Tuesday July 30 Pentecost 10
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Psalm 61
I was burdened and God became my strength—be with me always.
Psalm 62
In face of evil, we trust in God to be our solid foundation.
Judges 2.1-5, 11-23 What’s Judges about?
We now begin reading the story of how the people were governed and behaved in the land as they settled it. The ‘judges’ are not judges in the modern meaning of that word, but local and temporary military leaders. There is no central political leadership at the time, each group governs itself independently. But when there is a general threat, always brought on by the people abandoning the God of justice, a temporary leader (a ‘judge’) is chosen to lead all twelve tribes and rescue them from the consequences.
Today’s reading contains the theological analysis which undergirds most of the historical books. The whole of their history is seen as God being loyal to the people who are not loyal in return and who suffer the consequences of being disloyal to the God of justice.
In Judges we will read a series of stories about dramatic military victories by these temporary leaders, each story in different ways illustrating that it is God and not the strength of the people which is the source of their victories. Each time the people abandon God they suffer defeat and each time God raises up a “judge” who leads them back to safety. The message is that even in their greatest moral or military weakness, God remains faithful and powerful in their defence. It would be good for us to become aware of that in the modern world.
The reading begins with an angel speaking who says he, the angel, brought the people out of Egypt. This is one of many examples in the Hebrew Bible in which “angel” is a euphemism for “God.” If the writer felt it was presumptuous or even sacrilegious to speak about God directly, then they might substitute “angel” but readers always knew they were speaking of God.
Matthew 27.32-44 What’s Matthew about?
Jesus is crucified. As was common practice, abuse of the dying person was allowed and even encouraged by the Roman military as a warning against rebellion. Jesus’ desolation is absolute. But the early Christians experienced this willingness to undergo such horror as God’s absolute commitment to us.
This week’s collect:
O God,
the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy,
increase and multiply upon us your mercy,
that with you as our ruler and guide,
we may so pass through things temporal,
that we lose not the things eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.