Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012.

First Reading: Job 38:1-7,34-41
Job, who has been lamenting his condition and looking everywhere for God, angrily demanding that God come out of hiding and hear him, now gets his wish. Or does he? A mighty God speaks to him out of a whirlwind and quickly sets Job quite literally in his place. God thunders, hurling poetic words at Job like thunderbolts: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.” God is great. Job is small. And so are we.

Psalm 104:1-9,35, 37c
This hymn of exaltation must have rung out over the ancient Temple in Jerusalem with trumpet blasts and shouts of praise. It portrays God as creator and ruler over all creation and imagines God riding across the world on the wings of clouds, spreading out mountains and valleys, oceans and rivers.

Second Reading: Hebrews 5:1-10
The author of Hebrews is preaching a sermon historically understood as an effort to persuade first century Jewish Christians who had returned to Judaism to come back to Christ. It presents Jesus as the perfect high priest, offering up prayers and supplications for all, and learning obedience through his sufferings. He has now become our salvation, and we are called to imitate him.

Gospel: Mark 10:35-45
Don’t we love to volunteer? We’re eager to step forward, roll up our sleeves, and serve in the church and community. But do we love it even more when the work is done and we hear our name called out for public applause? Perhaps we should pay attention to what’s going on with the apostles, who Mark often portrays clueless and missing Jesus’s message. Are we ready to be the slave of all; to serve, not to be served; and if called, to give our lives in Christ’s service?