Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Oct. 6, 2024 (Pentecost 20B)

Job on the Ash Heap (c.1630), oil painting on canvas by Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652). Sotheby’s, New York. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Job 1:1; 2:1-10

Why would an all-powerful, loving God allow bad things to happen to good people? The Book of Job is often held up as a guide to understanding this theological quandary, but this approach may leave the hopeful reader less than satisfied. What are we to make of its clear impression that God actually caused Job’s suffering because, incredibly, Satan talked God into testing Job as a sort of bet? As we read through Job in Track One this month, recognize it as an important part of the Bible’s wisdom literature, the books that unveil the authors’ ideas about life and God, seeking to explain the inexplicable.

First Reading (Track Two): Genesis 2:18-24

Think about relationships through Sunday’s unusually difficult Lectionary readings, trying to read them faithfully yet generously. Our Track Two first reading, for example, singles out the Genesis legend about God making Eve from Adam’s rib as a helper for the first man. Over the ages, this has often been interpreted to place women in a secondary status to men. Then in this week’s selection from Mark’s Gospel we hear another troubling passage: Jesus rejects divorce in words so strict and uncompromising that they have often been invoked outside their first century context to hold people in abusive relationships.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 26

Just as Job, we are told, was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil,” Psalm 26 declares before God that the Psalmist has lived with integrity and trusted in God without faltering. Considering the trials of Job, we might wonder if the author of this psalm is tempting fate when he invites God to “test me … and try me.” We may also hear a hint of Pharisaical self-satisfaction in the writer’s desire not to be counted among the evildoers or to suffer their punishment. But in the end this plea is humble. It promises integrity and asks only for God’s pity and redemption.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 8

This beautiful psalm feels appropriate to a day when many congregations bless companion animals in memory of St. Francis of Assisi. It begins as a hymn of praise, celebrating the glories of God’s creation. In lyrical poetry it declares the beauty of the universe and all that populates it as testimony to God’s majesty: The heavens, the moon, the stars, all the work of God’s hands, are so great that mere humanity seems small in comparison. Even so, for better or for worse, we are given charge of all the wild and domestic animals and creatures of the sea.

Second Reading: Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

Now we begin seven weeks with the letter to the Hebrews, a journey that will carry us to the end of the Pentecost season. The letter to the Hebrews is thought to be an ancient letter to Jewish Christians who had gone back to Judaism for fear of persecution. While it is fervently pro-Christian, we should take care not to read parts of it as anti-Jewish. The verses we hear this Sunday recognize the stewardship over creation that God assigned to humanity in the Genesis creation stories, crowning human beings with glory and honor, “subjecting all things under their feet.”

Gospel: Mark 10:2-16

Jesus’s strict command against divorce is difficult to hear in modern times, when divorce has become acceptable, if unhappy; a troubled end to a relationship. In the patriarchal culture of Jesus’s time, divorce was even worse, because it was inequitable: A man could set aside his marriage for any reason, or keep his wife trapped in an abusive relationship. A woman had no recourse, could not practically initiate divorce, and worse, a woman alone was likely to end up homeless and hungry, shamed and reduced to begging. Should it surprise us that Jesus spoke firmly against that unequal practice, using language that recalled the words of Eve’s creation from Genesis?

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Sept. 29, 2024 (Pentecost 19B)

Season of Creation: Bless Sunday

Jesus with the little children (1620s), partially restored painting possibly by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) or by Jan Six I (1618-1700). Private collection. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22

Creation Focus: Plotting death backfires on schemer
There’s something unique about this reading: It offers the only time that the three-year Lectionary draws from the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Esther … and even this is only for those following Track One! This passage comes near the end of this exciting story that, in Jewish tradition, is read in its entirety on the feast of Purim. In these verses Queen Esther of Persia reveals at a banquet feast that she is Jewish and thus would herself be killed with her people if the wicked plotter Haman carried out his plan to kill or enslave all of Persia’s Jews. The king, angry about Haman’s plotting, orders him hanged on a giant gallows, and justice is served. This event is remembered in Jewish tradition with feasting, joy, and gifts of food for each other and the poor.

