“There are but 155 years left… at which time… the world will come to an end? wrote Christopher Columbus in his book Libro de Las Profecias.“The sign which convinces me that our Lord is hastening the end… is the preaching of the Gospel… in so many lands.” Though his predictions were off, Columbus described in detail his motivation for setting sail this day, August 3, 1492, with the Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria. He carried a letter from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to the Gran Khan of India, with the instructions “to see the said princes and peoples… and the manner which should be used to bring about their conversion to our Holy Faith.”

Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.

Love is my standard,
hope is my mandate,
faith is my lifestyle.
--- Brandon Lee

... from here, there and everywhere

10 Throw the scoffer out, and quarreling goes too;
strife and insults cease.

Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.

                         
The big compelling of God

     Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. --- Luke 18:31.

     Jerusalem stands in the life of Our Lord as the place where He reached the climax of His Father’s will. “I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me.” That was the one dominating interest all through Our Lord’s life, and the things He met with on the way, joy or sorrow, success or failure, never deterred Him from His purpose. “He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.”

     The great thing to remember is that we go up to Jerusalem to fulfil God’s purpose, not our own. Naturally, our ambitions are our own; in the Christian life we have no aim of our own. There is so much said to-day about our decisions for Christ, our determination to be Christians, our decisions for this and that, but in the New Testament it is the aspect of God’s compelling that is brought out. “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” We are not taken up into conscious agreement with God’s purpose, we are taken up into God’s purpose without any consciousness at all. We have no conception of what God is aiming at, and as we go on it gets more and more vague. God’s aim looks like missing the mark because we are too short-sighted to see what He is aiming at. At the beginning of the Christian life we have our own ideas as to what God’s purpose is—‘I am meant to go here or there’; ‘God has called me to do this special work’; and we go and do the thing, and still the big compelling of God remains. The work we do is of no account, it is so much scaffolding compared with the big coming of God. “He took unto Him the twelve,” He takes us all the time. There is more than we have got at as yet.

Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest

And one voice says: Come
Back to the rain and manure
Of Siloh, to the small talk,
Of the wind, and the chapel's

Temptation; to the pale,
Sickly half-smile of
The daughter of the village
Grover. The other says: Come.

To the streets, where the pound
Sings and the doors open
To its music, with life
Like an express train running

To time. And I stay
Here, listening to them, blowing
On the small soul in my
Keeping with such breath as I have.

H'm: Poems by R. S. Thomas

     Between 1830 and 1949, China became the largest Protestant mission field in the world, occupying up to 8,000 missionaries at any one time. It also became the scene of Protestant mission’s largest massacre when, in 1900, a rabidly anti-Christian group known as the Society of Harmonious Fists, or the Boxers, waged a virtual war against believers. Nearly 200 missionary adults and children and 30,000 national Chinese Christians perished. Among them was missionary Lizzie Atwater who wrote her family on August 3, 1900:

     Dear ones, I long for a sight of your dear faces, but I fear we shall not meet on earth. I am preparing for the end very quietly and calmly. The Lord is wonderfully near, and he will not fail me. I was very restless and excited while there seemed a chance of life, but God has taken away that feeling, and now I just pray for grace to meet the terrible end bravely. The pain will soon be over, and oh the sweetness of the welcome above!

     My little baby will go with me. I think God will give it to me in Heaven, and my dear mother will be so glad to see us. I cannot imagine the Savior’s welcome. Oh, that will compensate for all these days of suspense. Dear ones, live near God and cling less closely to earth. There is no other way by which we can receive that peace from God which passeth understanding. …

     … I just keep calm these hours. I do not regret coming to China, but am sorry I have done so little. My married life, two precious years, has been so very full of happiness. We will die together, my dear husband and I. I send my love to you all, the dear friends who remember me.

     Twelve days later the Atwaters perished. But it was not for nothing. When tensions subsided the missionary army returned, remaining until expelled by the Communists in 1949. The number of Chinese Christians grew to about 5 to 7 million by 1980, and has since mushroomed to an estimated 50 million—and counting.

     Our people defeated Satan because of the blood of the Lamb and the message of God. They were willing to give up their lives. Revelation 12:11

Morgan, R. J. On This Day 365 Amazing And Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs And Heroes

     By the measure that a person measures, so is he measured.

     BIBLE TEXT / Exodus 13:17–19 / Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.” So God led the people roundabout, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds.

     Now the Israelites went up armed out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took with him the bones of Joseph, who had exacted an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will be sure to take notice of you: then you shall carry up my bones from here with you.”

     MIDRASH TEXT / Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael, Be-shallaḥ 1 / By the measure that a person measures, so is he measured. Miriam waited for Moses a while, as it says, “And his sister stationed herself at a distance …” (Exodus 2:4). And in the wilderness, God caused the Ark, the Shekhinah, the Kohanim, all of Israel, and the seven clouds of glory to wait for her, as it says, “And the people did not march on until Miriam was readmitted” (Numbers 12:15).

