Author: Harold

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.

1 Samuel 1: 21—2: 11 What’s Samuel about?
When Samuel is old enough to travel, his mother brings him to the temple and sings a song of praise to God who cares for the powerless such as women like her who could have no children. To be barren was a disaster for a woman in the ancient world—she would be despised and treated as a child throughout her life. Early Christians used this song as the basis for The Magnificat, the song Mary sang when she became miraculously pregnant. Early Christians modelled some of Jesus’ early life on these stories.

Samuel’s mother dedicates Samuel to God and in thanksgiving leaves him with the priest at Shiloh, located in Samaria, the centre of worship and the location of the ark before Jerusalem was established.

Luke 20.19-26 What’s Luke about?
Jesus’ confrontation with the religious authorities intensifies in the final days before his execution. The authorities attempt to get Jesus to declare his relationship to the Roman empire by expressing loyalty or disloyalty to Caesar whose image is on the coinage as a god. If Jesus approves of paying taxes to a Roman god the authorities will accuse him of abandoning his faith in which case his followers will reject him, but if Jesus refuses to affirm the payment of taxes to the Roman god, they can get the Romans to execute him for encouraging revolution. Jesus’ response is to declare his loyalty in terms that demand their response: the real God owns everything and the emperor, even if he claims to be a god, owns nothing. Jesus dares them to declare where they stand on this fundamental religious claim.

The common but mistaken idea that “render unto Caesar” means that we should always obey our rulers is the exact opposite of what Jesus meant. What Jesus meant is that there is only one ruler of this world—the God of justice—and we owe nothing to the power-hungry rulers of this world. Therefore “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” means we don’t owe anything to rulers of this world because they don’t own anything at all.

We are challenged in our day to make clear our loyalty either for the God of justice we experience in Jesus, or for the gods of this world who violently exploit people. We are learning to say to the violent gods of our day, “God owns the world, you own nothing. Our loyalty is clear.”

This week’s collect:

Almighty God, without you we are not able to please you.
Mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit
may in all things direct and rule our hearts;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Readings for Monday June 14

Monday June 14 Pentecost 3

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.

1 Samuel 1: 1-20 What’s Samuel about?
For the next four months we will be reading the stories of 500 years of rule by kings of Israel, from the time of Saul and David about 1,100 B.C. until the Israelites were conquered by the Babylonians and the ruling court was exiled to Babylon around 600 B.C.

These accounts were written down around the time of this disastrous exile, and the authors were interested not in detailed historical data but in the meanings behind these events. Their underlying analysis was that the reason for the destruction of Jerusalem and their capture by the Babylonians was that the kings had gradually became more and more unjust, abandoning the poor and those without power. God could not allow that to continue and still be the God of justice. The two books of Samuel (the prophet who crowned the first two kings) and the two books of Kings, tell that story.

We start with the books of Samuel. In today’s passage, Samuel’s life begins with a miraculous conception by his barren mother. Early Christians used this story as background for stories about Mary’s miraculous conception of Jesus. The lesson is that, in spite of it appearing impossible, God does indeed act to ensure that justice and inclusion are done. As we grow in trust of that, our own lives are transformed.

Luke 20.9-19 What’s Luke about?
Towards the end of Luke’s gospel, Jesus’ confrontation with the religious authorities deepens. In this story Jesus confronts those who run the vineyard (code for the traitorous religious leaders exploiting the common people in Jerusalem). Luke imagines that Jesus has special knowledge of the fact that Rome will destroy Jerusalem 40 years later, and the early Christians interpreted this as God’s putting an end to religious exploitation.

In our day we might interpret this story as confronting us with the inevitable outcome of rejecting the role we have in caring for creation in favour of enslaving creation for our own satisfaction. Destruction is the inevitable outcome if we don’t change.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Sunday June 13

Sunday June 13 Pentecost 3

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.

The raging sea can be circumstances in our lives, in our inner life, or in the life of the world.

Psalm 96
Praise to God who really will bring equity (equality) and righteousness (which is the old English translation of dignity and justice) to the whole of humanity.

Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 46: 11-20 What’s Ecclesiasticus about?
Sirach praises Samuel for his insistence upon following God. This makes a good segway into reading the books of Samuel over the next two months which we begin tomorrow.

Matthew 18: 1-14 What’s Matthew about?
Three of the disciples have just seen Jesus in his cosmic glory at his transfiguration. Following that, Jesus speaks of his impending death and pays a tax just like any subjugated person. The disciples then, in today’s reading, object to someone of cosmic glory accepting such humiliation. “What does it mean to be great?” Jesus responds that to be great is to become a child. “Child” was also used to refer to students or disciples, and Jesus asserts the greatness of being a learner, using deliberately exaggerated and impossible images of self-punishment and even death to illustrate the value of learners. Even a single sheep, almost worthless in comparison to an entire flock, is more important than ninety-nine sheep. None of these illustrations make sense until one realizes Jesus is saying that greatness consists in giving away the desire to be great. Which is exactly the character of God we experience in Jesus, who as a human lives out that character in everyday life. We, the beginning students, are that highly valued!

