Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 2, 2024 (Pentecost 2B/Proper 4)

Jesus Heals the Man with a Withered Hand (1692), illumination in an Arabic manuscript of the Gospels copied in Egypt by Ilyas Basim Khuri Bazzi Rahib, probably a Coptic monk. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading (Track One): 1 Samuel 3:1-10

Our liturgy now moves into the long season after Pentecost. For six months we will walk with Jesus and the apostles, hearing Mark’s Gospel narrative of Jesus’ early ministry from Galilee to Jerusalem and the cross. During this season we have a choice of two “tracks” of Lectionary readings for first reading and the Psalm. Sunday’s first reading for Track One, which we also heard after Epiphany earlier this year, tells us of the young prophet Samuel, puzzled by a mysterious voice that calls him in the night that he eventually discerns as God’s call.

First Reading (Track Two): Deuteronomy 5:12-15

Sunday’s Track Two first reading foreshadows the Gospel with a passage about Sabbath from the First Testament’s “other” Ten Commandments narrative: not the familiar version in Exodus but a somewhat more extended list in Deuteronomy. While the Exodus version tells us to rest on the seventh day because God rested on the seventh day after the creation, this commandment is more nuanced: Because the people were once slaves who never had rest until God brought them out of Egypt, all creatures should rest and give thanks on the Sabbath – all the family, resident aliens, even slaves, and all the family livestock as well.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17

We heard this Psalm on the second Sunday after Epiphany. Now we repeat it on the second Sunday after Pentecost. God knows us as intimately as the potter knows his clay, the Psalmist sings. God knows our every thought, whatever we are doing, wherever we are; God knows every word that we speak and every idea that we imagine. Even before we were born, God knew us.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 81:1-10

This song of praise and joy to God who led the people out of Egypt imagines an orchestra of ancient instruments ringing out in exultation. Sing with joy, it shouts; raise a song with timbrel, harp, lyre, and ram’s horn to accompany the people’s voices in praise of God who heard the people’s voices and came to save them. Recalling the first commandment, we recall, “There shall be no strange god among you … I am the Lord your God.”

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:5-12

We will spend six weeks hearing passages from Paul’s second letter to the Christian community in Corinth, Greece. This shorter letter – actually several short epistles later combined in a single volume – was written several years after the first, and it follows what Paul calls “a painful” return visit with this beloved but often argumentative community. In this portion (perhaps the last of the letters), that quarrel seems behind them, and Paul offers beautiful words of encouragement for hope after despair and survival after loss. Death may come, as it did to Jesus, but life flourishes in us through the glory of God that makes the life of Jesus visible in our mortality.

Gospel: Mark 2:23-3:6

These two short narratives from early in Mark’s Gospel set a theme that will recur through Mark and through the Gospels: Jesus is not afraid to challenge authority, and Jesus has little patience for rote obedience to the rules – specifically rigid Pharisaical interpretations – when a practical need makes it more sensible to bend or ignore them. So we see Jesus and the disciples picking and eating grain on the Sabbath because they are hungry; then Jesus heals a man with a withered hand in the synagogue, as the Pharisees look on with angry horror and begin plotting ways to destroy him.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 6, 2021

First Reading (Track One): 1 Samuel 8:4-20,11:14-15

The six-month-long season after Pentecost now begins, with its green vestments and liturgical colors. The Lectionary offers a choice of two separate tracks of first readings and psalms during this season.

Christ among the Pharisees (1600s), oil painting on canvas by Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678). Sotheby’s, London. (Click image to enlarge.)

In Track One, our first readings for the next three months will recall the ancient stories of Israel’s kings from Saul to Solomon. Then, through the end of November we’ll dip into the Hebrew Bible’s wisdom literature, including the books of Job and Ruth. Sunday’s Track One first reading finds the chosen people in a time of turmoil in the Promised Land. Tired of being governed by corrupt judges, the people clamored for a king to lead them. The prophet Samuel opposed this idea, declaring that God was Israel’s king. But with God’s direct guidance, Samuel finally gave in and named Saul king, warning that the people would come to regret this decision.

