Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Sept. 17, 2023

The Children of Israel Crossing the Red Sea (c.1855), oil on canvas by Frédéric Schopin (1804-1880). Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery. (Click image to enlarge.)

Themes of hope and forgiveness resonate through Sunday’s Lectionary readings. In the first reading, God sends a powerful east wind that divides the sea, allowing the Israelites to cross on dry ground. When they reach safety, the water rushes back at Moses’ command, and Pharaoh’s entire army is drowned. The people are amazed, and fear the Lord. But now begins a pattern of alternating joy and anger that will repeat itself often during the people’s journey through the wilderness: When Pharaoh’s army had them trapped at the water’s edge just before this miracle, they had been angry at Moses and at God, and demanded to be taken back to the relative safety of slavery in Egypt.

First Reading (Track Two): Genesis 50:15-21

In a reading last month, we read about Joseph’s brothers arriving in Egypt, fleeing famine but terrified that Joseph, who had risen to a position of great power as Pharaoh’s chief advisor, might seek revenge against them for the way they had threatened to kill him, then sold him into slavery. Now more years have passed. Their father Jacob (later called Israel) has died, so they are worried. Without their father’s protection, will Joseph finally turn on them? They weep and beg Joseph’s forgiveness for their crime. But Joseph, weeping as well, reassures them: God has chosen their family to be a great nation.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 114

One of the many Psalms of praise – its ringing “Hallelujah,” literally, means “Praise the Lord” in biblical Hebrew – Psalm 114 is well chosen to read after today’s first reading: It reflects on events of the Exodus and sings out praise for God’s acting to bring the people out of slavery to the promised land. When God commands, the seas flee. Rivers turn back. Even mountains and hills skip like mighty rams and little sheep. The entire earth trembles when God appears.

Alternate to the Psalm (Track One): Exodus 15:1b-11,20-21

This ancient song of victory follows immediately after the narrative of the parting of the waters in Exodus. Imagined as a hymn of triumph sung by Moses and all the people, it praises and exalts God as a powerful military leader whose glorious strength shattered the enemy, drowning their threats of vengeance and destruction as quickly as lead sinks in water. Then, in the closing verses, the prophet Miriam leads the women in a triumphant dance of exultation with drums and tambourines.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 103:1-13

Just as Joseph forgave his brothers, God forgives us, heals us and redeems us. God pours out so much goodness on us, the Psalmist sings, that our youth is restored, our infirmities wiped away, and our lives brought back from the edge of the grave. Even when our sins arouse God’s anger, we are forgiven; we don’t suffer the punishment that our wickedness deserves. Instead, God showers us with mercy, loving us like a mother loves her children even when they misbehave.

Second Reading: Romans 14:1-12

Last week we heard Paul tell the Christians of Rome that the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, as Jesus had taught, is the greatest commandment, including all the other commandments within it. Now, in the last reading from Romans that we will hear this season, Paul teaches that loving our neighbors obliges us not to judge our neighbors. Don’t be critical of our neighbors because they do things differently than we do. Even if our neighbor makes us angry, he says, we are to forgive, standing together in giving glory to God, leaving judgement to God.

Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35

Peter, perhaps thinking about Jesus’ instructions in last week’s Gospel about working out disagreements in the church, wants to know exactly how many times he must continue forgiving a person who sins against him repeatedly. Is seven times enough? No, Jesus responds, not just seven times but 77 times, and it’s reasonable to assume that he really means to continue forgiving always. Then Jesus tells of a slave who, forgiven a crushing debt, cruelly fails to forgive another slave’s smaller debt. The slave is punished, and we are left to remember how Jesus taught us to pray: Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Sept. 10, 2023

First Reading (Track One): Exodus 12:1-14

God loves us. God is faithful to us. In times of turmoil and of fear, these simple ideas that we hear through Sunday’s readings offer reassurance.

The First Passover (1562), painting by Huybrecht Beuckelaer. Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit, Maastrich, The Netherlands. (Click image to enlarge.)

In the Track One first reading, we see the origin of Passover: Having fought hard-hearted Pharaoh through a dozen plagues with God’s help, the people are now ready to escape from slavery in Egypt. But first they must be saved – literally by the blood of the lamb – from the bloody savagery that is about to strike the children and animals of Egypt and their pagan gods. The details of this gory sacrifice may belong to a different time and culture, but they reveal the grace through which God’s people march toward freedom.

