Thursday June 13 Pentecost 3
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Psalm 74
About 600 years before Jesus, the Babylonians invaded Israel and the Jerusalem temple was completely destroyed. This was a time of deep despair, and many thought Judaism would disappear forever. The psalm asks God to remember what great things God did in controlling the forces of nature when God made the world, and how God rescued the people from Egypt, and to do great things again to rescue the people. They trust this is possible because God is in charge of the whole earth. We face similar issues in terms of the entire planet in our time.
Ecclesiastes 11.1-8 What’s Ecclesiastes about?
No matter how much we plan we cannot tell what will happen. Even people who live to a great old age should enjoy every day because it will be followed by darkness. Everything is pointless. The writer is urging us to put our trust in God and not to rely on being successful in this world. Tomorrow we read the conclusion of this extraordinary book.
Matthew 16.13-20 What’s Matthew about?
Jesus speaks for the first time about his coming death. In Mark, from which Matthew took this account, Peter immediately objects. But Matthew, who is concerned about the stability of the church’s leadership years later, remembers that when he announced the coming crisis Jesus said that Peter would become a rock of leadership in face of the threat of death.
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.