Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sept. 4, 2016

First Reading: Jeremiah 18:1-11

Our first reading and Gospel today might seem to turn our ideas of a protective God and a peaceful Jesus upside down. Here, God shows Jeremiah an artisan, a creator, who fashions pots from clay and who is not reluctant to smash and re-make an unsatisfactory creation. If the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem do not turn back from their evil ways, God, like a cosmic potter, will shape evil against the people and bring disaster upon them.

First Reading (Track Two): Deuteronomy 30:15-20

The chosen people, looking back on 40 years wandering in the wilderness, have finally reached the banks of the Jordan. Before they make their fateful crossing into the promised land, Moses gathers them all and reminds them of the covenant they made with God when they received the Ten Commandments at Sinai: If you love God, walk in God’s ways, and follow God’s laws, you will prosper. But turn away from God and you will lose the land and God’s blessings.

Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17

God knows us as intimately as the potter knows his clay. God knows our every thought, whatever we are doing, wherever we are, the Psalmist sings; God knows every word that we speak and every idea that we imagine. Even before we were born, God knew us. This Psalm neither gives explicit thanks for God’s deep knowledge of our every moment nor imagines how this knowledge affects our daily lives. No, the mere fact of God’s knowing us is sufficient in itself.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 1

The first of the 150 ancient hymns that make up the glorious book of Psalms sets forth a premise that will continue throughout: Those who choose to follow God’s laws, God’s teaching, will be as strong and prosperous as trees growing by rivers, fruitful and long-lived. Those who follow wicked ways will perish, blown away like dead leaves and the chaff of wheat. This is a simple restatement of the covenant of Sinai that the people heard on the banks of Jordan in our first reading.

Second Reading: Philemon 1-21

Today we hear almost all of Paul’s brief letter to Philemon. This may be the shortest epistle in the New Testament, but it has borne heavy historic weight, as it was sadly misunderstood for centuries as giving biblical approval to slavery. We might wish that Paul had given a more powerful argument against slavery; but he does what he can in the cultural context of his times, gently guiding the slave holder Philemon to a deeper truth as his runaway slave Onesimus, Paul’s friend, returns to his master: Among Christians, even slaves are more than slaves; they are beloved brothers and sisters in the flesh and in the Lord, and should be greeted with love.

Gospel: Luke 14:25-33

Tension is rising as Jesus continues his journey toward Jerusalem and the cross. The crowds that have been following him since he set his face toward Jerusalem are growing larger and more excited, and we’ll soon learn that the Romans and Temple leaders are nervous about this uproar headed toward the capital at Passover. Jesus wants the crowd to know that it will not be easy to follow him on this journey. Do we really have to “hate” our families and give up everything we have to follow Jesus? Don’t start a job that we can’t finish, Jesus warns. We have to follow him with our whole hearts, not just halfway.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, Aug. 25, 2013.

First Reading: Isaiah 58:9b-14
Dig deeper into Isaiah and we find that this great book contains the words of three prophets, bible scholars say: One who prophesied the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the temple; one who prophesied from exile in Babylon; and the speaker of today’s verses, who prophesied after the return, when the temple was wreckage and the people were having a hard time settling back in. God will help us, the third Isaiah promises; but we must be just, share with the needy and care for the afflicted. Do all this, and honor the Sabbath, and Judah’s ancient glory will be restored.

Psalm: Psalm 103
Surely the Israelites sang this hymn upon their arrival home from exile, and its message of thanksgiving has made it a favorite of God’s people down through the ages. Remember that God forgives us, heals us and redeems us, the Psalmist exults. We can count on God’s mercy and grace, gentle spirit and abundant love. Thanks be to God!

Second Reading: Hebrews 12:18-29
This is the third of a four-week series of Second Readings from Hebrews, a letter that bible historians believe was originally intended to persuade First Century Christians fearful of Roman persecution from returning to what may have seemed the safer haven of Judaism. While God’s voice shook the earth when Moses received the First Covenant at Sinai, the author assures us that God now gives through Christ a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Gospel: Luke 13:10-17
As an observant Jew and charismatic rabbi, Jesus knew well and faithfully followed the law demanding observance of the Sabbath, consistent with Isaiah’s call in the First Reading. But his compassion for a painfully disabled woman compelled him to heal her, right there in the synagogue, while he was preaching! The authorities were outraged, but Jesus reminded them that they wouldn’t hesitate to protect their own property on the Sabbath. Why should a woman in pain for 18 years have to wait another hour? This story, continuing Luke’s ten-chapter narrative of Jesus’s journey from Galilee to Jerusalem and the cross, has a deeper subtext: It shows the growing tension between Jesus and temple and state authorities that would culminate with his passion and death on the cross.