Daily Scripture Readings     

Friday (July23, 2010)*

Daily Office Lectionary, The Book of Common Prayer, the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A., 1979; cf. The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), Abingdon Press, 1992

Daily Lectionary, Book of Common Worship, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., 1993

Daily Lectionary, Book of Worship Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, c. 1978 (2002 printing) ‡

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm

http://www.pcusa.org/lectionary

‡ Daily Lectionary, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, ELCA, 2006. In the Evangelical Lutheran Worship book of 2006, the Daily Lectionary (pp. 1121-1153) is revised to correlate with the Sunday Lectionary (the Revised Common Lectionary) on the three year cycle: Year A, Year B (now current), Year C. “The readings are chosen so that the days leading up to Sunday (Thursday through Saturday) prepare for the Sunday readings. The days flowing out from Sunday (Monday through Wednesday) reflect upon the Sunday readings” (p. 1121).

Unless otherwise indicated, the scripture texts quoted are from The New Revised Standard Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers), 1989.

Friday

AM Psalm 40, 54

PM Psalm 51

Joshua 9:22-10:15

Rom. 15:14-24

Matt. 27:1-10

Eucharistic Readings:

Jeremiah 3:14-18; Psalm 121;

Matt. 13:18-23

Friday

Morning: Psalms 130; 148

Joshua 9:22-10:15

Rom. 15:14-24

Matt. 27:1-10

Evening: Psalms 32; 139

Friday

Morning Pss.: 51, 148

Deuteronomy 31:7-13, 24-32:4

Romans 10:1-13

Matthew 24:15-31

Evening Pss.: 142, 65

 

Year C Daily Readings

Psalm 138

Esther 3:7-15

Acts 2:22-36

* Friday in the week of the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, references for the week of the Sunday closest to July 20, Year Two

 

For the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Episcopal Readings in the file for July 9, 2010, two weeks ago. These traditions differ in relating readings to the weeks following Pentecost.

 

Episcopal and Presbyterian Readings:

 

Joshua 9:22-10:15

 

Joshua Confronts the Gibeonites

 

            22 Joshua summoned them, and said to them, “Why did you deceive us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ while in fact you are living among us? 23 Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall always be slaves, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.” 24 They answered Joshua, “Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you; so we were in great fear for our lives because of you, and did this thing. 25 And now we are in your hand: do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us.” 26 This is what he did for them: he saved them from the Israelites; and they did not kill them. 27 But on that day Joshua made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to continue to this day, in the place that he should choose.

 

The Sun Stands Still

 

            10:1 When King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, 2 he became greatly frightened, because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities, and was larger than Ai, and all its men were warriors. 3 So King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem sent a message to King Hoham of Hebron, to King Piram of Jarmuth, to King Japhia of Lachish, and to King Debir of Eglon, saying, 4 “Come up and help me, and let us attack Gibeon; for it has made peace with Joshua and with the Israelites.” 5 Then the five kings of the Amorites-the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon-gathered their forces, and went up with all their armies and camped against Gibeon, and made war against it.

            6 And the Gibeonites sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, “Do not abandon your servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us; for all the kings of the Amorites who live in the hill country are gathered against us.” 7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the fighting force with him, all the mighty warriors. 8 The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have handed them over to you; not one of them shall stand before you.” 9 So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal. 10 And the LORD threw them into a panic before Israel, who inflicted a great slaughter on them at Gibeon, chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah. 11 As they fled before Israel, while they were going down the slope of Beth-horon, the LORD threw down huge stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died because of the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword.

            12 On the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the LORD; and he said in the sight of Israel,

“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,

and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.”

13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,

until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in midheaven, and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. 14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD heeded a human voice; for the LORD fought for Israel.

            15 Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal. (Joshua 9:22-10:15, NRSV)

 

The following comments are repeated here from July 25, 2008 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 20, Year Two), when comments were repeated from July 28, 2006 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 20, Year Two), when comments were repeated with revision and addition from July 23, 2004, in an email sent July 22, 2004, for July 23 to 25. The revised comments are repeated again here.

