Wednesday January 25 Epiphany 3
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Psalm 119 Part 3
Psalm 119 is a meditation on responding to God’s call to justice. Each of the 176 verses is a variation on the theme of what it means to follow God’s call to justice, using terms such as “command”,”law”, “word”, “statute”, and the like. The psalm is arranged in 22 groups of eight verses—one group for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Within a group, each of the eight verses starts with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the groups are in Hebrew alphabetical order. So the first group of eight verses all start with A, the second group all start with B and so on. The first seven verses mirror the seven days of creation, with the eighth sometimes pointing to the next group. This very careful construction mirrors God’s creating the universe by overcoming chaos with order.
In the human world, justice, dignity and fulfilment – the outcomes of justice—are the human expressions of order. Thus the human world and the rest of creation are united in the same foundation. Today’s three sections begin with the letters Z, H, and Th (in Hebrew alphabetical order). As you read them, imagine the effect of each line in today’s first section beginning with “Z” and so on.
Isaiah 49: 1-12 What’s Isaiah about?
This passage begins with two references to the people being in the womb—possibly a hint that God is the womb, a daring poetic suggestion. It is as if God is giving birth a second time as Israel begins life anew back in Jerusalem. But there is an entirely new role for the rescued people—not just that they will be able to worship again in the temple, but that they will become the channel by which the entire world will know God’s character of bringing justice and fulfilment for all.
This is an astounding claim that this little country, now twice in slavery, is to be the source of light for the entire world, demonstrating God’s restoration of all those crushed into despair. To make this happen God will provide food along the way and flatten mountains and raise valleys to make a level road for the people’s return to Jerusalem through the Syrian desert.
Mark 6: 13-29 What’s Mark about?
King Herod executes Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. For Herod, a Jewish puppet king who had sold his soul to support Roman oppression, John was a terrorist who had been encouraging people to overthrow the Roman empire. Since Jesus is a relative of John, and had joined John’s disciples and had been baptized by him not long before, Jesus is also under the threat of execution. Mark may be including the gory details of John’s execution in anticipation of what will ultimately happen to Jesus.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
by grace alone you call us
and accept us in your service.
Strengthen us by your Spirit,
and make us worthy of your call;
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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