Job: 1:1, 2:1-10,
Psalm 26,
Hebrews 1:1-4,2:5-12,
Mark 10:2-16
Proper 22 Oct3,2021
For ourselves and for the world
we seek wisdom.
For ourselves and all people
we seek understanding.
For ourselves and the whole creation
We seek your blessing’s, O God
The book of Job in the Old Testament is recognized as a classic of world literation. Victor Hugo who is considered the great novelist stated that if all literature was to be destroyed; that if, it was left to Hugo to decide the one work he would retain would be the book of Job. In today’s reading, Satan has been granted permission to afflict Job with physical ailments. Satan’s attitude was that if one’s wealth was taken away, then individuals would do anything to save their own lives. Even though Job’s faith has been tested to the limits. He refuses to question God for his misfortune. What we know is that no one in this life is spared the realities of pain and loss. Faith does not prevent our suffering, but it holds us in a relationship with each other and God who gently carries us through our afflictions.
Psalm 26:
The words from Psalm 26 reflect some of Job’s feelings. The entire Psalm asks for God’s judgment on his integrity and expresses confidence in ‘God’s continual presence. Remember that God’s love, mercy, and grace are not dependent upon our purity! God’s forgiveness, acceptance, and divine embrace is waiting for each of us, right now, and we can come as we are!
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
The beginning of Hebrews contains one of the main themes, which is in the Epistle. Jesus is identified as the ultimate revelation of God, which in every way is the imprint of God’s very being. Jesus’s sacrifice; for our sins; places him superior to the Angels and all other beings. Jesus took on human nature to suffer and die as one of us. When he made this choice, he tasted death for all of us and was made perfect through suffering. As someone who was fully human, Jesus is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters, for we all have the same God and Father.
Mark 10:2-16
Jesus takes on the Pharisees as they test him with questions about divorce and laws. The Pharisees are hoping to draw Jesus into a conflict with the religion’s authorities. Jesus does not become embroiled in these interpretive controversies and states that the permission to divorce was no more than a concession to human self-will and not part of God’s design. Divorce is possible in the legal sense but Jesus is calling attention to the pain caused by the breakage of the personal bonds between two people.
Our second look is into the Kingdom when Jesus insists the disciples give the little children access to him. In welcoming, holding. And blessings these children, Jesus shows again that the greatest of all is the servant of all, including the least of all.
Entrance into the Kingdom cannot be earned; it is a gift to be accepted. This stands in marked contrast to-self righteous legalism and is a lesson the disciples must learn and probably each of us
Prayer for the Day
Gracious and ever-faithful God, a friend of sinners and sanctifier of the faithful: suffuse us in the wonder and power of the Holy Spirit, that we may know the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a banquet of Liberation, a celebration of the magnificence of your love. And may we witness, in word and deed, to this eternal truth unto the ends of the earth. Amen.