Sunday June 30 Pentecost 6
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Psalm 145
Praise to God because God cares for the oppressed and feeds all creation—God is praised everywhere.
Numbers 21.4-9, 21-35 What’s Numbers about?
The people continue to complain, not trusting God. God sends serpents which kill some of the people, but God provides a cure: Moses holds up a bronze serpent which people can gaze upon to be healed. These are very ancient stories of danger and healing and may reflect some distant ceremonial or magic event which is remembered as significant.
In his gospel, John quotes this story to suggest that the serpent being lifted up is a fore-telling of Jesus being lifted up on the cross to heal all humanity. It was a daring use of an image to associate Jesus with a snake.
The Israelites then conquer two local kings, Og and Sihon, possibly giants, who refuse to accept the Israelites’ promise to take nothing when they pass through their lands. These two victories by God are sung in several of the psalms. The stories may be saying that despite the constant unfaithfulness of the people, God remains faithful and ensures the promise of a land of their own will finally happen.
Luke 13.10-17 What’s Luke about?
This story of Jesus curing a crippled woman on the Sabbath is one of many in which Jesus is criticized for healing (which technically was to do work) on the Sabbath. The story makes it clear that the opposition pointed out that Jesus had deliberately done the healing on the Sabbath—he could easily have done it one day earlier, or one day later considering the woman had been ill for eighteen years.
Do we, in our time, hear Jesus challenging us about making our faith not about ourselves, but about radical inclusion of modern outcasts?
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
you have taught us through your Son
that love fulfills 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.