Miserere et Guerre et Lent

Easter Sunday | Sing Matins, a new day is born

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Psalm 30:5

• • • • • • • • • •

Perhaps the Father and Spirit alone witnessed the resurrection in that black cave, when their beloved companion’s heart first thumped, and the Firstborn of a new world yawned, stretched his perfect limbs and greeted them. The two radiant angels, fearsome sentinels at the entrance to the tomb, gazed with fiery eyes into their king’s with awe, and the legion outside, whose arrival had been stayed three days earlier, lay prostrate, full of anticipation and wonder.

As they had done decades before over fields in Bethlehem, they sang as the Bright Morning Star stepped forth from his resting place, leaving a mortally wounded dragon coiled around his empty shroud.

Jesus’ came forth as a newborn babe; with the purity of Adam, naked in a garden, and yet with no shame. He proceeded past his angels, and they instantly sensed themselves being home in the court of Heaven, even after guarding the sons and daughters of God for so long in this realm. Birds gave him their songs, and the sun bathed him in its warm rays.

• • • • • • • • • •

Many, many years ago, a procession of never-ending joy began this morning, reverberating throughout the cosmos, and working into the spirits of every one for whom Christ had battled.

With the advent of the new world, Christ ascended back to his Father’s side, like the sweet fragrance of Israel’s offerings rising from the dusty tabernacle. The victory now won, and the darkness fearfully retreating, Christ’s Spirit would soon trumpet his everlasting words through the remaining ages:

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Plate 28 | Holy Saturday

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

John 11:25

• • • • • • • • • •

Holy Saturday seems an odd name for the day Israel awakes from her sleep into a world whose light has been extinguished.

What are the disciples to do with the memories so fresh and raw, swirling in their heads? And the miracles? The miracles that have astonished their countrymen, and the teaching that has simultaneously convicted and freed them.

We call this Holy Saturday? They have lost their dearest companion, and their heads are spinning and bouncing back and forth between God’s beautiful promises echoing in their ears — and the horrid white and gashed face of their shepherd, whose mouth is now mute like clay.

Those who have witnessed his ability to teach and his supernatural healing powers have already attested that Jesus was unlike all other men. But death has now taken the rabbi.

Jesus said, “It is finished!” But whatever he might have meant in those words, has not death closed his mouth and spoken through others’ disbelieving jeers in his silence?

In the beginning, God created light and separated it from darkness, but the darkness devised a scheme and has overtaken it. The disciples now sit as Job; filled with holy truths conflicting with everything they now experience.

As Abraham, hoping against all hope, and Jonah calling up to God as he descends into the depths, the disciples embrace, confused and frightened, and wait. I am the resurrection?

They are like sheep milling around their fallen shepherd. They ponder all they know and weep; wearily embrace, and cry out to the Father for they know not what.

Plate 45 | Death took him as he arose from his bed of nettles.

What will you do on the day of the appointed festival, and on the day of the feast of the LORD?

For behold, they are going away from destruction; but Egypt shall gather them; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents.

Hosea 9:5-6

• • • • • • • • • •

Anniversary

What is the married couple to celebrate on their anniversary when one of them is cheating? When the adulterous spouse has stepped-out, and even paid strangers to draw near.

This image quickly breaks down, because it’s ridiculous. No spouse would endure such dishonor, shame and hatred — and yet this is the metaphor the God of Israel employs for his bride.

So, here we are. It’s their anniversary, and this bride dresses for a night on the town, texts all her friends and posts pictures of the two of them from years past on Facebook and exclaims about how loving and sexy and honorable her husband is.

Israel’s faithlessness was outrageous, and ours is too. But we typically are blind in this condition and need a prophet, or a shocking intrusion into our fabricated dreamworld to reawaken us.

Judgement

Our foreign secretaries have worked tirelessly to foster goodwill with a tenuous relationship in a distant country. Significant budgets have been used for infrastructure and education. Our officials lauds themselves on their cultural awareness and diplomatic outreach and anticipate harmony and mutual prosperity to mark the coming years.

On another front, an old enemy, long disregarded as a threat, prepares to launch a technology that will cripple the unsuspecting foe who is celebrating the accord. It will be a modern blitzkrieg executed without risk to troops or fear of retaliation.

