Ex 34:4-6,8-9; Dan 3:52-56; 2 Cor 13:11-13; Jn 3:16-18
Seeing the Israelites dancing round the golden calf, Moses was angry and had thrown down and broken the tablets on which the Lord had written his covenant. The agreement with God was literally broken!
Now the Lord, a God of compassion, tells Moses to prepare two more tablets. After “passing before” Moses, the Lord declares that He is “a God merciful, … forgiving iniquity”. Moses asks the Lord to forgive his people, and the Lord re-affirms his covenant and again writes the Commandments on stone tablets.
Today’s psalm comes from the hymn of thanks in the story of Daniel, set in the 6th century BC but probably written about 165 BC. Daniel’s three companions refused to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s statue and so were thrown into a furnace so hot their guards were killed. But God protected the three men, who walked about inside the furnace with their clothes intact but their rope bindings burned off.
After Paul’s stern instructions to his beloved Corinthians, his second letter ends with this fond farewell, including the Trinitarian grace used widely by Christians.
At the beginning of John’s Gospel, after the wedding at Cana and the cleansing of the Temple, Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be “born again”. Nicodemus cannot understand this, but Jesus insists that those who refuse to believe and trust in Jesus condemn themselves.
Psalm Response: To you glory and praise for evermore.
(Ex 34:4-6,8-9; Dan 3:52-56; 2 Cor 13:11-13; Jn 3:16-18)