seal the pardon of my sins on my conscience, which will fill me with joy.
Rejoice — That my heart which hath been sorely wounded may be comforted.
Verse 10
[10] Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Create — Work in me an holy frame of heart, whereby my inward filth may be purged away.
Right — Heb. firm or constant, that my resolution may be fixed and unmoveable.
Spirit — Temper or disposition of soul.
Verse 12
[12] Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
The joy — The comfortable sense of thy saving grace, promised and vouchsafed to me, both for my present and everlasting salvation.
Free — Or, ingenuous, or liberal, or princely. Which he seems to oppose to his own base and illiberal and disingenuous and servile spirit, which he had discovered in his wicked practices: a spirit, which may free me from the bondage of sin, and enable me chearfully to run the way of God's precepts.

Hebrews 5:5-10
Verse 5
[5] So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.
So also Christ glorified not himself to be an high priest — That is, did not take this honour to himself, but received it from him who said, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee - Not, indeed, at the same time; for his generation was from eternity. Psalms 2:7.
Verse 6
[6] As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Psalms 110:4.
Verse 7
[7] Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
The sum of the things treated of in the seventh and following chapters is contained, Hebrews 5:7-10; and in this sum is admirably comprised the process of his passion, with its inmost causes, in the very terms used by the evangelists.
Who in the days of his flesh — Those two days, in particular, wherein his sufferings were at the height.
Having offered up prayers and supplications — Thrice.
With strong crying and tears — In the garden.
To him that was able to save him from death — Which yet he endured, in obedience to the will of his Father. And being heard in that which he particularly feared - When the cup was offered him first, there was set before him that horrible image of a painful, shameful, accursed death, which moved him to pray conditionally against it: for, if he had desired it, his heavenly Father would have sent him more than twelve legions of angels to have delivered him. But what he most exceedingly feared was the weight of infinite justice; the being "bruised" and "put to grief" by the hand of God himself. Compared with this, everything else was a mere nothing; and yet, so greatly did he ever thirst to be obedient to the righteous will of his Father, and to "lay down" even "his life for the sheep," that he vehemently longed to be baptized with this baptism, Luke 12:50. Indeed, his human nature needed the support of Omnipotence; and for this he sent up strong crying and tears: but, throughout his whole life, he showed that it was not the sufferings he was to undergo, but the dishonour that sin had done to so holy a God, that grieved his spotless soul. The consideration of its being the will of God tempered his fear, and afterwards swallowed it up; and he was heard not so that the cup should pass away, but so that he drank it without any fear.
Verse 8
[8] Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Though he were a Son — This is interposed. lest any should be offended at all these instances of human weakness. In the garden, how frequently did he call God his Father! Matthew 26:39, etc. And hence it most evidently appears that his being the Son of God did not arise merely from his resurrection.
Yet learned he — The word learned, premised to the word suffered, elegantly shows how willingly he learned. He learned obedience, when be began to suffer; when he applied himself to drink that cup: obedience in suffering and dying.
Verse 9
[9] And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
And being perfected — By sufferings, Hebrews 2:10; brought through all to glory.
He became the author — The procuring and efficient cause.
Of eternal salvation to all that obey him — By doing and suffering his whole will.
Verse 10
[10] Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
Called — The Greek word here properly signifies surnamed. His name is, "the Son of God." The Holy Ghost seems to have concealed who Melchisedec was, on purpose that he might be the more eminent type of Christ. This only we know,-that he was a priest, and king of Salem, or Jerusalem.

John 12:20-33
Verse 20
[20] And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:
Certain Greeks — A prelude of the Gentile Church. That these were circumcised does not appear. But they came up on purpose to worship the God of Israel.
Verse 21
[21] The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
These came to Philip of Bethsaida in Galilee — Perhaps they used to lodge there, in their journey to Jerusalem. Or they might believe, a Galilean would be more ready to serve them herein, than a Jew.
Sir — They spake to him, as to one they were little acquainted with.
We would see Jesus — A modest request. They could scarce expect that he would now have time to talk with them.
Verse 23
[23] And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified — With the Father and in the sight of every creature. But he must suffer first.
Verse 24
[24] Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Unless a grain of wheat die — The late resurrection of Lazarus gave our Lord a natural occasion of speaking on this subject. And agreeable to his infinite knowledge, he singles out, from among so many thousands of seeds, almost the only one that dies in the earth: and which therefore was an exceeding proper similitude, peculiarly adapted to the purpose for which he uses it. The like is not to be found in any other grain, except millet, and the large bean.
Verse 25
[25] He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
He that loveth his life — More than the will of God; shall lose it eternally: and he that hateth his life - In comparison of the will of God, shall preserve it. Matthew 10:39.
Verse 26
[26] If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
Let him follow me — By hating his life: and where I am - In heaven.
If any man serve me — Thus, him will the Father honour.
Verse 27
[27] Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
Now is my soul troubled — He had various foretastes of his passion.
And what shall I say? — Not what shall I choose? For his heart was fixed in choosing the will of his Father: but he laboured for utterance. The two following clauses, Save me from this hour - For this cause I came - Into the world; for the sake of this hour (of suffering) seem to have glanced through his mind in one moment. But human language could not so express it.
Verse 28
[28] Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
Father, glorify thy name — Whatever I suffer. Now the trouble was over.
I have glorified it — By thy entrance into this hour.
And I will glorify it — By thy passing through it.
Verse 29
[29] The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.
The multitude who stood and heard — A sound, but not the distinct words - In the most glorious revelations there may remain something obscure, to exercise our faith.
Said, It thundered — Thunder did frequently attend a voice from heaven. Perhaps it did so now.
Verse 31
[31] Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Now — This moment. And from this moment Christ thirsted more than ever, till his baptism was accomplished.
Is the judgment of this world — That is, now is the judgment given concerning it, whose it shall be.
Now shall the prince of this world — Satan, who had gained possession of it by sin and death, be cast out - That is, judged, condemned, cast out of his possession, and out of the bounds of Christ's kingdom.
Verse 32
[32] And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
Lifted up from the earth — This is a Hebraism which signifies dying. Death in general is all that is usually imported. But our Lord made use of this phrase, rather than others that were equivalent, because it so well suited the particular manner of his death.
I will draw all men — Gentiles as well as Jews. And those who follow my drawings, Satan shall not be able to keep.

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