Jesus Shall Reign - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Wednesday • 9/6/2023 •
Wednesday of the Fourteenth Week After Pentecost (Proper 17) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 38; 1 Kings 9:24–10:13; James 3:1–12; Mark 15:1–11 

For comments on James 3:1–12, see the DDD for 11/17/2020, Tuesday of Proper 28, Year Two https://tinyurl.com/ysn7n6rn 

This morning’s Canticles are: 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) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we ask how God might direct our lives from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. This Wednesday in the Season After Pentecost our readings come from Proper 17 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Solomon’s reign represents a high point in Israel’s worship and therefore of Israel’s history, as we’ve seen in Solomon’s building and dedication of the temple. But the life Israel enjoyed under God’s care was not intended just for Israel. Yahweh told Abraham that he was to be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 12). Today’s reading shows how that promise reaches a certain fulfillment in Solomon’s day.  

Image: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston , Domenico Veneziano,The Meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, ca. 1473. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 

“Now when the queen of Sheba (probably modern Yemen) heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions” (1 Kings 10:1 NASB). The result of her inquiries and of her survey of Solomon's accomplishments, bounty, and worship is that she confesses Yahweh for herself: “Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness” (1 Kings 10:9).  

A companion piece to this portion of Scripture is Psalm 72. This psalm’s heading suggests it comes from Solomon himself. If so, Psalm 72 is an elegant expression of his aspiration: to be the locus of Yahweh’s benevolent rule over humankind. Justice prevails under wise administration. Rulers from around the globe (Seba to the south, Tarshish to the west) bring their tribute, just as the queen of Sheba has. And through his anointed king, Yahweh reigns over the whole earth.  

The actuality of Solomon’s reign, of course, falls short. The rest of 1 Kings 10 describes an amassing of wealth, and specifically of horses, that directly violates limits that the law of Moses had laid out (compare 1 Kings 10:14–17, with Deuteronomy 17:16–17b). And beginning with tomorrow’s reading in 1 Kings 11, we will see how Solomon’s love for Yahweh becomes diluted by his love for the various gods of his many wives (with 1 Kings 11, compare Deuteronomy 17:17a). Disaster will befall the nation: first division, then alien invasion and exile.  

Jesus and the prophets’ messianic vision. But the brief glimpse of Israel living into its calling to be a holy nation and a people of God’s treasured and special possession, defined by love of God and of neighbor, gives the prophets a vision of a true and final realization of that to which Solomon aspired. Messiah, a better son of David, will come, and he will rule a New Jerusalem with the faithfulness and righteousness that eluded Solomon … because God has promised that it will be so:  

For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; 
authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named 
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 
His authority shall grow continually,  
and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. 
He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness 
    from this time onward and forevermore. 
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 
(Isaiah 9:6–7; and see also 45:14; 60:6–7) 

Jesus himself recalls the visit of the queen of Sheba: “she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here!” (Matthew 12:42). In Jesus, says the apostle Paul, are embodied and made available to us “wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). The fulfillment in Jesus of all that is good in Solomon is captured nowhere better than in “Jesus Shall Reign,” Isaac Watts’s (1674–1748) Christ-centered adaptation of Psalm 72: 

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun does its successive journeys run, 
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more. 

To him shall endless prayer be made, and praises throng to crown his head. 
His name like sweet perfume shall rise with every morning sacrifice. 

People and realms of every tongue dwell on his love with sweetest song, 
And infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on his name 

Blessings abound where’er he reigns: the prisoners leap to lose their chains, 
The weary find eternal rest, and all who suffer want are blest. 

Let every creature rise and bring honors peculiar to our King, 
Angels descend with songs again, and earth repeat the loud Amen! 

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

Clear the Deck and Start Anew - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Tuesday • 9/5/2023 •
Tuesday of the Fourteenth Week After Pentecost (Proper 17) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 26; Psalm 28; 1 Kings 8:65–9:9; James 2:14–26; Mark 14:66–72 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93)  

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we draw insights from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. This Tuesday in the Season After Pentecost our readings come from Proper 17 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.  

It’s not for no reason that the Office of Morning Prayer includes this daily invitation to confession: “And so that we may prepare ourselves in heart and mind to worship him, let us kneel in silence, and with penitent and obedient hearts confess our sins, that we may obtain forgiveness by his infinite goodness and mercy.”  

We all—all of us—carry within ourselves an outsized capacity for self-deception and rebellion against the God who loves us and cares for us. So, each morning we are invited to clear the deck, and start afresh.  

Image: The Denial of St Peter, Gerard Seghers  1591-1651. oil on canvas, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 

Each of today’s readings invites reflection on a potential soft spot: divided loyalty (Solomon), dead orthodoxy (James), and cowardly betrayal (Peter).  

Solomon and divided loyalty. I once heard it said, “Saul had no heart for God, David had a whole heart for God, and Solomon had half a heart for God.” The saying lacks nuance, but it captures some broad truths. Especially when it comes to Solomon.  

