Friday August 9 Pentecost 11
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Psalm 88
A lament that I have been crushed and am beyond hope. When I am dead, there is nothing left, there is no life beyond the grave. Astonishingly, to be fully with us, Jesus enters completely into such a death.
This psalm is appropriately read on a Friday as Jesus is placed in the grave. Only God’s act, on Saturday night—the eve of the resurrection—can reverse death—even Jesus’ death. That’s the only hope there is.
Judges 9.1-16, 19-21 What’s Judges about?
After Gideon’s death, his son Abimalech, born by Gideon’s concubine, kills Gideon’s seventy other sons and makes himself king.
Notice that the payment by his mother’s family for this murder was recalled by early Christians as the payment that Judas received for betraying Jesus. The early Christians were labelling Judas as another Abimalech.
The only surviving brother, Jotham, sings an ancient song about how the valuable trees in a forest each refused to become kings over the other trees, but only the useless bramble agreed. In the end the bramble, useful only for starting fires, burns down the forest. Jotham is predicting the disaster that Abimalech will bring upon the people, just as the compilers of these stories had experienced their kings abusing their power and bringing the disaster of the Babylonian slavery upon the people. Jotham must then flee for his life.
John 2.1-12 What’s John about?
In John’s gospel this wedding is the first time that Jesus interacts with people other than his disciples. His first interaction is to perform a miracle or, as John interprets them, a “sign.” This miracle, which opens Jesus’ public appearances is set on “the third day”—code language in John for “the resurrection.” After everyone has had too much to drink, Jesus provides an additional 180 gallons of wine! Since banquets were the symbol of heaven in Jesus’ time, John opens his gospel by saying that Jesus has come to provide a banquet for humanity in which overflowing joy will fill everyone.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
your Son Jesus Christ fed the hungry
with the bread of his life
and the word of his kingdom.
Renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your true and living bread,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.