Thursday March 23 Lent 4
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Psalm 69
A desperate plea for help in the midst of betrayal, disaster and defeat. Some imagery is violent, which we can interpret as expressing a deep desire that there be no evil in the world. The references to gall and vinegar may have influenced the early Christians’ description of Jesus’ crucifixion to which we are travelling in Lent.
Jeremiah 22: 13-23 What’s Jeremiah about?
A dramatic passage criticizing king Jehoiakim’s accumulation of wealth at the expense of the poor, and describing the terrible consequences which will be his country’s defeat and enslavement in Babylon.
In this passage the connection between justice for the poor and security for the country is explicit. Our modern awareness that extreme disparity in wealth has bad consequences for the entire country is our rediscovery of the same truth.
John 6: 41-51 What’s John about?
The conversation continues regarding Jesus’ significance. Jesus is claiming to be humanity’s ultimate food, far more important than the holy manna given long ago in the desert and preserved in holy vessels in the temple until the Babylonians destroyed it. Upon being challenged that he is only an ordinary person and cannot therefore be that important, Jesus responds that everyone who has experienced God will see God working in him and will live forever by “eating” him. Jesus will continue to press the startling implications of this image of “eating” him as this passage continues tomorrow.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
through the waters of baptism
your Son has made us children of light.
May we ever walk in his light
and show forth your glory in the world;
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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