Yahweh appears to Solomon in the same fashion he had earlier in 1 Kings 3 when Solomon had wisely asked for, and had received, wisdom. Now, on the heels of the spectacular successes and blessings of the building of God’s temple and “the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build” (1 Kings 9:1), Yahweh comes to him again. He comes to remind Solomon of where all the goodness comes from. He wants Solomon to know that he does not have the option of giving part of his heart to the Lord, while allowing the rest of his heart to “go and serve other gods and worship them” (2 Kings 9:6). The consequences of such duplicity will be grave: “I will cut Israel off from the land that I have given them” (1 Kings 9:7,8). The beautiful temple will become a heap of ruins, and Solomon will make of Israel an object lesson in bad things happening to bad people.  

Solomon’s story will indeed take the bad turn Yahweh warns him about. His story is told so your story and my story don’t have to. Lord, have mercy.  

James and dead orthodoxy. James pokes a finger in the eye of those of us who hide cold and unloving hearts behind correctly articulated theological statements. James anticipates the saying of my teacher and colleague John Frame: “Theology is application.” James’s and Professor Frame’s point is that your true theology is what you live. Lex vivendi lex credendi. “The law of living is the law of believing.” Our only justification for calling ourselves God’s children is that we show it in our lives!” Lord, have mercy! 

Peter and cowardly betrayal. Unlike the person (whether real or imagined) that James is sparring with, Peter wants to do better—he really does. When Peter turns coward and denies even knowing Jesus, his mouth doesn’t run contrary to his heart, but it does run ahead of his heart. Nor is there any Solomonic half-heartedness here. We know he’s “all in”—but until Pentecost and the baptism, indwelling, and empowering of the Spirit of God, it’s clear that he’s simply not ready to back up brave words. There’s a good lesson there for every one of us. Lord, have mercy! 

Whether it’s for our half-heartedness, our pretense, our bluster, or whatever, it is always good to start the day this way:  

Most merciful God, 
we confess that we have sinned against you 
in thought, word, and deed, 
by what we have done, 
and by what we have left undone. 
We have not loved you with our whole heart; 
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. 
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. 
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, 
have mercy on us and forgive us; 
that we may delight in your will, 
and walk in your ways, 
to the glory of your Name. Amen. 

We can pray that way because we know that in the God of the Bible is infinite mercy and readiness to forgive.  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

The King Came as Pauper - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Monday • 9/4/2023 •
Monday of the Fourteenth Week After Pentecost (Proper 17)  

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 25; 2 Chronicles 6:32–7:7; James 2:1–13; Mark 14:53–65 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2–6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we explore that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd. Thanks for joining me. This Monday in the Season After Pentecost our readings finds us in Proper 17 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Solomon’s temple prayer, especially as described in 2 Chronicles, represents the summit of Israel’s life. The Shekinah glory cloud had protected Israel at the crossing of the Red Sea. It had appeared over Mt. Sinai at the giving of the law, indwelt the tabernacle, and accompanied Israel throughout the wilderness wanderings. Now the Shekinah glory cloud descends in such effulgence at the close of Solomon’s prayer that the priests can’t even enter the temple, and “all the people of Israel bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, ‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever’” (2 Chronicles 7:3; see the refrain in Psalm 136).  

At this most sublime and transcendent moment of convergence between heaven and earth, two things stand out to me. First is the fact that, on his knees and with outstretched hands, Solomon prays that Yahweh would hear and answer at the different points of need in his people’s lives: “hear and forgive” (2 Chronicles 6:21). Hear and forgive when his people sin and face various consequences—from returning restitution, coming under attack from enemies, undergoing famine or pestilence, or going into exile. Hear and forgive in sickness, or in any sort of suffering or need. Hear and forgive, “let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to prayer from this place” (2 Chronicles 6:40). Solomon adds a gorgeous coda from Psalm 132:8–10: “Let your priests be clothed with salvation, and let your faithful rejoice in your goodness.”  

Second is God’s gracious response. Yahweh appears in the Shekinah glory cloud with fire. The fire consumes the sacrifices, not the people (2 Chronicles 7:1). The consuming fire of judgment falls not on his sinful people, but on their substitutes. In answer, thankful worship—loud and exuberant musical worship—breaks out. No wonder God’s people are inveterate singers and music-makers (2 Chronicles 7:3–6). Yahweh hears and forgives!  

Then we turn to Mark’s Gospel. In utter mockery of the prayer that Yahweh’s priests would be clothed with salvation, the high priest, the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes have gathered in the rebuilt temple precincts to look for a reason to condemn Jesus of Nazareth to death. They should be singing (centuries in advance), “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail th’ incarnate Deity!” But they can’t see what’s right in front of their very eyes. The high priest demands to know: “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” (Mark 14:61). 

And though Jesus has been reticent in Mark’s Gospel to disclose his identity, he acknowledges (I paraphrase): “Indeed, I am the divine-human Son of Man of whom Daniel had a vision. And I am about to come into the heavenly courts to receive all power and dominion at the right hand of God Almighty” (Mark 14:62). They condemn him as a blasphemer worthy of death. At least they have rightly heard his claim.  

