Author: Harold

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.

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Thursday August 8          Pentecost 11

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Psalm 83
We are under terrible attack. God, act quickly and utterly defeat them. We can say the same: that our world is under attack from forces of greed and exploitation, and we desperately need to be rescued. We can interpret the almost violent images in this psalm, as an expression of our deep determination that nothing will overcome the work of justice, inclusion and dignity for all. If our culture felt that strongly about dignity of all, what a wonderful world we would live in!

Judges 8.22-35                           What’s Judges about?
The people ask Gideon to rule them but he refuses. Likely this is a much later reaction by the story teller to the way in which Israel’s kings later abused their power. Indeed, Gideon does abuse his power by persuading people to shower him with wealth, and he leads the people astray in the same way that the people at Sinai worshipped the golden calf. Nevertheless, the people have 40 years of peace. But they return to worshipping Baal as soon as Gideon dies. The story-teller is ambiguous about Gideon—sometimes he is faithful to the true God and sometimes not, or perhaps there were a number of different opinions about Gideon which were combined into one story.

John 1.43-51                           What’s John about?
Jesus calls another disciple, Philip, who brings a friend, Nathaniel. Nathaniel is impressed that Jesus knows him deeply before having met him. Jesus responds that that experience is only the first of many which will be more impressive than that.

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.

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Wednesday August 7          Pentecost 11

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Psalm 119 Part 5
Psalm 119 is a meditation on responding to God’s call to justice. Each of the 176 verses is a variation on the theme of what it means to follow God’s call to justice, using terms such as “command”,”law”, “word”, “statute”, and the like. The psalm is arranged in 22 groups of eight verses—one group for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Within a group, each of the eight verses starts with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the groups are in Hebrew alphabetical order. So 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 human expressions of order. Thus the human world and the rest of creation are united in the same foundation. Today’s three sections begin with the letters M, N, and S (in Hebrew alphabetical order). As you read them, imagine the effect of each line in today’s first section beginning with “M” and so on.

Judges 7.19-8.12                           What’s Judges about?
The Midianites are confused by the sudden noise and Israel has a mighty victory, given by God and not by their own strength. Gideon takes revenge on all who had refused to support him. From our perspective this seems unnecessarily vindictive, but in the ancient context Gideon would have been seen as enacting the consequences of their not trusting God’s care for them.

John 1.29-42                           What’s John about?
John identifies Jesus as the one on whom God’s Spirit rests and who is also the “lamb” of God, the animal which symbolized the Israelites’ escape from Egypt. John sees Jesus as the one through whom God will act, through death and resurrection, to provide escape from collapse for the whole human race, and indeed, for the whole cosmos.

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.

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Tuesday August 6          Pentecost 11

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Psalm 78 Part 1
This poem speaks of how God showered the people with constant protection and generosity as God held the sea back so they could escape from their slavery in Egypt, and continued to protect them and miraculously feed them in the desert. But the people continued to distrust this God of justice and inclusion for all. There are consequences, as always, for unjust exploitative behaviour, but God does not abandon the people, even though they have abandoned God’s call to justice. So God continues to care because God makes care of the weakest a priority.

In effect, this is the basic creed of the ancient Israelites. If it were our basic belief today, what a difference that would make to our personal and international life.

Judges 7.1-18                           What’s Judges about?
Gideon has 33,000 troops to defeat Midian but God is concerned they will think they gained victory by their own strength, and the numbers are reduced to only 300 who drank water as animals do, and not upright as alert soldiers do—these are the weakest soldiers. Gideon is still afraid until he sneaks into the Midianites’ camp and overhears a dream that predicts his victory. Gideon arranges that in the night the 300 soldiers will surround the camp and shout and blow trumpets as the Israelites did at Jericho when they first entered the land.

By making Gideon’s army tiny, and by responding to Gideon’s fear the story is saying that our fear and our weakness never prevents God from carrying out God’s commitment to us.

John 1.19-28                           What’s John about?
At the time John was writing his gospel there were followers of John the Baptist who felt John had been a more effective leader than Jesus and had been the real messiah. They argued that because John had been determined to overthrow the Romans and because John had invented the symbolic action of crossing the Jordan as a way of claiming the land back from the Romans. They argued that both John the Baptist and Jesus had been executed by the Romans for their faithfulness to God.

