Daily Devotional
The Righteous Judge Reigns
Today’s readings set before us two cities and one King. Sodom is full of violence, lust, and contempt for the stranger; yet even there Lot is found at the gate, ready to receive the weary. Origen notes, “Lot was not inside Sodom ‘but at the gate.’” A man may dwell among the wicked without learning their works, if he keeps watch, practices mercy, and refuses their fellowship in evil. Yet the chapter also warns that compromise is costly. Lot lingers, his house is divided, and his deliverance comes through affliction. We are not to make peace with a doomed way of life.
The psalm answers the fear that rises when the wicked seem to govern the earth. The foundations are not destroyed, because the Lord has not left His throne. He sees, He tests, and He judges. Therefore flight into cowardice is no refuge, nor is trust in princes, wealth, or cleverness. “For the Lord is righteous, and loves righteousness, and His face beholds straightness.” What He loves, we must practice: upright speech, clean hands, just dealings, and steadfast courage.
Isaiah then shows the King unlike all rulers of this age: the Branch from Jesse, upon whom rests the fullness of the Spirit. He does not judge by appearance, nor flatter the strong, but defends the poor and strikes the wicked. If we belong to this Christ, we must put away the works of Sodom and learn the peace of His kingdom now: hospitality instead of cruelty, purity instead of appetite, truth instead of fear, and care for the lowly instead of favor toward the powerful. The righteous Judge is also the giver of the Spirit; therefore let us live as citizens of His coming reign.
“Lot was not inside Sodom “but at the gate.” I might have said, just as Abraham was sitting outside his tent, out of hospitality, even at an inconvenient time (for it was the middle of the day) on the lookout for travelers, so his relative and the imitator of his morality “was sitting at the gate” ready to invite those passing through the land, even…””
— Origen
“for the Lord is righteous, and loves righteousness, and His face beholds straightness.”
— Origen, Commentary on John
For Reflection & Discussion
Whom will you receive or help this week in costly hospitality—a stranger, a poor family, a sick neighbor, or someone others avoid?
What practice of Sodom must you cut off today—unclean speech, drunkenness, lust, contempt for others, or neglect of the vulnerable—and to whom will you confess it?
Where have you trusted man more than the Lord, and what concrete act of obedience will show your trust in Christ’s righteous rule: almsgiving, truthful speech, refusing a corrupt gain, or defending someone with no power?
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