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A reading from the Book of Job. Then Job answered and said, truly, I know that it is so. But how can a man be in the right before God? If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and succeeded? He who removes mountains and they know it not when he overturns them in his anger? Who shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble? Who commands the sun and it does not rise? Who seals up the stars? Who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea? Who made the bear in Orion, the Pleiades in the chambers of the south, who does great things beyond searching out and marvelous things beyond number? Behold, he passes by me and I see him not. He moves on, but I do not perceive him. Behold, he snatches away. Who can turn him back? Who will say to him, what are you doing? God will not turn back his anger. Beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab. How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him. I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness. If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty. If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me. Though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. I am blameless. I regard not myself, I loathe my life. It is all one. Therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked. When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he, who then is it? My days are swifter than a runner. They flee away, they see no good. They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey. If I say I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and be of good cheer. I become afraid of all my suffering. I. For I know you will not hold me innocent, I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into a pit and my own clothes will abhor me? For he Is not a man as I am that I might answer him? That we should come to trial together? There is no arbiter between us who might lay his hand on us both. Let him take his rod away from me and let not dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself. I loathe my life. I will give free utterance to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, do not condemn me. Let me know why you contend against me. Does it seem good to you to oppress? To despise the work of your hands and favor the designs of the wicked? Have you eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees, or your days as the days of man, or your years as a man's years? That you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin although you know that I am not guilty and there is none to deliver out of your hand? Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. Remember that. You have made me like clay. And will you return me to the dust? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and steadfast love and your care has preserved my spirit. Yet these things you hid in your heart, I know that this was your purpose. If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am guilty, woe to me. If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction. And were my head lifted up, you would hunt me like a lion and and again work wonders against me. You renew your witnesses against me and increase your vexation toward me. You bring fresh troops against me. Why did you bring me out from the womb with that? I had died before any eye had seen me. And were as though I had not been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? Then cease and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer before I go. And I shall not return to the land of darkness and deep shadow, the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order where light is as thick darkness. A reading from the Book of Psalms to the choirmaster. A psalm of the sons of Korah. Clap your hands, all peoples shout to God with loud songs of joy. For the Lord the Most High is to be feared. A great king over all the earth he subdued Peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loves. Selah. God has gone up with a shout. The Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God. Sing praises. Sing praises to our king. Sing praises. For God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm. God reigns over the nations and God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham for the shields of the earth belong to God. He is highly exalted. A reading of the Gospel according to Luke. Now, Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. And he said to them, when you pray, say, father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation. And he said to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. And he will answer from within. Do not bother me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, though, he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend. Yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened. What father among you? If his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion. If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? Now he was casting out a demon that was muted. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the people marveled. But some of them said he cast out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand for you? Say that I Cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest and finding none. It says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first. As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed. But he said, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it. When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, this generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light. But when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful, lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light. While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him. So he went in and reclined at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner and The Lord said to him, now, you Pharisees, cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools, did not he who made the outside make the inside also, but give as alms those things that are within? And behold, everything is clean for you. But woe to you, Pharisees, for you tithe, mint and rue and every herb, and neglect, justice and the love of God, these you ought to have done without neglecting the others. Woe to you, Pharisees, for you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, for you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it. One of the lawyers answered him, teacher, in saying these things you insult us also. And he said, woe to you, lawyers also, for you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe to you, for you built the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses, and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them and you build their tombs. Therefore also the wisdom of God said, I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute, so that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perish between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. Woe to you, lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering. And as he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him, to speak about many things lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.
Episode Date: August 21, 2025
Readings: Job 9–10; Psalm 47; Luke 11
This episode is a contemplative journey through powerful biblical texts, spotlighting the intense questions of suffering and justice in Job, the exuberant praise of God as King in Psalm 47, and Jesus’ profound teachings on prayer, spiritual opposition, and hypocrisy in Luke 11. The reading—presented in a steady, reflective tone—invites listeners to wrestle with God’s sovereignty, our posture in prayer, and the contrast between outward appearance and inward truth.
(00:01–09:30)
“But how can a man be in the right before God? If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.” (00:09)
“Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him. I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.” (01:36)
“Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me... Are not my days few? Then cease and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer.” (08:35)
“You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.” (07:39)
(09:31–10:45)
“Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great King over all the earth.” (09:33)
“Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!” (09:51)
(10:46–29:59)
“When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” (10:50)
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (12:27)
“How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (13:32)
“But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (15:11)
“Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” (18:58)
“This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” (19:15)
“You tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God.” (24:04) “Woe to you, lawyers also, for you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.” (26:22)
“Woe to you, lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” (28:30)
“The scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him to catch him in something he might say.” (29:39)
This episode offers a poignant encounter with Scripture’s themes of honest lament, exuberant praise, and radical calls to integrity. Listeners are invited to join Job’s struggle with mystery, exult with the psalmist, and receive Jesus’ profound challenges—not just to external faithfulness, but to inward transformation and persistent trust in God.