Monday June 10 Pentecost 3
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Psalm 64
The wicked are very clever, but God will defeat them, and everyone will be in awe at God’s power to restore goodness.
Psalm 65
God, you blot out our sins even though they are stronger than we, and just as generously you clothe creation with plenty, and with great goodness. God’s generosity extends to the furthermost ocean and to the gentle rain—water is a recurring image in this psalm. It ends with some other lovely images of hills, meadows, and valleys wearing clothes of joy and plenty.
Ecclesiastes 7.1-14 What’s Ecclesiastes about?
The writer continues his theme that everything is pointless. It’s better to mourn than to be happy because mourning is about what’s real. Success and failure are both pointless because God never tells anyone what is going to happen and it could all change. The implication is that we can’t rely on anything in this world so we must rely only on God.
This is courageous writing, asking very difficult questions about God—what’s the point of God if nothing makes any difference? It’s remarkable that such a book would have been retained in the Jewish scriptures.
Matthew 15.21-28 What’s Matthew about?
Jesus is in non-Jewish territory where the people are considered unclean and perhaps not quite human. Jesus is challenged by a local woman to take her seriously and he heals her child. Jesus accepts her as an equal in a discussion about the value of people outside of God’s love, and treats a woman as an equal. These attitudes were unthinkable for most people at that time.
This week’s collect:
O God,
you have assured the human family of eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Deliver us from the death of sin
and raise us to new life in him,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.