Category: TODAY&#8217;S READING

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.

Isaiah 55: 1-13
When the people return to Jerusalem there will be food without limit and absolutely free! This is what God had always promised, as far back as David, and even more, foreign nations will long to be part of your delight. If you doubt this, know that what God intends is far beyond your understanding—the mountains will sing, the trees will clap, even weeds will become fruitful and all this will certify God’s eternal covenant to protect you.

Images like these were used by early Christians in visions of the new Jerusalem made possible through Christ’s resurrection.

Mark 8: 27-9: 1
This is the turning-point, half-way through Mark’s gospel, in which Jesus calls the disciples to move beyond being astonished that the kingdom is breaking in, to being active themselves in bringing in the kingdom. But to do so means having to give up their old priorities of making themselves the centre of life. Jesus will lead them in this journey into self-offering, and explains that even he will need to die to bring in God’s society. Peter refuses to be part of that. Peter doesn’t see clearly what it means to really love. Like the partial healing of the blind man yesterday, Peter sees in part, but not clearly, what it means to follow Jesus.

This is the first of three occasions in a row in which Jesus’ senior disciples will refuse to make the loving sacrifices that are necessary for the kingdom to happen.

Perhaps the same is true for us. Nevertheless, we are invited into the kingdom when it fully arrives. Then we will see fully and be able to undertake joyfully the implications of such love.

This week’s collect:

Living God,
in Christ you make all things new.
Transform the poverty of our nature
by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives
make known your glory;
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 Wednesday February 3

Wednesday February 3 Epiphany 4

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.

Isaiah 54: 1-17
God tells the people to rejoice if they had no children (which was a personal and social disaster then) because now they will have so many they will have to enlarge their homes. This will happen because God will become the husband of their city and land. This is a very startling image Isaiah is using. God will adorn God’s wife – the city of Jerusalem – with abundant jewels. As God swore to Noah not to flood the world again, so God will never abandon the people and they will be safe forever.

Mark 8: 11-26
The religious leaders want Jesus to prove he is God because then they can accuse him of blasphemy. Jesus refuses because his role is not to prove who belongs and who doesn’t, but to usher in God’s society in which all are included. He then makes clear to his disciples that everyone, regardless of background, belongs in God’s society—that was the point of the two overwhelmingly generous feedings—for both Jews and non-Jews. That was an unimaginable leap into equality that the disciples cannot comprehend. Because the disciples don’t see what the implications are, Mark recounts Jesus healing someone who can’t see. However, this healing is only partial at first. In the same way the disciples’ eyes are about to be opened but they will see only partially at first.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Tuesday February 2

Tuesday February 2 Epiphany 4

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.

Isaiah 52: 1-12
God is encouraging the ruined city of Jerusalem to rejoice as her people return to her, bringing with them the sacred vessels so the temple can again be in use. God’s victory over their oppressors will be so complete that they won’t need to hurry back! We are called to cultivate that counter-cultural expectation of joy and calmness in our modern circumstances when we are oppressed by seemingly irresistible forces of destruction.

Mark 8: 1-10
Jesus feeds four thousand of the hated aboriginal people from seven loaves and then has seven baskets left over. Why seven? The Israelites had been told to exterminate the seven aboriginal nations when they entered the land. It is clear that Jesus is treating the original peoples as worthy of full respect and dignity—God’s care and respect overflows. It’s not hard to imagine the implications for our time.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Monday February 1

Monday February 1 Epiphany 4

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.

Isaiah 51: 17-23
In the first half of this poem, using images of drunkenness and devastation, God describes the desolation in which the inhabitants of Jerusalem find themselves. They are crushed and without hope. Although the drunkenness comes at the hand of God’s wrath, we are to understand, in the bigger picture, that the horrors of enslavement by Babylon don’t arise from God being angry but as the inevitable consequences of the nation having abandoned the priority of justice for all, which is the character of God.

In the second half, God reverses the image and says God will stand on the side of the devastated people and against those who treated the people like a street to walk on. The oppressors will be made to be drunk with disaster. That’s how just and strong God is.

Mark 7: 24-37
Having just declared that purity arises from one’s intentions and not from external behaviour, Jesus travels to the province in which the aboriginal people lived, the people whom Joshua had been commanded to exterminate when the Israelites first entered the promised land. For faithful Jews of Jesus’ time, these people were dirty, immoral and contaminated. In an unimaginable insult to a man, one of the aboriginal women argues with Jesus, trying to force him to heal her daughter and wins the argument! Jesus heals her child.

