Category: Lectionary

22 December 2013
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Advent 4A (RCL)
Isaiah 7:10-16
Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-25

Matthew’s infancy narrative differs greatly from Luke’s. While Luke’s narrative focuses almost exclusively on Mary, in Matthew’s account, Mary hardly plays a role: Joseph steps to the fore. Matthew’s infant Jesus recapitulates the history of Israel, and so it makes sense that Joseph the dreamer should have a starring role. Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, and God called Israel out of Egypt. Joseph takes the child and his mother to Egypt so that God again might call his son out of Egypt.

In Matthew’s Gospel, we aren’t given any details about Mary’s pregnancy, except Continue reading “Don’t be afraid”

15 December 2013
Third Sunday of Advent
Advent 3A (RCL)
Isaiah 35:1-10
Psalm 146:4-9
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11

In Matthew’s narrative world (whether or not it is historically accurate), one can imagine John stuck in prison, hearing about the works of Jesus and his disciples, and wondering if this really was what he had been waiting for. He had announced someone mightier than himself, whose sandals he was unworthy to carry, who would baptize in holy spirit and fire. He was imagining the ax at the root of the trees, ready to lay into the task of removing the dead wood. And instead, he hears of an itinerant wonder-worker. Surely, this is not the messiah he had been expecting. Where is God’s justice and vengeance in this man?

Matthew’s Gospel Continue reading “Are you the one?”

1 December 2013
First Sunday of Advent
Advent 1A (RCL)
Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 122
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:36-44

The First Sunday of Advent always brings readings about the “second advent” of Christ, the putative return of Christ. Even in the earliest years of Christianity, the expectation of Christ’s return proved to be an embarrassment. Paul, in his earliest letters, certainly expected Christ’s return any day, and by the time he wrote the letter to the Romans, he has had to modify that expectation somewhat. “Salvation is nearer to us now than we we first became believers,” but no longer tomorrow. Matthew Continue reading “Wakefulness”

24 November 2013
The Reign of Christ
Proper 29C (RCL)
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Psalm 146
Colossians 1:11-20
Luke 23:33-43

This Sunday is the last of the liturgical year on which we celebrate the reign of Christ toward which all of creation points and for which it longs. Next Sunday will be the first of Advent, when we begin to prepare for Christ’s first and second arrivals. Through our liturgy, we structure not just annual time, but historical time as well: we acknowledge that history has a beginning and a goal, and both of those relate to God, and to Christ’s activity. Continue reading “Jesus, remember me”

17 November 2013
Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 28C (RCL)
Isaiah 65:17-25
Canticle 9
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19

The passages in Isaiah and Luke couldn’t be more different. Isaiah is looking forward to the restoration of the kingdom, when people will enjoy the fruit of their own planting, and live to ripe old ages. In Luke, Jesus ‘predicts’ the destruction of the Temple and the desolation of Jerusalem. Which is it?

Luke, of course, is writing after the destruction of the Temple, and so Jesus is predicting events Luke already knows. Mark had written this “little apocalypse” probably some twenty or thirty years before Luke reworked it. Mark thought the destruction was a sign that the Son of Man was coming any minute. Luke has to explain the delay of the end that Mark thought the destruction foreshadowed. Luke has Jesus say, “Do not be deceived. The end is not yet.” Continue reading “Old and new”

10 November 2013
Twenty fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 27C (RCL)
Haggai 1:15b – 2:9
Psalm 98
2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Luke 20:27-38

We are getting close to the end of the liturgical year. Haggai is wrapping prophecies about the restoration of Jerusalem. Now, God is going to shake heaven and earth, and shake all the wealth of the nations (like olives out of a tree) into Jerusalem. 2 Thessalonians takes us into apocalyptic weirdness: the rebellion must come first, and the lawless one must be revealed. To me, this does not sound authentically Pauline (not that that really makes any difference — there it is in the canon). And Luke presents us with the encounter between Jesus and the Sadducees, concerning the resurrection. We are heading toward end times, the lectionary seems to be saying.

