Saturday April 27 Easter 4
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Psalm 138
I praise God because God helped me, even though I am one of the lowly.
Psalm 139
God, you know everything about me, even when I was still in my mother’s womb, and I am amazed at your knowledge. Help me to remove all evil from the world.
Exodus 40: 18-38 What’s Exodus about?
Moses completes the ritual arrangement for housing the stone tables of the commandments. They were placed in the portable box, the ark. A ritual tent and a portable frame, the “tabernacle”, protected the ark. The detailed description of the complex construction and arrangement no doubt reflect the temple arrangements of the time when these stories were collected and arranged after the people had been released from Babylon. The care for these details demonstrates the extreme holiness with which the commands for justice, written on the two stone tablets in the ark, were to be treated.
God is present to the people in an overwhelming way in the form of this justice. God uses the tabernacle and its contents, symbolizing justice, to lead the people with cloud and fire through the wilderness just as God did when they escaped into justice and dignity through the Red Sea.
Matthew 5: 38-48 What’s Matthew about?
Jesus now powerfully demonstrates how one can respect an enemy while retaining one’s own self-respect. He gives three amusing examples.
Going the extra mile: Under Roman law it was legal for a Roman soldier to force any random civilian to carry his military equipment for exactly one mile. Roman roads were marked with milestones so it was easy to know when the forced mile was completed, but to prevent abuse of civilians and subsequent uprisings, it was illegal for the soldier to require the person to go even one foot more than a mile. So Jesus says that if a Roman soldier forces you to carry his equipment one mile you should insist on carrying it a second mile—that would get the soldier in trouble for breaking military law and would produce the hilarious situation in which a Roman solider would have to struggle to prevent the oppressed person from helping him!
Turning the other cheek—the modern interpretation, of being passive, completely reverses Jesus’ point. The only way for a presumably right-handed soldier to hit someone on their right cheek is to do so with a back-handed slap—Jesus is describing the typical insult by an occupying soldier, not a violent attack. For the oppressed person then offer their left cheek to the abusive soldier makes it impossible to repeat the back-handed insult—the soldier would have to twist their arm like a corkscrew to do that!
Offering one’s cloak: Roman soldiers were allowed to confiscate someone’s cloak for their personal use—so Jesus advises the victim to strip naked and loudly insist the Roman soldier take their dirty underwear as well! Jesus is teaching oppressed people how to maintain their dignity and refuse to accept the injustice of oppression but without resorting to the violence which their oppressors use.
< This week's collect: O God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make us perfect in every good work to do your will, and work in us that which is well-pleasing in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Click here to share your thoughts on the web site.