Daily Devotional fo Wednesday, 26 August, 2020

Prayers for Wednesday, 26 August, 2020 (Proper 21, Trinity 11)

 

Today we begin a more compressed format, as my time available for his project is limited.  Only the reading that is the subject of the commentary is featured in full; the rest are available by link, as are the daily prayers and intercessions.  MP+

 

Invitatory

 

O God, make speed to save us.

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.

Amen.

 

The Lord is our refuge and our strength:  O come, let us worship.

 

Hebrew Scriptures 

Job 6.1; 7.1–21

 

Then Job answered:

‘Do not human beings have a hard service on earth,

   and are not their days like the days of a labourer? 

Like a slave who longs for the shadow,

   and like labourers who look for their wages, 

so I am allotted months of emptiness,

   and nights of misery are apportioned to me. 

When I lie down I say, “When shall I rise?”

   But the night is long,

   and I am full of tossing until dawn. 

My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt;

   my skin hardens, then breaks out again. 

My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,

   and come to their end without hope. 

 

‘Remember that my life is a breath;

   my eye will never again see good. 

The eye that beholds me will see me no more;

   while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone. 

As the cloud fades and vanishes,

   so those who go down to Sheol do not come up; 

they return no more to their houses,

   nor do their places know them any more. 

 

‘Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;

   I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;

   I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 

Am I the Sea, or the Dragon,

   that you set a guard over me? 

When I say, “My bed will comfort me,

   my couch will ease my complaint”, 

then you scare me with dreams

   and terrify me with visions, 

so that I would choose strangling

   and death rather than this body. 

I loathe my life; I would not live for ever.

   Let me alone, for my days are a breath. 

What are human beings, that you make so much of them,

   that you set your mind on them, 

visit them every morning,

   test them every moment? 

Will you not look away from me for a while,

   let me alone until I swallow my spittle? 

If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity?

   Why have you made me your target?

   Why have I become a burden to you? 

Why do you not pardon my transgression

   and take away my iniquity?

For now I shall lie in the earth;

   you will seek me, but I shall not be.’

 

Psalm

Psalm 119.1–24 : the Glories of God’s Law 

 

Epistle

Acts 10.1–16 Peter and Cornelius  

 

Gospel

Jn 7.1–13 Unbelief of Jesus’ brothers, Festival of Booths 

 

Commentary (Father Michael)

 

Continuing with the story of Job.  Whereas the first of Job’s friends offered hope and the prospect of a long life if he turned back to God (the assumption being that Job must have sinned to have received such disaster), Job here rejects hope altogether.  While he accepts that he must have committed some “transgression” or “iniquity” that has made him a “target” to God, he laments that he will die without pardon.

 

My study bible notes that Job’s words “What are human beings, that you make so much of them, that you set your mind on them” are a parody of Psalm 8:4-5, where the same question is asked, but then the psalmist praises God for giving humans “glory and honour” and putting them in charge of all creation.   Here Job simply asks why God made humans if all they experience in their short lives is torment?

 

Anyone who has tried to comfort a person in anguish and despair has likely heard similar questions.  Where is God in my suffering?  Why has God allowed horrible things to happen to me?  If there is a God, he must be a bastard.    To reply with a pat theological answer would only make things worse.  I would certainly not attempt a quick answer to Job. The value of the Book of Job, I think, is that the character of Job expresses emotions and questions that come to us in our darkest moments. We can take our time in answering them.

 

Questions

How would you speak to a friend giving voice to despair like Job’s?  What other questions come to mind in today’s passages?

 

Intercession

Daily prayers and hymns from Oremus:  

 

Anglican Communion Cycle of Prayer:

Olympia (The Episcopal Church) The Rt Revd Gregory Rickel Busoga (Uganda) The Rt Revd Paul Moses Samson Naimanhye 

Diocese of Toronto Cycle of Prayer:  Grace Church, Markham

 

The Lord’s Prayer

 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

 

Collect

 

Almighty God, we are taught by your word that all our doings without love are worth nothing.  Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Daily Devotional for Monday, August 24, Feast of St. Bartholomew

 

Prayers for Monday, 24 August, 2020 (Proper 21, Trinity 11)

 

Today is the feast of Saint Bartholomew, the Apostle. 

