Wednesday December 4 Advent
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Psalm 119 Part 1
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 twenty-two groups of eight verses. 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 expressions of this order. Thus the human world and the rest of creation are united in the same foundation. Today’s three sections begin with the letters A, B and G (in Hebrew alphabetical order). As you read them, imagine the effect of each line in today’s first section beginning with A” and so on.
Isaiah 2: 1-11 What’s Isaiah about?
Isaiah imagines a time when there will be a global response to justice, but warms of what may happen if the Israelites do not respond to that invitation to justice for all.
Luke 20.19-26 What’s Luke about?
Those opposed to Jesus ridicule the then controversial idea of resurrection—they point out that if resurrection is reall, then a woman who had been married to a series of brothers (as was legally required if each died without children) then when they were all resurrected she would be married to them all simultaneously and would be committing polygamy in heaven!
We may be hearing responses to critiques of Christian claims about Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus responds that God is interested in those who are alive now and live through the resurrection, not in speculations about the social arrangements in heaven.
Are our faith concerns primarily with how to enact justice and inclusion for all in this world, or about how to win religious arguments? Jesus challenges us not to get caught up in the latter.
This is the final confrontation mounted by the religious authorities before Jesus’ crucifixion. From now on Jesus takes the initiative and critiques his accusers.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life
in which your Son Jesus Christ
came to us in great humility,
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge both the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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