The Gospel reading will for many be troubling. Heaven isn’t going to be like here, at least in terms of marriage (what would the Mormons do with this passage?). Many of us think of heaven as a grand family reunion, and Jesus seems to be saying otherwise.

But, I believe the passage is as much about politics (no surprise) as about heaven. The Sadducees Continue reading “Like angels”

November 3, 2013
All Saints’ Day observed
Proper for All Saints’ C (RCL)
Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18
Psalm 149
Ephesians 1:11-23
Luke 6:20-31

I’ve never particularly like Psalm 149, and yet we hear it (and sing it) every year on All Saints’ Day. I’m not sure what I think about the faithful wreaking vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples in general. And even more, it seems to me an odd thing to be associate that with All Saints’. Clint McCann Continue reading “Turning the world upside down”

27 October 2013
Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 25C (RCL)
Joel 2:23-32
Psalm 65
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14

On the heels of the parable about the persistent widow, we now have the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, and their prayers. Luke intends both to tell us something about the nature of our relationship to God. In the parable of the widow, God will justify the righteous who call to God day and night. We are to be like the widow and never forget the justice of our case. Even though the world has no reason to pay us any attention, we must stand firm.

The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector qualifies our relationship to the world. While God’s justice may be with us (with the poor and persecuted), and the world is unjust, we may not simply opt out of the world. The Pharisee is reasonably well off — he can afford to tithe on everything he earns. We don’t learn much about the tax collector’s status. But, as seems likely, because he is in the temple, he is one of those poor small-holders who had been taxed off his own land, and turned to collecting taxes from his own neighbors as a way of keeping food on the table. It is unlikely that someone much higher up the food chain (who had paid a handsome sum for the right to collect taxes — as far as Rome was concerned what the “tax farmers” paid covered the liability; if they could collect more, it was theirs) would feel any sense of compunction as displayed by the man in this story.

It is tempting Continue reading “Life is messy”

20 October 2013
Twenty Second Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 24C (RCL)
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Psalm 119:97-104
2 Timothy 3:14 — 4:5
Luke 18:1-8

Again, we have an optimistic oracle from Jeremiah. For all his doom-saying before the fall of Jerusalem, once it was a reality, he changed his tone. Now, he foretells of a time when God will restore the people, and will not need to make a covenant with them like the old covenant, which promised blessings if they obeyed and curses if they disobeyed. Now, instead, God will write the divine law on our hearts, and each of us will suffer the consequences of our own refusals of God’s love, rather than the consequences extending out through the generations. No longer will the mediation of a priesthood be required to teach the community to know the Lord, for we will all know the ways of the Lord. Jeremiah certainly couldn’t have foreseen (in the same way he foresaw the disaster) the return from Exile, but holds out a hope for an ultimate restoration. We are still waiting. Continue reading “Persistence”

13 October 2013
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 23C (RCL)
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
Psalm 66:1-11
2 Timothy 2:8-15
Luke 17:11-19

The passage in Jeremiah presents a bit of a surprise. Throughout the period after Pentecost, in the Old Testament track, we have been reading about the final events of the Kingdom of Judah. The passages we have read from Jeremiah have been particularly pessimistic. As opposed to other prophets at the time, Jeremiah sees no hope for the kingdom: God is not going to protect Jerusalem just because of the Temple. In fact, God is angry because of this misuse of God’s name. The people have sinned and punishment is coming.

Now that the end has come, and the people have gone into Exile, including the artisans (that’s in the verses we leave out), Jeremiah tells them to work for the good of the city of Babylon. Contrast that to Psalm 137, whose author praises those who will eventually overthrow Babylon and dash her little ones against a stone. No such retribution for Jeremiah.

It would be easy enough to understand that the conquered and exiled people would want to draw the boundaries very tightly, maintain the distinctions between them and the conquering culture. Instead, Continue reading “Who is the foreigner?”