Proper 14 | Ordinary Time 19 | Pentecost 11 (Cycle C)

Sunday between August 7 and August 13 inclusive

Most of the texts selected for this occasion emphasize God’s desire to do good things for God’s people and for all people who will respond in a positive way to God. This emphasis is also present in the prayer for next Sunday in the words, “Almighty and Everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we are to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve.” Let us, therefore, examine these texts and see how this emphasis is expressed in them. Is this not what we also shall be proclaiming this coming weekend?

Psalm 33:12-22

Not only did the Lord do good things for the people of God by calling into being the heavens and the earth for them even before the Lord brought the people into existence, but also the Lord is said in this psalm to look with grace on all who fear the Lord. The Lord is said to look with kindness at those who put their hope in the steadfast love that the Lord has for them, in order that the Lord may deliver them from death and keep them alive during famine. Therefore, the people of the worshiping community gladly wait for the Lord to act and they trust in the name of the Lord.

Genesis 15:1-6

The Abraham traditions in Genesis indicate that there was nothing Abraham and Sarah wanted more than to have a son, but they were both greatly advanced in years and remained childless. Although the reader is kept in suspense for many chapters in Genesis before the birth of Isaac is announced, there is actually never any doubt that the Lord would bless them with a son because, as this Genesis 15:1-6 text reveals, it was the desire of the Lord to do this good thing for them. The son would be born and in spite of any threats to his existence he would survive. Through him Abraham and Sarah would have many descendants, as many as the stars that can be seen on a clear night in a rural or desolate area.

Even in our human relationships, we have learned from our experiences that if someone who is exceptionally powerful desires to do something good for us, it is almost certain to be done. How much more, therefore, will it be likely to occur when God, who is infinitely good and powerful, wants to do something that will be good for us! According to this text, Abram believed that the Lord would do this great thing that the Lord wanted to do for Abram and Sarah, and Abram’s acceptance of this promise of the Lord was considered evidence of Abram’s righteousness.

Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23

Although God may want to do good things for God’s chosen people, there are times in which it is said that God commands changes to occur among the people before God will share God’s gifts of grace. In the situation depicted in this psalm, the people had been offering their animal sacrifices to God regularly, but they had not offered to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Instead, they had broken the commandments given by God. Nevertheless, if they will repent, God will save them.

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

As in Psalm 50, the problem here was not the lack of animal sacrifices and burnt offerings. The problem was that the people were being unjust to the poor and oppressed. They were not caring for the orphans, or defending widows. If the people will change, even though their sins are scarlet, they will become as white and clean as snow. God is on their side. God wants to help them.

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Along with the definition in Hebrews 11:1 of the concept of faith expressed in the terminology of Greek philosophy and the many examples of the faith of Abraham, Sarah, and the innumerable Israelites descended from them given in this text, there are statements that God has always wanted to be called their God and to provide for them all of the good things that are implied by God’s goodness. It is said that God has prepared for them a heavenly city, the city of God. There can be no doubt in this text of God’s desire to provide good things for the people.

Luke 12:32-40

It is in this text that the statement of God’s desire to do good things for God’s people is most explicit. We see this especially in the words of Luke 12:32, “Do not be afraid any longer, my little flock of people, for God your Father has expressed a strong desire to give to you the kingdom.” If God had no desire to provide for the people of God a place within the celestial realm where God’s will is gladly done, there would have been no point in urging the readers of the Lukan document to sell their material goods and to provide for the poor, to build up their treasures in the heavens, and to be alert at all times, watching for the coming of the Son of Man. God’s desire to do good things for us is the reason that we are urged by faith to accept these good things from God and to be ready when these good things are dispensed so that we will miss no opportunity to receive them. Without a doubt, God’s desire to do good things for us is “gospel,” good news for all!

Sunday between August 14 and August 20 inclusive

A unifying motif in most of these texts selected for our use this coming weekend is that in view of the impending word of judgment from God, there is an urgent need for justice and righteousness on the earth. In some of these texts the word of judgment from God is fearful and awesome, a reason for great apprehension. In others the word of judgment from God is needed in order to break the power of the oppressors, both foreign oppressors and domestic oppressors. It is not so much the written, revealed word of God from the past as it is the dynamic, imminent word that is to come that is the concern of the writers of these texts.

Psalm 82

The “divine council” and “the gods” as “sons of the Most High” will probably be problematic this coming weekend for Christians who are not familiar with the theological situation of the ancient Near East during the earlier centuries of Israelite development. At that time, each family, community, tribe, nation, or empire in many instances had its own special name for deity and for its own deity. In this henotheistic (one personal God for each group) system, each group generally thought that its deity was the best for it. The existence of other “gods” for other groups was not denied. Israel as a “nation” claimed that Adonai, its Lord, was God, and that Adonai, its God, was Number One.

