Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, July 21, 2013.

First Reading: Genesis 18:1-10a
In the overall biblical narrative, the important part of today’s reading is God’s assurance that Abraham and Sarah will have a son, despite her advanced age, fulfilling God’s pledge that their children would inherit the Promised Land. But we hear the promise in the context of Abraham’s radical hospitality to three visiting strangers. Who are these strangers? God? Angels? That’s not entirely clear, but it doesn’t matter: Abraham is generous to the strangers, and Abraham becomes patriarch of God’s chosen people.

Psalm: Psalm 15
Who gets to live in God’s tent? Such a privilege must be earned, in the Psalmist’s view, and it is no surprise that, pared down to the essentials, we get another lesson in loving our neighbor. Do what is right. Don’t slander. Don’t do wrong by our friends or harm the innocent.   These are simple commands, and they guide us into a life of righteousness.

Second Reading: Colossians 1:15-28
Sometimes it is hard to decipher Paul’s dense prose. It may help to think of his letters in their original intent: Pastoral advice given to members of a congregation, offering them theological reflection and practical advice. Try thinking about today’s letter this way: First, Paul became a servant of the gospel … a servant of the church. As a servant, he sounds a lot like Martha in today’s Gospel. But he also calls us to reconcile ourselves to Christ and proclaim Christ’s supremacy, which might make us think of Mary.

Gospel: Luke 10:38-42
In last week’s reading from Luke, we heard the Good Samaritan story and reflected on who our neighbor really is. Today, the familiar story of Mary and Martha invites us to dig deeper into this central question of our faith. Who is the good neighbor here? Martha gets busy, cleaning the house, making dinner, making sure that everything is just right for Jesus’s visit. Mary doesn’t do a lick of work. But who spends time with Jesus, learning from him and loving him and being with him? Martha’s work is important, but is she really taking time for Jesus? Perhaps they are both practicing hospitality, each in her own way.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, July 14, 2013.

First Reading: Amos 7:7-17
Amos is a cranky prophet, speaking of gloom and destruction, foretelling an angry God who threatens to lay waste to the Israel that God once protected. Amaziah and Jeroboam, the high priest and king of Israel, want Amos to shut up, go home to Judea, and leave them alone. Why is Amos so angry? Israel has failed to be righteous. Like the priest and the Levite in the Good Samaritan story, the people of Israel have failed to love their neighbors as themselves, and that broke Israel’s covenant with God.

Psalm: Psalm 82
Love God and love our neighbor. This great commandment resonates through both testaments. It leaves no doubt that this duty to our neighbor gives priority to the weak, the poor and the oppressed. The Psalmist sings, “Give justice to the weak and the orphan … the lowly and the destitute … the weak and the needy.” Just as Jesus taught in the parable of the Samaritan, so are we called to love our neighbors – all of our neighbors – as we love God.

Second Reading: Colossians 1:1-14
The flowery opening verses of Paul’s letters, bible scholars say, are simply “epistolary prose,” ancient introductory verbiage akin to, “To whom it may concern.” Read closely, though, Paul is greeting the Colossians with hopeful, prayerful words: He prays for them constantly. He is glad that their new faith is bearing fruit. He prays that they will grow in good works and knowledge of God, gain strength, and be prepared to endure whatever comes their way for their love of Christ.

Gospel: Luke 10:25-37
Who doesn’t love the old favorite bible stories? The Parable of the Good Samaritan is so familiar, so reassuring, that it makes us happy to hear it again, with its twist at the end: The victim’s compatriots didn’t do so well, while the fellow we thought would be the bad guy turns out to be the good one. Take note, though, that this story does not come out of nowhere. It is Jesus’s answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus, like the prophet Amos and the Psalmist, tells us, “Everyone is your neighbor. Even your enemy. Not just the friend who looks and thinks and acts like you.”

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, July 7, 2013.

