Readings and Prayers for the Fifth Week of the “Season of Creation” 2021

October 3rd: Proper 22 / 18th after Trinity

This text is also available in Arabic.

A Home And A Hope For The Future

Job 1:1; 2:1-10

1:1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 

2:1 On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the Lord, ‘From roaming throughout the earth, going to and fro on it.’ 3 Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.’ 4 ‘Skin for skin!’ Satan replied. ‘A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.’ 6 The Lord said to Satan, ‘Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.’ 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. 9 His wife said to him, ‘Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!’ 10 He replied, ‘You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’ In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Psalm 26

1 Vindicate me, Lord, for I have led a blameless life;
I have trusted in the Lord and have not faltered.
2 Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind;
3 for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love
and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.

4 I do not sit with the deceitful, nor do I associate with hypocrites.
5 I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, Lord,
7 proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds.

8 Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells.
9 Do not take away my soul along with sinners, my life with those who are bloodthirsty,
10 in whose hands are wicked schemes, whose right hands are full of bribes.
11 I lead a blameless life; deliver me and be merciful to me.

12 My feet stand on level ground; in the great congregation I will praise the Lord.

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

2:5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:

‘What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
a son of man that you care for him?
7 You made them a little lower than the angels;
you crowned them with glory and honour
8 and put everything under their feet.’

In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says,

‘I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the assembly I will sing your praises.’

Mark 10:2-16

2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’ 3 ‘What did Moses command you?’ he replied. 4 They said, ‘Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.’ 5 ‘It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,’ Jesus replied. 6 ‘But at the beginning of creation God “made them male and female”. 7 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.” So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ 10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.’

13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the beloved community of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the beloved community of God like a little child will never enter it.’ 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

NOTES:

• For the third consecutive week, the Gospel speaks of the place of children in God’s kingdom. In Mark 10:14-15 Jesus blesses children and states, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ Today’s children will inherit an impoverished and unstable world due to our failures to address climate and ecological breakdown. Many suffer from deep anxiety and despair. Yet, God’s kingdom belongs to ‘such as these’. How can we both learn from today’s children and young people, and also become like them in trust and in seeing clearly?

• Hope is the key to living through despair. Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom of God speaks of a future hope that is guaranteed and certain. Even if today we see only glimpses and signs of hope amidst so much suffering, we can still live in the light of our prayer ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven’. One day, God’s kingdom will come in all its glorious fulness. That does not mean we passively wait. Rather it gives us the motivation to live today in the light of that future truth.

• Hebrews 1:1-4 & 2:5-12 speak of Jesus as Lord of all creation. He is the one ‘through whom’ God made the universe (1:2), and who sustains all things ‘by his powerful word’ (1:3). He is ‘heir of all things (1:2). ‘now crowned with glory and honour (2:9) because of his saving death and suffering. We can have hope for the future of all creation, because Christ who died is now raised and reigns in glory. He is the one ‘for whom and through whom everything exists’ (2:10).

• In some mysterious way, Hebrews 2 also suggests that we as believers, are caught up with Christ in his glory, made holy, and ‘crowned with glory and honour’, with all things placed under our feet (2:7-8, quoting Psalm 8). Back in Genesis 1, humans were made in God’s image and commissioned to reflect God’s loving purposes in leadership within creation. We have repeatedly failed, but here, as in Romans 8:19 which states ‘the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed’, it seems the Church (God’s ‘sons and daughters’) is once again given leadership within the community of creation. This is both a deep and humbling mystery, and a great privilege and responsibility.

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