Reflection
Ordinary Time
Wednesday 21 October 2026
‘… this passover was kept to the Lord in Jerusalem’ (v.23)
The brief reference to the celebration of the Passover in verses 21-23 of today’s reading might feel like a welcome break in a passage otherwise dominated by systematic destruction. Repetition of the same handful of verbs hammers the point home: Josiah ‘burned … broke … defiled …’ People too are done away with and ‘slaughtered’.
The narrator wants to underline the exceptional nature of the Passover kept in the year of Josiah’s reformation. We are not told exactly what made it so different from all previous festivals under the monarchy; we might infer it was to do with its conformity to the instructions in the book of the covenant, including the gathering of people from all Israel in Jerusalem. The implication is clear enough, however: it is Josiah’s determination to eradicate from the land of God’s promise all that contradicts and detracts from the worship of God that clears the way for this precious unity in festival and feasting.
We may sometimes be inclined to wish we could maintain undisturbed joy in the fellowship of God’s praise, and feel frustrated that interruptions and distractions keep inhibiting that. But we praise the God who delivers us from sin and death, and that means we cannot look away from how our world, our Church and our deepest selves continue to be enmeshed in their powers, and in need of liberation from them – a separation that may sting with the pain of our losses.
COLLECT
God, the giver of life,
whose Holy Spirit wells up within your Church:
by the Spirit’s gifts equip us to live the gospel of Christ
and make us eager to do your will,
that we may share with the whole creation
the joys of eternal life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.