Pentecost 7B

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for July 11, 2021

First Reading (Track One): 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19

King David, who now reigns over the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, celebrates as the Ark of the Covenant, which had been in the hands of the Philistines, arrives in Jerusalem.

Herod's Banquet

Herod’s Banquet (c.1470), tempera painting on wood with stucco reliefs and gold leaf by Pedro García de Benabarre (1445-1485). Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona. (Click image to enlarge.)

This portable shrine, which the people had built in the desert as a holy throne for God, stood at the heart of Israel’s worship. Its arrival was met with great celebration, music and dancing; David himself leaped and danced with all his might. In one curious verse, though, we discover that Saul’s wife, Michal, saw him dancing and “despised him in her heart.” What was that about? Later verses suggest that Michal didn’t think that David was decently dressed during his dance in front of all the people of Israel.

First Reading (Track Two): Amos 7:7-15

Amos never expected to be a prophet. He was a humble herder and tender of sycamore trees. But he heeded God’s call to tell the people of Israel to expect destruction because God had measured them and found them wanting. When Amos warned King Amaziah to expect destruction and exile, the angry King told Amos to get out of his sight, to go back where he came from. Amos learned, as did John the Baptist some six centuries later (as we hear in this week’s Gospel), that prophecy can be dangerous and can get a person killed. Nevertheless, both prophets heard God’s call and did not refuse to answer it.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 24

Bible scholars find hints of ancient liturgy in this Psalm. Thought to be a hymn to be sung in procession toward the Temple, it rhetorically asks how one earns the right to come in and worship. The priest calls out, “who shall stand in his holy place?” The crowd roars back, “Those who have clean hands and pure hearts!” “Who is the king of glory?” “The Lord of hosts!” All who come to the Temple with clean hands and pure hearts can count on the protection of God, the King of Glory.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 85:8-13

This beautiful Psalm segment gives us a moment of peace between the anger in Amos in the first reading and the violence of John the Baptist’s death in the Gospel. When God speaks, the faithful people hear peace. Heaven and earth meet in truth and righteousness; righteousness and peace share a tender kiss. God grants prosperity and a fruitful harvest, and all manner of things shall be well.

Second Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14

Our second readings for the next six Sundays will be taken from the letter to the Ephesians, a letter most likely written by a later follower of Paul around the end of the first century. The Christian community in Ephesus was facing persecution. Many of its leaders were struggling to fit in to popular culture, and Ephesians may reflect that, as its pages include some difficult passages (which we won’t hear in our readings) that urge wives to submit to their husbands and slaves to obey their owners. In today’s reading, though, Paul’s concept of grace as God’s free gift through Jesus remains at the center. We also see hints of an evolving theology of Christ being present with God before the creation of the Earth.

Gospel: Mark 6:14-29

It did not take evil King Herod long to learn about the healings and miracles that Jesus and his apostles were performing in Galilee, and he was very likely both angry and afraid. Herod may have been troubled by a guilty conscience, as he had just had John the Baptist beheaded – at the insistence of his new wife and her daughter – and Herod wasn’t happy about that. Now that rumors are swirling about Jesus and his activity in Galilee, people are wondering if Jesus is John, brought back to life, and Herod wonders about that, too: “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

Pentecost 6B

\Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for July 4, 2021

First Reading (Track One): 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27

Last week we heard David mourn the deaths of King Saul and Saul’s son Jonathan, David’s beloved friend.

Christ in the synagogue

Christ in the synagogue (1868), sketch in oils by Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge (1831-1894). The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. (Click image to enlarge.)

Now David is called by all the tribes and elders to be formally anointed king over all Israel: both the Northern Kingdom with its capital at Hebron, and Judah, the Southern Kingdom, where Jerusalem is the capital. The elders, who had sworn fealty to Saul, now pledge loyalty to David, recognizing that God has called him to be shepherd over Israel. David will reign for 40 years, becoming greater and greater and earning for Jerusalem the title “City of David.”

