Familiar but Different

Have you ever wanted to read the Bible in its entirety? A very popular Christian desire is to read the entire Bible. It is almost as if Christians as a rule don’t read the entire Book on a regular basis. The Church thought about that a long time ago when it established the Lectionary.

Today’s blog isn’t as much about the readings for today as it is about who we are today. I have been saying for weeks now that we should fight the temptation to ‘return to normal’ as we were living before Great Lent and Pascha. Today I want to share how you can tell you’re different.

In those days, while the apostles were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the morrow, for it was already evening. But many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to about five thousand. On the morrow their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple, by what means this man has been healed, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well.”

Acts 4.1-10

Today’s reading from the Book of Acts, and the Gospel too, aren’t specific to April 29^th but are assigned to the 2^nd Tuesday after Pascha. That means we read this same passage on May 14, 2024, and most every 2^nd Tuesday after Pascha, unless a special feast happened on that date.

If you have been Orthodox more than a few years, this passage should be familiar to you, but only if you read the ‘readings of the day’ from the Lectionary. Since I try to blog most days, this is a challenge for me to be creative every time this reading.

Fortunately for me, I am not the same person I was the last time I blogged about this passage. So today I invite you to read the readings as ask yourself, “How is this familiar to me and how is it different?” I invite you to consider what has changed in your life that affects your impression.

This is the only way the Scriptures become part of us. If we simply read to memorize a occasional passage without incorporating the message into our lives today, then we are just reading empty phrases. Even history lessons are more interesting than empty phrases.

Here’s a thought. Rather than accepting the challenge to read the Bible in its entirety, spend time reading the Lectionary and challenge yourself to apply today’s reading to today. Then again next year, and the year after that.

Eventually the Scriptures will become a part of you. Eventually you will open the Book to any passage, and it will be familiar to you. By God’s grace it will also be a bit different on that day because you will be different. It will mean you are growing closer to God.