Category Archives: Pentecost

Pentecost 3A

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 25, 2017

Christus Victor, the Warrior Christ

Christus Victor, the Warrior Christ, 6th century Roman mosaic. Basicila San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.

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

We often turn to scripture for reassurance, looking for readings that bring us comfort and joy. Sunday’s readings are not quite like that. They challenge us, jolt our assumptions, and at the end, make us think about how our spirituality works. We begin with a particularly troubling story about Abraham, the patriarch of the chosen people, who followed God’s commands with exemplary faithfulness. Yet here we see Abraham 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

The prophet Jeremiah is angry and upset. God has called him to prophesy to the people about the destruction that their failure to be righteous and just will bring 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 suffers in misery. He suffers in spite of 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

This Psalm clearly serves as a foil to the Jeremiah reading. Like Jeremiah, the Psalmist spoke for God only to become the subject of scorn and reproach from his own friends and family, and even had songs sung about him by drunkards at the city gate. The Psalmist calls on God to save him from their hatred, to turn to him in compassion and save him from his enemies.

Second Reading: Romans 6:1b-11

In baptism, everything changes in our lives. This theme runs strongly throughout Paul’s letter to the Romans. Baptism unites us with Christ so that we share in his death and resurrection. In baptism we symbolically “die” to our old life enslaved by sin. In baptism we are born to a new life, freed from sin through God’s abounding grace. In baptism we become dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus.

Gospel: Matthew 10:24-39

This is surely one of the most difficult Gospel passages! It seems strange to see Jesus, the Prince of Peace, telling us that he has not come to bring peace but a sword! Family members set against each other, and we have to leave our families behind to 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; and Jewish Christians were breaking away from Rabbinic Judaism amid angry rivalry. It would have been not only hard but dangerous to follow Jesus’ Way then. Even to this day, Jesus consistently calls us to give, not to take.

Pentecost 2A

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Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 18, 2017

The Vocation of the Apostles

The Vocation of the Apostles (1481). Fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Sistine Chapel, Vatican City, Rome.

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

Through the long stretch of Sundays after Pentecost that has now begun and continues until Advent, churches may choose to follow either of two Lectionary “tracks,” with separate First Readings and Psalms. The First Readings for Track One will take us through the Bible’s story of God’s chosen people, from the patriarch Abraham to Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Joseph, Moses and Joshua. Today we hear the very start of that narrative: God’s assurance, through three mysterious strangers, that Abraham 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

Through the long stretch of Sundays after Pentecost that has now begun and continues until Advent, churches may choose to follow either of two Lectionary “tracks,” with separate First Readings and Psalms. In Track Two, our First Testament readings are generally chosen to have some relationship with the week’s Gospel in theme or theological point. We begin today with Moses, in a narrative from which we may hear distant echoes in today’s Gospel, taking God’s words to the elders of the people and gaining their agreement to be in lasting covenant with God.

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

We heard this same Psalm just a few weeks ago, midway in Eastertide. It is a Psalm of thanksgiving, clearly intended as a grateful prayer thanking God for recovery from illness. In the verses just preceding, it offers a vivid image of the anguish of illness and the fear of death. We are spared those words today, though, moving directly into the verses that sing of the transforming joy that comes with recovery and resurrection. In the joy of restored life, the Psalm offers thanks to God who frees us from the snares of death.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 100

Does this joyful hymn sound familiar? If you’ve worshiped in Morning Prayer, you have probably joined in reciting it as the Jubilate, one of the options available in the “Invitatory and Psalter” near the beginning of the service. It draws its joyous theme from the recognition of the truth that Moses gave the elders: that 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

For the next three months we will be hearing excerpts from Paul’s great letter to the Romans, in which he beautifully works out his evolving theology of Christ, the Spirit and salvation. He is writing at a time when Rome’s Jewish Christians were just returning from exile, while its formerly pagan Christians had faced persecution at home. We begin with another reading that we have heard recently, during this past Lent. Paul encourages the Roman Christians to love each other and heal their differences in spite of their own suffering, reminding them that Jesus suffered and died on the Cross. He urges them to learn endurance in their own suffering, 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)

