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 (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.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Nov. 8, 2020

First Reading (Track One): Joshua 24:1-3a,14-25

How do we follow God? When will Jesus come back? How does God save us, and what does that look like? Can we do anything to secure a place among those saved?

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (1822), by William Blake (1757-1827). Watercolour and gouache on paper. Tate Gallery, London.
(Click image to enlarge.)

Sunday’s readings grapple with these eternal questions as the Pentecost season draws to a close and Advent approaches. We have to work to discern how these selections from Scripture might guide our lives. In the Track One first reading we hear the people renewing their covenant with God as they enter the promised land. They recall their long journey from slavery in Egypt, and they promise to be faithful to God, placing no other gods before God. But what do you think about the people’s gratitude that God drove out the Amorites who lived in the land to make a home for Israel? Does this troubling verse make you think about our treatment of the American Indians or Israel’s modern relationship with Palestine?

First Reading (Track Two): Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16

The Wisdom of Solomon, often called simply “Wisdom,” is found in the Apocrypha, after the end of the Hebrew Bible. This passage echoes a memorable section of Proverbs that personifies Wisdom as a female voice, a strong woman who sits at the city gates, advises the people on right living, and was even a female presence who was with God at the moment of creation. This short Track Two first reading tells us how easy it is to find Wisdom: She meets us more than halfway and graciously meets us in our paths and thoughts.

Alternate First Reading (Track Two): Amos 5:18-24

The prophet Amos challenges us with a frightening question in this alternate Track Two first reading: What if we confidently await the day of God’s judgement, assuming that we have lived well, but learn to our shock that God has rejected our prayers and turned away? What if we run from a lion only to be eaten by a bear!? But there is hope. When we frame this passage in the verses that surround it, we find reassurance: When we seek good and not evil – when our justice and righteousness flow like mighty waters – then God will be with us.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 78:1-7

We sing only the first seven verses of a long 72-verse hymn as our Track One Psalm this week; we heard the first four verses of this same Psalm just six weeks ago. In this short passage, the psalmist begins by calling the people to listen, for God is speaking. The psalmist speaks of parables and dark sayings of old, recalling the ancient stories that were passed on to the people. What God did for the people in the past must be told to a new generation. There is power, and almost a magical feel to these words calling the listener to pay attention. God commanded the children of Jacob to teach God’s ways to their children, the Psalmist reminds us, so that the next generations would know God and not forget God’s ways.

Psalm (Track Two): Wisdom of Solomon 6:17-20

This snippet from the Apocryphal book of Wisdom, offered as one of two alternate Track Two Psalm readings, follows directly after the alternate Track Two second reading. It nails down the importance of loving Wisdom and following her laws: It is the assurance of wisdom that draws us near to God and leads us to God’s kingdom.

Alternate Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 70

This alternate for the Track Two Psalm begins on a dark note to match the first reading from Amos. The Psalmist is beset by enemies who would not only kill him but enjoy his misfortune and gloat over his losses. The Psalmist wants a kind of justice that is very far from turning the other cheek: He wants to see those enemies suffer the shame and disgrace that they wish for him! The Psalmist is sure that the poor and needy who seek God can count on God’s protection, for God is great. But please, God, the Psalmist begs: Hurry, God, please. Don’t make us wait!

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Paul offers the people of Thessalonika an imaginative description of the coming of Christ, complete with an archangel’s shout and trumpet blast, the dead rising from their graves and the people of God rising into the air! These ideas, taken literally, have become the basis for a lot of colorful theories about what the return of Christ might look like. Some Christians do read this passage as a literal prediction of the last days. But most bible scholars offer a simpler explanation: At the time of this letter – the earliest in the New Testament – many Christians still thought that Jesus would return and establish God’s kingdom while they were still alive to see it. But now it was a generation later, and some people were dying! Would they miss Jesus? No, says Paul. Be encouraged: All will be saved.

Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13

Jesus has concluded his long debate with the Scribes and Pharisees now and is seated with his disciples on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, from where they can see Jerusalem and the Temple. He starts telling them a parable with the words, “The kingdom of heaven will be like this,” a sure signal that what’s coming will challenge our expectations. Indeed, this story is just as unsettling as the other “kingdom” parables we’ve heard recently: the outcast who had no wedding garment; the murderous vineyard workers; and the workers who were all paid the same. In this story, the bridesmaids who didn’t plan ahead and had no oil for their lamps were locked out of the banquet. The bridegroom dismissed them, even though he was late, himself! Is Jesus trying to tell us that the kingdom of heaven is unfair? Surely not. Rather, the parable offers simple wisdom: We know that Jesus, the bridegroom, is coming, so be ready always.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Oct. 25, 2020

First Reading (Track One): Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Moses dies, and Joshua takes command. Jesus tells the Pharisees about the greatest commandment. There is plenty to inspire our imagination in Sunday’s Lectionary readings.