Later, after the loss of the Israelite nation, the exile in Babylon, and during two centuries of Persian rule, the Israelites claimed that Adonai was not only the God of the nation Israel, but God over all, the Most High, the King of the Universe, the one who judged the “gods” acclaimed by others. At that point, instead of a henotheistic (one God for us) theology, they had developed a monotheistic (one God, our God, the one God for everyone) theology. They had, in part, learned monotheism from the Persian Zoroastrians, who made that claim for their religion even before it became the state religion of the Persian Empire. (The story of Esther provides for us a reflection of that conflict between competing monotheisms.) After the exilic period, Judaism had become, for the most part, no longer a henotheistic religion but a monotheistic religion. Other monotheistic religions developed after this, including Christianity, Islam, the Sikh religion, and so on. There are residual elements of henotheistic religion in our Older Testament, but the predominant view became monotheistic. Most of our Newer Testament is monotheistic. Judaism continued throughout the centuries, however, to be to some extent still henotheistic as it had been for the ancient Israelites. Much of the religion of the Jews today, especially because of the Holocaust, is basically henotheistic rather than monotheistic. This is also the situation for an increasing number of Christians, almost all Hindus, and a few Muslims today. Henotheists are by nature more likely to be tolerant and respectful of people in other religions than are monotheists.

Israelites understood Adonai as demanding that the Israelites act with justice, and declared that while Adonai is immortal, the Israelites and all other people are mortal. As Word of God for us, Psalm 82 and other biblical texts require justice and righteousness among us and label all of our finite “gods” as less than lasting and less than ultimate.

Jeremiah 23:23-29

This text, in which the transcendence as well as the immanence of Adonai as the God of the Universe is acclaimed, has some similarities to portions of Psalm 82. Here the prophets of Adonai are sharply distinguished from other prophets, and the Word of Adonai is depicted as like fire that consumes everything that will burn and as a hammer that breaks rocks into little pieces. We should note that it is primarily the spoken Word of Adonai rather than the written Word that is described in this manner.

Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19

This psalm is a community plea to the Lord God of Israel who had brought a vine out of Egypt and planted it with loving care in the promised land, where it took root and spread over a vast area from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River. The community promises that if the Lord God will restore the people in their land, which they have lost, the people will never ever again turn away from the Lord God.

Isaiah 5:1-7

As in Psalm 80, in this Isaiah 5:1-7 “Love Song about the Unfruitful Vineyard” the vineyard and vine analogy is used with reference to the people and nation of Israel. The vineyard is abandoned by the Lord God because the love that the Lord had bestowed on the vineyard has been unrequited. The Lord expected justice and righteousness to be shown in the vineyard. Because there had been neither justice nor righteousness shown in the vineyard, and because the vineyard had produced no good, fruitful grapes, but only putrid, stinking grapes, the fearful judgment and condemnation of the Lord has come upon it.

Hebrews 11:29–12:2

Although it was by faith that the pre-Israelites had been able to cross the Red Sea on dry land, had conquered the promised land, ruled over it, endured defeat and horrible suffering, and although the courageous Israelites were fully commended for their faith and endurance, it is argued by the writer of this document that the Israelites, even the best among them, did not receive what was promised, i.e., Jesus, the pioneer of the more perfect faith, the Christian faith.

Luke 12:49-56

This text is a composite of various elements. It most likely is comprised of pronouncements of the Jesus of history given in a variety of settings, along with materials from Mark 10:38, from “Q” materials or from an early draft of Matthew (Matthew 10:34-36 and 16:2-3), and from the life experiences of the inspired Lukan writer. The fire that is to be cast upon the earth (v. 49) is probably a fire of lightning, a symbol of instant judgment, a theme of apocalyptic eschatology. In spite of the Lukan writer’s penchant for peace on earth, the “Q” or Matthean call for a sword in included. The Micah 7:6 description of dissension within a household is also used, in which it is in every instance one generation (a father or a mother) against or opposed by the next (a son, a daughter, or a daughter-in-law). The combination of the elements in this text is Lukan, and the text can best be understood in terms of the inspired Lukan writer’s personal situation, a situation of a Greek-background Christian who has seen or known about families divided by generation, most likely with the older generation remaining Jewish and the younger becoming Christian.

Sunday between August 21 and August 27 inclusive

In many of these texts the healing that God graciously offers as a gift from God is featured. It is important that we understand that this healing offered and given by God in these and in many other biblical texts is not limited to physical healing. It includes in most if not all instances mental healing, as well as spiritual healing, and in many instances social, political, and economic healing, the end of oppression for the one who is suffering.

As the Obama administration and the US Congress members struggle to improve the health care system in this nation and attempt to make such care accessible to all people here, we are aware that such care, as in the biblical texts, is not only physical, but is also mental, spiritual, social, political, and economic, designed to reduce and to remove the oppression of the ones who are suffering.

Psalm 103:1-8

In the poetic form in which faith in God and the blessing of God for all of the healing that God provides is expressed in this beautiful psalm, we see that this healing includes the diverse but related aspects of the forgiveness of sins, restoration from the imminence of death, and justice for all who are oppressed. In other words, the healing that God offers and provides encompasses physical, mental, spiritual, social, political, and economic healing.