Throughout this long season after Pentecost, our Sunday Gospels will take us through Matthew’s account of Jesus’ life and teaching, following Jesus to the eve of his Passion as the liturgical year ends in November and we turn to Advent and Christmastide. Today we hear Jesus, who has been teaching and healing on his own, selecting 12 apostles to help. He gives them power to heal and exorcise, and 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. The rules 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.

Trinity Sunday A

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Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for June 11, 2017

The Mourning Trinity (Throne Of God)

The Mourning Trinity (Throne Of God), 1433-1435, tempera on panel by Robert Campin (c. 1380-1444), the Flemish Master of Flémalle. Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

First Reading: Genesis 1:1-2:4a

In recent weeks we have celebrated Christ’s ascension into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father, and the Holy Spirit coming in wind and fire. Now we begin the long season after Pentecost by contemplating Father, Son and Holy Spirit in their mysterious dance, three persons in one triune God, the Holy Trinity. We begin where Scripture begins, hearing the first of the two creation stories that open the book of Genesis, portraying a monotheistic God – Creator, Word and Spirit wind moving over the waters – as a loving creative force at work in the world.

Psalm 8

We hear again this beautiful Psalm of praise that we sang on the first Sunday of this year. We exalt the name of our Creator God, and we sing grateful thanksgiving for all of creation. We remember that, along with our God-given dominion over “the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,” we have a solemn duty to preserve and protect them all, a duty that seems just as significant in our times as it did in ancient ages.

Alternate Psalm: Canticle 13

What’s a Canticle? These “little songs,” scripture passages that lend themselves to reading or chanting, are given in the Book of Common Prayer for use in daily prayer and, on occasion, as substitutes for Lectionary Psalms. Canticle 13 is the “Song of the Three Young Men” who sang this joyous hymn of praise to God and all creation as God protected them from death in the fiery furnace to which they had been condemned by an angry king. These final verses, added to this old song in modern Christian times, conclude the Canticle with resounding praise and exaltation to the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

You won’t find many explicit references to the Holy Trinity in the New Testament, as it took the early church nearly 300 years to fully work out basic Trinitarian theology as expressed in the Nicene Creed. We hear two of the most specific foreshadowings, though, in today’s second reading and Gospel. In Paul’s loving farewell at the end of his second letter to the people of Corinth, he urges this often squabbling congregation to sort out their conflicts and love one another as God loves them, asking this in the “grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.”

Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20

Each of the Gospels ends in a different way, offering us four contrasting views of the resurrected Christ and his conversations with the disciples who would remain behind. Today we hear Matthew’s narrative. The risen Christ had told the women at the tomb to tell the eleven disciples to go on to Galilee, where he would meet them. Now we watch as they meet on a mountain. Some of them worship him, but others doubt, presumably only briefly. Then, invoking the names of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, he commands them to go and “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” a great commission to Christian evangelism.

Pentecost A

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Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for June 4, 2017

The Pentecost, oil painting by Louis Galloche (1670-1761).

The Pentecost, oil painting by Louis Galloche (1670-1761). Musee des Beaux-Arts, Nantes, France.

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

Pentecost has arrived, and all our readings speak in some way of God’s Spirit moving in the world. In this reading we join the apostles as they gather to celebrate Shavuot, the Jewish spring harvest festival that falls seven weeks after Passover. The resurrected Christ had told them that they would soon be “baptized in the Holy Spirit,” receiving power to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth — and now the Spirit comes in a rush of wind and tongues of fire, inspiring the Apostles to declare the Good News in many languages.As the Prophet Joel foretold, Peter tells the crowd, the Spirit will be poured out for all.