 

Yesterday’s reading concluded with the decision of the Israelite leaders, who proposed to let the Gibeonites live because of the oath, “so that wrath may not come upon us” (v. 20). The Gibeonites are to become “hewers of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation” (v. 21). As noted yesterday, the scene of the Israelite leaders confronting the Gibeonites about their deception, is repeated in today’s reading, as they are confronted by Joshua himself. “Why,” he asks, “did you deceive us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ while in fact you are living among us?” (Josh. 9:22). However, when Joshua repeats the decision about their becoming slaves, it seems more limited, than the report of the leaders’ decision. “Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall always be slaves, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God” (v. 23). As noted yesterday, E. John Hamlin credits the resolution of the conflict to “the wise counsel of the leaders” (vv. 19-21) and “the intervention of Joshua “ (vv. 23, 27). Joshua changed the position of the Gibeonites from the status of menial slaves imposed by the leaders (v. 21) “to the honorable status of attendants in the worship of Yahweh, providing wood and water for the sacrifices” (Inheriting the Land; A Commentary on the Book of Joshua, 1983, p. 83).

 

In Joshua’s interrogation of the Gibeonites, they answer the question “Why?” “Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you; so we were in great fear for our lives because of you, and did this thing” (v. 24). K. Lawson Younger, in reference to the Gibeonites’ fear of being destroyed, refers to Deut. 20:16-18 (NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on v. 24). And they maintain a humble, respectful attitude before Joshua. “And now we are in your hand: do as it seems good and right in your sight to do to us” (v. 25). So the decision about the Gibeonites is made clear by Joshua, for “on that day Joshua made them hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, to continue to this day, in the place that he should choose” (v. 27). According to Younger, “the place that he should choose is Deuteronomy’s term for the central place of worship, later identified as Jerusalem (e.g., Deut. 12:5-18)” (ibid., on v. 27).

 

Joshua lives up to his agreement with the Gibeonites, and the agreement causes five Amorite kings of the south to attack Gibeon. The new struggle begins “when King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them” (Josh. 10:1). “He [NRSV note a, ‘Heb. they’] became greatly frightened, because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the royal cities, and was larger than Ai, and all its men were warriors” (v. 2). So King Adoni-zedek assembles a coalition of five kings of Canaanite cities, including himself, to oppose Joshua and the Israelites. “So King Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem sent a message to King Hoham of Hebron, to King Piram of Jarmuth, to King Japhia of Lachish, and to King Debir of Eglon, saying, “Come up and help me, and let us attack Gibeon; for it has made peace with Joshua and with the Israelites” (vv. 3-4). According to Carol Meyers, “Debir as a king’s name is problematic, for it is a city name in v. 38” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Josh. 10:3). Younger summarizes. “The treaty between Gibeon and Israel incited the kings of five Amorite city-states to attack Gibeon. Jerusalem, an important Bronze Age city-state, and later the capital of Judah, is the driving force in the alliance” (op. cit., on 10:1-2). So the five kings “gathered their forces, and went up with all their armies and camped against Gibeon, and made war against it” (v. 5).

 

So the Gibeonites request Joshua’s help. by sending “to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, ‘Do not abandon your servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us; for all the kings of the Amorites who live in the hill country are gathered against us’ ” (v. 6). According to Meyers, “hill country designates the central highlands, the core of ancient Israel; but three of the cities of the coalition (Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon) are in the foothills, or Shephelah” (ibid., on v. 6). Joshua responds immediately to the Gibeonites’ request for help. He “went up from Gilgal, he and all the fighting force with him, all the mighty warriors” (v. 7). And he goes with the LORD’s blessing, as before when the Israelites were victorious. “The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have handed them over to you; not one of them shall stand before you” (v. 8).

