Wednesday July 31 Pentecost 10
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Psalm 72
A prayer that the king will rule with justice for the poor, and that as a result all will have more than enough to live fully. This can easily applied as a prayer for our political leaders today.
Early Christians saw in this psalm, perhaps originally intended as a prayer that king David would rule with justice, an affirmation of the new world order being instituted by the birth of Christ.
Judges 3.12-30 What’s Judges about?
The Israelites do not follow the God of justice, and so the king of Moab conquers the Israelites, and they become slaves just as they were in Egypt. Nevertheless, God keeps God’s eternal promise, and raises up a judge to free Israel.
The somewhat gory details of how the judge kills the king of Moab are there not for entertainment as might be the case in modern accounts of violence, but in order to claim authenticity for the victory God won through the judge.
This is the first of many such ancient stories that the compilers gathered into the Book of Judges. Their purpose was to illustrate their belief that the Israelites are conquered when they abandon the God of justice, and that each time they do, God faithfully sends leaders to rescue them. Which is what they understood had just happened when the people where allowed to return home from Jerusalem from slavery in Babylon.
Matthew 27.45-54 What’s Matthew about?
Following Mark’s gospel, Matthew reports that Jesus experienced the ultimate death of being abandonned by God. Cosmic events immediately happen including a foretaste of the resurrection. In contrast to the religious leaders who arranged his execution, non-Jews, oppressive Roman soldiers recognize the significance of Jesus.
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.