The attack occurs. It is momentary and complete. The world pauses for a moment in bewilderment. Moments later innumerable messages, images and data begin to fill the internet and wash over humanity. New words are created to give a name to this new kind of hyper-war.

The sun rises the next day, and everything on earth has changed. Nothing is familiar. Years will pass after the nation’s apocalypse, and the prevailing nation will rename the cities of her vanquished foe, and a foreign culture and mindset will subsume the old nation’s self-identity.

But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior.

It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought; but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.

So I am to them like a lion; like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.

I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs; I will tear open their breast, and there I will devour them like a lion, as a wild beast would rip them open.

Hosea 13:4-8

Union

Whether the metaphor is a shattered and defiled marriage or God raising one nation to bring his judgement to another, God’s shepherding his people has many times required terrifying means to bring restoration. As Americans, we do not perceive imminent threat from surrounding nations, but as individuals, we know well how vulnerable we are to suffering.

Life and death are in God’s hands, and long ago, He taught us that He will stop at nothing to prevent us from living in the next life apart from Him. It is a sure thing that if you depend on God, no trial that reaches your door will leave you in ruins. Your eyes and understanding cannot see it’s origin or conclusion, and God never says He will explain its purpose, He has promised that both your happiness and suffering will bring you closer to him. If this doesn’t yet make sense, be confident, God will make it so.

Stop what you are doing and approach the throne of God with your hopes and fears; your joy and grief. Christ has secured this intimacy long ago, a sure guarantee that it is now yours to embrace.

War, hated by mothers.

to listen to while you read:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tuGiwj3y0M

⁵“Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,
    or who will grieve for you?
Who will turn aside
    to ask about your welfare?
⁶You have rejected me, declares the Lord;
    you keep going backward,
so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you—
    I am weary of relenting.
⁷I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork
    in the gates of the land;
I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people;
    they did not turn from their ways.
⁸I have made their widows more in number
    than the sand of the seas;
I have brought against the mothers of young men
    a destroyer at noonday;
I have made anguish and terror
    fall upon them suddenly.
⁹She who bore seven has grown feeble;
    she has fainted away;
her sun went down while it was yet day;
    she has been shamed and disgraced.
And the rest of them I will give to the sword
    before their enemies,
declares the Lord.”

Jeremiah 15:5-9

¹⁵O Lord, you know;
    remember me and visit me,
    and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance take me not away;
    know that for your sake I bear reproach.
¹⁶Your words were found, and I ate them,
    and your words became to me a joy
    and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
    O Lord, God of hosts.
¹⁷I did not sit in the company of revelers,
    nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone, because your hand was upon me,
    for you had filled me with indignation.
¹⁸Why is my pain unceasing,
    my wound incurable,
    refusing to be healed?
Will you be to me like a deceitful brook,
    like waters that fail?

Jeremiah 15:15-18

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord:
“If you return, I will restore you,
    and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
    you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you,
    but you shall not turn to them.
²⁰And I will make you to this people
    a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
    but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you
    to save you and deliver you,
declares the Lord.
²¹I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
    and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”

Jeremiah 15:19-21

ROUALT AND THE MUSIC OF ARVO PÄRT: A LENTEN REFLECTION

If there is a composer that I personally can usher me into the presence of the Triune God, through sound, it is Arvo Pärt. May this reflection bless you as we reflect on our fallenness and his transcendence, moving closer to Holy Week. (Turn the volume up and let the sound wash over you!)

Plate 43 | “We must die, we and all that is ours.”

The spiritual life is a calling to become fully human after the likeness of Christ, who, being united with God, has shown us what humanity, united to God, was intended to be. ~ Robert E. Webber, The Divine Embrace: Recovering the Passionate Spiritual Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006), 103.

LISTEN: THE FRATRES

Genesis 3:19:

By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.”

LISTEN: KYRIE

Job 29:18-20

¹⁸Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
    and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;
¹⁹my roots spread out to the waters,
    with the dew all night on my branches;
²⁰my glory was fresh with me,
    and my bow ever new in my hand.’