 

The LORD’s help in the victory comes in the form of two miracles, as noted below. We are told that Joshua “came upon them [i.e., the forces of the five kings] suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal” (v. 9). This leads to a surprise attack when “the LORD threw them [again, the forces of the five kings] into a panic before Israel, who inflicted a great slaughter on them at Gibeon, chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah” (v. 10). “The LORD is to be directly involved,” says Meyers. “The mention of Azekah and Makkedah, both probably in the southern Shephelah, anticipates the second unit of the southern campaign in which Makkedah figures prominently (vv. 16, 17, 21, 28, 29)” (ibid., on v. 10).

 

In the report of this flight before Israel’s forces, we come to the first of the LORD’s two miracles. “The Lord threw down huge stones from heaven on them [i.e. the enemy forces] as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died because of the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword” (v. 11). Younger, who divides the report of these battles into “panels,” says, “the second panel of scene one [i.e., v. 11] backtracks and overlaps the first panel [vv. 1-10], describing the enemy flight again to Azekah with the further development of the divine intervention with deadly hailstones (lit. ‘large stones from heaven’).” He adds, “Divine interventions are common motifs in ancient war accounts. These large hailstones (Heb. ‘abanim gedolot’) anticipate the large stones (Heb. ‘abanuim gedolot’) that seal the kings in the caves (10:18, 27; cf. 7:26)” (op. cit., on v. 11).

 

This brings us in the narrative to the second miracle associated with Joshua’s defeat of the five kings. “On the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the Israelites,” says the narrator, “Joshua spoke to the LORD; and he said in the sight of Israel,” the following poetic lines:

 

“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,

and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.”

And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,

Until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. (Josh. 10:12b, 13a NRSV)

 

The poetic lines are credited to a no longer existing book. “Is this not written in the Book of Jashar?” asks the narrator. “The sun stopped in midheaven, and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD heeded a human voice; for the LORD fought for Israel” (vv. 13b, 14). Younger calls this “the third panel of scene one [i.e. vv. 12-15],” which he says, “also backtracks and overlaps, describing Joshua’s request to the LORD at the beginning of the battle with the further development of the divine intervention concerning the sun and moon (cf. Hab. 3:11; Judg. 5:20).” And Younger adds, “The exact meaning of the divine intervention is difficult to ascertain because it is described only in poetry” (op. cit., on vv. 12-15). According to Meyers,

 

Stand still . . . opens an ancient mythic poem, using language similar to that used for the Divine Warrior in Canaanite mythology (cf. Judg. 5:20; Hab. 3:11) and signifying God’s miraculous and direct involvement in human affairs. As stated in the following verse, the purpose of this action is for the Israelites to have sufficient time to kill the enemy before the sun set. (op. cit., on v. 12)

 

The five kings flee and hide “in the cave at Makkedah” (v. 16), so the Israelites are not through with them yet, but the decisive aspects of Joshua’s victory have been reported, and the present series of readings from Joshua passes over the “mopping up” here (10:16-43), the northern campaign (11:1-15), the summary of the conquest as a whole (11:16-23), various lists (chap. 12), the division of the land (chaps. 13-21), a few incidental details (chap. 22). In tomorrow’s reading we move on to chapter 23 and “concluding charges” (for refs. in this list, cf Younger, op. cit., on the respective passages). The present passage concludes with the brief report that, after the events of the day when “the sun stood still” (10:13), “Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal” (v. 15, cf. v. 43).

 

The miracles reported here have been the subject of much debate. I can’t explain them. E. John Hamlin says, “The natural way for God to keep the sun and moon from shining is to cover the sky with a heavy cloud for a period of twenty-four hours. . . . Thus, even at noon when the sun was ‘in the midst of heaven’ (v. 13), the day was as dark as night. . . . It was not until the following day that the sun ‘rose’ as usual, since the darkness prevailed ‘for a whole day’ (v. 13).” Hamlin alludes to, but essentially dismisses, another explanation. “Most present-day readers would find it difficult to accept the idea that God would respond to Joshua’s request by stopping the earth from revolving. The words of a later writer who told of God’s ‘darkening the sun’ by ‘cloth[ing] the heavens with blackness’ (Isa. 50:3) would be more understandable” (op. cit., p. 88, on Josh. 10:12-14).

