Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
1st Reading: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Joel is one of the later prophets in
history, active after the return of the Babylonian exiles and the rebuilding of
Jerusalem and its Temple. The purpose of his prophecy is to discern God’s will
in a huge storm of locusts which has ravaged crops. He takes it as a call to the people to
lament, a ritual expression of grief. In
chapter two the shofar sounds the alarm.
The Day of the Lord is
coming like that plague of locusts. The
people’s grief must turn to repentance, and Joel lists some common practices of
repentance in his day, yet he is also clear that those practices must be
outward signs of an inward commitment.
The final sentence is an appeal to God’s sense of honor and duty.
2:1Blow the trumpet in
Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land
tremble, for the day of the Lord
is coming, it is near—2a day of
darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread
upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been
from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come. 12Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13rend
your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to
anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. 14Who knows whether he will not turn and
relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord, your God? 15Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble
the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom
leave his room, and the bride her canopy. 17Between
the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, “Spare your
people, O Lord, and do not make
your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said
among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
Or this
1st Reading: Isaiah 58:1-12
The prophet is told to
reveal to the people the incongruity between their lifestyle and the values
they express in their worship. The scene
is a liturgical one, announced with the shofar.
After pointing out this incongruity, the Lord
reveals what genuine fasting should result in: the practice of justice and a turning away
from oppression.
1Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up
your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house
of Jacob their sins. 2Yet day after
day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that
practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they
ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. 3“Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why
humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” Look, you serve your own interest on
your fast day, and oppress all your workers. 4Look,
you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such
fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. 5Is such the fast that I choose, a day to
humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in
sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6Is
not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the
thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7Is it not to share your bread with the
hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to
cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? 8Then your light shall break forth like the
dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before
you, the glory of the Lord shall
be your rear guard. 9Then you shall
call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from
among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 10if you offer your food to the hungry and
satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday. 11The
Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you
shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never
fail. 12Your ancient ruins shall be
rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be
called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
Psalm 103:8-14
Psalm 103 as a whole is
the greatest expression in the psalms of trust in the compassion and mercy of
God. God’s mercy covers not only the
forgiveness of sins, but also the healing of infirmities. The psalm also recognizes the constant need
of humanity, using an image from Genesis (2:7) that we are but dust. God knows this better than we do ourselves,
but his response is not condemnation, it is “steadfast love,” [hesed] an important concept in the Hebrew Scriptures.
8 The Lord is full of
compassion and mercy, *
slow to anger and of great kindness.
9 He will not always accuse us, *
nor will he keep his anger for ever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, *
nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, *
so is his mercy great upon those who fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, *
so far has he removed our sins from us.
13 As a father cares for his children, *
so does the Lord
care for those who fear him.
14 For he himself knows whereof we are made; *
he remembers that we are but dust.
2nd Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10
In its context this
passage is a summary of Paul’s defense of himself as an apostle. This defense has been going on since the beginning
of the letter. Someone has challenged
his authority and, more importantly, the content of his teaching. He claims for himself, and all those who
would follow Jesus, the ministry of reconciliation. We are called to this ministry in all the
suffering and the joy of our lives. The
catechism of The Book of Common Prayer, teaches that this ministry of
reconciliation is the primary ministry of the church: “The mission of the Church is to restore all
people to unity with God and each other in Christ” (p. 855).
5:20bSo we are ambassadors
for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf
of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For
our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God. 6:1As
we work together with Christ, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God
in vain. 22For he says, “At an
acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped
you.” See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! 3We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way,
so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4but
as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great
endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5beatings,
imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness,
holiness of spirit, genuine love, 7truthful
speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right
hand and for the left; 8in honor
and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and
yet are true; 9as unknown, and yet
are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not
killed; 10as sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing
everything.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Our Gospel today is a
portion of the Sermon on the Mount. The
purpose of this teaching on almsgiving, prayer and fasting is to bring together
in a vital connection those spiritual practices and the conversion of the
heart. Our motivation (a result of that
conversion) is very important to Jesus.
We do these things not to be seen and to be thought well of. This sharply contrasts in his own day, the
Roman custom of philanthropy as a public display. The passage ends with the question for our
hearts: Where is your treasure? The skipped portion of chapter six is the
teaching of what we call the Lord’s Prayer.
1Jesus said, “Beware
of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then
you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2So
whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do
in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others.
Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know
what your right hand is doing, 4so
that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will
reward you. 5And whenever you pray,
do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the
synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly
I tell you, they have received their reward. 6But
whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father
who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 16And whenever you fast, do not look dismal,
like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that
they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and
wash your face, 18so that your
fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your
Father who sees in secret will reward you. 19Do
not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and
where thieves break in and steal; 20but
store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also.”
The readings are taken from The New Revised Standard
Version of the Bible © 1989 by The Division of Christian Education of The
National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. The Collect of the Day and the translation of
the Psalm are from The Book of Common Prayer. Commentary on the readings
is copyright © 2019, Epiphany Esources, www.epiphanyesources.com. All
rights reserved. Permission granted to copy for congregational use with
subscription.
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