Wednesday 4/27/2022

Today is Wednesday of the 2nd Week of Easter

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 119:1–24; Exodus 15:22-16:10; 1 Peter 2:1-10; John 15:1-11

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1–3,11a,14c,18–19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68–79, BCP, p. 92)

An audio or video version of this devotional can be found here: Apple Podcast, Spotify Podcast, YouTube

In the ancient church, the weeks just before Easter were a time of preparation for baptism, and the weeks just after Easter were a time for learning how to live “as baptized.” It’s especially easy to see that sensibility in play across the gamut of biblical readings for the second week of Easter in the Daily Office for this year.

Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went for three days in the wilderness and found no water. — Exodus 15:22. Crossing the Red Sea had been Israel’s baptism: “All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:2). In that baptism they had been rescued from slavery by what the 2nd century church leader Irenaeus would refer to as the “two arms” of God’s embrace, “the Angel of the Lord” (Exodus 14:19a, a prefiguration of Christ) and “the Pillar of Cloud” (Exodus 14:19b, a prefiguration of the Holy Spirit).

Now for the journey through the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land. The next few weeks’ OT readings will focus on the central lesson from that journey: chiefly, the mission of this newly baptized people is to take to the world the calling to love God and neighbor. This second week of Easter finds us in the wilderness on the way to Mount Sinai. The lessons here are about trusting the Lord for provision when the journey seems hard, provisions are scant, and, perversely, the mistreatment “back there” seems less intimidating than the deprivations “out here.”

Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. — 1 Peter 2:2-3. Many scholars think that 1 Peter as a whole was written to provide instruction to newly baptized believers. Whether that is the case or not, this letter provides some of the most succinct teaching in all the NT about how those who have come to recognize that they are “elect strangers” (1 Peter 1:1 eklektois parepidēmoi) are to live. That is, God has chosen them in order to usher them in to a new life in Christ, and, in that single stroke, has made them “outsiders” to their former friends and family members.

In today’s passage, Peter is finishing a section in which he has been reminding his readers of the great “indicatives” of their election—all that God has done to give them new life (1 Peter 1:1–2:10): “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). And in tomorrow’s passage, Peter will pivot to explaining how they may proclaim those mighty acts. He will begin to outline for them the “imperatives” that come with now being strangers in a world that no longer defines who they are: “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). His instruction will show how, in Christ, to navigate life’s hardest relationships as they “show and tell” the mighty acts, living as servants of God and stewards of grace (1 Peter 2:11–5:14).

Abide in me, as I abide in you. … I am the Vine, you are the branches. — John 15:4a,5a. Arguably, pride of place in a season of post-baptismal instruction goes to the portion of John’s gospel for this week. Jesus had painted a picture of his ministry by washing the disciples’ feet in John 13, to leave them an example of how they should live; and he had prayed what is called his “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17, to fortify them. Between those chapters, in John 14–16, Jesus provided his most extensive teaching in all of John’s gospel for what life would look like after his death, resurrection, and ascension, and before his final return in glory.

Today’s passage is perhaps the linchpin to the whole: our responding to Christ’s love by “abiding” in him through his Word—studying it, meditating on it, and obeying it—so that the Risen Christ may “abide” in us—dwelling in us by his Spirit. Christ likens himself to a vine, in fact, claiming for himself a rich identity that God had given to Israel in the OT. In passages like Psalm 80 and Isaiah 5, God says that he had planted Israel as a vine, but that that vine had proved unfaithful and unfruitful. This was all an anticipation of a “True Vine” that would prove faithful and fruitful, the One who is at Table with his friends. Now this True Vine calls his followers “branches” in the Vine, sharers in, and extensions of, his own life. Amazing.

All we “branches” need to do is “abide” (a very simple Greek word that means essentially “remain” or “stay”) in the vine—that is, stay connected to our life source. When we are unfruitful but “abiding,” the good Vinedresser (the Father) will raise us up so we can get better sunlight and rainfall (the NRSV’s translation of the first half of verse 2’s airei as “remove” is terribly misleading, making it appear as though unfruitful branches get cut off). When we are fruitful, we get pruned—and sure, that cutting can hurt, but it’s only so that lesser fruitfulness in the present can lead to greater fruitfulness in the future. That’s the scenario in the second half of verse 2. Of course, it’s always possible to contemplate the possibility of cutting ourselves off, of “not abiding.” That’s the scenario envisioned in verse 6. And Jesus asks us to consider that horrible “what if?”, only to remind us that by remaining “in him,” we find a profound sense of God’s responsiveness to our heart’s best desires, “love,” and “joy” (verses 7-11).

This day, I pray that you live well “as baptized.” I pray you are able, in Christ, to learn what was so hard for the children of Israel to learn: the wilderness is lonely and barren and dangerous, but when the Lord is with you, your needs will be met.

This day, I pray that you live well “as baptized.” In other words, that you are able to claim your true place in God’s royal priesthood and his holy nation, confident that he will show you how to make his mighty acts known in word and deed.

This day, I pray that you live well “as baptized”: abiding in Christ, with him abiding in you.

Be blessed this day.

Reggie Kidd+

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