Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for June 19, 2016
Mary with a jar of ointment. Oil paint on oak panel by Jan van Scorel (1495–1552);
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
The prophet Elijah was bold and strong. He fought the priests of Baal, and he spoke truth to the power of evil King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Elijah was kind. He called on God to make a poor widow’s food last for months and restore her son to life. And at the end of his story , he is taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot. Today, though, we see Elijah worn down and afraid of Jezebel’s revenge. At the brink of despair, he hides under a broom tree and begs God to take his life. But God sends winds, an earthquake and fire to get Elijah back to God’s work.
First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 65:1-9
We near the end of Isaiah’s long book of prophecy, and the prophet has called on God to withhold God’s anger, even though the people have broken the covenant and behaved badly. God responds: Those who have been rebellious, who have provoked God’s anger, God will repay. But God will be just and righteous. “I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all.” A remnant will remain to inherit Zion, God’s holy hill.
Today’s connected Psalms speak in poetic language, filled with lamentation but ending at last in hope and faith. The Psalmist’s soul longs for God as a deer longs for water; his soul thirsts for God. But when faith falters, the Psalmist asks over and over why God has forgotten him. Finally, though, faith wins as he begs God to send out God’s light and truth, and lead him to God’s holy hill.
In words that seem consistent with God’s response to Isaiah’s plea, today’s Psalm calls on God to stay close, to protect the people from danger, from the sword and from wild animals. All the congregation, praise the lord; let Israel stand in awe of God and know that God works justice and righteousness to all who seek and praise God, not least the hungry poor who seek God for protection and food.
Second Reading: Galatians 3:23-29
Paul continues laying out his argument for accepting Gentiles into the infant church without requiring them to strictly follow Jewish law. Gentiles are in no way second-class Christians, he proclaims: There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of us are one in Jesus. All of us are heirs to God’s covenant with Abraham.
Gospel: Luke 8:26-39
Luke’s account of Jesus sending a man’s demons into a herd of pigs may seem a little strange to us, but it might have made Luke’s original audience laugh, with its allusions to the hated Roman army in the name of the demon, “Legion,” residing in a naked man living among tombs with swine. But consider the context of recent readings, and we suddenly see Jesus offering love and grace to a Roman centurion, a sinful woman, and now a ritually unclean man. Luke wants us to see clearly, as Paul did in Galatians, that God’s love is unlimited and available to all.