     Joseph [alone] was worthy of burying his father, since none of his brothers was greater than he, as it says, “So Joseph went up to bury his father.… Chariots, too, and horsemen …” (Genesis 50:7, 9). Who is greater than Joseph, for none other than Moses occupied himself with burying Joseph’s bones? Moses occupied himself with Joseph’s bones, for none is greater than him in Israel, as it says, “And Moses took with him the bones of Joseph.” Who is greater than Moses, for none other than the Holy One, praised is He, occupied Himself with him, as it says, “He [God] buried him [Moses] in the valley” (Deuteronomy 34:6)? And what’s more: The officials of Pharaoh and senior members of his court went up with Jacob, as it says, “And with him went up all the officials of Pharaoh, the senior members of his court” (Genesis 50:7), while the Ark, the Shekhinah, the Kohanim, Levi’im, all of Israel, and the seven clouds of glory went up with Joseph. Not only that, but the coffin אֲרוֹן/aron] of Joseph went alongside the Ark [אֲרוֹן/aron] of the Life of the World.

     CONTEXT / The Rabbis found great comfort in seeing the world as an orderly place, with God’s divine justice prevailing. Thus, they teach that by the measure that a person measures, so is he measured. We are treated the same way we treat others—good or bad. Miriam waited for her brother Moses a while when he was an infant. In order to save Moses’ life, his mother placed him in a wicker basket in the Nile, as it says “And his sister stationed herself at a distance to learn what would befall him” (Exodus 2:4). Miriam showed kindness and patience toward her infant brother, saving his life. Later, this kindness would be repaid to her. Miriam is afflicted with a scaly-white skin disease as punishment for having spoken out against Moses’ Cushite wife. And in the wilderness, God caused the Ark, the Shekhinah, God’s Divine Presence and its manifestation in the Israelite camp, the Kohanim, all of Israel, and the seven clouds of glory, a rabbinic reading of the cloud that came over the mishkan or Tabernacle, to wait for her, as it says, “So Miriam was shut up [with this disease] for seven days, and the people did not march on until Miriam was readmitted” (Numbers 12:15). The kindness and patience she showed another was repaid to her in kind.

     Just as Joseph showed kindness to his father, Moses showed kindness to Joseph. At the death of his father, Jacob, Joseph was already a great man in Egypt. The text does not emphasize that Jacob’s family went to bury him in Canaan, but rather that Joseph [alone] was worthy of burying his father, since none of his brothers is greater than he, as it says, “So Joseph went up to bury his father.…” Since Joseph is mentioned as the central figure of this verse, the Rabbis can ask, Who is greater than Joseph, for none other than Moses, also a great man, occupied himself with burying Joseph’s bones? This is seen by the Rabbis as a repayment, measure-for-measure, for Joseph’s act of kindness to his father, Jacob.

     Moses occupied himself with Joseph’s bones, for none is greater than him in Israel.… Clearly, no one was a greater leader than Moses. If Moses was to be repaid measure-for-measure, then only God could repay this act of kindness! For none other than the Holy One, praised is He, occupied Himself with him, as it says, “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there, in the land of Moab, at the command of the Lord. He, God, buried him in the valley” (Deuteronomy 34:6).

     The Rabbis conclude by returning to the transfer of the coffin of Joseph. Since Jacob received an honor guard—And what’s more: The officials of Pharaoh and senior members of his court went up with Jacob, as it says, “And with him went up all the officials of Pharaoh, the senior members of his court …”—so too Joseph also deserved an honor guard: the Ark, the Shekhinah, the Kohanim, Levi’im, all of Israel, and the seven clouds of glory went up with Joseph, an even greater entourage. Not only that, but the coffin [אֲרוֹן/aron] of Joseph went alongside the Ark [אֲרוֹן/aron] of the Life of the World, that is, God. The same Hebrew word, אֲרוֹן/aron, can mean both “coffin” and “Ark.” The Rabbis use the repetition of the word aron to show the great honor given to Joseph: Just as something holy and notable was being carried in one אֲרוֹן/aron, God’s “Ark of the Covenant,” so too something holy and notable was being carried in the other אֲרוֹן/aron, the bones of Joseph. No greater honor could be bestowed upon a human being.

Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. Searching for Meaning in Midrash: Lessons for Everyday Living Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.

     Delight yourself in the LORD. --- Psalm 37:4

     [This delight springs] from a holy and frequent familiarity with God. Where there is a great familiarity there is a great delight. There is more swiftness in going to a God with whom we are acquainted than to a God to whom we are strangers. I go to a God whose goodness I have tasted, with whom I have often met in prayer.