This image of pointing not to our selves but to Jesus as the source of death and resurrection became a central theme of faithful discipleship—we acknowledge that we live and are rescued not by our own moral power, but by God’s initiative.

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.

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Monday August 5          Pentecost 11

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Psalm 80
After rescuing us from slavery in Egypt, God had planted us in new ground like a well-watered vine, and we grew and filled the whole land. But now we are being attacked by a foreign power and God’s vine is being uprooted. God, rescue us so that we may be a healthy vine again.

Judges 6.25-40                           What’s Judges about?
Gideon destroys the sacred shrine of Baal and uses it and its sacred bulls to build an altar to the God of justice. He does this at night because he is afraid. In the morning the people want Gideon’s father to kill Gideon, but his father refuses, responding that if Baal is a strong God, Ball will himself take vengeance. The Midianites prepare to attack Israel but Gideon again is afraid that God will not be with him. He asks for a proof, that a piece of wool will be wet with dew when nothing else is. He is not convinced and asks that the wool be dry when every thing else is wet—a more difficult circumstance, God grants both miracles and so confirms God’s commitment to the people. Tomorrow we will see how God deals with Gideon’s fear by increasing it further.

It may be that the compilers of these stories were aware of how frightened the Jews were of the Babylonians while they were in captivity and were recounting these miracles of the dew and the fleece to encourage them.

John 1.1-18                           What’s John about?
We begin reading through the gospel of John.

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.

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Sunday August 4          Pentecost 11

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Psalm 93
A psalm of praise to God who is forever and who makes the world secure. “The waters lifted up their voice” means that although the raging sea (the original chaos) is threatening to drown everything, God’s voice is stronger. Appropriate for a Sunday when we celebrate God’s victory in the resurrection of Christ.

The raging sea can be circumstances in our lives, in our inner life, or in the life of the world and we rejoice in the victory of God’s goodness over all the rages of our times.

Psalm 96
Praise to God who really will bring equity (equality) and righteousness (which really means ‘dignity’ and ‘justice’) to the whole of humanity. Every part of the world rejoices at God’s care.

Judges 6.1-24                           What’s Judges about?
Again, Israel is unfaithful to God, and the consequences are that Midian defeats them and they are enslaved. The people plead to God for help. God calls Gideon, and, as Moses did, Gideon protests that he is not strong enough. And like Abraham and Sarah Gideon serves food under an oak tree to God who appears in the form of an angel. As the story continues, this theme will be emphasized: that it is God’s power and not Gideon’s that will rescue the people. It’s clear that the escape from Egypt is being repeated—God can be relied upon to rescue the people. That’s God’s character.

Mark 3.20-35                           What’s Mark about?
Jesus, who brings in the fulfilled kingdom of God, is accused of being the agent of evil, and even his own family think he has lost his mind. Jesus points out that if evil starts healing people, then that proves the kingdom of God really has arrived and evil is destroying itself! But to deliberately call good actions “evil” is to utterly separate oneself from God.

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.

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Saturday August 3          Pentecost 10

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Psalm 75
God assures us that justice will prevail.

Psalm 76
Praise to God who stands with overwhelming power for the poor and for the oppressed.

Judges 5.19-31                           What’s Judges about?
This is the second half of the ancient song celebrating Deborah’s triumph. While some of the details are gruesome to us, this decisive triumph by a woman showed the ancient Israelites God’s ability to use even the weakest to accomplish God’s promise to be faithful to them and always rescue them. Deborah’s courage and determination to resist the oppression results in a long time (the traditional “forty years”) of peace.

Matthew 28.11-20                           What’s Matthew about?
The religious leaders sow false rumours that there never was a resurrection, but Matthew takes pains to refute these. We are overhearing the early Christians arguing for the reality of the resurrection against the early opposition to the faith. Jesus meets his disciples in Galilee, thus refuting the false rumours although some continue to doubt—the early opposition is continuing. Jesus gives final instructions to his disciples that they are to share the hope of being part of God’s renewed kingdom by baptizing people into the kingdom, and he promises to be with them always. Notice that Matthew does not include a description, or even a suggestion, of how Jesus departed in an ascension—that event appears only in Luke and Acts.

