Peace, all. I am offering up for you yet another alternate Prayer of the Day for your use in worship this weekend. Because of the conversations we will be having at our church as we begin our RIC journey this Sunday, I decided to exchange the second reading with a reading from John 8.
I cropped the Lukan God/Mammon text with the intent of focusing on the God/Mammon saying itself, outside of the parable and alongside the John 8 reading, instead. Clearly, both selections speak to questions and expressions of fidelity, even as each speaks to expressions of faithfulness that save as well as expressions of faithfulness that seek to take others' lives.
I have included my paraphrased translation of the texts below the prayer, in case those, too, might be useful.
For a really excellent commentary on John 8, I recommend listening to the recent conversation with Carlos Rodriguez on the People's Theology podcast. He's insightful and incredible.
Peace and Love, all!
Tom
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PRAYER OF THE DAY
In the book of 1st Peter, O God, your scriptures describe the Enemy as a prowling lion whose delight is in our pain.
In our Gospel reading, the faithful are described in a similar way.
Here we encounter them: plotting, encircling, ready to cast stones that kill, eager to see a splinter in our neighbor’s eye when we have a whole plank in our own.
In the midst of it all, we learn about Jesus’ ministry of interruption. Between the faithful and the woman who was accused, Jesus stands, revealing to us the Way of his peace and the Love that is his salvation.
Teach us to walk with Jesus on this Way, O God, that we might be instruments and conduits of your healing and interrupting love.
Amen.
John 8:1-9 & Luke 16:10-13
John 8: When We Use Faith as a Weapon
Early in the morning [Jesus] went back to the temple. As he sat down, the people gathered around him. As he began to teach, the scribes and the Pharisees dragged in one of their neighbors by force. She had been caught in the unfaithfulness of adultery, they accused.
They made her stand there in the middle of everybody gathered. But they said nothing to her. Instead, they addressed Jesus. “Rabbi,” they said,” this woman herself was caught in the act of committing adultery. God’s Law from Moses commands us to [torture and kill women like this] by way of stoning,” they said. “What do you say?”
They were “testing” him, as they were hoping that, whatever he said, they could use his words as ammunition against him. Rather than responding, Jesus bowed down. And, as he did, he wrote with his finger on the earth.
The inquisition continued until, finally, he rose up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then he bowed down again and he kept writing on the earth.
When they heard him, they began to go away, one by one: the elders first, and then the rest–until Jesus and the woman were finally left alone.
Luke 16:10-13 Fidelity: to Mammon, to Love
“[Jesus said to the disciples, the scribes, and the Pharisees, who had gathered]:
Those of us who can be trusted with little everyday things often prove to be trustworthy when it comes to the weighty things and the things that matter the most. Those of us who act unjustly, on the other hand, often act even more unjustly when we are given responsibility or power over the weightier things in life.
My siblings, if you take an [idol such as] Mammon the Unjust which is constantly in front of you, and use it as a tool to perpetuate harm in this world, who could possibly trust you with the truly valuable gifts from above? How could they? And if you are unjust in your handling of the gifts of others, who will trust you with gifts of your own? How could they?
Faithfulness to these two lords is an impossible task. They are different, one from another. And their desires contradict. If we try, it always ends the same. We end up adoring one while detesting the other.
You cannot serve both God and Mammon.”
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