Friday July 8 Pentecost 4
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Psalm 16
I have been loyal to the God of justice, save me from the grave and I will have joy.
Psalm 17
I am innocent, but the evil people surround me—save me and I will be fulfilled.
Both these psalms are appropriate for Fridays, the weekly mini-anniversary of the crucifixion and both conclude with hope for new life.
Deuteronomy 31.7-13, 24-32.4 What’s Deuteronomy about?
Moses writes down the whole law and places it in the ark of the covenant with the original 10 commandments. He commands that the whole law be read every seven years not only to Israelites but to foreigners in the land because all will need to be reminded of it. Moses then sings a song of praise about God’s care for the people.
Matthew 24.15-31 What’s Matthew about?
At the time Matthew was writing his gospel the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army and the holy places deliberately desecrated. Matthew understands that Jesus had foreseen this and would have encouraged his disciples to remain strong under the disaster, to resist the temptation to find easy solutions, and would have assured them that God would come with great strength to rescue them. Matthew’s idea is that if Jesus foresaw the disaster and how bad it would be, then there is hope that in the end all is in God’s hands and we can trust ourselves to that fact.
These final chapters of Matthew’s gospel deal with the issues of global disaster in a traditional semi-poetic format in which the people are finally rescued from great horror. While our historical circumstances differ, the same issues arise for us—how do we remain faithful to the underlying love behind the cosmos when disaster strikes us, and how do we deepen our expectation that God’s goodness will prevail despite all the evidence to the contrary?
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
your Son Jesus Christ has taught us
that what we do for the least of your children
we do also for him.
Give us the will to serve others
as he was the servant of all,
who gave up his life and died for us,
but lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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