Pentecost 18B

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012.

First Reading: Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Sometimes the story of the Israelites wandering with Moses in the desert seems like an ancient reality show. Freed from slavery in Egypt by God’s mighty hand, they complain because they miss the good food they used to enjoy. This gets an angry response from God that prompts Moses to bark back. Later, some of Moses’ lieutenants are angry, too, because they see others horning in on their turf. Perhaps the lesson here is simply, “Can’t we all get along?”

"O Lord, my rock and my redeemer."Psalm 19:7-14
Today’s psalm urges us to pray, and tells us why we should. God’s commandments are good, and to follow them does us good. It ends with a familiar exhortation that preachers often offer at the beginning of a sermon, and that we might all do well to ponder when we begin to pray: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

Second Reading: James 5:13-20
James, too, exalts the power of prayer. Pray if we are suffering, he advises us, and pray when we are happy, too. Pray when we’re sick, and ask the church to join us in prayer. Pray for healing for our own sins, and pray for each other in community so we might all be healed, our souls saved from death and our sins forgiven. That’s a compelling argument for prayer.

Gospel: Mark 9:38-50
In some ways Mark’s gospel echoes the first lesson: The apostles are angry that others are casting out devils in Jesus’ name. They tell him to make them stop. He encourages them instead to be glad that others are speaking in his name. Then he offers a series of scary warnings: “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off … And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out.” This is not literal advice, fortunately. Jesus is teaching through an old rabbinic tradition of comparing everyday actions to their most extreme alternatives.

Feast of St. Matthew

Thoughts on the Lessons for Sunday, Sept. 23, 2012.

First Reading: Proverbs 3:1-6
Keep God’s commandments and use them to guide your life, and you will be amply rewarded with a good life and good reputation. It’s a message echoed in the psalm and second reading. (This is from what is known as “wisdom literature” and is popularly attributed to King Solomon.)

Psalm 119:33-40
The Psalmist’s message is similar and simple: Learn God’s laws and commandments and follow them faithfully. God’s way turns us away from what is worthless and gives life.

St. Matthew

Woodcut image of St. Matthew from the Golden Legend, c.1489.

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 3:14-17

Second Timothy, one of the short “pastoral epistles” written in Paul’s name, offers guidance to a growing church, echoing the Psalmist’s call for unity in tradition guided by Scripture. But here’s a twist: In Timothy’s time, the New Testament was not yet assembled into a book, and the four Gospels were only then being written down. “Scripture” meant the Old Testament, with its strong Torah command to love God, love our neighbor, and care for the poor and the alien. This is good advice in any age.

Gospel: Matthew 9:9-19
Matthew was a tax collector, a job that would have made him roundly despised in ancient Israel: The tax collector preyed on his neighbors on behalf of the hated Roman empire. Yet Jesus called him, and Matthew followed … and then they sat down to dinner in Matthew’s house. Having mercy and calling sinners is Jesus’s way, not self-righteously looking down on those we consider beneath us.

Pentecost 16B

Illuminations of readings for Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012.

First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-9a
What could be more important to a community than its teachers, whose words shape our growth and understanding? The Israelites understood this teacher, Isaiah’s so-called “Suffering Servant,” to represent their nation in exile. Christians later found in this suffering servant an image of Christ, who endures opposition, turns the other cheek, and keeps on teaching until we hear.

Psalm 116:1-8
The Psalmist today expresses joy because God has listened to his prayer, made in grief and desperation, and has brought relief from distress and anguish, and the hope of new life. His troubled soul can rest now. God has dealt bountifully in restoring life, and this gift inspires a hymn hailing God in the boldest language we find in Psalms: “I love the Lord.”

Second Reading: James 3:1-12
TeacherI hate you! Angry words can spill out of us suddenly, before we have time to think about them. And then how we wish we could take back the hurtful things we said! James reminds us in a series of colorful metaphors that words have power. Echoing the Isaiah reading, he warns us that teachers bear a heavy responsibility to use words wisely. It’s up to us to use them well.

Gospel: Mark 8:27-38
“Who do you say that I am?” Can you picture Jesus, sitting with the apostles and confronting them with this reality check? When Peter, declaring Jesus his Messiah, objects to Jesus’s warning of his coming passion and death, Jesus calls him “Satan!” We see no smiling Jesus hugging children and lambs today, but a challenge: Take up your cross and follow. If you want to save your life in the Kingdom of Heaven, be prepared to lose it now for the Gospel and Jesus’ sake.

Pentecost 15B

Illuminations of readings for Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012.

First Lesson: Isaiah 35:4-7a
Israel gets good news from the prophet Isaiah: don’t be afraid, even though the fortunes of war have sent you into exile, and separated you from home and Temple. God is coming, with healing and comfort, and will lead you back. Earth and waters and all creation will show their joy.

Psalm 146
Traditionally titled “Praise for God’s Help,” today’s Psalm echoes the Isaiah reading: Praise God, who is always there to support us, to care for those in need and those who are oppressed, and who keeps promises. Alleluia!

Second Lesson: James 2:1-10, 14-17
Today’s reading from James repeats God’s commands: love your neighbor; clothe and feed the naked and the hungry; and show your faith by doing good works. Let’s think about James’s question: If a homeless person in dirty clothes were to walk into our service today, pushing a grocery basket, would we greet that person with our fabled St. Matthew’s hospitality? What would you do?

The Gospel: Mark 7:24-37
Jesus surprises us with unexpected actions in two miracle stories from Mark’s Gospel today. Is this the Jesus we love, who seems to sneer as he compares the Gentile woman’s children to dogs? Her simple response persuades him, and shows us the human side of a Jesus who learns. Then Jesus cures a deaf man … but warns everyone to keep quiet about it. This is a consistent theme in Mark. But why would Jesus want his miracles kept secret?

Pentecost 14B

Illuminations of readings for Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012.

First Lesson: Song of Solomon 2:8-13
A love poem – what an unexpected thing to find in the Bible! From the book of love poems that tradition attributes to King Solomon, these verses sing of deep love between a woman and a man, but it can also be understood as telling of God’s love for Israel – and for us.

Second Lesson: James 1:17-27
Christian tradition attributes the letter of James to the apostle identified as Jesus’s brother. Although the time of its writing makes this appealing legend doubtful, the letter remains as one of the New Testament’s strongest calls to the social gospel, urging us to “reach out as Christ’s hands to the world”. As James says, don’t just hear the word, do it.