The scriptures read are Joshua 22-24, Psalm 72 and John 6.
Joshua 22. Joshua dismisses the Israelites who chose land east of the Jordan with a blessing. They go home and build a huge altar. Then the 10 tribes are all in a tizzy because they think the altar was built as a rival worship site. They almost go to war till they find out it was built, not as a functional worship altar, but more like a memorial reminding everyone that, though on the other side of the Jordan, they are God's people as well. A very instructive tale on how people can misinterpret religious symbols and make a mountain out of a memorial.
Joshua 23-24. Final admonitions from Joshua which boil down to "Stay loyal to God." He recaps briefly the events from Abraham through the conquest of the land and then tells Israel to choose what God they will follow. Joshua completes a covenant with the people.
Psalm 72. A prayer for the king that he will protect the poor and needy.
John 6. As a second Passover approaches, Jesus feeds the 5000. John tells us what they others didn't: that the crowd wanted to seize Jesus and make him king. Jesus gives them the slip, as only he can, walking on water. They catch up with him in Capernaum and Jesus gives them the "I am the Bread of Life" speech. For more on that, read my recent post on that here. The "Eat my flesh and drink my blood" metaphor is too much for some of his disciples and they leave him. The Twelve stay loyal, though Jesus knows that one is a traitor.
No comments:
Post a Comment