If I were to create a theme for the readings today, it would be Trust in the Lord.
The passage from Jeremiah says this explicitly and it is such a nice passage I copy it below. Jeremiah exhorts people to trust in the Lord and not in man. For me, this passage from Jeremiah is the Old Testament version of the Our Father. Give us today our daily bread, Lord. It is in you that we place our trust and turn to for our needs. And those who trust in the Lord are like trees "planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It fears not the heat when it comes, its leaves stay green. In the year of drought it shows no distress, but still bears fruit. "
The image of the daily bread also seems appropriate given the Gospel passage of today which is about Lazarus eating off the crumbs of the rich man. The rich man turned to his wealth for his daily needs but we can assume that Lazarus relied on the Lord. The rich man's wealth does nothing to save him in the afterlife. In the end, his wealth was unreliable.
The Psalm for the day seems to cap it all nicely: Blessed are they who hope in the Lord!
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Thus says the LORD:
Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings,
who seeks his strength in flesh,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
He is like a barren bush in the desert
that enjoys no change of season,
But stands in a lava waste,
a salt and empty earth.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose hope is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters
that stretches out its roots to the stream:
It fears not the heat when it comes,
its leaves stay green;
In the year of drought it shows no distress,
but still bears fruit.
Jeremiah 17: 5-10
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