James highlights for us what folly if it would be to get Jesus’s identity “right” (correctly confessing him as “our glorious Lord Jesus Christ”) but to fail to see how that truth turns the world’s values on their head. To do so would be to get Jesus all “wrong.” The King came as pauper, and in doing so raised paupers to royalty. His followers are followers of “the royal law,” and that law calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves—especially those who most resemble his own appearance among us. Not high and mighty, but lowly and humble. To fail to give special honor to the least among us is to fail to give honor to him. Therein lies the “law of liberty”: the path to freedom from being controlled by appetites of greed, avarice, materialism, and status.  

Collect for Proper 17. Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen 

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

For reflections on the opening chapter of James’s epistle, see these DDDs: 

James 1:1–15 on 11/12/2020, Thursday of Proper 27, Year Two  https://tinyurl.com/p7ez9f76 

James 1:16–27 on 11/13/2020, Friday of Proper 27, Year Two https://tinyurl.com/3aky47vn 

Solomon Prepares - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Friday • 9/1/2023 •
Friday of the Thirteenth Week After Pentecost (Proper 16) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 16; Psalm 17; 1 Kings 5:1–6:1,7; Acts 28:1–16; Mark 14:27–42 

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) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we bring to our lives that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Friday in the Season After Pentecost. We are in Proper 16 of Year 1 of the Daily Office Lectionary.  

1 Kings describes Solomon’s preparations for the building of the temple as a realization of Yahweh’s gift of wisdom: “So the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him” (1 Kings 5:12). Accordingly, it is flabbergasting to me that the Daily Office Lectionary passes over the verses that immediately precede this chapter.  

Image: From Jojojoe, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The picture is a Greek Catholic icon depicting King Solomon with the plans of the Temple of Jerusalem that was built by him according to the Bible. The icon was painted in the end of the 18th century as part of the iconostasis of the Greek Catholic Cathedral of Hajdúdorog, Hungary. Solomon's icon is placed on the third tier of the iconostasis, the so-called Prophets tier. This icon is the fourth painting from the right. 

“God gave Solomon very great wisdom, discernment, and breadth of understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore, … He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He would speak of trees, from the cedar that is in the Lebanon to the hyssop that grows in the wall; he would speak of animals, and birds, and reptiles, and fish. People came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon; they came from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom” (1 Kings 4:29–34).  

What is especially remarkable in Solomon’s reign is the way that worship of God and wonder at his world converge. By “wonder at his world” I mean both his explorations of human thought, desire, and behavior (witness, Solomon’s discerning the hearts of the two prostitutes in 1 Kings 3; his proverbs about life; his song about love) and his exploration of the beauty, complexity, and diversity of creation (from cedar to hyssop).  

The construction of the temple represents the height of this convergence, summed up in the words of King Hiram of Tyre to Solomon: “‘Blessed be the Lord today, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.’ … ‘I have heard the message that you have sent to me; I will fulfill all your needs in the matter of cedar and cypress timber’” (1 Kings 1:7,8). Then 1 Kings regales us with a myriad of created features that Solomon and his craftsmen incorporate into the temple: cedar, cypress, olivewood, dressed stone, gold—lots of gold!—carved cherubim and open flowers and palm trees (1 Kings 6).  

Solomon’s wedding of created beauty and the worship of God invites reflections on the horrible way that creation and worship have become divided in our world. 

According to John Barry’s The Great Influenza, when Johns Hopkins University was established in 1876 with a mission to put medicine on a scientific foundation, “American universities had nearly five hundred endowed chairs of theology and fewer than five in medicine” and “American theological schools enjoyed endowments of $18 million, while medical school endowments totaled $500,ooo.” I don’t have the time to check the numbers, writing on the fly as I am, but I strongly suspect the current ratios would be reversed.  

If Western society over-theologized life before the scientific revolution, we generally over-scientize it in a world in which serious religious belief is little more than a memory of days gone by. If the world before the discovery of bacteria (when medicine was thought to be a matter of balancing the human body’s humors) was over-enchanted, the world since then has become under-enchanted. The result is that there is a profoundly sad split between “science” and “faith.”  

Solomon’s witness stands against such a split between science and faith. We believe in the God who made “the heavens and the earth.” He calls us to tend and cultivate the earth (which begins with studying it and understanding it). We and all creation were marred by the Fall (Genesis 3). However, the Bible’s God is so committed to restore goodness and beauty to his beloved creation that he undertook, through Israel, and continues through his church, a project of redemption and restoration. We are called to embrace the goodness of God’s creation and to tell the story of God’s loving purposes to redeem it. Today’s readings include some wonderful reminders of the truthfulness of that story.  

“In the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 6:1). Construction of the temple is made the more auspicious by dating its beginning from the exodus. The creative energy and the resources invested in this building further the Bible’s story of God overcoming the obstacles of sin and death and alienation. His goal is that he may dwell among us, and we with him.  

“See, my betrayer is at hand” (Mark 14:42). Mark’s reading today reminds us that the first betrayal that took place in the Garden of Eden leads to a second betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, which leads to the reversal of all betrayals by the redemption of the Cross.  

