Daily Office Readings for 1/16/25

This year I will be regularly posting some thoughts that may occur to me from the biblical texts appointed for the Episcopal Daily Office. If you would like to follow along in the readings, they may be found here.

Readings for Thursday, Jan 16, 2025: Psalm 18, Isaiah 41: 17-29, Ephesian s 2:11-22, Mark 2:1-12

Thematically, today’s readings hold together in the question of who is truly a god and by what actions is the true God to be known. Isaiah 41 is the lynchpin in my reading. Verse 20 gives a purpose clause for God’s actions as narrated earlier: “so that all may see and know, all may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this…” The remainder of the chapter follows up on this asking of the past (v 22) and then of the future (v 23), then moving into action as the witness to who is truly divine. So, we learn from vv. 17-19 that this true God is one who acts, but one who acts specifically to bring life from where there is none. God is the God of the redemption.

It is fitting, therefore, that Eph 2 and Mk 2 are paired with this text. Eph 2 narrates the wonderful power of God in redeeming the nations (the gentiles) into God’s chosen people and Mk 2 shows Jesus reveal his power in healing a paralyzed man. This Gospel narrative poses a question, though, in the form of the scribes. For Jesus does not set out to heal in his initial response to the paralyzed person, but rather to forgive sins. This forgiveness, though, is unrecognized for what it is by the scribes. They say in their hearts that he blasphemes in this statement because only God can forgive sins. Thus, in the spirit of Isaiah 41, Jesus answers “so that all may see and know” by reversing the state of this paralyzed person. As the Isaiah passage states that the wilderness will become a pool of water, reversing its fundamental character, so this person who cannot walk will get up and walk. It is the power of God to make things other than what they are. To tear down dividing walls and unite (Eph 2), to redeem even the most unredeemable.

A lingering question: I have always wondered what it means in Psalm 18 when the Psalmist writes that God shows up as “perverse” (as the NRSV would have it) to the crooked. Perhaps another time I will explore the Hebrew nuance here and consider a bit more what this text might be saying about God.