Monday July 19 Pentecost 8
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Psalm 44
This is a psalm for times when bad things happen to us when it’s not our fault. The psalm starts off by recounting how God did amazing things for us in the past—God rescued us out of Egypt through the Red Sea. But now God no longer cares for us and terrible things are happening to us, even though we have done nothing wrong. At the end the psalm says there is nothing to do but call on God to put things right.
1 Samuel 24: 1-22 What’s Samuel about?
Saul and his army go out to kill David. David hides in a cave and has a chance to kill Saul when Saul accidentally goes into the same cave to relieve himself. While Saul is relieving himself David surreptitiously cuts off a piece of Saul’s cloak and afterwards uses it to prove to Saul how much he respects him, and that he refrained from killing him when he easily could have, because God had anointed Saul to be king. David is obedient to God having chosen Saul, even though God is now removing Saul. David swears to Saul that he will not exterminate Saul’s family when David becomes king. Saul dies a while after this, and we anticipate David becoming king.
Mark 4: 1-20 What’s Mark about?
Jesus’ famous parable about the sower and the seeds. Originally Jesus probably meant to use an obvious common experience (wonderful harvests happen even though most of the seeds which were planted never grow) to say that no matter how much opposition his followers, or the kingdom, encounter, God’s generous plenty always wins in the end. It is a very effective image, experienced by all who would have heard Jesus speaking.
The subsequent explanation that each example of seeds has a special meaning was probably added later by an early Christian who misunderstood the point of the story and thought Jesus had been explaining why some people followed him, and others didn’t.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
your Son has opened for us
a new and living way into your presence.
Give us pure hearts and constant wills
to worship you in spirit and in truth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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