First Reading (Track Two): Ezekiel 33:7-11

Our Track Two lectionary readings continue taking us on a walk through the prophets and the ancestral stories. This week we meet Ezekiel, a prophet who tradition identifies as a priest taken to Babylon in exile after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Why did this terrible thing happen after God had made covenant with the people and given them the promised land? God is punishing them for their wickedness, the prophet cries out, carrying God’s words to the people. God has no desire to punish the people, and wishes only that they would save their lives by turning back – repenting – from their evil ways.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 149

Sunday’s Psalm, like the first reading, celebrates warlike violence in language that reflects Bronze Age sensibility in the Ancient Near East, yet we can hear its echoes all too well in the imagery of modern warfare, shock and awe. We sing to the Lord a new song, joyously dancing and shaking tambourines to celebrate God’s gift of victory in battle, while the enemy’s kings are bound in iron chains. Before we judge too harshly, recall that the Psalms, the bible’s ancient hymnal, offer a full human range of emotion, from this warrior shout to the protective love of the Good Shepherd.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 119:33-40

Here we are again singing a portion of Psalm 119, the longest of the Psalms, which turns up often in our Sunday readings. The entire Psalm celebrates Torah – God’s laws and teaching, the first five books of the Bible – as a glorious gift to humankind. Consistent with the theme of God’s love and protection that infuses this week’s readings, it finds joy in knowing that the path of the commandments is the way of life.

Second Reading: Romans 13:8-14

The commandment to love one another incorporates all the commandments, Paul tells the Christians in Rome. Love, he says, in words that remind us of his beloved passage on love in 1 Corinthians, does no wrong to those around us. If we love our neighbors, we won’t hurt our neighbors. We won’t kill them, we won’t steal from them, we won’t be jealous of what they have. Love fulfills the law. Hoping that Christ would soon return – salvation grows nearer every day, he reminds them – Paul urges his flock to live honorably, not behaving badly or gratifying earthly desires, but “putting on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20

This Gospel reminds of of Jesus’ promise that we remember with joy whenever we approach the Communion table: He will be there among us, conscious of our deepest wishes, whenever we gather in his name, in prayer and in the real presence of the Eucharist. We also get a glimpse of the way that early Christians tried to work out disagreements through small group conversations before taking the matter to the full church to be resolved only as a last resort. We’re probably relieved that we don’t sort out one another’s sins this way any more, but let’s take note of a deeper message: When we gather together, in celebration or in conflict, Jesus is with us and shows us the way.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Aug. 27, 2023

First Reading (Track One): Exodus 1:8-2:10

For the rest of the season after Pentecost, we will follow the narrative of Moses and the chosen people out of slavery and through the desert for 40 years until they reach the Promised Land.

Christ Giving the Keys of the Kingdom to St. Peter (1481-83). Fresco by Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci (“Perugino,” 1450-1523), Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome. (Click image to enlarge.)

Our Gospel readings will recall the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem and the cross. In the first reading, years have passed since we left Joseph and his brothers, and Pharaoh no longer knows of Joseph or the work he did to save Egypt. Now the Egyptian leaders are afraid of the Hebrews, who have grown in numbers and are now perceived as a threat. Pharaoh tries to have all the Hebrew baby boys slaughtered at birth, but the infant Moses escapes and is adopted by Pharaoh’s own daughter.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 51:1-6

In a metaphor that may remind us of Jesus’ response to Peter in today’s Gospel, Isaiah reminds the people that they were hewn from rock and dug from a quarry in their descent from Abraham and Sarah and their children. God promised to bless Abraham and make his offspring as numerous as the stars, and that promise has been fulfilled. Even if they are in exile now, God will deliver them; God’s justice will be a light to the people, and their deliverance will come soon. Earth will wear out like a garment and the heavens will vanish like smoke, but God’s deliverance and salvation are forever.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 124

Recalling the time that the people were delivered from slavery in Egypt, the Psalmist sings out a hymn of thanksgiving to the God who protected them through the fear and danger of their exodus. We remember how the Red Sea waters might have overwhelmed them in a raging torrent without God’s protection. Then, in a beautiful metaphor, we envision the people as a bird pursued by a hunter, escaping from a broken snare. In celebration we sing, “Our help is in the name of the Lord.”

