Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, May 3, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
God made so many promises to the people over the years. To name just a few, God promised them great numbers of descendants, a land of their own, freedom from the domination of empires, restoration, peace, and above all that God would be their God. As Christians we believe that Jesus was and is the ultimate fulfilment of everything God promised, even though his life, death, and reign did not look anything like what the people were expecting. And here we are now still living in a world where nations dominate and oppress their own people and create economic systems that ensure the oppression of countless others, all to the benefit of a very small number of people, a world in which violence is still pervasive, where many do not have ‘a land of their own’ but are forced to become refugees from their homes by climate disasters, war, crushing poverty, disease, and more, and where the whole of creation seems to be crying out for wholeness and healing. Can we honestly say that God’s promises are fulfilled? It’s hard for me, sometimes, to see it.
But I keep looking. And when I look, I see all the ways that the reign of God is breaking into the world. I see the ways I and others are actively working in the manner of the prayer attributed to St. Francis: bringing love where there is hatred, forgiveness where there is wrong, faith where there is doubt, hope where there is despair, joy where there is sadness, and on and on. I see those taking great risks on behalf of the marginalized, the oppressed, the powerless. In short, I see Jesus at work, actively fulfilling God’s promises each day.
What “good news” keeps me going when despair threatens?
