Lectionary – Page 10 – A Preacher’s Ponderings

Who, me?

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany; 6 February 2022; Epiphany 5C (RCL); Isaiah 6:1-13; Psalm 138; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11.

Isaiah must have been a little bit of crazy — Here am I, send me. No other prophet ever volunteered for the job, because almost by definition, it won’t go well. This call narrative places Isaiah’s call in the year King Uzziah died, which was really the last good year for the southern kingdom of Judah. Aram and Ephraim began expansionist tendencies almost immediately. And then it was Assyria, and then Babylon. Isaiah narrates his call against this background.

The kingdom is not what you think

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany; 30 January 2022; Epiphany 4C (RCL); Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30.

Last week, we heard Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah, announcing the year of the Lord’s favor (the Jubilee), and then proclaim, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” The crowd was amazed, and wondered at the gracious words coming from Jesus’ mouth. These are the first public words of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel, so we need to pay close attention to them. The crowd seems to think Jesus is announcing God’s favor on them, but they have another think coming.

Jubilee

Third Sunday after Epiphany; 23 January 2022; Epiphany 3C (RCL); Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 414-21.

The book of Nehemiah gives an account of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah used a form of conscripted labor for the work, which placed some hardship on the community (see chapter 5). Once the work had been completed, the people requested some form of covenant renewal. The pattern is familiar (see Joshua 24, among other examples).

Kinship and delight

Second Sunday after Epiphany; 16 January 2022; Epiphany 2C (RCL); Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 36:5-10; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; John 2:1-11.

John doesn’t waste details for the sake of verisimilitude the way a modern novelist might. For years, I’ve read this miracle story and never paused to wonder why John would set it at a wedding. It just seemed like the kind of detail that made sense in first century Galilee. But John doesn’t waste details.

Identity

First Sunday after Epiphany; The Baptism of our Lord; 9 January 2022; Epiphany 1C (RCL); Isaiah 43:1-7; Psalm 29; Acts 8:14-17; Luke 3:15-17, 21-22.

Luke doesn’t actually narrate the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan. In fact, the verse that the Gospel reading skips over today tell us that Herod shuts John up in prison. So, narratively at least, John is in prison before Jesus is baptized! This fits with Luke’s three-fold division of history: the age of the prophets (up to and including John the Baptist); the age of Jesus; and the age of the Spirit and the Church. Luke will remove Jesus from the scene before the Spirit shows up, unlike John’s Gospel which has Jesus breathe the Spirit on the disciples.

Delight

First Sunday after Christmas; 26 December 2021; Christmas 1C (RCL); Isaiah 61:10 – 62:3; Psalm 147:13-21; Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7; John 1:1-18.

The passage from Isaiah speaks of the vindication of God’s servant, and the institution of a new covenant with the servant’s followers (61:8-9 speak of that covenant). This new people is now clothed with salvation and righteousness, that is, they are invested with the covenant. Note that in the restoration of Jerusalem in this passage, no mention is made of the Temple. It is the people clothed with righteousness who shine out to the nations. And the people of this new covenant (of forgiveness and restoration after the period of punishment) will be a crown of beauty in the hand of God.

The world on its head

Fourth Sunday of Advent; 19 December 2021; Advent 4C (RCL); Micah 5:2-5a; Psalm 80:1-7; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-55.

Who is the woman who is to give birth in Micah’s prophecy? Obviously, Christians have read her as Mary. I suspect that Micah was thinking about the people in Exile. Hosea sees Israel/Judah as God’s wife, and I think Micah is thinking along the same lines. While their present circumstance is difficult (Exile), it is comparable to a woman in labor. The outcome will be joyous.

A new people

Third Sunday of Advent; 12 December 2021; Advent 3C (RCL); Zephaniah 3:14-20; Canticle 9; Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3:7-18.

Zephaniah, like so many of the prophets of the exile, imagines the restoration of Jerusalem and the return of the captives. A common theme in all the songs of restoration is the presence of God in the midst of God’s people. Even Canticle 9, a poem from the period before the exile, imagines God present in the midst of God’s people. Both imagine God as a warrior protecting the people. Canticle 9 picks up the theme of security (draw water with rejoicing from the springs of salvation — the wells are inside the walls).

Make the way straight

Second Sunday of Advent; 5 December 2021; Advent 2C (RCL); Baruch 5:1-9; Canticle 16; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6.

The image of a straight highway through the desert is woven throughout exilic and post-exilic literature. When God restores the fortunes of Zion, then the people will return, not wandering forty years in the wilderness, but along a broad, straight highway. There will be water aplenty along the road, and shade trees. The lame will be carried (or walk again), and not even fools can go astray.

Truth

Last Sunday after Pentecost; Christ the King; 21 November 2021; Proper 29B (RCL); 2 Samuel 23:1-7; Psalm 132; Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37.

Too bad the lectionary didn’t include the next sentence in John’s Gospel. Pilate asks, “What is truth?” That’s where we seem to be as a nation; truth is contested. The Enlightenment was supposed to fix that problem. Descartes sought a kind of truth that could be deduced from first principles, and hence would not be contested. But we have discovered recently that even the logic by which truth is deduced from those first principles (indeed, even the first principles themselves) is socially constructed and conditioned.