Thursday March 9 Lent 2
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Psalm 70
God can be trusted to deliver the poor from evil.
These two psalms are often used on Thursdays, the mini-anniversaries of the approach of Jesus’ death in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Psalm 71
In old age I am filled with praise for the God who has rescued me in so many ways throughout my long life. People are attacking me now, but I trust in your salvation as you have acted for me all my life.
Jeremiah 4: 9-28 What’s Jeremiah about?
In light of the imminent invasion by Assyria, Jeremiah describes the denial being practiced by the leadership, and the utter desolation that is the consequence of the people’s abandoning God’s call to generosity and justice. God is imaged as being angry, but the meaning is that the people will bring disaster on themselves because God cannot stop being our source, and cannot stop being just, so there are inescapable consequences for abandoning our source. Near the end of the passage there is a hint that God’s generosity will ensure the disaster is not absolute.
How well this fits the circumstances of our time.
John 5: 19-29 What’s John about?
In response to the criticism that Jesus is claiming to be God, Jesus explains that what he does is actually God acting. Jesus’ generosity is the way in which we see God’s generosity. If we respond with generosity of our own, that will be to live fully, and if we reject acting in generosity and justice, there will be dire consequences. We all know this to be true.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God, whose Son was revealed in majesty
before he suffered death upon the cross,
give us faith to perceive his glory,
that being strengthened by his grace
we may be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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