Prayers for Monday, 24 August, 2020 (Proper 21, Trinity 11)

 

Today is the feast of Saint Bartholomew, the Apostle.  https://oremus.blog/2020/08/23/oremus-for-monday-august-24-2020/

 

 

 

Invitatory

 

O God, make speed to save us.

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.

Amen.

 

The Lord is our refuge and our strength:  O come, let us worship.

 

Hebrew Scriptures 

Job 4.1,5.1-11,17-21,26-27

 

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

 

‘Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?

To which of the holy ones will you turn? 

Surely vexation kills the fool,

   and jealousy slays the simple. 

I have seen fools taking root,

   but suddenly I cursed their dwelling. 

Their children are far from safety,

   they are crushed in the gate,

   and there is no one to deliver them. 

The hungry eat their harvest,

   and they take it even out of the thorns;

   and the thirsty pant after their wealth. 

For misery does not come from the earth,

   nor does trouble sprout from the ground; 

but human beings are born to trouble

   just as sparks fly upward. 

 

‘As for me, I would seek God,

   and to God I would commit my cause. 

He does great things and unsearchable,

   marvellous things without number. 

He gives rain on the earth

   and sends waters on the fields; 

he sets on high those who are lowly,

   and those who mourn are lifted to safety. 

‘How happy is the one whom God reproves;

   therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. 

For he wounds, but he binds up;

   he strikes, but his hands heal. 

He will deliver you from six troubles;

   in seven no harm shall touch you. 

In famine he will redeem you from death,

   and in war from the power of the sword. 

You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,

   and shall not fear destruction when it comes. 

You shall come to your grave in ripe old age,

   as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing-floor in its season. 

See, we have searched this out; it is true.

   Hear, and know it for yourself.’ 

 

Psalm

Psalm 1   

 

 

Happy are those

   who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

or take the path that sinners tread,

   or sit in the seat of scoffers; 

but their delight is in the law of the Lord,

   and on his law they meditate day and night. 

They are like trees

   planted by streams of water,

which yield their fruit in its season,

   and their leaves do not wither.

In all that they do, they prosper. 

 

The wicked are not so,

   but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement,

   nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 

for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

   but the way of the wicked will perish.

 

 

 

Epistle

Acts 9.19b-31 (Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem)

http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=465275208

 

 

Gospel

John 6.52-59

 

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

 

Commentary (Father Michael)

 

Continuing with the story of Job.  Because of the weekend’s interruption, we missed Job 3, where Job begins to give vent to his sorrows.  He does not, as his wife urged him to (2.9), curse God, but he does curse all of creation, in a kind of negative parallel of the order of creation at the start of Genesis (3.3-10).    Job’s outburst to his friends begins the heart of the book of Job, a dialogue in three rounds of exchanges between Job and his friends.   At the heart of these exchanges is the question of theodicy, a theological term meaning the problem of evil.

 

Job in chapter three asks the immediate question, “why me?”, but sets it within the larger question of “why do I exist in a created order that permits the sort of suffering that I have experienced?”  Anyone who has experienced suffering, from the loss of a child, a spouse, or of one’s own health, has felt the immediacy of such questions, and the terror that there may be no answer to them.   

 

The first of Job’s friends to speak, Epliphaz, offers a rebuttal that one often hears from the religious, that since suffering is not random (5.6), it must come from God as punishment for sin (4.7-8).   This argument is often reached for in moments of disaster; I have heard it offered as an explanation for the Covid-19 pandemic, just as it was advanced for AIDs in the 1980s and for the 9-11 attacks of 2001.   Jesus in the gospels is often asked if sufferings and disease are caused by sin, and he never answers in the affirmative.  Even Eliphaz’ point about children being “crushed in the gate” would put the blame upon Job’s dead children for their house collapsing on them!  His argument is essentially, turn back to God, regain favour with him, and all will be well.   As we work through Job, we will be frequently challenged to sort out the bad arguments from the lofty prose of Job’s friends.

