Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for July 19, 2020

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


Signs of God’s abundant love and the gift of grace shine through Sunday’s readings.

Jacob’s Dream (1639), oil painting on canvas by Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652). Museo del Prado, Madrid. (Click image to enlarge.)

In our Track One first reading, Jacob, a conniving trickster, got himself in trouble and now is on the run. He fears the murderous wrath of his angry older twin Esau, whom Jacob tricked out of his inheritance and their father’s blessing. Now Jacob stops to rest. Sleeping in the desert on a stone pillow, Jacob has a remarkable dream of angels going up and down a celestial ladder. Then he hears God’s voice repeating the promise that God gave to his grandfather Abraham and to his father Isaac: God is with him, and his offspring will fill the Earth. Why would God reward such a sneaky cheater? God knows that no human is perfect, but God still loves and protects even broken, troubled people.

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


Isiah’s short, poetic prayer of praise in our Track Two first reading assures the people that their exile in Babylon will eventually end and that they will return home to Jerusalem. The prophet imagines God speaking in the first person, declaring God’s own power and majesty. Whatever beliefs their captors may hold in other gods and other prophecies, Isaiah makes clear that Israel need not fear or be afraid. As they have known since days of old, God is the nation’s rock, redeemer and leader, the first and last of all creation, beside whom there is no other god.

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

When Jacob ran from angry Esau, he might have prayed something like this Track One Psalm. God loves us and knows everything about us, the Psalmist sings. We may run from God, but we can’t hide. 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, God will lead us, hold us and keep us. Even when we are wicked, God will lead us in right paths.

Alternative to the Psalm (Track One): Wisdom of Solomon 12:13, 16-19

The Wisdom of Solomon is a short book in the Apocrypha. It was written in the name of King Solomon not long before, or even possibly during or after, the time of Jesus and the evangelists. These verses harmonize with the faith expressed in Psalm 139 above in their ringing praise for a powerful, righteous God who reigns over all creation, yet judges the people mildly and with forbearance, teaching us that to be righteous requires us to be kind.

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

The Psalmist expresses gratitude for God’s abundant love shown in protection against the violence and threats of enemies. Like the people in exile in today’s Track Two first reading from Isaiah, he faces difficulties – even being trapped in the “nethermost Pit” and pursued by a band of violent men. Nevertheless he turns to God with faith and trust, calling on God to respond out of grace and compassion, kindness and truth, to turn to him and have mercy, shaming his foes with a sign of God’s favor.

Second Reading: Romans 8:12-25


We are following Paul through his letter to the Romans for three full months in this season after Pentecost as he talks about what life in the Spirit of Christ looks like. Summing up his argument in today’s passage, he reiterates: If we live by our own selfish desires, we die. But if we live in the Spirit through Christ, loving God and our neighbor even as we suffer with Christ – as the Roman Christians had suffered through persecution – we are glorified with him and become adopted children and heirs of God. Hope for what we do not yet see and wait for it with patience, he concludes.

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


Jesus was a carpenter, not a farmer, but he sure did tell a lot of parables about farming, planting, and growing things. Continuing in the spirit of last Sunday’s parable about the sower, he moves on to a discussion of weeds in the wheat field. In this parable the soil is good, and so is the seed. The sower is planting wheat in the rich soil of his own field, only to have an enemy sneak in at night and plant weeds among the good wheat. Now the sower can’t uproot the weeds without disturbing the wheat, so it all has to grow together until harvest, when the weeds can finally be torn out and discarded. Jesus’ explanation to the apostles may seem disturbing with its talk of hellfire and damnation for the weeds; but it’s clear that those who live righteously will enjoy God’s kingdom.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for July 12, 2020

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


God promised that Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars of heaven. But the ancestral legends of the chosen people show us that this outcome won’t be easy.

Landscape with the Parable of the Sower (1552), oil painting on panel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526/1530-1569). Timken Museum of Art, San Diego, Calif. (Click image to enlarge.)