LISTEN: SANCTUS

Revelation 22:1-5

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ²through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of lifewith its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; ⁴they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

LISTEN: THE DEER’S CRY

Prayer

Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself. (BOCP, 1662)

Plate 39 | We are insane.

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Ecclesiastes 9:3

• • • • • • • • • • •

How are we to understand Solomon, the wisest man of all antiquity, when he says that madness lies deep within every one of us? Is this a hyperbole meant generally to say that our sin nature mars the image of God within us? Or is he actually stating that we are out of our right minds? Is this limited to some, or does it extend to all?

Many today would respond: What a ridiculous claim! Look around. Look how far we’ve come since Biblical times. We’ve created the Information Age from the stones and water and sunlight the people of antiquity worshipped. We’ve amassed the combined knowledge of all human history at our fingertips. We are like God!

• • • • • • • • • • •

Drill down on the meaning of madness and insanity, and you’ll find that the root word, sanus, means healthy; sound.

The Apostle Paul, in at least two recorded occasions, refers the origin of our present existence, he states:

In him [God] we live, move and have our being. ~ Acts 17:28

And he [Christ] is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ~ Colossians 1:17

In both cases, he is saying that the state of life, in which we are at this moment participating, is directly the result of our being sustained by God, in Christ, through the Spirit.

Centuries before Paul, Elihu said this,

If he [God] should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust. ~ Job 34:14

In all cases, Christ’s metaphor of a branch drawing life from the tree illuminates this idea in the plainest terms.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ~ John 15:5

But, whether the word insanity or madness is used, both convey a picture of a human living apart from that tree. This phenomenon occurs in this present world without the full consequences, but what happens, upon the Judgement, when the branches cut from the tree are cast away— and yet still live— apart from their single source of life?

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. ~ Matthew 25:46

• • • • • • • • • • •

The standard belief in secular culture today, which has infiltrated deep into Christendom in the West, is that Science has revealed too much for educated people to still clutch to beliefs in founded by primitive doctrine.

Yet, did God not create the materials in which scientists look? And has God not said to put no trust in man? Has he not already said the heart is desperately wicked? Has the eternal God been surpassed by four hundred years of Western Enlightenment?

How can the observation of the creation, once spoken into existence, lead to anything but harmony with the spoken Word of the same Creator?

• • • • • • • • • • •

By birth, we are all insane, and even after coming to Christ, the madness still flows through our veins, but — praise God! — it no longer controls us. For mad is the human who would practice the experience of hell while he yet participates in this life.

We are insane.

So, thank God for this,

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ~ Galatians 2:20

“This will be the last time, dear father!”

Matthew 26:31-35

31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all become deserters because of me this night; for it is written,

‘I will strike the shepherd,

and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

32 But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 33 Peter said to him, “Though all become deserters because of you, I will never desert you.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 Peter said to him, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And so said all the disciples.

Luke 14:66-72

66 While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came by. 67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she stared at him and said, “You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I do not know or understand what you are talking about.” And he went out into the forecourt. Then the cock crowed. 69 And the servant-girl, on seeing him, began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” 70 But again he denied it. Then after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them; for you are a Galilean.” 71 But he began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know this man you are talking about.” 72 At that moment the cock crowed for the second time. Then Peter remembered that Jesus had said to him, “Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

Isaiah 40:11-13

11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;

he will gather the lambs in his arms,

and carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead the mother sheep.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

and marked off the heavens with a span,

enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure,

and weighed the mountains in scales

and the hills in a balance?

13 Who has directed the spirit of the Lord,

or as his counselor has instructed him?

Revelation 7:15-17

15 For this reason they are before the throne of God,

and worship him day and night within his temple,

and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.

16 They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;

the sun will not strike them,

nor any scorching heat;

17 for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

éala éarendel engla beorhtast
ofer middangeard monnum sended
and sodfasta sunnan leoma,
tohrt ofer tunglas þu tida gehvane
of sylfum þe symle inlihtes.

Hail Day-Star! brightest of angels,
over middle-yard to men sent,
and true radiance of the Sun
bright above the stars, every season
thou of thyself ever illuminest.

