Words Twice a Week 6.3
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Some thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday – Proper 5
So as we get to this time after Pentecost, the lectionary gives us choices for the Old Testament lessons and the psalm. One track follows through one of the Old Testament stories, in the other the Old Testament lessons are chosen to coordinate with the gospel lesson. So I am going to just pick and choose from the options, which ever ones seem interesting to me. And as always, the psalms are chosen to supposedly coordinate with the Old Testament lesson, but I think the psalms can stand on their own, so sometimes we’ll look at it/them first, sometimes second. For this week that means
Psalm 138
1 Samuel 8.4-20, 11.14-15
Genesis 3.8-15
Mark 3.20-35
Psalm 138
+ a psalm of thanksgiving, with praise and a petition. Vs 1-3 is a personal perspective, vs 4-6 is from a kingly perspective, and then vs 7-8 are a concluding word of confidence in God and a petition. It may be that in vs 1-3 it is meant to be the king speaking.
+ vs 2 – “I worship at the temple and give thanks.” How do we give thanks, express gratitude in our worship. With printed prayers? Reciting the psalm? With opportunity for people to voice gratefulness for specific things? With songs of praise? How does that work for you?
+ God will be famous, well known. Is being well known, or respected, or obeyed the issue? Or, if God is known then God would be followed, obeyed?
+ “Kings will praise you” They will sing about what you have done, instead of what they have done?
+ God cares for the humble, and keeps watch from afar over the proud? And does what?
+ “We are surrounded by trouble” – I can go along with that! “You keep me safe”. Well…..
+ “You have made us what we are”/”Do not forsake the work of your hands” – it recalls the idea from several months ago the God loves what God has created and will not let death tear it down.
+ “love and faithfulness” – key aspects of God’s character. One writer expresses it “God’s utter, active reliability.” What about that “active”? Do you see God acting in our world today? Where? How?
Samuel 8.4-20, 11.14-15
+ Israel’s elders ask for a king. This story really started last week with the call of Samuel (1 Sam 3.1-20) It’s neat because there are similarities between that story from Samuel’s childhood and this story from Samuel’s old age. In short, Eli was the priest and had two sons who were corrupt and the child Samuel was the messenger to tell him that God was turning away from Eli’s line. Now Samuel is old and his two sons are corrupt and the elders come asking that Samuel’s line not continue.
+ so again we are looking at the time after a dominant leader – a disruptive and tumultuous time. Is the issue here religious – a human king vs God as King – or is it political – a king vs Samuel’s sons?
+ and there are two views of kingship in the Old Testament – in one the king is a shepherd to save and guide God’s people, in the other it is a human usurping God’s rightful place.
+ check the story of Gideon and his son in Judges 8 and 9!
+ the passage is brutally realistic about the price of a centralized government, (and worth adding in vs 12-15 which the lectionary gives us the option of leaving out – lay it on the line, Samuel!) but in the historical context, without the centralization of power there would have been no way to resist the Philistines. Or trust in “God’s utter, active reliability”? It’s an issue that continues on through the ages to our time. “To be honest, there are few in our time who can fault Samuel’s contemporaries, for the history of the world is too full of peaceful persons who have been led to the slaughter by their more powerful and aggressive neighbors. Or, maybe if they would just each have had a gun?
+ so where is the best path between capitalism, democracy, socialism, dictatorship? What are our choices today?
+ and here’s an interesting observation – Samuel was not a warrior. On one occasion, the Philistines are routed after Samuel offers sacrifice and prayers (1 Sam 7.7-14). Did Israel (do we) need moral, spiritual leadership or a skilled and powerful army? What do we have?
+ there are no heroes in the story, and no anti-heroes, simply morally ambiguous characters in a difficult and confused context. One commentator notes “Too many of our moral debates (for example, right to life/pro-choice; sexual orientation; [masking and vaccinating – me]) lack the tentativeness that is necessary for the application of justice in complex communities. Ironically and tragically, without this tentativeness, ideals of justice can themselves become unjust.”
+ how much did Israel want a king in order to be like other nations?