 

 

 

 

 

Questions

If a friend told you what God was punishing you for your misfortune, how would you react?   What would you say in response to Eliphaz? 

What other questions come to mind in today’s passages?

 

Intercession

 

Let us pray to God,

whose word was entrusted to the Apostles

and has spread to all the world.

 

For the Church of the living God throughout the world, let us ask the riches of his grace.  Today we pray in the Anglican Communion Cycle of Prayer for the clergy and people of these Dioceses and for their bishops:  Kibondo (Tanzania) The Rt Revd Sospeter Ndenza; Kigali (Rwanda) The Rt Revd Nathan Amooti Rusengo; Kigeme (Rwanda) The Rt Revd Assiel Musabyimana 

. 

 In our Diocesan cycle, we pray for the clergy and people of Christ Church, Woodbridge.

 

Empower your Church to proclaim the saving message of Jesus Christ.

Lord of mercy, spread your word.

 

Give us courage and strength to spread the Gospel in places

where it has not been preached.

Lord of mercy, spread your word.

 

Bless us in our personal lives that we may live fully according to Jesus’ example.

Lord of mercy, spread your word.

 

Open our eyes to your Word in the Holy Scriptures

that we find new paths of understanding.

Lord of mercy, spread your word.

 

Remember, in your mercy, those who have gone before

marked with the sign of faith and led by the Gospel.

Lord of mercy, spread your word.

 

 

The Lord’s Prayer

 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

 

Collect

 

 

Almighty and everlasting God, who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace to believe and preach your word, may your Church truly love what he believed and faithfully preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.   Amen.

 

Almighty God, we are taught by your word that all our doings without love are worth nothing.  Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Daily Devotional for Friday, 21 August, 2020

Prayers for Friday, 21 August, 2020 (Proper 20, Trinity10)

 

Today in the Christian calendar we remember Blaise Pascal (d 1662), scientist and religious thinker.  

 

 

Invitatory

 

O God, make speed to save us.

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.

Amen.

 

The Lord is our refuge and our strength:  O come, let us worship.

 

Hebrew Scriptures 

Job 2.1-13

One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.’ Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.’

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.

Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.’ But he said to her, ‘You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. They sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. 

 

 

Psalm

Psalm 140   

 

Deliver me, O Lord, from evildoers;

   protect me from those who are violent, 

who plan evil things in their minds

   and stir up wars continually. 

They make their tongue sharp as a snake’s,

   and under their lips is the venom of vipers.

          Selah 

 

Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;

   protect me from the violent

   who have planned my downfall. 

The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,

   and with cords they have spread a net;

   along the road they have set snares for me.

          Selah 

 

I say to the Lord, ‘You are my God;

   give ear, O Lord, to the voice of my supplications.’ 

O Lord, my Lord, my strong deliverer,

   you have covered my head in the day of battle. 

Do not grant, O Lord, the desires of the wicked;

   do not further their evil plot.

          Selah 

 

Those who surround me lift up their heads;

   let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them! 

Let burning coals fall on them!

   Let them be flung into pits, no more to rise! 

Do not let the slanderer be established in the land;

   let evil speedily hunt down the violent! 

 

I know that the Lord maintains the cause of the needy,

   and executes justice for the poor. 

Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name;

   the upright shall live in your presence.

 

 

 

 

Epistle

Acts 9.1-9 (The Conversion of Saul)

http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=465006824

 

Gospel

John 6.27-40

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” ’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.’

 

 

Commentary (Father Michael)

 

Pressing on today with the story of Job. and what a difficult thing to read, with its suggestion that God would willingly allow us to experience suffering!  God’s giving Job into the power of Satan, like the story of the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis, can be difficult to reconcile with our idea of God as a loving father.  All I can suggest for now is that we be willing to sit with that tension and unease as we work our way through Job.

 

The second exchange between God and Satan (2.1-3a) is word for word identical with the first exchange (1.6-8), and this repetition reminds us of how folktales often work.  Job probably originated as a folktale, which took on theological weight as the canon of the Hebrew scriptures was developed.  Likewise the words of Job’s wife, which elicit a statement of faithful patience from Job (2.9-10), mirror Job’s reaction to the terrible news he receives from the surviving servant (1.13-22).  In both cases, the theme of the story, of faithful acceptance of the good and bad that life brings, is developed.