First Reading (alternate): Numbers 11:24-30

At Christmas we remember the birth of Jesus. On Easter we recall Jesus’ resurrection three days after his death on the cross. Now it’s Pentecost, seven weeks after Easter, and we celebrate God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, who sends us out to take the Gospel to the world in Jesus’ name. This alternative first reading tells how God’s spirit empowered 70 of his elders. The spirit even came to two elders who weren’t present, an event that perturbed Joshua until Moses reassured him. Wherever God’s spirit moves through us, good things can happen.

Psalm 104:25-35

This Psalm of praise exults in all the works of God’s creation, including the charming idea that God may have made some creations, like Leviathan, the giant whale, “for the sport of it,” just for fun. Note well that we thank God not only for making the earth, its seas, and creatures both small and great, but also nurturing them, ensuring that they are fed, and offering them protection. God’s Spirit is sent forth to continue creation and renew the earth, just as she breathed over the face of the waters on the day of creation.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13

Paul’s beautiful first letter to the people of Corinth clearly spells out his theology of the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit we all are all made one in baptism. Nationality, economic status, gender, s;ave or free, none of these things matter. Just as the body is made up of different parts that serve different functions, all of us bring our own special gifts as we work together, guided by the Spirit, for the good of all. We are all moved by the Spirit, each according to our own gifts, but all in one as members of the body of Christ.

Gospel: John 20:19-23

If this Gospel passage seems familiar, you’ve been paying attention: It comes twice in Eastertide, having been read on the first Sunday after Easter and now again on Pentecost. We return to the locked room where the disciples are hiding in fear on the first Easter. The grieving group was startled when Mary Magdalene ran back to tell them that she met a man in white at the empty tomb. She told them, “I have seen the Lord,” but they don’t know what to believe. And then Jesus is suddenly with them! He wishes them peace, shows them his wounds, and breathes on them, empowering them with the Holy Spirit.

Gospel (alternate): John 7:37-39

Pentecost is one of the feast days designated as especially appropriate for baptism. In fact, one of its traditional English names, “Whitsunday,” or “White Sunday,” refers to the white garments that those being baptized wore in ancient times. Whenever we welcome new members into the church, the celebrant reminds them that through Baptism we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever. Through the living water of baptism our hearts join in pouring out the good news of the Gospel to all the world’s nations.

Christ the King C

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Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Nov. 20, 2016

Christ and the Good Thief

Christ and the Good Thief, oil painting by a follower of Titian, c.1566. Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, Italy.

First Reading (Both Lectionary Tracks): Jeremiah 23:1-6

We celebrate the feast of Christ the King today, marking the end of the Pentecost season and turning toward Advent. In this reading we hear the prophet Jeremiah speaking forceful truth to the leaders of Babylon, who were holding Israel and Judah in exile. God will soon round up the remnant of his scattered flock and bring them home like a shepherd, the prophet foretells, warning the oppressors that they will be punished for their evil. Soon God will raise up a a mighty new king in David’s tradition, restoring the glory of the lost kingdoms. As Christians we may see our hope of good shepherd and mighty king reflected in these words, but we must not ignore their original intent as God’s promise to return the people from exile.

Canticle 16, BCP (Luke 1:68-79)

This week we sing Canticle 16, Luke’s Song of Zechariah, instead of a Psalm. Zechariah, whose wife, Elizabeth, was the cousin of Jesus’ mother, Mary, was a priest at the Temple. When he refused to believe that his elderly wife had become pregnant after an angelic visitation, he was struck mute. Now his voice returns when he holds and names the infant John. The child, he declares, will be a prophet in the tradition of Abraham and Sarah – who also were blessed with a child in their old age through God’s action. We know that John, the Baptist, will proclaim the fulfillment of God’s covenant in Jesus, who sets us free.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 46