Abraham and Sarah had to wait until she was 90 years old before the miracle of Isaac’s birth. In Sunday’s Track One first reading we recall that Isaac and Rebekah, too, prayed for 20 barren years before their twins, Esau and Jacob, were born. Jacob, a notorious trickster, talks his moments-older sibling, in a moment of hunger, into giving up his rights as firstborn in trade for a bit of bread and a pot of lentil stew. Jacob’s tricks reveal once more that God does not choose unbelievably perfect people, but works through flawed and sinful humans.

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


In Sunday’s Track Two first reading we hear the concluding verses of second Isaiah. This is the second of the three ancient prophets who bible scholars believe participated in writing this memorable book. Overall, the three writers tell of the chosen people’s exile to Babylon and their eventual return home to Jerusalem, where they build a restored temple. In these verses, having assured the people that God has forgiven their failures of justice, Isaiah in these verses paints a beautiful image of God as the giver of life and sustenance and all that is good. His image of seeds and the sower and Earth’s bounty sets the stage for Jesus’ parable of the sower that we hear in Sunday’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 of those verses are devoted to a long, loving celebration of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. “Torah” is usually translated in this context as “law,” “ordnance” 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 decrees – 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 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. This abundant seed has fallen on good soil and yielded a hundredfold.

Second Reading: Romans 8:1-11


Paul, a proud Pharisee who considered himself righteous and blameless under the law, the teaching of Torah, now tells the Romans that Christ’s resurrection has freed us from the law of sin and death. If we follow the ways of the world, he warns, we are subject to sin and death. But when we accept God’s Spirit through Jesus, we gain life and peace. Our mortal bodies gain life because the Spirit dwells in us.

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


For the rest of the season after Pentecost we will follow Matthew’s account of Jesus’ final journey with the apostles from Galilee to Jerusalem. In many of these Gospels Jesus will teach by using parables, colorful, attention-getting metaphors. Sunday we hear the parable of the sower, the first parable that Jesus tells in Matthew’s Gospel and the only parable that Jesus explains. It is tempting to look for specific instruction in the fates of the seeds that fall on the path, on rocks, among thorns, and on fertile ground. Perhaps the message is this simple: Sow God’s word extravagantly, everywhere, and rejoice when it falls on good soil and the harvest is rich. Or are we being told to decide what kind of soil we will choose to be when we hear God’s word? The parables of Jesus don’t come straight at us. They make us think.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for July 5, 2020

First Reading (Track One): Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67


Rebekah’s response to Abraham’s servant in Sunday’s Track One first reading reminds us of Abraham’s response to God’s call: Hearing God’s voice, both respond with faithful trust.

Portrait of a Couple as Isaac and Rebecca, “The Jewish bride” (c.1662-1666), oil painting on canvas by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669). Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. (Click image to enlarge.)

Abraham uproots his family and moves to a new land. Rebekah leaves home and family to marry Abraham’s son, Isaac, a man she has not yet met but who will come to love her. Abraham heard God’s promise that his offspring would become “a great and mighty nation.” Rebekah hears that her children will become “thousands of myriads.” Rebekah’s faith, it appears, is no less strong than Abraham’s.

First Reading (Track Two): Zechariah 9:9-12


Zechariah, one of the last of the dozen so-called minor prophets, celebrates the people’s return from exile and their hope of restoring the Temple. In this Track Two first reading, he envisions a humble yet powerful king who will come to reign in peace and restore the nation’s prosperity. Matthew later will find Jesus so vividly foretold in these verses that he adopts the wording precisely, including the poetic repetition of Hebrew verse, “riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey,” in his portrayal of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on two animals on Palm Sunday.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 45:11-18

Psalm 45 is a wedding blessing, a love song addressed to a princess bride of Tyre (an ancient island kingdom and occasional rival to Israel), who has come to Israel to be joined in a royal marriage. These verses chosen for the first of two options for Sunday’s Track One psalm celebrate the pomp and joy of her coming wedding. They also highlight the Psalmist’s hope that the bride will be remembered and praised in future generations, a wish that reminds us of God’s promises of myriad descendants to Abraham and Rebekah.