 

The appearance of Job’s friends at the end of chapter 2 completes the prologue and sets the stage for the long debates that follow.  Their strategy, to sit silently with their friend in solidarity with his suffering, is admirable.  As anyone trained in pastoral care and visiting knows, the most effective thing one can do when visiting is to be a compassionate presence, so the one suffering knows that they are not alone.  Usually the worst thing that a visitor can do is to show up and start talking!   We shall see how well Job’s friends do as we go on.

 

 

Questions

Is God giving Job into Satan’s power problematic for you?   How do you respond to Job’s continuing faithfulness amid all that he has suffered?  

What other questions come to mind in today’s passages?

 

Intercession

 

Let us pray in faith to God our Father, to his Son Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Spirit, saying, “Lord, hear and have mercy.”

 

For the Church of the living God throughout the world, let us ask the riches of his grace.  Today we pray in the Anglican Communion Cycle of Prayer for the clergy and people of these Dioceses and for their bishops:  Oleh (Nigeria) The Rt Revd John Usiwoma Aruakpor, and Bunyoro-Kitara (Uganda) The Rt Revd Samuel Kahuma 

. 

 In our Diocesan cycle, we pray for the clergy and people of St. Paul, Runnymede.

 

 Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

For all who proclaim he word of truth, especially all who struggle to communicate the gospel within the isolation and restrictions of the pandemic, 

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

For all who have consecrated their lives to the kingdom of God, and for all struggling to follow the way of Christ, let us all the gifts of the Spirit.

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

For Elizabeth our Queen, for Justin our Prime Minister, and for all who govern the nations, that they may strive for justice and peace, let us ask the strength of God.

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

For the people of Belarus, as they struggle to claim their stolen election, and for the people of Lebanon, dealing with failed government and the aftermath of the Beirut explosion.

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

For scholars and research workers, particularly for those working on treatments and a vaccine for Covid 19, and for all whose work seeks to benefit humanity, let us ask the light of the Lord.

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

We pray to be forgiven our sins and set free from all hardship, distress, want, war, and injustice.

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

For all who have passed from this life in faith and obedience,  and for all who have perished from Covid 19 and from diseases that went untreated because hospitals were overwhelmed, let us ask the peace of Christ.

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

 

The Lord’s Prayer

 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

 

Collect

 

 

Almighty God, who gave your servant Blaise Pascal a great Intellect, that he might explore the mysteries of your creation, and who kindled in his heart a love for you and a devotion to your service: Mercifully give us your servants, according to our various callings, gifts of excellence in body, mind, and will, and the grace to use them diligently and to your glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

 

Almighty God, you have broken the tyranny of sin and sent into our hearts the Spirit of your Son.  Give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service, that all people may know the glorious liberty of the children of God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Daily Devotional, Thursday 20 August, 2020

Prayers for Thursday, 20 August, 2020 (Proper 20, Trinity10)

 

Today in the church calendar we remember William and Catherine Booth, founders of the Salvation Army (d 1912, 1890).  

 

 

Invitatory

 

O God, make speed to save us.

 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.

Amen.

 

The Lord is our refuge and our strength:  O come, let us worship.

 

Hebrew Scriptures 

Job 1.1-22

There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons used to go and hold feasts in one another’s houses in turn; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the feast days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt-offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, ‘It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.’ This is what Job always did.

 

One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.’ Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.’ The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!’ So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

 

One day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the eldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, ‘The oxen were ploughing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was still speaking, another came and said, ‘The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was still speaking, another came and said, ‘The Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was still speaking, another came and said, ‘Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you.’

Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshipped. He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’

In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.

 

Psalm

Psalm 131

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,

   my eyes are not raised too high;

I do not occupy myself with things

   too great and too marvellous for me. 

But I have calmed and quieted my soul,

   like a weaned child with its mother;

   my soul is like the weaned child that is with me. 

 

O Israel, hope in the Lord

   from this time on and for evermore.

