Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Nov. 3, 2024 (Pentecost 24B/Proper 26)

Christ Among the Scribes (1587), triptych by Frans Francken I (1542-1616). Cathedral of our Lady, Antwerp, Belgium. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): Ruth 1:1-18

In the midst of the Hebrew Bible’s books that tell the stories of Israel and its kingdom, tucked in between Joshua and Judges, Samuel and Kings, we find the short, charming book of Ruth. These opening verses tell a love story about Ruth, a young Moabite widow, who follows her beloved mother-in-law, Naomi, back home to Bethlehem after Ruth’s husband’s death. In today’s verses – a passage often chosen for use in weddings – we hear Ruth promise Naomi that she will loyally stay with her: “Where you go, I will go; you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

First Reading (Track Two): Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Foreshadowing Sunday’s Gospel, our Track Two second reading tells of Moses giving the people the Shema, the short prayer that is central to Jewish worship in Jesus’ time and on to today: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” God commanded that the people keep this prayers in their hearts, teach it to their children, bind it to their hands and foreheads, and fix it on their doorposts.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 146

Singing the praise of God who cares for God’s people and loves us deeply, the Psalmist calls us to look beyond earthly rulers, who cannot help us in the long run. Rather, place our hope in God, creator of the earth and all that is in it, who reigns forever, the Psalmist sings. God’s caring justice favors the poor and the oppressed, those most in need: Hungry people, prisoners. those who are blind; the stranger, the widow, the orphan; those weighed down by life’s load. In caring for the least among us, as Jesus would later call on us to do, God cares for us all.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 119:1-8

Psalm 119, the longest of all the Psalms, devotes all its 176 verses to a consistent message: God’s decrees, God’s law and teaching given in the Torah, are wonderful, and following them makes us happy. The ideas that we hear today in the first eight verses of the Psalm continue throughout, and they echo the covenant between God and Moses at Mount Sinai: Those who follow God’s teaching and walk in God’s ways will be rewarded. Keep us steadfast in following this teaching, the Psalmist prays, asking in turn not to be forsaken.

Second Reading: Hebrews 9:11-14

We continue reading in the letter to the Hebrews, and the author is sticking with the theme we heard in last week’s passage: In his effort to bring backsliding Jewish converts back to the infant church, the author of Hebrews continues to lift up Jesus as a great high priest superior to the old high priests of the Temple. Jesus serves as priest in a perfect tent that is not part of this creation, we are told; he entered the Holy Place not through the blood sacrifice of goats and calves but with his own blood. Through this sacrifice, we are told, we all are purified in body and soul.

Gospel: Mark 12:28-34

A lot has happened since we left Jesus with the no longer blind Bartimaeus in Jericho last Sunday. We have skipped over Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem amid waving palms and high hosannas; Jesus has overturned the money changers’ tables and gotten into several arguments with the Scribes and Pharisees, who have started plotting to kill Jesus. But now another kind of scribe emerges. This scribe approaches Jesus kindly and asks him to name the greatest commandment. Jesus replies, as a proper rabbi should, with the Shema. Then he adds a second: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The scribe agrees, adding that all this is greater than burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for Nov. 7, 2021

First Reading (Track One): Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17

Ruth, the young Moabite widow introduced in last week’s first reading, has settled in Bethlehem with her widowed Israelite mother-in-law, Naomi.

Le denier de la veuve (The Widow’s Mite). Watercolor painting on graphite (1886-1894) by James Tissot (1836-1892). The Brooklyn Museum.(Click image to enlarge.)

In the tough world that widows and orphans faced in those times, one of them needs to find a husband to save the family from poverty. Through a bit of trickery suggested by Naomi, Ruth persuades her kinsman Moab to marry her. It works, and they have a child named Obed. Why is this little story placed in context with the books about Israel’s kings? The final verses unveil the answer: Obed will be the grandfather of King David, and thus he and his parents are in the genealogical line of Israel’s Messiah.

First Reading (Track Two): 1 Kings 17:8-16

Our Track Two readings start with the story of a poor widow who answers a difficult call from the Prophet Elijah. Both Lectionary tracks conclude with Mark’s story about another widow, the poor but generous woman who, in Jesus’ parable, gives all that she has to the Temple treasury. In this first reading, we hear of a widow who trusted God’s promise and shared her meager fare with Elijah, even though she had so little to eat that she believed she and her son would soon die of starvation. God provided, and her tiny portion of oil and meal proved sufficient to feed them all until the drought and famine ended.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 127

Psalm 127 delves into ideas of maintaining home and family that resonate with the story of Ruth. In the ancient Near East, it was difficult for a family to survive without strong sons to build the home, grow crops, and protect the family from invaders. Sons like these are gifts that can come only as a blessing from God, says the Psalmist. God builds the house, watches over the city like a watchman keeping vigil, and provides children as a gift to God’s people, a quiver full of God-given arrows to help protect against enemies.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 146

“Praise God, O my soul!” This ringing hymn of praise begins the first of the final five Psalms, a collection that concludes the book with powerful tones of exultation in God’s greatness. But after the first joyous verse its tone shifts to a theme of caution: Take care, for while God can always be trusted, earthly rulers cannot. We can count on God, our creator, to give hope to widows and orphans; help for the poor, justice for the oppressed, freedom for the prisoner, and help for those who are disabled, to those who are alone, and to strangers in strange lands.

