Matins Devotions: August 14 and 15, 2025

THURSDAY

2 Samuel 1

A man stands before his judge and king, proud of himself for having destroyed the king’s enemy. For years, this enemy warred against the king. He would try to destroy the king, fail, and be humbled by the king’s mercy. He’d swear never to war against the king again, and then he’d resume doing so almost immediately thereafter. So the man who destroyed the king’s enemy insists that he’s doing a good thing and seems to want his actions to be declared righteous. But, strangely, instead of rejoicing, the king tears his clothing and mourns. Then, he has the assassin executed, declaring that he had no right to kill the man who so often tried to kill the king.

This is the story of King David, Saul’s assassin, and Saul. It’s also the story of Jesus Christ, the devil, and you. Once you were an enemy of Christ, raging against him with your sins. One day you would try to destroy him by devouring temptation. Then you’d be filled with grief in response to His word of forgiveness, only to resume your war against Him the next moment. And so, in the courtroom of God’s judgment, Satan slithered his deceitful tongue around his mouth and accused you before the throne of the King and Judge. He declared, “look at this miserable, dying sinner, this enemy of yours who wanted you dead and tore himself apart in the process. Well, I finished the job and solved your problem. Perhaps a reward is in order.”

But instead of tearing His garments and mourning over you, Jesus Christ came into this word to bring you back to life. The Greater King came into this world, came to you on the field of battle. And when you were torn apart by the wounds of your own making, He healed you with His blood, saved you with His death. He breathed His last and put the breath back in your lungs. And then, He ordered the death of the one who accused you. He crushed the head of the serpent, threw him in the pit and swore that he would never accuse you in the presence of God again. And He did all of this, because, like His Father, the King Jesus Christ saw you, His enemy, not as someone who needed destroying but as someone who needed saving.

FRIDAY

Galatians 4:4-7

It’s a bit of a mystery what St. Paul means when he says that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary “when the fullness of time had come.” What exactly does “fullness” mean? And why did it arrive at that moment? If indeed December 25, Year Zero is when Christ was born, why was it that day? Why not 4 years later in April  or 56 years earlier in June? Why?

Perhaps the mystery is the point. So, while things may look random and arbitrary to us, God has a time and a purpose for everything. And while we can’t see all the individual threads our Lord is weaving together, He has blessed us to see the greater picture, the picture of His love. Out of love, God sent His Son, who took on human flesh in the womb of the blessed virgin, so that He could become our brother and conquer our world of misery and filth with His blood and agony. When we were lost in the darkness, God sent His Son into our world to be our light and bring us home.  

And He did all of this in the fullness of time, which means that, when God created time itself, He ordered it around the arrival of the Son, your Savior. When your God knit together the very mechanics of the universe, He did it with His eyes on you, with His eyes on your redemption, with His eyes on pulling you out of death and giving you life through the death and resurrection of the Son.

Why did that fullness arrive exactly when it did? It’s a mystery. But what’s not a mystery, what’s not unknown is why God did this: He did this all to make you His own forever.