Tuesday January 31 Epiphany 4
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Psalm 61
I was burdened and God became my strength—be with me always.
Psalm 62
In face of evil, we trust in God to be our solid foundation.
Isaiah 52: 1-12 What’s Isaiah about?
God is encouraging the far away ruined city of Jerusalem to rejoice as her people return to her, bringing with them the sacred vessels so the temple can again be in use. God’s victory over their oppressors will be so complete that they won’t need to hurry back!
We are called to cultivate that counter-cultural expectation of joy and calmness in our modern circumstances when we are oppressed by seemingly irresistible forces of destruction.
Mark 8: 1-10 What’s Mark about?
Jesus feeds four thousand of the outcast aboriginal people from seven loaves and then has seven baskets left over. Why seven? The Israelites had been told to exterminate the aboriginal nations when they entered the land and there were seven tribes. It is clear that Jesus is treating the original peoples as worthy of full respect and dignity and feasting in God’s world—God’s care and respect and generosity overflows for the despised. It’s not hard to imagine the implications for our time.
This week’s collect:
Living God,
in Christ you make all things new.
Transform the poverty of our nature
by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives
make known your glory;
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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