First Reading (Track Two): Ezekiel 2:1-5

What is it like when we want to share something that’s important to us, but no one will listen … or, worse, people make fun of us for expressing our heartfelt opinion? Sunday’s Track Two readings touch in a way on this spiritual challenge. In the first reading, God calls Ezekiel to prophesy to Israel, an impudent and stubborn people who have rebelled against God. They may choose to hear or not to hear, God tells Ezekiel; but he is to speak truth all the same, so they will know that they have heard a prophet.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 48

Psalm 48 celebrates the founding narrative of Israel’s kingdom in Jerusalem, where the first temple would be built atop Zion, God’s holy mountain. The Psalmist sings praise to the greatness of God, who placed the city of the great king on this lofty hill, the very center of the world. Let the kings of the earth who might march on Zion in hope of conquest look and be astounded, the Psalmist sings. Let them writhe and tremble and run away, for God has established this citadel forever.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 123

Psalm 123 is one of many Psalms titled a “song of ascent,” traditionally regarded as processional hymns to be sung as the priests and people go up the hill toward the Temple. The Psalm calls on a merciful God to hear the prayer of a people whose voices have gone unheard by Israel’s “1 percent,” the contemptuous and scornful rich and proud.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:2-10

This passage concludes our seven-week journey in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, and it leaves us with mysterious concepts. Even bible historians and theologians aren’t sure what Paul means about the “third heaven” or the “thorn” that troubles him but that he does not describe. Perhaps the third heaven describes his own spiritual experience, and the thorn an unnamed illness or disability. But Paul leaves us with no ambiguity as to his point: Through prayer and reliance on God’s grace through Christ, we all can struggle successfully, despite our weakness, to endure hardships that come from both within and without.

Gospel: Mark 6:1-13


Growing crowds have been following Jesus around Galilee as he teaches and heals, and now they follow him back home to Nazareth. His old neighbors and friends are astounded at first, too, by his teaching and preaching in the synagogue. But then they remember that they know this guy. He’s the carpenter’s son! What makes him so high and mighty? Indeed, as Jesus said, prophets are not without honor except in their home town. Then Jesus sends out his followers, two by two, to tell the good news, but he warns them to expect more of the same. Don’t dress up, he says. Don’t act special. If people won’t welcome you for the word you bring, move on down the road until you find people who will.

Pentecost 5B

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 27, 2021

First Reading (Track One): 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27

We hear both cries of lamentation and words of quiet joy throughout Sunday’s readings.

Jesus healing the bleeding woman, ancient drawing in the Roman catacombs.

Jesus healing the bleeding woman, ancient drawing in the Roman catacombs. (Click image to enlarge.)

In our Track One first reading, we have jumped forward from the first book of Samuel, in which Saul began to fear David while Saul’s son, Jonathan, and David became close friends. Now, after a series of additional conflicts between Saul and David, King Saul has died in battle against the Amalekites, and to David’s grief, Jonathan was killed too. Now David is king in his own right, and in spite of their troubled relationship, in these verses David mourns the death of Saul. Then that grief is eclipsed by David’s deep grief over the loss of his beloved friend, Jonathan. the reading concludes with a long, loving ballad in which David declares Jonathan’s love for him “wonderful, passing the love of women.”

First Reading (Track Two): Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15; 2:23-24

Love is so strong that it has power even over death, and God desires neither death nor destruction for us. We hear these hopeful ideas in Sunday’s Track Two first reading, and they recur through the day’s readings. First we read the Wisdom of Solomon (often simply called “Wisdom”) from the apocrypha, the 15 deuterocanonical books included at the end of the Hebrew Bible. These verses follow just after God warned an earthly ruler not to invite his own death or destruction by behaving badly. The passage reminds us that God’s creation celebrates our life, not our death. God’s creation is a thing of beauty, and righteousness lives forever.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 130

This beautiful psalm of faithful hope in God may be most familiar for its use – under the Latin title “De Profundis” (“out of the depths”) – as one of the Psalms recommended for the liturgy for the burial of the dead. In its verses we hear this hopeful prayer: Out of the depths we call out to God, knowing that we will be heard, for there is always forgiveness in God. We wait for God, as even in night’s darkest hours we wait for morning light.

