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Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The prophet Jeremiah speaks of the incurable wound of his suffering yet finds in God’s words the delight of his heart. When Peter doesn’t grasp Jesus’ words about suffering, Jesus tells the disciples they will find their lives in losing them. Such sacrificial love is described by Paul when he urges us to associate with the lowly and not repay evil with evil. In worship we gather as a community that we might offer ourselves for the sake of our suffering world.
Jeremiah’s delight in the word of the LORD is contradicted by the heaviness of God’s hand upon him and God’s seeming unfaithfulness. God’s tough love to Jeremiah says that if he repents, he will be allowed to continue in his strenuous ministry. Jeremiah is strengthened by the simple words, “I am with you.”
1 Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the LORD. Look to the rock from which you were hewn
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah, who bore you,
for he was but one when I called him,
but I blessed him and made him many.
3 For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places
and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD;
joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4 Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation,
for a teaching will go out from me and my justice for a light to the peoples.
5 I will bring near my deliverance swiftly; my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me,
and for my arm they hope.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look at the earth beneath,
for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment,
and those who live on it will die like gnats, but my salvation will be forever,
and my deliverance will never be ended.
Your love is before my eyes; I have walked faithfully with you. (Ps. 26:3)
1 Give judgment for me, O LORD, for I have lived | with integrity;
I have trusted in the LORD and | have not faltered.
2 Test me, O | LORD, and try me;
examine my heart | and my mind.
3 For your steadfast love is be- | fore my eyes;
I have walked faithful- | ly with you.
4 I have not sat | with the worthless,
nor do I consort with | the deceitful. R
5 I have hated the company of | evildoers;
I will not sit down | with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in inno- | cence, O LORD,
that I may go in procession | round your altar,
7 singing aloud a song | of thanksgiving
and recounting all your won- | derful deeds.
8 LORD, I love the house in | which you dwell
and the place where your glo- | ry abides. R
Paul presents benchmarks for faithful relationships with Christians and non-Christians. Love is the unflagging standard of our behavior. When we encounter evil, we do not resort to its tactics but seek to overcome it with good. While Christians cannot control the actions and attitudes of others, we seek to live at peace with all people.
9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 Instead, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
After Peter confesses that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (16:16), Jesus reveals the ultimate purpose of his ministry. These words prove hard to accept, even for a disciple whom Jesus has called a “rock.”
21 From that time on, [after Peter confessed that Jesus was the Messiah,] Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
27 “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. 28 Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
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