First Reading (Track Two): Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29

Creation Focus: Greed destroys; find contentment
Listen! We listen for the voice of God. We ask God to listen to us when we pray. We listen to each other, and sometimes we hear. Listen for themes of listening and hearing in Sunday’s readings. In our first reading we hear the people in the desert, sick and tired of manna, hungrily remembering the good food they enjoyed in Egypt; so hungry that they would eagerly return to Pharaoh’s slavery for something good to eat. God is angry. Moses is angry! Fortunately, God offers a practical solution: Moses may name seventy elders to help him carry the load of leadership. Then, two men who had remained in the camp started prophesying without supervision! Moses’ assistant Joshua wants them punished, but Moses says no: He wishes that all the people could prophesy and share God’s spirit.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 124

Creation Focus: Raging waters destroy; follow God’s way to calm them
Remembering another time when Israel feared death at the hands of enemies, Psalm 124 sings joyous thanksgiving for God’s protection, when God parted the waters of the Red Sea when they escaped Pharaoh’s bondage in Egypt. If God had not been on their side when the enemies rose up against them, we sing, the waters would have overwhelmed them! The torrent would have gone over them! But God did not give them up. They escaped, singing, “Our help is in the Name of the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth.”

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 19:7-14

Creation Focus: Find joy in following God’s good path in Creation
Listen and hear, as we sing this psalm that calls on us to pray and tells us why we should pray. God’s commandments are good, and to follow them does us good, we sing. Sweeter than honey and more desirable than gold, God’s laws and commandments enlighten us and keep us on a straight path. How do we pray? The answer is so important that we repeat it twice: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my strength, my rock, and my redeemer.”

Second Reading: James 5:13-20

Creation Focus: Pray for Creation’s healing, save each other
As we reach the end of our month long visit with the letter of James, this powerful epistle has called on us to care for our neighbors, to protect the weak, and to do the work that God has given us to do. Now the letter ends with a call to prayer: Are we suffering? Pray! Are we happy? Sing hymns of praise! Are we sick? Ask our friends to pray for us! Prayer works, the author of James says. When we bring our brothers and sisters back to God’s way, we save them from death. God works through us as God worked through the prophet Elijah when the prophet prayed for an end to a killing drought and famine.

Gospel: Mark 9:38-50

Creation Focus: Ally with any who heal Creation; support youth
The Apostle John seems angry and perhaps a little possessive in this Gospel passage. “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us,” he yells. We can imagine him running up to Jesus and demanding, “Make him stop! He’s not authorized!” But Jesus isn’t bothered. “Do not stop him,” he tells the apostles, adding, “Whoever is not against us is for us.” Jesus, perhaps using an old rabbinic tradition of contrasting an act with an extreme alternative, goes on with some pretty scary language about staying on the right path or else. But his point is clear: If people are with us, don’t throw them out.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Sept. 15, 2024 (Pentecost 17B/Proper 19)

Season of Creation: Act Sunday

Peter the Apostle (c.1610-1614), oil painting on canvas by El Greco (1541-1614). El Greco Museum, Toledo, Spain. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Proverbs 1:20-33

Creation Focus: Wisdom: “Repent” before doom as hurricane
Poetry in the Hebrew Bible, including the Psalms and wisdom writings such as this passage from Proverbs, does not rhyme words or sounds as English poetry does. Rather, it rhymes ideas. Go through each verse here: Wisdom, embodied as a powerful woman, shouts out to the city and all its inhabitants: Be wise! Embrace knowledge!” Each verse is divided into two lines that support each other: The idea expressed in each first line is reflected, explained, or expanded upon in the second. Ideas rhyme. Watch for this poetic technique in the Hebrew bible, and see how meaning grows when each line builds on another to strengthen ideas.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 50:4-9a

Creation Focus: Prophets are attacked yet rely on God in obedience
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, suffering and enslaved yet relying still on God. Christians later imagined an image of Christ in this figure who endures opposition, turns the other cheek, and keeps on teaching until the people hear. Speaking with the tongue of a teacher, the Servant shows us God’s way.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 19

Creation Focus: The sun and stars, night and day, speak directly of God
“The heavens declare the glory of God!” This psalm of praise sings out the beauty of creation, imagining the sun and stars themselves exulting at the glory of God at work in the universe. Mirroring the first reading’s exhortation to hear God’s word, its verses urge us to rejoice in our hearts about God’s perfect law and teaching.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 116:1-8

Creation Focus: Keep faith in deliverance, do not lose hope
Like Isaiah’s Suffering Servant, the Psalmist, too, speaks from a place of sorrow, grief, and loss of hope. In this Psalm, traditionally understood as a hymn of thanksgiving for recovery from an illness, the Psalmist is filled with despair. Entangled in the cords of death, he called out, and God responded. Now, rescued from death’s grip, his tears are wiped dry and his feet no longer stumble. Walking again in the land of the living, his heart fills with love for God, who has heard his voice in supplication.