Psalm (Track Two): Lamentations 3:21-33

This short, song-like passage is taken not from the Psalms but from Lamentations, a short book traditionally attributed to Jeremiah. This passage echoes the hope and trust in God’s love that we heard in the first reading. In these verses we sing our hope in God’s steadfast love that never ends, love that is renewed every morning. In words reminiscent of the Sermon on the Mount, we sing of giving our cheek to the one who smites us while we wait for our loving God who will not willingly afflict us.

Alternate Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 30

Like the Wisdom passage in the first reading, this alternate to Sunday’s Track Two Psalm – traditionally understood as a hymn of thanksgiving upon recovery from illness – contrasts the joy of life in God’s favor against the grief of death under God’s wrath. Happily, God’s anger endures only for seconds, while God’s favor lasts a lifetime. “Weeping may spend the night,” the Psalmist memorably exults, “but joy comes in the morning.” God turns our weeping into dancing, the Psalmist sings, and clothes us with joy.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:7-15

Paul loved the people of this little early church community in Corinth, but they were often cranky, quarrelsome, difficult to persuade, and sometimes got on his last nerve. Many of the members of the community were poor and often hungry. But there were comfortably wealthy members too, and sometimes they weren’t eager to share with their hungry neighbors. Holding up the example of Christ, who Paul says was rich yet became poor for our sakes, he urges them all to live by Jesus’ example: Do your work, earn what you deserve, but give according to your means so all may have enough.

Gospel: Mark 5:21-43

Jesus and the apostles have just returned home from their trip across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus hurries to get to the bedside of the desperately ill child of Jairus, a synagogue leader. On their way, they encounter a woman who had been suffering hemorrhage for a dozen years. Ritually unclean because of her condition, poor, and rejected by her neighbors, she touches Jesus’ robe in hope of being healed. Jesus pauses, tells her that her faith has made her well; then they rush on to find Jairus’ daughter already dead. The crowd laughs when Jesus declares that the child is not dead, only sleeping, but Jesus takes the child’s hand and brings her back to life. Rich or poor, powerful or weak, Jesus heals both without question.

Pentecost 4B

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 20, 2021

First Reading (Track One): 1 Samuel 17: (1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49 or 1 Samuel 17:57-18:5, 10-16

We hear more about young King David in Sunday’s Track One first reading, but the lectionary offers worship planners a choice between two readings.

Christ sur ​​la mer de Galilée

Christ sur ​​la mer de Galilée (1841), oil painting on canvas by Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art , Kansas City, Mo. (Click image to enlarge.)

The first option retells the familiar story of the battle between David and the Philistine giant Goliath. A less familiar story constitutes the alternative choice, which tells about an ominous encounter between King Saul and David after Goliath was slain. Together the narratives portray David rising to become King, against jealous Saul’s desire to kill him before he can assume the crown. We will continue following Saul, David and Solomon through August, whereupon our Track One first readings turn to an anthology of the Hebrew Bible’s wisdom literature including Proverbs, Job, Esther and Ruth.

First Reading (Track Two): Job 38:1-7,34-41

Even in times of chaos and fear, God remains with us: This theme informs this week’s Track Two readings. We are all surely familiar with the trials of Job, who was tested by God at the urging of the adversary. Job retained his faith in spite of horrifying tests that would break even the strongest. In this reading, nearing the end of the book, Job finally gets his wish that God come out of hiding and listen to him. But God, speaking out of a whirlwind with power and might, sets Job in his place with words like thunderbolts: “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.” Job quickly repents; and at the end his fortunes are restored.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 9:9-20 or Psalm 133

This passage from Psalm 9 is paired with the David and Goliath reading. Befitting the first reading’s warlike setting, the Psalm gives thanks to God who protects the people in time of trouble and oppression; who never forsakes those who seek protection in God’s name. Psalm 133, which we also read recently on the second Sunday after Easter, is to accompany the first reading about David and Saul. It celebrates the goodness and pleasure of living in unity, comparing this with the luxury of anointing with fine oil so abundantly that it runs down one’s hair and beard.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32