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 138

Echoing the hope for return from exile and eventual salvation that we heard from Isaiah, today’s Psalm thanks and praises God for love and faithfulness. When we called, God answered us and gave us strength. Although God is high, God cares for the lowly; God keeps us safe when we walk in the midst of trouble. The love of the Lord endures forever, and God will not abandon the works of God’s hands.

Second Reading: Romans 12:1-8

Having made his case to the Christians of Rome to live and worship together in love, Paul moves on to urge them to devote their minds and bodies as a living sacrifice in their spiritual worship, living not according to the customs of this world but discerning and follow what is good in the will of God. Working out a beautiful metaphor that we also hear in 1 Corinthians, he imagines the church, like our bodies, as an organism made of many parts. Every part has its purpose, and they all must function well together to make the body work. Some lead, some teach, some give, some learn, some listen; some offer compassion. All together we make up one body in Christ.

Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20

This key turning point in the Gospels appears in similar form in Matthew, Mark and Luke: Although the disciples have already begun wondering if Jesus is the Son of God – when they worshipped him after he walked on the water and stilled the storm, for example – this is the first point in the Gospels, just as they begin their journey toward Jerusalem, when Jesus responds and agrees with Peter’s assertion that God has revealed him as the Messiah. Jesus then declares Peter “the rock” upon which he will build the church. Then Jesus sternly commands the disciples not to tell anyone about this. His time has not yet come.

What are “Track 1” and “Track 2”?
During the long green season after Pentecost, there are two tracks (or strands) each week for Old Testament readings. Within each track, there is a Psalm chosen to accompany the particular lesson.
The Revised Common Lectionary allows us to make use of either of these tracks, but once a track has been selected, it should be followed through to the end of the Pentecost season, rather than jumping back and forth between the two strands.
For more information from LectionaryPage.net, click here.

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Aug. 20, 2023 (Pentecost 12A)

First Reading (Track One): Genesis 45:1-15

The idea of generous mercy recurs through Sunday’s Track One Lectionary readings as we near the midpoint of the long season after Pentecost, and at this point the direction of the selected readings start to turn.

La Cananéenne aux pieds de Jésus-Christ (The Woman of Canaan at the Feet of Christ, 1784), oil painting by Jean Germain Drouais (1763–1788). The Louvre, Paris. (Click image to enlarge.)

In the Gospel for the day we will see Jesus and his apostles leaving Galilee as, in Matthew’s telling, they begin ] their long journey toward Jerusalem and the cross. First, though, our reading from the Hebrew Bible finds Joseph in Egypt, where we will soon turn from the patriarchs to Moses and the story of the chosen people. Joseph has been through a lot since his jealous brothers sold him into slavery. He has become a chief advisor to Pharaoh, which gives him great power over his brothers who have come to Egypt in a time of famine. In a tearful reunion, Joseph forgives them, and the ancestral line that points to the Messiah remains unbroken.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 56:1,6-8

Sunday’s Track Two first reading turns to the closing chapters of Isaiah’s long book of prophecy. The people have returned home to Jerusalem, and now they face the arduous task of rebuilding the city and the temple. Isaiah reminds the people that, just as they lost the land for their failure to be righteous and just, they may no longer keep the holy city for themselves alone, even though they “maintain justice and doing what is right.” The covenant that God made with Moses is now for all people, for all the nations. Even foreigners and aliens who hold fast to the covenant principles will be gathered in, welcomed in the temple and made joyful. We will hear Jesus echo this refrain in Sunday’s Gospel when he overcomes his initial aversion and recognizes the Canaanite woman’s faith.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 133

In this short, ancient hymn of praise, the Psalmist exults in the blessedness of siblings coming together in unity. In verses that foreshadow Paul’s words in the day’s Second Reading, urging the Christian community of Rome to come together in friendship, the Psalmist sings how good and pleasant it is when families and friends live together in the blessed spirit symbolized by anointing with fine oil.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 67

We hear again a Psalm that we sang this year toward the end of Eastertide, just before Pentecost Sunday. Psalm 67’s verses both echo the Isaiah reading and foretell Paul’s verses from Romans in its joyous call to all the nations of Earth and all their people to sing together in peace and praise. Let all the nations praise God and pray for God’s blessing, the Psalmist sings: It is through God the earth gives forth its bounty, whereupon all Earth sings out its praise.