“And so we came to Rome” (Acts 28:14). The last chapter of the book of Acts finds Paul in Rome, where he fulfills the promise Jesus made to his disciples in Jerusalem: the flow of Pentecost would take them to the ends of the earth. We never hear the end of Paul’s story in Acts. That’s because his story leads to ours, as we take the good news to the even further ends of the earth.  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

We Will Never Lose the Love of God - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Thursday • 8/31/2023 •
Thursday of the Thirteenth Week After Pentecost (Proper 16) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 18; 1 Kings 3:16–28; Acts 27:27–44; Mark 14:12–26 

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) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we consider some aspect of that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. On this Thursday in the Season After Pentecost our readings come from Proper 16 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Something in Sara died the day her parents divorced. It was more like something began to be killed in her. With their divorce, her mom and dad began a contest to see who could win Sara’s affection. The gifts, the demands for time-with, the bad-mouthing of the other parent. To Sara, it all translated into: “If I can’t have my daughter, nobody can.” By the time she was 30, Sara was emotionally dead.  

1 Kings: “Give her the living boy.” Solomon’s wisdom is exemplified in his handling of the matter of two prostitutes who come to him for judgment. They live together. Each has a baby boy. One claims that the other accidentally has smothered her own baby boy in her sleep and switched them. Solomon says, “Give me a sword. I’ll split the baby in half. Each can have a half.” The true mother says, “Give her the child. Don’t kill him!” The false mother says, “Neither of us will have it. Go ahead and divide it!” Solomon realizes the true mother is the one who’d rather have her child live even apart from her: “Give her the living boy,” he says. “All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute justice” (1 Kings 3:28). 

The way of wisdom is the way of understanding that living things (except things like flatworms) can’t be cut in half and still live. Sara’s parents could have used a Solomon. What eventually came to Sara’s rescue was a relationship with one who was greater than Solomon (Matthew 12:42). In Jesus Christ, Sara came to know someone whose love doesn’t demand, but gives; doesn’t possess, but yields; and doesn’t devour, but indwells. Praise be.   

Mark: “…after blessing it he broke it….” The One whom Sara came to know was the Jesus who took bread and broke it as a symbol and sign of the giving of his own life for her. “While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body’” (Mark 14:22). All the breaks the world has ever seen, all the break-ups humans have undergone—including those in Sara’s life—were borne on Calvary’s tree. That’s true for you and me as well.  

Acts: the breaking up of Paul’s ship. Paul’s adventures in the Mediterranean Sea present another angle on the breaking of things. When we know that we’ve been promised that we will be OK even if everything around us falls apart, we can not only survive but thrive. The Lord has declared to Paul that he is going to appear before the emperor. Further, the Lord has assured him that all who accompany him on this sea voyage will survive as well, although their ship and their cargo will be lost. Paul’s ship is demolished, but Paul and company are just fine.  

None of us may have short term assurances like Paul did (in fact, I deeply distrust anybody since his day who claims to do so), but we do have the assurance that nothing will keep God from loving us. Though we lose everything in life’s tempest—though everything come against us, and every possession and relationship be stripped from us—we will never ever lose the love of God in Christ Jesus. Can’t happen.  

Not too terribly long before this fateful sea voyage, Paul had written the following words. And on this ship, he has the (I do not choose this term lightly) privilege of living them:  

Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:34,35,37–39).  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

Solomon's Bride - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Wednesday • 8/30/2023 •
Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week After Pentecost (Proper 16) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 119:1–24; 1 Kings 3:1–15; Acts 27:9–26; Mark 14:1–11 

This morning’s Canticles are: 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) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we ask how God might direct our lives from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. This Wednesday in the Season After Pentecost our readings come from Proper 16 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Marriage for political alliance, and more. For the sake of a political alliance Solomon weds the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh. The 3d century Christian theologian Origen wonders if perhaps she becomes the Shulamite (probably a play on Solomon’s own name), the queenly wife in Solomon’s Song of Songs (see Song of Songs 2:2–3). Solomon uses images of the horses in Pharaoh’s chariots and the black tents of Kedar (Song of Songs 1:5,9) to explain what attracts him to his beloved.* And of all the 700 wives and 300 concubines that he is said to love, the daughter of Pharaoh appears at the top of the list of the many women to whom he “clung in love” (1 Kings 11:1–2).  

Origen may or may not be correct in his musing about the identity of Pharaoh’s daughter and the female figure in Song of Songs. It is worth noting, I think, that though the wives and concubines are voiceless in the 1 Kings narrative, the Song of Songs gives at least one of Solomon’s brides a voice. And she sings of a profound exchange of love; for love is meant to be given and returned.  

Image: "The Shulamite by Odilon Redon" by National Gallery of Art is marked with CC0 1.0 

There’s one other intriguing note about Origen’s thoughts on the Song of Songs and Solomon. When he reads the Old Testament, Origen is always looking for “Easter eggs” about the coming of Christ. He reads the Song of Songs and can’t fail to see Christian imagery. He notices the way Solomon’s bride welcomes the perfumed oil her groom pours over her (Song of Songs 1:2). Commentator Marvin Pope summarizes Origen’s reaction: “Origen stressed that it was the preaching of Christ’s gospel which brought the biblical history of salvation to the world. ‘…[A]s soon as Jesus shone forth in the world, he carried the Law and the Prophets out into it with him, and in very truth our text—thy name is oil poured out—so found its fulfillment'’” (Pope, p. 98 emphasis in original).  