This beautiful hymn of praise to a God of mercy who protects us in peril sets a pitch-perfect tone for the following Gospel story about Jesus stilling the storm. The psalmist recalls a time when a violent storm at sea came upon some travelers whom God had redeemed. When they cried out to God, the storm gave way to calm. The travelers arrived safely on the shore, and we are called to join them in thanks and praise to a loving God who protects us from peril and delivers us from distress.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:1-13

The theme of this letter, which we will continue reading through early July, rests on Paul’s effort to reconcile and restore good relations after a period of trouble and anger among the Christian community in Corinth. Paul himself has suffered many things for following in Jesus’ way, he reminds them. He was subject to beatings and imprisonment, hunger and sleeplessness, riots and more. Although Paul doesn’t mention storm and shipwreck here, we know that he endured those trials, too. In spite of all difficulties, he urges, remember that God is with us. Open wide our hearts and accept God’s love.

Gospel: Mark 4:35-41

Huge crowds have been following Jesus in the Jewish territory along the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Now he takes the apostles on a boat across the broad lake to Gentile country on the other side. Midway in the lake’s deep waters – the Gospel actually calls it a “sea” – we hear one of the beloved Gospel stories that many of us remember, when Jesus wakes from a peaceful slumber to quiet the wind and waves and save the ship. As children, though, we probably didn’t focus on the apostles’ reactions: First they fear that Jesus doesn’t know – or even doesn’t care – that they are in deadly danger, scared out of their wits. Then, catching their breath when all is calm again, they seem shocked to discover that Jesus actually has the power that they had just called on him to use.

Pentecost 3B

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 13, 2021

First Reading (Track One): 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13

Saul was named king of Israel amid great hopes, but it hasn’t worked out. To fully grasp the background for Sunday’s Track One first reading, it is helpful to read it in context with the fierce and bloody verses that immediately precede it:

The Sower

The Sower (1888), oil painting on canvas by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Kröller-Müller Museum, The Netherlands. (Click image to enlarge.)

God had ordered Saul to gather an army and attack the neighboring Amalekites, utterly destroying all that they have and killing all their people and livestock. But against God’s command Saul spared the king and kept the best spoils for himself. Now God, regretting having made Saul king, rejects him and his kingship. In this reading we see God sending Samuel to Bethlehem to find the next king among the sons of Jesse. Much to everyone’s surprise, God passes over seven strong, handsome sons to choose the youngest, David.

First Reading (Track Two): Ezekiel 17:22-24

Can it be only a coincidence that Sunday’s readings point us toward planting, growing, and new life from old, just as the first day of summer draws near? The prophet Ezekiel celebrates the noble cedar, a lofty tree that provides a nesting place for birds and shade for all manner of creatures. Ezekiel is speaking of Israel, reminding the people that God may bring down the mighty nations and raise high the lowly. The prophet’s words offer an inspiring reminder that, with God’s help, a mighty tree can grow from a sprig. In the beauty of creation, we know that God is good.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 20

Echoing the militaristic themes that surround Israel’s ancient kings and their call to holy war against their neighbors, the Track One Psalm resounds as a prayer for victory. It calls for a blessing before battle, petitioning God to defend the people, send help and strength, accept their offerings and advance their plans. Rather than trusting in chariots and horses, the Psalmist declares, the people shall call on the name of God to give victory to Israel’s king.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 92:1-4,11-14

Just as Ezekiel imagined a mighty mountaintop cedar as symbol for Israel, these verses from Psalm 92, a psalm of praise and thanksgiving, show us mighty trees, too: Cedars of Lebanon and tall palm trees stand as metaphors for the people who grow and flourish under God’s nurturing care. Through righteousness – the practice of justice – and faith in God’s lovingkindness, we may remain ripe and fruitful our whole lives long.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:1-17

The idea of fruitful growth and bountiful harvests may be more subtle in these verses from Paul’s second letter to the church in Corinth, but we can find allusions to the theme in the closing verses. When we choose to live in Christ, everything in our life changes, Paul writes. Just as the leaves fall in autumn and our flowers and gardens die only to return full of life in the spring, everything that is old passes away in Christ’s creation. Everything becomes new for us in the life we gain through Jesus.

