Wednesday June 12 Pentecost 3
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Psalm 119 Part 4
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 Y, K and L (in Hebrew alphabetical order). As you read them, imagine the effect of each line in today’s first section beginning with “Y” and so on.
Ecclesiastes 9.11-18 What’s Ecclesiastes about?
Things don’t work out the way they should. Everyone gets caught helplessly in disaster. Good people are forgotten. One bungler destroys much wisdom. The author is relentless in insisting that we cannot put our trust in the processes of this world.
Matthew 16.1-12 What’s Matthew about?
Jesus is in conflict with the religious leaders who refuse to see the meaning of his miracles—that the kingdom is coming. They ask for proof in the form of a demonstration miracle, but Jesus insists that the only miracle he will give is like Jonah—he will die and rise as Jonah did with the great fish. Their refusal to see God’s inclusive love is something that the disciples must guard against in their own lives.
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.