Second Reading: James 3:1-12


Creation Focus: Tongues cursing others pollute God’s earth
The teacher’s tongue may tell God’s way, but our tongues are tricky, small but powerful. This passage from James engages in delightful wordplay, likening our tongues to other small but strong things that can control forces beyond their size: A horse’s bridle, a ship’s rudder, a spark that starts a forest fire. Watch our tongues, James warns. Our tongues can bless, but tongues may curse, too, staining not only our bodies but setting afire the whole cycle of nature. We must use them wisely to praise and bless our brothers and sisters, not to express hurtful things.

Gospel: Mark 8:27-38


Creation Focus: Lose your life[style] to gain God’s salvation for all
We are more than midway through the six-month-long season after Pentecost now. Jesus and the apostles are about to turn south on a long journey toward Jerusalem and the Cross. First, though, Jesus engages them with a challenging question: “Who do you say that I am?” Some guess John the Baptist, Elijah, or a prophet, but Peter forthrightly declares Jesus the Messiah. Jesus then speaks of his coming passion and death, and when Peter objects, Jesus rebukes him and calls him “Satan!” This is a stern, challenging side of Jesus, who tells his followers to deny themselves, to take up their cross and follow him, knowing that those who want to save their life must lose it.

Season of Creation: Pray Sunday

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Sept. 1, 2024 (Pentecost 15B/Proper 17)

The Scribe Stood to Tempt Jesus (c.1886-1894), watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper by James Tissot (1836-1902). Brooklyn Museum, New York. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Song of Solomon 2:8-13

Creation Focus: Love of God received through nature.
Our Track One first readings now turn to the Hebrew Bible’s wisdom literature – books of thoughts and advice on wise and proper living. We begin this Sunday with a love poem from the Song of Solomon, a deeply romantic book that tradition attributes to King Solomon himself (although they were actually written centuries later). These verses sing of deep love between a woman and a man who has returned to her after a cold winter, using charming metaphors of nature and the seasons like these familiar verses, “The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

First Reading (Track Two): Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9

Creation Focus: God’s rules are for living on the land.
Don’t do as we say. Do as we do. We hear this simple wisdom unveiled for us throughout Sunday’s readings. In our Track Two first reading last week, we looked on as an aging Joshua, facing the end of his life, called on the people to recommit to God’s covenant once they were established in the Promised Land. Now we page back to Deuteronomy to hear Moses in his last days, uttering a similar call to the people to renew their commitment to the law and teaching as they prepare to cross into the Promised Land. Moses assures the people that by passing God’s teaching down through the generations, they will earn the right to live in the land, and they will win the world’s respect for their wisdom and discernment.n the promised land, gaining the world’s respect for wisdom and discernment.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10

Creation Focus: Beauty of creation as God’s anointing.
Following the Song of Solomon in the first reading, these snippets from Psalm 45 are framed as a love song, too, mustering metaphors of beautiful music and appealing scents. A noble song fashioned for a king on the occasion of his royal wedding, it praises the king as the fairest of men, from whose lips flow grace. Then the narrative turns to praise for God. Even above the king, God is the Holy One who has anointed and blessed the king with an enduring throne and a scepter of righteousness. God has anointed the king because God loves righteousness and hates iniquity, the psalm tells us. By carrying out God’s will, the monarch earns God’s blessings on earth.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 15

Creation Focus: The righteous as those who dwell on a holy mountain.
Mirroring the wisdom taught by Moses in the first reading, the Psalmist proclaims that those who live blamelessly and with righteousness and truth may earn God’s protection. The verses of Psalm 15 tell us how to do that: Be honest, be trustworthy, be fair; protect the innocent. Follow these ways, and you will abide upon God’s holy hill. Honesty, kindness, and love of neighbor all make a difference. The way we live matters to God.

Second Reading: James 1:17-27

Creation Focus: Creation is God’s good gift; look after it.
Tradition attributes the letter of James to the apostle identified as Jesus’s brother. Although the likely time of its writing late in the first century makes this appealing legend doubtful, the letter remains one of the New Testament’s strongest calls to the social gospel and the way that Jesus taught. In admonitions like “be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves,” and, later in the letter, “faith without works is dead,” it urges the reader to reach out as Christ’s hands in the world, to be righteous, to care for widows and orphans in their distress.

Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Creation Focus: Sustenance is God’s good gift for all.
Our six-week foray into Jesus’s extended dissertation on the bread of life in Chapter Six of John’s Gospel has come to its end, and we now return to Mark’s Gospel for the rest of this liturgical year. You might think for a moment that nothing has changed, though, as we once again find Jesus, now in Mark’s telling, jousting with a crowd of scribes and Pharisees. The law-abiding religious leaders challenged Jesus because they saw his disciples ignoring the strict ritual practice of washing before eating. In response, Jesus quotes the Prophet Isaiah, scorning those who honor God with their lips while their hearts are far away, thoughtlessly following ritual rather than living in the spirit of God’s laws. It is not eating that defiles us, Jesus proclaims, but the sins that come from our mouths and our hearts.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Aug. 18, 2024 (Pentecost 13B/Proper 15)

Christ Accused by the Pharisees (1308-1311), tempera painting on wood by Duccio di Buoninsegna (1255-1319). Museo dell’Opera Metropolitana del Duomo, Siena, Italy. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14

David died after 40 years as king, we hear in Sunday’s Track One first reading, and his son Solomon ascended to the throne. Solomon, the first surviving son of David and Bathsheba, would go on to a majestic reign. Here at the beginning of his reign, though, Solomon knows well that he is young and inexperienced. When God comes to Solomon in a dream and invites him to ask for whatever he might wish, Solomon chooses wisely: He asks not for long life or riches but for the wisdom to govern well. This pleases God, who rewards Solomon with wisdom and honor, asking only that the young king walk in God’s way. All will go well for many years, but Solomon’s reign, sadly, will come to a bad end when the lure of great power corrupts him.

First Reading (Track Two): Proverbs 9:1-6

What is wisdom? What is foolishness? How do we gain the one and learn from the other? Sunday’s Lectionary readings offer insight. Wisdom is often personified in the Hebrew Bible as a truth-speaking woman of valor, who was present with God at the Creation. In this short passage from Proverbs, traditionally said to have been written by Solomon himself, we see Wisdom setting the table for a great feast, to which she invites the simple – those who lack wisdom – to come and be made wise. Through wisdom one gains insight and becomes mature, learning to walk in God’s way.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 111

This is one of the many Psalms that sing God’s praise with joy and exultation. Its verses shout thanksgiving for all of God’s work, all of God’s majesty and splendor, all of God’s justice that lasts forever. God feeds us, the Psalmist declares. God’s covenant redeems us, and the people shout “Hallelujah!” “Praise God!” And at the end, the reward is wisdom: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” exults the final verse. “Those who act accordingly have a good understanding.”

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 34:9-14

A bright young man came up with a puzzled look one morning after hearing this passage from Psalm 34. “I don’t understand about ‘fearing’ the Lord,” he said. “Are we supposed to be afraid of God?” We were quick to reassure him: Rather than being afraid, think instead of feeling awe, being awestruck by God’s love. As the Psalmist sings, follow in God’s way. Speak kindly and with truth; avoid evil and do good; work for peace.

Second Reading: Ephesians 5:15-20

This short passage from the letter to the Ephesians directs the hearer to pursue wisdom, not foolishness, and to fear God not in fright and alarm but with the awe that inspires love. It illustrates that point with specific advice of the kind that prompts many to view Paul as a moralistic finger-wagger: It urges the faithful to avoid drunken debauchery, turning to worship and hymns instead. (To be fair to Paul, though, this letter was almost certainly not written by Paul but by more rigid early Christians a generation or two later.) The passages that follow this reading offer more moral codes that have caused real problems in zealous modern interpretation: “Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord,” and possibly even more problematic, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as you obey Christ.”

Gospel: John 6:51-58

Jesus’ long narrative about the bread of life has taken a turn. Now a new crowd of Pharisees and temple leaders confronts Jesus and pushes back when he declares that everyone must “eat his flesh and drink his blood” to gain eternal life. Jesus doubles down in Mark’s telling, which uses a Greek word for “eat” that literally means “to gnaw,” “to crunch,” or “to chew.” When John’s Gospel was written after the destruction of the Temple, early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism were angrily tearing apart. In John’s frequent use of “The Jews” as a dismissive term for the temple authorities who opposed Jesus, we hear a sad refrain that fostered centuries of anti-Judaism.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Aug. 11, 2024 (Pentecost 12B/Proper 14)

The Prophet Elijah in the Desert (1464-1468), oil painting on panel by Dieric Bouts the Elder (1420-1475). Panel in an altarpiece at Sint-Pieterskerk, Leuven, Belgium. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

