Proper 11C (RCL) – A Preacher’s Ponderings

One thing

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost; 24 July 2022; Proper 11C (RCL); Amos 8:1-12; Psalm 52; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42.

The Amos passage is again hard to hear, perhaps even harder than last week. The word play is on “summer fruit” and “end.” The NIV catches the play. God asks Amos what he sees, and he replies, “A basket of ripe fruit.” God replies, “The time is ripe for my people Israel.” God will make an end of Israel. Amos does not provide an image of any hope held out for God’s people. Worst of all is the famine for hearing God’s word — God is no longer found among God’s people. Nothing is left.

Mary and Martha

21 July 2019
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 11C (RCL)
Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42

Oh, we don’t like the story of Mary and Martha. Someone has to wash the dishes, right? If Martha doesn’t bang those pots and pans, Jesus will not be welcomed as necessary in her house, right? But Jesus doesn’t seem to give her a pass by honoring the work she is doing. Continue reading “Mary and Martha”

Famine for the Word

17 July 2016
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper 11C (RCL)
Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42

Amos is a cheery fellow. His fourth and final vision is a bowl of summer (ripe) fruit. There is a word play here, which the NIV captures by translating “The time is ripe for my people Israel”: ripe and end are cognates in Hebrew. Amos paints a very grim picture of the day of the Lord. For her treatment of the poor and the helpless, God will make an end of Israel. The crowning crime is the sale of the poor for a pair of sandals. The exchange of sandals served to finalize a land transaction (see Boaz’s purchase of Elimelech’s land in the book of Ruth). The rich are buying the land of the poor in exchange for food. This is precisely the situation Joseph initiated in Egypt which led to the slavery of the people. Israel is becoming Egypt. Continue reading “Famine for the Word”