Friday June 14 Pentecost 3
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Psalm 73
I almost joined the proud and evil people, who get away with anything. But I continue to suffer in spite of being faithful to God. I could not understand this, until in your temple I realised that you are in charge in the end.
Ecclesiastes 11.9-12.14 What’s Ecclesiastes about?
This passage, as the book comes to a conclusion, is a heart-breaking statement of the futility of youth—”the grasshopper drags itself along…the silver cord is broken..” and so on. The writer presses us to acknowledge that in the end everything we are and everything we hope for is not in our hands but in God’s, and to think otherwise is to be a fool.
Matthew 16.21-28 What’s Matthew about?
Peter rejects Jesus’ decision to die. Only those who are unattached to their life will really live. Those who hold on to their life have already died, and this is the meaning of the Father repaying everyone—the decision to hold onto one’s safety above everything else results in a person being dead.
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.