THE BIBLE – TODAY’S TREASURE HUNT
COMMENT FOR PENTECOST 19 – 15-10-06
Job 23: 1-9; 16-17
The background to the Book of Job is life after the exile experience and under the political control of Persia from 538 BCE. Does Job, the person, represent the remnant of the Hebrew nation? Is his personal disaster like that of the country? People of faith in the Abraham covenant longed to ask their God what was to become of them now. How do people of the covenant, or how does a person understand in the midst of the stress what is happening?
Psalm 22: 1-15
For Christians this Song of Lament begins with the bleak words Jesus used on the cross as a cry of desolation. It is the experience of being still alive but without the creative, hopeful energies of the eternal spirit. In this song we are shown the way to recovery by remembering the strong times of the community’s past, and those in our own personal lives.
Hebrews 4: 12-16
“Spending time listening to God through the reading of scripture, through prayer and meditation is indeed a reality check” (WLW 12-10-06, p.39) Here the Word of God is the growing understanding we have of the ancient Scriptures and then the life and work of Jesus. The infinite creative energies of the Eternal Spirit come to us as mercy and grace to help in time of need. (Heb.4: 16)
Mark 10: 17-31
What would have happened in the Christian story if this talented young man had joined the group of the disciples? But he was a highly successful person in his everyday world, and the alternative was too stark. The disciples’ question showed they still believed in the old plan of Jesus as Messiah restoring independence for the Jewish nation. Jesus did not try to explain any further - he knew the Cross, the Resurrection and the experience of Pentecost still had to come and the disciples would then learn the Divine plan.
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