Alternate to the Psalm (Track One): Song of Solomon 2:8-13

The Song of Solomon, also known as the Song of Songs, is a lyrical collection of ancient Hebrew love poetry. Curiously, this book and the book of Esther are the only books in the Bible that do not explicitly mention God. Rather, we are invited to find the image of God in the joy of giving and caring love. These verses are understood as a rhapsodic song of springtime, but their metaphorical evocation of love in the midst of an awakening springtime Earth speaks to our hearts even during summer’s heat.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 145:8-15

Like many of the psalms, this hymn of praise is traditionally if not historically attributed to the hand of King David. It serves well to echo today’s Track Two first reading from Zechariah in its vision of a humble, powerful king who reigns in peace and prosperity. This kingdom of glorious splendor is clearly understood not only as a kingdom for here and now, but one that is known in glory to all people, an everlasting kingdom that endures through all the ages.

Second Reading: Romans 6:12-23


We have recently heard Paul’s assurances to the ancient Christians of Rome that through baptism we “die” to our old lives enslaved to sin only to be “born” to a new life freed from sin through the free gift of grace from God. In today’s reading, though, using himself as a bad example of a “wretched man,” Paul points out that it’s not necessarily easy to leave sin behind, even when we want to do the right thing. He tries, but he can’t get rid of the sin that lives within him. He can’t fight sin on his own – and neither can we – without God’s help through Jesus, who frees him from the slavery of sin.

Gospel: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30


Jesus seems frustrated and even angry in the beginning verses of Sunday’s Gospel. Preaching to crowds around Capernaum in Galilee, he calls them “children.” He may be irritable because some of the same people who considered ascetic John’s call for repentance crazy and judgmental are now criticizing Jesus’ joyous embrace of life as evidence that he is a glutton and a drunk. But then, after we skip over five additional angry verses not included in Sunday’s reading, Jesus pauses and thanks God. His words of hope for Israel’s children and infants turn gentle as he invites all who carry heavy burdens to come to him and find rest for their souls.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 28, 2020

First Reading (Track One): Genesis 22:1-14


We reflect on sacrifices as small as the gift of water to a child and as serious as the death of a child in Sunday’s Track One readings.

Sacrifice of Isaac (c.1603), oil painting on canvas by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610). Uffizi Museum, Florence, Italy. (Click image to enlarge.)

Having sent his son, Ishmael, into the desert with his mother to die, as we heard in last Sunday’s reading, Abraham now receives an even more shocking command: God tells him to slay his beloved son Isaac as a sacrifice. What in Heaven’s name is going on here? Perhaps the easy answer is to recognize that these are these are ancient legends, difficult for us to understand in our own context, and not intended to be taken literally even in their original setting. For the ancients, perhaps this narrative showed that God does not desire human sacrifice. It reveals a compassionate God who, having subjected Abraham to a harsh test, then ultimately says “no” to death.

First Reading (Track One): Jeremiah 28:5-9


To understand this Track Two first reading, it is helpful to have the context of the verses just preceding it. Jeremiah had warned the priests and people of Israel in exile that their sojourn in Babylon had a long way to go, and that any prophets who told them otherwise were liars. Then the young prophet Hananiah stood up and challenged Jeremiah, prophesying that God had in fact broken the yoke of the Babylonian king and would bring all the exiles home within two years. Now in this short passage, Jeremiah responds. He agrees that God will indeed end the exile some day, but that will happen only when peace prevails and war, pestilence and famine come to an end.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 13

At first glance, this Psalm might not seem the best choice to read to someone who is grieving or afraid. The Psalmist speaks from the depths of fear and loss, suffering deep pain. Has God’s face turned away, leaving him alone and defenseless? But even in this dark place, hope remains; for God’s love is steadfast and abiding. God has been just and fair, and the Psalmist trusts that God will remain so.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 89:1-4,15-18

These two excerpts taken from a longer Psalm celebrate God’s covenant with King David, a royal lineage that God established to last forever as a sign of God’s righteousness and never-ending rule. Those who walk in God’s way and rejoice in the divine name will be full of joy, knowing that God is their ruler, the Psalmist sings: The Holy One of Israel is everlasting king.

