Wednesday May 12 Easter 6
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Psalm 119 Part 5
Psalm 119 is a meditation on responding to God’s call to justice. Every verse contains some synonym for “justice”, such as “word”, “statute”, “commandment” or the like. The psalm is arranged in groups of eight verses. Each verse in the group starts with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet – the first group of eight verses all start with A, the second group all start with B and so on. The first seven verses mirror the seven days of creation, with the eighth sometimes pointing to the next group. This very careful construction mirrors God’s creating the universe by overcoming chaos with order. In the human world, justice, dignity and fulfilment – the outcomes of justice – are the expressions of order in the human world. The human world and the rest of creation are thus united. Today’s three sections begin with the letters M, N, and S which are in the Hebrew alphabetical order. As you read them, imagine the effect of each line beginning with “M” and so on.
2 Kings 2: 1-12 What’s Kings about?
Elijah, more than any other prophet, had challenged the kings of his time for their abuse of the people. A legend grew up that he had never died but had been taken directly into heaven. His successor, Elisha, accompanies him on his final journey which starts at Bethel where Jacob saw angels coming up and down from heaven, continues to Jericho where God gave the Israelites their first victory, and then Elijah repeats the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea and the crossing of the Jordan. The journey toward his being carried into heaven is a celebration of how God had repeatedly triumphed over the forces that would have crushed the people, just as Elijah had done in his opposition to the abusive kings. Early Christians applied this story to Jesus being taken up into heaven tomorrow at Ascension.
Luke 24: 44-53 What’s Revelation about?
In Luke’s gospel Jesus meets the dispirited disciples on Easter evening, eats with them and then leads them to Bethany where he is taken up to heaven. In the Acts, which Luke wrote as his second book, Jesus’ ascension seems to be somewhat later. The present date on which the ascension is commemorated, tomorrow, is selected as being forty days after Easter—a traditional way of describing a significant length of time, never used as an exact date.
This week’s collect:
Merciful God,
you have prepared for those who love you
riches beyond imagination.
Pour into our hearts such love toward you,
that we, loving you above all things,
may obtain your promises,
which exceed all that we can desire;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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