 

I believe that God helped Joshua win the victory as he had promised. How he did so is not for me to say.

 

Romans 15:14-24

 

            14 I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. 15 Nevertheless on some points I have written to you rather boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to boast of my work for God. 18 For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed, 19 by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the good news of Christ. 20 Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation, 21 but as it is written,

“Those who have never been told of him shall see,

and those who have never heard of him shall understand.”

 

            22 This is the reason that I have so often been hindered from coming to you. 23 But now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you 24 when I go to Spain. For I do hope to see you on my journey and to be sent on by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a little while. (Romans 15:14-24, NRSV)

 

The following comments are repeated here from July 25, 2008 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 20, Year Two), when comments were repeated with editing and supplement from July 28, 2006 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 20, Year Two):

 

Paul begins his concluding remarks by expressing confidence that his readers “are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another” (Rom. 15:14). He admits to writing “rather boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God” (v. 15), that is, in his capacity as “a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles” (v. 16a). As such he is in “priestly service of the gospel of God,” preparing “the offering of the Gentiles [so that it] may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (v. 16b). “In Christ Jesus,” says Paul, “then, I have reason to boast of my work for God” (v. 17).

 

This “boasting” of Paul does not put the credit all on himself, but rather he gives credit to Christ. “For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to win obedience from the Gentiles” (v. 18a). The obedience of the Gentiles, he defines as “by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God” (vv. 18b, 19a). His description of the geographical scope of his ministry is remarkable: “so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the good news of Christ” (v. 19b). According to Charles H. Miller, “Illyricum [the] land of the Illyrians [was] a Roman province on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, today’s Yugoslavia and Albania.” Miller notes that “Paul speaks of having preached from Jerusalem to Illyricum in Rom. 15:19, but it is not clear whether he was actually in Illyricum or merely considered it the eastern [western?] boundary of his apostolic activity up to the time of writing Romans. There were Christian communities in Illyricum by the second century,” he adds, “and Jerome, translator of the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate), was born there ca. 342” (The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1996, s.v. Illyricum). Paul followed the principle or “ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation” (20). This claim should be understood in terms of what we know of Paul’s methods. From a headquarters city such as Ephesus, he would send such fellow-workers as Epaphrus out to found churches (cf. Col. 1:7-8). Even so, the claim is that the gospel has been introduced through much of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. Remarkably, he says there is “no further place for me in these regions” (v. 23a). Ben Witherington III says,

 

Presumably Paul is speaking in general terms in three ways: he means that his work has been in the top half of the Mediterranean crescent as far west as Illyricum, which corresponded roughly with the territory we call Albania plus what was once known as Yugoslavia; he probably does not mean he specifically evangelized in Jerusalem and Illyricum (we have no record elsewhere in Paul’s letters of his doing so in either place) but in the arc that covers that general part of the empire, and he means he has completed the work in the region God wanted him to do, which was an exercise in representative church planting, especially involving an urban strategy focusing on Roman colony cities and other crucial cities like Ephesus. As Paul says, he views his work as a matter of laying the foundations. He does not see it as his task to assemble all the superstructure. (Paul’s Letter to the Romans, with Darlene Hyatt, 2004, pp. 356-357 on Rom. 15:14-21).

 

But Paul is now looking westward, with plans to go to Spain, and on the way, to visit the Roman church “and to be sent on by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a little while” (Rom. 15:24). He expects to get help from the Roman church for his further missionary efforts in Spain. But as we know, it was not to be. His further ministry, after the arrest in Jerusalem and the voyage as a prisoner to Rome, would be the ministry related to the Prison Epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon) and the Pastoral Epistles (I, II Timothy and Titus). Even Paul had to follow the Lord’s plan for his life, not his own.

