Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“For on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, January 12, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
This vision of Zechariah concerns the elevation of Joshua as the high priest of the new temple being built in Jerusalem. It’s filled with symbolism of course. We initially find Joshua in filthy clothes, which represent his time in exile, and these are piece by piece replaced with the pure vestments of the high priest, including this seven-faceted stone, which was part of the priest’s headpiece. All of this symbolism is for the Jews returning from exile, but we can glean for ourselves the ways these images also speak to us today as words of hope.
God will remove the guilt of God’s people in a single day. In other words, generations of sinfulness and warfare, greed and failure to care for the widow and the orphan, centuries of corruption and subsequent punishment—none of this history prevents complete forgiveness on the part of God. There is nothing—not one thing!—we can do that will separate us from God’s all-embracing love and grace.
What a word of hope for our society in this day and age. What a word of hope for us as individuals who have both caused and experienced so much pain. Know today that God can and will remove the guilt of all humanity in a single day.
What harms have I caused that I need to be forgiven for?
