Our first reading today is Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12



Maybe I just can't focus today, but I am completely lost. I'm gonna give it a shot, though. Hosea calls Israel a " luxuriant vine whose fruit matches its growth." I suspect that this is spoken with a little sarcasm. It seems like he goes on to insinuate that the more successful they become, the more idolatrous they become. They are building a bunch of altars and pillars, which we know from yesterday were, at the very least, encouraging idol worship along side worship of the God of Abraham. He accuses their worship and sacrifices of being empty, and reminds them that when they deny God, he can't do much for them.



Hosea then goes on to describe a cataclysmic disaster that he feels the Israelites are bringing on themselves. The king of Samaria is gonna disappear, "The high places of Aven shall be destroyed", "thorns and thistles shall overgrow their altars", and apparently they will be so downcast that they will beg the mountains and the hills to fall on them.



So he tells them to go and spiritually clean house. They should "Sow for yourselves justice, reap the fruit of piety". He tells them that they should seek the Lord, possibly before the Lord seeks them out. The title for this chapter in my bible is "Punishment of Idolatry". I think we are gonna see a lot of this in the old testament. Over and over, God needs to remind us of the first two commandments. He wants to be first, before everything. Even when Jesus is asked which is the most important commandment, he says "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment".



Wow! For someone with no focus, I sure can ramble on. Time for the Gospel: Matthew 10:1-7



Jesus calls together his disciples and gives them the power to heal and drive out demons. Just so that everyone is clear on who gets to go on this faith-healing journey, Matthew names all of the twelve apostles: Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus.



I do have to admit I only quoted that verse so that I could put all of those links in there.



What is actually interesting about this is that he instructs his disciples to stay among the"house of Israel". I feel like the Jews were God's chosen for so long that he wanted to give them the chance for salvation first. He probably felt like they were also the most qualified to later go and preach salvation to the hordes of ignorant pagan gentiles.



That's all I got. Here's some news: Scholars divided on interpretation of ‘Gabriel’s Revelation’ tablet

And if you are following this story, like me: Dissident Anglican Bishops May Seek Refuge in Rome

a few different takes on this story (I'm eating up everything I can find) Vatican "regret" at Church of England vote

England church backs women bishops, risks division

'We ARE navel-gazing': Mail was right about Church's self-obsession, says Archbishop of York as ordination row simmers