The Pharisees Question Jesus (1886-1894), medium gouache over graphite on gray wove paper by James Tissot (1836-1902). Brooklyn Museum. (Click image to enlarge.)

The Track One first reading concludes the Torah, the first five books of the First Testament, the Law. Moses has led the progeny of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph out of slavery in Egypt, received God’s commandments and made God’s covenant at Mount Sinai. He has wandered 40 years in the desert with a fractious people. Now he comes within sight of the Promised Land where he meets God again, on another mountain top. But this time Moses learns that he may see the land, knowing that God’s promise is fulfilled, but he won’t live to cross over to it.

First Reading (Track Two): Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18

The overarching law that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves frames Sunday’s readings. We hear its roots in the Track Two first reading about an encounter between God and Moses. It returns fully developed in words of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel. In a series of instructions that restate the moral code of the commandments, God’s words to Moses in the first reading tell how to be in good relationship with our neighbors. They culminate with the summary conclusion – the first place in the bible where this is explicitly stated as a rule – that we shall love our neighbor as we love ourself.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17

Tradition attributes this ancient hymn to Moses himself. While that is surely legendary, its verses of praise for God’s creation are certainly consistent with Torah, the books of teaching that believers once thought were actually written by Moses. A thousand years pass like a day in God’s continuing creation, we sing, while our short lives are as brief as the grass that turns from green to brown overnight. Then the Psalm moves from praise to petition as we ask God to hear our prayers, to turn toward us with loving-kindness and make us glad.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 1

The short Track Two psalm, the first in the book of Psalms, sings of the two paths that we may choose to take through life. In poetic verses that seem to foreshadow Jesus’ parables about the seeds that fall on variously nourishing ground, the Psalmist likens us to trees. There are the lush, fruitful and well-watered trees of the righteous who follow God’s way; and the weak trees that can’t stand straight, representing the way of the wicked. Which way shall we choose? The Psalm makes our options clear.

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

It is fascinating to listen in as Paul tells the people of Thessalonika, one of his churches in Greece, about his problems with the congregation at Philippi, a neighboring community! In this letter we get a glimpse of serious problems: Someone in Philippi apparently was strongly opposed to Paul and disagreed with his teaching. Paul is grateful to the Thessalonians, though, for treating him kindly. They have built a dear friendship that Paul likens to a nurse caring for her children. Fortunately, by the time Paul wrote his later letter to the Philippians around 55 CE, maybe five years after 1 Thessalonians, all apparently had been forgiven, as he then addresses the people of Philippi with loving friendship, too.

Gospel: Matthew 22:34-46

The words of Jesus about the greatest commandment may sound like a central tenet of Christianity, pouring directly from the heart of Jesus. But this teaching is profoundly Jewish, too. The commandment that Jesus declares the “greatest and first” portion, to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, exactly quotes the Shema, the most important of all Jewish prayers. The Pharisees with whom he continues arguing certainly understood this. Then the second portion, to love our neighbors as ourselves, comes directly from the priestly codes in Leviticus. Our spiritual heritage goes back a long way, and as we heard from Jesus earlier in Matthew, he did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets (that is, the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible) but to fulfill it.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Oct. 18, 2020

First Reading (Track One): Exodus 33:12-23

God’s power for good amazes us, and we follow in faith. We’ll find variations on this theme through Sunday’s readings.

The Tribute Money (1630s), oil painting on canvas by Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644). Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. (Click image to enlarge.)

