With Holy Week & the Octave of Easter now complete, it feels right to return to sharing my daily reflections. I hope you have been blessed over this sacred time and continue to have an inspiring and empowering Eastertide.
The theme I heard today was the victory of God, a celebration of the greater power & inevitable victory of our God who is so much greater than any enemy.
In Acts we hear the impressive prayer for boldness from the apostles who had just been threatened with greater punishment if they kept on evangelising. But I was struck by their confidence, their vision, of how great God was. Quoting today’s Psalm they see that people oppose God in vain because He is so much greater. Plus, they have confidence that God’s predestined plan will succeed and that Holy Spirit will accompany their preaching with signs & wonders.
In the second song in Psalms we have a celebration in how much greater God is than any enemy who opposes us. Even that wonderful line: “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the LORD has them in derision”. Jesus (the King He installs on His holy hill & the begotten son) will rule & there is nothing they can do to stop it. Rather we should all draw near & kiss His feet with due fear.
Today’s gospel can seem out of kilter at first. Much more famous as a basis for the term “born again”, even if the NRSV may be more accurate with “born from above”. But actually this too is a teaching on the greater power of God. We need to born from above (through the sacrament of baptism & by the Holy Spirit) because otherwise we cannot even see what God is doing. His ways are so much higher & spiritual they cannot be predicted or understood by natural senses. Rather, let us submit to His rule & be born from above by a Spirit whose movement we can neither control nor predict. Let Him have His way.
ACTION: Today, look for a way to laugh at opposition to God’s ways or submit to His way in your life & smile. Remember the simple truth that He is greater and His way is wiser. Then laugh at yourself & go with His way.
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