Voice: Jennifer
Today is the 16th of June, Tuesday. Let’s gather our scattered thoughts and be still in His presence.
We pray:
Almighty and everlasting Father,
we thank you that you have brought us safely
to the beginning of this day.
Keep us from falling into sin or running into danger;
order us in all our doings;
and guide us to do always what is right in your eyes:
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Psalm 52
1Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
2Your tongue plots destruction,
like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
3You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
4You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.
5But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6The righteous shall see and fear,
and shall laugh at him, saying,
7“See the man who would not make
God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and sought refuge in his own destruction!”
8But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
9I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as It was in the beginning, is
now, and shall be forever. Amen.
Luke 13:10-17
10Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
11And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.
12When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”
13And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.
14But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”
15Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?
16And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
17As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Why Today?
This woman had been disabled for eighteen long years. Surely one more day would not have mattered.
And yet, of all days, Jesus chose the Sabbath to say,
“Woman, you are freed from your disability.”
The ruler of the synagogue was indignant. He protested,
“There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”
What is remarkable is not simply his objection, but what he failed to see. He did not rejoice that a suffering woman had been set free after eighteen years. He did not glorify God, as many others were doing. He completely missed the moment.
We see something similar in Judas. When the woman poured expensive perfume over Jesus, his response was,
“Why was this ointment not sold and the money given to the poor?”
On the surface, his concern sounded noble. But in reality, he failed to recognise the beauty of what God was doing.
It is worth asking ourselves what cynical questions arise in our own hearts when we see God working in ways that do not fit our expectations.
Why would someone give up a promising career to become a missionary? Shouldn’t he first secure his future?
Why would a family make a generous gift to the church building fund? Couldn’t that money be used for other worthy causes?
A guest at Alpha comes to faith, yet you notice him stepping outside for a cigarette. We quietly wonder, Has he really repented?
Like the ruler of the synagogue, we may unwittingly place our own priorities above God’s gracious work. We become judges rather than worshippers. As cynics, our first response is to criticise rather than rejoice.
Jesus reminds us that the kingdom of God often breaks into our carefully constructed categories. His mercy does not always follow our timetable, nor His grace our expectations.
Instead of asking, “Why today?”, perhaps we should ask, “How can I glorify God for what He has done?”
May God give us eyes to recognise His work, hearts to rejoice in it, and the humility to celebrate His grace even when it comes in ways we did not expect.
The Collect for today:
Lord, you have taught us that all our doings without love are nothing worth: send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love, the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Be blessed by Matt Redman’s version of Blessed be your Name
Blessed be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name
Ev’ry blessing You pour out I’ll
Turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s all as it should be
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Ev’ry blessing You pour out I’ll
Turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be Your name
Daily Devotion 
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