Today, as if in answer, we read the account of the woman who anoints Jesus in Mark 14. She worshipfully pours fragrant oil upon her Lord: “She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her” (Mark 14:8 emphasis mine).  

Origen sees in the Shulamite’s words in Song of Songs the promise of Christ bringing good news to the world. His good news is like perfume being poured out over a world desperately in need of refreshment and renewal. Worthy of thankful remembrance are the men and women who represent that good news, for they are, in Paul’s words, “the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved … a fragrance from life to life” (2 Corinthians 2:15–16). One greater than Solomon has come for us (Matthew 12:42). As a result, an observant eye like Origen’s sees an invitation to marvel at these juxtaposed images. In them we may perceive the mutual outpouring of love between Christ and the Church, and indeed between Christ and individual believers.  

Lord, give me wisdom! Solomon says he needs wisdom because he is “only a little child” (1 Kings 3:7). It is difficult to determine just how old Solomon is when he takes the throne. David had ruled in Jerusalem for thirty-three years (1 Kings 2:11); if he married Bathsheba early in his reign there, Solomon would be around thirty years old. That would make him not “only a little child.” No matter his age, however, he stands so much in need of wisdom for the task to which he has been called that it is as though he were a little child. Solomon’s prayer is a sage one for any of us, no matter our age or calling. To adapt his prayer: “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern my own life and to steward whatever portion of your world to which you call me. Make me able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern without you? (1 Kings 3:9, loosely). 

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+  

*See Marvin Pope’s, Song of Songs commentary in the Anchor Bible series (Doubleday, 1997), for suggestions of the fittingness of the Song of Songs to Solomon’s day (pp. 23–24).  

The Divine Bridegroom Has Sought Out His Bride - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Tuesday • 8/29/2023 •
Tuesday of the Thirteenth Week After Pentecost (Proper 16) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 5; Psalm 6; 1 Kings 1:38–2:4; Acts 26:24–27:8; Mark 13:28–37 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93)  

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we draw insights from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. This Tuesday in the Season After Pentecost our readings come from Proper 16 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Preliminary thoughts on 1 Kings and Solomon. David’s final words to Solomon begin this way: “Be strong, be courageous, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn” (1 Kings 2:2b–3).  

When 1 Kings was written, Judah was still undergoing exile in Babylon. Her future was uncertain, and her people were struggling. The account of Solomon’s accession to the throne therefore recounts the uncertainty that Bathsheba and Nathan had to overcome to bring to realization David’s earlier promise that Solomon would succeed him. And it details their struggle to ensure that transition. David knows that Solomon still faces challenges to establish himself, and he urges him to stay true to Yahweh in the midst of the struggle.  

We too seem to find ourselves in a time of exile and struggle. We too could use a call to be strong, courageous, and faithful. So, today, a brief look ahead at the perils Solomon will face, and some successes and failures.  

Image: Mönch Thomas (Kloster Eberbach), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Illumination from the Eberbach Monastery, Rheingau. The picture painted by the monk Thomas shows "Christ and Ecclesia" and adorns a commentary on the Song of Songs. Date: 12th century, second half 

1 Kings recounts the determination—perhaps even ruthlessness—that Solomon displays in removing obstacles to his kingship (1 Kings 1–2). 1 Kings will also recount the challenge that Solomon faces in trying to heed his father’s call to walk in the ways of Yahweh. This is a Solomon leading a people for whom obedience to the Lord is not an easy thing.  

1 Kings praises young Solomon’s request for wisdom above all things (1 Kings 4), and recounts an example of his extraordinary wisdom when he adjudicates a child-custody dispute between two women (1 Kings 3). 1 Kings also records the fact that he wrote 1,005 proverbs, studied God’s creation like nobody before him, and became known throughout the Ancient Near East as the wisest person alive (1 Kings 4).  

And yet 1 Kings also notes the foolishness of Solomon’s hybrid religion: “Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David; only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places” (1 Kings 3:3). He fulfills, grandly, David’s wishes that he construct a temple for Yahweh (1 Kings 5–7). In that temple he conducts a powerful dedicatory service (1 Kings 8). But his own worship will be divided between the temple he builds and the “high places” he tolerates and even builds up; as a result, “his heart was not true to the Lord as was the heart of his father David” (1 Kings 11:1–8).  

May we strive in our day for a knowledge of our world and its people like Solomon’s, but with a faithfulness to God’s commands about worship. May we confess with the psalmist, “in your light we see light” (Psalm 36:9).  

Worse, there are Solomon’s 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:1–13). Not to put things too inelegantly, all these relationships must have served as quite the laboratory for exploring the mystery and wonder of love between a man and a woman. These insights he crystallized in Song of Songs, his amazing paean to marital love, as this couple dances over the pages of this love song, wooing one another into embraces and kisses and pledges of love.  