+ “The people of God, no matter how great their dedication (and that is always questionable!) cannot resist the urge to take God’s matters into their own hands. Nor should they! For simply to repose in the expectation that God will take care of all the hard issues of life is a thinly veiled form of escapism. We shall work for the kingdom, because me must. Yet, even as we do so, we are forced to admit that it is not we, but God, who will eventually bring the kingdom into perfect realization. Our efforts, while useful, are inevitably distorted and sinful….” Texts for Preaching
+ “So to the question, Will Israel have a king – a human institution – like the other nations? The answer is Yes, so long as Israel is in the world, she will have human institutions.” And to the question, will the followers of Jesus have institutional church……
Genesis 3.8-15
+ the “middle part” of the story of the first sin and it’s consequences. I always have a little trouble with this story, because I believe God creates us to be inquisitive and take risks. The story is meant to help us think about how humans experience their existence – especially their brokenness.
+ “the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden” – would that be like the wind in the trees, the waves on the shore, the rapids in the stream, the birds and frogs? How do you think about it?
+ the effects of sin – 1) knowledge, as the snake promised (they knew they were naked), and 2) guilt and estrangement – from God, from each other, from their environment.
+ the snake – not evil, a part of God’s creation. “Take me in, oh tender woman, sighed the snake.” According to wikipedia,this was written and first recorded by civil-rights activist Oscar Brown! Johnny Rivers (Secret Agent Man, Baby I need Your Loving, Memphis, The Seventh Son, Maybellene, Midnight Special, Going Back to Big Sur, Summer Rain - wow) is who I remember doing it. I seem to associate it with Kenny Rodgers, but I don’t know. In 2016, Donald Trump started using the song as part of his message on illegal immigration. Even though several of Brown’s children asked him to stop and brought a “cease and desist letter” he continued using it through Nov 2020. Here’s another Snake Song!
+ and each of them shift the blame/responsibility – Adam to Eve (and in an offhanded way to God, who gave him the woman after all!), and Eve to the snake. Who do we most often try to pass the blame/responsibility to?
+ I remember a storyteller telling this story and when it came to “you will crawl on your stomach” he(?) noted “because of course before that the snake had legs”!
+ The first question God asks in the Bible – “Where are you?” Where are we?
Mark 3.20-35
+ “Jesus went home” – huh? I thought Jesus “had no home”?
+ the large crowd kept them from eating? Got an explanation for that?
+ The passage starts off with the family coming, and ends with them arriving. In between the religious authorities question Jesus. This “sandwiching of stories” is a tactic Mark uses more than once. How do these two stories compare and contrast, and interpret each other?
+ The family think he’s not in his right mind. Do they have reason? If you thought your child, sibling was captured by some cult, what would you do?
+ the elders question Jesus. In Mt and Lk, this story comes after Jesus does an exorcism. Mark inserts it into this story of Jesus’ family. Why? The family is concerned for Jesus’ mental well-being; the authorities are concerned about his disruptiveness and his authority. We tend to ask “Did it happen?” They ask “Who did it?”
+ Jesus answers the authorities – 1) if Satan is battling Satan then evil would be self-destructing. That’s nonsense; and 2) Jesus has in fact entered Satan’s house, “hacked Satan’s system”, and is bringing about Satan’s downfall.
+ and the whole “house divided against itself” idea. Does that resonate with anything today? Are we going down? Once again, “Obi Wan, we need you!”
+ The family arrives and Jesus asks – who is my mother and my siblings? “This story should come as a sobering reminder to persons who take comfort in a close relationship with Jesus that our past associations are not an absolute guarantee of a proper present performance in relation to God’s will. We must always be ready to follow in startling new directions as disciples of our Lord, and we must not assume that our past experiences and knowledge will mean a correct understanding of new revelations of God’s will.” Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary
+ So here’s the prayer -
God of us all,
here and now you call us to be St Paul’s Episcopal Church. (or insert your church here!)
Help us dream/discern/discover
what and where and how you might be calling us
to be St Paul’s Episcopal Church in the years ahead.
We pray in the name of Jesus,
who always seemed to be wandering somewhere new.
+ in the beginning the crowds loved Jesus and small groups opposed him. As the gospel goes on, the roles are reversed!
+ Sins can be forgiven, unless you don’t accept the Forgiver!
+ And then here’s one last note from Fred Craddock -
Take one final look at Mark’s picture. Outside are the two groups that one would assume should be inside: the family, perhaps blinded by familiarity, who do not understand and who believe rumors about Jesus; the scribes from headquarters, experts in Scripture who give theological put-downs to what they do not understand. And inside? A crowd sitting about Jesus, listening for God’s will, apparently unaware that they missed lunch.
And once again – that’s why we read Craddock!
Anyway, that’s what I got for now…..
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