This week’s collect:

Readings for Saturday June 12

Saturday June 12 Pentecost 2

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.

Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 46: 1-10 What’s Ecclesiasticus about?
Sirach praises Joshua for his courage and military successes in taking the city of Jericho when the people first entered the promised land. Living under Greek military rule, these stories of once having been a great power themselves would have been very supportive to the people.

Luke 20.1-8 What’s Luke about?
We are now in the last days of Jesus’ life. Following Jesus’ mocking of the Roman legion on what we now call Palm Sunday, opposition to Jesus grows. The religious leaders confront Jesus with the fact that he has no authority to teach. He responds by asking who gave John authorization to teach. John was highly popular because of his rejection of Roman rule, and became a martyr for the common people after being executed by Herod. So the leaders cannot criticize John for fear of a popular uproar, and cannot support John for fear of Herod executing them for treason. Jesus has thus exposed their true loyalty being only to themselves and not to God’s justice. That is Jesus’ authority.

This week’s collect:

O God,
you have assured the human family of eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Deliver us from the death of sin
and raise us to new life in him,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Readings for Friday June 11

Friday June 11 Pentecost 2

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 there be no evil in 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.

Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 45: 6-16 What’s Ecclesiasticus about?
Sirach describes the glorious and intricate robes God gave to Aaron long ago for supervising sacrifices. Under the domination of the wealthy and artistic Greek empire, this would have helped Jews retain their pride.

Luke 19: 41-48 What’s Luke about?
Jesus laments the fact that the city of Jerusalem will reject the kingdom and wishes that it had welcomed God’s kingdom. Indeed, the leaders do reject Jesus’ call to end financial exploitation of the poor. Luke understands Jesus as being aware of the coming destruction of the temple by the Roman army forty years later. Luke reports Jesus as attributing this approaching disaster to the city having abandoned God’s call to justice under pressure from Rome, just as the prophets following the release from Babylon five hundred years had diagnosed the same cause of that disaster.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Thursday June 10

Thursday June 10 Pentecost 2

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.

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.

Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 44: 19—45:2 What’s Ecclesiasticus about?
The book of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus, located in the Apocrypha) and written about 200 years before Jesus, is a series of wise sayings about how to live well, especially when under foreign rule. This passage recounts how God blessed the ancient leaders Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. The implication is that people of Sirach’s time, now conquered by the Greek empire, can also receive blessings.

Luke 19: 28-40 What’s Luke about?
Jesus prepares for the Passover celebration and enters the city of Jerusalem as an equal with everyone on a lowly donkey. It is likely that Jesus chose the timing deliberately to coincide with the annual arrival of a Roman legion entering the city with its full military force to prevent revolution during the Passover ceremonies which symbolize God rescuing the people from slavery. Religious leaders tell him to stop this demonstration because the Roman army may respond with violence to this challenge, but Jesus insists that everyone rejoices when God’s kingdom of justice comes—even stones will be cheering!

This week’s collect:

Readings for Wednesday June 9

Wednesday June 9 Pentecost 2

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.

Deuteronomy 31: 30—32:14 What’s Deuteronomy about?
Moses sings a song, at the end of his life, in praise of the God who has given them life and land and overflowing abundance.

This concludes our readings from Deuteronomy. Tomorrow we begin reading from Sirach, a book written not long before the life of Jesus, intended to encourage the Jews who were then under the domination of the Greek empire.

Luke 19: 11-27 What’s Luke about?
Jesus tells a story about a royal person who travels to get more power and who leaves his money with three slaves. Two slaves use the money to make immense profits, but the third does nothing with the money and has it taken from him and given to the most successful slave. The story appears to contradict everything that Jesus stands for—that God rewards those who started out rich by taking money from the poor and giving it to the rich, and violently executing those who object.

The clue to understanding the story is that Jesus tells it shortly before he enters Jerusalem where he will be executed days later. The ruler who travels probably refers to Herod who had travelled to Rome to have his authority confirmed by Caesar Augustus. The story is not invented by Jesus but is a commentary on actual events. The people who don’t want this ruler are the common Jewish people who hated the violence and exploitation of the Roman empire, and the slave who refuses to engage in economic exploitation is Jesus himself. For refusing to support violent Roman oppression, Rome will execute him. Jesus is explaining, in story form obvious to people of the time, what is about to happen to him.

