A mother's pain, A reflection on Matthew 23:37 through 39 on the Daily Bible refresh with Dr.

Brad Miller.

Hello good people.

Welcome again to Daily Bible Refresh.

My name is Dr.

Brad Miller and my mission is to get the audible voice of God into 2 million years.

That's a million people by the end of 2028.

And we do that by every day coming to you with the Daily Bible Refresh, which is a reading of the New Testament reading which is done from the Revised Common Lectionary.

So the selected passage for this very day.

We're in year C, the Lenten season.

We do this by making the reading of the Bible understandable.

We read from the Message version relatable.

We give you some points to ponder and applicable by giving you an action step to follow.

We have a prayer.

We do all that in under 10 minutes or so.

It's all brought to you by voiceofgoddaily.com our website, the home of the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible Study Guide.

Here's our reading for for today.

Matthew 23:37 through 39 reading from the message Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

Murderer of prophets, killer of the ones who brought you good news.

How often I've ached to embrace your children the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.

And you wouldn't let me.

And now you're so desolate, nothing but a ghost town.

What is there left to say?

Only this.

I'm out of here soon.

The next time you'll see me, you'll say, oh, God has blessed him.

He's come bringing God's rule.

That's the end of the reading, a short and stark reading for the day.

And we're talking here about Jesus offering a maternal image of God's love, which is really confronting the painful reality of a significant resistance to transformation.

So a few points to ponder.

There's the divine feminine imagery which is here, and Jesus uses the imagery of a mother hen, the metaphor which provides a powerful feminine image of God's love.

And this challenges an often patriarchal religious imagery, reminds us that divine love transcends gender in progressive faith.

Recovering feminine divine imagery isn't about just about only about inclusion.

It's about accessing the deeper truth about God's nurturing, protective presence.

Another point is about prophetic resistance.

This is a lament over Jerusalem, which is over Jerusalem's murder of prophets.

And it speaks to how power powerful systems often silence voices calling for justice and change.

What about those prophetic voices in today's world, those people calling for political and racial justice, climate action, LGBTQ inclusion, economic equality.

They often face similar resistance.

And how do we stand with today's prophets?

Another point is about collective trauma and hope.

The image of Jerusalem becoming a ghost town is rather stark, is it not?

But reflects the real consequences of rejecting transformative love.

Yet even in naming desolation, Jesus points towards a future hope.

This speaks to how we might honestly face trauma, whether from a pandemic, political or climate crises that happen, or systematic oppression, while maintaining hope for transformation.

Here's your action step for today.

Identify, practice, identifying, embodying the protective love of like the mother hen does and the courage of the prophets.

Identify someone in your community who's being marginalized and a victim of injustice and just needs a little care and concern and take some action to gather them under your wing, as it were, through support or solidarity.

You may also want to find a way to amplify a prophetic voice in your community who is working for justice.

And if you were in a position of power, institutional, political or otherwise, examine how you might be resistant, how you might be resistant to prophetic voices or calling you to change.

We'll come back with a closing prayer here in just a minute, but I did also want you to know that we have a tool for change in your life and that's daily Bible study.

We do the daily Bible refresh here for you every day to put the audible word of God into 2 million years by 2020 28.

But I want you to partner with me by having your own individual Bible study.

Can you do that?

One tool you can use for that we provide for you at voiceofgoddaily.com is the ABC 123 Bible Study Guide and indeed it makes Bible study drilling straightforward and direct.

I hope that you go to our vote to our website Voice of God daily and pick that up.

Let's pray.

Oh God, O mother God, we hear your ache to gather and protect your children.

We confess the ways we've rejected your inclusive love and silenced prophetic voices.

Help us recognize you in feminine faces of divine love all around us.

Give us courage to stand with today's prophets calling for justice and transformation.

When we feel desolation, remind us that new life awaits.

May we learn to gather others under love's wings even as we speak Truth to power.

Guide us in building communities that welcome prophets rather than rejecting them.

Amen.

We are here to embrace you every single day.

Friends.

It's such a joy to be with you.

My name is Dr.

Brad Miller and every day we come to you with a daily Bible reading.

Our goal is to put the audible word of God into 2 million years by the year 2028.

And you can help us do that by just joining us again Tomorrow here on voiceofgoddaily.com the home of the Daily Bible Refresh.

But this time, bring a friend.

Until then, My name is Dr.

Brad Miller.

Encouraging you that knowing that God's loyal love doesn't run out, his merciful love hasn't dried up, it's created new every morning.

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