This Psalm of praise may not explicitly speak of kings, but it reassures us that whenever terrible things happen, even when earthly kingdoms and nations are shaken by frightening events, when mountains rock and the oceans roar and foam, God remains with us. God doesn’t promise us a world where horrors can’t happen and no one ever suffers. But even in the worst of times, God abides, inviting us to take refuge in God’s strength. ​Our Prayer for Quiet Confidence (BCP p.832), ​draws from ​Psalm ​46 ​​as it ​reminds us, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Second Reading: Colossians 1:11-20

The Christian community of Colossae in what is now Western Turkey may have felt something like Jeremiah’s remnant of Israel in exile, as they faced Roman persecution and feared that they might lose their homes and even their lives for their faith. The author of this letter urges them to endure their difficulties with patience and the strength that comes from God’s glorious power expressed through Jesus. We gain redemption and the forgiveness of our sins through Christ, whose incarnation as God in human flesh makes him the first of all creation and the head of the body of the church.

Gospel: Luke 23:33-43

It may seem surprising to hear a passage from Luke’s account of the Crucifixion at this time of year. But this shows Christ as an entirely different kind of king! Jesus is crucified, a horrible death reserved for Rome’s most despised evildoers. He hangs bleeding and in unimaginable pain, while above him is placed a sign meant to mock him by declaring him King of the Jews. Soldiers and a criminal on a nearby cross torment him as a Messiah who can’t save himself. Yet while all this is going on, Jesus shows his love and his true power, quietly inviting a repentant criminal on another cross into a different kind of kingdom, one given for all humanity and for all time.

Pentecost 26C

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Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Nov. 13, 2016

Roman depiction of the destruction of the Temple.

Roman depiction of the destruction of the Temple.

First Reading: Isaiah 65:17-25

Here, near the end of Isaiah, God speaks through the prophet after the people’s return to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon. Now, as they face the big job of rebuilding the city and its temple, they are assured that God’s plan will come as a joy and a delight. There will be no weeping and no distress in the new Jerusalem. There will be no death in childbirth, no pain; all may expect joyous lives of 100 years of youthful strength! The city will be a holy place of peace, where people will enjoy the fruits of their own labor; the wolf, the lion and the lamb will live peacefully together, and none shall hurt or destroy.

First Reading (Track Two): Malachi 4:1-2a

The book of Malachi, the last of the prophets, falls at the very end of the Old Testament. In bibles that exclude the Apocrypha, we go directly from the end of this short book to the first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. The prophet speaks to a people newly returned from exile, warning in apocalyptic terms that the great day of the Lord is coming. The prophet warns that God will separate evildoers from the righteous and destroy them; but those who revere God’s name will have healing and joy.

Canticle 9 BCP (Isaiah 12:2-6)

In place of a Psalm today we chant these verses from earlier in Isaiah, a passage that should be familiar as Canticle 9, “The First Song of Isaiah,” that we often read in Morning Prayer. Hard times lie ahead for the people at this point, but the prophet reminds us that God will be with them. Even in threatening times, even when we feel frightened and vulnerable, God will be our stronghold and our sure defense.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 98

Mirroring the prophet’s vision of God as great judge, today’s Psalm envisions God as fair and just judge of the world and all its people. God’s coming to judge the earth is a time to sing a new song, to lift up our voices, to express our joy so abundantly that even the sea, the lands, the rivers and the hills will jump up and join the celebration; for God’s righteousness has become know to all the nations.

Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

“Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” We must take care not to read this through a lens of 21st century politics. These verses were meant for an early church community living in the spirit of Acts: “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” Cheating would have been unfair and corrosive to a community that lived by sharing. But in no way does this negate Christ’s call to give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, or any of the other ways in which we are called to show love to our neighbors.