Jesus then heals an aboriginal man in the same province. In verse 34, the translation says Jesus “sighed” when looking up to God, but more accurately it means something like he “grunted” or “roared with anger”—it means that Jesus was incensed that people—especially those who had been abused and crushed for their culture—were still suffering like this deaf man. Jesus is reversing the abuse carried out by his ancestors and commanded by scripture. This was a highly provocative and risky act which undermined the most fundamental beliefs of his own Jewish people at that time.

Next, Jesus will feed a staggering number of aboriginal people and will come under severe criticism by the religious leaders.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Sunday January 31

Sunday January 31 Epiphany 4

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.

Isaiah 51: 9-16
The people, imprisoned in Babylon request that God act now to return them as God did when the original chaos was overcome and when God made the sea dry at the Exodus. God responds that the people don’t trust because they fear the Babylonians, but rescue is certain and the people are not to be afraid of anyone, because of God’s power over all the world. Notice the repeated reference here and earlier to God stretching out the heavens like a cloth—the stars, once thought to be the source of uncontrollable influence on events on earth turn out to be, for God, just a cloth or a curtain to be hung or folded up—there is nothing to be afraid of on earth or in heaven!

John 7: 14-31
On Sundays we continue to read from John’s gospel. In this passage, two critiques of Jesus are presented. First, Jesus is challenged for teaching when he has no training—therefore his critics say his teaching cannot be trusted. Jesus replies that he isn’t teaching from his own knowledge, but from God’s, and anyone who has experienced God will recognize that. Therefore the leaders don’t know God or they would affirm what Jesus says. Jesus then accuses his critics of not knowing what they are teaching – they circumcise on the Sabbath, which involves injuring one part of a male baby, but criticize him when on the Sabbath he heals an adult man’s whole body! Now wonder there was such an intense reaction to him!

Second, Jesus is accused of not having a mysterious origin as (in their interpretation) the true messiah should and therefore he cannot be the messiah. In response, Jesus claims his origin really is mysterious because he is from God and they don’t know God – so for them his origin will of course be mysterious.

These are highly condensed and symbolic conversations which reflect the various responses that early Christians were making to the criticisms of Jesus which were circulating at the time, that Jesus wasn’t significant. The issue for us is not whether these arguments effectively prove or disprove that Jesus is from God, but whether through Jesus we experience God’s challenge to our way of life, and God’s offer of new life. If we think of Jesus as a good person who lived a good life long ago, then nothing has changed and there’s no hope of transformation. But if it’s God’s character we are seeing, everything is transformed. The choice we make has huge implications.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Saturday January 30

Saturday January 30 Epiphany 3

Psalm 55
I am terrified at what is happening. The city is full of corruption and my dear familiar friend has betrayed me. I will not cease imploring God to intervene and put things right.

Appropriate for a Saturday, when Jesus, betrayed by friends, waits in silence in the grave.

Isaiah 51: 1-8
God speaks to those who have been captured and who are still committed to God’s justice and inclusion of all: don’t forget that your roots are in God like granite from a quarry and that the way things are now can be blown away like smoke and that the Babylonians who have conquered you will be like cloth eaten by moths.

Mark 7: 1-23
Jesus is in conflict with the religious leaders. They believe that loyalty to God means demonstrating that loyalty through religious rituals such as ritual washing before eating. This was not washing in our understanding of washing for sanitation but was a holiness ceremony. Jesus insists that doing justice is the sign of loyalty to God and that when scripture or religion becomes an excuse for injustice, then it is worse than worthless. Religion and scripture are of no use unless they express what is already inside us—the commitment to God’s justice and dignity for all. Being religious in order to get something for oneself is blasphemy. No wonder, Mark is saying, that the religious authorities reject Jesus.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
by grace alone you call us
and accept us in your service.
Strengthen us by your Spirit,
and make us worthy of your call;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Readings for Friday January 29

Friday January 29 Epiphany 3

Psalm 40
When I was in great trouble, God lifted me up and I rejoiced in God’s care. But now my own sin, and my enemies, have nearly destroyed me. Do not wait any longer, God!

Psalm 54
I am in dire straights. Put everything back to right, God. I praise you, because you have done that.

Isaiah 50.1-11
The people have rejected Isaiah’s proposal that God is merciful and is rescuing them, and have accused God of selling them into slavery in Babylon and of having abandoned their mother (Jerusalem). God replies that it was the people’s abandoning of justice and dignity that has resulted in their slavery. Isaiah then speaks of the abuse he has taken for insisting that God cares and will rescue the people and that it was their fault that they have been conquered.

