Today's Readings and Stuff -- Thursday, 12 November 2020

 We are approaching the half-way point in November.  So the first "official" day of Winter is slightly more than a month from now.  Can't say that pleases me overmuch, but it does mark an inflection point at least.  That's worth something, I guess.  Trying hard to find something positive to look at, rather than what I see all around me.  At least there's none of that awful snow stuff on the ground here.  This moment anyway.  The "farmer's almanac" had been predicting an unusually heavy snow season this year.  Comes with the territory I guess.  I have contacts who live in places quite near some active volcanoes, seismically active areas, areas with warfare -- including what looks like warfare in the United States -- and other pleasantries, so I guess this is ok in comparison.

Wife and I spent about all day yesterday "watching" the great-nephew while his mom was volunteering for a "book fair" at daughter's school, and dad was sleeping after a 12-hour night shift.  Fun, but a 3-1/2 year old boy can be quite energetic, and the weather kept us inside.  A challenge.  And we "get" to do it again tomorrow.  More "fun".  And I just got back home:  wife's nephew's wife locked herself and the kids out of their house, with her husband on his 12-hour night shift.   We have a key, so I "got" to run up along the state line and let them in.  She's got plenty on her hands:  a daughter turning 9 and a son turning 14, with all that entails.  And she has a nasty case of breast cancer.  The doctors, when this began, told her that the version she has implies a survival rate of around 13%  or so, perhaps less.  She just completed the bouts of chemotherapy, now goes in next Thursday for surgery.   Several of my one-time friends in this area lost their wives to breast cancer, one lost both his first and his second wife to it.  Bad area for it?  So letting her into her house is a small favor to do, all things considered.  Doesn't help that she was raised in a dysfunctional family of aggressive unbelievers, and is continuing that with her kids.  Outreach is discouraged, to say the least.  Perhaps a window will open.

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EZEKIEL 23

Two Harlot Sisters

1The word of the Lord came again to me, saying:

2“Son of man, there were two women,

The daughters of one mother.

3They committed harlotry in Egypt,

They committed harlotry in their youth;

Their breasts were there embraced,

Their virgin bosom was there pressed.

4Their names: Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister;

They were Mine,

And they bore sons and daughters.

As for their names,

Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah.

The Older Sister, Samaria

5“Oholah played the harlot even though she was Mine;

And she lusted for her lovers, the neighboring Assyrians,

6Who were clothed in purple,

Captains and rulers,

All of them desirable young men,

Horsemen riding on horses.

7Thus she committed her harlotry with them,

All of them choice men of Assyria;

And with all for whom she lusted,

With all their idols, she defiled herself.

8She has never given up her harlotry brought from Egypt,

For in her youth they had lain with her,

Pressed her virgin bosom,

And poured out their immorality upon her.

9“Therefore I have delivered her

Into the hand of her lovers,

Into the hand of the Assyrians,

For whom she lusted.

10They uncovered her nakedness,

Took away her sons and daughters,

And slew her with the sword;

She became a byword among women,

For they had executed judgment on her.

The Younger Sister, Jerusalem

11“Now although her sister Oholibah saw this, she became more corrupt in her lust than she, and in her harlotry more corrupt than her sister’s harlotry.

12“She lusted for the neighboring Assyrians,

Captains and rulers,

Clothed most gorgeously,

Horsemen riding on horses,

All of them desirable young men.

13Then I saw that she was defiled;

Both took the same way.

14But she increased her harlotry;

She looked at men portrayed on the wall,

Images of Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,

15Girded with belts around their waists,

Flowing turbans on their heads,

All of them looking like captains,

In the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea,

The land of their nativity.

16As soon as her eyes saw them,

She lusted for them

And sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

17“Then the Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love,

And they defiled her with their immorality;

So she was defiled by them, and alienated herself from them.

18She revealed her harlotry and uncovered her nakedness.

Then I alienated Myself from her,

As I had alienated Myself from her sister.

19“Yet she multiplied her harlotry

In calling to remembrance the days of her youth,

When she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

20For she lusted for her paramours,

Whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys,

And whose issue is like the issue of horses.

21Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth,

When the Egyptians pressed your bosom

Because of your youthful breasts.

Judgment on Jerusalem

22“Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord God:

‘Behold, I will stir up your lovers against you,

From whom you have alienated yourself,

And I will bring them against you from every side:

23The Babylonians,

All the Chaldeans,

Pekod, Shoa, Koa,

All the Assyrians with them,

All of them desirable young men,

Governors and rulers,

Captains and men of renown,

All of them riding on horses.

24And they shall come against you

With chariots, wagons, and war-horses,

With a horde of people.

They shall array against you

Buckler, shield, and helmet all around.

‘I will delegate judgment to them,

And they shall judge you according to their judgments.

25I will set My jealousy against you,

And they shall deal furiously with you;

They shall remove your nose and your ears,

And your remnant shall fall by the sword;

They shall take your sons and your daughters,

And your remnant shall be devoured by fire.

26They shall also strip you of your clothes

And take away your beautiful jewelry.

