Illuminations of readings for Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012.

First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-9a
What could be more important to a community than its teachers, whose words shape our growth and understanding? The Israelites understood this teacher, Isaiah’s so-called “Suffering Servant,” to represent their nation in exile. Christians later found in this suffering servant an image of Christ, who endures opposition, turns the other cheek, and keeps on teaching until we hear.

Psalm 116:1-8
The Psalmist today expresses joy because God has listened to his prayer, made in grief and desperation, and has brought relief from distress and anguish, and the hope of new life. His troubled soul can rest now. God has dealt bountifully in restoring life, and this gift inspires a hymn hailing God in the boldest language we find in Psalms: “I love the Lord.”

Second Reading: James 3:1-12
I hate you! Angry words can spill out of us suddenly, before we have time to think about them. And then how we wish we could take back the hurtful things we said! James reminds us in a series of colorful metaphors that words have power. Echoing the Isaiah reading, he warns us that teachers bear a heavy responsibility to use words wisely. It’s up to us to use them well.

Gospel: Mark 8:27-38
“Who do you say that I am?” Can you picture Jesus, sitting with the apostles and confronting them with this reality check? When Peter, declaring Jesus his Messiah, objects to Jesus’s warning of his coming passion and death, Jesus calls him “Satan!” We see no smiling Jesus hugging children and lambs today, but a challenge: Take up your cross and follow. If you want to save your life in the Kingdom of Heaven, be prepared to lose it now for the Gospel and Jesus’ sake.

Illuminations of readings for Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012.

First Lesson: Isaiah 35:4-7a
Israel gets good news from the prophet Isaiah: don’t be afraid, even though the fortunes of war have sent you into exile, and separated you from home and Temple. God is coming, with healing and comfort, and will lead you back. Earth and waters and all creation will show their joy.

Psalm 146
Traditionally titled “Praise for God’s Help,” today’s Psalm echoes the Isaiah reading: Praise God, who is always there to support us, to care for those in need and those who are oppressed, and who keeps promises. Alleluia!

Second Lesson: James 2:1-10, 14-17
Today’s reading from James repeats God’s commands: love your neighbor; clothe and feed the naked and the hungry; and show your faith by doing good works. Let’s think about James’s question: If a homeless person in dirty clothes were to walk into our service today, pushing a grocery basket, would we greet that person with our fabled St. Matthew’s hospitality? What would you do?

The Gospel: Mark 7:24-37
Jesus surprises us with unexpected actions in two miracle stories from Mark’s Gospel today. Is this the Jesus we love, who seems to sneer as he compares the Gentile woman’s children to dogs? Her simple response persuades him, and shows us the human side of a Jesus who learns. Then Jesus cures a deaf man … but warns everyone to keep quiet about it. This is a consistent theme in Mark. But why would Jesus want his miracles kept secret?

Illuminations of readings for Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012.

First Lesson: Song of Solomon 2:8-13
A love poem – what an unexpected thing to find in the Bible! From the book of love poems that tradition attributes to King Solomon, these verses sing of deep love between a woman and a man, but it can also be understood as telling of God’s love for Israel – and for us.

Second Lesson: James 1:17-27
Christian tradition attributes the letter of James to the apostle identified as Jesus’s brother. Although the time of its writing makes this appealing legend doubtful, the letter remains as one of the New Testament’s strongest calls to the social gospel, urging us to “reach out as Christ’s hands to the world”. As James says, don’t just hear the word, do it.