Readings for the Day:
Joshua 5:9-12: By celebrating the Passover and eating he produce of the promised land instead of the miraculous manna that had sustained them in the desert, the Israelites symbolically bring their forty years of wilderness wandering to an end at Gilgal.
II Corinthians 5:16-21: One way to describe the gospel is the promise that in Christ everything is transformed into newness. All mistakes, all deliberate sins, all old history is reconciled with Christ’s resurrection. This is Paul’s strong message to the congregation in the city of Corinth.
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32: Jesus tells a parable about a son who ponders his father’s love only after he has spurned it. The grace he receives is beyond his hopes. That same grace is a crisis for an older brother who believes it is his obedience that has earned his place in the father’s home.
‘From Sunday & Seasons, copyright 2024 Augsburg Fortress’
Questions To Ponder:
1— How does this story of the Hebrew people now needing to grow their own food rather than depend upon the manna for food, speak to you in our world today? (Joshua 5:9-12)
2—What does it mean to be a new creation in Christ? (II Corinthians 5:16-21)
3—Who do you relate to in this parable? (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32)
4—How do these texts speak to you today?
Prayer: God of compassion, you welcome the wayward, and yu embrace us all with your mercy. By our baptism clothe us with garments of your grace, and feed us at the tavle of your love. Amen.