Second Reading: Romans 6:12-23


Paul uses the idea of slavery to make his point in Sunday’s passage from his letter to the Romans: Through Christian baptism we have been spared from the slavery of sin, freeing us to joyously embrace a better kind of slavery, the “enslavement” of willing submission to God through Christ. In this way, Paul writes, we receive the free gift of grace that brings eternal life.

Gospel: Matthew 10:40-42


This is the third and final Sunday Gospel passage from Matthew’s account of Jesus teaching his recently commissioned apostles. In the first two readings we heard him warn about the challenges of discipleship. Now Jesus tells them about the rewards of following his way. Immediately following his troubling warning that those who follow him must leave friends and family behind, Jesus now echoes the Psalmist’s promise that God will be just and fair. Jesus promises that those who practice justice in his name – even in such small ways as offering water to a child – will receive God’s justice.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 21, 2020

First Reading (Track One): Genesis 21:8-21


Sometimes we turn to scripture for reassurance, looking for readings that bring us comfort and joy. Sunday’s readings are different: They challenge us, jolt our assumptions, and at the end, make us think about how our spirituality works.

Hagar in the Desert, oil painting on canvas by Giambattista Pittoni (1687-1767). Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice. (Click image to enlarge.)

The Track One first reading offers a particularly troubling story about Abraham, the patriarch of the chosen people. Abraham followed God’s commands with exemplary faithfulness, yet here we see him doing something disturbing as he sends his slave, Hagar, and their son, Ishmael, out into the desert to die. Happily, God intervenes, saving Ishmael and promising them a bountiful future parallel to that of Abraham and Sarah’s son, Isaac. (Indeed, while Jews and Christians recognize Abraham as our patriarch through Isaac, the world’s Muslims trace their Abrahamic line through Ishmael.)

First Reading (Track Two): Jeremiah 20:7-13


In Sunday’s Track Two first reading, we find the prophet Jeremiah angry and upset. God has called him to prophesy to the people that their failure to be righteous and just will bring destruction upon them, but they will not listen. Worse, they laugh and deride him when he shouts about their impending peril. Anger builds up in his bones like a burning fire, and he cannot hold it in. Even his close friends wait for him to stumble. But Jeremiah knows that it is his persecutors who will stumble, for God is with him like a warrior at his side.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17

Like Hagar with Ishmael in the desert, the Psalmist in Sunday’s Track One psalm suffers in misery. He suffers in distress despite his faith and trust in God. Recognizing that God is a God like no other, the God of all nations, who loves us even when we aren’t happy, he cries out his prayer, trusting in a good and forgiving God to answer him and make his heart glad.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 69: 8-11, (12-17), 18-20

The tone of lamentation in Sunday’s Track Two psalm rings in harmony with Jeremiah in the first reading. Like Jeremiah, the Psalmist spoke for God only to become the subject of scorn and reproach from his own friends and family. Even drunkards at loiterers at the city gate made up mocking songs about him! The Psalmist begs God to save him from their hatred, to turn to him in compassion and rescue him from his enemies.

Second Reading: Romans 6:1b-11


Everything in our lives changes in Baptism. This reassuring theme runs like a thread through Paul’s letter to the Romans. Baptism unites us with Christ so that we share in his death and resurrection, Paul writes. In Baptism we symbolically die to our old life that was enslaved by sin, and through God’s abounding grace become alive to new life through Jesus.

