Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions.”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, July 9, 2023
by Madison Johnston, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: Knowing Jesus means knowing how to interpret warning signs along our faith journeys.
Anyone who has driven through mountainous terrain knows that there are a few important signs to pay attention to along the way: speed reduction signs before sharp turns, “Caution: Falling Rocks” signs along jagged cliff faces, and the unnerving couple of lines underneath a semi truck indicating a sandy, uphill ramp that drivers can use to put a stop to out-of-control momentum. None of these signs is meant to suggest that every driver should move like molasses for every mile, terrified and looking to the sky for rogue boulders the entire time they’re behind the wheel. These signs are simply in place to warn people about the most extreme risks—the worst-case scenarios—that are possible in their circumstance. Really, then, these signs are meant to encourage the safest, most informed and most enjoyable journey possible. A journey that’s worthwhile.
Both of our texts this morning work in a similar way. The author of 2 Peter is speaking to other early Christians, and Jesus to his disciples. Both are giving warnings about the danger and the inevitability of false prophets, not to distract Jesus’s followers or instill any unnecessary anxiety in them, but to make sure that they have safe, informed and enjoyable experiences evangelizing. Jesus names the fact that not everything they will endure is low-stakes. Not everything they will go through will be easy or fun or comfortable. But if they know the realities they are collectively facing, Jesus’s followers will be able to figure out how to navigate those realities well and internalize just how worthwhile a life of faith is.
There are three imperatives between these two texts: “be attentive,” “beware” and “do not be alarmed.” That means that we modern readers aren’t supposed to get hung up on bad doctrine. We aren’t supposed to spend too much of our time or our energy on false prophets—who they are or where they come from or what they say. Rather, we’re supposed to recognize that false prophets exist, reorient ourselves toward God’s Word despite them, and keep going in our pursuit of God’s call to kingdom building. After all, God’s truth is so unique and so powerful that nothing can touch it or bend it or corrupt it. Not misinterpretation; not misappropriation; not manipulation; not even bastardization.
In our faith journeys, we might encounter some rough conditions. But because we know Jesus, we also know how to interpret risks and surprises. We know that signs aren’t meant to scare us, but rather, to keep us focused on what matters most.