Crist I, lines 104-108

The Dream of the Rood
attributed to Cynewulf (9th century)
translated by Charles W. Kennedy

Listen! The choicest of visions I wish to tell,
which came as a dream in middle-night,
after voice-bearers lay at rest.
It seemed that I saw a most wondrous tree
born aloft, wound round by light,     5
brightest of beams. All was that beacon
sprinkled with gold. Gems stood
fair at earth’s corners; there likewise five
shone on the shoulder-span. All there beheld the Angel of God,
fair through predestiny. Indeed, that was no wicked one’s gallows,     10
but holy souls beheld it there,
men over earth, and all this great creation.
Wondrous that victory-beam—and I stained with sins,
with wounds of disgrace. I saw glory’s tree
honored with trappings, shining with joys,     15
decked with gold; gems had
wrapped that forest tree worthily round.
Yet through that gold I clearly perceived
old strife of wretches, when first it began
to bleed on its right side. With sorrows most troubled,     20
I feared that fair sight. I saw that doom-beacon
turn trappings and hews: sometimes with water wet,
drenched with blood’s going; sometimes with jewels decked.

But lying there long while, I,
troubled, beheld the Healer’s tree, 25
until I heard its fair voice.
Then best wood spoke these words:
“It was long since—I yet remember it—
that I was hewn at holt’s end,
moved from my stem. Strong fiends seized me there, 30
worked me for spectacle; cursèd ones lifted me.
On shoulders men bore me there, then fixed me on hill;
fiends enough fastened me. Then saw I mankind’s Lord
come with great courage when he would mount on me.

Then dared I not against the Lord’s word     35
bend or break, when I saw earth’s
fields shake. All fiends
I could have felled, but I stood fast.
The young hero stripped himself—he, God Almighty—
strong and stout-minded. He mounted high gallows,     40
bold before many, when he would loose mankind.
I shook when that Man clasped me. I dared, still, not bow to earth,
fall to earth’s fields, but had to stand fast.
Rood was I reared. I lifted a mighty King,
Lord of the heavens, dared not to bend.     45
With dark nails they drove me through: on me those sores are seen,
open malice-wounds. I dared not scathe anyone.
They mocked us both, we two together]. All wet with blood I was,
poured out from that Man’s side, after ghost he gave up.

Much have I born on that hill 50
of fierce fate. I saw the God of hosts
harshly stretched out. Darknesses had
wound round with clouds the corpse of the Wielder,
bright radiance; a shadow went forth,
dark under heaven. All creation wept, 55
King’s fall lamented. Christ was on rood.
But there eager ones came from afar
to that noble one. I beheld all that.

Sore was I with sorrows distressed, yet I bent to men’s hands,
with great zeal willing. They took there Almighty God,     60
lifted him from that grim torment. Those warriors abandoned me
standing all blood-drenched, all wounded with arrows.
They laid there the limb-weary one, stood at his body’s head;
beheld they there heaven’s Lord, and he himself rested there,
worn from that great strife. Then they worked him an earth-house,     65
men in the slayer’s sight carved it from bright stone,
set in it the Wielder of Victories. Then they sang him a sorrow-song,
sad in the eventide, when they would go again
with grief from that great Lord. He rested there, with small company.
But we there lamenting a good while     70
stood in our places after the warrior’s cry
went up. Corpse grew cold,
fair life-dwelling. Then someone felled us
all to the earth. That was a dreadful fate!
Deep in a pit one delved us. Yet there Lord’s thanes,     75
friends, learned of me,… … … . .
adorned me with silver and gold.

Now you may know, loved man of mine,
what I, work of baleful ones, have endured
of sore sorrows. Now has the time come 80
when they will honor me far and wide,
men over earth, and all this great creation,
will pray for themselves to this beacon. On me God’s son
suffered awhile. Therefore I, glorious now,
rise under heaven, and I may heal 85
any of those who will reverence me.

Once I became hardest of torments,
most loathly to men, before I for them,
voice-bearers, life’s right way opened.
Indeed, Glory’s Prince, Heaven’s Protector,     90
honored me, then, over holm-wood.
Thus he his mother, Mary herself,
Almighty God, for all men,
also has honored over all woman-kind.
Now I command you, loved man of mine,     95
that you this seeing tell unto men;
discover with words that it is glory’s beam
which Almighty God suffered upon
for all mankind’s manifold sins
and for the ancient ill-deeds of Adam.     100
Death he tasted there, yet God rose again
by his great might, a help unto men.

