Gentleness and Humility

 

Isaac’s Messenger Drinks from Rebecca’s Jug

17th Century

Milan Cathedral

Relief Sculpture

Milan

Italy

 

https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/diglib-fulldisplay.pl?SID=20230707981697756&code=ACT&RC=57408&Row=8

 

 

 

 

I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize.

The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility,

which keeps me from putting myself before others.

Be gentle and you can be bold;

be frugal and you can be liberal;

avoid putting yourself before others

and you can become a leader among men.

~ Lao Tze

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Workship at Church

 

Tom Scripps cleaning up the playground.

 

Karla Byrd, Sondra Kellogg, and I enjoyed lunch and the film 

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” on Karla’s big TV!

 

“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”

 

Overnight accumulation of pine pollen on my windshield.

Hopefully, pine pollen season is finally over?

 

Antipasto at Creekside Winery in Evergreen to celebrate CV”s birthday

 

Carolyn Alexander, CV (Carolyn Martyn), Nancy Priest, Joan Brown

 

 

 

 

When you choose to collect experiences rather than things,

you never run out of storage space.

~ Joshua Becker *

 

 

 

 

 

Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein

Agnus Day appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LECTIONARY

 

Genesis 24:34–38, 42–49, 58–67 

Psalm 45:10–17 or Song of Solomon 2:8–13 

Romans 7:15–25a 

Matthew 11:16–19, 25–30

 

 

“ . . . although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones . . .
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart . . . ”
Matthew 11: 25-30
                                                 
THE WORD:

Rarely outside of John’s Gospel is Jesus’ intimacy with the Father so clearly portrayed as in today’s Gospel from Matthew.  Jesus offers a hymn of praise to his Father, the holy Creator of all who deeply loves his creation as a father loves his children.  The great love of God for all of humanity is revealed in the love of his Son, the Messiah.

Religion as a “yoke” was exactly how Jesus' Jewish listeners saw the Law.  They saw their faith as a burden, a submission to a set of endless rules and regulations dictating every dimension of their lives.  But Jesus describes his “yoke” as “easy.”  The Greek word used here that we translate as “easy” more accurately means “fitting well.”  In Palestine, ox yokes were custom-made of wood, cut and measured to fit a particular animal.  Jesus is proposing here a radical change in attitude regarding faith:  Our relationship with God is not based on how meticulously we keep a certain set of rules and regulations (a direct challenge to the long-held view of the scribes and Pharisees) but in the depth of our love of God, reflected in our love of others.  Our relationship with God is not based on subjugation and weariness but on hope and joy.

There is also an important political dimension to these verses.  Matthew’s Gospel was written a short time after the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D. by the soldier-emperor Vespasian.  For both the Jewish and the new Christian communities, it was a time of painful introspection:  Would Israel’s hope for the political restoration of the Jewish state ever be realized?   While orthodox Jews maintained unwavering fidelity to their people, language and sense of nationalism, the Christian “cult” saw their ultimate destiny not in the political restoration of Israel but in the coming of the reign of God – a reign that embraces not just Jews but all men and women, even Israel's most despised enemies.  Jewish suspicion of the Christian community was growing as the new group became more and more disaffected by the Jewish political agenda.  Jesus’ words on gentleness and humility set off sparks between loyal Jews and Christians who were abandoning the cause.

https://connectionsmediaworks.com/sundaygospel.html#july9

 

First Reading Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

34So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. 36And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him all that he has. 37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; 38but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.’

42“I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, if now you will only make successful the way I am going! 43I am standing here by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,” 44and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also” — let her be the woman whom the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.’

45“Before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her water jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. 47Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her arms. 48Then I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to obtain the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. 49Now then, if you will deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so that I may turn either to the right hand or to the left.”

58And they called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will.” 59So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. 60And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, 
     “May you, our sister, become 
          thousands of myriads; 
     may your offspring gain possession 
          of the gates of their foes.” 
61Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

62Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi, and was settled in the Negeb. 63Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field; and looking up, he saw camels coming. 64And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, 65and said to the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. 66And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Psalm 45:10-17

10  Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; 
          forget your people and your father’s house, 
11       and the king will desire your beauty. 
     Since he is your lord, bow to him; 
12       the people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts, 
          the richest of the people 13with all kinds of wealth.

     The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes; 
14       in many-colored robes she is led to the king; 
          behind her the virgins, her companions, follow. 
15  With joy and gladness they are led along 
          as they enter the palace of the king.

16  In the place of ancestors you, O king, shall have sons; 
          you will make them princes in all the earth. 
17  I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations; 
          therefore the peoples will praise you forever and ever.

Alternate Song of Solomon 2:8-13

8   The voice of my beloved! 
          Look, he comes, 
     leaping upon the mountains, 
          bounding over the hills. 
9   My beloved is like a gazelle 
          or a young stag. 
     Look, there he stands 
          behind our wall, 
     gazing in at the windows, 
          looking through the lattice. 
10  My beloved speaks and says to me: 
          “Arise, my love, my fair one, 
          and come away; 
11  for now the winter is past, 
          the rain is over and gone. 
12  The flowers appear on the earth; 
          the time of singing has come, 
          and the voice of the turtledove 
          is heard in our land. 
13  The fig tree puts forth its figs, 
          and the vines are in blossom; 
          they give forth fragrance. 
     Arise, my love, my fair one, 
          and come away.”

Second Reading Romans 7:15-25a

15I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Gospel Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

16“But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, 
17  ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; 
          we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ 
18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; 19the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

25At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

28“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”