     [Delight in the Lord springs] from hopes of receiving. There cannot be motion where there is paralysis of doubts. How full of delight must that soul be who can plead a promise and can show God his own bond—when it can be pleaded not only as a favor to appeal to his mercy, but in some sense a debt to appeal to his truth and righteousness! We carry a covenant of grace with us for ourselves and a promise of security and perpetuity for the church. On this account we have more cause of motion to God than the ancient believers had. Fear motivated them under the law; love motivates us under the gospel. Those who have arguments of God’s own framing to plead with him cannot but delight in prayer—God cannot deny his own arguments and reasonings. Little comfort can be sucked from a perhaps. But when we seek promised mercies, God’s faithfulness to his promise puts the mercy past a perhaps. We go to a God who desires our presence more than we desire his assistance.

     [Delight in the Lord springs] from a recognition of former mercies. If manna is rained down, it not only takes our thoughts off Egyptian garlic but quickens our desires for a second shower. A sense of God’s majesty will make us lose our showy self-satisfaction. A sense of God’s love will make us lose our lumpishness. We may return with merry hearts when God accepts our prayers. The doves will readily fly to the windows where they have formerly found shelter and the beggar to the door where he has often received alms. “Because he turned his ear to hear me, I will call on him as long as I live” (Ps. 116:2). I have found refuge with God before; I have found my wants supplied, my soul raised, my temptations checked, my doubts answered, and my prayers accepted; therefore I will repeat my appeals with cheerfulness.
---Stephen Charnock

Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers

PROPER 13, WEDNESDAY
YEAR 1

Psalms (Morning) Psalm 119:97–120
Psalms (Evening) Psalm 81, 82
Old Testament 2 Samuel 9:1–13
New Testament Acts 19:1–10
Gospel Mark 8:34–9:1

Index of Readings

PSALMS (MORNING)
Psalm 119:97–120

97 Oh, how I love your law!
It is my meditation all day long.
98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
for it is always with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for your decrees are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the aged,
for I keep your precepts.
101 I hold back my feet from every evil way,
in order to keep your word.
102 I do not turn away from your ordinances,
for you have taught me.
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through your precepts I get understanding;
therefore I hate every false way.

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
to observe your righteous ordinances.
107 I am severely afflicted;
give me life, O LORD, according to your word.
108 Accept my offerings of praise, O LORD,
and teach me your ordinances.
109 I hold my life in my hand continually,
but I do not forget your law.
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me,
but I do not stray from your precepts.
111 Your decrees are my heritage forever;
they are the joy of my heart.
112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes
forever, to the end.

113 I hate the double-minded,
but I love your law.
114 You are my hiding place and my shield;
I hope in your word.
115 Go away from me, you evildoers,
that I may keep the commandments of my God.
116 Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
and let me not be put to shame in my hope.
117 Hold me up, that I may be safe
and have regard for your statutes continually.
118 You spurn all who go astray from your statutes;
for their cunning is in vain.
119 All the wicked of the earth you count as dross;
therefore I love your decrees.
120 My flesh trembles for fear of you,
and I am afraid of your judgments.

PSALMS (EVENING)
Psalm 81, 82

To the leader: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.
1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
2 Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our festal day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph,
when he went out over the land of Egypt.

I hear a voice I had not known:
6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you called, and I rescued you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the LORD your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.
13 O that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,
and their doom would last forever.
16 I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

A Psalm of Asaph.

1 God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they walk around in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

6 I say, “You are gods,
children of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, you shall die like mortals,
and fall like any prince.”

8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth;
for all the nations belong to you!

OLD TESTAMENT
2 Samuel 9:1–13

9 David asked, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” 2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and he was summoned to David. The king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “At your service!” 3 The king said, “Is there anyone remaining of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?” Ziba said to the king, “There remains a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.” 4 The king said to him, “Where is he?” Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.” 5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. 6 Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, and fell on his face and did obeisance. David said, “Mephibosheth!” He answered, “I am your servant.” 7 David said to him, “Do not be afraid, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan; I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you yourself shall eat at my table always.” 8 He did obeisance and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon a dead dog such as I?”

9 Then the king summoned Saul’s servant Ziba, and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master’s grandson. 10 You and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him, and shall bring in the produce, so that your master’s grandson may have food to eat; but your master’s grandson Mephibosheth shall always eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11 Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so your servant will do.” Mephibosheth ate at David’s table, like one of the king’s sons. 12 Mephibosheth had a young son whose name was Mica. And all who lived in Ziba’s house became Mephibosheth’s servants. 13 Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he always ate at the king’s table. Now he was lame in both his feet.

NEW TESTAMENT
Acts 19:1–10

19 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. 2 He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 Then he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied— 7 altogether there were about twelve of them.

8 He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly, and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.

GOSPEL
Mark 8:34–9:1

34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” 9 1 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

The Episcopal Church. Book of Common Prayer Lectionary