Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, July 7, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I wasn’t there when Jesus died and was resurrected. I imagine you weren’t either. Nor did we have the benefit of hearing in person from the still-living witnesses of these events as the recipients of this letter did. We weren’t in the upper room when Jesus showed them his hands and side and said that we were blessed if we believed even without having seen for ourselves.
And yet I, for one, have seen and experienced the presence and power of God directly in my life in myriad ways great and small. I may not have had Jesus standing in front of me in the flesh, but I’ve met him on more occasions than I can name, sometimes in dreams, sometimes in moments of clarity so intense it took my breath away, sometimes in what seemed at the time a simple interaction with another human being which only later registered as a direct encounter with the living Christ. I know I’m not the only one, because others have witnessed to me—they were not following “cleverly devised myths” but relating actual events which made clear the presence of God in the here an now.
This is our call, too—to bear witness to others about all that we have heard and seen and experienced, so that those who may not realize they, too, have had these encounters might recognize them for what they are.
How have I been an eyewitness to the majesty of God?