Second Reading: Hebrews 9:24-28

The letter to the Hebrews continues in its extended elevation of the eternal sacrifice of Jesus, as opposed what its writer sees as the more transient sacrifices of the old Temple’s earthly high priests. The earthly high priest had to come back to the sanctuary every year to atone for his sins. This animal sacrifice was repeated over and over again “with blood that is not his own.” But Jesus, the letter goes on, having borne the sins of many, will appear a second time. He need not come to deal with sin – that has already been done in Jesus’s sacrifice once and for all – but to save his faithful people.

Gospel: Mark 12:38-44

Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem on his final journey, and he is challenging the religious and political establishment in ways that will turn them angrily against him. First he scorns the scribes for their arrogance and hypocrisy. He mocks them for flaunting their wealth and power with ostentatious dress and prayer while they “devour widows’ houses.” Then, as Jesus sits near the Temple treasury, watching believers make their donations, a poor widow appears. She has little, but in contrast with the scribes, she gives two small coins: all that she has. Jesus praises her, not for giving all that she had, but because she gave it from her heart. It was not the quantity but the quality of her giving that mattered.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Nov. 8, 2015

Elijah and the widow of Zarephath.

We can hardly miss the similarities between the poor widow who feeds Elijah, and the poor widow in Mark who gives all that she has to the Temple. In this reading, the widow trusted God’s promise and fed Elijah, even though she had so little to eat that she expected herself and her son to die of starvation. With God’s help, her meager ration fed them well for many days until a long drought ended. Now here’s a surprise: The woman was a foreigner, a Canaanite from Sidon, Israel’s hated enemy. Yet she trusted God’s word and was rewarded.

Psalm: Psalm 146

This Psalm begins as a hymn of praise to God. Then its theme changes: God can be trusted, but earthly rulers cannot. We place our hope in God, our creator, who gives hope to widows and orphans; help for the poor, justice for the oppressed, freedom for the prisoner, and help for those who are disabled, alone, strangers in strange lands. This is the pledge of God’s covenant with the people; these are the priorities that Jesus sets in his Way.

Second Reading: Hebrews 9:24-28

Hebrews again this week contrasts Jesus against earthly high priests and finds the latter wanting. The Temple, according to this account, is merely a copy of God’s domain, and its only-too-human high priest found it necessary to sacrifice animals on our behalf repeatedly, year after year, in a ritual that does not last. Jesus, on the other hand, sacrificed himself once for all. When Jesus returns, there’ll be no need for further sacrifice to deal with sin – that has already been done. Rather, Jesus will come to save all those who eagerly wait for him.

Gospel: Mark 12:38-44

Jesus is not impressed with the scribes’ ostentatious displays of piety and giving, and he is even less impressed by their hypocrisy or their predatory acts against widows and the weak. But the widow who gives up her two tiny coins makes Jesus happy. Why? It’s not about how much you give. It’s not about giving all that you have, even if Jesus did suggest just that approach in the parable of the rich young man. No, it’s about giving from your heart. The lesson for us is clear: It is not the quantity of our giving that matters. It is the quality of our giving that matters.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012.

First Reading: 1 Kings 17:8-16
It is fascinating that today’s lessons begin with a poor widow who answers a difficult call, and end with a similar story from Mark. Here, Elijah is hungry and thirsty, and God commands him to go to a poor widow who is a foreigner, not an Israelite – a directive that must have seemed strange. God commands the widow to feed Elijah, but she can’t understand, either. She has nothing but crumbs. There is a famine, and her son is dying. But they all trust in God, and a miracle follows. Her bit of oil and meal prove enough to feed everyone and to last until the drought ends. How will we respond when we have so little, yet God calls us to give so much?

Psalm 146
This opens the final quartet of Psalms, ending the book with ringing hymns of praise. It exults: “Praise God, O my soul!” But it also offers us quiet advice, as Americans conclude the messy business of electing our president. It’s fine to work within the system, and to celebrate if your candidate won. But the psalmist reminds us not to put all our trust in mortal princes … not even presidents. It’s God who will raise us up, God who will live forever. Praise the Lord!

Second Reading: Hebrews 9:24-28
As in last week’s reading in Hebrews, the author again highlights the differences between the sacrifice of Jesus and that of earthly high priests, who must sacrifice animals and repeat their sacrifices on our behalf over and over again. Jesus will return, he promises, not to deal with sin – that has already been done in Jesus’s sacrifice once and for all – but to save his faithful people.

Gospel: Mark 12:38-44
Jesus is in Jerusalem on his final journey, and he is challenging the establishment. First he scorns the scribes for their arrogance and hypocrisy. Then we hear the story of the widow’s mite: The poor widow has little, but unlike the scribes, she gives everything she has. That wins Jesus’s praise. Everything she has. Is Jesus repeating the advice he gave the rich young man in a recent reading? “Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor.” Really?