27‘Thus I will make you cease your lewdness and your harlotry

Brought from the land of Egypt,

So that you will not lift your eyes to them,

Nor remember Egypt anymore.’

28“For thus says the Lord God: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hand of those you hate, into the hand of those from whom you alienated yourself. 29They will deal hatefully with you, take away all you have worked for, and leave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your harlotry shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotry. 30I will do these things to you because you have gone as a harlot after the Gentiles, because you have become defiled by their idols. 31You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will put her cup in your hand.’

32“Thus says the Lord God:

‘You shall drink of your sister’s cup,

The deep and wide one;

You shall be laughed to scorn

And held in derision;

It contains much.

33You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow,

The cup of horror and desolation,

The cup of your sister Samaria.

34You shall drink and drain it,

You shall break its shards,

And tear at your own breasts;

For I have spoken,’

Says the Lord God.

35“Therefore thus says the Lord God:

‘Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back,

Therefore you shall bear the penalty

Of your lewdness and your harlotry.’ ”

Both Sisters Judged

36The Lord also said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. 37For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons whom they bore to Me, passing them through the fire, to devour them. 38Moreover they have done this to Me: They have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and profaned My Sabbaths. 39For after they had slain their children for their idols, on the same day they came into My sanctuary to profane it; and indeed thus they have done in the midst of My house.

40“Furthermore you sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and there they came. And you washed yourself for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments. 41You sat on a stately couch, with a table prepared before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil. 42The sound of a carefree multitude was with her, and Sabeans were brought from the wilderness with men of the common sort, who put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43Then I said concerning her who had grown old in adulteries, ‘Will they commit harlotry with her now, and she with them?’ 44Yet they went in to her, as men go in to a woman who plays the harlot; thus they went in to Oholah and Oholibah, the lewd women. 45But righteous men will judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.

46“For thus says the Lord God: ‘Bring up an assembly against them, give them up to trouble and plunder. 47The assembly shall stone them with stones and execute them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire. 48Thus I will cause lewdness to cease from the land, that all women may be taught not to practice your lewdness. 49They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall pay for your idolatrous sins. Then you shall know that I am the Lord God.’ ”

EZEKIEL 24

Symbol of the Cooking Pot

1Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, write down the name of the day, this very day—the king of Babylon started his siege against Jerusalem this very day. 3And utter a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

“Put on a pot, set it on,

And also pour water into it.

4Gather pieces of meat in it,

Every good piece,

The thigh and the shoulder.

Fill it with choice cuts;

5Take the choice of the flock.

Also pile fuel bones under it,

Make it boil well,

And let the cuts simmer in it.”

6‘Therefore thus says the Lord God:

“Woe to the bloody city,

To the pot whose scum is in it,

And whose scum is not gone from it!

Bring it out piece by piece,

On which no lot has fallen.

7For her blood is in her midst;

She set it on top of a rock;

She did not pour it on the ground,

To cover it with dust.

8That it may raise up fury and take vengeance,

I have set her blood on top of a rock,

That it may not be covered.”

9‘Therefore thus says the Lord God:

“Woe to the bloody city!

I too will make the pyre great.

10Heap on the wood,

Kindle the fire;

Cook the meat well,

Mix in the spices,

And let the cuts be burned up.

11“Then set the pot empty on the coals,

That it may become hot and its bronze may burn,

That its filthiness may be melted in it,

That its scum may be consumed.

12She has grown weary with lies,

And her great scum has not gone from her.

Let her scum be in the fire!

13In your filthiness is lewdness.

Because I have cleansed you, and you were not cleansed,

You will not be cleansed of your filthiness anymore,

Till I have caused My fury to rest upon you.

14I, the Lord, have spoken it;

It shall come to pass, and I will do it;

I will not hold back,

Nor will I spare,

Nor will I relent;

According to your ways

And according to your deeds

They will judge you,”

Says the Lord God.’ ”

The Prophet’s Wife Dies

15Also the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 16“Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down. 17Sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead; bind your turban on your head, and put your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips, and do not eat man’s bread of sorrow.”

18So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died; and the next morning I did as I was commanded.

19And the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things signify to us, that you behave so?”

20Then I answered them, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 21‘Speak to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I will profane My sanctuary, your arrogant boast, the desire of your eyes, the delight of your soul; and your sons and daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. 22And you shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your lips nor eat man’s bread of sorrow. 23Your turbans shall be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; you shall neither mourn nor weep, but you shall pine away in your iniquities and mourn with one another. 24Thus Ezekiel is a sign to you; according to all that he has done you shall do; and when this comes, you shall know that I am the Lord God.’ ”

25‘And you, son of man—will it not be in the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that on which they set their minds, their sons and their daughters: 26that on that day one who escapes will come to you to let you hear it with your ears? 27On that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped; you shall speak and no longer be mute. Thus you will be a sign to them, and they shall know that I am the Lord.’ ”

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I PETER 5

Shepherd the Flock

1The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; 4and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

Submit to God, Resist the Devil

5Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for

“God resists the proud,

But gives grace to the humble.”

6Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Farewell and Peace

12By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

13She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; and so does Mark my son. 14Greet one another with a kiss of love.

Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.