Suggestion for Daily Use

Follow the ‘Daily Prayer’ at the side+++Suivez le ‘Prière Quotidienne’. Read the bible passages and then the meditation. Pray, tell God how you felt about the reading and share the concerns of your life with him. Maybe you will continue the habit after Lent. Lisez les passages bible et après la méditation. Priez, dites à Dieu que vous avez ressenti à propos de la lecture et de partager les préoccupations de votre vie avec lui. Peut-être que vous allez continuer l'habitude après le Carême. Daily Prayer Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. Luke 4.1-2 Now is the healing time decreed For sins of heart, of word or deed, When we in humble fear record The wrong that we have done the Lord. (Latin, before 12th century) Read: Read the Bible passage. Read the meditation Pray: Talk to God about what you have just read. Tell him your concerns - for yourself, your family, our church family, our world. Praise him. Pray the collect for the week – see next pages. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Prière Quotidienne Jésus, rempli de l'Esprit Saint, revint du Jourdain et le Saint-Esprit le conduisit dans le désert où il fut tenté par le diable durant quarante jours. Luc 4.1-2 Maintenant le temps de la guérison est décrété Pour les péchés du cœur, de la parole et des actes, Lorsque nous nous souvenons avec humilité Le mal que nous avons fait au Seigneur. Lire : Lisez le passage de la Bible. Lisez la méditation. Prier : Parlez avec le Seigneur de ce que vous avez lu. Parlez-lui de vos préoccupations pour vous-même, votre famille, notre famille de l’église, notre monde. Louez-le. Priez la collecte pour la semaine. Voyez les pages suivantes Mon âme, bénis le Seigneur ! Que tout qui est en moi bénisse son saint nom. Mon âme, bénis le Seigneur, et n’oublie aucun de ses bienfaits !

06 March 2020

Day 10 of Lent +++ They were frightened


John 6.16–27   Jean 6.16-27   Johannes 6.16-27

Psalm 22   Genesis 42.29-38  Galatians 5.16-26
Psaumes 22  Genèse 42.29-38   Galates 5.16-26
Psalmen 22   Genesis 42.29-38  Galaten 5.16-26

They were frightened



The disciples are in peril on the sea. It's dark. The wind is strong. The boat is small. The water is getting rough. They have good reason to be afraid. But when John speaks of their fear it is not because of the tempestuous waves. “They saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat," John say, "and they were afraid". The phrase is striking. One might expect relief, but instead fear engulfs them.
It is not merely that they mistake Jesus for a ghost, as Mark (6.47-52) and Matthew (14.24-33) imply. John repeatedly points us back to Moses in order to highlight the profound significance of their fear. In the preceding episode John recounts the crowd proclaiming Jesus as the fulfilment of God's promise to Moses (Deut 18.15) — he is "the prophet who is to come!" (John 6.1-15), and John follows the scene on the sea with the "bread of life" discourse in which Jesus contrasts himself with the manna in the wilderness (John 6.41-59). So when Jesus calms the disciples' fear by saying “It is I", or more literally "I am", John wants us to think of the words by which God identifies himself to Moses. Who shall I say has sent me? Moses asks. "Say 'I AM has sent me'” is God's reply (Exod 3.14).

In this scene John speaks of God appearing in Christ as "quick-eyed Love" — to borrow from George Herbert* — as one who sees our need and dares to come to us in the midst of our tumultuous lives. It is a welcome so immense that it is no surprise that the disciples are afraid nor that our own souls draw back.

Hector Patmore

*Editors’ note: See meditation for 27 February.


Disciples See Christ Walking on the Water, Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1859-1937, Des Moines Art Center, Des Miones, IA, USA
From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55904 [retrieved February 22, 2020]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Ossawa_Tanner,_The_Disciples_See_Christ_Walking_on_the_Water,_c._1907.jpg.

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