Daily Office Readings for Thursday of Proper 25: Year 2
Morning, Psalm 50; Evening, Psalm 33;
Ecclesiasticus. 31:12to18 and 25to32:2; Revelation 12:7to17; Luke 11:53to12:12
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:4 to 7)
I ponder several points from this Gospel passage. First, our bodies will yield its soul back to the Lord, sooner or later. No one knows how much time on this earth they have. But “on this earth” is not the end. At our death, “life is changed, not ended.” (BCP 382)
I used to misinterpret this passage. I used to think the writer was talking about a human taking the life of another human. But I have come to understand this as fearing God, who after calling us back to the Creator then decides where we go from that point. God is the One to be feared, or at least respected in great reverence. We humans are a part of creation like the sparrows. I do believe God prizes us as the flagship of creation and holds us up as special given that God came to dwell with us, as one of us.
Lastly, the language of God counting the hairs of our head is the best explanation that could be given to let the people of that day know that there is nothing about us that the Creator doesn’t know. Today we would say God made every molecule of us and put together our DNA. This language would not have made sense two thousand years ago. It is God whom we must go to concerning our health. It is God who is the ultimate doctor as expressed through the healings of Jesus. But more importantly, it is God whom we must go to for our spiritual health. It is in the spiritual domain that we will have eternal life. God is the ultimate Spiritualist as revealed in the Gospel of John 4: 24.
Today our Church remembers Bishops Paul Shinji Sasaki of Japan and Philip Lnedel Tsen of China and their information can be found at: Paul Shinji Sasaki & Philip Lendel Tsen
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools. And, as we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray:
All Mighty God, Creator and Sustainer and Lover of all souls, it is to you whom we must return. Please keep each of us ever-mindful of our inevitable presence with You where we will be subject to Your judgment, with mercy and love; help us to live loving lives; Amen.
onewhoponders 