Gospel: Mark 4:26-34

Like so many of Jesus’ parables, the two featured in Sunday’s Gospel draw metaphors from seeds and sowing: tiny beginnings that grow up to yield food from the earth. But there’s something else going on: This is Mark’s first account of Jesus using parables to unveil the nature of the Kingdom of God. Mark will tell sixteen more “The Kingdom-is-like” stories in his Gospel’s sixteen chapters. In another recurring theme, Mark shows us Jesus intentionally disguising his mission through mysterious parables, after which he warns his followers to keep his healings secret. Theologians call this “The Messianic Secret,” and wonder why it is so important in Mark’s Gospel. Was Jesus’ call for a Kingdom of God, a kingdom that might replace Roman rule, too dangerous an idea to bring up in public?

Pentecost 2B

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 6, 2021

First Reading (Track One): 1 Samuel 8:4-20,11:14-15

The six-month-long season after Pentecost now begins, with its green vestments and liturgical colors. The Lectionary offers a choice of two separate tracks of first readings and psalms during this season.

Christ among the Pharisees

Christ among the Pharisees (1600s), oil painting on canvas by Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678). Sotheby’s, London. (Click image to enlarge.)

In Track One, our first readings for the next three months will recall the ancient stories of Israel’s kings from Saul to Solomon. Then, through the end of November we’ll dip into the Hebrew Bible’s wisdom literature, including the books of Job and Ruth. Sunday’s Track One first reading finds the chosen people in a time of turmoil in the Promised Land. Tired of being governed by corrupt judges, the people clamored for a king to lead them. The prophet Samuel opposed this idea, declaring that God was Israel’s king. But with God’s direct guidance, Samuel finally gave in and named Saul king, warning that the people would come to regret this decision.

First Reading (Track Two): Genesis 3:8-15

This Sunday we start the season after Pentecost, featuring the green liturgical colors that will continue until Advent begins at the end of November. During this time churches may choose either of two Lectionary tracks, each with its own First Readings and Psalms. In Sunday’s Track Two first reading, we hear the familiar story of Adam and Eve in the garden after having eaten the fruit that God forbade. They realized that they were naked, and hearing God coming, they hid because they were afraid. When God found them, they blamed each other, and then they blamed the snake. What would have happened if they refused to take the fruit? Would they have lived happily ever after in Eden? But when they lost their home in the garden, God came out with them, and stayed with a people of free will and belief through the ages.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 138

Even in the world outside Eden, a world of work and pain and hunger, we know that God remains with us. Even from on high, the Psalmist sings, God cares for the lowly. This lovely psalm of thanksgiving praises God and exults in gratitude that God stays with us when we are in trouble, and answers us when we call. In words that echo the familiar verses of the beloved 23rd Psalm, we hear that God keeps us safe even when we walk in the midst of trouble; God’s strong hand protects us from our enemies.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 130

Titled “De Profundis” (“out of the depths”), this Psalm of faith in God’s redemption reminds us that we wait in hope for God’s love and grace even in times of grief, pain and despair. Even in death we await the resurrection, as in night’s darkest hours we wait for morning light. We hear this psalm three times in this Lectionary cycle; it is also suggested for use in the burial of the dead, although it is surely chosen less often than the beloved 23rd Psalm.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

We may feel as if we live a life of affliction and wasting away in our fallen world, but that anguish is only momentary in the greater scheme of things, Paul assures the people of Corinth in his second letter to this tiny Greek seaport community. Just as God raised Jesus from the dead, God will raise us, too. The pain that we feel now is only temporary; through God’s grace we will live forever in God’s glory beyond all measure.

Gospel: Mark 3:20-35

After spending much of Lent and Eastertide hearing passages from the Gospel of John, we now return to Mark’s Gospel for the rest of this Lectionary year. We find Jesus where we left him, attracting crowds in his early ministry in Galilee. He’s in trouble with just about everyone, from Pharisees upset about his healing to his neighbors and his own family. No one is happy about his healings, his teaching, all the people following him around! His neighbors think Jesus has lost his mind, or maybe has a demon of his own. His family comes out in the street to try to calm him down. His responses surely would not make his mother and brothers happy: He tells them that his followers are his family now, and his work will take him out into a broken world.

