Read Today’s Scripture
“Life is a beautiful thing”
“Unless you repent, you will perish”. Ouch! Those are not pretty words from Jesus. However, Jesus is just being consistent. If someone rejects life, then what other option is there but death? Life is too beautiful a thing to reject! In fact, our Exodus reading vividly describes that God is abundant life. If God were an egg and you cracked him open, all that would spill out is abundant life. His name is “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex 3:14), because he is abundant life in existence. Thus, he calls himself the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Ex 3:6, 15), because although these characters had been dead for 400 years, they were still abundantly alive in his presence. Finally, it’s also why he speaks to Moses in a burning tree, full of vitality, unconquerable by a consuming fire (Ex 3:2). It harkens back to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, that Adam and Eve—and us—could no longer eat from because we rejected God (Gen 2:9). But it also harkens forward to another Tree of Life, the wooden cross of Christ, on which God in Christ is broken open and abundant life spills out for all who desire it. So, on this Sunday, although we aren’t in a land flowing with milk and honey, we will nonetheless feast at a table flowing with heavenly bread and wine. And isn’t this better than milk and honey? So, when you come to feast at the altar today, consider a posture of repentance. Repentance is a beautiful thing, because at its core, repentance seeks life. And life is a beautiful thing!
Collect
Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