The Song of Songs was understood from the earliest interpreters as celebrating the interplay of Yahweh as Groom and Israel as Bride; understandably, Christian interpreters have long seen it as a forecast of the relationship between Christ and the Church. Nonetheless, 1 Kings understands that Solomon’s heart, divided among so many lovers and especially among the seductions of their various gods, leads him to idolatry.  

May we in our day have the strength and the courage to love well and deeply, and yet in the bonds and within the boundaries that please God. Whatever our marital status, may we rejoice in the affections of the Divine Bridegroom who has sought out his Bride the Church, and who lovingly indwells the hearts of the members of his Bride (Ephesians 5).  

“Be strong and of good courage, and act. Do not be afraid or dismayed; for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished” (1 Chronicles 28:20).  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

God Is Working - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Monday • 8/28/2023 •
Monday of the Thirteenth Week After Pentecost (Proper 16)  

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 1; Psalm 2; Psalm 3; 1 Kings 1:5–31; Acts 26:1–23; Mark 13:14–27 

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 9 (“The First Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 12:2–6, BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we explore that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd. Thanks for joining me. This Monday in the Season After Pentecost our readings finds us in Proper 16 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.  

2 Samuel: clarifying David’s wishes for the accession of Solomon. It’s a messy transition from David to Solomon. Adonijah, David’s fourth son, stands in line as the natural heir to David’s throne (2 Samuel 3:4). It’s not altogether surprising that he makes a play for the kingship as David’s death looms. Since, for us who read this story 3,000 years after the fact, the David-to-Solomon succession is so woven into the fabric of the biblical story line, it’s hard to appreciate how tenuous the situation was. (And how proactive both Nathan and Bathsheba had to be in order to bring about what they knew was God’s will — and, not inconsequentially, what was necessary to their own survival.) Together, Nathan and Bathsheba persuade David to declare clearly to Bathsheba: “As the Lord lives, who has saved my life from every adversity, as I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ so will I do this day” (1 Kings 1:29–30). Neither Nathan nor Bathsheba nor Solomon would have survived the accession of Adonijah.  

Image: Vasily Surikov , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 

Acts: Paul before Agrippa II. Luke has Paul say ever so diplomatically to Herod Agrippa II and his wife Bernice (who also happens to be Herod Agrippa’s sister), “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today … because you are especially familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews” (Acts 26:2a,3a).  

There are so many things Paul could say to this power couple! Herod and Bernice know that according to Jewish custom and law, their relationship is incestuous. They also must know all about “the controversy among the Jews” about Jesus. Herod Agrippa II’s great-grandfather was Herod the Great, the monster who had attempted to assassinate in infancy the very same Jesus whom Paul is representing (Matthew 2). Herod Agrippa I, this Agrippa’s father, had persecuted the church in Jerusalem, put the apostle James to the sword, arrested Peter, and died of a horrible internal sickness when he had allowed himself to be proclaimed divine (Acts 12).  

What is striking to me is the fact that Paul does not take Agrippa and Bernice to task for their sinful lives and their family’s culpability in resisting God’s work. He tells his own story. He recounts how he at first persecuted the church, but how eventually the truth of Jesus came to him in a way that made it impossible for him to ignore (Acts 26:9–16).  

And he puts before them the extraordinary offer of grace that God has called him to extend to everyone: the risen Jesus has the power to open blind eyes, to bring light to people living in darkness, to rescue people living under the alien dominion of Satan, to extend to them forgiveness, and to begin the process of making their lives new (Acts 26:18). A well-known evangelistic booklet couldn’t have said it better: “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!”  

Mark: making way for God’s work. Congruently, Jesus tells his followers that when they see the “desolating sacrilege” about to occur (by which, I think, he means the coming destruction of Jerusalem and its temple) their job will be to step out of the way. “But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains…” (Mark 13:14). This early generation of Jewish believers in Jerusalem was called neither to denounce their countrymen nor to take up arms with them against Rome. They were to leave room for God to finish the business of instituting the new covenant by eliminating the anachronism of a standing physical temple. With Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice for sin, the edifice that housed daily, weekly, and annual sacrifices only confused matters (see Hebrews 8:13; 10:10–18).  

We may take heart from today’s passages. 2 Samuel reminds us that God worked his sovereign plan to preserve the line of the future Messiah through “Solomon by the wife of Uriah,” as Matthew 1:6 puts it. Acts teaches us that the Lord Jesus gives grace to sinners like us not so we can stand in judgment over other sinners, but so we can bear testimony to the grace that opens blind eyes, leaving the results to him. Mark offers the comfort that we can adapt to the most cataclysmic of events knowing that in the end God is working, as Paul puts it, “a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:10).    

Be blessed this day, 

Reggie Kidd+ 

The Son of Promise - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Friday • 8/25/2023 •
Friday of the Twelfth Week After Pentecost (Proper 15) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 140; Psalm 142; 2 Samuel 19:24–43; Acts 24:24–25:12; Mark 12:35–44 

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) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we bring to our lives that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you this Friday in the Season After Pentecost. We are in Proper 15 of Year 1 of the Daily Office Lectionary.  

2 Samuel: the challenges of David’s return. Even in his return to power and in his endeavor to piece his kingdom back together, David continues to reap the harvest of the disunity, disaffection, and death-dealing he has introduced. Nathan’s words continue to haunt: “the sword shall never depart from your house” (2 Samuel 12:10).  

David receives the disabled Mephibosheth back — but distrust has replaced the warmth he once felt for the son of his soulmate Jonathan. When David was withdrawing from Jerusalem, Mephibosheth’s steward Ziba had reported to David that Mephibosheth was staying behind and had in fact joined the conspiracy to overthrow David (2 Samuel 16:1–4). As David now returns to Jerusalem, Mephibosheth meets David and maintains that he was loyal to his king and benefactor throughout. He offers his unkempt bearing as proof that he has been in mourning for David this whole time. Unable to decide who’s lying, Ziba or Mephibosheth, David orders them to split the Saul/Jonathan estate. In what would seem to be a compelling attestation of loyalty to David, Mephibosheth protests: “Let [Ziba] take it all, since my lord the king has arrived home safely” (2 Samuel 19:30).  

Armies of Israel in the north, once loyal to Absalom, and of Judah in the south, consistently loyal to David, mistrust each other profoundly. For now, almost comically, they argue over who is more enthusiastic about welcoming David back. The next chapter makes it clear that tensions between Israel and Judah plague the remainder of David’s rule (see Sheba the Benjamite’s rebellion in 2 Samuel 20). Eventually, upon Solomon’s death, the rupture between north and south will be complete (1 Kings 12).  

Image: "King David" by Lawrence OP is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 

Mark: David’s future Son and Lord. After putting up with a number of questions, mostly from doubters and opponents, Jesus poses a question of his own. While the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) get at Jesus’s divinity more indirectly than John does, here, Mark (the parallel passages in Matthew and Luke agree) shows Jesus going directly to the mystery of his identity as the God-Man. Jesus draws on one of David’s psalms and asks how it is that the scribes can speak of the Messiah as being the son of David, when King David himself, by the Holy Spirit, declares, “The Lord (Yahweh) said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’?” (Mark 12:35b–36; quoting Psalm 110). Before anyone can even attempt a response, Jesus adds: “David himself calls him Lord; so how can he be his son?” (Mark 12:37). Crickets from those who’d had all the clever questions. Delight from the appreciative crowd.  

Jesus’s quote of Psalm 110 casts an intriguing light back on David’s life. Over the past few days, we have been observing just how frail and fallen he is. With his penitential Psalms (32 and 51), David acknowledges that reality. With Psalm 110, David looks up and sees God’s answer: the Son of promise, the Messiah King in David’s own line, will be more than human, and will, in fact, be himself divine.  

It’s as though the David who worships Yahweh with lyre in hand perceives that the morass of sin has no exit but one that comes from above, and that the tangle of fallenness will yield to none but God’s own hand.  

In the single verse that Jesus quotes, David anticipates two extraordinary features of the New Covenant reality.  

First, he perceives that the coming King, though Son to David, will also be worthy of David’s worship: “The Lord (Yahweh) said to my Lord, sit at my right hand….”  

Second, David also seems to understand that the enthronement of the future Messianic King will inaugurate a season of conquest: “…until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”  

The New Testament depicts this enthronement as having taken place in Jesus’s resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:32–35; 13:32).  

And this season of conquest is precisely what Paul is about to describe at his examination in this coming Monday’s reading from Acts, when he recounts the risen Jesus’s words to him at his conversion: “I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:17–18).  

That battle is being waged behind the scenes all around us. I pray we are heartened by this incredible reality, and joyfully take our part in sharing its good news.  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

Love for God and Neighbor - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Thursday • 8/24/2023 •
Thursday of the Twelfth Week After Pentecost (Proper 15) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 131; Psalm 132; Psalm 133; 2 Samuel 19:1–23; Acts 24:1–23; Mark 12:28–34 

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) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we consider some aspect of that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. On this Thursday in the Season After Pentecost our readings come from Proper 15 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.  

Mark: love God and love neighbor. A dense moral fog descended upon us as soon as our forebears tasted the fruit that promised godlike knowledge of good and evil. As a result, our motives are mixed when we’re at our best, and unalloyed evil when we are at our worst. Jesus cuts through the fog: we are put here on this earth to love God and to love our neighbor. In doing so, Jesus confirms and furthers the message of the law and the prophets. But over the course of his whole mission, he adds a power to love that only his death, resurrection, ascension, and indwelling presence can provide.  

Image: "No way out" by Vincepal is licensed under CC BY 2.0 

2 Samuel: David emerges from his grief. In today’s account of David, we see the king begin to grope his way back from his dysfunctional love for his wayward son Absalom. David’s love for God and neighbor is mixed with an instinct for self-protection and a calculus for political survival.  

