Daily Office Readings for Friday of the 3rd Week of Easter: Year 2
Morning, Psalm 105:1 to 22; Evening, Psalm 105:23 to 45;
Exodus 24:1 to 18; Colossians 2:8 to 23; Matthew 4:12 to 17:
He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake, in the territory of Zebulon and Naphtali.” (Matthew 4:13)
I can still remember looking from a boat in 2018, to the coast of Israel, in particular, Capernaum. This is the first place our Lord Jesus went of his own free will and accord. He was taken by his parents; to Bethlehem to be born; to Egypt to be saved, to Nazareth to be raised, to Jerusalem to be dedicated, back to Nazareth, to Jerusalem again at age 12, and even to a wedding in Cana by invitation and always back to Nazareth. But now, he left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake. I took a picture of Capernaum and Galilee of Israel and was so impressed with it that I made it the representation or icon of this blog page.
It is around Capernaum that our Lord Jesus walked along the shore and said to John and James; and to Andrew and Simon Peter; “follow me.” Capernaum then was his preaching and teaching area. Our Lord Jesus bloomed where he planted himself. We too, in our very transitional world, move around a lot. I think now however we are beginning to see that we can pretty much live wherever we want to because we can reach out, or bring the world to us through our laptops or phones wherever we are. The stay- at- home; work from home, Corona virus showed us this. We too can bloom from right where we are. Our home town can, and should, become our “preaching and teaching area” for the Church and for the sake of the Gospel.
None of us knows where our Capernaum will be. None of us knows where our lives will end on earth. We must always do the best we can wherever we are today, and let tomorrow take care of itself. Wherever you are right now, it is your Capernaum! Do the Lord’s work.
Let us pray:
Dear Lord Jesus, as You are the Way, the Truth and the Life, help us to anchor our lives in Your goodness so that wherever we make our home, we will promote and present Your loving Gospel to the whole earth. Help us to do this in our work and in our rest. Amen.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done” (Genesis 2:1 and 2). So, for this evening and tomorrow day my friends, Shabbat Shalom.
What is Shabbat? Intro to the Jewish Sabbath – YouTube
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Palestine and our schools including St. Augustine in Raleigh, North Carolina.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 