Dai­ly Reflec­tion
May 26, 2025

To Live in Truth Togeth­er
“…when their hour comes you may remem­ber that I told you.”  (John 16: 4)

Jesus’s mis­sion unfolds as pas­sion, death, res­ur­rec­tion, and ascen­sion.  His hour had come.  The way brings suf­fer­ing and glo­ry.  But he does not trav­el alone.  Through the love of God, Jesus per­se­veres.  Abba, our God, sends the Spir­it of Truth to com­fort and guide us.  We too draw on God’s love to tes­ti­fy to the truth with our companions.

Jesus fore­tells dif­fi­cult times to come for his fol­low­ers.  At its core, truth abides in love, but the road is rocky.  In truth we are crea­tures who may try our best but nev­er have all the answers.  We are vul­ner­a­ble and can­not make it alone.  In truth I see my faults, but they are not all of me.  With my frailty in view, I cling to God.  Togeth­er, we speak up against lies and cor­rup­tion.  In truth we face ridicule and often fail­ure.  Glo­ry is not a dis­tant land.  God’s face shines in the hurly burly.  Love finds us again and again.

It was Sab­bath.  The women gath­er out­side the city walls.  The cir­cle of chores comes to an end for a few hours.  This time togeth­er is a taste of free­dom.  Into their inti­ma­cy comes Paul, Luke, and their com­pan­ions.  They too retreat from the clat­ter of the city.  Paul speaks to the women.  Lydia, a mer­chant, lis­tens intent­ly.  Per­haps she inher­it­ed the lux­u­ry trade in pur­ple cloth from her hus­band.  A suc­cess­ful woman in a man’s world, Lydia knows there is more to life than mak­ing mon­ey.  She already was a fol­low­er of God.  Lydia invites the trav­el­ers into her house.  She and her house­hold are baptized.

Luke was at Paul’s side dur­ing this jour­ney: “We set sail…”   He will be with him until Rome.  Some­times the Spir­it warns them to change their plans and take anoth­er route.  They lis­ten.  When we seek to hear God’s word, we will change.  We might sing a new song.  In grat­i­tude we will open our lives.  Even strangers are not turned away.