Thanks to wise counsel from Joab, his general-in-chief, a measure of equilibrium returns to David. He comes out of his grief and focuses on the people who still expect him to lead them (2 Samuel 19: 1–8a). The rebellion, largely based in the northern tribes of Israel, dissipates with Absalom’s death (2 Samuel 19:8b–10). David prompts the priests in Jerusalem to recall him as their rightful king (2 Samuel 19:11–12). In a complicated move, David invites Amasa, his own nephew and the former general of Absalom’s army, to replace Joab as his chief general. (Joab, remember, had killed Absalom in violation of David’s orders; moreover, Amasa is popular enough with “all the people of Judah” to win back the disaffected there. Stay tuned, however, because Joab is not going to accept his demotion — see 2 Samuel 20:10). Magnanimously, David extends mercy to the man Shimei. As David fled Jerusalem, Shimei had cursed him and thrown rocks at him. Now he is asking for forgiveness (2 Samuel 16:5–14; 19:16–23). (Nor is this the end of the story for Shimei. David senses Shimei is untrustworthy and will advise Solomon to eliminate him — see 2 Kings 2:8–9).  

Acts: Paul before Felix. In today’s account of Paul, we see aspects of love for God and neighbor brilliantly on display. Paul stresses the peaceability of his manner and the continuity of his worship of the God of his and his opponents’ ancestors (Acts 24:10–14, 16–20). Love for God and neighbor gives Paul the courage and the equilibrium to keep the focus on the critical issue that Christ’s coming raises: is there a resurrection of the dead? “It is about the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today,” he proclaims (Acts 24:21). Christ’s own resurrection creates a pressing reality that calls for allegiance to Him and to the new order he has inaugurated. Love for God and for neighbor calls for the truthful telling of this wondrous thing.  

A takeaway. Sometimes life feels like it’s “death by a thousand decisions.” Especially under uniquely trying circumstances where there seems to be no owner’s manual at hand to guide your choices. Can you relate? Sometimes the answer is to slow down … seriously, slow down … and ask one question: “What, right now, would it mean for me to love God and my neighbor?”  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+ 

David’s Lament and a Father's Love - Daily Devotions with the Dean

Wednesday • 8/23/2023 •
Wednesday of the Twelfth Week After Pentecost (Proper 15) 

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 119:145–176; 2 Samuel 18:19–33; Acts 23:23–35; Mark 12:13–27 

This morning’s Canticles are: 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) 

Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we ask how God might direct our lives from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. This Wednesday in the Season After Pentecost our readings come from Proper 15 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.  

What love learns from Absalom’s very bad hair day.  

Absalom’s is a sad, sad tale — and the narrator of 2 Samuel calls our attention to David’s lament over a son who did not deserve his love, and whom he had not loved especially well: “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Samuel 18:33).  

Image: Detail, stained glass, Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando, Florida 

The poignancy of David’s lament is exquisitely captured by singer-songwriter Pierce Pettis in his song “Absalom, Absalom”:  

Come and smear me with the branches of that tree 
Hyssop dipped in innocent blood to make me clean 
Let an old man's broken bones once more rejoice 
Oh Absalom, you were my little boy 

Chorus: 
Absalom, Absalom 
My son, my son, my son 
Caught in the tangles of deceit 
Hanging lifeless from that tree 
Absalom, Absalom 
My son, my son, my son 
Caught by the tangles of your hair  
The fruit of my own sins to bear 
Oh, Absalom 

You were the laughing boy who bounced upon my knee 
You learned to play the harp and use the shepherd’s sling 
Always watching, my impressionable son 
Oh Absalom, what have I done 

You were watching when I took a good man’s wife 
And gave the orders for his murder, just to cover up the crime 
All the vanity, cruel arrogance, and greed 
Oh Absalom, you learned it all from me 

(I mention also, thanks to my friend Michael McLeod’s recommendation, the haunting choral setting of David’s lament by composer Eric Whitacre, “When David Heard.”) 

Yesterday, we pondered what lessons about faith and hope we might glean from the image of Absalom hanging on a tree suspended between heaven and earth. Today’s lament by a broken-hearted father invites reflection on the love of a greater Father.  

According to the Bible’s story line, when our original parents — God’s dearly beloved children — took a bite from the forbidden fruit, the moral universe got knocked off its axis. Sin began to taste sweet, and goodness unpalatable. Evil looked good, and good evil. Wrong seemed right, and uprightness wrong side up. We’ve all learned the same lessons Absalom learned from David: “All the vanity, cruel arrogance, and greed.” As Paul put it in Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  

What it took to put the world back on its axis was the “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood” (Romans 3:24b–25a). What that atoning sacrifice cost was our Heavenly Father watching his Son suspended on a tree between heaven and earth “so that he might become firstborn (by virtue of resurrection) to many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29 my rendering).  

The staggering truth is that our Heavenly Father, who loves his own Son infinitely beyond what we could possibly imagine, loves us to that same infinite extent. Our Father loved us enough to surrender his Son to death and evil and hell for three days and three nights so he could regain fellowship with us for eternity.  

It is a plan the mystery of which may forever elude us. But the Bible tells it as the One True Story. It is the human race’s story — not just of the Absaloms among us, but also the Tamars and even the Amnons. And it is our story, never better told than in the words of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (KJV).  

Be blessed this day,  

Reggie Kidd+