Short Reflection
We’re picking up on yesterday’s Psalm theme: the God who welcomes us and loves us.
The people of Israel
The history of the people of Israel is both complex and simple.
It’s complex because there’s simply so much history, some of which is recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures.
And it’s simple insofar as there is one constant, cyclical theme: choice, faithfulness, infidelity, repentance and healing.
So in the first reading, we’re at another turning away point. Joshua dies and the people, bereft of a leader, turn away from God, again.
This leads to the appointment of judges/governors who rule their provinces and keep the people more or less in line.
Eventually, the people will tire of these governors and demand a king, the first of which is Saul, followed by David and Solomon.
But they will first need Samuel, about whom we will hear on Sunday, not yet formed in his mother’s womb, and yet already part of God’s plan for God’s people.
John the Baptist – the forerunner of Christ
As Samuel would be a necessary prerequisite for King David, so John the Baptist is the forerunner for Jesus, the one to who his life and ministry points:
And as John was finishing his work, he said,
“What do you suppose that I am?
I am not he.
No, but one is coming after me;
I am not worthy
to untie the thong of the sandals on his feet.”
Acts 13:25b
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