Mark 6: 47-56
Jesus walks over the water during a storm. This is another miracle with a meaning. Walking on the water in a storm (not walking across a swimming pool!) means that God is king over all storms and would have reminded people of that time of the Spirit hovering over the original chaos in Genesis 1. This story is told because storms are starting to arise—Jesus was accused of being the devil, his hometown turned against him, and Herod executed his cousin. Yet Herod’s rapacity cannot prevent Jesus creating a feast for five thousand people from the few fish Herod hasn’t taken, and Jesus is clearly seen to be the calmer of all storms. We, too, can be calm because God in Jesus can walk safely through the storms in our lives.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Thursday January 28

Thursday January 28 Epiphany 3

Psalm 50
This psalm imagines God’s response to the people doing evil and abandoning justice. Rather than simply reacting or punishing, God lays out the case as if God were going to court – the idea is that God is being completely fair and getting an unbiased opinion about what the people have done. They have substituted religion for being just and if this continues there will be consequences.

Isaiah 49: 13-23
Jerusalem assumed God had forgotten the city, but God compares God’s self to a woman nursing her baby – in the same way God will never forget Jerusalem. God is acting to give the people prosperity and to make their former captors serve them by carrying their children back to Jerusalem – their enemy’s kings will become their foster-fathers and their enemy’s queens will become their wet nurses! The people will grow so much that there won’t be room for them in the city!

God’s ability to put things right is without limit. Knowing that would make all the difference to us in a time when so many forces of destruction oppress us.

Mark 6: 30-46
When the news of John’s execution reaches Jesus, he and his disciples wisely withdraw—into the wilderness just as Jesus did when he first realized John would be executed. But in the wilderness an astonishing thing happens. Despite Herod’s fury, Jesus feeds five thousand people and has dozens of baskets of food left over from a tiny amount of original food. The fact that being near the lake they have only two fish reflects Herod’s policy of over-fishing the lake to pay for his enormous construction projects, leaving the local people to starve. So it’s a miracle with a meaning. No matter how little food there is, or little safety, or little faith, God can take it and make it far more than we can imagine.

It’s crystal clear who is really in charge. Abusive power can do its worst, but God’s generosity continues unabated, pouring food upon those who are hungry. If we also trust in that overarching generosity, we will be enabled to regain the generosity of full human nature.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Wednesday January 27

Wednesday January 27 Epiphany 3

Psalm 119 Part 3
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 Z, H, and Th (in Hebrew alphabetical order). As you read them, imagine the effect of each line in today’s first section beginning with “Z” and so on.

Isaiah 49: 1-12
This passage begins with two references to the people being in the womb—possibly a hint that God is the womb, a daring poetic suggestion. It is as if God is giving birth a second time as Israel begins life anew back in Jerusalem. But there is an entirely new role for the rescued people—not just that they will be able to worship again in the temple, but that they will become the channel by which the entire world will know God’s character of bringing justice and fulfilment for all. This is an astounding claim that this little country, now twice in slavery, is to be the source of light for the entire world, demonstrating restoration of all those crushed into despair. To make this happen God will provide food along the way and flatten mountains and raise valleys to make a level road for the people’s return to Jerusalem through the Syrian desert.

Mark 6: 13-29
King Herod executes Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist. For Herod, a Jewish puppet king who had sold his soul to support Roman oppression, John was a terrorist who had been encouraging people to anticipate the overthrow of the Roman empire. Since Jesus is a relative of John, and had joined John’s disciples and had been baptized by him not long before, Jesus is also under the threat of execution. Mark may be including the gory details of John’s execution in anticipation of what will ultimately happen to Jesus.

This week’s collect:

Readings for Tuesday January 26

Tuesday January 26 Epiphany 3

Psalm 45
A poem about King David, using the imagery of an ancient oriental king, describing his personal and public magnificence and the glory of his relationship with the queen. Note that his prime duty is to serve truth and justice.

We can read this poem as a description of our own fulfilled self and relationships which have been made possible for us in union with Christ’s resurrection.

Isaiah 48: 12-21
Since God laid the solid foundations of the world and the stars stand at attention when God calls, God can easily call King Cyrus of the super-power Persia to defeat the Babylonians and allow the people to return to Jerusalem. It would all have been better if the people had been loyal to God all along because then their prosperity would have been unimaginable and they would never have been invaded, but even so, God has acted in a totally new way. Just as God made water flow from solid rock in the desert a thousand years earlier when God called the people out of Egypt and cared for them in the desert, so now God will make water flow in the Syrian desert so the people can walk home without fear.

Isaiah is a very clever poet! And profound thinker.

Mark 6: 1-13
The opposition to Jesus is starting to become more intense. First his own home town rejects him, and when he sends out his disciples they are prepared for rejection on their travels even though the kingdom is breaking in around them. Immediately after this passage, King Herod will execute Jesus’ cousin – a very threatening event in the ancient world – anyone related to someone who has been beheaded is in imminent danger of execution themselves.

This week’s collect: