Proper 10 | Ordinary Time 15 | Pentecost 8 (Cycle C)
Within most of the texts selected for us for this occasion there is a stimulating tension between the importance of adequate faith and right living as prerequisites for “salvation.” This stimulating tension exists regardless of whether “salvation” is perceived primarily in terms of life as we know it here and now with security, prosperity, and happiness for one’s self and for one’s family as in Psalm 25 and Deuteronomy 30, or whether “salvation” includes also the dimension of eternal life, as it does in the Newer Testament texts Colossians 1:1-14 and Luke 10:25-37.
Read More About - Proper 10 | Ordinary Time 15 | Pentecost 8 (Cycle C) »
Proper 9 | Ordinary Time 14 | Pentecost 7 (Cycle C)
This beautiful Individual Hymn of Praise (considered also in Proper 5 above) glorifies the Lord God for bringing the nephesh (the life, the animating principle) of the psalmist back from sheol (the abode of the dead). In its original setting, this psalm acclaims Adonai for providing a resuscitation of a life that has lost all of its spirit and all of its power, like a rubber tire that is flat, not a resurrection from death to life in which there was no longer a tire at all. The restoration to life proclaimed in this psalm is a manifestation of the power and of the love shown by Adonai. It is intended to encourage people to respond to Adonai with praise and thanksgiving.
Read More About - Proper 9 | Ordinary Time 14 | Pentecost 7 (Cycle C) »
Proper 8 | Ordinary Time 13 | Pentecost 6 (Cycle C)
The emphasis in these texts on trusting in the Lord (Adonai in Psalm 16 and in Psalm 77 and Jesus as the Christ in Luke 9:51-62) is appropriate for this occasion, near our annual celebration of the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in the USA. Also useful in this connection is the article by Hans Walter Wolff, “Swords into Plowshares–Misuse of a Word of Prophecy?” (Currents in Theology and Mission 12:3, June, 1985, pp. 133-147).
Read More About - Proper 8 | Ordinary Time 13 | Pentecost 6 (Cycle C) »
Proper 5 | Ordinary Time 10 | Pentecost 3 (Cycle C)
The principal theme in these texts is that the Lord (Adonai in the Israelite Scriptures and Jesus as the Christ in the Newer Testament) renews life. There is a progression in the texts from lifting up those who are bowed down in Psalm 146 to healing those who are at the point of death in Psalm 30 and 1 Kings 17:17-24 to bringing back to life a young man who was being carried out of a city to be buried in Luke 7:11-17. The Galatians 1:11-24 reading may seem to stand outside this theme, unless we articulate “the gospel that Paul proclaimed” (Galatians 1:11) as the good news that God raised Jesus from the dead and will also raise us from the dead.
Read More About - Proper 5 | Ordinary Time 10 | Pentecost 3 (Cycle C) »
Day of Pentecost, Cycle C
Two lunar months after they reenacted the Passover meal each year, many of the ancient Israelites brought some of the first fruits and vegetables of the spring season as an offering to the Lord and to their priests as they celebrated together their spring religious and social agricultural festival. When the Torah became the unifying factor of those who survived the fall of Jerusalem and the loss of their nation, this agricultural festival, the Feast of Weeks, seven weeks after the Passover, gained additional meaning as a commemoration of the giving of the Torah to Moses by Adonai at Sinai. For Greek-speaking Israelites still later, this festival was called Pentecost because it was celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover.
