Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 2, 2019

First Reading: Acts 16:16-34

Jailer, Paul, Silas, and the Jailer’s Family; bronze metalwork panel on the north door of Trinity Church, Manhattan (1893). Design by Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895), produced by Charles Henry Hiehaus; Donated by William Waldorf Astor in memory of his father, John Jacob Astor III. (Click image to enlarge.)

As we near the end of Eastertide, we find Paul still in Philippi, where he encounters a noisy woman, possessed by a demon, who is held as a slave by men who present her as a fortune teller because of her loud, prophetic-sounding shouts. She follows Paul and Silas around, declaring them “slaves of the most high God.” Paul, annoyed, casts the spirit out of her, silencing her shouts. Her masters, angry over the loss of their income, have Paul and the others jailed for disturbing the peace. They pray for relief, and an earthquake bursts open the prison doors and breaks their chains. Paul and his companions refuse to leave, though, saving the jailer from punishment. The jailer asks what he must do to be saved, and Paul tells him to believe in Christ.

Psalm: Psalm 97

This Psalm of thanks and praise begins with language that may seem difficult for modern ears. It confronts us with the loud, chest-thumping shouts of Bronze Age warriors, a genre that’s difficult to place in the context of modern times. As with any complicated story, sometimes it’s best to peek at the ending and and see how it comes out. The happy ending of this Psalm reassures us that God brings light and joy for the righteous and the upright in heart. Practice righteousness: Insist on justice for the weak, not just the strong; resist evil, and give thanks that God loves us.

Second Reading: Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21

We come now to the closing verses of Revelation, in a Lectionary passage that, perhaps wisely, skips over a couple of the book’s more alarming passages that you might enjoy picking up your bible to discover. The portion that we do hear speaks to many in the early church expected that the Lamb – the sacrificed and resurrected Jesus Christ – would return very soon, ideally during their own lifetimes. Two thousand years later, we have found that life and eternity and God’s kingdom aren’t that simple. But the message of the Lamb still brings us hope: “Let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift. … Come, Lord Jesus!”

Gospel: John 17:20-26

We now reach the end of John’s account of Jesus’s farewell talk with his apostles. John’s extended four-chapter narrative began after Jesus had washed their feet and celebrated their last supper together, and now concludes just before Jesus will go out to the garden to pray, where Judas and the soldiers will come in the night to take him away for trial and crucifixion. In Sunday’s familiar verses we hear Jesus asking God to love everyone just as God has loved Jesus. Yes, everyone: Jesus prays not only for his friends in the room then and there, but asks God to love all the people of the world, promising that all who believe in him “may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me.”

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for May 26, 2019

First Reading: Acts 16:9-15

As we approach the last weeks of Eastertide, Sunday’s readings remind us again that God’s love embraces all of Earth’s people and all of Earth’s nations: Jesus did not come to save only a chosen few.

John of Patmos observes the descent of the New Jerusalem, Angers Apocalypse tapestry (1373-1387) by Jean de Bondol (14th century). Musée de la Tapisserie, Château d’Angers, France. (Click image to enlarge.)

Our first reading shows Paul taking Jesus’ message westward from Asia Minor, where he has been teaching and baptizing, into Europe for the first time. In the new Christian community at Philippi in Greece, he converts Lydia, a leader of the community and a wealthy merchant of royal purple cloth. Lydia becomes a benefactor of the growing Jesus movement, inviting Paul to stay in her home.

Psalm: Psalm 67

Echoing the theme of Paul opening the doors of the church to everyone, this short but joyful Psalm calls all the nations of Earth and all their people to sing together in peace and praise. God has blessed us, and through God the Earth has given forth its bounty, the Psalmist sings. Note this well: The Psalm does not call on us only to give God thanks and praise for our personal gains, but to make God’s grace and salvation be known to all people, all nations. We who have enjoyed God’s blessings are expected to share God’s good news to the ends of the earth.

Second Reading: Revelation 21:10, 22 – 22:5

Continuing in the final chapters of Revelation, we discover that the New Testament is concluding with vivid images of life at the end of time. We imagine the New Jerusalem, heaven come down to Earth, with a crystal stream and tree of life in the midst of a city so brilliant in the graceful glow of the Lamb that it needs no other light. In verses politically radical for their time and perhaps any other, we hear that all earthly kings will worship at God’s throne in this blissful city. The city’s pure waters and luscious fruit will nourish all nations and everyone.

