Daily Scriptures Reflection and Morning Prayer for Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Scripture: Lectionary 474. Oct. 22. Romans 5:12.15.17-19,20-21. Psalm 40: 7-8,8-9.10.17. Luke 12:35-38

Paul continues to reflect and comment on his theology of sin and our need for redemption by recalling the first sin of humans (Adam and Eve) in the Garden of Eden. He is now going to contrast the first human creatures with Christ. I understand that the word Adamah can mean both Adam and Eve. They have sinned, Christ Jesus has not. They have hidden from God and have been put out of the Garden of Eden while Christ will open the gates of the kingdom and of the eternal dwelling place where God reigns forever. Jesus bestows the gift of faith and the graces needed to become new creations in the realm of the Spirit which will lead us to become conformed to Christ even in the glory of his resurrection.

Death came about through Adam while life comes from God through Jesus Christ. Grace reigns through Jesus and we through faith participate in the kingdom that is different from the Garden of Eden. We are able to conquer sin and overcome the sting of death because of Jesus’ redeeming love seen in his total surrender to God while dying on the cross. Our justice through faith leads us to experience this life in the Spirit with Christ.

Psalm 40 and the Gospel passage for today show us how to respond to these magnanimous gifts and graces of God as servants of God and God’s word. We see in the Psalm and the Gospel the attitude of Jesus’ mother Mary and that of Isaiah, “Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.” This psalm can be seen as an example of salvation history in action. We are delivered by God from the pit of tumult and from former sins. It fits in with what Paul is saying to us in Romans 5. In Hebrews, which was not written by Paul, verses 7-9 of the Psalm are applied to the spirit with which Jesus responded to God. (see Hebrews 5:5).

Jesus tells us we are called to be blessed and happy as servants who are vigilant and ready whom the Lord welcomes to his home after coming from a wedding. Jesus will surprise us by serving us and showing us what it means to be a servant of God. He will feed us with the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist and give us daily those graces we need to stay awake an alert when he comes or when he receives us in his kingdom. “Lord Jesus, come!” Maranatha! Amen.