🦁 Epiphany 5-1
Readings: Psalm 147:1-11, 20c; Proverbs 12:10-21; Galatians 5:2-15.
Reflection
Good morning. This is Tim Dribble, broadcasting from Sacramento, California. Today's reams come to us from Psalm 147:1 to 11, Proverbs chapter 12, verses 10 to 21 and Galatians Chapter five, verses 2 to 15.
Psalm 147 is titled He Heals the Brokenhearted. And this is the saw Psalm of Praise to God for his abundant power. How he lifts up the humble cast, the wicked to the ground. And he has the number of stars in the sky and gives them their names. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He builds up Jerusalem, gathers the outcasts of Israel, and he doesn't divide in the strength of the horse and the pleasures of the legs of a man with the Lord. Pledge takes pleasure in those who fear him and those who hope in his steadfast love.
The word fear is used a lot in our minds. We use this is the version of Afraid So this is to be scared of God. And that's not what this means. We use fear in the Bible in these verses. This isn't being afraid of God. This is showing respect for God to to follow God. So it's being respectful to God, not being afraid of God.
And then in Proverbs, again, we have a list of instructions for life. And this is, you know, evil man is ensnared by the transgressions of his lips. But the righteous escapes from trouble don't lie. The wicked covets the spoil, the evil doers, but the root of the righteous bears food, fruit. And these are all things in how to be a moral and ethical person. You know, whoever works his land will have plenty of bread. He follows worthless pursuits, lacks sense, and this is just some really good direction. The book of Proverbs, again, are wisdom, life lessons, things about how we should lead our lives and things that we should be doing. And what happens when you don't. So in verse 19, truthful lips endure forever. The lying tongue is but for a moment. So just things when when you read the book, you're probably going over the readings today again. Let's take a look and think about how you conduct your life and how it lines up with these these edicts from the Book of Proverbs and the book of Galatians and our reading today. This is again, Paul's liturgical actions. And we have another round of Paul defending himself. So again, as I said before, in the early church, so we had Peter and Paul. Peter felt that the way, as it was called, was a sect of Judaism. So they started to follow all the traditions of Judaism. It's just they believe that, you know, in the way Paul took the away the message of Jesus out to everyone. Well, if you weren't Jewish, if you were a Gentile, so gentile being anyone who's not Jewish, but you weren't circumcised, you didn't follow the dietary restrictions of the kosher life and all. And this is Paul coming in here again to the Galatians, saying you don't need to do that to be a follower of Christ. And this is where he and Peter butted heads in the very early church. So we have more things in here. But the interesting part of this and the really important thing to look out is in verse six four in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor on circumcision counts for anything but only faith working through love. So we have faith in God, we believe and we work that faith, that belief through love. And that's what we are called to do. And it is Paul's thing, the end in verse 14, the whole law is fulfilled in one word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
That was Jesus's commandment Love God with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself. So if it's not about love, it's probably not about God. So as we interact with people in our day to day lives, as difficult as it is, I know it is very, very challenging. I have this challenge on a regular basis, but try to remember to deal with people in the most loving manner that we can, because that is that is our commission from Jesus as Christians and as his followers, as were to love God and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. And we don't need to follow necessarily any of the former traditions and cultural aspects of Judaism. Amen.
