Fr Matthew Reese
When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.”
—John 6: 25-27
Dear Friends,
Our Daily Office Lectionary has some curation to it, but by and large, it simply follows passages of scripture in order. We have three sequences going on simultaneously—through the Old Testament, the Epistles, and the Gospels—and usually there is no especial interrelation.
Except…that every time we read Scripture, every time we meditate on God’s Word, we are inevitably brought into an encounter with the Holy Spirit.
God is always speaking to us through Scripture, and we may be surprised, delighted—occasionally indicted—by the ways that seemingly unrelated passages speak profoundly to one another…if we’re only willing to look.
Today, it seems to me that Jeremiah, Saint Paul in his Letter to the Romans, and the Evangelist John are all trying to get at the same issue.
Jeremiah’s admonition to really keep the Sabbath, Paul’s meditation on “the inner conflict,” Jesus’s exhortation to the people on the shore…all of these passages address the same human challenge:
We are often trapped by our own worst impulses.
We know we need to actually rest, and yet we charge on in work, school, extracurriculars, social engagements—running ragged, running on fumes. We all know what it means to have a willing spirit but a weak flesh. We all “labor for the food which perishes,” even when we know that “food which endures to eternal life.”
So, in this busy season, how can disrupt those patterns? How can we seek after what we know is life-giving, when everything around us drives us on?
To start, we must stop and breathe, if only for a moment. And in stopping, be reminded that we are always, already in the presence of God.
Lent is an opportunity for discipline and self-denial, yes. But it is also a time for rest, for reflection, for moments of quiet in which we might discern that “still small voice.”
Let us have ears to hear.
Yours in Christ,
—Fr Matthew