Patrick Comerford
We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar. This week began with the Second Sunday before Lent (23 February 2025), and Lent begins next week on Ash Wednesday (5 March 2025).
The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today celebrates the life and work of George Herbert (1633), Priest, Poet. Before this day begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Mark 9: 41-50 (NRSVA):
41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
42 ‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
49 ‘For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.’
Today’s Reflection:
In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Mark 9: 41-50), I should point out that verses 44 and 46 are omitted in most translations. This is not an error on my part or on the part of the translators or publishers, but because these are identical to verse 48, and are not found in the best ancient authorities.
To put the story in its context or setting, Christ and the disciples are in Capernaum. But on the way there, as we heard earlier this week (Mark 9: 30-37), the disciples were arguing with one another about who is the greatest. Christ has told them not to seek position or prestige.
We then read yesterday how one of the Twelve, John, complains that someone who is not part of their inner circle has been casting out demons in Christ’s name. But did the disciples welcome him? Did they praise him for bringing comfort to distressed people and for restoring them to a good quality of life?
Christ then rebukes the disciples for attempting to stop this exorcist who is curing in his name. On the other hand, Christ warns us against putting an obstacle or stumbling block in the way of ‘little ones.’ He reprimands the disciples for being smug and jealous and unwelcoming. Instead of being smug among themselves, arguing about who among them was the greatest, the disciples should have been like this man, bringing comfort to those who were in trouble, looking after those who were thirsty both physically and spiritually.
The disciples are warned against their enthusiasm and their values, like salt losing its saltiness (verse 49).
In reality, despite what is said here, salt does not easily lose its taste. However, in Judaism, salt symbolised purity and wisdom and was used to season incense and offerings to God in the Temple. Should it become ritually unclean, it had to be thrown out and was no longer to be used by the worshipping community or in its liturgies. Similarly, if Christians lose their faith they are no longer part of the worshipping community and its liturgy, and may as well be discarded or thrown out.
Roman soldiers were given salt rations and this Sal is the origin of the word ‘salary.’ A soldier failing in battle or falling asleep at his post was ‘not worth his salt.’
As people of faith, let us be worth our salt; let us never lose our taste for justice, let us be at peace with one another, and seek to bring peace and justice into this world, in season and out of season.
Today’s Prayers (Thursday 27 February 2025):
This week marks the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘A Grain of Wheat.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by the Revd Dr Nevsky Everett, chaplain of the Church of the Resurrection, Bucharest, Romania.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 27 February 2025) invites us to pray:
Lord, in the face of suffering, we ask for hope. Comfort the people of Ukraine, especially those who feel despair and grief. Let them experience your presence and hold fast to the hope that you bring, even in the darkest of times.
The Collect:
King of glory, king of peace,
who called your servant George Herbert
from the pursuit of worldly honours
to be a priest in the temple of his God and king:
grant us also the grace to offer ourselves
with singleness of heart in humble obedience to your service;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God, shepherd of your people,
whose servant George Herbert revealed the loving service of Christ
in his ministry as a pastor of your people:
by this eucharist in which we share
awaken within us the love of Christ
and keep us faithful to our Christian calling;
through him who laid down his life for us,
but is alive and reigns with you, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s Reflection
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
No comments:
Post a Comment