Suffering and Disgrace
THE 13th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
I let them beat my back and pull out my beard. I didn’t turn aside when they insulted me and spit in my face. ~ Isaiah 50:6 (CEV)
Jesus himself suffered outside the city gate, so that his blood would make people holy. That’s why we should go outside the camp to Jesus and share in his disgrace. ~ Hebrews 13:12-13 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
We are called to share in Jesus' suffering and disgrace.
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, thank you for suffering on our behalf so that we can experience your salvation. I'm sorry that I feel so uneasy with suffering and disgrace in my own life. I get caught up in trying to live a pain-free and successful life -- so much so that I brush off suffering as abnormal. Help me to enter into the suffering and shame which you have experienced. I am going to stop worrying when things don't go the way that I think they should and accept that you work it all out. Amen.
*ABOUT THE
DAILY TEXTS
The Daily Texts have been published by the Moravian Church since 1731. In 2011 I started posting these Bible verses for my spiritual formation students at Pacific Islands University. In the process of responding to the verses, I found the rhythm of looking for a common thread and writing a prayer based on that key idea to be helpful for my own soul. The prayers are more or less modeled on the TRIP method, which is what I ask my students to do in their journaling. ~ Brad Boydston
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase -- a freestyle biblical adaptation -- somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
NRSV = New Revised Standard Version (© 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.) NTE = New Testament for Everyone (©2011 Nicolas Thomas Wright.)