Preparing for Worship - July 14, 2024

The Scripture readings this week focus on the consequences of sin and how much we need God’s mercy - mercy that comes to us only through God’s love and His saving work in Jesus Christ.

The Old Testament lesson is from Amos 7:7-15. Amos says that he was simply a herdsman and one who took care of fig trees, but God had called him to prophecy against the northern Kingdom of Israel and its king, Jeroboam. The Lord was using a plumb line to measure how straight the people and their king were compared with His will and plans for them, and they were very crooked and evil. Even the priest of Bethel had gone wrong and ordered Amos to leave and speak only to the southern Kingdom of Judah. The Lord had sent Amos to that Northern Kingdom, though, and he had to predict that King Jeroboam would die by the sword and the people of Israel would be carried away into exile because of their continual sins and rejection of the Lord and His prophet.

The Psalm is Psalm 85:(1-7) 8-13. The psalmists, Sons of Korah, know of God’s forgiveness of His people’s sins in the past. They call upon God in another difficult time of their sinfulness and pray that the Lord would turn and revive His people and give them again His steadfast love and salvation and keep them from turning back to words and deeds of folly. The psalm ends with confidence that the Lord would give His people what is good - steadfast love (mercy) and righteousness and peace - and enable them to trust Him and walk in His steps. (These are the gifts of God brought ultimately by Jesus and His saving work.)

The Gospel lesson, Mark 6:14-29, is another example of refusing to follow God and His will and the trouble that is created. King Herod (not the Herod who had ruled at the time of Jesus’ birth, but a relative) had stolen away his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias, and married her. John the Baptist had confronted Herod, saying, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” This made Herodias very angry, and she wanted John dead but could only convince her husband to have him put in prison. Herod actually thought John the Baptist was a holy man and feared him and kept him safe and even liked to hear him. Unfortunately, Herod, in a very weak moment at a party, agreed to do whatever his granddaughter wanted. Herodias convinced her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod knew this was wrong but had no courage to do what was right and had John executed and the granddaughter given his head. This all made Herod so paranoid that when he heard about Jesus, he feared that Jesus might be John the Baptist reincarnated and coming to take vengeance on him. Even with his power, Herod was clearly very troubled and far from God and His will and suffered for it.
Sin always has consequences.

The Epistle lesson, Ephesians 1:3-14, however, gives hope and the answer for all of us, as we all struggle with sin. It is a doxology, a great Word of praise to God (all one very long sentence in the Greek) for His redeeming plan for the world, centered in Christ Jesus our Savior, and guaranteed through the sending of the Holy Spirit to us. Note all the words that speak of God’s overarching plan: He chose, predestined, the purpose of His will, the mystery of His will, His purpose, a plan for the fullness of time, the counsel of His will, His wisdom and insight, etc. The plan centered “in Christ,” God’s own beloved Son, and the redemption we have through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, through the riches of His grace. “In Christ” or “in Him” or the equivalent is used ten times in these 12 verses. This saving and forgiving work comes to us personally as we hear the Word of Truth, the Gospel of our salvation, and are brought to believe in Christ and receive these gifts of God’s grace, also through baptism, spoken of later in this letter, and all through the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee, the down-payment, assuring our eternal inheritance. This is all God’s doing, by His grace, and therefore it is all “to the praise of His glory,” as is said several times. (We will have six more weeks of readings from Ephesians ahead,as this basic theme is emphasized and the blessings that come to us as a church, God’s gathered believers.)