Wednesday October 30 Pentecost 23
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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.
Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 28.14-26 What’s Ecclesiasticus about?
Slandering people has terrible consequences-keep your tongue under control or you will become the victim.
Luke 11.37-52 What’s Luke about?
Washing before a meal was not about hygiene as it would be for us, but was a religious ceremony to demonstrate that you were worthy to eat the meal. When Jesus omits this ceremony he is criticized and uses that as an opportunity to call for a deeper worthiness demonstrated not by ceremony but by commitment to care for the poor. For wealthy people to think that tithing the tiniest herbs, which cost them nothing, or being a person of public honour is the way to be holy is actually to have died and to be forgotten in your grave. Religious lawyers, too, who pride themselves on knowledge of scripture, are using that knowledge to make peoples’ lives more difficult and to support attacks on people who are following God’s call to justice. These are excoriating criticisms of using faith and religion as a way to get rich and powerful. No wonder the powerful leaders are beginning to plan Jesus’ execution.
This week’s collect:
Lord God our redeemer,
who heard the cry of your people
and sent your servant Moses
to lead them out of slavery,
free us from the tyranny of sin and death,
and by the leading of your Spirit
bring us to our promised land;
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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