Gospel: Luke 21:5-19

It is tempting, but wrong, to interpret scary readings about apocalyptic events and final judgement as prophesies about our present time. As the long season of Pentecost ends and Advent draws near, we will be hearing more of these in our Sunday readings. The evangelist we know as Luke wrote this Gospel around the end of the first century, some 70 years after the Crucifixion and 30 years after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. He is framing these events as a lesson from Jesus, bearing a truth for all times: God is with us. Even when we’re betrayed, scorned, hated and hurt, “By our endurance we will gain our souls.”

All Saints C

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Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Nov. 6, 2016

The Beatitudes

The Beatitudes

First Reading: Daniel 7:1-3; 15-18

Does this reading remind you of Revelation? Much of the book of Daniel is apocalyptic literature, an imaginative genre that was popular from late Old Testament times through early Christianity and was understood as symbolic, not literal. Daniel tells of a vivid dream about four scary beasts that represent earthly kings. In later verses, we would meet a winged lion, a tusked bear, a four-headed leopard, and an iron-toothed monster with 10 horns! But the nightmare ends with reassurance that resonates as we recall all those who have died and gone on to their eternal rest: God will win and reign forever.

First Reading (BCP Service II): Ecclesiasticus 2:1-11

We mark All Saints Day with a rare visit to the Apocrypha, the books at the end of the Old Testament. Ecclesiasticus (not to be confused with Ecclesiastes), is also known as “The Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach,” or “Sirach” for short. Calling on the people to stay true to their faith when Israel had fallen under Greek rule, Sirach reminds us to remember all the saints, and discover that those who trust in our compassionate God are never disappointed; those who call upon our merciful God are never neglected.

Psalm 149

Shouting out praise for God’s glory, the Psalmist sings out a new song, a song of praise with full hearts and voices, worshiping God so fully that the people physically embody their prayer in dance, music and song. We rejoice that God takes pleasure in us; we praise God who lifts up the poor. But then the short Psalm takes a sudden turn that might remind us of an ancient vision of Judgement Day: It recognizes God not only as protector of the faithful but also as stern judge of all who’ve turned against God’s way.

Second Reading: Ephesians 1:11-23

Christ is King, and God has placed him at God’s right hand and given him great power to rule over us all, in the present and for all time to come. So the author of Ephesians assures his flock, writing in Paul’s name to the persecuted Christians of Ephesus in Asia Minor. From that time onward, all the people of God, baptized in Christ and sealed by the Spirit, are the saints of God. We are Christ’s body on earth, pledged through our inheritance through baptism to redemption as God’s own people.

Gospel: Luke 6:20-31

Think you know the Beatitudes? For most of us, Matthew’s narrative of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is the version we remember, as it guides us toward service and neighborly love. Today, though, we hear Luke’s rather different view of the Beatitudes in Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain. Luke’s version is much more directly focused on caring for the poor, and that means those who have no money or resources, not only the “poor in spirit.” We are called to give food to the hungry and water to the thirsty, not just stand with those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Don’t just turn the other cheek: Forgive your enemies … and pray for them. In these Beatitudes, doing unto others is not easy, but it is essential. It binds us as the people of God.

Pentecost 24C

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Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Oct. 30, 2016

Zacchaeus and Jesus. Orthodox icon.

Zacchaeus and Jesus. Orthodox icon.

First Reading: Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

Does Habakkuk’s name sound familiar? If not, that may be because this year marks its only appearance in the three-year Lectionary cycle of Sunday readings. Only three chapters long, this book is both unusual and fascinating. Unlike most of the prophets who hear God’s word and pass it on to humanity, Habakkuk shouts out his own warnings, then turns to God with frustration because he feels that God doesn’t seem to be listening, leaving Habakkuk alone to make prophetic warning to the people without God’s assistance. God then responds, directing Habakkuk to write his vision down so clearly that a runner can read it while racing past.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 1:1, 10-18

Isaiah’s great book of prophecy gets off to a fiery start, beginning with five chapters filled with God’s angry wrath before we even get to God’s call to the prophet. First we must clearly hear God’s anger over the people’s failure to keep the covenant that their ancestors made through Moses at Mount Sinai. We hear that wrath in today’s reading, as God likens Israel to Sodom and Gomorrah, a people so vile that God hates them and their works. But, as always, there is a way to restore God’s love: “Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow.”

