Monday November 22 Reign of Christ
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Psalm 106 Part 2
In the wilderness the people repeatedly betrayed God, and then joined horrible religions when they entered the promised land, and there were terrible consequences. Even so, God took mercy on them when they were captured and influenced their captors to let them return.
Joel 3: 1-2, 9-17 What’s Joel about?
The poet imagines a time when God will judge all the great nations for oppressing God’s people. Are we able to anticipate a time when God will stop all evil in the world? We read this passage because the early Christians understood that process had begun to be underway with the birth of Jesus.
Matthew 19: 1-12 What’s Matthew about?
As often in his gospel, Matthew recalls Jesus being especially concerned about how Christians relate to each other. In this account Jesus is challenged about the relationships between married couples. Scripture said that a man could divorce his wife at any time by saying a simple formula “I dismiss you,” and the wife would be left destitute. Jesus, however, insists that such an action, even if based on scripture, is unjust and that the man who does such a thing is guilty.
A higher standard of commitment is required of Christians if they are to follow God’s intentions and live full lives. We can glimpse the new equality between husbands and wives that was happening among the early Christians. The saying about eunuchs may mean that the deep commitment to faithfulness can also be followed by those whose genital surgery prevented them from worshipping the God of justice in the temple—which was forbidden by the scriptures.
Jesus is requiring of Christians a deep inclusivity embracing both wives and those physically disabled.
This week’s collect:
Almighty and everlasting God,
whose will it is to restore all things
in your well-beloved Son, our Lord and King,
grant that the peoples of the earth,
now divided and enslaved by sin,
may be freed and brought together
under his gentle and loving rule;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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