Daily Devotional • September 5
A Reading from Mark 15:22-32
22 Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.
25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two rebels, one on his right and one on his left.29 Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32 Let the Messiah,the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.
Meditation
Look to the right and watch…no refuge remains to me. (Psalm 142:4)
Sylvia Muñoz was detained as she returned to the U.S. from her honeymoon in Puerto Rico. She is the wife of an American citizen, without a criminal record, coming and going like any other traveler. But on February 15 around 1 p.m., she was stopped at the airport and then whisked away. Suddenly there was no safe place for her.
The mistreatment of the stranger, the ostracization of the immigrant, the persecution of those who do not belong—this is nothing new. It simply happens to be what has come into sharp focus for the American public at this moment. There is soul-searching to do for the nation and her elected officials regarding the current deportation policy and its implementation. There is compassion to be found, and conscience to be searched, by those in the chain of command who carry out orders to deport anyone on “the list,” or who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Look to the right and watch…no refuge remains to me. Â
You may never have been in a situation like the one that Sylvia—and countless others—faced earlier this year, and still face today. But the Psalmist does not merely ask you to empathize. The Psalmist asks you to recognize that the plight of those ensnared by hidden traps, the despair of those subject to persecution, always—always—captures the Lord’s attention and the sacred heart of Jesus.
If we are assured that, alongside the Blessed Sacrament, we find the face of Jesus in the one who is thirsty, the one who is hungry, the one who is naked, and the one who is imprisoned, then the disciple has no choice but to run in their direction. Run to the hungry, thirsty, naked, and imprisoned. Jesus is already there. Let the faithful surround the vulnerable for the sake of Jesus. Let safety become Glory embodied.Â
Let the Church say to the people threatened by the stranger and to the stranger alike:Â
O Lord, Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Â (Psalm 142:5)
The Very Rev. Timothy Kimbrough is the director of the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies and the Jack and Barbara Bovender Professor of the Practice of Anglican Studies at Duke Divinity School. He was previously dean of Christ Church Cathedral, Nashville, Tennessee.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Episcopal Diocese of Nevada
The Diocese of Okigwe – The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion)
The Very Rev. Timothy E. Kimbrough, dean and rector of Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, is a seven-time deputy to General Convention. This year he will serve as vice chair of the convention’s Constitution Committee.
