Wednesday September 4 Pentecost 15
Click here for simplified daily office prayers
Psalm 119 Part 2
Psalm 119 is a meditation on responding to God’s call to justice. Each of the 176 verses is a variation on the theme of what it means to follow God’s call to justice, using terms such as “command”,”law”, “word”, “statute”, and the like. The psalm is arranged in 22 groups of eight verses—one group for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Within a group, each of the eight verses starts with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the groups are in Hebrew alphabetical order. So the first group of eight verses all start with A, the second group all start with B and so on. The first seven verses mirror the seven days of creation, with the eighth sometimes pointing to the next group. This very careful construction mirrors God’s creating the universe by overcoming chaos with order.
In the human world, justice, dignity and fulfilment – the outcomes of justice—are the human expressions of order. Thus the human world and the rest of creation are united in the same foundation. Today’s three sections begin with the letters D, H and W (in Hebrew alphabetical order). As you read them, imagine the effect of each line in today’s first section beginning with “D” and so on.
Job 12.1, 14.1-22 What’s Job about?
Job argues that even trees have hope of putting out new branches when they are cut down, but humans have no such hope when they die—humans die forever and do not even experience the success of their children after they die. God does not ensure justice happens.
John 8.47-59 What’s John about?
The religious leaders accuse Jesus of claiming to be greater than Abraham. Jesus claims that Abraham was looking forward to seeing him. They respond that he cannot have personally known Abraham. Jesus responds with the famous “I am” which was the name of God which God told Moses. John is interpreting that Jesus is eternal, and that when people reject that they do so because they choose not to know the eternal God
This week’s collect:
Author and Giver of all good things,
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us in all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Click here to share your thoughts on the web site.