Tuesday June 15 Pentecost 3
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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.
1 Samuel 1: 21—2: 11 What’s Samuel about?
When Samuel is old enough to travel, his mother brings him to the temple and sings a song of praise to God who cares for the powerless such as women like her who could have no children. To be barren was a disaster for a woman in the ancient world—she would be despised and treated as a child throughout her life. Early Christians used this song as the basis for The Magnificat, the song Mary sang when she became miraculously pregnant. Early Christians modelled some of Jesus’ early life on these stories.
Samuel’s mother dedicates Samuel to God and in thanksgiving leaves him with the priest at Shiloh, located in Samaria, the centre of worship and the location of the ark before Jerusalem was established.
Luke 20.19-26 What’s Luke about?
Jesus’ confrontation with the religious authorities intensifies in the final days before his execution. The authorities attempt to get Jesus to declare his relationship to the Roman empire by expressing loyalty or disloyalty to Caesar whose image is on the coinage as a god. If Jesus approves of paying taxes to a Roman god the authorities will accuse him of abandoning his faith in which case his followers will reject him, but if Jesus refuses to affirm the payment of taxes to the Roman god, they can get the Romans to execute him for encouraging revolution. Jesus’ response is to declare his loyalty in terms that demand their response: the real God owns everything and the emperor, even if he claims to be a god, owns nothing. Jesus dares them to declare where they stand on this fundamental religious claim.
The common but mistaken idea that “render unto Caesar” means that we should always obey our rulers is the exact opposite of what Jesus meant. What Jesus meant is that there is only one ruler of this world—the God of justice—and we owe nothing to the power-hungry rulers of this world. Therefore “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” means we don’t owe anything to rulers of this world because they don’t own anything at all.
We are challenged in our day to make clear our loyalty either for the God of justice we experience in Jesus, or for the gods of this world who violently exploit people. We are learning to say to the violent gods of our day, “God owns the world, you own nothing. Our loyalty is clear.”
This week’s collect:
Almighty God, without you we are not able to please you.
Mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit
may in all things direct and rule our hearts;
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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