Thursday July 8 Pentecost 6
Click here for simplified daily office prayers
Psalm 18 Part 2
The first half of this long psalm used images from the escape through the Red Sea to celebrate God’s rescue of us. This second half speaks of our faithfulness (understood to be a way of doing justice) which has been made possible because of our being rescued. The psalm goes on to use the imagery of total military victory as a symbol of the victory that God’s justice will have and how deeply we rejoice in that victory.
1 Samuel 16: 14—17: 11 What’s Samuel about?
Saul suffers from a mental illness which was understood in that time to be judgment by God for Saul not having obeyed God’s command to removal evil from the land. Unaware that he will be usurped by David, Saul invites David to live with him and minister to him in his illness.
A Philistine giant called Goliath challenges the Israelites—Saul and the entire country are terrified. And again, it will be David who relieves Saul of his terror. Clearly God’s plan for a new and faithful king is unfolding before our eyes.
Luke 24: 36-53 What’s Luke about?
The two disciples who encountered Jesus on their dark journey on Easter evening return to Jerusalem in joy. Now they all encounter Jesus who assures them of the reality of the resurrection by inviting them to touch him and to watch him eat. He shows how his death and resurrection have been God’s plan from the ancient past, assigns them to proclaim this, and leaves them that evening as he returns to heaven.
As with much of scripture, stories are equally valid at face value and as embodying multiple levels of meaning. Resurrection is not primarily a biological repair—it is a real event that happens to us at many levels including the physical. Luke is assuring us in this story of how real resurrection is and how central it is to God’s character and to creation. When we know that, we discover that resurrection is never just about us, but includes everyone. Luke makes it clear in his second book (the Acts of the Apostles) that while Jesus may no longer be present in his earthly body, the Spirit of Jesus will be present to make resurrection available to us and to all.
This concludes our reading of Luke’s gospel. Tomorrow we begin reading through Mark’s gospel.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
your Son Jesus Christ has taught us
that what we do for the least of your children
we do also for him.
Give us the will to serve others
as he was the servant of all,
who gave up his life and died for us,
but lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Click here to share a comment on the web site.