 

Epistle

Acts 8.26-40

http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=464920641

 

Gospel

John 6.16-27

 

When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, got into a boat, and started across the lake to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The lake became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’ Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land towards which they were going.

The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the lake saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’

 

Commentary (Father Michael)

 

Seeing as the BAS two-year lectionary which we follow has started the story of Job today, a refreshing change from the rather unedifying story of Judges, I thought I would focus these commentaries on Job going forward.  I am hoping that I, at least (I have no idea who is reading this) will benefit from looking at Job.

 

Two initial comments.  The first is on the relationship of God and Satan, who hear does not appear to have a specifically evil o demonic role, but is simply one of the “heavenly beings” that come together before God.   I’m currently reading Tom Holland’s book Dominion, a history of Christianity’s evolution and its influence on global culture.   Holland notes that the opening of the Book of Job may have been influenced by the exilic period when the Jewish people fell under the control of the Babylonian and later Persian kings, so that God appears to preside over a court like other great rulers.   Satan, who has appeared from prowling the earth, may be reminiscent of secret services and spies that these rulers employed, as his job here seems to involve bringing people like Job to God’s attention.  N.T. Wright, in one of his podcasts, addresses the role of Satan in Job and elsewhere, if you’re interested:  https://askntwrightanything.podbean.com/e/28-satan-and-the-powers-of-evil/

 

The other initial comment involves Job.  While we often think of Job as a proverbial figure of long-suffering endurance (“having the patience of Job”), it’s interesting that our introduction to him gives him a priestly quality.  Job observes the feast days, he sanctifies (blesses?) his family, and prays on their behalf, acting as a kind of intercessor (‘It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts’) to protect them and advocate for them.  While this description of Job’s piety helps the narrative buildup (will Job himself curse God in his heart?), it also makes us think about how faith and prayer work even in the midst of their apparent denial.   After Job learns of the death of the same children that he tried to protect in his prayers, he falls down and worships God.   How many of us could bless God immediately after receiving the worst news?  Our questions going forward in this book should include whether we see Job as a fable of one exemplary man, or whether there is any pastoral advice and counsel here for how we can live our own faith lives?

 

 

Questions

What impressions have you had of the book of Job in your previous bible studies?   What would you like to learn about Job going forward?  What questions would you ask of this text?  What other questions come to mind in today’s passages?

 

Intercession

 

Let us pray in faith to God our Father, to his Son Jesus Christ, and to the Holy Spirit, saying, “Lord, hear and have mercy.”

 

For the Church of the living God throughout the world, let us ask the riches of his grace.  Today we pray in the Anglican Communion Cycle of Prayer for the clergy and people of these Dioceses and for their bishops:  Okrika (Nigeria) The Rt Revd Tubokosemie Atere, and Bungoma (Kenya) The Revd George Mechumo 

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 In our Diocesan cycle, we pray for the clergy and people of St. St. Olave, Swansea.

 Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

For all who proclaim he word of truth, especially all who struggle to communicate the gospel within the isolation and restrictions of the pandemic, 

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

For all who have consecrated their lives to the kingdom of God, and for all struggling to follow the way of Christ, let us all the gifts of the Spirit.

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

For Elizabeth our Queen, for Justin our Prime Minister, and for all who govern the nations, that they may strive for justice and peace, let us ask the strength of God.

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

For the people of Belarus, as they struggle to claim their stolen election, and for the people of Lebanon, dealing with failed government and the aftermath of the Beirut explosion.

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

For scholars and research workers, particularly for those working on treatments and a vaccine for Covid 19, and for all whose work seeks to benefit humanity, let us ask the light of the Lord.

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

We pray to be forgiven our sins and set free from all hardship, distress, want, war, and injustice.

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

For all who have passed from this life in faith and obedience,  and for all who have perished from Covid 19 and from diseases that went untreated because hospitals were overwhelmed, let us ask the peace of Christ.

Lord, hear and have mercy.

 

 

The Lord’s Prayer

 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

 

Collect

 

 

 

 

Almighty God, you have broken the tyranny of sin and sent into our hearts the Spirit of your Son.  Give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service, that all people may know the glorious liberty of the children of God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

Let us bless the Lord.

Thanks be to God.