Reflection on readings for March 27

Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
....
O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
(Psalm 69:1, 5)

Deuteronomy 7:1-8:20
Words of wisdom from the older generation to the younger one: When you enter the new land, don't assimilate; rather, keep the commandments that God has given you. For us moderns, we also have concerns about the various distractions that our younger people face.

Please note that they were instructed to attack the objects of what they considered false worship not the worshippers.

God had chosen them not because they were more important than other people. God is faithful to those who keep God's commandments. (Those of us who have read ahead know that God is also faithful to the rest of us.)

Luke 7:36-8:3

He has accepted a dinner invitation from somebody respectable. Somebody not respectable shows up. I wish I could think of some appropriate sermon illustration to insert here. I must know a lot of them, but none are coming. But if I could it would be start like this:

(Fill in the name) Methodist (or some other denomination) Church was having its Sunday morning service when in walked (here's where I need the great example of an illustrative sinner) .....

She doesn't belong to the establishment, but she sure does know Jesus and his importance. She has brought a jar of something expensive and anoints him with it. She washes his feet--try to remember the last time you even thought about doing this even for someone you knew--and dries them with her hair.

The reaction of the host--How can he be a prophet? He doesn't even recognize what kind of woman he is letting touch him in public.

In his time--and in ours, Jesus sure could upset the respectable. And, in his time and in ours, he can attract the sinners.

Psalm 69:1-18

Proverbs 12:1

Prayer for Today: O Lord, our God, remind us of what you have already entrusted to us. Strengthen us to be able to follow your commands. Give us wisdom of how to tell what we know to people who have not yet learned your ways. Amen.