During my morning prayer / Bible reading / quiet time / meditation this morning, I found myself confronted with two radically different depictions of God's presence that resulted in the same human response. The psalm reading appointed for this morning (per the lectionary in LSB) was Psalm 99, a stirring, and lofty depiction of our transcendent Sovereign Lord, ruling in majesty over all the earth:

The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble!

He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!

The Lord is great in Zion;

he is exalted over all the peoples.

Let them praise your great and awesome name!

Holy is he!

The King in his might loves justice.

You have established equity;

you have executed justice

and righteousness in Jacob.

Exalt the Lord our God;

worship at his footstool!

Holy is he! (Psalm 99.1-5, ESV)

The gospel reading for this morning was from Luke 5, specifically the account of Jesus healing a leper. Here we see another account of God, still sovereign over creation, but this time immanently close, touching the body of one disfigured by disease and bringing healing:

While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. (Luke 5.12-16, ESV)

In both accounts, God demonstrates his sovereign rule over creation--in Psalm 99 over the whole cosmos and in Luke 5 over the disease of a single man. Similarly, in both accounts the human response is identical, worship--in Psalm 99 the whole of humanity worshiping at the footstool of his throne and in Luke 5 a single man on his face before Christ Jesus.

Here God's transcendence and immanence stand side-by-side, not requiring reconciliation or explanation. Our God of infinite majesty is the same God who 'got his hands dirty' as the incarnate Messiah.

While both of these passages were familiar to me before this morning, I doubtless had never read them in tandem like this. The discipline of lectionary to guide my reading has again proven to challenge, stretch, and reward from its use.