The child born of David’s rape of Bathsheba has died, as God foretold through the prophet Nathan; and now in our Track One first reading we hear of the death of David’s son Absalom. In wildly dysfunctional dynamics of a Bronze Age royal family, Absalom had killed his half-brother, Amnon, for raping their sister, Tamar. Then Absalom went to war against his father, fighting to take over Israel’s throne. David’s soldiers find Absalom trapped in a tree, and kill him despite David’s command to deal with him gently. In spite of his son’s treasonous rebellion, David grieves him deeply. “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would that I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

First Reading (Track Two): 1 Kings 19:4-8

God provides physical and spiritual sustenance in time of trouble: This theme continues in this week’s Lectionary readings. In our Track Two first reading we find the Prophet Elijah pursued by an angry Queen Jezebel. Elijah is depressed, unwilling to get up or to eat. He goes to sleep under a broom tree and in despair asks God to take his life. God sends an angel, instead, who tempts Elijah with hot cakes and water and caring support, giving him strength to go on with his prophetic call.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 130

We often hear this Psalm of faithful hope in God; indeed, it has been only a few weeks since the last time it appeared in the Lectionary! In the context of different readings, though, we may sense its verses in new and different ways. On June 29 we heard it alongside David’s grief at the death of his friend, Jonathan. Now we sing it in harmony with David’s grief over his son Absalom’s death. God’s love and grace wait for us even when we are deep in grief. We wait for God, even as in night’s darkest hours we wait for morning light.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 34:1-8

We will read Psalm 34 in three parts over this and the next two Sundays. A Psalm of praise and thanksgiving for God’s protection in time of trouble, it is held in tradition as a hymn sung by King David after he escaped from a threatening situation in warfare. This opening portion includes an unusual sensory metaphor that has been adopted in a contemplative Taizé chant: The Psalmist tells us to “taste and see” that God is good when we are thankful for God’s protection. Happy are those who trust in God!

Second Reading: Ephesians 4:25-5:2

“Do not let the sun go down on your anger.” In its life lessons for those who lived in community in the early church, this passage from the letter to the people of Ephesus speaks good sense to us all: Tell the truth. If you’re angry with your neighbor, work it out; don’t let anger divide you. Don’t steal. Work honestly, and share with those in need. Be honest, but be positive. Be gracious. Forgive one another. And at the end of the day, love each other as Jesus loves us, and try to live as Jesus would have us live.

Gospel: John 6:35, 41-51

We gain a sense of continuity through repetition in Sunday’s Gospel. Once again we hear the beloved verse that concluded last Sunday’s reading, now as the first verse of the Gospel: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Now, though, the mood of the crowd following Jesus changes, and people start pushing back. They know Jesus. They know his parents. They watched him grow up. Who is he to be talking like this? But Jesus stands firm, and will continue to do so as we continue through John’s extended exposition of Jesus as manna, the bread of life.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Aug. 4, 2024 (Pentecost 11B/Proper 13)

The Gathering Of Manna (c.1540-1555), oil painting on panel by Francesco d’Ubertino Verdi, called Bachiacca (1494-1557). Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15

Last Sunday we heard the shocking story of King David raping the beautiful Bathsheba, then arranging to have her husband, Uriah, killed in battle so David could have Bathsheba for himself. Now we hear the rest of the story. The prophet Nathan, sent by God, tells David about a rich man who selfishly took and slaughtered a poor man’s beloved lamb. Angry, David curses the rich man and threatens to have him killed, only to hear Nathan’s charge, “You are the man!” A merciful God threatens David with serious punishments but spares his life. In the verses just after this passage, though, Nathan foretells that the child of David’s illicit union shall die.

First Reading (Track Two): Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15

From God’s gift of manna to God’s gift of grace through Jesus, our Track Two readings over the next few weeks focus on bread – the bread of life – as metaphor for God’s abundant love. In last Sunday’s First Reading, when the Prophet Elisha fed 100 people with a few small barley loaves, he recalled God promising the people that “They shall eat and have some left.” This week we turn back to the verses in Exodus of which Elisha spoke, when God provided abundant manna, a gift of bread in the desert.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 51:1-13

Echoing the context of King David’s adultery and murder, this psalm’s powerful narrative envisions David wracked in repentant guilt as he confronts his great sin. In poetic words that mirror the promises of God’s covenants with the people, David pours out his shame and grief. He makes no excuses for his wicked acts, but begs for God’s mercy and forgiveness. “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” David begs: a clean slate upon which God can write a new covenant of love.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 78:23-29

Recalling God’s gift of manna to the people in the desert, the Psalmist gives thanks to the Creator, who saw the people’s need and poured down on them all the bread and quails that they could eat: God gave them what they craved and filled them up. The earlier verses of this Psalm, not included in Sunday’s reading, remember that God made a covenant with the people and led them out of slavery. Setting the scene for this passage, they recall how God cared for the people, and, despite their ungrateful complaints and rebellion, God set aside divine anger and fed them with love.