First Reading: 2 Kings 5:1-14
Abraham, the patriarch of the Israelites, was born in Aram; but by the time of the Kings, Aram and Israel were enemies, so the powerful Aramean general Naaman can’t have been excited about his servant’s advice that he go to Israel for a cure for his leprosy. But leprosy was then a terrible and disfiguring disease. It rendered the sufferer unclean, cutting him off from his community. So Naaman went, only to have Elisha add insult to injury by sending out a mere servant out with a ridiculous sounding prescription. Fortunately for Naaman, his servants came to the rescue again, calming his rage at Elisha’s disrespect. It can’t hurt to try, they advised … and behold, Naaman was cured.

Psalm: Psalm 30
What an appropriate Psalm to follow Naaman’s healing! It thanks God for healing a grave illness. Then it celebrates gifts of God that may bring even more joy: ending the sadness and depression that so often accompanies illness … turning the weeping of those long dark hours of night into the celebration that comes at dawn … and turning the mourning of sickness into the dancing of health.

Second Reading: Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16
We now reach the end of a six-week tour through Galatians, in which Paul has declared Christ’s message is universal for all humankind – Jew and Gentile, man and woman, slave and free – standing up against evangelical opponents who fought for a more exclusive way. Paul’s message clearly repeats Jesus’s message: “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.” In other words, love your neighbor as yourself.

Gospel: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
In last week’s Gospel, Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem,” telling his disciples in no uncertain terms not to tarry, Now Jesus organizes an advance team of 70 to tell the local villagers that the Kingdom of God is near. Just as the Seventy were called to do then, so we are called today, to act as Christ’s body on earth and proclaim without shame that Jesus brings good news to the poor, release to captives, sight to the blind and freedom for the oppressed.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, June 30, 2013.

First Reading: 2 Kings 2:1-2,6-14
Bible trivia question: Besides Jesus, who got into heaven still wearing an earthly body? Today’s reading tells us the prophet Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire; and the Apocrypha say the prophet Enoch was “taken up,” too. In the Transfiguration we see Moses joining Elijah in a shining body with Jesus; and modern Catholic doctrine holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was “assumed” bodily into heaven. While we’re reading this passage, think about the challenge of Elisha taking over the prophet’s job when his predecessor, Elijah, moves on. This may offer food for thought in church communities about to change or recently having changed rectors, saying farewell to the old and preparing to greet the new.

Psalm: Psalm 77
We have had a lot of noisy thunderstorms and pounding rains lately. It is easy to imagine the Psalmist’s thoughts as he wrote about clouds pouring out water, thunder crashing, the earth shaking, and God’s lightning arrows lighting up the world! Troubled, worried by night, seeking comfort for his soul but finding none, the Psalmist imagines God’s power in the storm and remembers how God gently led God’s flock.

Second Reading: Galatians 5:1,13-25
Paul’s letter to the Galatians continues, as he hammers home the point that God’s covenant with Israel now extends through Christ to Jew and Gentile alike. The law of that covenant, he reminds us, is to love our neighbors as ourselves, not to “bite and devour” one another.” The Spirit joins us with our neighbors in “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

Gospel: Luke 9:51-62
These verses from Luke show us a side of Jesus that we might not like to see. Come, follow him, with such urgency that you must leave your dead father un-buried? Rush off without bidding your family farewell? This is certainly a demanding call! What’s going on? Take another look at the first verse we read today: “… he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Jesus’s final journey has begun, and everything now focuses on his coming death and resurrection. Nothing else, not even family, can take priority.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, June 23, 2013.

First Reading: 1 Kings 19:1-15
The prophet Elijah foretold destruction and exile in a time when the Kingdom of Israel was falling apart. A bold man in violent times, he fought the priests of Baal and spoke truth to King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel. In acts that might make us think of Jesus, he made a poor widow’s food last for months; restored her son to life, and finally went up to heaven in a fiery chariot. But now Elijah is worn down and afraid. Fighting despair, he hides under a broom tree and begs God to take his life. But God has other plans, and sends winds, an earthquake and fire to get Elijah back to God’s work.