Second Reading: Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32

Paul expands on his invitation to Rome’s Jewish and Gentile Christians to resume close relationship after the Jewish Christian community returned to Rome from exile. Here Paul emphasizes his own Jewish heritage, pointing out his status as an Israelite and a direct descendant of Abraham through Benjamin, the youngest brother whom Joseph loved. God’s promises to Israel will never be revoked, Paul declares, and God’s new promises to the Gentiles are just as irrevocable. Regardless of our disobedience, our sins, and our ancestry, God is merciful to us all and loves us all.

Gospel: Matthew 15:10-28

First in Sunday’s two-part Gospel we encounter Jesus mocking a group of Pharisees who in previous verses had criticized his disciples for ignoring the ritual requirement to wash their hands before eating. Jesus offers an earthy response: What goes into our mouths – even food from unwashed hands – does not defile us. It’s the words that come out of our mouths that show our true character. Then, in the land of Canaan, Israel’s traditional enemy, Jesus shocks us again: When a Canaanite woman seeks help for her demon-tormented daughter, Jesus first ignores her, then replies with a startling insult, likening her children to stray dogs scrounging for crumbs under the table. But the words that come from the mother’s mouth come from her heart. The encounter changes Jesus: He praises her faith and heals her child.

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for July 23, 2023 (Pentecost 8A)

First Reading (Track One): Genesis 28:10-19a

God knows us. God sees us. God cares for us, and God calls us. Look for signals of love and grace throughout Sunday’s Lectionary readings.

Buckwheat Harvest, Summer (1868-74), oil painting on canvas by Jean-François Millet (1814-1875). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (Click image to enlarge)

In the first reading, Jacob is in trouble and is running away for his own safety. He is afraid of the murderous wrath of his older twin Esau, whom he has tricked out of his inheritance and their father’s blessing. In this passage Jacob stops to rest. He dreams an amazing dream about angels ascending and descending a heavenly ladder. Then he hears the voice of God, offering a promise like the one that his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac received: God is with him, and his offspring will fill the Earth. Jacob receives God’s promise in spite of his trickery. God  knows full well that humankind is far from perfect, and so God works with broken, troubled people like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and on down the line.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 44:6-8

Our Track Two first reading excerpts a short, poetic prayer of praise from within Isaiah’s prophecy. The prophet assures the people that they will eventually return home to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon. Isaiah imagines the voice of God proclaiming God’s own power and majesty in these simple terms: Never mind the beliefs that their captors may hold about other gods and other prophesies. Israel need not fear or be afraid. God is not only the nation’s redeemer and leader, but the first and last of all creation. The prophet hears the Creator saying, “Is there any god besides me? There is no other rock; I know not one.”

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 139: 1-11, 22-23

If Jacob in the first reading had taken a moment of introspection and examined his conscience, he might then have lain awake on that desert night, fearing Esau’s revenge and meditating on something like these ideas from Psalm 139: Even if we run from God, we cannot hide from God. In heaven or in the grave, in darkness or in light, up in the sunrise sky or down in the deepest part of the sea, no matter where we go or how we try to hide, God knows where we are and what we are thinking. Even when we are wicked, God will lead us back onto right paths.

Alternate Psalm (Track One): Wisdom of Solomon 12:13, 16-19

The Wisdom of Solomon, a short book in the Apocrypha, was written in King Solomon’s name not long before, or even possibly during or after, the time of Jesus and the evangelists. These verses seem to echo the faith of Psalm 139 – for which this passage is available as an alternative – in their ringing praise for a powerful, righteous God who reigns over all creation. In spite of this omnipotent state, this is a God who guides the people mildly and with forbearance, showing us that to be righteous requires us to be kind.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 86:11-17

The Psalmist is grateful for God’s abundant love shown in protection against the violence and threats of enemies. Like the people in exile in the Track Two first reading from Isaiah, they face difficulties – even being pursued by a band of violent, murderous men. In the midst of fear and desperation the Psalmist turns to God with faith and trust, calling on God to respond out of grace and compassion, kindness and truth, and to have mercy, shaming the people’s foes with a sign of God’s favor.

Second Reading: Romans 8:12-25

As we read portions of Paul’s letter to the Romans through this summer, you may have noticed that he uses consistent language to teach a specific idea: In flesh there is death; in the spirit of Christ there is life. Paul emphasizes these points once more in this passage: If we live by our own selfish desires, he says, we eventually die. But if we live in the Spirit through Christ, loving God and our neighbor even while we suffer with Christ – just as the early Christians of Rome suffered persecution – we are glorified with him and become beloved children of God, literally God’s adopted children and thus God’s heirs.