Gospel: John 14:23-29

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” We hear these familiar, loving words again as Jesus says farewell to his disciples at the Last Supper. Jesus tells them that he is going away, a prospect that would surely trouble their hearts. But Jesus reassures them that God will remain present with them. God will send an Advocate, God’s Holy Spirit, to come in Jesus’ name to teach and inspire them. (We will remember this coming on the feast of Pentecost two weeks from now). God’s peace, which surpasses all understanding, will be with them and remain in their hearts and minds as they take Jesus words out to the world.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for May 19, 2019

First Reading: Acts 11:1-18

God’s love is for everyone, not just a few: This generous message resonates through today’s readings.

Peter Preaching (1433). Altarpiece panel by Fra Angelico (1400-1455). Museo di San Marco, Florence, Italy. (Click image to enlarge.)

In our first reading we hear Peter explaining to his fellow Jewish Christians that a vision from God had made clear to him that Christ’s message was not intended just for them but for Gentiles as well. The idea that the gift of the Spirit could be shared with Gentiles through baptism without requiring them first to convert to Judaism must have seemed new and strange to them all, but God’s message to Peter was unambiguous: Go and baptize the Roman centurion Cornelius and his whole family. And so he did.

Psalm: Psalm 148

This is one of the last songs in the Book of Psalms, a concluding trio that rings out thunderous praise for the glory of God. It echoes the message from Acts (and also presages the Song of the Three Young Men in Daniel, Canticle 16) in glorious harmony: All God’s host stands up in joyous chorus, praising God from the heights and heavens. Sun and moon and shining stars praise God. Sea monsters and crawling things, kings and rulers, youngsters and old folks all praise God together, praising and exalting God forever!

Second Reading: Revelation 21:1-6

We read parts of the closing chapters of Revelation in the final weeks of Eastertide. In this apocalyptic vision, Heaven and Earth and all that is old have passed away, and everything is new! Earth and sea, all creation as we knew it, is no more. Reversing the idea that the souls of humans will rise to a lofty Heaven, we see God coming down from Heaven to Earth instead in a New Jerusalem, God coming to earth to live with mortals as Jesus Christ had done. In verses often read during the remembrance of a loved one’s life, we hear that God will wipe away tears and banish mourning, crying and pain; God will quench all thirst with the water of life, and death will be no more!

Gospel: John 13:31-35

“They’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love … Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” The words of this beloved hymn reflect the words of Jesus in Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus and the apostles are together at the last supper. In a tense moment, just after Judas has sneaked out to betray him, Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment in a farewell message: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Knowing that he is about to die a gruesome death on a cross, Jesus sets out his commandment to live as he would live, loving one another and loving everyone.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for May 5, 2019

First Reading: Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)

How do we recognize God in our lives? How do we respond when God calls? Consider Saul in Sunday’s first reading.

The Miraculous Draught of Fishes (1545); oil painting by Jacopo Bassano (1510-1592). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Click image to enlarge.)

Early Christians had every reason to fear Saul: A frightening figure, a Pharisee angry with the unorthodox new Messianic movement, Saul persecuted the Christians with all his strength. But when Jesus confronted Saul in a blinding vision on the road to Damascus (a narrative much more detailed than anything Paul had written about his own conversion in his letters many years before the Evangelist Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles), everything changed. Acts reports Saul hearing that by persecuting those who follow Jesus, Saul was persecuting Jesus. Saul’s hatred for Christ and Christians melts away with his restored vision. Saul becomes Paul, who will go on to take Christianity to the world with all the zeal that he had previously turned to persecuting Christians.

Psalm: Psalm 30

Perhaps surprisingly (or perhaps not) for a genre that includes so many calls for God’s help in Psalms of petition, the 150 Psalms include only a relative few hymns of thanksgiving. Psalm 30, according to tradition, specifically offers thanks to God for the Psalmist’s recovery from a serious illness. The Psalm seems consonant with the journeys in today’s readings of Paul, who changed from hate for Christians to life in Christ, and Peter, who went bravely out to proclaim Jesus after having denied him three times. The Psalmist, in turn, sings out in faith that sadness and anger are short-lived, but the joy of God’s favor lives forever. “Weeping may spend the night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Second Reading: Revelation 5:11-14

In last week’s reading from Revelation, we heard its prophecy that Christ would be “ruler of the kings of the earth,” presumably supplanting the emperors of Rome and beyond. This Sunday, a few chapters further into the book, we enter a scene of triumphant heavenly worship in which all creation participates. All the angels and elders of heaven, all the creatures of heaven and earth, humans and animals from land and sky and sea join in worship and song: Together they sing a majestic hymn, filled with symbolic language, that reveals an unexpected surprise: Jesus’s kingship is not that of a roaring lion or any earthly ruler, but a lamb, a vulnerable creature, symbol of the Passover; a victim who was slaughtered but is now raised and glorified for all.

