August 2023 – A Preacher’s Ponderings

Reasonable worship

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost; 27 August 2023; Proper 16A (RCL); Exodus 1:8 – 2:10; Psalm 124; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20.

In Mark’s account of Peter’s confession, Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do people say that I am,” while Matthew changes that to, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Then, in both versions, he asks the disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” Matthew seems to be distancing Jesus from the title “Son of Man.” If the Son of Man is an eschatological figure (as in Daniel), then perhaps Matthew is suggesting that Jesus is not the eschatological figure who will judge and reign at the end times. That makes the Messiah (or Christ) something different from the eschatological Son of Man. Does Matthew, like Luke, see an intervening age of the Church?

Who’s in and who’s out

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost; 20 August 2023; Proper 15A (RCL); Genesis 45:1-15; Psalm 133; Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matthew 15:10-28.

I wish we weren’t skipping over so much of the story of Joseph in the Track 1 readings. Last week, Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, and this week, everything is wonderful. The story of Joseph is really quite troubling. Joseph, acting for the Pharaoh, ends up buying his own people into slavery in exchange for grain. I suspect hidden in this story is some Northern Kingdom/Southern Kingdom antipathy, but that’s a story for another post.

God’s righteousness

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost; 13 August 2023; Proper 14A (RCL); Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28; Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b; Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33.

Someday, I’ll understand how the designers of the lectionary chose which parts of which passages to read. If we’re only going to read a snippet of Romans 10, why not verses 1-4? Those verses set up Paul’s main argument for the chapter. The bit that begins at verse 5 is just the supporting material for the main argument. How can we understand the supporting material if we don’t the argument? Paul is praying for his kin according to the flesh (that is the Jews, if that term isn’t anachronistic, or better, for Israel, according to the flesh). The crucial sentence (my translation) is “For, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own (righteousness), they did not arrange themselves under God’s righteousness” (v. 3).

The promises

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost; 6 August 2023; Proper 13A (RCL); Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 17:1-7, 16; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21.

I know, I know. August 6 is the Feast of the Transfiguration, which takes precedence over a Sunday. But I didn’t want to miss the chance to preach on Romans 9, so I asked permission of my bishop to use Proper 13 instead, and received it. As we’ve been reading Paul’s argument over the summer, it is clear that he is using the epic of Israel as his outline. Adam, Abraham, slavery, freedom through baptism (the Red Sea), the giving of the law, and at last (in Chapter 8) the inheritance.