Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, February 19, 2023
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: Jesus asked his disciples to wrestle with the question: What will they give in return for their life?
Consider this: What will you give in return for your life? It’s a question Jesus posed to his disciples just prior to his Transfiguration. It’s really got me wondering: what is my life worth to me? And what exactly is my life apart from the things I have? (Especially if what I have includes family, friends, love.) Truthfully, would I give up family, friends, and love for the privilege of breathing? I don’t believe I would. In fact, I know I would gladly give my life to save my children. My children are my life, even more than my own body and the heart that beats within it.
Maybe that’s what Jesus was asking. What is your life? What does it mean to you? What is it worth? How much of your life is the body you live in, and how much is it the things that fill up your life? And what do you fill your life with—possessions, pride, joy, family? Ultimately our life is made up of the things we surround ourselves with that make life worth living. Is Jesus asking us to give up those things so that we might have breath? Or is Jesus asking us to be willing to give our breath for the sake of people, compassion, and love?
In light of Jesus’ Transfiguration, it’s an interesting question. Jesus’ appearance was changed. The idea that his disciples had of him changed. His access to things beyond this world was changed. Perhaps Jesus was trying to tell his disciples that their lives as they knew them were about to change. Maybe he was preparing them to wrestle with the question: “What will you give in return for your life?”
