Tuesday July 20 Pentecost 8
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Psalm 47
God reigns over history and over the nations and has protected us. Praise to God!
Psalm 48
A song of praise for how Jerusalem has been blessed by God— the forces which would destroy us are overcome.
We might understand this psalm as rejoicing in the beauty of creation, and of our own self as a glorious city, made possible by God’s commitment to justice.
1 Samuel 25: 1-22 What’s Samuel about?
David is insulted by a wealthy man whom he had earlier protected, and David decides to kill him. Although provoked, David is not exhibiting the justice to which kings are called. This is the first time that David abandons God’s justice, as later writers understood all the kings to have done. This infidelity to justice was understood by the writers of these stories to have been the root cause of the disastrous defeat, occupation, and captivity in Babylon around 600 B.C. The wealthy man’s wife leaves secretly with immense gifts to offer to David. She can foresee what the outcome will be, and has decided to align herself with David.
Mark 4: 21-34 What’s Mark about?
Jesus uses a series of images to imagine the triumph of God’s kingdom of justice: a lamp in the dark, a fair and just measure, grain growing automatically, and a tiny mustard seed. All are startling ways in which the kingdom is different from the usual conception of kingdoms.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
your Son has opened for us
a new and living way into your presence.
Give us pure hearts and constant wills
to worship you in spirit and in truth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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