This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 131; Psalm 132; Zechariah 13:1-9; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 19:11-27
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 8 (“The Song of Moses,” Exodus 15, BCP, p. 85); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3-4, BCP, p. 94)
Happy Thanksgiving! It so happens that today’s readings in Zechariah and Ephesians recount profound reasons for the giving of thanks.
Zechariah. The apostle Peter describes the prophets of the Old Testament “looking and searching so hard” to try to understand the future salvation that was being revealed through them. Peter says that they had been given sketches of “the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would come after them.” As a result, the prophets “tried to find out at what time and in what circumstances all this was to be expected” (1 Peter 1:10-11 Jerusalem Bible).
One of the prophetic passages Peter must have had in mind is this one from today’s reading in Zechariah: “Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered” (Zechariah 13:7b). Jesus Christ had quoted it to Peter and the rest of the disciples as they arrived at the Garden of Gethsemane, in anticipation of his arrest. And Peter, being Peter, protested its applicability to him: “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away” (Matthew 27:30-33). This is fresh off their leaving the Upper Room, where Jesus had prophesied Peter’s betrayal. Yes, I’m pretty sure Peter recalled this passage in Zechariah.
Five hundred years in advance, Zechariah provides a staggering constellation of previews of the Messiah’s sufferings and glories:
“humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9)—think of Palm Sunday (Matthew 21:5)
a new exodus “through the sea of distress…and the scepter of Egypt shall depart” (Zechariah 10:11)—think of God calling Jesus “out of Egypt” (Matthew 2:13-15)
“thirty shekels of silver thr[own] into the treasury in the house of the Lord” (Zechariah 11:12-13) — think of the price for Judas Iscariot’s betrayal (Matthew 27:3-10)
weeping and mourning “as over a firstborn,” when “they look on the one whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12:10) — think of the spear in Jesus’s side (John 19:34)
God’s pouring out “a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem”—think of Pentecost in Act 2
Add to these passages, of course, today’s reference to the sheep being scattered when the shepherd is struck. As we saw above, Jesus sees here an anticipation of his disciples being “scattered” at his arrest.
But then read Zechariah more deeply. The previous chapter’s “piercing” from yesterday’s reading (Zechariah 12:10) has led to the opening of a fountain “to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (Zechariah 13:1). Five hundred years later, the apostle John notes that from Jesus’s pierced side flow blood and water: “[O]ne of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out” (John 19:34). Thus, the hymnist William Cowper writes, “There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins. And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.” Amen!
But wait, there’s more! Zechariah 13 goes on to describe a winnowing process by which idolatry is eliminated, false prophets are exposed, God’s remnant is refined like gold, and the covenant is renewed: “I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God’” (Zechariah 13:2-9). The passage anticipates the full sweep of the Holy Spirit’s work during the gospel age in which we have been living since Pentecost.
Ephesians. The apostle Paul’s magnificent prayer in Ephesians 1:15-23 arises out of his awe at living in this gospel age. Paul is overwhelmed that “all things” have been laid at the resurrected Jesus’s feet. Perhaps even more amazing to Paul is the fact that Jesus—Lord of the whole universe—exercises this headship over “all things” for the sake of and in the interest of the church (Ephesians 1:22)!
The thrust, then, of Paul’s prayer is that God opens “the eyes of our hearts” to see how these wonderful truths are true for us. That means for me! That means for you! I pray that in spite of all the things in our lives, and in our world, that make it difficult to see the depth of God’s riches for us and the extent of his love for us, that Paul’s prayer will nonetheless prevail for each one of us. I pray that, as Paul will pray later in this letter, “you will know the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:18-19).
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd