Monday 12 March 2007 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Monday 12 March 2007
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Jeremiah 7:1-15

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Stand in the gate of the
Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of
the Lord, all you people of Judah, you that enter these gates to
worship the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend
your ways and your doings, and let me dwell with you in this place. Do
not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord,
the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act
justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan,
and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not
go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in
this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors for ever
and ever.

Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal,
murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go
after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand
before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are
safe!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house,
which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? You
know, I too am watching, says the Lord. Go now to my place that was in
Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it
for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because you have done
all these things, says the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently,
you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer,
therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, in which
you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors,
just what I did to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, just as
I cast out all your kinsfolk, all the offspring of Ephraim.
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Romans 4:1-12

What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to
the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to
boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say?
‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’
Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something
due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly,
such faith is reckoned as righteousness. So also David speaks of the
blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness irrespective of
works: 
‘Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven,
   and whose sins are covered; 
blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.’

Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also
on the uncircumcised? We say, ‘Faith was reckoned to Abraham as
righteousness.’ How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after
he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was
circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the
righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without
being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and
likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised
but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham
had before he was circumcised.
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John 7:14-36

About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and began
to teach. The Jews were astonished at it, saying, ‘How does this man
have such learning, when he has never been taught?’ Then Jesus answered
them, ‘My teaching is not mine but his who sent me. Anyone who resolves
to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or
whether I am speaking on my own. Those who speak on their own seek
their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is
true, and there is nothing false in him.

‘Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are
you looking for an opportunity to kill me?’ The crowd answered, ‘You
have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?’ Jesus answered them, ‘I
performed one work, and all of you are astonished. Moses gave you
circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the
patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. If a man receives
circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be
broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on
the sabbath? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right
judgement.’

Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Is not this the man
whom they are trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but they
say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this
is the Messiah? Yet we know where this man is from; but when the
Messiah* comes, no one will know where he is from.’ Then Jesus cried
out as he was teaching in the temple, ‘You know me, and you know where
I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true,
and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent
me.’ Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him,
because his hour had not yet come. Yet many in the crowd believed in
him and were saying, ‘When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs
than this man has done?’

The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the
chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him. Jesus
then said, ‘I will be with you a little while longer, and then I am
going to him who sent me. You will search for me, but you will not find
me; and where I am, you cannot come.’ The Jews said to one another,
‘Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he
intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?
What does he mean by saying, “You will search for me and you will not
find me” and, “Where I am, you cannot come”?’
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 80

Psalm 80

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
   you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth 
   before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
   and come to save us! 


Restore us, O God;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved. 


O Lord God of hosts,
   how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers? 
You have fed them with the bread of tears,
   and given them tears to drink in full measure. 
You make us the scorn* of our neighbours;
   our enemies laugh among themselves. 


Restore us, O God of hosts;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved. 


You brought a vine out of Egypt;
   you drove out the nations and planted it. 
You cleared the ground for it;
   it took deep root and filled the land. 
The mountains were covered with its shade,
   the mighty cedars with its branches; 
it sent out its branches to the sea,
   and its shoots to the River. 
Why then have you broken down its walls,
   so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? 
The boar from the forest ravages it,
   and all that move in the field feed on it. 


Turn again, O God of hosts;
   look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine, 
   the stock that your right hand planted. 
They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;
   may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance. 
But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
   the one whom you made strong for yourself. 
Then we will never turn back from you;
   give us life, and we will call on your name. 


Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 77, 79

Psalm 77

I cry aloud to God,
   aloud to God, that he may hear me. 
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
   in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
   my soul refuses to be comforted. 
I think of God, and I moan;
   I meditate, and my spirit faints.
          Selah 


You keep my eyelids from closing;
   I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 
I consider the days of old,
   and remember the years of long ago. 
I commune with my heart in the night;
   I meditate and search my spirit:* 
‘Will the Lord spurn for ever,
   and never again be favourable? 
Has his steadfast love ceased for ever?
   Are his promises at an end for all time? 
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
   Has he in anger shut up his compassion?’
          Selah 
And I say, ‘It is my grief
   that the right hand of the Most High has changed.’ 


I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
   I will remember your wonders of old. 
I will meditate on all your work,
   and muse on your mighty deeds. 
Your way, O God, is holy.
   What god is so great as our God? 
You are the God who works wonders;
   you have displayed your might among the peoples. 
With your strong arm you redeemed your people,
   the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
          Selah 


When the waters saw you, O God,
   when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
   the very deep trembled. 
The clouds poured out water;
   the skies thundered;
   your arrows flashed on every side. 
The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
   your lightnings lit up the world;
   the earth trembled and shook. 
Your way was through the sea,
   your path, through the mighty waters;
   yet your footprints were unseen. 
You led your people like a flock
   by the hand of Moses and Aaron.


Psalm 79

O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
   they have defiled your holy temple;
   they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. 
They have given the bodies of your servants
   to the birds of the air for food,
   the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth. 
They have poured out their blood like water
   all around Jerusalem,
   and there was no one to bury them. 
We have become a taunt to our neighbours,
   mocked and derided by those around us. 


How long, O Lord? Will you be angry for ever?
   Will your jealous wrath burn like fire? 
Pour out your anger on the nations
   that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
   that do not call on your name. 
For they have devoured Jacob
   and laid waste his habitation. 


Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors;
   let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
   for we are brought very low. 
Help us, O God of our salvation,
   for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and forgive our sins,
   for your name’s sake. 
Why should the nations say,
   ‘Where is their God?’
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
   be known among the nations before our eyes. 


Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;
   according to your great power preserve those doomed to die. 
Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbours
   the taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord! 
Then we your people, the flock of your pasture,
   will give thanks to you for ever;
   from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
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