Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive for ever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, July 28, 2025
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
How would I react if I came face to face with Jesus? I mean in the way it’s described in this text? Yes, I see Jesus every single day in the faces of everyone around me. But as a discrete personal form, in the kind of hyperrealist glory John of Patmos describes? I would probably collapse, too!
Awe in the face of the glory of God isn’t surprising. I remember when I was maybe ten lying on the dock up at the cabin (in the days before the light pollution was the way it is now) and looking up at the sky. For the first time in my life, I could see the Milky Way in all its glory, a glittering path through the heavens, containing more stars and planets and light and possibility than my young mind could possibly comprehend. And in that moment, I was terrified. God makes the Milky Way look like a cheap plastic flashlight with a dying battery!
Yet Jesus’ first words to John are, “Do not be afraid.” He has a job for John, and in order to accomplish it, John needs to pick himself up off the floor and take up his pen and paper. And so he does.
I know that I can never fully comprehend God, and that when I have moments where I come face to face with her in some vital, glorious way, I am invited to share it. So I pick myself up and take up my computer and do my best to share what I’ve learned. I hope it’s enough.
When have I experienced something truly awe-inspiring? How do I imagine God compares?
