Saturday July 3 Pentecost 5
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Psalm 137
Another psalm expressing terrible grief that the nation had been abandoned. When the people were captured and taken to Babylon about 700 years before Jesus, they were asked to amuse their captors with funny songs, and were horrified to have to entertain those who had destroyed their land and the glorious temple dedicated to justice. The concluding couple of verses of this psalm are disturbingly violent. We sometimes also feel violent when we are abused, so there is an honest recognition of that truth here. Or we can think of this part as a commitment to ensuring that all evil should be completely removed from the world.
Psalm 144
This psalm expresses the feeling that we are not very strong in face of terrible forces, but that God can act to save us, and the end result will be unimaginable prosperity and happiness.
1 Samuel 14: 16-30 What’s Samuel about?
Jonathan’s solo daring but unauthorized attack galvanizes the people and they win a great victory over the Philistines. King Saul had tried to use religion to force people to obey him through requiring an unnecessary vow of fasting. Jonathan critiques his father for using religion to control people and points out that the weakened troops had been prevented by the vow from completing the destruction of the Philistines. Saul’s lack of trust in God is becoming obvious and doubts about his rule are growing.
Luke 23: 32-43 What’s Luke about?
Jesus is crucified and treated with contempt. Crucifixion was more horrific than the gospels report because when the gospels were written everyone was familiar with the gruesome and sadistic process. But God’s victory is being anticipated in Jesus’ forgiveness and inclusion even of a criminal being tortured to death with him.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
you have taught us through your Son
that love fulfils 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.
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