He then rose to heaven. Again sets out hither
into this Middle-Earth, seeking mankind
on Doomsday, the Lord himself, 105
Almighty God, and with him his angels,
when he will deem—he holds power of doom—
everyone here as he will have earned
for himself earlier in this brief life.
Nor may there be any unafraid 110
for the words that the Wielder speaks.

He asks before multitudes where that one is
who for God’s name would gladly taste
bitter death, as before he on beam did.
And they then are afraid, and few think     115
what they can to Christ’s question answer.
Nor need there then any be most afraid
who ere in his breast bears finest of beacons;
but through that rood shall each soul
from the earth-way enter the kingdom,     120
who with the Wielder thinks yet to dwell.”
I prayed then to that beam with blithe mind,
great zeal, where I alone was
with small company. My heart was
impelled on the forth-way, waited for in each     125
longing-while. For me now life’s hope:

that I may seek that victory-beam
alone more often than all men,
honor it well. My desire for that
is much in mind, and my hope of protection     130
reverts to the rood. I have not now many
strong friends on this earth; they forth hence
have departed from world’s joys, have sought themselves glory’s King;
they live now in heaven with the High-Father,
dwell still in glory, and I for myself expect     135
each of my days the time when the Lord’s rood,
which I here on earth formerly saw,
from this loaned life will fetch me away
and bring me then where is much bliss,
joy in the heavens, where the Lord’s folk     140
is seated at feast, where is bliss everlasting;

and set me then where I after may
dwell in glory, well with those saints
delights to enjoy. May he be friend to me
who here on earth earlier died 145
on that gallows-tree for mankind’s sins.
He loosed us and life gave,
a heavenly home. Hope was renewed
with glory and gladness to those who there burning endured.

That Son was victory-fast in that great venture, 150
with might and good-speed, when he with many,
vast host of souls, came to God’s kingdom,
One-Wielder Almighty: bliss to the angels
and all the saints—those who in heaven
dwelt long in glory—when their Wielder came, 155
Almighty God, where his homeland was.

Hail Day-Star!
Brightest Herald
sent to man throughout the earth,

and Thou steadfast splendour of the sun,
bright above the stars!

Ever thou dost illumine with Thy light
the time of every season.

2 months ago

Plate 31 | Love One Another

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. John 15:12

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Prior to the ascent on The Place of the Skull, Pilate’s soldiers circle about Jesus, sneering, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and strike him with their hands. Pilate then presents Jesus before the crowd, “Behold the man!”

As they stretch and secure the marred body to the sand and blood smeared wood, a soldier crowns Pilate’s description atop the mangled exhibit, broadcasting for every eye to recognize:

You and I are standing atop Golgotha this afternoon. We read,

Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews

Some of the bystanders find this event spectacular entertainment. They took off work and are now hoarse from laughter.

Others question if they had been rash in freeing Barrabas and secretly hate the synagogue leaders for exciting them. (Look at them cowering in shame.)

The convicts on either side? Yes, the one is a convicted rapist and murderer; the other is a Zealot ringleader, who planned a terrorist attack in a major Roman garrison in the city.

(The empire’s might is always displayed with brilliance. Even this far from the capitol, most Israelites wonder how man can amass this much power apart from YHWH. But…what can we do, apart from sate them with our money and enjoy the lives we have?)

I can’t help but think of King David singing,

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, against The LORD and against his Anointed, saying,

“Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”

Jesus claimed to be the Messiah of the world. And did we not see his wisdom and miracles ourselves? Were not these same people standing here today among those who watched him heal their relatives and reveal our Jewish leaders to be twisting the Law of God to exalt themselves?

What man have we ever seen speak and do as this man has done…

A trembling voice roars, It is finished!

All eyes stare for a moment at the sinking crowned head. A moment later thunder disrupts the stillness and the crowds disperse.

in the land of thirst and fear.