In our Track One first reading, we have skipped over a bloody and horrifying narrative since we heard about God’s anger over the golden calf. In those pages, a portion of the Hebrew people were told to kill 3,000 of their brothers and sisters who had worshiped the golden idol. Now Moses worries that his troublesome flock might stray again. He asks God for assurance that God will continue to lead and guide the people. God agrees, but Moses wants more: He wants to see God in God’s glory. God warns that Moses dare not see God’s face. No human can see such glory and live. But a compromise emerges: Moses may stand in a crack in a rock, protected from danger, then open his eyes for a glimpse of God’s glory and kindness from behind after God passes by.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 45:1-7

It may seem unusual to read high praise for a Gentile king in the Hebrew Bible, but Isaiah offers just that in these verses. The prophet declares Cyrus, the king of Persia, as “God’s own anointed,” actually using the Hebrew word “Messiah.” How can this be? As usual with Scripture, historic context is everything. The people had been in exile in Babylon for 40 years, dreaming of the destroyed city of Jerusalem and the temple that they had lost. They had failed to love their neighbor and care for the weak and needy; thus they broke the covenant with God that had earned them the Promised Land. Now, led by the wise king that history knows as Cyrus the Great, the Persians have conquered Babylon, and Cyrus sent them home, showing that even a Persian king responds to God’s command.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 99

In Psalm 99 the Psalmist echoes the ideas in Exodus that we hear this day. As we sing this Psalm we sing loud praise to God’s great and awesome name. We celebrate God’s justice and equity. We remember that God, leading the people in a pillar of cloud, answered their prayers, but also punished them for their evil deeds, and finally forgave them in the end. Proclaim the greatness of the Lord, our God, the Psalmist sings.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 96:1-13

It is likely no coincidence that the Lectionary planners chose to follow Isaiah’s praise for Cyrus the great Persian king with a brisk reminder that God remains king among all kings, before whom the whole Earth trembles. God created all things and will judge all things, fairly and with equity, the Psalmist sings. Heaven and earth, thunder and lightning, all the fields and all the forest will rejoice when God comes to judge in righteousness and truth, this Psalm portion concludes.

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

This Sunday we begin a five-week visit with 1 Thessalonians, a letter written by Paul around the year 50. Thus it is the earliest document in the New Testament. In its pages, Paul praises this small community in Thessalonika in Northern Greece, who had been persecuted for giving up the dominant Roman religion that Paul and the early Christians considered pagan. The Thessalonian people’s faith, Paul says, had inspired many converts, who were now waiting for Jesus to rescue them “from the wrath that is coming.” At this time, a bare 20 years after the crucifixion, early Christians still expected Jesus to come back soon to judge the world and establish the kingdom of God on Earth.

Gospel: Matthew 22:15-22

A denarius with the image of the Roman Emperor Tiberius. The inscription on the obverse stands for “Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus.” (Click image to enlarge.)

For the fourth consecutive Sunday, we find Jesus in Jerusalem in the last week before his passion and death, fencing with a group of Pharisees and temple leaders who have been plotting to have him killed after his angry encounter with the money changers in the Temple. In this familiar passage they try to trap Jesus with a trick question. Depending on his answer, they hope his answer will either anger the crowds by seemingly supporting Roman taxation, or risk treason against Rome by denying the emperor’s power. But Jesus outwits them as usual, and in addition, tricks the temple leaders to reveal that they are carrying a forbidden graven image – the head of Tiberius Caesar – on the coins in their purses. Finally, when he responds, “give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s,” Jesus leaves open the question of how much that might be … and how much of our lives, on the other hand, we should give to God.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Oct. 11, 2020

First Reading (Track One): Exodus 32:1-14



Even when we do terrible things, even when we wallow in sin, God finds a way to forgive us in a banquet of loving grace.

Dancing Around the Golden Calf from The Nuremberg Chronicle (1493), illustrative woodcut from the workshop of Michel Wolgemut. (Click image to enlarge.)

This beautiful promise echoes through this week’s readings, beginning with the startling story we hear in Sunday’s Track One first reading: Moses is up on the mountain, talking with the Holy One, but things are going badly wrong below. The people, scared by Sinai’s smoke and thunder, are afraid that Moses won’t come back, don’t take long to break their brand-new covenant by worshipping a golden calf! God, righteously outraged, threatens to destroy the people and start a new nation with Moses. But Moses pleads for the people, and God relents. God’s abundant love flows to a people who may not deserve it, but they will be forgiven over and over again.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 25:6-9



Using the two-line echoing of ideas that, like the Psalms, is typical of ancient Hebrew poetry, Isaiah speaks of the people’s relief from foreign domination after exile. The prophet exalts and praises a warrior God who destroyed the enemy while protecting the poor and needy. Then the narrative turns from warlike phrases to a beautiful song of hope. In verses that we often hear read at the time of burial, the prophet sings of a banquet that God will prepare: “A feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines … of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.” It will be a feast for the people of all nations, united at last in a kingdom where death and tears are no more.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23