First Reading (Track Two): Genesis 3:8-15

This Sunday we start the season after Pentecost, featuring the green liturgical colors that will continue until Advent begins at the end of November. During this time churches may choose either of two Lectionary tracks, each with its own First Readings and Psalms. In Sunday’s Track Two first reading, we hear the familiar story of Adam and Eve in the garden after having eaten the fruit that God forbade. They realized that they were naked, and hearing God coming, they hid because they were afraid. When God found them, they blamed each other, and then they blamed the snake. What would have happened if they refused to take the fruit? Would they have lived happily ever after in Eden? But when they lost their home in the garden, God came out with them, and stayed with a people of free will and belief through the ages.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 138

Even in the world outside Eden, a world of work and pain and hunger, we know that God remains with us. Even from on high, the Psalmist sings, God cares for the lowly. This lovely psalm of thanksgiving praises God and exults in gratitude that God stays with us when we are in trouble, and answers us when we call. In words that echo the familiar verses of the beloved 23rd Psalm, we hear that God keeps us safe even when we walk in the midst of trouble; God’s strong hand protects us from our enemies.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 130

Titled “De Profundis” (“out of the depths”), this Psalm of faith in God’s redemption reminds us that we wait in hope for God’s love and grace even in times of grief, pain and despair. Even in death we await the resurrection, as in night’s darkest hours we wait for morning light. We hear this psalm three times in this Lectionary cycle; it is also suggested for use in the burial of the dead, although it is surely chosen less often than the beloved 23rd Psalm.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

We may feel as if we live a life of affliction and wasting away in our fallen world, but that anguish is only momentary in the greater scheme of things, Paul assures the people of Corinth in his second letter to this tiny Greek seaport community. Just as God raised Jesus from the dead, God will raise us, too. The pain that we feel now is only temporary; through God’s grace we will live forever in God’s glory beyond all measure.

Gospel: Mark 3:20-35

After spending much of Lent and Eastertide hearing passages from the Gospel of John, we now return to Mark’s Gospel for the rest of this Lectionary year. We find Jesus where we left him, attracting crowds in his early ministry in Galilee. He’s in trouble with just about everyone, from Pharisees upset about his healing to his neighbors and his own family. No one is happy about his healings, his teaching, all the people following him around! His neighbors think Jesus has lost his mind, or maybe has a demon of his own. His family comes out in the street to try to calm him down. His responses surely would not make his mother and brothers happy: He tells them that his followers are his family now, and his work will take him out into a broken world.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for June 3, 2018

Christ heals the man with paralyzed hand (c.1180). Byzantine mosaic in the Cathedral of Monreale, Palermo, Sicily. (Click image to enlarge.)

Our liturgy now moves into the long season after Pentecost. For six months we will walk with Jesus and the apostles, hearing Mark’s Gospel narrative of Jesus’ early ministry from Galilee to Jerusalem and the cross. During this season we have a choice of two “tracks” of Lectionary readings for first reading and the Psalm. Sunday’s first reading for Track One, which we also heard after Epiphany earlier this year, tells us of the young prophet Samuel, puzzled by a mysterious voice that calls him in the night that he eventually discerns as God’s call.