Song to listen to while you read:
^{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzqAd3FBRgc

3}he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. ⁴And he had to pass through Samaria. ⁵So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
John 4:3-6

²“Judah mourns,
and her gates languish;
her people lament on the ground,
and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.”
Jeremiah 14:2
⁴²“I came today to the spring and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now you are prospering the way that I go, ⁴³behold, I am standing by the spring of water. Let the virgin who comes out to draw water, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,” ⁴⁴and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also,” let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’
Genesis 24:42-44

⁷A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” …
⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?”
John 4:7,9

³Her nobles send their servants for water;
    they come to the cisterns;
they find no water;
    they return with their vessels empty;
they are ashamed and confounded
    and cover their heads.
Jeremiah 14:3

¹³“Therefore thus says the Lord:
Ask among the nations,
    Who has heard the like of this?
The virgin Israel
    has done a very horrible thing.
¹⁴Does the snow of Lebanon leave
    the crags of Sirion?
Do the mountain waters run dry,
    the cold flowing streams?
Jeremiah 18:13-14

¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?
John 4:10-11

²²Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain?
    Or can the heavens give showers?
Are you not he, O Lord our God?
    We set our hope on you,
    for you do all these things.
Jeremiah 14:22

¹⁵But my people have forgotten me;
    they make offerings to false gods;
they made them stumble in their ways,
    in the ancient roads,
and to walk into side roads,
    not the highway,
¹⁶making their land a horror,
    a thing to be hissed at forever.
Jeremiah 18:15-16a

¹³Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ¹⁵The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
John 4:13-15

¹⁹Have you utterly rejected Judah?
    Does your soul loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down
    so that there is no healing for us?
We looked for peace, but no good came;
    for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
Jeremiah 14:19

⁷Alas! That day is so great
    there is none like it;
it is a time of distress for Jacob;
    yet he shall be saved out of it.
Jeremiah 30:5-7

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” ¹⁷The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

⁷“Though our iniquities testify against us,
    act, O Lord, for your name’s sake;
for our backslidings are many;
    we have sinned against you.
⁸O you hope of Israel,
    its savior in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land,
    like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?
⁹Why should you be like a man confused,
    like a mighty warrior who cannot save?
Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us,
    and we are called by your name;
    do not leave us.”
Jeremiah 14:7-9
⁵“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
Jeremiah 23:5

²³But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” ²⁶Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
John 4:23-26

⁴⁵“Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her water jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ ⁴⁶She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels drink also.’ So I drank, and she gave the camels drink also.
Genesis 24:45-46

¹¹For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. ¹²Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. ¹³You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
Jeremiah 29:11-14

²⁸So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” ³⁰They went out of the town and were coming to him.

³⁰As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and heard the words of Rebekah his sister, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man. And behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. ³¹He said, “Come in, O blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” ³²So the man came to the house and unharnessed the camels, and gave straw and fodder to the camels, and there was water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³Then food was set before him to eat. But he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I have to say.” He said, “Speak on.”
Genesis 24:30-33

³¹Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” ³²But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” ³⁴Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. ³⁵Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. ³⁶Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

³Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. ⁴I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 23:3

¹⁰“Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord,
    nor be dismayed, O Israel;
for behold, I will save you from far away,
    and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
    and none shall make him afraid.
¹¹For I am with you to save you,
declares the Lord;
I will make a full end of all the nations
    among whom I scattered you,
    but of you I will not make a full end.
Jeremiah 30:10-11a

³⁹Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹And many more believed because of his word. ⁴²They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

¹¹In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹²so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:11-14

¹⁸“Thus says the Lord:
Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob
    and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city shall be rebuilt on its mound,
    and the palace shall stand where it used to be.
¹⁹Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving,
    and the voices of those who celebrate.
I will multiply them, and they shall not be few;
    I will make them honored, and they shall not be small.
²⁰Their children shall be as they were of old,
    and their congregation shall be established before me,
    and I will punish all who oppress them.

²¹Their prince shall be one of themselves;
    their ruler shall come out from their midst;
I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me,
    for who would dare of himself to approach me?
declares the Lord.

²²And you shall be my people,
    and I will be your God.”
Jeremiah 30:18-22

²⁶The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord ²⁷and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.”
Genesis 24:26-27

2 months ago