Friday October 29 Pentecost 22
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Psalm 51
I have committed evil acts and I long that God will wash me clean. If I am forgiven, I will tell everyone of God’s goodness. I would have given expensive sacrifices, but what you want, O God, is that I change my priorities. Then God will be pleased with us and our religious practices.
This psalm is often used on Fridays, the anniversary of the death of Christ through which forgiveness is possible. Our world would receive new life if we were as committed to changing direction in matters which are bringing death to the planet.
Nehemiah 2: 1-20 What’s Nehemiah about?
With God’s help Nehemiah receives king Artaxerxes’ support to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it. When he arrives at Jerusalem he secretly inspects what is left of the walls and meets secretly with Jewish leaders to begin the restoration. But local officials, who are not Jews, oppose the re-building. In fact, the re-building of Jerusalem did not go smoothly, and the writer attributes this to opposition from foreigners.
Matthew 13: 24-30 What’s Matthew about?
Matthew continues the second in a series of parables about seeds. Faced with an infestation of deliberately planted weeds in his wheat field, the owner instructs the workers to allow the weeds to grow so as not to tear out the wheat, but at harvest to separate the wheat from the weeds. This story would have been of support to the early Christians of Matthew’s time who were becoming aware that the kingdom of justice and fulfillment that Jesus had promised wasn’t happening. Matthew recalls Jesus predicting this and saying that at the end of time God will put everything right at the end, even though there is opposition to the kingdom at the present.
This week’s collect:
Lord God our redeemer,
who heard the cry of your people
and sent your servant Moses
to lead them out of slavery,
free us from the tyranny of sin and death,
and by the leading of your Spirit
bring us to our promised land;
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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