 

Matthew 27:1-10

 

Jesus Brought before Pilate (Mk 15.1; Lk 23.1; Jn 18.28)

 

            27:1 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death. 2 They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

 

The Suicide of Judas (Acts 1.18-19)

 

            3 When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 4 He said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money.” 7 After conferring together, they used them to buy the potter’s field as a place to bury foreigners. 8 For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price, 10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.” (Matthew 27:1-10, NRSV)

 

The following comments are based on those of July 25, 2008 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 20, Year Two), when comments were repeated with some editing and supplement from July 28, 2006 (Friday in the week of the Sunday closest to July 20, Year Two), when comments were repeated with expansion and revision from July 23, 2004, in an email sent July 22, 2004, for July 23 to 25.

 

Jesus is taken from the council to “Pilate the governor” (Mt. 27:1; cf. Mk. 15:1; Lk. 23:1; Jn. 18:28a). John tells us that the council members “did not enter the headquarters, so as to avoid ritual defilement and to be able to eat the Passover” (Jn. 18:28b), a point not mentioned in the other Gospels, who report that Jesus ate the Passover with his disciples the night before.

 

But before reporting on the trial before Pilate, Matthew tells us of Judas’ remorse and suicide: he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” (Mt. 27:3b, 4a). The word translated “repented” here is not the normal word for repenting (metanoevw, metanoeÇ), but rather, metamevlomai, (metamelomai), translated as “to have regrets about something, in the sense that one wishes it could be undone, be very sorry, regret” (Bauer-Danker-Arndt-Gingrich [BDAG], A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., 2000, s.v. metamevlomai, metamelomai, meaning no. (1), citing Simplicius in Epict[etus]). In other contexts, this word can mean “to change one’s mind about something, without focus on regret, change one’s mind, have second thoughts,” for example Mt. 21:29, 32; Heb. 7;21 (meaning no. (2)). Judas’ “repenting” was not the kind of repentance that leads to remission of sins but what we have chosen to call remorse. The chief priests refused to accept the return of the money, the “thirty pieces of silver.” “What is that to us? See to it yourself” (v. 4b).According to J. Andrew Overman, “A curse is pronounced upon anyone who betrays an innocent person for money (Deut. 27:25)” (The New Oxford Annotated Bible [NOAB], 3rd. edition, augmented 2007, on Mt. 27:4). So Judas threw down the money, “departed, and . . . hanged himself” (v. 5). The description of Judas’ end in Acts is rather different, or perhaps just more graphic: “Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out” (Acts 1:18, cf. v. 19). Of the latter, Christopher R. Matthews says, “Compare the gruesome death of Herod Agrippa in [Acts] 12:23” (NOAB, 3rd ed., augmented, 2007, on Acts 1:18). In Matthew, not only does Judas hang himself (Mt. 27:5), but the place is marks as an ironic memorial, for “the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money’ ” (Mt. 27:6). “After conferring together,” says Matthew, the chief priests “used them [i.e., the coins] to buy the potter’s field as a place to bury foreigners” (v. 7).

 

 but the field is bought by the priests, who bought “the potter’s field as a place to bury foreigners” (v. 7). One might suggest that it was Judas’ money which bought the field. Matthew emphasizes what we might call the “blood money” aspect of this transaction. “For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day” (Mt. 27:8). He cites “the prophet Jeremiah”: “Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, ‘And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me” (Mt. 27:9-10, citing Zech. 1:12-13; Jer. 32:6-9). According to Overman, the “citation is loosely based on Zech. 11:12-13, though these verses also form a midrash on Jer. 18-19” (op. cit., on Mt.2 27:9-10).

 

The story of Judas is very sad. As they say, we can learn from anyone, even if he can only serve as a bad example. But repentance (e.g. Peter) involves genuine sorrow for sin and a commitment to do right, with the Lord’s help. Judas’ remorse didn’t make it.

 

As noted above, for the Lutheran Readings for today, and comments on them, see the Episcopal Readings in the file for July 9, 2010, two weeks ago. These traditions differ in relating readings to the weeks following Pentecost.

 

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net