Psalm 119:137-144

Psalm 119 turns up fairly often in the weekly Lectionary. The longest of all the Psalms, fully 176 verses long, we hear portions of it a dozen times through the three-year lectionary cycle. While it offers different poetry in every section, it remains true to its course as a long, loving celebration of God’s law. Today’s verses may have come as good advice to the people who heard Habakkuk’s prophecy: When trouble and distress come on God’s people, God’s law and teaching are our delight.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 32:1-8

Rebounding from the horrific notion of a God too angry to hear the people’s prayers or sacrifices, too outdone to give them even the least attention, our Psalm sings the joy that comes when the separation from God that results from sin is ended, replaced with the utter joy of knowing God’s forgiveness. No longer groaning with pain that feels like withered bones, the repentant sinner is now guarded against trouble and surrounded with shouts of deliverance.

Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12

Today we begin a short visit with the second letter to the church of Thessalonika in Northern Greece. This letter probably came a generation after the first letter to the Thessalonians, perhaps around 100 CE, and it was probably written in Paul’s name by a follower long after his death. These early Christians were facing severe Roman persecution, and the letter opens with hearty thanks and gratitude for their steadfast faith despite all that they have had to endure.

Gospel: Luke 19:1-10

What’s this? Another tax collector? Last week we saw Jesus praising a tax collector for his humble prayer; and Jesus even called a tax collector, Matthew, as one of his apostles. The Pharisees often criticized Jesus for hanging around with prostitutes and tax-collectors – the most insulting occupations they could think of – because they traitorously sold their services to the hated Roman occupiers, and often used this position to enrich themselves. and now today we find Jesus shouting out to another tax collector, the diminutive Zacchaeus, who had climbed a tree the better to see him. Then Jesus invites himself to dinner at Zacchaeus’ house! Like the praying tax collector in last week’s Gospel, Zacchaeus earns salvation by following Jesus. The message, perhaps, is that if the worst person we can think of can earn redemption by walking in Jesus’ way, surely we all can.

Pentecost 23C

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Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Oct. 23, 2016

The Pharisee and the Publican

The Pharisee and the Publican, baroque fresco in the 18th century Rococo Basilica at Ottobeuren, Bavaria.

First Reading: Joel 2:23-32

We hear a consistent message of hope in our readings today. We hear it in the words of the Prophet Joel, whose short by poetic prophecy probably came after the people returned home from exile. His words of beauty offer comfort and hope: God is with us. Feast will follow famine. God loves us and the spirit will pour out on us. Even his scary prophecy of blood and fire and columns of smoke, darkened sun and bloody moon – apocalyptic images that New Testament writers would adopt to describe the last days – hold no fear for those who call on the name of the Lord.

First Reading (Track Two): Jeremiah 14:7-10,19-22

From Moses to Jonah, Job and beyond, the prophets are not loath to argue with God. The idea of mere mortals pushing back against the Divine might seem strange or even disturbing, but it is a powerful way to emphasize the importance of the prophet’s argument. Ultimately we hear a consistent message of hope in our readings today: Jeremiah acknowledges that the people have done wrong, but mounts a powerful argument that the God who made permanent covenant with the people should bring them back home even after they wandered and sinned.

Psalm 65

This Psalm of thanksgiving for earth’s bounty serves us doubly in this autumn season: It echoes Joel’s assurances that God will provide us life-giving rain and bountiful harvests even after times of trouble and sin. It musters beautiful images of nature and the harvest to depict God’s great bounty. These are words to hold in our hearts as autumn, Thanksgiving and the holiday seasons draw near.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 84:1-6

In poetic metaphors of birds finding safety in their nests, the Psalmist writes a hymn of trust and praise in a loving God who will protect the people and lead them home. God will watch over, favor and honor those who trust in God. As God provides nests for the small birds, so will God provide for us. As God makes pools of water available for thirsty travelers, so will God hear our prayers.

