Call on the Son of David

  • April 18, 2024
  • /
  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Matthew 22.41-45
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” 
“The son of David,” they replied. 
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, 
44 “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: 
“Sit at my right hand 
until I put your enemies 
under your feet.” ’ 
45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Reflection: Call on the Son of David
By John Tillman

“Son of David” occurs ten times in Matthew’s gospel. 

Once, it is directed at Joseph, instructing him to take Mary as his wife and Jesus as his son. Jesus, like his earthly father, Joseph, was a literal, physical son of David. So were hundreds of thousands. At the Nativity, Bethlehem was flooded with sons of David who came there to be counted, but only one was also the Son of David.

Eight times, “Son of David” is directed at Jesus. 

Two blind men followed Jesus, saying, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” (Matthew 9.27-31)
After seeing Jesus heal a demon-possessed, blind, and mute man, the crowd asked, “Could this be the Son of David?” (Matthew 12.22-24)
A foreigner begged on behalf of her daughter, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Matthew 15.21-28)
Two blind men cried from the side of the road, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” (Matthew 20.29-31)
The crowds welcomed him to Jerusalem, crying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Matthew 21.8-9)Its last mention is when Jesus confronted the Pharisees about the Messiah’s origin and identity. Jesus claimed the Messiah had to be more than a natural child of David. Calling himself the Son of David and accepting the title from others is one of Jesus’ most direct claims of deity. “Son of David” is a cry appealing to Jesus’ messianic identity which includes healing. But why is that?

David was many positive things—poet, musician, fighter, leader. But he was never a healer. He was a man of blood, not bandages. Are we calling out for the wrong kind of “son of David?”

The true Son of David proves himself not in battle against flesh and blood but against sin on the cross. The true Son of David spills his blood instead of his enemies’ blood. He heals rather than harms. He saves rather than condemns. He includes rather than excludes. He rescues rather than takes revenge.

It is because of his identity as the Son of David that we can cry out to Jesus for healing, for help, and to enter his kingdom. His kingdom is from another place. We are already there, yet on our way. It is present among us, yet coming in the distance.

Call on the true Son of David! Hosanna to the Son of David! Have mercy on us!


Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; we bless you from the house of the Lord. — Psalm 118.26

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


​Today’s Readings
Amos 2 (Listen 2:12)
Matthew 22 (Listen 4:56)

Read more about An Accepting Father
The “son of David,” Joseph, accepted The Son of David, Jesus, as his son.

An Accepting Father — Readers’ Choice

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Judgment, The Great Equalizer

  • April 17, 2024
  • /
  • Erin Newton

Scripture Focus: Amos 1:3
3 This is what the Lord says:
“For three sins … even for four, I will not relent.

Reflection: Judgment, The Great Equalizer
By Erin Newton

Is there escape from God’s judgment? The prophets seem to declare escape impossible. Amos uses formulaic language—for three sins, even for four. It is not a mathematical theology of sin as if to say, “God spares two sins but three is too far.” No, this is a poetic (and memorable) way to speak about the surety of judgment against sinful people.

The “three-four” punch is also an equalizer. The numerical description does not increase or decrease between the places. (In fact, Judah is included in the same language and foreboding promise of judgment in the next chapter.)  

The cities listed in chapter 1 create a perimeter. Damascus was northeast of the Sea of Galilee. Gaza was on the southern coast of the Mediterranean. Tyre was a northern coastal town. The region of Ammon was centrally located east of the Jordan River. This perimeter was a way to show that universal judgment was coming.

I need to pause here for a moment. Considering the ongoing and escalating war between Israel and Gaza—we must remain steadfast to read the Bible in its context. Nowadays, we will watch people take a word or two that has meaning today and infer that meaning back onto books like Amos. Let us pause to read more carefully.

Yes, there is an ancient town of Gaza and a present-day Gaza. But thousands of years have passed; worldviews and populations have changed. If Amos condemns an ancient town, it is a message about the civilians’ hearts, not the dirt under their feet. And that is how God deals with us today. It is the stance of our hearts, not the land we stand on, that determines God’s judgment or mercy.

This is why the repeated introductory phrase is necessary. It levels the playing field. The message is not “God will save me because I am a citizen of _____,” but “God will judge sin unbiasedly.”

Judgment is universal. According to Amos, not even Judah escapes. But with Jesus, the formula changes from “for three sins, even for four” to “leave the ninety-nine for the one.”

I hope we can read the Old Testament, including stories about similarly named places, and imagine a New Testament perspective. For one repentant sinner, even for ninety-nine, in his mercy, God will relent. 

God judges the heart within us, not the dirt we live on. Judgment equalizes us all, but so does his mercy. 

