Thursday November 24 Reign of Christ
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Psalm 131
God is like a mother on whom I rest in complete confidence.
Psalm 132
The psalm reminds God that David was committed to finding a permanent place for the ark to stay in Jerusalem and that God swore an oath that God would never abandon David or Jerusalem.
In our time we can understand this oath to be God’s absolute commitment to creation and to our rescue which is accomplished in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Psalm 133
Another short psalm expressing joy in the abundance we experience when humanity lives in unity—that is, in justice and inclusion of all.
Zechariah 13: 1-9 What’s Zechariah about?
God will purify the leaders and the people.
Luke 19: 11-27 What’s Luke about?
At the time Luke was writing the Romans had just destroyed the Jewish temple with enormous violence, and many early followers of Jesus had begun to worry that Jesus’ death and resurrection had meant nothing. Luke probably combines these two concerns in this parable. The first lesson of the story is that only the poorest slave was faithful to God because the slave refused to take part in illegal investment to make money—this kind of profit is condemned in the Hebrew Bible. He suffers under the cruelty of the king. Luke is saying that the cruel king is the Roman empire and that the faithful slaves who refuse to take part are the early followers of Jesus. They are to be congratulated because of their courage and faithfulness.
The second lesson is that the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans could be interpreted as the consequence of people being unfaithful to the God of justice.
Such interpretations would have been very encouraging to the early followers in such dire circumstances. In the same way, as Advent approaches, this parable encourages us to trust that God’s power is greater than all the betrayals that are happening in our word.
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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