Thursday • 3/31/2022
Thursday of 4 Epiphany, Year Two
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 69; Exodus 1:6–22; 1 Corinthians 12:12–26; Mark 8:27–9:1
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 8 (“The Song of Moses,” Exodus 15, BCP, p. 85); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94)
Exodus and Psalm 69: Rescue is on the way. The start of the book of Exodus is worth noting: Exodus begins the saga of a return home. Separation from the Garden had led to the slavery of sin. Thus, Israel’s exile under “taskmasters” in Egypt is a parable for the whole human condition of captivity under the dominion of sin, evil, and death. God is not going to leave his people under this oppression. As Eucharistic Prayer A puts it: “…and when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you in your mercy sent Jesus Christ…to reconcile us to you….” The book of Exodus, we’ll see, is a telling of that story in advance.
Today’s canticle, “The Song of Moses,” celebrates the fact that taskmasters do not have the final say, that “Yahweh is a warrior; Yahweh is his name” (Exodus 15:3 JB). As the story of the exodus unfolds, we see that God’s deliverance for all of us can be likened to a rescue from drowning waters. Despite Pharaoh’s command that “every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile,” baby Moses will be lifted from the waters. Despite being trapped on the shores of the Red Sea, the nation of Israel will be brought through the parted waters on dry ground.
Today’s psalm, Psalm 69, personalizes Moses’s and Israel’s experience. In this song about one of his own near-death experiences, David gives each of us words to lift up to Yahweh when life circumstances feel like they are about to sweep over us and drown us: “Let not the torrent of waters wash over me, neither let the deep swallow me up; do not let the Pit shut its mouth upon me” (Psalm 69:17).
But more: David provides one of his many glimpses of the Savior he looked forward to: “They gave me gall to eat, and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink. As for me, I am afflicted and in pain; your help, O God, will lift me up on high” (Psalm 69:23–24; see Matthew 27:34; Mark 15:23). David saw in advance that which we have the privilege of seeing at Calvary and in our lives: Christ meets us in the torrent, suffers in our stead, and rescues us from the “reproach” of our enemies, and from the “shame” and “dishonor” of our sin (Psalm 69:21a).
1 Corinthians: “If one member suffers…” One verse stands out in today’s reading from 1 Corinthians: “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it” (12:26). Throughout this passage, the apostle Paul contemplates the “oneness” and the “many-ness” of Christ’s Body the church. All baptized into one body, all drinking from the same Spirit. Everybody feeling everybody’s joy. Everybody feeling everybody’s pain.
The English poet and priest, John Donne (1573–1631) had an acute feel for the truth of the interconnectedness of our lives.
“No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thy friend’s
Or of thine own were:
Any man’s death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.”
“All mankind is one volume. When one man dies, one chapter is torn out of the book and translated into a better language. And every chapter must be so translated. God employs several translators. Some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice. But God’s hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to another.”
The Suffrages in the Daily Office are pitch perfect to enable us as a “kingdom of priests” to bring the hopes and hurts and the aspirations and torments of the whole human family to the throne of grace. I commend a lingering over each couplet:
Show us your mercy, O Lord;
And grant us your salvation.
Clothe your ministers with righteousness;
Let your people sing with joy.
Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in you can we live in safety.
Lord, keep this nation under your care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.
Let your way be known upon earth;
Your saving health among all nations.
Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And sustain us with your Holy Spirit. Amen
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+
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