Thursday July 4 Pentecost 6
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Psalm 134
A very brief two-verse psalm of praise for God, and of blessing from God.
Psalm 135
Praise to God who brings fertility and defeats foreign kings, and who defeated the Egyptians so Israel could go free, and who upholds justice. This God is so much greater than the pointless non-gods that other nations worship.
Thank goodness we know the God of justice is real, and the competing destructive public policies in our day are ultimately powerless.
Numbers 23.11-26 What’s Numbers about?
Balaam blesses the people despite the powerful king trying to force him to do the opposite. For the second time, an ancient poem about Israel’s victory is inserted into the narrative. King Balak tries to compromise—if Balaam will not curse the Israelites, could he refrain from blessing them? But Balaam, the non-Jew, refuses to disobey the God of Israel.
The question for us is how deeply we trust God in face of powerful forces in our day which try to force us to give loyalty to greed and self-interest and violence as the ultimate power.
Matthew 22.1-14 What’s Matthew about?
In the days before Jesus’ crucifixion, Matthew remembers Jesus telling a serious of parables about the looming crisis. In this parable a king is mocked by his rebellious officials who refuse to attend his banquet at the last minute. In the ancient world this would result in an enormous waste as the food rotted. The king responds with severe punishment and destroys their city (as in Matthew’s time Rome destroyed Jerusalem). The king further insults his rebellious officials by throwing the feast for the general public regardless of their status.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
you have taught us through your Son
that love fulfills the law.
May we love you with all our heart,
all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength,
and may we love our neighbour as ourselves;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.