Reflections for Aug.7 and 8th, Lectionary 411 and 412

Scripture: Dt.4:32-40. Psalm 77:12-13,14-15, 16,21.Matthew 16:24-28.Lectionary # 411: God's call to the Israelites has been confirmed time and time again through the marvelous prodigies worked both in the desert and most assuredly in the Exodus from Egypt. The Israelites realize they are truly God's people and that Moses is their spokesperson with God. He speaks with God as a friend does to a friend. When the Israelites observe the precepts, laws, and commandments of God they then especially enjoy a sense of God's presence. They continue on through the desert and eventually reach the Promised Land. Jesus, too, calls and confirms his presence among the Christian believers. He asks us to leave aside all other attachments and to follow him unreservedly even to the point of taking up the cross and follow him through his sufferings and death. This is the charge we have of making Jesus and the Father come first in our lives; then we order all other attachments correctly. We become disciples of Jesus who have the gift of wisdom. We see that God and Jesus have the same demands. They are one in this and one in our belief as Christians. Jesus has told us that he and the Father are one. We then can take our psalm response and its verses and understand the demands of our discipleship. We like the Israelites can then reach our goal; for them it is the Promised Land for us it is the kingdom of God that Jesus has preached. We pray with the Psalm (77) "O God, your way is holy; what great God is there like our God?" Help us, O Lord, to remember the deeds you have done for your people Israel and the love you have shown for us in your son Jesus. Help us to follow your commands and his. May we understand the meaning of the Cross in our lives and continue our trust in Jesus with patient endurance. Amen. Scripture: Dt.6:4-13; Psalm18:2-3,3-4.47.51. Matthew 17:14-20. Lectionary # 412: Shema is the great and beautiful starting word for what can be considered the creed of Judaism. We should memorize this passage and keep it before us. Jesus lived it out throughout all the days of his life and said he did not take one iota or jot from it. It is God's revelation to the people of Israel and to us. It is recited twice in the liturgy of the Jewish people each day. The passages that contain it are ours in today's reading, Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21, and Numbers 15:37-41. Jesus proclaims this in Matthew 22:37-38; Mark 12:29-30, and Luke 10:27. It means that God is the only God and that as an Israelite the covenant is to be solely directed to God as One. Jesus understood this even though he states "I and the Father are one." Both Christian and Jew cry out with joy and thanksgiving with the Psalm for today, "I love you, Lord, my strength, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer." Jesus calls us to an intimate covenant with him through his words and through our baptismal commitment. At times, like the disciples we are not able to cast out the demon of doubt, greed, or lust because our faith is weak. Faith in the biblical sense is not a pious feeling, nor is it some abstract way of relating to God through thought. Faith is a trust and an entrustment that comes from the whole of our person. It then leads to wholeness, integration, and holiness. Then all evil is cast out, no matter what kind of demon it may be. We trust our friends and build on that trust. God is our dearest friend, our Creator, Father and Redeemer. May we have the courage to leave aside our pious and weak thoughts and enter into the realm of true faith and trust in God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.