The Psalmist asks forgiveness for a people who have sinned, remembering God’s mercy even when they built and worshipped the golden calf. They forgot God, their Savior, who had watched over them in Egypt and brought them safely across the Red Sea and through the desert. They deserved destruction, the Psalmist sings, but Moses stood up for them and turned God’s wrath aside, revealing the Holy One who is good and forever merciful.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 23

And now, in the beloved 23rd Psalm, we sing of that very deep and abundant love, of God’s trusted protection. Our Good Shepherd who is always with us, comforting us and protecting us not only in the green pastures and still waters of good times, but even in those frightening times when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Just as Isaiah envisions a banquet table set for the people of God, the Psalmist, too, imagines a table of comfort spread out in the house of the Holy One.

Second Reading: Philippians 4:1-9



Paul now speaks to a specific pastoral issue in the church at Philippi. Two women, Euodia and Syntyche, have been quarreling. Without taking sides, Paul simply urges them to “be of the same mind” in Christ, perhaps suggesting that they ask, “What would Jesus do?” In beautiful language, he shows what that might look like: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Be gentle and kind; true, honorable and just, pure, pleasing, commendable and praiseworthy, he exhorts all the church, and the God of peace will be with us.

Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14



What is Jesus trying to teach us about the kingdom of heaven this week? This parable might remind us of the wicked tenants in last week’s Gospel, who defied the person in charge and casually killed his messengers. Here in Matthews Gospel, as Jesus continues debating an angry group of Pharisees, he tells another strange and challenging parable: The king, angry at those who didn’t show up for his son’s wedding banquet – some of whom even killed the slaves sent to invite them – brings people off the street to take their places. Then, when one of them ungratefully refuses to put on a wedding garment, he’s tossed out into the darkness, too. We’re all invited to the kingdom of heaven, it seems. But even as welcomed guests, we’re expected to don the wedding garment by following Jesus’ way.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Oct. 4, 2020

First Reading (Track One): Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20



When God commands, the people try to obey; but it isn’t always easy. Listen for this theme through Sunday’s readings.

Moses with the Ten Commandments (18th century); painting by Anton Losenko (1737–1773). University of Kiev, Ukraine. (Click image to enlarge.)

Moses has led Israel out of slavery in Egypt and across the Red Sea in our Track One first readings. Now on Mount Sinai in the desert comes a significant encounter: Establishing their identity and their hope, the people join in covenant with God. They receive the Ten Commandments that will guide their lives and ensure their righteousness in relationship with God and others. In the last lines of the reading, though, Moses reminds them that through the commandments God tests our faith: “God has come to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin,” Moses reminds the people.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 5:1-7

When Jesus blessed bread and wine at the Last Supper, he was honoring a Jewish Passover tradition that goes back to ancient times. It’s no wonder, then, that the bible is full of parables involving wine, the fruit of the vine, and the vineyards from which it comes. In Isaiah’s poetic song in our Track Two first reading, God plants a vineyard and cares for it with love. But the harvest yields “wild” grapes – “stinking, worthless, sour” in the original Hebrew. What happened? The vines metaphorically stand for the people, who disappointed God by failing to be just and righteous. Now God will trample down the vines, destroying the vineyard.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 19

God’s commandments are a wonderful gift, a gift that shows God’s glory in such a shining light that all the heavens sing: All the skies reveal the work of God’s hand! So shouts this triumphant Psalm as it begins with mighty praise for the beauty of all God’s creation. Then the theme turns to God’s commandments, God’s law and teaching. True, just and righteous, God’s commandments stand even above the earthly creation that we have just celebrated, the Psalmist sings: They are sweeter than honey, more precious than gold.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 80:7-14

Surely the Psalmist had Isaiah’s book at hand while writing these poetic verses. In our Track Two first reading, Isaiah had warmed that a disappointed, angry God, loathing the sour fruit, would demolish the vineyard, tearing down its wall and hedge and ordering a drought to lay it waste. Now these verses of Psalm 80 imagine a people who brought a vine out of Egypt, made it mighty, but then neglected it and let it wither. Now they beg a compassionate God to regard and restore the bountiful vines. This hint of hope was not found in the dark verses of the Isaiah reading.

Second Reading: Philippians 3:4b-14

The verses just preceding this reading provide needed context: Since Paul left Philippi, other Christians preaching a more rigid Jewish Christianity have come in and told the people of this Macedonian church that Paul’s teaching was wrong, They must follow Jewish law – including purity laws and circumcision – in order to be Christians. Just before this passage, Paul has told the Philippians to beware of these teachers, calling them “dogs … evil workers … those who mutilate the flesh!” Paul now reminds them that he is a devout Jew himself, and a Pharisee too, observant and righteous. But now. he says, everything has changed: The old commandments mean nothing without Christ.

