Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, June 30, 2013.
Elijah ascends to heaven on a chariot of fire.
Bible trivia question: Besides Jesus, who got into heaven still wearing an earthly body? Today’s reading tells us the prophet Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire; and the Apocrypha say the prophet Enoch was “taken up,” too. In the Transfiguration we see Moses joining Elijah in a shining body with Jesus; and modern Catholic doctrine holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was “assumed” bodily into heaven. While we’re reading this passage, think about the challenge of Elisha taking over the prophet’s job when his predecessor, Elijah, moves on. This may offer food for thought in church communities about to change or recently having changed rectors, saying farewell to the old and preparing to greet the new.
Psalm: Psalm 77
We have had a lot of noisy thunderstorms and pounding rains lately. It is easy to imagine the Psalmist’s thoughts as he wrote about clouds pouring out water, thunder crashing, the earth shaking, and God’s lightning arrows lighting up the world! Troubled, worried by night, seeking comfort for his soul but finding none, the Psalmist imagines God’s power in the storm and remembers how God gently led God’s flock.
Second Reading: Galatians 5:1,13-25
Paul’s letter to the Galatians continues, as he hammers home the point that God’s covenant with Israel now extends through Christ to Jew and Gentile alike. The law of that covenant, he reminds us, is to love our neighbors as ourselves, not to “bite and devour” one another.” The Spirit joins us with our neighbors in “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Gospel: Luke 9:51-62
These verses from Luke show us a side of Jesus that we might not like to see. Come, follow him, with such urgency that you must leave your dead father un-buried? Rush off without bidding your family farewell? This is certainly a demanding call! What’s going on? Take another look at the first verse we read today: “… he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus’s final journey has begun, and everything now focuses on his coming death and resurrection. Nothing else, not even family, can take priority.