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WE PRAY

Father in heaven, who sent your Son to redeem the world and will send him again to be our judge:
Give us grace so to imitate him in the humility and purity of his first coming that when he comes again, we may be ready to greet him with joyful love and firm faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

WE READ

As a society, we generally like immediate results. It doesn’t matter the context, politics, sports, weight loss, or lawn care. We want our politicians to produce meaningful change quickly. There ’s little patience with a sports team going through several “rebuilding years.” If I can’t lose 10 pounds in a week, the diet doesn’t work. One of the themes that runs through today’s texts is patient waiting.
In Psalm 37, the psalmist encourages us to disregard the apparent success of the wicked. God ’s justice will not be denied, though it seems slow in coming. Ultimately, the righteous will emerge victorious, not by their hand, but the hand of God. The Amos passage assures us that God’s judgment on the wicked is inescapable. It doesn’t matter where they go or hide; God will find them. The author of Revelation reminds the churches in Smyrna and Pergamum that God is not absent and they won’t be abandoned regardless of the suffering they experience. Though they might suffer death, if God ’s people are faithful in living and loving others, they will receive the “crown of life,” “hidden manna,” and a new name. The second death won’t be able to touch them. Finally, Jesus ’words in Matthew are hard to hear for those who style themselves religious by outside appearances. As you read the Matthew text, don’t think about someone you imagine Jesus might be talking to. Instead, read Jesus ’words as if he’s talking to you.
Generally, we’re bad at patiently waiting for God to act in our world, especially if it causes us to suffer. Instead, we’re to commit ourselves to righteousness and peace, knowing that God will ultimately bring justice regardless of what others do or who’s in power. Today, rest in the peace and assurance of God ’s vindication of the faithful, even if it takes longer than we think it should.

Psalm 37

א1 Don’t get upset over evildoers;
don’t be jealous of those who do wrong,
2 because they will fade fast, like grass;
they will wither
like green vegetables.
ב 3 Trust the Lord and do good;
live in the land, and farm faithfulness.
4 Enjoy the Lord,
and he will give what your heart asks.
ג 5 Commit your way to the Lord!
Trust him! He will act
6 and will make your righteousness
shine like the dawn,
your justice like high noon.
ד 7 Be still before the Lord,
and wait for him.
Don’t get upset when
someone gets ahead—
someone who invents evil schemes.
ה 8 Let go of anger and leave rage behind!
Don’t get upset—it will only lead to evil.
9 Because evildoers will be eliminated,
but those who hope in the Lord—
they will possess the land.
ו 10 In just a little while
the wicked won’t exist!
If you go looking around their place,
they won’t be there.
11 But the weak will inherit the land;
they will enjoy a surplus of peace.
ז 12 The wicked plot against the righteous,
grinding their teeth at them.
13 But my Lord just laughs at them
because he knows
that their day is coming.
ח 14 The wicked draw their swords
and bend their bows
to bring down the weak and the needy,
to slaughter those whose way is right.
15 But the sword of the wicked
will enter their own hearts!
Their bows will be broken!
ט 16 Better is the little
that the righteous have
than the overabundant wealth
of the wicked.
17 The arms of the wicked will be broken,
but the Lord supports the righteous.
י 18 The Lord is intimately acquainted
with the lives of the blameless;
their heritage will last forever.
19 They won’t be ashamed
in troubling times,
and in a period of famine
they will eat their fill.
כ 20 But the wicked will die,
the Lord ’s enemies will disappear—
disappear like the beauty
of a meadow—in smoke.
ל 21 The wicked borrow
and don’t pay it back,
but the righteous are generous and giving.
22 Those blessed by God
will possess the land,
but those cursed by God will be cut off.
מ 23 A person ’s steps are made secure
by the Lord
when they delight in his way.
24 Though they trip up,
they won’t be thrown down,
because the Lord holds their hand.
נ 25 I was young and now I’m old,
but I have never seen
the righteous left all alone,
have never seen their children
begging for bread.
26 They are always gracious and generous.
Their children are a blessing.
ס 27 Turn away from evil! Do good!
Then you will live in the land forever.
28 The Lord loves justice.
He will never leave his faithful all alone.
ע They are guarded forever,
but the children of the wicked
are eliminated.
29 The righteous will possess the land;
they will live on it forever.
פ 30 The mouths of the righteous
recite wisdom;
their tongues discuss justice.
31 The Instruction of their God
is in their hearts;
they don’t miss a step.
צ 32 The wicked, on the other hand,
target the righteous,
seeking to kill them.
33 But the Lord won’t leave the righteous
to the power of the wicked,
and won’t let the righteous
be found guilty when they are judged.
ק 34 Hope in the Lord and keep his way!
He will lift you up
so you can possess the land.
When the wicked are eliminated,
you will see it for yourself!
ר 35 I myself have seen
wicked powerful people,
exalting themselves like a stately cedar.
36 But when I came back, they were gone!
I looked all over for them,
but they couldn’t be found!
ש 37 Observe those who have integrity
and watch those whose heart is right
because the future belongs
to persons of peace.
38 But wrongdoers will be destroyed all together;
the future of the wicked
will be cut short.
ת 39 The salvation of the righteous
comes from the Lord;
he is their refuge in times of trouble.
40 The Lord will help them
and rescue them—
rescue them from the wicked—
and he will save them
because they have taken refuge in him.

