Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for July 10, 2022 (Pentecost 5C)

First Reading (Track One): Amos 7:7-17

Love God and love our neighbors. We hear echoes of this great commandment in all of Sunday’s readings, leading up to Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan as told by Luke.

In our Track One first reading, we meet Amos, a cranky prophet who prophesies to Amaziah and Jeroboam, the high priest and king of Israel. Amos warns them that God is going to lay waste to this land that God once protected. These unwilling leaders tell Amos to go back home to Judah and prophecy there, but Amos won’t stop insisting that Israel has failed to be righteous. Just as a priest and a Levite fail to help the injured man on the road to Jericho in this day’s Gospel, the people of Israel in Amos’ time failed to love their neighbors as themselves.

First Reading (Track Two): Deuteronomy 30:9-14

Our Track Two first reading reminds us of the deep history and tradition of the commandment to love God with all our hearts and with all our souls. The selected verses from Deuteronomy reminded Israel that God takes delight in assuring their prosperity because they turn to God “with all your heart and with all your soul.” These are the very words with which the lawyer in this week’s Gospel would respond to Jesus’ invitation to describe the law. Just as Jesus taught the parable of the Good Samaritan, the most basic summary of the law – Torah – is to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Psalm (Track One): Psalm 82

In verses that align with the parable of the Good Samaritan in the Gospel, the Psalmist sings of a God who presides over all nations. God reminds us of the law’s basic command: “Save the weak and the orphan; defend the humble and needy. Rescue the weak and the poor; deliver them from the power of the wicked.”

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 25:1-9

In this Psalm we lift up our souls and place our trust in God, asking for protection against our enemies and those who would humiliate us. This may seem far afield from the Good Samaritan’s action, but the Psalm soon turns, recalling God’s everlasting compassion and steadfast love. As God guides the humble and shows the lowly God’s way, so are we called to keep God’s covenant to love our neighbors as the Samaritan did.

Second Reading: Colossians 1:1-14

This week we begin the letter to the Colossians, members of a church community in Colossae in Asia Minor (now Turkey), probably written by a later follower in Paul’s name. In these opening verses, the writer greets the Colossians with hopeful, prayerful words: He prays for them constantly. He is glad that their new faith is bearing fruit. He prays that they will grow in good works and knowledge of God, that they will gain strength, and that they will be prepared to endure whatever comes their way thanks to their love of Christ.

Gospel: Luke 10:25-37

Imagine the parable of the Good Samaritan from a new perspective: Put yourself in the place of the injured person on the side of the road. You are injured, bleeding, scared. Then someone approaches you … a person you would normally cross the street to avoid. How do you feel? And then they tenderly nurse your wounds and take you for help at their expense. How would you feel? How would this experience change you? That’s Jesus’ point here. Remember the context too: Jesus tells this parable as an answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” When Jesus utters Torah’s command to love our neighbor, he means to move everyone: Not just the friend who looks and thinks and acts like us, but those who are different; even those we consider enemies.

Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for July 14, 2019

First Reading (Track One): Amos 7:7-17

The great commandment to love God and to love our neighbor echoes through our Sunday readings, culminating in the beloved story of the Good Samaritan.

We have to listen closely to find its shadow in our Track One first reading, though, as we hear the angry prophet Amos foretelling gloom and destruction, warning of an angry God who threatens to lay waste to the promised land that God once protected. Amaziah and Jeroboam, the high priest and king of Israel, want Amos to shut up, go home to Judea, and leave them alone. Why is Amos so angry? Israel has failed to be righteous. Like the priest and the Levite in the Good Samaritan story, the people of Israel have failed to love their neighbors as themselves, and that broke Israel’s covenant with God.

First Reading (Track Two): Deuteronomy 30:9-14

Our Track Two first reading reminds us of the deep history and tradition of the commandment to love God with all our hearts and with all our souls. These verses from Deuteronomy reminded the people that God took delight in assuring their prosperity because they turn to God with just this abundance of love. Indeed, we hear these same words again in Sunday’s Gospel when the lawyer responds to Jesus’ invitation to describe the law. And just as Jesus goes on to demonstrate in the parable of the Good Samaritan, the most basic instruction of the law – Torah, God’s beloved teaching – is to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Psalm: (Track One): Psalm 82

The great commandment to love God and to love our neighbor runs like a great river through both testaments. Moreover, Scripture leaves us in no doubt whatsoever that this duty to our neighbor is directed preferentially to the weak, the poor and the oppressed. The Psalmist sings, “Give justice to the weak and the orphan … the lowly and the destitute … the weak and the needy.” Just as Jesus showed us in the parable of the Good Samaritan, so are we called to love our neighbors – all of our neighbors – as we love God.

Psalm (Track Two): Psalm 25:1-9

Attributed by tradition to King David, this Psalm of praise expresses the joy of holding up our hearts and souls with willing trust in God’s everlasting compassion and steadfast love. The Psalmist’s call for protection against their enemies and those who would humiliate them may seem far afield from the Good Samaritan’s action, but the Psalm soon turns, calling on God to lead us in truth and teach us. As God guides the humble and teaches God’s way to the lowly and to sinners, so are we called to keep God’s covenant to love our neighbors as the Samaritan did.

Second Reading: Colossians 1:1-14

Today we begin a three-week visit with the letter to the people of Colossae, a small city in Asia Minor (now Turkey). Although the letter’s opening phrases name Paul as author, most modern Bible scholars believe this letter was written by a follower. The letter begins with hopeful, prayerful words: He prays for them constantly. He is glad that their new faith is bearing fruit. He prays that they will love one another, grow in good works and knowledge of God, gain strength, and be prepared to endure whatever comes their way for their love of Christ.

Gospel: Luke 10:25-37

This week, try thinking of the story of the Good Samaritan in a new way: Put yourself in the place of the injured person on the side of the road. You are injured, bleeding, and worried. Then someone different and scary approaches you, a person you would cross the street to avoid under normal circumstances. How do you feel? And then when they tenderly nurse your wounds and take you for help at their expense. How would you feel? How would this experience change you? Take note, too, that this parable does not come out of nowhere. It is Jesus’ answer to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus reiterates the fundamental commandment to view everyone as our neighbor. Not just the friend who looks and thinks and acts like us, but those who are different, and even those we think of as enemies.

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 19, 2016

First Reading: 1 Kings 19:1-15

The prophet Elijah was bold and strong. He fought the priests of Baal, and he spoke truth to the power of evil King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Elijah was kind. He called on God to make a poor widow’s food last for months and restore her son to life. And at the end of his story , he is taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot. Today, though, we see Elijah worn down and afraid of Jezebel’s revenge. At the brink of despair, he hides under a broom tree and begs God to take his life. But God sends winds, an earthquake and fire to get Elijah back to God’s work.

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

We near the end of Isaiah’s long book of prophecy, and the prophet has called on God to withhold God’s 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, God will repay. But God 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 42 and 43

Today’s connected Psalms speak in poetic language, filled with lamentation but ending 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, though, faith wins as he begs God to send out God’s light and truth, and lead him to God’s holy hill.

Psalm 22:18-27

In words that seem consistent with God’s response to Isaiah’s plea, today’s Psalm calls on God to stay close, to protect the people from danger, from the sword and from wild animals. All the congregation, praise the lord; 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

Paul continues laying out his argument for accepting Gentiles into the infant church without requiring them to strictly follow Jewish law. Gentiles are in no way second-class Christians, he proclaims: 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 of us are heirs to God’s covenant with Abraham.

Gospel: Luke 8:26-39

Luke’s account of Jesus sending a man’s demons into a herd of pigs may seem a little strange to us, but it might have made Luke’s 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. But consider the context of recent readings, and we suddenly see Jesus offering love and grace to a Roman centurion, a sinful woman, and now a ritually unclean man. Luke wants us to see clearly, as Paul did in Galatians, that God’s love is unlimited and available to all.

Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, June 9, 2013.

First Reading: 1 Kings 17:8-16, (17-24)
Struggling to survive a lengthy drought, the prophet Elijah follows God’s instructions to travel outside Israel to a Gentile town called Zarephath, where an elderly widow and her starving little boy will share their meager food with him. The widow is understandably not eager, but upon Elijah’s command, her tiny portions of meal and oil prove sufficient to feed them all. When the little boy dies just the same, the widow is truly angry, but Elijah – with God’s help – restores his life, prompting her to recognize him as a man of God who speaks God’s truth. In moving to protect a widow and child in poverty, God shows love for the weakest and most vulnerable, a truth that runs all through scripture.

Psalm: Psalm 146
This is another of the final five Psalms that conclude the book in a roaring chorus of praise for the glory of God. This psalm takes particular note of God’s righteousness; God’s preferential care for the weakest and most vulnerable of society. God protects the oppressed, the hungry, the prisoner; the blind and those who are bowed down; and, not least, the stranger, the widow and the orphan – like the widow of Zarephath and her child.

Second Reading: Galatians 1:11-24
In these verses that follow last Sunday’s reading from Galatians, Paul continues pushing back against other evangelists who came to Galatia after he left and taught a less inclusive Gospel. The competitors demanded that Jesus-followers follow all the details of Jewish law, but Paul has heard a different message from the Spirit, and he is on fire to preach it. Paul lays out the strength of his credentials, reminding the Galatians that he was once one of the most ardent persecutors of Christianity, but now he proclaims Jesus to the Gentiles through revelation not from humans but direct from God.

Gospel: Luke 7:11-17
We hear familiar echoes of Elijah and the widow and child in this story from Luke, which comes next in Luke’s Gospel after last week’s story of Jesus healing the Roman centurion’s servant. Much like the widow in Elijah’s story and, for that matter, like the centurion, this woman responds to her son’s new life with shouts of joy, declaring Jesus a prophet and a man of God.