Joan Clark Houk

The Most Holy One,
our God is one.
Our God is love.

If today you hear God’s voice,
harden not your hearts.
(from Psalm 95)

Jesus taught his disciples:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets;
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
(from Matthew 5)

A society without law is a society without order and justice.
Today there are societies without law, or without a way to enforce the law,
and we see the suffering and pain of the people experiencing anarchy, violence and death.

With all your heart turn to me,
for I am tender and compassionate.
(from Joel 2)

There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha,
and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.
(from 2Kings 5)

Jesus said, “Truly I tell you,
no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.
(from Luke 4:24-30)

Once again we hear a story of siblings and a father’s love.
The elder “righteous” brother is unforgiving of the younger “penitent” brother.
The young men’s parent loves both of them.
(from Luke 15:11-32)

How does a parent feel when one child is unwelcoming, unforgiving, jealous,
and maybe hateful, of the other child?
How does God feel when we treat one of God’s People with rejection or hatred?
Let us love one another as God loves each one of us.

In today’s first reading from The Lectionary,
we are reminded of the story of Israel’s youngest son, Joseph.
Joseph is the dreamer to whom his father gave a long coat with sleeves.
Jealous of Joseph, his brothers conspired to kill him–except for his brother, Reuben.
But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying,
“Let us not take his life.”  Reuben said to them,
“Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness,
but lay no hand on him”–that he might rescue him out of their hand
and restore him to his father.     (Genesis 37)

Reuben did not succumb to “group think” as he spoke out against
what the others were planning.  It is not easy going against the group.
Do you step out of the crowd and call for that which is right?
Are you the one to protect the person who is vulnerable?
Do you speak out against discrimination, violence, bullying, sexual abuse?
Pray for the courage to do what is right as Reuben did.

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by the water,
sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit.
(from Jeremiah 17)

We are like this tree described in Jeremiah.
Our roots reach deep into the waters of baptism,
and during the dry season we are sustained by the Holy Spirit.
There is no need to fear
for we trust in the LORD, the Tree of Life.

Jesus asked the sons of Zebedee,
“Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?”
They said to him, “We are able.”
(Matthew 20)

Henri Nouwen wrote,
Drinking the cup of life makes our own
everything we are living.
It is saying, “This is my life,”
but also “I want this to be my life.”
Drinking the cup of life is fully appropriating and
internalizing our own unique existence,
with all its sorrows and joys.
(from Can You Drink the Cup? by Henri J. M. Nouwen,
Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, IN, 1996)

The greatest among you will be your servant.
All who exalt themselves will be humbled,
and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
(from Matthew 23)