Trinity Sunday B

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for May 30, 2021

First Reading: Isaiah 6:1-8

On Pentecost Sunday last week, we heard of the coming of the Holy Spirit in wind and fire. Now we mark Trinity Sunday, pondering the relationship among Creator, Redeemer and Advocate.

Christ Instructing Nicodemus

Christ Instructing Nicodemus (17th century), painting by Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678). Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts de Belgique. Brussels. (Click image to enlarge.)

In our first reading, we meet another in the Hebrew Bible’s string of reluctant prophets. Like Moses, who objected to his call, saying he could not speak well enough; or Jeremiah, who worried that he was too young, or. Jonah, who simply ran away. In these verses Isaiah fears that his sinfulness – “unclean lips” – disqualifies him for God’s service. But then a mighty angel purifies Isaiah’s lips with a hot coal, whereupon he eagerly accepts God’s call: “Here I am! Send me!”

Psalm: Psalm 29

We heard this Psalm not long ago, on the first Sunday after the Epiphany in January. Now we read it again on the first Sunday after Pentecost. What is the unifying element? Both readings follow on the Sunday after we celebrate a bold manifestation of the divine: Epiphany and Pentecost. At such a time it seems appropriate, as the Psalm commands, to “ascribe to God the glory due God’s name.” The powerful metaphor of a majestic storm reflects the Holy Spirit as a great wind. A storm strong enough to break and spin mighty oaks and cedars, shoot flames, and shake the wilderness might send us running for shelter. But it also has potential to lure us outside to feel the rain and the wind on our faces as the storm rolls past.

Alternative to the Psalm: Canticle 13

Canticles, “little songs,” are scripture passages, other than Psalms, chosen for use in worship in the Book of Common Prayer. Canticle 13 incorporates parts of the “Song of the Three Young Men” who were thrown into the fiery furnace by an angry king. Protected by God, as told in Daniel and the apocryphal Song of Azariah, they survived this ordeal, walking unharmed through the fire and singing this hymn of praise to God and all creation.

Second Reading: Romans 8:12-17

These verses came just before last week’s reading from Romans, in which Paul likened the hope and pain of Christians waiting for salvation to the pain and expectancy of a mother in labor. In these verses that provide context for that reading, we hear Paul building toward that image. He tells of the great gift that we are offered: Accepting life led by the Spirit, we become children of God, just as Jesus is the Son of God. With Jesus we become heirs of God, inspired by the Spirit, knowing that our suffering with Jesus opens us up to being glorified with Jesus.

Gospel: John 3:1-17

Nicodemus, a Pharisee who seems impressed by Jesus, comes to talk with Jesus at night, perhaps to keep his visit secret in the darkness. In their conversation, Nicodemus just can’t get his mind around the idea of being “born again,” a term that in the original Greek might mean “anew,” “again,” “from above,” “in the future,” or even all of those. Nicodemus, in an exchange that the author of John might have intended to draw chuckles from believers, couldn’t figure how a grown person could creep back into the mother’s body to be re-born. But Jesus understood that there is no contradiction between being born of the flesh as an infant and being “born again,” not in the flesh but through faith and the Spirit. The Gospel concludes with the familiar John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,” followed by the context of 3:17, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Pentecost B

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for May 23, 2021

First Reading (or alternate Second Reading): Acts 2:1-21

It is Pentecost, the fiftieth day after Easter. The apostles have endured Jesus’ death, encountered him in mysterious resurrection appearances, then watched him taken up into the clouds.

Pentecost

Pentecost (1545), painting by Titian (c.1488-1576). Santa Maria della Salute, Venice. (Click image to enlarge.)

They must have faced the future with wary uncertainty … and then the Spirit, the Advocate whom Jesus had promised would come, fills the room with noise and wind and fire, and everything changes! Speaking fluently in many languages, the apostles face a startled crowd and, quoting the Prophet Joel, declare the coming of God and our hope for salvation.

