Daily Lectionary Readings for Saturday 4 November 2006

Daily Lectionary Readings for Saturday 4 November 2006

Read the full texts at: http://www.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/lectiond.cgi

DAILY LECTIONARY:
Morning: Psalm 63:1-11
Nahum 3:8-19
Revelation 13:11-18
Luke 12:32-48
Evening: Psalm 125:1-5

Excerpt from Nahum:
18Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them. 19There is no assuaging your hurt, your wound is mortal. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you. For who has ever escaped your endless cruelty?


Excerpt from Revelations:
11Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. 12It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed…16Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.

Excerpt from Luke:
32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
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Wow, lambs, and money and values... what a combo. Seriously, it appears that Luke's answer to the 666 beast is an interesting proposition. Who cares if you can't buy or sell anything without the mark of the beast if you are actually engaged in what Jesus advises? If we are doing God's work, does that mean giving our whole lives over? What does it mean to "make for yourself a purse that does not wear out"?

rpv