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.

Psalm 42 and 43

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.

Psalm 22:18-27

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.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for June 12, 2016

Mary with a jar of ointment. Oil paint on oak panel by Jan van Scorel (1495–1552);
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

The bible is filled with stories about evil people, perhaps to show us vivid examples of how not to behave. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel (whose very name has become an insulting term) surely rank among the nastiest, as we see in this shocking story of their plot to have Naboth killed so the king can steal Naboth’s vineyard and make it his garden. But rough justice soon is served, as an angry God summons the Prophet Elijah to warn Ahab that he faces a gory fate: dogs will lick up his blood.

First Reading: 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:10, 13-15

King David was Israel’s greatest leader, but like so many heroes in the bible, he was deeply flawed: he was an adulterer and a murderer, too, who had the beautiful Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, killed in battle so he could have her for himself. But now God’s messenger Nathan tells David a story that tricks him into cursing and threatening with death a figure that turns out to be David himself. A merciful God spares David’s life, but Nathan foretells that the child of his illicit union shall die.

Psalm 5:1-8

In words that might remind us of wicked people like Ahab and Jezebel, the Psalmist calls for help, describing a God who hates wicked people, braggarts and liars, abhors evil and will destroy evildoers. “Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness,” the Psalmist sings, promising to go into God’s house, bowing down in awe and hoping for God’s great mercy.

Psalm 32

Like many of the Psalms, this is traditionally attributed to David. It certainly would fit the part of a repentant king seeking God’s forgiveness after having been confronted with his terrible acts. As long as the Psalmist labored under guilt, he moaned and his bones withered under God’s heavy hand. Once forgiven, his heart leapt up, embraced by God’s mercy. Just as it was for David, so it can be for us: “Great are the tribulations of the wicked; but mercy embraces those who trust in the Lord.”

Second Reading: Galatians 2:15-21

Paul continues his argument that Gentile converts to Christianity need not be bound by Jewish laws requiring circumcision, kosher dietary restrictions and other Old Testament purity codes, a requirement that surely would have discouraged new Christians! Pointing out that he himself died to the law so he might live to God, Paul insists that it is our new faith in Jesus Christ that saves us, not justification through following the former Jewish law.

Gospel: Luke 7:36 – 8:3

Pharisees were highly educated scholars and preachers, pillars of the synagogues, but – probably thanks to rowing tensions in the early church – the Gospels often portray them as argumentative, rules-bound hypocrites. Simon the Pharisee did invite Jesus to table fellowship. But when the “woman who was a sinner” comes in and anoints Jesus with the respect and love that the Pharisee had failed to show, it is she who earns his praise and forgiveness of her sins. Is this woman Mary Magdalene? The Gospel doesn’t specifically say so; but note that in the verses that conclude this Gospel, Magdalene has appeared as one of Jesus’s followers.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for June 5, 2016

Elijah Resuscitating the Son of the Widow of Zarephath; painting by Louis Hersent.

We meet the Prophet Elijah again, this week sent by God to travel outside Israel to a Gentile town called Zarephath. God assures Elijah that an elderly widow and her son will feed him. But this isn’t so easy. Zarephath is gripped by a drought, and the widow and her child are about to die from the famine; she is not at all eager to feed a man of different faith. With God’s help, though, a tiny portion of meal and oil is enough to feed them all and to last until the rains come. (In the following verses, the boy sadly dies anyway, but God answers Elijah’s prayer and revives him.)

Psalm 146

As we’ve noticed before, the six Psalms that conclude the Psalm book – the hymn book of the Temple in Jerusalem – ring out with resounding worship and praise. Pay particular attention to this Psalm’s sharp focus on God’s preferential care for those whom Jesus would call “the least of these”: The oppressed, the hungry, the prisoner; the blind, and “those who are bowed down.” And – echoing God’s care for the widow of Zerephath and her child – the stranger, the widow and the orphan.

Second Reading: Galatians 1:11-24

Picking up where we left off last week with Paul’s “astonished” response to the Galatians, Paul continues pushing back against other evangelizers who came to Galatia after he had left and taught a less inclusive Gospel, demanding that Gentile converts follow strict Jewish law requiring circumcision and dietary practices. Paul presents his credentials, recalling that he had been zealous in his Judaism but now proclaims Jesus to Jews and Gentiles alike, having received revelation directly from God.

Gospel: Luke 7:11-17

Can we hear parallels between Elijah and the widow of Zarepeth and Jesus and the widow of Nain? Immediately after healing the centurion’s servant, Jesus goes to a nearby town and restores life to a widow’s son. Like the widow of Zarephath and the centurion, too, this widow responds to her son’s new life with joy and faith. She declares Jesus a prophet and a man of God, and the crowds that will follow Jesus throughout the Gospel continue to grow.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for May 29, 2016

Christ Heals the Centurion’s Servant. Sebastiano Ricci, oil on canvas, 1726-29; The Prague National Gallery.

This Sunday we return to Ordinary Time, six months of liturgically green Sundays that last until Advent. We return to the Gospel of Luke where we left off before Easter, and follow Jesus’ life to the days before his last week in Jerusalem. Our First Testament readings move through Israel’s ancient history in 1 and 2 Kings to a tour of the prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Jeremiah, followed by a quick sampler from other, minor prophets. Our New Testament readings will offer us the writings of Paul and other leaders of the early church in Galatians, Colossians, Hebrews, Philemon, 1 and 2 Timothy, and 2 Thessalonians. Today’s First Reading from 1 Kings tells the ancient story of the Prophet Elijah calling down God’s power to bring a wandering people back from their fascination with the pagan god Baal.

Psalm 96

The Lectionary usually chooses a Psalm to fit the spirit of the day’s other readings, and this exultant song of praise for God and God’s greatness fits in well with the 1 Kings account of Elijah demonstrating God’s power and might: God’s glory is declared among all the nations, not to Israel alone. God is great, God is greatly to be praised, and God “is more to be feared than all gods.” The gods of the other nations – surely including Baal of the Canaanites – are only idols.

Second Reading: Galatians 1:1-12

There’s trouble in Galatia, and Paul is righteously angry. Paul loved the people of this church, but after he moved on to his next mission, meddlers arrived with false teachings: a new and contrary gospel, confusing and perverting the Gospel of Christ that Paul had taught! Paul’s revelation came to him directly from Christ, he proclaims. Curse the false gospel and those who proclaim it! Watch this theme develop as we spend six weeks with Galatians.

Gospel: Luke 7:1-10

Roman centurions appear several times in Luke’s Gospel and his Acts; and somewhat surprisingly they are regarded favorably, even though they were ranking officers in the hated, occupying Roman army. This event comes immediately after Jesus has taught love of neighbor in the Beatitudes. Perhaps Jesus’ recognition of this Roman’s faith shows the world that Jesus has come for all the nations.