Second Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16

The author of the Letter to the Ephesians offers life lessons in poetic language. These phrases remind us of Paul’s memorable passage in 1 Corinthians, in which Paul speaks of the church as Christ’s body, within which each of us functions according to our gifts. Here, too, all are called to work together with humility and gentleness, in unity as one body and one spirit, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.”

Gospel: John 6:24-35

The crowds around Jesus continue following him around the shores of Galilee. Having watched his miraculous healings and shared in the bountiful loaves and fishes, they are fascinated by this remarkable rabbi. They want to know more about him, but Jesus tells them that they just want more bread. Don’t fret about the world’s bread that does not last, Jesus tells them. Beginning an extended discussion about the bread of life that we will hear in readings from John’s Gospel through August, Jesus declares, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for July 28, 2024 (Pentecost 10B/Proper 12)

Feeding the Five Thousand (c.1580-590), oil painting on canvas by Marten van Valckenborch (1535-1612). Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): 2 Samuel 11:1-15

Power corrupts. We see this simple wisdom amply demonstrated in the life of David. For all the reverence that David earned through his kingship and warrior victories, when he was bad, he was very, very bad. We see this in Sunday’s horrifying Track One first reading: He is so attracted by the sight of beautiful Bathsheba bathing on her roof that he summons her, rapes her – no kinder term will serve for a person with his power taking her without her consent – and then arranges for the death of her husband, Uriah, in battle.

First Reading (Track Two): 2 Kings 4:42-44

The story of the Prophet Elisha in our Track Two first reading might make us think of the familiar gospel story about Jesus encountering feeding a hungry crowd of thousands with a few loaves and fishes. As told in the Second Book of Kings, Elisha, faced with a crowd of hungry people, directs that they be fed from a sack of food that a man has brought to sacrifice. There were only 20 loaves and a bit of grain to share among 100 people, which surely didn’t seem like enough. But with God’s help it proved to be more than enough. Just as in the Gospel stories, there were even leftovers after all were fed.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 14

Psalm 14, another of the many Psalms that tradition attributes to David himself, resonates with David’s heinous behavior in the first reading. The Psalmist, speaking in the voice of a disappointed king, laments that the people have turned faithless and corrupt, foolishly denying God as they commit abominable acts. God looks down to see if any wise people remain, but there are none. Yet even in these times of evil, the Psalmist sings, God remains with the righteous. God is the refuge of the just, and eventually will deliver the people and restore their fortunes.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 145:10-19

Like many of the Psalms, this hymn of praise and thanksgiving expresses gratitude to a God who is not only powerful but faithful and merciful too. God is always prepared to gently lift up those who fall and to support those who are oppressed, we hear in this portion of Psalm 145. Echoing the bounty that God provided for the hungry people in the Ezekiel reading and the hungry crowd that Jesus feeds in the gospel stories, the Psalmist, too, celebrates God who gives us food; whose outstretched hands satisfy every living creature.

Second Reading: Ephesians 3:14-21

Sunday’s passage from the letter to the Ephesians takes a break from its pastoral advice to an early Christian community as the author kneels before God to lift up a prayer for the people being addressed. He prays that the people of Ephesus may receive strength through the Holy Spirit, and that Christ may come to live in their hearts through faith. The reading closes with a beautiful blessing that we often hear slightly reworded as a benediction in Morning and Evening Prayer: “Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.”

Gospel: John 6:1-21

Beginning Sunday and continuing through the month of August, our gospel readings will turn from Mark’s Gospel to the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel, in which we hear Jesus discourse at length about the bread of life. This first portion gives us John’s version of the familiar story of the loaves and fishes, which hints at the Eucharist in its imagery: Jesus first blesses the bread, then shares five barley loaves and two fish among 5,000 people. Somehow this tiny portion feeds everyone so abundantly that there is more left over than they had to start with. The crowds are so amazed that they clamor to make Jesus king, but he slips away, catching up with the startled disciples by walking miles across the choppy water to join them in their boat.