Gospel: Matthew 21:33-46

In Sunday’s Gospel we find Jesus still arguing with the temple authorities. He tells another difficult parable set in a vineyard: Its owner goes to another country, hiring tenants to tend the vines for him. When he sends slaves for the produce, though, the tenants beat them up and kill them. They do the same to another group of slaves the owner sends after that. Then, incredibly, when the owner sends his own son, the tenants kill him, too! What, Jesus asks, will the owner do? Surely he will kill the evil tenants! the priests and Pharisees respond. But Jesus gives the parable another twist, saying that it is those who work to produce the fruit who will inherit the Kingdom of God. Angered, the temple leaders start plotting to arrest Jesus.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Sept. 27, 2020

First Reading (Track One): Exodus 17:1-7



The people in their journey through the desert continue their complaints in our Track One first reading. They quarrel with Moses and doubt whether God is really watching over them.

Moses Striking the Rock and Bringing Forth the Water (late 16th century), painting by Jacopo Bassano (c.1518-1592). Musée du Louvre, Paris. (Click image to enlarge.)

In last week’s reading we saw God respond to their hunger with daily rations of quail and manna. But now they have no water, and even if their whining seems to annoy Moses, it’s hard to blame them for grumbling about their thirst. God instructs Moses to go ahead with some of the elders, where he is to strike a rock with the rod that he had used to part the Red Sea’s waters. Moses complies, and when he hits the rock, water comes gushing out to slake everyone’s thirst.

First Reading (Track Two): Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32



We return to the Prophet Ezekiel, whose prophecy we heard just a month ago, for another lesson from earlier in the book. On Aug. 31 we heard the prophet warning the people that, although God does not want to kill them, they surely must die if they do not repent and turn back from their wicked ways. In Sunday’s Track Two first reading we hear a similar, longer exhortation, another stern warning that contains within it a glimpse of hope. Again Ezekiel sees repentance as the necessary response to a dangerous pattern of behavior: Fail in righteousness, refuse to be just, and you must die. But repent, turn away from wickedness, and enjoy life in the grace of God, who takes no pleasure in your death or that of your children. “Turn, then, and live.”

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16

Writing centuries after the ancestral story of the people’s exodus from Egypt and their journey through the wilderness to freedom, the Psalmist joyfully recalls that narrative with no hint of the quarrelsome, complaining times when the people forgot God’s blessings. In this hymn of praise that “declares the mysteries of ancient times,” these verses echo to future generations how God’s power and marvels opened the sea, led the people toward freedom, and, indeed, brought water gushing out of a cliff like a river.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 25:1-8

The five or six Psalms that follow immediately after the beloved 23rd Psalm also sing praise and gratitude to a loving God who cares for us and protects us from our enemies. When we sing this Psalm we echo the ideas that Ezekiel expressed: We remember that, though we may have sinned and transgressed God’s love and hopes for us, we nevertheless trust in our loving, saving God to remember us with compassion, protect us, and guide us toward right paths in spite of our errors.

Second Reading: Philippians 2:1-13



Now we hear more of Paul’s beautiful letter to his dear friends, the Philippians, written from his prison cell in Rome. Be encouraged and consoled by the life and love of Christ, he exhorts them. Be as humble and unselfish as Jesus, placing the needs of others before our own ambition; and in doing so, live as Jesus lived. Then he turns to the poetic phrases of one of the oldest hymns of the early church, proclaiming that Jesus – although made in the form of God – “emptied himself” in utter humility, taking instead the form of a slave, obediently accepting death by crucifixion; and in so doing became exalted as our anointed Lord and master.

Gospel: Matthew 21:23-32



We have skipped over several chapters and a great deal of activity since last week’s Gospel. Jesus and his disciples have reached Jerusalem, entered the city with palm-waving, cheering crowds, and angrily thrown over the money changers’ tables in the temple. Now it is a new day, Jesus has come back to the temple, and the wary high priests try to trap him by asking with whose authority he teaches, heals and speaks. But Jesus traps them back with his own trick question about John the Baptist that they can’t answer either way without getting into trouble. Then Jesus moves on to a parable that, as parables do, asks a thought-provoking question: Is it better to walk the walk or talk the talk?