First Reading (Track Two): Deuteronomy 5:12-15

Sunday’s Track Two first reading foreshadows the Gospel with a passage about Sabbath from the First Testament’s “other” Ten Commandments narrative: not the familiar version in Exodus but a somewhat more extended list in Deuteronomy. While the Exodus version tells us to rest on the seventh day because God rested on the seventh day after the creation, this commandment is more nuanced: Because the people were once slaves who never had rest until God brought them out of Egypt, all creatures should rest and give thanks on the Sabbath – all the family, resident aliens, even slaves, and all the family livestock as well.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17

We heard this Psalm on the second Sunday after Epiphany. Now we repeat it on the second Sunday after Pentecost. God knows us as intimately as the potter knows his clay, the Psalmist sings. God knows our every thought, whatever we are doing, wherever we are; God knows every word that we speak and every idea that we imagine. Even before we were born, God knew us.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 81:1-10

This song of praise and joy to God who led the people out of Egypt imagines an orchestra of ancient instruments ringing out in exultation. Sing with joy, it shouts; raise a song with timbrel, harp, lyre, and ram’s horn to accompany the people’s voices in praise of God who heard the people’s voices and came to save them. Recalling the first commandment, we recall, “There shall be no strange god among you … I am the Lord your God.”

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:5-12

We will spend six weeks hearing passages from Paul’s second letter to the Christian community in Corinth, Greece. This shorter letter – actually several short epistles later combined in a single volume – was written several years after the first, and it follows what Paul calls “a painful” return visit with this beloved but often argumentative community. In this portion (perhaps the last of the letters), that quarrel seems behind them, and Paul offers beautiful words of encouragement for hope after despair and survival after loss. Death may come, as it did to Jesus, but life flourishes in us through the glory of God that makes the life of Jesus visible in our mortality.

Gospel: Mark 2:23-3:6

These two short narratives from early in Mark’s Gospel set a theme that will recur through Mark and through the Gospels: Jesus is not afraid to challenge authority, and Jesus has little patience for rote obedience to the rules – specifically rigid Pharisaical interpretations – when a practical need makes it more sensible to bend or ignore them. So we see Jesus and the disciples picking and eating grain on the Sabbath because they are hungry; then Jesus heals a man with a withered hand in the synagogue, as the Pharisees look on with angry horror and begin plotting ways to destroy him.

What are “Track 1” and “Track 2”?
During the long green season after Pentecost, there are two tracks (or strands) each week for Old Testament readings. Within each track, there is a Psalm chosen to accompany the particular lesson.
The Revised Common Lectionary allows us to make use of either of these tracks, but once a track has been selected, it should be followed through to the end of the Pentecost season, rather than jumping back and forth between the two strands.
For more information from LectionaryPage.net, click here.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for June 7, 2015

Adam und Eva, Pavement mosaic, 1163, Cattedrale di Santa Maria Annunziata, Otranto.

Adam and Eve ate the fruit that God forbade. Then they realized that they were naked, and they probably figured out a lot more, too. Adam and Eve were scared. They covered their bodies, and hid. When God found them, there was plenty of blaming going on, starting with the snake. But what if Eve had simply told the serpent, “No”? Would the bible have ended right there? No. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and they lost their home in the garden. But God stayed with them, opening up the biblical narrative of free will and belief that leads down through all the prophets to Jesus … and us.

Psalm: Psalm 138

Even in the world outside Eden, a world of work and pain and hunger, we know that God remains with us. Speaking out of that broken world, the Psalmist praises God and thanks God for being with us when we are in trouble, for answering us when we call. In words that surely remind us of the beloved 23rd Psalm, we remember that God keeps us safe even when we walk in the midst of trouble; God’s strong hand protects us from our enemies.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

We may feel as if we live a life of affliction and wasting away in our fallen world, but that anguish is only momentary in the greater scheme of things, Paul assures the people of Corinth. Just as God raised Jesus from the dead, God will raise us, too. The pain that we feel now is only temporary; through God’s grace we will live forever in God’s glory beyond all measure.

Gospel: Mark 3:20-35

We return to Mark’s Gospel to find Jesus in his early ministry in Galilee, and he’s in trouble with his neighbors and his family. All this preaching! Touching lepers! Casting out demons! The neighbors think Jesus has gone crazy, or is possessed by a demon. His family comes out to try to calm him down. His responses probably did not make his mother and brothers happy, as he tells them that his followers are his family now, with work that takes him out into a broken world full of serpents and sinners.