Psalm: Psalm 42
The beautiful, lyrical language that opens today’s Psalm softens the deep sorrow and lamentation that fill its verses. “Why is my soul cast down? Why has God forgotten me? Where is God?” Elijah might have asked these questions when he cried beneath the broom tree. But finally, for the Psalmist as for Elijah, there is hope in God.

Second Reading: Galatians 3:23-29
Paul’s letter to the people of Galatia continues this week, reminding us in ringing words that we are all equals in Jesus: As it was then, so it is now: There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of us are one in Jesus.

Gospel: Luke 8:26-39
This may be the strangest of all the Gospel stories about Jesus healing. Jesus meets a loud, scary man, naked and in chains, and he sends the demons that possess him into a herd of pigs, who rush into the Sea of Galilee and drown! What were Jesus and the apostles doing in a graveyard in the first place, which would have made them unclean under Jewish law? Why did the demons talk to Jesus, and why did he answer them!? Why did the whole thing scare the neighbors so much that they asked Jesus to leave town? And when the healed man wanted to follow Jesus, why did Jesus tell him no, go back to your people and tell them what God has done? This story shows us Jesus’s power, but it leaves us wondering. So many questions!

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, June 16, 2013.

First Reading: 1 Kings 21:1-21a
The tale of selfish King Ahab and his wife Jezebel (whose infamy has made her very name an insult) crushing Naboth of Jezreel is not a pretty story! But it might have echoes in modern times, when we watch news accounts about poor workers being killed in fiery disasters in sweatshops in Bangladesh. Elijah summoned an angry God to deliver bloody justice. We might do well to call on God for a gentler justice that firmly encourages caring for the poor, the weak and the oppressed. 

First Reading: 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:10, 13-15
Do you think our bible heroes as great figures who never did wrong? Hardly! From Adam and Eve to Abraham to Moses and the prophets to Peter and the apostles, just about everyone in the book is flawed and sinful; yet God loves them and forgives them every time. King David was Israel’s greatest leader, but he was an adulterer and a murderer, too, who had the beautiful Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, killed in battle so he could have her for himself. In this reading, God’s messenger Nathan tells David a story and tricks him into cursing and threatening with death a figure that turns out to be David himself. God spares David’s life, but learns that the child of his illicit union must die.

Psalm: Psalm 5
This psalm calls for protection from the psalmist’s enemies from an angry God who dislikes boasters, hates evildoers and destroys liars, seemingly assuming that these enemies will deserve whatever punishment God metes out.  We might be more comfortable with the idea of a God of abundant love who forgives sins and welcomes all. But certainly the Psalmist’s call seems consistent with Elijah’s warning to Ahab that “dogs will … lick up your blood.”    

Psalm: Psalm 32
Although modern scholars question the old tradition that King David wrote the Psalms himself, it would be easy to read today’s Psalm as David’s joy at God’s forgiveness. But God’s abundant love and forgiving spirit is not just for kings but for all God’s people. We, too, can rejoice and sing, “I will confess my transgressions to God, then you forgave the guilt of my sin. You are my hiding-place. You preserve me from trouble.”

Second Reading: Galatians 2:15-21
We continue working through Paul’s argument to the Galatians, who he feels have been misled by false teachers who came after he moved on and contradicted his ruling that Gentile converts to Christianity need not abide by Jewish law. Requiring  new Christians to submit to adult circumcision and start keeping kosher kitchens would surely have cut way back on converts! To reinforce his argument, Paul declares that we are saved by new faith in Jesus Christ, not by justification through the works of the old Jewish law.

Gospel: Luke 7:36 – 8:3
This may come as a surprise, but historically, the Pharisees weren’t bad people but highly educated scholars and preachers, pillars of the synagogues. The tension between Jewish Christians and Gentiles in the early church that we see in today’s Galatians reading also colors this Gospel, which paints the Pharisee Simon as a rude host who can’t be bothered to greet his guest Jesus with customary courtesies.  When the woman, who tradition sometimes recognizes as Mary Magdalene, anoints Jesus with the respect and love that the Pharisee failed to show, it is she who earns his praise and the forgiveness of her sins.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, June 9, 2013.

