Tuesday February 9 Epiphany 5
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Psalm 78 Part 1
This poem speaks of how God showered the people with constant protection and generosity as God held the sea back so they could escape from their slavery in Egypt, and continued to protect them and miraculously feed them in the desert. But the people continued to distrust this God of justice and inclusion for all. There are consequences, as always, for unjust exploitative behaviour, but God does not abandon the people, even though they have abandoned God’s call to justice. So God continues to care because God makes care of the weakest a priority.
In effect, this is the basic creed of the ancient Israelites. If it were our basic belief today, what a difference that would make to our personal and international life.
Isaiah 59: 1-15a
Isaiah tells the people that their defeat wasn’t because God was weak, but because they were committed to greed and injustice: “no one goes to law honestly.” That’s why they are like blind people feeling their way along a wall, and sound like animals groaning, and why everything is falling apart. “Justice and righteousness” are synonyms for “fairness, inclusion and dignity” and when those priorities are abandoned and the poor are made poorer, the nation is in danger.
It’s no different in our time.
Mark 9: 42-50
Jesus uses deliberately exaggerated images of self-denial to capture the disciples’ attention (and ours) to the absolute importance of our living out the kingdom of justice. Because without being that kind of salt, we are worthless.
Mark is continuing his theme that without being prepared to give up something important, we cannot love. And then the kingdom will not arrive for us—better to make a sacrifice for love than to end up miserable for the rest of your life.
This week’s collect:
Merciful Lord,
grant to your faithful people pardon and peace,
that we may be cleansed from all our sins
and serve you with a quiet mind;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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