Gospel: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Following immediately upon last week’s Gospel about the sower and the soil, we meet another sower in another of Jesus’ parables as told by Matthew. This time the soil is good, and so is the seed. The sower is planting wheat in the rich soil of his own field. But now a new challenge arises: An unidentified enemy sneaks in at night and plants weeds among the good wheat. The sower can’t simply uproot the weeds without disturbing the wheat, so the good growth and the bad must grow together until harvest, when the weeds can finally be torn out and discarded. Jesus explains the parable in terms that may feel disturbing with his talk of hellfire and damnation for the weeds. But in a promise reminiscent of God’s covenant with Moses at Mount Sinai, Jesus makes it clear that those who live righteously will enjoy God’s kingdom.

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for July 16, 2023 (Pentecost 7A)

First Reading (Track One): Genesis 25:19-34

Last week we heard how Rebekah became Isaac’s wife, “and he loved her.” But it soon turned out that this couple would have nearly as much trouble having children as Isaac’s parents Abraham and Sarah did:

The Harvesters (1565), oil painting on panel by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1526/1530-1569). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. (Click image to enlarge)

After marrying when Isaac was 40, they found that Rebekah was barren. Faithfully, Isaac prayed, and God answered his prayer with children; but Isaac was 60 by the time that happy event occurred with the birth of Esau and Jacob! As they grew, Jacob emerged as an inveterate trickster. In this Track One first reading we see Jacob trick his twin, in a hungry moment, into giving up his rights as firstborn in trade for a bit of bread and a pot of lentil stew.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 55:10-13

The people’s exile in Babylon is coming to its end, but the long journey back to Jerusalem and the arduous work of restoring the city and rebuilding the Temple lies ahead. Having assured the people that God has forgiven the failure of justice and righteousness that earned them exile, the prophet now shows God as the giver of life and sustenance and all that is good. In these brief verses, these images of God giving seed to the sower and bread to the hungry ring in our ears as we hear Jesus’ parable of the sower in this week’s Gospel.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 119:105-112

We hear parts of Psalm 119 a dozen times during the three-year cycle of Lectionary readings, so it will probably come as no surprise to hear that its 176 verses make it the longest of all the Psalms. All these verses comprise a long, loving celebration of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. “Torah” is usually translated in this context as “law,” “ordinance” or “decree” throughout the psalms, but it might be better expressed as “teaching,” a point of view that reveals God’s loving desire for us to live in good relationship with God and each other. Following God’s teaching brings joy even in darkness and time of trouble, the Psalmist sings.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 65: (1-8), 9-14

This psalm of praise and thanksgiving beautifully reflects the Prophet Isaiah’s portrayal of God as the generous creator who made the world and all that is in it, and who provides bountiful water and grain, pastures and flocks. Perhaps originally sung as a harvest thanksgiving, it chants praise for the overflowing richness of God’s abundance and for the joy it provides to those who receive it. These praiseful verses prepare us for the Gospel’s hope for seeds that fall on good soil and yield a hundredfold.

Second Reading: Romans 8:1-11

The love of God’s law expressed in Torah and the Psalms would have had deep meaning for Paul, a devout Pharisee and Torah scholar who counted himself as righteous and blameless under the law. As a Jewish Christian evangelist, Paul evolved a new understanding that we see him working out in Romans: Christ’s resurrection has freed us from the law of sin and death, not the law of Torah but of the world. When we are in the world and living in its way of sinful flesh, Paul reasoned, we remain subject to sin and death. But when we turn and accept God’s Spirit through Jesus – when the Spirit dwells in us because Christ is in us – we gain life and peace.

Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

For the rest of the season after Pentecost, which continues through November, our Gospels will follow Matthew’s account of Jesus’s journey with the apostles from Galilee to Jerusalem. Many of those Gospels will take the form of parables, the colorful stories that Jesus uses to teach through metaphor. Sunday’s parable of the sower is the first parable in Matthew, and it is one of the few for which Jesus offers an explanation. But what does that explanation call us to do? Are we the soil, seeking to be good and receptive when we hear God’s word? Or are we to join the apostles in sowing the word of the Kingdom of God extravagantly, rejoicing when the harvest is bountiful?