Same

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8

271 days so far. From the hard, sudden shelter-in-place to the easier flow of the summer months to the most recent weeks of a virus rampaging largely unchecked, these days have certainly not been identical. Still, there’s been a sameness to the days of this pandemic. They are all clouded by the same uncertainty. They share the same limitations, the same restrictions that COVID imposes upon us. And they march on, one after the other. I won’t say with no end in sight, because vaccines are coming. But they will not solve everything this month, or next. The days will continue to accumulate.

The New Testament Daily Text for today is a familiar one. Jesus Christ is the same. As he was yesterday, so will he be tomorrow. So he is today. The difference that strikes me is that Jesus’ sameness is not the linear stacking up of sameness, one day after the other, time without end. It moves, rather, in the opposite direction as a constant in-breaking of the risen Christ into our present moment; the eternity of God intersecting each moment in time until that day when time shall lose all meaning and we will find ourselves lost in wonder, love, and praise.

In our fear, in our monotony, in the everyday and the day-after-day, Christ is with us. The baby of Bethlehem, the risen Christ, is present for you today.

Be well, friends. You are loved.

God, all time and space belong to you and you, in Christ, fill all in all. Make us mindful of your presence with us each moment. Comfort us in our fears, wipe away our tears, walk with us throughout the years. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Image: Christ in Glory, anonymous, 15th century (public domain).