Daily Devotional • June 14
A Reading from Matthew 16:21-28
21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
27 “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. 28 Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Meditation
I was taught in seminary that every Friday is Good Friday. The day when the Son of God’s silver cord was loosed, and his golden bowl was broken, when the pitcher was broken at the fountain. The preacher gives images of beauty and tragedy for the day of death. The day comes for all of us, some closer than others, but it’s coming nonetheless.
I can’t speak for those who are older; I am myself certainly in the days of my youth and the preacher gives those of us who hopefully have more days before than behind one commandment: remember. Remember thy Creator.
Memory is a tricky thing. We often remember how we felt more than we remember what happened. We remember other people only in relation to ourselves. We remember things that have seemingly no or scant meaning and we forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget.
The preacher tells us to remember only one thing, our Creator. And so we tell ourselves stories — stories in Scripture and liturgy. We tell ourselves stories that remind us who we are: created beings of the Father, to whom our souls will return.
Chase Benefiel is a friend, Tennesseean, preacher, and student (in that order) currently finishing his M.Div. at Duke Divinity School.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Free State – The Anglican Church of Southern Africa
The Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande