Pentecost 2C

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for June 22, 2025 (Pentecost 2C/Proper 7)

Exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac

Exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac (early sixth century), mosaic in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy.

First Reading (Track One): 1 Kings 19:1-15

This Sunday we return to the long season after Pentecost. Although it was once called “ordinary time,” we should not think of it as less important than the liturgical seasons around the Incarnation at Christmas or the Resurrection at Easter. Now the life and works of Jesus come to the fore. Our Track One first readings during this season will draw from the prophets of the Hebrew Bible. We begin with Elijah, a bold prophet who fought the priests of Baal and spoke truth to King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel. In this reading, fleeing an angry Jezebel’s revenge, Elijah is worn down and afraid. Fighting despair, he hides under a broom tree and begs God to take his life. But God has other plans and sends winds, an earthquake, and fire to get Elijah back to God’s work.

First Reading (Track Two): Isaiah 65:1-9

The season after Pentecost, with its green liturgical colors, now begins. In the past six months, we have marked the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Now we begin almost six months following the life and works of Jesus as told by Luke. In our Track Two first reading, we are near the end of Isaiah’s great book of prophecy. God, speaking through the prophet, is angry because the people who returned from exile are already breaking the covenant, ignoring the Law, eating unclean food, and even worshiping idols. God is beyond anger and is ready to kill them all. But God will be just: Those who have been rebellious, who have provoked God’s anger, must pay with their lives. But God will not destroy them all. A remnant will remain to inherit Zion, God’s holy hill.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 42 and 43

We sing two connected Psalms in Track One this Sunday. The initial hymns in the second of five books within the Psalms resonate with beautiful poetic language. Both are filled with lamentation, yet they end at last in hope and faith. The Psalmist’s soul longs for God as a deer longs for water; his soul thirsts for God. But when faith falters, the Psalmist asks over and over why God has forgotten him. Finally, faith wins as he begs God to send out light and truth and lead him to God’s holy hill.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 22:18-27

This passage from Psalm 22 feels consistent with God’s response to Isaiah’s plea in the first reading not to slay all of Israel. We call on God to stay close, to protect the people from danger, from the sword, and from wild animals. Let all the congregation praise the Lord, we sing. Let Israel stand in awe of God and know that God works justice and righteousness to all who seek and praise God, not least the hungry poor who seek God for protection and food.

Second Reading: Galatians 3:23-29

In his letter to the churches of Galatia (a region in Asia Minor that now includes Ankara, Turkey), Paul makes a strong argument to the communities’ largely Gentile new Christians: Gentiles are welcome into the infant church, and they need not strictly follow Jewish laws. They need not keep kosher nor be circumcised. Gentiles are in no way second-class Christians, Paul proclaims, in beautiful, inclusive language that rings through the ages: There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of us are one in Jesus. All are heirs to God’s covenant with Abraham.

Gospel: Luke 8:26-39

Having just landed in a Gentile community on the far side of the Sea of Galilee, following a stormy trip in which Jesus calmed the fierce waters, Jesus and the disciples encounter a noisy, scary man, naked and in chains. The man, or perhaps the legion of demons within, loudly greets Jesus as “Son of the Most High God.” Jesus sends the man’s demons into a herd of pigs, who rush into the Sea of Galilee and drown! This odd story may seem strange to us, but it might have made Luke’s original audience laugh: Its allusions to the hated Roman army in the name of the demon, “Legion,” residing in a naked man living in the ritually unclean setting of tombs and swine, would have seemed hilarious. Luke is likely making clear, as Paul did in Galatians, that God’s love through Jesus is unlimited and available to all.

What are “Track 1” and “Track 2”?
During the long green season after Pentecost, there are two alternative tracks each week for the Hebrew Bible reading. 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 tracks.
For more information from LectionaryPage.net, click here
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Pentecost 2C

Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for June 19, 2022 (Pentecost 2C)

First Reading (Track One): 1 Kings 19:1-15

The long season after Pentecost with its green vestments and altar colors now begins. In the past six months we have marked the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Now we begin almost six months of following the life and works of Jesus as told by Luke.

Jesus, the Gerasene, and the Unclean Spirits

Jesus, the Gerasene, and the Unclean Spirits (1594), book plate by Luke the Cypriot (active 1583-1625). Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. (Click image to enlarge.)

Our Track One first readings during this season will draw from the prophets of the Hebrew bible. We begin with Elijah, a bold prophet who fought the priests of Baal and spoke truth to King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel. In this reading we find Elijah fleeing an angry Jezebel’s revenge, worn down and afraid. Fighting despair, he hides under a broom tree and begs God to take his life. But God has other plans, and sends winds, an earthquake and fire to get Elijah back to God’s work.

First Reading (Track One): Isaiah 65:1-9

We now return to the long season after Pentecost. Although this was once called “ordinary time,” we should not think of it as a less important liturgical season than the Incarnation at Christmas or the Resurrection at Easter: Now the life and works of Jesus come to the fore. In our Track Two first reading we are close to the end of Isaiah’s long book of prophecy. The prophet has called on God to withhold anger, even though the people have broken the covenant and behaved badly. God responds: Those who have been rebellious, who have provoked God’s anger, earned punishment. But that punishment will be just and righteous: “I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all.” A remnant will remain to inherit Zion, God’s holy hill.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 42 and 43

In two Psalms in sequence we hear poetic language, filled with lamentation but ending in hope and faith. The Psalmist’s soul longs for God as a deer longs for water. His soul thirsts for God. But when faith falters, the Psalmist asks over and over why God has forgotten him. Finally faith wins as he begs God to send out God’s light and truth, and lead him to God’s holy hill.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 22:18-27

In praiseful phrases that sound a distant echo to God’s response to Isaiah’s plea, this passage from Psalm 22 calls on God to stay close to the people, to protect them from danger, from the sword and from wild animals. All the congregation, praise the Lord, the Psalmist prays: Let Israel stand in awe of God and know that God works justice and righteousness for all who seek and praise God, particularly the hungry poor who come seeking protection and food.

Second Reading: Galatians 3:23-29

In this beautifully worded letter to the predominantly Gentile Christian community of Galatia, near what is now Ankara, Turkey, Paul makes a strong plea: You Gentiles are welcome in this young but growing church. You need not strictly follow the laws of Judaism. You need not keep kosher nor be circumcised. Gentiles are in no way second-class Christians, Paul proclaims, in beautiful, inclusive language that echoes through the ages: There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of us are one in Jesus. All are heirs to God’s covenant with Abraham.

Gospel: Luke 8:26-39

This passage from Luke’s Gospel must have made its original audience laugh, with its allusions to the hated Roman army in the name of the demon, “Legion,” residing in a naked man living among tombs with swine, a litany of conditions that they would have considered unclean. When Jesus begins a conversation with the demons, they bargain with him, asking to be cast into the swine, which then charge into the sea and drown. This obviously does not sit well with the herd of swine’s owners, who ask Jesus to go away. And then the now-healed man wants to follow Jesus, but Jesus tells him to go back to his people instead and tell them what God has done. What’s going on in this strange story? Perhaps Luke wants us to see clearly, as Paul did in Galatians, that God’s love is unlimited and available to all.

Pentecost 2C

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for May 29, 2016

Christ Heals the Centurion's Servant

Christ Heals the Centurion’s Servant. Sebastiano Ricci, oil on canvas, 1726-29; The Prague National Gallery.

First Reading: 1 Kings 18:20-39

This Sunday we return to Ordinary Time, six months of liturgically green Sundays that last until Advent. We return to the Gospel of Luke where we left off before Easter, and follow Jesus’ life to the days before his last week in Jerusalem. Our First Testament readings move through Israel’s ancient history in 1 and 2 Kings to a tour of the prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Jeremiah, followed by a quick sampler from other, minor prophets. Our New Testament readings will offer us the writings of Paul and other leaders of the early church in Galatians, Colossians, Hebrews, Philemon, 1 and 2 Timothy, and 2 Thessalonians. Today’s First Reading from 1 Kings tells the ancient story of the Prophet Elijah calling down God’s power to bring a wandering people back from their fascination with the pagan god Baal.

Psalm 96

The Lectionary usually chooses a Psalm to fit the spirit of the day’s other readings, and this exultant song of praise for God and God’s greatness fits in well with the 1 Kings account of Elijah demonstrating God’s power and might: God’s glory is declared among all the nations, not to Israel alone. God is great, God is greatly to be praised, and God “is more to be feared than all gods.” The gods of the other nations – surely including Baal of the Canaanites – are only idols.

Second Reading: Galatians 1:1-12

There’s trouble in Galatia, and Paul is righteously angry. Paul loved the people of this church, but after he moved on to his next mission, meddlers arrived with false teachings: a new and contrary gospel, confusing and perverting the Gospel of Christ that Paul had taught! Paul’s revelation came to him directly from Christ, he proclaims. Curse the false gospel and those who proclaim it! Watch this theme develop as we spend six weeks with Galatians.

Gospel: Luke 7:1-10

Roman centurions appear several times in Luke’s Gospel and his Acts; and somewhat surprisingly they are regarded favorably, even though they were ranking officers in the hated, occupying Roman army. This event comes immediately after Jesus has taught love of neighbor in the Beatitudes. Perhaps Jesus’ recognition of this Roman’s faith shows the world that Jesus has come for all the nations.