First Reading: 1 Kings 17:8-16, (17-24)
Struggling to survive a lengthy drought, the prophet Elijah follows God’s instructions to travel outside Israel to a Gentile town called Zarephath, where an elderly widow and her starving little boy will share their meager food with him. The widow is understandably not eager, but upon Elijah’s command, her tiny portions of meal and oil prove sufficient to feed them all. When the little boy dies just the same, the widow is truly angry, but Elijah – with God’s help – restores his life, prompting her to recognize him as a man of God who speaks God’s truth. In moving to protect a widow and child in poverty, God shows love for the weakest and most vulnerable, a truth that runs all through scripture.

Psalm: Psalm 146
This is another of the final five Psalms that conclude the book in a roaring chorus of praise for the glory of God. This psalm takes particular note of God’s righteousness; God’s preferential care for the weakest and most vulnerable of society. God protects the oppressed, the hungry, the prisoner; the blind and those who are bowed down; and, not least, the stranger, the widow and the orphan – like the widow of Zarephath and her child.

Second Reading: Galatians 1:11-24
In these verses that follow last Sunday’s reading from Galatians, Paul continues pushing back against other evangelists who came to Galatia after he left and taught a less inclusive Gospel. The competitors demanded that Jesus-followers follow all the details of Jewish law, but Paul has heard a different message from the Spirit, and he is on fire to preach it. Paul lays out the strength of his credentials, reminding the Galatians that he was once one of the most ardent persecutors of Christianity, but now he proclaims Jesus to the Gentiles through revelation not from humans but direct from God.

Gospel: Luke 7:11-17
We hear familiar echoes of Elijah and the widow and child in this story from Luke, which comes next in Luke’s Gospel after last week’s story of Jesus healing the Roman centurion’s servant. Much like the widow in Elijah’s story and, for that matter, like the centurion, this woman responds to her son’s new life with shouts of joy, declaring Jesus a prophet and a man of God.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, June 2, 2013.

First Reading: 1 Kings 8:22-23, 41-43
These verses surely represent the high point in the story of the Israelites, as wise and wealthy King Solomon, son of King David, dedicates the first Temple in Jerusalem. Later in the First Testament narrative, we will see the the people fail in their covenant to practice justice and righteousness, leading to the nation’s decline and fall, the destruction of the temple and exile in Babylon as the prophets foretold. But this day is one of glory and joy and even a little boasting: God is so great and glorious that even foreigners will know God’s name and fear God.

Psalm: Psalm 96
A consistent theme runs through all today’s readings: God is great, and our God is God of all the nations. All the gods of all the other peoples are mere idols, trumpets this ancient psalm of praise and glory. Let all the earth tremble before our God of glory and strength who made the heavens!

Second Reading: Galatians 1:1-12
The church in Galatia had a problem, and Paul wasted no time in getting right to it in his letter to the people there: After planting his church, Paul moved on, and just like that, some other evangelists came in and started contradicting what he had taught. (Later we’ll discover that the problem had to do with insisting that Gentile Christians follow Jewish laws.) But the Gospel that he teaches comes straight from God through Jesus, Paul insists. Those who say otherwise deserve to be cursed!

Gospel: Luke 7:1-10
Luke’s account of the centurion whose servant lies dying might appear at first to be a simple story about faith. But this is not just another eager Jesus-follower asking for help. It is a hated Roman, and worse, a military officer, a captain in command of 100 soldiers. This is a man with real power, accustomed to barking commands and having them obeyed. His gentle, respectful request that Jesus issue such a command to heal his servant gains Jesus’s praise and agreement. And it makes clear that Jesus is not just here for Israel but for all.