Notice that this story of Jesus refusing to participate in Roman oppression comes immediately after the account of Zacchaeus the Jewish exploiter, who had become rich by using the violent Roman military to beggar his fellow citizens of Jerusalem. But following a meal with Jesus, he changed and returned all that he had stolen. The point is that despite the apparent victory of Roman violence in executing Jesus, God’s kingdom of justice is breaking in anyway.

In tomorrow’s reading, Jesus borrows a donkey, being too poor to own one, and enters Jerusalem mocking the grandeur of the Roman military forces entering by another gate at the same time.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Tuesday June 8

Tuesday June 8 Pentecost 2

Psalm 61
I was burdened and God became my strength—be with me always.

Psalm 62
In face of evil, we trust in God to be our solid foundation.

Deuteronomy 30.11-20 What’s Deuteronomy about?
The commandment to be just is not difficult because it is already who we are in our most central part of ourselves. Why else would we be so insistent on justice when we are offended? If we see its centrality for ourselves, then it is easy to see its centrality for others. Moses makes it clear that this is the way of life and that to choose otherwise is to die. So choose life!

Being released from Babylon was the way the Israelites had received life from God after their enslavement, and the compilers of the ancient texts realized that to retain life the people must continue to choose it by choosing the same generosity and justice to each other as God had generously given them. Without that justice they would again become enslaved.

Luke 19: 1-10 What’s Luke about?
Jesus invites himself into the home of a rich traitor who has become wealthy by organizing contracts with the Roman army to violently extort money from his own people. Jesus is criticized for socializing with such a traitor, but the traitor commits to repay all his extortion with interest. Jesus says this is how the kingdom comes—precisely to those whose greed has led them to be rightly hated. Such people are warmly welcomed into the kingdom, upsetting all our usual assumptions about what is fair.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Monday June 7

Monday June 7 Pentecost 2

Psalm 56
In the face of intense attack by evil, we trust that God will act for what is right.

Psalm 57
Another psalm expressing our trust that God will act for what is right in the face of intense attack by evil.

Psalm 58
An impassioned plea for evil to be overcome. We should read the violence not literally but as an expression of our determination that good will prevail.

Deuteronomy 30.1-10 What’s Deuteronomy about?
As we approach the end of our readings from Deuteronomy Moses speaks to the people of how much God longs to give them fulfillment in the land, and that God will write the desire to follow God’s justice on their hearts so that they will want to be just and not follow the greed represented by other gods.

For those returning from exile in Babylon where they had begun to assimilate themselves into a culture not based on justice but on greed, this assurance would have been very good news indeed. It is equally good news for us in a time in which desire for power and wealth surrounds us everywhere.

Luke 18: 31-43 What’s Luke about?
Jesus insists on travelling to Jerusalem where he will be killed. His disciples choose not to understand how this expresses his leadership of love. A blind man, who symbolizes the disciples’ blindness, then insists on being healed, and his new-found sight symbolizes how the disciples will eventually “see” that God’s character is being revealed in Jesus’ loving death.

Like the disciples, we may also be reluctant to follow Jesus’ subversive actions in undermining the world’s reliance on power and violence, and it may take us a while before we “see” that self-offering love is the only way that we and all humanity can have full life.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Sunday June 6

Sunday June 6 Pentecost 2

Psalm 24
While entering through the doors of the temple the poet sings a hymn of praise to God who brought order out of the dangerous primordial ocean. Appropriate for a Sunday as we enter into our worship.

Psalm 29
Astonishment at the overwhelming presence of God in nature who rules the untameable ocean and even makes mountains cavort like calves and oak trees “writhe” in a gale! We worship such a God, who makes such strength and peace available to us.

Deuteronomy 29: 16-29 What’s Deuteronomy about?
As the book of Deuteronomy concludes, Moses describes the disasters that will strike if the people abandon the God of justice and generosity. This is exactly the diagnosis that the prophets pronounced as the cause of the exile and slavery in Babylon. While the speech is attributed to Moses, the compilers had in mind the disaster that had just befallen the people, and were warning them lest they bring another exile upon themselves.

Matthew 15: 29-39 What’s Matthew about?
Jesus feeds 4,000 people from a tiny amount of food, with lots left over. This is a sign that God’s kingdom is breaking into the world and people are experiencing God’s profound generosity in their time of hunger. This story happens at Lake Galilee in which the common people have been driven into destitution by Herod exploiting the fisheries to fund his immense palace and sea port at Caesarea. For Jesus to take “a few small fish” which is all most then had to live on, and to provide a feast overflowing with food had political implications about whose side God was on. Such a story would have provided hope of vindication for early Christians in Matthew’s time who were increasingly being crushed by Roman violence. It can provide that assurance for us, as well.

This week’s collect: