Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for March 19, 2023 (Lent 4A)

First Reading: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

Through Sunday’s Lectionary readings we reflect on light and sight: What do we see, and how do we see it?

In our first reading, we learn that God has rejected Saul as king of Israel. Now God sends a rather unwilling Samuel to take on the risky chore of finding a successor to Saul. God sends Samuel to Jesse the Bethlehemite, among whose eight sons God has chosen the next king. Samuel examines seven of the young men, one at a time, but doesn’t find God’s chosen one. Asking if there is any other, Samuel discovers David, Jesse’s youngest son, who had seemed such an unlikely choice that he had been sent to watch the sheep. But God saw the spirit in David that the others could not detect. David is to become king and will be next in the Messiah’s line.

Psalm: Psalm 23

Who doesn’t know and love the 23rd Psalm? It brings comfort in time of trouble and trial, reminding us that in our darkest hours and most threatening times, God walks with us, protects us and comforts us. Ancient tradition held that David himself wrote these verses. Most modern scholars doubt that. But kings and commoners alike can take joy from knowing that God’s rod and staff comfort us, and God’s goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives.

Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14

This short letter, probably written in Paul’s name a generation or more after his death, contains some problems for modern Christians who take it out of its historical and cultural context. It appears to sanction slavery, for example, and it firmly puts women in their place as “subject” to their husbands. Sunday’s short passage, however, offers a poetic view of light against darkness. Perhaps echoing John’s vision of Jesus as the light shining in the darkness, it points us toward the Gospel about the man born blind.

Gospel: John 9:1-41

For millennia many humans have held on to the troubling idea that blindness and other disabilities are God’s way of punishing a person’s sins or even the sins of their ancestors. In this Gospel, Jesus makes it clear that God does no such thing. In a long narrative we hear the intriguing details about how Jesus healed the man with a mixture of mud and saliva spread on his eyes and washed in a pool. Then Jesus disappears from the narrative, leaving us to listen in on a long and fruitless discussion among the Pharisees, the no-longer-blind man, and his family. Finally Jesus returns, and his words make clear that God works in the world through grace, not punishment, and that the miracle of healing cannot come from sin or evil.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for March 26, 2017

First Reading: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

In the first three Sundays of Lent, our readings have turned our attention to temptation and sin, faith and trust, and thirst. Now we reflect on light and sight: What do we see, and how do we see it? In our first reading, we learn that God has rejected Saul as king of Israel, and will send Samuel, the prophet and judge, to take on the risky chore of finding Saul’s successor. Saul rejects the sons of Jesse the Bethlehemite, one after another, before reaching David, Jesse’s youngest son, who had seemed such an unlikely choice that he had been sent to watch the sheep while his older brothers met Samuel. But God saw the spirit in David that the others could not see. David becomes king and next in the Messiah’s line.

Psalm 23

It is difficult for Christians to hear the comforting verses of the 23rd Psalm without envisioning Jesus as the Good Shepherd. After all, John’s Gospel tells us outright that Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Ancient tradition, though, holds that King David wrote these lines himself, speaking of a subject that he would have known well as a boyhood shepherd. In fact, it’s most likely that ancient rabbis in exile wrote the song, thinking of a future earthly Messiah who would restore Jerusalem and the Temple. No matter how we read it, we all can rest in the joy of knowing that God’s rod and staff comfort us, and God’s goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives.

Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14

The short letter to the church in Ephesus was probably actually written by a follower in Paul’s name a few decades after his death. Today’s reading offers a poetic view of light against darkness, a fitting metaphor to accompany today’s Gospel about the man born blind who learned to see what the Pharisees could not see.

Gospel: John 9:1-41

Speaking of harsh ideas that linger from ancient times, it is hard to overcome the false idea that blindness and other disabilities are God’s way of punishing our sins or even the sins of our ancestors. Standing strongly against this old belief, Jesus’ makes it quite clear that God does no such thing. In the long narrative that follows the intriguing details of Jesus healing through a mud mixture washed in a specific pool, we hear Jesus, the Pharisees and the no-longer-blind man make it clear that God works in the world through grace, not punishment, and that the miracle of healing cannot come from sin or evil. “We once were lost, but now are found … were blind, but now we see.”

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, March 30, 2014

First Reading: 1 Samuel 16:1-13
God is no longer satisfied with King Saul, so Samuel, prophet and judge, gets orders to find the new king that God has chosen. It takes a while for him to work his way down to David, a handsome lad but the youngest of Jesse’s sons, so far down Samuel’s list that he had been left out in the fields to watch the sheep. Christians celebrate this story because prophets foretold that the Messiah would come in David’s line. But it also offers us a simple lesson for our daily lives: “Don’t judge a book by its cover. Look inside and learn.”

Psalm: Psalm 23

Who doesn’t know and love the 23rd Psalm? It brings comfort in time of trouble and trial, reminding us that in our darkest hours and most threatening times, God walks with us, protects us and comforts us. Ancient tradition held that David himself wrote these verses. Most modern scholars doubt that. But kings and commoners alike can take joy from knowing that God’s rod and staff comfort us, and God’s goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives.

Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14
This short letter, probably written in Paul’s name a generation or more after his death, contains some problems for modern Christians who take it out of its historical and cultural context. It appears to sanction slavery, for example, and it firmly puts women in their place as “subject” to their husbands. Today’s short reading, however, offers a poetic view of light against darkness, perhaps echoing John’s vision of Jesus as the light shining in the darkness, and pointing us toward today’s Gospel about the man born blind.

Gospel: John 9:1-41
Speaking of harsh ideas that linger from ancient times, the sad notion that blindness and other disabilities reflect God’s punishment for one’s sins or the sins of one’s parents has been hard to overcome, despite Jesus’ emphasis that God does no such thing. Rather, the very words that the man born blind utters upon his healing make the case for grace, not punishment, as we hear them in one of Christianity’s most beloved hymns: “I once was lost, but now am found … Was blind, but now I see.”