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

The author of Timothy writes Paul’s last testament in beautiful, poetic words that ring through the ages. Knowing that Paul fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith through trials and imprisonment would have been a source of strength to the people of a young church facing Roman persecution. Even when some believers were deserting the cause, this letter called the first Christians to stand strong, proclaim the good news to all the nations, and count on God’s strength and God’s protection.

Gospel: Luke 18:9-14

To clearly hear the message in today’s Gospel, remember that it follows immediately after last Sunday’s narrative about the corrupt judge and the persistent widow who would not leave him along until justice was served. It is good to read the two parables together to get a clear picture of what Jesus wants us to know about prayer. Like the powerful but corrupt judge who fails to prevail against the honest widow, the Pharisee in today’s Gospel fails to exalt himself, while the sinful tax collector went home justified … because his prayer was sincere. Pray without ceasing, but pray honestly, from the heart, and we follow in Jesus’ way.

Pentecost 22C

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Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Oct. 16, 2016

The Judge and the Persistent Widow

The Judge and the Persistent Widow, Jan Luyken, 17th century woodcut.

First Reading: Jeremiah 31:27-34

Hear this call through Sunday’s readings: Place your hope in God, and even in the face of challenges, be persistent. Jeremiah again reassures Israel and Judah in exile: Yes, they fully deserved the hard times – the “sour grapes” that have befallen them. But, the prophet foretells, God will forgive the people, make with them a new covenant, and return them home, just as God led their ancestors out of slavery in Egypt.

First Reading (Track Two): Genesis 32:22-31

Hear this call through Sunday’s readings: Place your hope in God, and even in the face of challenges, be persistent. In today’s strange narrative from Genesis, Jacob fights to a draw in a night-long battle with an angel who doesn’t fight quite fairly, yet turns out to be God. This was shocking, because the mere sight of God’s face was believed to be fatal to humans. Not even Moses was allowed to see God face-to-face, but Jacob, now Israel, did.

Psalm 119:97-104

The longest of all the Psalms, Psalm 119 devotes all of its 176 verses to a long, loving celebration of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. The ancients understood Torah as God’s “teaching,” but in translation it is usually rendered God’s “Law.” These verses speak of the people’s persistent efforts to study and learn until God’s teachings are written on their hearts in words as sweet as honey.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 121

This is one of the many Psalms that we love to hear when we or a loved one or friend is in trouble, afraid, looking for help, uncertain where to turn, seeking protection. The Psalmist, not afraid to call on God, cries out, “From where is my help to come?” We look upward, up to the hills, and find comfort in the sure protection of the Creator, who stands on constant watch, never sleeping, protecting us by night and day.

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:5

Written decades after the life of Jesus, this late New Testament letter offers hope and firm advice to a Christian community faced with persecution. It calls the people of the young church to “be persistent” about proclaiming the kingdom of God. In good times and hard times alike, they are to “convince, rebuke, and encourage” in the name of Jesus. Does this remind us of the persistent widow we meet in today’s Gospel?

Gospel: Luke 18:1-8

Luke often shows us Jesus slamming the rich and powerful with parables that burn: The dishonest steward! The rich man who died too soon to enjoy his barns full of treasure! The rich young man who couldn’t give away his property, even to save his soul! The rich man who burned in hell while the poor man he wouldn’t help in life now reposes in heavenly comfort! And now we see a corrupt and scheming judge confronted by a persistent widow who will not stop demanding until he finally caves in. What does this mean to us? Jesus tells us at the beginning and the end of today’s Gospel: Pray always and do not lose heart. God will grant justice to the chosen ones who pray by day and night.