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Be merciful to me, O Lord, for you are my God; I call upon you all the day long. — Psalm 86.3


– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

​Today’s Readings
Amos 1 (Listen 2:38)
Matthew 21 (Listen 7:10)

Read more about Nineveh’s Regression
God’s still in the business of forgiving those we would condemn and having mercy on those we would castigate.

Nineveh’s Regression

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Unprecedented Peace

  • April 16, 2024
  • /
  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Joel 3.9-11
9 Proclaim this among the nations: 
Prepare for war! 
Rouse the warriors! 
Let all the fighting men draw near and attack. 
10 Beat your plowshares into swords 
and your pruning hooks into spears. 
Let the weakling say, 
“I am strong!” 
11 Come quickly, all you nations from every side, 
and assemble there. 

From John: By the time this posts on Tuesday, the world will be dealing with the outcome of ever-increasing attacks on Israel, Ukraine, and whatever escalation comes following this weekend’s events. We return to this post from 2020, recognizing that there are wars that must be fought, and we beg God’s mercy on those defending innocent lives. However, we also recognize that those who leap to war and idolize or sacralize war are acting as citizens of the kingdom of death, not the kingdom of God.

Reflection: Unprecedented Peace
By John Tillman

“Beat your plowshares into swords.” is part of a challenge God issues to the nations and it sounds like the taunts of brash pro-wrestlers. 

“Gather all your best warriors. You are all weak, compared to me! But for the moment, fool yourself and say ‘I’m strong.” Grab that plowshare. Make a sword out of it. Grab a metal chair and take your best shot. Weaponize everything. You want a fight? Come and get it..” — based on Joel 3.9-13

Sinful nations need few excuses to turn resources of cultivation into resources of destruction. Rather than plant and grow, they prefer to slash and burn and kill. With this sarcastic taunt, God turns them over to their sin. 

If there is one area in which humanity can be relied upon to spare no expense, it is war. Many nations, not just those of crackpot dictators, allow their populations to suffer or even starve in order to spend more on war. Even peaceful countries which go to war, lose any shyness about deficits. Going all in on war is the default setting.

This is also true in wars of rhetoric. We see this in our culture’s online dialogue. In desperation, every scrap of information is weaponized and our debt to truth is defaulted. We keep beating on conspiracies until we mistake them for a sword of truth.

One group which suffers when leaders dive anxiously into war is soldiers. Most veterans see their service as an honor and spend the majority of their time securing the peace. But honorable soldiers often die in service of dishonorable leadership.

“Beat your plowshares into swords” is not a call for God’s people to answer. This is why Isaiah and Micah both reverse Joel’s warlike taunt, making it a promise of peace, highlighting God’s incredible mercy and redemption. (Joel 3.10; Isaiah 2.4; Micah 4.3) God will put an end to war.  This reversal is only possible because of Jesus. Without Jesus, we are at war and enemies with God. (Job 19.11; Psalm 68.21; Romans 5.10; Philippians 3.18; Colossians 1.21) Christ not only makes peace with us but makes us agents of peace. (Philippians 4.2-7) This unprecedented peace beyond all understanding, helps us intercede in conflict to make peace

War is so entrenched in our culture. Violence so widely lauded as a solution. Christians can shine in darkness by clinging to our identity as people of peace.

May we beat our swords into plowshares.
May we make tools of destruction into implements of cultivation.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Cry of the Church
Even so come, Lord Jesus!

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Joel 3 (Listen 3:20)
Matthew 20 (Listen 4:22)

Read more about Unprecedented Spirit
There is always a time when the Lord will relent.
But relenting only comes after repenting. And the time for repentance is now.

Unprecedented Spirit

Read more about Already But Not Yet
Weapons of war are turned into agricultural tools. It is a transition from death-dealing to life-giving activities.

Already But Not Yet

Hope Consuming Darkness

  • April 15, 2024
  • /
  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Joel 2.30-32
30 I will show wonders in the heavens 
and on the earth, 
blood and fire and billows of smoke. 
31 The sun will be turned to darkness 
and the moon to blood 
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 
32 And everyone who calls 
on the name of the Lord will be saved; 
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem 
there will be deliverance, 
as the Lord has said, 
even among the survivors 
whom the Lord calls.

Acts 2.21
21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Romans 10.13
13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Reflection: Hope Consuming Darkness
By John Tillman

An unstoppable army advances like fire, burning and devouring everything in its path. Cultivated land like the Garden of Eden becomes a barren desert waste.

Witnesses describe the sound of locusts feeding on crops and trees as a crackling fire. Joel used the recent trauma of a plague of locusts to warn of future disasters. “Did you see this insect army ravage the land? There are greater ravagers on the way.”

Some faith leaders today refer to Joel, using recent disasters to terrify and manipulate. But Joel also promised salvation, both in the moment and an ultimate future restoration.