Amos 9:1–10

9 I saw the Lord standing beside the
altar, and the Lord said:
Strike the pillars
until the foundations shake,
shatter them on the heads
of all the people.
With the sword,
I will kill the last of them;
not one of them will flee,
not one of them will escape.
2 If they dig through
into the underworld,
from there my hand will take them.
If they climb up to the heavens,
from there I will bring them down.
3 If they hide themselves
on the top of Carmel,
I will search for them there
and remove them.
If they hide from my sight
at the bottom of the sea,
I will give an order to the sea serpent,
and it will bite them.
4 If they are forced from their homes
before their enemies,
there I will give an order to the sword,
and it will kill them.
I will fix my eyes on them
for harm and not for good.
5 The Lord, God of heavenly forces,
touches the earth and it melts,
and all who live in it are sick to death.
All of it rises up like the Nile
and sinks again,
like the Nile of Egypt.
6 It is the Lord who builds
his upper rooms in the heavens
and establishes his residence
upon the earth;
who summons the waters of the sea,
and pours them out
upon the face of the earth—
the Lord is his name.
7 Aren’t you like the Cushites to me,
people of Israel? says the Lord.
Haven’t I brought Israel up
from the land of Egypt,
and the Philistines from Caphtor
and the Arameans from Kir?
8 Look, the Lord God is eyeing
the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it
from the face of the earth.
However, I won’t destroy fully
the house of Jacob, says the Lord.
9 Look, I am giving orders,
and I will shake the house of Israel
among all the nations
as one sifts dirt with a screen,
but no pebble will fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners of my people
will die by the sword,
those who say,
“Evil won’t overtake or meet us.”

Revelation 2:8–17

8 “Write this to the angel of the church in Smyrna:
These are the words of the one who is the first and the last, who died and came back to life: 9 I know your hardship and poverty (though you are actually rich). I also know the hurtful things that have been spoken about you by those who say they are Jews (though they are not, but are really Satan ’s synagogue). 10 Don’t be afraid of what you are going to suffer. Look! The devil is going to throw some of you into prison in order to test you. You will suffer hardship for ten days. Be faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 If you can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Those who emerge victorious won’t be hurt by the second death.
12 “Write this to the angel of the church in Pergamum:
These are the words of the one who has the sharp, two-edged sword: 13 I know that you are living right where Satan’s throne is. You are holding on to my name, and you didn’t break faith with me even at the time that Antipas, my faithful witness, was killed among you, where Satan lives. 14 But I have a few things against you, because you have some there who follow Balaam’s teaching. Balaam had taught Balak to trip up the Israelites so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. 15 In the same way, you have some who follow the Nicolaitans ’teaching. 16 So change your hearts and lives. If you don’t, I am coming to you soon, and I will make war on them with the sword that comes from my mouth. 17 If you can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. I will give those who emerge victorious some of the hidden manna to eat. I will also give to each of them a white stone with a new name written on it, which no one knows except the one who receives it.

Matthew 23:13–26

13 “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You shut people out of the kingdom of heaven. You don’t enter yourselves, and you won’t allow those who want to enter to do so.
15 “How terrible it will be for you, legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make one convert. But when they’ve been converted, they become twice the child of hell you are.
16 “How terrible it will be for you blind guides who say, ‘If people swear by the temple, it’s nothing. But if people swear by the gold in the temple, they are obligated to do what they swore. ’17 You foolish and blind people! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy? 18 You say, ‘If people swear by the altar, it’s nothing. But if they swear by the gift on the altar, they are obligated to do what they swore. ’19 You blind people! Which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? 20 Therefore, those who swear by the altar swear by it and by everything that ’s on it. 21 Those who swear by the temple swear by it and by everything that’s part of it. 22 Those who swear by heaven swear by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You give to God a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, but you forget about the more important matters of the Law: justice, peace, and faith. You ought to give a tenth but without forgetting about those more important matters. 24 You blind guides! You filter out an ant but swallow a camel.
25 “How terrible it will be for you legal experts and Pharisees! Hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and plate, but inside they are full of violence and pleasure seeking. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup so that the outside of the cup will be clean too.

WE THINK

  • What stands out to you from today’s reading?
  • Are you confused or stumped by what you’ve read?
  • Is there anything you encountered that makes you think, “I don’t know about that…”?
  • What resonated with you as particularly meaningful?
  • Reflect on your ability to patiently wait. For you, what makes it particularly hard to wait patiently?
  • Where in our contemporary world do you see justice delayed?
  • What type of unjust things are you likely to fight against?
  • How do we balance waiting patiently for God ’s justice with our call to participate in God’s work in this world? In other words, what things are appropriate for us to do in the name of Jesus without taking matters into our own hands?

WE FEEL

  • In general, what emotions seem to be dominant at this moment?
  • How have those emotions affected the relationships you have with those around you?
  • What are you doing, or have you done, to submit those emotions to the Lordship of Jesus Christ?
  • What’s your initial reaction to the first line of Psalm 37, “Don’t get upset over evildoers, don ’t be jealous of those who do wrong”?
  • What are the feelings you generally experience when you encounter injustice in the world?
  • How does the image of God tracking down sinners so that God’s justice might be administered make you feel?

WE BELIEVE

A core Christian belief is that Jesus Christ brings God’s just salvation. His self-giving love on the cross and the power of resurrection have opened the way for us. Whatever our view of atonement, we agree: Jesus is at the center of our faith, and we trust that he will return to complete God ’s work. But do we really trust him if we take justice into our own hands? Can we claim to be people of faith if we refuse to let God fight our battles?

WE PRACTICE

Read Amos 8-9, along with Matthew 23, then ask yourself to prayerfully do one of the actions below:

  • Restore a broken relationship
  • Apologize for past wrongdoing
  • Give sacrificially to someone in need
  • Stand with someone being treated unjustly

Ask God which of these you are being called to do today, and then do it with humility and courage.

PRAYER

Oh God, help us to wait patiently for the coming of your justice in the world. Help us endure whatever suffering might come our way as a result of our faithfulness.