Friday • 1/22/2021
Week of 2 Epiphany

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 31; Isaiah 45:18–25; Ephesians 6:1–9; Mark 4:35–41

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6–11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93)

Ephesians. All of us inhabit different sorts of over-and-under relationships—at home, at work, at school, in our communities. And though it is difficult to figure out how instructions addressing relationships as different from ours as were those of the 1st century Mediterranean world, there are principles in play that are important for us to heed. 

(To keep this devotional short, I am going to skip child-parent relationships.)

In Ephesians 6:5–7, Paul addresses us when we are on the “under” side of work- (or school-, or whatever) relationships. What we owe to our bosses (or whatever) is free, sincere, and heartfelt respect for their position. What we owe to ourselves is a definition of ourselves that comes from Jesus, not from our bosses—“You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters,” says Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:23. Our worth lies in the value that Jesus assigns us—which is enormous!—not in our position or in our bosses’ estimation of us. Once that is settled, we can model the pattern of the One who came “not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). We really work for our bosses’ Boss, “doing the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:6). 

In Ephesians 6:8–9, Paul addresses us when we are the boss, when we are on the “over” side of a work- (or school-, or whatever) relationship. With Paul’s brilliant “do the same for them,” he gives us our mandate for how to wield the authority of that position—here too, we look to the One who came “not to be served, but to serve, but to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Just like the person who answers to us, we ourselves also answer to the very same Person—“for you know that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and with him there is no partiality” (Ephesians 6:9). Our Boss requires us to lead as though we were servants—because that’s what we are. 

Meanwhile, Jesus is not asleep in the boat…

Mark. Well, actually, Jesus was asleep in the boat. But his reaction to the disciples when they wake him up indicates that even asleep he had had the situation under control: “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40). 

When the storm rages around us—say, when things really aren’t working out with a horrible boss, or when we find that we are the horrible boss—it can seem like Jesus doesn’t care. It can seem like he’s asleep while the storm is about to sink the boat. Appearances are deceiving. 

Which points us back to Isaiah…

Isaiah says two important things in today’s passage:

…he did not create [the earth] a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited! — Isaiah 45:18b. Yahweh created for us a context in which to flourish, not to flounder. After the Fall, all our efforts meet resistance, and every relationship gets colored by our fallenness and the fallenness of the other person. But the Lord did not create his world to be subject to chaos. The Bible’s great story line is this: he has been re-creating his world ever since chaos invaded the Garden. He works for our flourishing, for it is to that end that he formed us. No matter the situation, the Lord is working to bring order out of chaos, freedom out of bondage, sanity out of craziness, and ultimately life out of death.

“To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” — Isaiah 45:23b. Isaiah makes this declaration in proof that Yahweh is the only true God. He will share that dignity with no other. Extraordinarily, the apostle Paul applies that very saying to Jesus Christ, who, by virtue of humbling himself to incarnation and death, and by virtue of being exalted in resurrection, receives “the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:6–11). 

Isaiah’s and Mark’s words reaffirm what Paul wants us to know: our Savior showed that the way of the cross is the way of life. Wherever we are—“over” or “under,” in smooth waters or stormy—we can trust the Lord Jesus, Master of wind and sea, of chaos and all the powers of heaven and earth. 

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+