This week’s collect:

O God,
the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy,
increase and multiply upon us your mercy,
that with you as our ruler and guide,
we may so pass through things temporal,
that we lose not the things eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Friday August 2          Pentecost 10

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Psalm 69
A desperate plea for help in the midst of betrayal, disaster and defeat. Some imagery is violent, which we can interpret as expressing a deep desire that all evil be removed from the world. The references to gall and vinegar may have influenced the early Christians’ description of Jesus’ crucifixion. Often used on Fridays, the weekly anniversary of the crucifixion.

Friday is a day to ask what it means that God is willing to go through such an experience for us.

Judges 5.1-18                           What’s Judges about?
The first half of an ancient victory song about Deborah’s triumph which we read yesterday.

Matthew 28.1-10                           What’s Matthew about?
In the other gospels the women arrive and find the stone already rolled back but in Matthew’s gospel the women arrive and see an angel rolling the stone back. The Roman guards are stunned into unconsciousness. As the women are running home to tell the good news, Jesus appears to them, telling them to send the disciples to Galilee where he will meet them. Matthew and John understand that the further experiences of the risen Jesus happen in rural Galilee, whereas in Luke the appearances all happen in the capital city of Jerusalem.

This week’s collect:

O God,
the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy,
increase and multiply upon us your mercy,
that with you as our ruler and guide,
we may so pass through things temporal,
that we lose not the things eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Thursday August 1          Pentecost 10

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Psalm 70
God can be trusted to deliver the poor from evil.

These two psalms are often used on Thursdays, the mini-anniversaries of the approach of Jesus’ death in the Garden of Gethsemane. Much of the imagery in these two psalms can be applied to Jesus being hunted, attacked, and seized, and to Jesus’ passionate prayers to be rescued by God.

Psalm 71
In old age I am filled with praise for the God who has rescued me in so many ways throughout my long life. People are attacking me now, but I trust in your salvation as you have acted for me all my life.

Judges 4.4-23                           What’s Judges about?
Two women, Deborah and Jael, accomplish victory over an oppressor. Some of the details are gory for us but were understood by the ancient Israelites as demonstrations of God’s absolute power over evil.

It was unheard-of at the time that women could take initiative and leadership and act with such determination to rescue the people. So we may be hearing an ancient discovery that God acts outside the norms and through people usually without power, to protect the people to whom God is so committed. Perhaps we are to wonder how God may be acting through apparently powerless people in our day to restore justice and dignity for all.

Matthew 27.55-66                           What’s Matthew about?
The women remain and Jesus is given a formal burial in a pristine tomb with Roman blessing. This story is likely an early Christian invention for what they wished had happened. The story of the sealing of the tomb is intended to make the resurrection more miraculous and to refute suggestions that Jesus’ body had been deliberately removed by his followers who could then claim he had been resurrected.

This week’s collect:

O God,
the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy,
increase and multiply upon us your mercy,
that with you as our ruler and guide,
we may so pass through things temporal,
that we lose not the things eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Wednesday July 31          Pentecost 10

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Psalm 72
A prayer that the king will rule with justice for the poor, and that as a result all will have more than enough to live fully. This can easily applied as a prayer for our political leaders today.

Early Christians saw in this psalm, perhaps originally intended as a prayer that king David would rule with justice, an affirmation of the new world order being instituted by the birth of Christ.

Judges 3.12-30                           What’s Judges about?
The Israelites do not follow the God of justice, and so the king of Moab conquers the Israelites, and they become slaves just as they were in Egypt. Nevertheless, God keeps God’s eternal promise, and raises up a judge to free Israel.

The somewhat gory details of how the judge kills the king of Moab are there not for entertainment as might be the case in modern accounts of violence, but in order to claim authenticity for the victory God won through the judge.

This is the first of many such ancient stories that the compilers gathered into the Book of Judges. Their purpose was to illustrate their belief that the Israelites are conquered when they abandon the God of justice, and that each time they do, God faithfully sends leaders to rescue them. Which is what they understood had just happened when the people where allowed to return home from Jerusalem from slavery in Babylon.

Matthew 27.45-54                           What’s Matthew about?
Following Mark’s gospel, Matthew reports that Jesus experienced the ultimate death of being abandonned by God. Cosmic events immediately happen including a foretaste of the resurrection. In contrast to the religious leaders who arranged his execution, non-Jews, oppressive Roman soldiers recognize the significance of Jesus.

This week’s collect:

O God,
the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy,
increase and multiply upon us your mercy,
that with you as our ruler and guide,
we may so pass through things temporal,
that we lose not the things eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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