Gospel: John 21:1-19

Seven of the disciples are back home in Galilee, and perhaps seeking a break from the emotions of Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and mysterious appearances, they get in their boat for a night-time fishing trip. They haven’t had any luck, but suddenly a stranger appears on the shore and suggests that they try casting their net on the other side of the boat, and they haul in a bulging net-load. Suddenly John recognizes Jesus, prompting Peter to jump in the water and run for shore. The delighted crew all join Jesus, who cooks them fish and bread on a charcoal fire and feeds them. Then Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Peter, apparently forgetting how recently he had denied Jesus three times, is offended that Jesus has to ask this repeatedly. But this is in the past now, as Jesus directs Peter, “Feed my lambs. … Feed my sheep.” Then Jesus predicts Peter’s eventual martyrdom, and calls him, as he had done at the beginning of his ministry: “Follow me.”

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for April 28, 2019

First Reading: Acts 5:27-32

Jesus has died and Christ has risen, but tension continues between Christ-followers and the Temple establishment. We’ll be hearing passages from the Acts of the Apostles as our first readings during Eastertide.

The Incredulity of St Thomas (1634). Oil painting on oak panel by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669). Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. (Click image to enlarge.)

In Sunday’s reading we learn that apostles have continued teaching, preaching and healing in Jesus’ way, and all this uproar has the authorities worried that these efforts is going to bring trouble. In the verses before these, we read that they locked Peter and the apostles in jail, but an angel set them free. Now the authorities try persuasion instead, but the apostles, recognizing a higher mission, push back: God has called them to spread the Word, and that mission trumps any human authority.

Psalm: Psalm 118:14-29

If you think parts of this Psalm seem strangely familiar, there’s a reason for that: Overlapping portions of Psalm 118 were also included in the readings for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. Again we sing the central covenant of the Old Testament that Jesus also taught, promising to practice justice in our lives; to serve God, our neighbor, the poor and the stranger, seeking through righteousness to enter the glory of God. Then in today’s verses we go on to address God directly, giving thanks for God’s abundant love, our lives and our salvation. “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Alternate Psalm: Psalm 150

Throughout the year, in Sunday liturgy and daily prayer, we turn to the Psalms almost every time we gather to worship. Some Psalms cry out in lamentation; some ask God’s blessing. Psalms beg forgiveness and express hope; a few even call down God’s wrath. The most joyful Psalms sing God’s praise. Psalm 150, the last Psalm, brings the book to a ringing climax as we sing out God’s glory with flutes and harp, strings and praise and plenty of loud, clanging cymbals. We sing out loud as we celebrate the resurrection during Eastertide.

Second Reading: Revelation 1:4-8

Despite the commercial success of the popular “Left Behind” stories and other interpretations of Revelation as scary prophecy for modern times, Revelation was never meant for our modern ears. In its time, the late first century, it was addressed to the Christians of seven cities in Asia Minor, now western Turkey, that faced oppression by Roman power. The letter, written in the apocalyptic genre, a sort of First Century sci-fi and fantasy, used symbolic language and colorful metaphors to reassure these early Christians that the Reign of Christ was still to come and would set them free. Christ is “the ruler of the kings of the earth,” it promises, holding up that glowing hope that Christ would eventually dominate even the Emperor of Rome.

Gospel: John 20:19-31

In John’s version of the resurrection, when Mary Magdalene alone saw the risen Christ, she ran back to tell the other disciples. It appears that they did not react immediately with celebration, though, but – as Sunday’s Gospel begins – they gathered and locked all the doors, apparently fearful that the Jewish leaders who had worked with Pilate to condemn Jesus were trying to find them. But then Jesus appears in the locked room with them, shows them his wounds and offers them peace and breathes the power of the Holy Spirit into them, and their fear turns into joy. Thomas, who wasn’t with the apostles that night, was doubtful, insisting on proof before he would believe. But Thomas, too, turns from doubt to belief when he sees Jesus.