First Reading (alternate): Ezekiel 37:1-14

In these poetic verses, the prophet Ezekiel imagines an eerie, deathly valley filled with dry bones. God tells Ezekiel to prophesy, and as he does so, the dry bones become connected, covered with skin, and then breathed into life as a vast multitude. In this vision the prophet unveils God’s promise to restore Israel from exile. In the context of this week’s Lectionary readings, we might imagine it as the work of the Spirit bringing forth life and a multitude of witnesses from the dust and dry bones of death.

Psalm: Psalm 104:25-35,37

This joyful Psalm celebrates the diversity of God’s creation, which fills earth and sea with too many amazing creatures to count. Evoking the story of creation in Genesis, the Psalmist reminds us that just as God’s spirit – “breath” or “wind” in Hebrew – was at work in creating the Earth, God’s spirit remains active in making creation new again The loss of breath ends life; new breath restores it.

Second Reading: Romans 8:22-27

Paul’s metaphor in this passage may feel strange at first: He imagines all creation groaning like a mother giving birth, and the Holy Spirit joining in “with sighs too deep for words.” But this imaginative leap prompts us to deep reflection that yields insight. Like a mother eager to hold her new infant, we live in hope of the new life that God has in store for us. We wait patiently for something that we desire but cannot yet see.

Gospel: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

We have spent much of Eastertide hearing portions of John’s long account of Jesus’ final conversation with his apostles at the Last Supper. Now, nearing the end of this farewell discourse, Jesus speaks of an Advocate – the Holy Spirit – who may seem as mysterious as Paul’s sighing spirit in Romans. The apostles have been with Jesus since his public ministry began, yet there is still much that they don’t understand, and much that Jesus has not explained. When the Advocate comes bearing Jesus’ words, John writes, much more will be revealed and they will understand.

Christ the King A

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Nov. 22, 2020

First Reading (Track One): Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24

The long Pentecost season and the year of Matthew’s Gospel come to an end on Sunday with both Lectionary tracks combined in one reading. Next week we begin Advent and a year with the Gospel according to Mark.

Weltgericht (Last Judgement

Weltgericht (Last Judgement, c.1435), centerpiece of a tempera on oak polyptych by Master Stefan Lochner (c.1410 -1451). Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, Germany. (Click image to enlarge.)

This Lectionary year concludes with a festival day (a relatively recent addition to the calendar) known as Christ the King or the Reign of Christ. For many of us, the idea of kingship and royalty may sound like an echo of older times well left behind. But Sunday’s readings show us Jesus Christ as a different kind of king: not a traditional patriarch but a loving shepherd. The first reading joins both Lectionary tracks as we hear the prophet Ezekiel speak to Israel in exile. Using the metaphor of a kingly shepherd feeding and caring for the sheep, the prophet writes that God will judge the fat sheep and the lean, protecting the lost and weak sheep while destroying the powerful sheep who ravaged them.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 100

Our Track One Psalm, a joyous hymn, is a traditional call to worship: It urges all the people to come to God with gladness and song, grateful for God’s mercy and kindness. The Psalm is likely familiar to Episcopalians who know it as the Jubilate in Morning Prayer, a reading that portrays the people as the protected sheep of God’s pasture, joyously singing thanksgiving and praise.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 95:1-7a

The words of Sunday’s Track Two Psalm likely sound familiar too: This joyous hymn is read or chanted as the Venite in Morning Prayer. These verses sing out unalloyed worship and praise to the creator and protector of all things. In harmony with today’s other readings, it celebrates God as both king of kings above all gods and loving shepherd who cares for us, the protected sheep of God’s hand.

Second Reading: Ephesians 1:15-23

After spending a few weeks with 1 Thessalonians, perhaps the earliest of Paul’s letters, we now conclude the season with a passage from the Letter to the Ephesians. This later epistle was most likely written by a first century Christian a generation after Paul’s death. It may reflect the early church’s growing understanding of Christ and its recognition that Jesus might not return as soon as early Christians had hoped: The author declares that God the creator has placed the resurrected Jesus at God’s right hand and given him authority over all things in heaven and in the church, his body on earth.

Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46

This familiar reading, beloved by Christians who advocate for the social gospel and a theology of liberation for the poor, concludes Matthew’s series of parables on the kingdom of heaven. The next page of Matthew’s Gospel turns directly to the Last Supper and the Passion. In this reading Matthew tells us that recognizing the face of Jesus in the face of a hungry, thirsty, homeless person, sick and naked and oppressed, is the way to make God’s Kingdom happen, even if it is difficult. Then Matthew warns that those who fail to see Jesus in their hungry neighbor will earn a place in the outer darkness that also awaited the slave with the single talent and the foolish bridesmaids. This is a hard teaching, telling us that we ignore Jesus’ call to serve only at our peril. But remember, too, that the mighty king who judges us is also the loving shepherd who shows us how to love one another.

Pentecost 24A

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Nov. 15, 2020

First Reading (Track One): Judges 4:1-7

We have two more weeks before Advent begins on December 6, but in times past Advent was a 40-day season with a more penitential tone, akin to Lent.

The Parable of the Talents

The Parable of the Talents (1791-1795), etching by Jan Luyken illustrating Matthew 25:14-30 in the Bowyer Bible, Bolton Museum, Lancashire, England. (Click image to enlarge.)

Advent is shorter now, with a more hopeful tone of anticipation, but our readings still echo the longer season, pointing our imagination toward God’s final judgement and the last days. Sunday’s Track One first reading concludes our long journey through the ancestral stories of Israel in the book of Judges. The people live in the promised land but don’t yet have a king. They have settled in to an alternating cycle of behaving badly – “doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord” – then repenting, turning back, and restoring justice under a leader called a judge. In light of the Bible’s patriarchal culture it may surprise us that one of the most noteworthy judges was Deborah, a woman and a prophet, who with God’s help is not slow to order her male generals into battle.

First Reading (Track Two): Judges 4:1-7

In Sunday’s Track Two first reading, we hear the minor prophet Zephaniah foretell the destruction and exile of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, for its peoples’ and their leaders’ failure of righteousness: They pursued wealth and fell away from following God’s ways. His apocalyptic vision of the Great Day of the Lord seems to foreshadow the vision of Revelation: He imagines a horrifying Judgement Day, when their gold and riches won’t save them from reaping what they sowed: A fire of passion that will consume all the earth and all the people in it.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 123

Harmonizing with the leadership of the female judge Deborah in the Track One first reading, this brief but powerful Psalm offers worship and praise to a God clearly seen as both male and female, both master and mistress. In its brief five verses, one of the shortest of all the Psalms, we can see inspiration for a theology of liberation, too: The Psalmist implicitly calls for a preferential option for the poor, in contrast with the contempt shown them by the rich and the proud.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 90:1-12

We are very small. God is very large. And our time is nothing like God’s time: A thousand of our years pass in a moment for God, while our lives “pass away quickly and we are gone,” like grass that dries up in a day in the desert heat. The Psalmist – taken by tradition to be Moses – petitions God on our behalf, praying that God may help us learn to make good use of the time that we are allotted.

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11


In last week’s second reading, Paul assured his church in Thessalonika that the Christians who had died before Christ’s return would not lose their opportunity to be with him in God’s kingdom. Now, in the last chapter, he urges them to be prepared. Using colorful metaphors – a thief in the night, and a woman’s sudden labor pains – he emphasizes that the day of the Lord may come suddenly and by surprise. Be faithful, he says; be loving; care for one another, and be ready.

Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30


Many of us would probably be just as cautious in safeguarding an angry master’s treasure as was the third slave who buried and made no profit on the valuable silver talent left in his charge. But look at the context of this parable in Matthew’s Gospel, only a day or two before Jesus is to be crucified: Jesus is focused on the last days. Just after this passage is the Gospel we will hear next week: Jesus’ account of the last judgement, when Christ as judging King will sort out those who saw the face of Jesus in the hungry, the thirsty, the oppressed, sick persons and prisoners from those who did not. Like the first two slaves, we are called to take risks, see Jesus present in the poor and the oppressed, and give of ourselves abundantly.