The destruction Joel described was caused by sin. Its solution was returning to the Lord in repentance. Sin is not just individual actions, like one bug crawling in our kitchen, but societal swarms that plague the earth—a consuming darkness. We’ve all experienced the ravages of sin in our personal lives, our communities, and the world. We’ve seen Edens become wastelands.

Peter and Paul knew darkness, and both read Joel not as terrifying but as hope in the midst of darkness that is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. Peter quoted Joel in his first sermon, ending with, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Acts 2.14-21) Paul also picked up on this promise, repeating the ending quote of Peter’s sermon, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10.13)Jesus is our salvation, both in the moment and in an ultimate future restoration. There may be darkness ahead and sin in our past or future. Like Peter or Paul, we may have betrayed or persecuted Christ. (Matthew 26.72-74; Philippians 3.6) We may have resorted to or endorsed violence. (John 18.10; Acts 7.57-58) We may have been ashamed and humbled. (Luke 22.61-62; Acts 9.3-5) But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

What darkness has eaten at you? Blocked out the light? Settled on your fields? Obscured your hope?

We will not be lost in consuming darkness. The consuming darkness will be consumed by hope.

No matter how dark it gets, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. 
No matter how frightening it feels, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. 
No matter if we die, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord. — Psalm 31.24

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


​Today’s Readings
Joel 2 (Listen 5:26)
Matthew 19 (Listen 4:04)

Listen to Apotheosis of Politics on the Pause to Read podcast
As traditional religion declines, politics is the newest, fastest-growing religion.

Read more about Unprecedented
In response to unprecedented times, Joel encourages the people to enter into a time of unprecedented prayer and repentance. 

Unprecedented

The Broken Power of Death

  • April 12, 2024
  • /
  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Hosea 13.14
14 “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; 
I will redeem them from death. 
Where, O death, are your plagues? 
Where, O grave, is your destruction? 

Psalm 146.3-5
3 Do not put your trust in princes, 
in human beings, who cannot save. 
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; 
on that very day their plans come to nothing. 
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, 
whose hope is in the Lord their God. 

Isaiah 25.8
8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. 

1 Corinthians 15.54-56
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 

     55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
         Where, O death, is your sting?” 

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.


Reflection: The Broken Power of Death
By John Tillman

Hosea and Isaiah’s ministries overlapped and their writing echoes each other. Paul paraphrases their promises of resurrection into one of his brightest, most hopeful refrains. This chorus of hope comes most directly from one of the darkest chapters of Hosea.

Rather than rely upon God, Israel and Judah had turned to political alliances and the gods those allies worshiped. But these “princes” would soon commit atrocities. These sound eerily familiar to ones committed by today’s powerful countries who bomb maternity wards and civilian evacuation corridors.

Death is not only dispensed at the whim of greedy empires but is carried on the wings of disease and aging. What hope can we have against death? This question is common to the people of Israel and Judah in Isaiah and Hosea’s day, to downtrodden outcasts under Rome’s rule, and to those targeted by empires and dictators today.

The poor and the powerless are overrun by death. They have no defenses and little strength to resist or slow its advance. They are helpless.

Wealth and power do much to extend life. The wealthy can easily flee conflict and the powerful are welcomed to new countries rather than crammed into inhumane camps. Experimental and expensive life-saving and life-extending medical treatments are common among the powerful. Absent these extreme examples, even simple, quality of life differences add years to the lives of the wealthy. However, in the end, the rich, the powerful, and the poor all die. The teacher of Ecclesiastes would call these efforts meaningless or absurd. (Ecclesiastes 3:19)

To the unbelieving world, for whom mortal life is all there is, death is ultimate. It is the worst thing that can happen to a person and there is no remedy.

Death is not the worst thing that can happen to us and it does not have the final word in our lives but that does not mean we should not grieve it. Lazarus was only four days in the grave, yet Jesus wept. (John 11.35) We weep and mourn death, but not without hope. (1 Thessalonians 4.13)

While we flee or delay death, scripture describes death’s defeat. God promises the grave will not be our final destination. We will only pass through and when we leave, we will be led by Christ himself. For those in Christ, death is a toothless predator, a limbless wrestler, who cannot hold us down for long.

Death which swallows all, will be swallowed up.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
You are the Lord, most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. — Psalm 97.9

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


​Today’s Readings
Hosea 13 (Listen 2:26)
Matthew 16 (Listen 3:43)

This Weekend’s Readings
Hosea 14 (Listen 1:39), Matthew 17 (Listen 3:46)
Joel 1 (Listen 2:59), Matthew 18 (Listen 4:25)

Listen to Too Much to Hold on the Pause to Read podcast
In Christ, we’re made to be like him
Too much for Death to hold

Read more about Stealing Death’s Sting
Untie our grave clothes and strip us of the trappings of this world.
Let us walk into the light and follow your loving voice.

Stealing Death’s Sting