Friday September 24 Pentecost 17
Click here for simplified daily office prayers
Psalm 88
A lament that I have been crushed and am beyond hope. When I am dead, there is nothing left, there is no life beyond the grave.
Astonishingly, to be fully with us, Jesus enters completely into such a death. This psalm is appropriately read on a Friday as Jesus is placed in the grave. Only God’s act, on Saturday night—the eve of the resurrection—can reverse death—even Jesus’ death. That’s the only hope there is.
2 Kings 9: 17-37 What’s Kings about?
Jehu kills King Joram and King Ahaziah, both sons of King Ahab. Joram is killed in the vineyard of Naboth who had been murdered by Jezebel, Joram’s mother, so that Joram’s father, king Ahab, could steal the vineyard and turn it into a royal garden. Jezebel is killed and eaten by dogs as Elijah had predicted. Because Ahab and Jezebel were understood to have been very evil, this was considered God’s victory of good over evil, and the violent stories would have affirmed the claim that evil and exploitation would be totally overcome. Justice and inclusion for all may yet triumph!
Matthew 6: 7-15 What’s Matthew about?
Jesus teaches the Lord’s prayer. The prayer starts with the affirmation that God is the householder of the universe, and of God’s intention for inclusion of all and of a society in which all are given dignity. Then the Greek says, “As already in heaven, may your will and rule happen on earth.” It then illustrates what that means: we all should have enough to eat, but this implies not just food but justice for all, justice being the true bread which comes down from heaven. Then we ask God to cancel our debts—not just money, but the loyalty to God’s creation that we have squandered, and reparations we owe others for the disloyalty and injustice we have done to them, and then we commit to cancelling the debts of those who owe us something, perhaps for having injured us. Finally, as is often asked, why would God lead us into temptation? The original meaning was likely a request that we not give in to the temptation to use violence to oppress others, and finally that we especially never use any kind of violence—physical or verbal or emotional—in support of Christ.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth,
and ourselves in your image.
Teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and to serve you with reverence and thanksgiving;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Click here to share a comment on the web site.