Gospel: Matthew 10:24-39


How can we read a difficult Gospel passage like this? We love to imagine Jesus as the Prince of Peace, but now we hear that he did not come to bring peace but a sword, to set family members against each other, and to call us to leave our families behind when we follow him. These disturbing verses, continuing Jesus’ stern instructions to the apostles in last Sunday’s Gospel, may reflect the difficult times when the evangelist we know as Matthew was writing his Gospel. The Roman Empire had crushed a Jewish rebellion, leaving Jerusalem shattered and the Temple in ruins. Jewish Christians were breaking away from Rabbinic Judaism amid angry rivalry over Jesus’ status as Messiah. Under those circumstances, it would have been not only hard but dangerous to follow Jesus’ Way. From those times to ours today, Jesus calls us to give, not to take.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 14, 2020

First Reading (Track One): Genesis 18:1-15,(21:1-7)


The long season after Pentecost with its green vestments and liturgical colors now begins. From now until Advent starts in November, our Sunday readings will take us through the life of Jesus in the Gospel according to Matthew.

The Angel Appears to Sarah (1726-28), fresco by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770). Museum Palazzo Patriarcale, Udine, Italy. (Click image to enlarge.)

The Lectionary offers a choice of two separate tracks of First Readings and Psalms during this season. Churches that follow Track One will hear the Hebrew Bible’s narrative of God’s chosen people, from the patriarch Abraham through Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Joseph, Moses and Joshua. Sunday’s first reading begins that story as Abraham welcomes and offers hospitality to three mysterious strangers, who foretell that he and Sarah will have a son and that their offspring will inherit the Promised Land. Sarah finds this hilarious because of their great age, but God’s promise is fulfilled in their son, Isaac.

First Reading (Track Two): Exodus 19:2-8a


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 to follow either of two Lectionary tracks, each with its own First Readings and Psalms. In Track Two, the Hebrew Bible readings usually show some relationship with the week’s Gospel in theme or theological point. This Sunday, for example, we see Moses bringing God’s words to the elders of the people, asking and receiving their agreement to be in lasting covenant with God. Listen for a distant kinship in Sunday’s Gospel, as Jesus gathers his 12 disciples, sending them out to heal the sick, raise the dead, and proclaim the good news.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 116:1, 10-17

This Track One Psalm comes again after only a short break, as we heard it on the Third Sunday of Easter just about two months ago. In the verses designated for this reading, we sing of the transforming joy that comes with recovery and resurrection after a frightening illness. In the joy of restored life, the Psalmist offers thanks to God who frees us from the snares of death.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 100

This joyful hymn is familiar to many Episcopalians as the Jubilate, one of the readings that the Book of Common Prayer offers us for use in the “Invitatory and Psalter” near the beginning of Morning Prayer of the service. It draws its joyous theme from the truth that Moses gave to the elders: We are God’s creation, God’s own people, and – using the metaphor that we know and love in Psalm 23 – the sheep of God’s pasture.

Second Reading: Romans 5:1-8


Our second readings for the next three months will be excerpted from Paul’s letter to the Romans, in which we hear him beautifully working out his evolving theology of Christ, the Spirit and salvation. Paul writes to a community that he had not yet met, at a time when Rome’s Jewish Christians were returning from exile, while the city’s formerly pagan Christians had faced persecution at home. In a theme that recurs, Paul encourages all the Christians of Rome, regardless of their heritage, to love one another other and heal their differences in spite of their own suffering. Reminding them that Jesus was tortured and died on the cross, he urges them to learn endurance in their own pain, remembering that even though they are sinners, they are justified through faith and saved through the cross.

Gospel: Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23)


After having spent much of Lent and all of Eastertide hearing readings from John’s Gospel, we now return to Matthew for the rest of the Lectionary year. Earlier in the year we heard portions of the Sermon on the Mount. Now we find Jesus, who had been teaching and healing on his own, selecting 12 apostles to help. He gives them power to heal and exorcise and even raise the dead, then charges them to go out to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” to proclaim the good news that the kingdom of heaven has come near. His rules for them are strict: Accept no pay. Take only the most basic possessions along. Don’t stay with those who don’t welcome you. Be prepared for persecution and hate, but know that the Son of Man is coming soon.