Wednesday October 13 Pentecost 20
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Psalm 12
Everyone has abandoned truth and justice. I stand alone against this injustice. It is when God sees injustice that God acts. Save us, God, evil is prevailing.
Psalm 13
God seems to be absent, and not helping, but I long that God will. Then I will rejoice!
Psalm 14
Everybody has abandoned the God of justice. When God acts there will be great rejoicing.
Jeremiah 37: 3-21 What’s Jeremiah about?
Egypt has gone to war against Babylon (named here as Chaldea), and the king hopes that this means that through the intervention by Egypt God will not allow Jerusalem to be destroyed as the consequence of the injustice of the kings. But Jeremiah insists on telling the truth—the consequences of the destruction of Jerusalem will happen even if every Babylonian soldier were wounded. Hoping for Egypt to rescue them is a false hope against God’s justice. Jeremiah is arrested but the king allows him to live as a prisoner in the palace instead of being executed.
God protects those who tell the truth when they confront the powerful.
Matthew 10: 24-33 What’s Matthew about?
Jesus continues to encourage strength in face of strong opposition that was happening as Matthew was writing this gospel. Good disciples will be like their teacher—they will be treated the same way as the teacher is treated. In other words, if people hate Jesus and call him evil, they will do the same to Jesus’ disciples. But the good news is that the truth will come out—Jesus was not evil and neither are his disciples; God values sparrows, and even individual hairs, so how much more will God value disciples! We are completely safe! In the end all will be put right—faithfulness to God’s care will result in deep life, and abandoning justice will lead to death.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
in our baptism you adopted us for your own.
Quicken, we pray, your Spirit within us,
that we, being renewed both in body and mind,
may worship you in sincerity and 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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