We note that incorporated into this psalm is the favorite Israelite description of God as merciful and gracious, slow to anger and filled to the brim with steadfast, never-ending love, expressed joyously seven times within the Older Testament, here in Psalm 103:8, as well as in Exodus 34:6-7, Numbers 14:18, Jeremiah 32:18, Jonah 4:2, Nehemiah 9:17, and Nehemiah 9:31.

Psalm 71:1-6

As in many other poetic expressions of faith and of thankfulness for God’s gifts of compassion and healing, the healing and compassion of God is expressed here in Psalm 71 in what we often think to be broad, general, encompassing terminology. The terminology uses words such as deliver me, rescue me from those who are unjust and cruel, listen to my cry, and save me. Not only is the terminology broad in order to include a large number of persons who are afflicted; the broad terminology is used because of a realization that healing encompasses physical, mental, spiritual, social, political, and economic aspects of our lives.

Isaiah 58:9b-14

The text selected for our use here is the concluding portion of this incisive chapter 58 of the Isaiah traditions in which the service that God desires, reducing and removing the physical, mental, spiritual, social, political, and economic oppression of powerless people, is shown to be so much more important and pleasing to God than is religious fasting and other religious rituals. As in the psalms and elsewhere in our biblical canon, healing is understood here in broad, holistic terms.

Jeremiah 1:4-10

While the tasks to which the prophet Jeremiah is called in this text may seem to be primarily destructive, i.e., to pull up the “weeds” and to tear down the structures, to destroy that which is evil and to overthrow power structures, his work is also to be constructive, “to build and to plant.” We see in this that the destructive and the constructive elements of his call are actually closely related. The planting and building occurs as the oppressive power structures are torn down.

Hebrews 12:18-29

The series of nearly consecutive readings from the Epistle to the Hebrews continues here. As elsewhere in this document, it is written here that the old, which in this instance is the people who were with Moses at Sinai, has been replaced by the new, which here is Jesus revealed in Zion, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, a symbol of the presence of God in Christ Jesus, the arbitrator of a new covenant, whose sacrificial death accomplished all that is necessary for our salvation.

The anti-Jewish polemic in this and other segments of the Epistle to the Hebrews is not directed against Jews who were contemporary with the writer. Instead, the new salvation offered in Jesus as the great High Priest is contrasted with the older Israelite sacrificial system, the butchering of clean and inspected animals as a religious action, a system of animal sacrifice that was no longer very significant for most Jews in the Temple constructed by Herod and certainly irrelevant after the destruction of that Temple by the Romans in 70 CE. Some explanation of this to the congregation would be helpful.

Luke 13:10-17

The first four verses of this text are an excellent testimony of the broad aspects of the healing that God through Jesus perceived as the Christ provided in this instance for a Jewish woman, one of the fellow oppressed Jews of the Jesus of history. The woman was stooped over and was no longer able to stand erect because of eighteen years of severe physical, mental, spiritual, social, political, and economic oppression by the Roman occupational forces in Galilee and in Judea. In my The New Testament: A New Translation and Redaction (Lima, OH: Fairway, 2001) I translate these verses as follows:

And Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on a sabbath day. And there was a woman in the synagogue who had been weakened by the burden of severe Roman oppression for eighteen years, and she was stooped over and was not able to stand erect. And when Jesus saw her, he asked her to come to him and he said to her, “You are a beautiful woman! You have been set free from the burden with which they have oppressed you!” And he reached out his hands to strengthen her, and immediately she was able to stand erect again. And she gave praise to God.

This translation is designed to help us to see that the condition of the woman was closely related to the oppressive situation in which she and the other oppressed Jews lived at the time of the Jesus of history. Also, I purposely translated the Greek word ?ú???, the vocative singular of the feminine noun for “woman,” in this context not as the rather “cold” literal form of “Woman!” but with the affirming words, “You are a beautiful woman.” To God (Jesus as the Christ here), this woman was beautiful, even and especially in spite of her oppressed condition.

I cannot understand the reasoning of those who compiled The Revised Common Lectionary (Nashville: Abingdon, 1992) of including verses 14-17 in this reading. “Real” Jews, as opposed to the “literary” Jews portrayed in Luke 13:14-17, interpret the commandment “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy” in terms of “On this day there must be no labor that is intended to make money.” “A person should not even think and plan how to make money on this day.” For “real” Jews, the Sabbath is hallowed by loving acts of mercy and kindness such as the Jewish Jesus of history is portrayed as doing in the Luke 13:10-13 text. Jesus with the divine power of the Risen Christ was not providing comprehensive healing of the woman in order to make money. For whatever reason, the non-Jewish background Lukan writer was polemical rather than pastoral when the writer added verses 14-17. Verses 14-17 are not edifying. Even though the persons from the multitude of denominations of Christians from many nations included these four verses in The Revised Common Lectionary, we should not read these four verses in our worship services. We need additional lectionary revision and selection. The lectionary work has not been completed. We should press for and participate in further lectionary preparations and revisions.

Sunday between August 28 and September 3 inclusive

Psalm 112

This acrostic psalm, along with Psalm 1, which is similar to it in content, served as patterns for the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3-12 and Luke 6:20-23. In the Psalm 1 and 112 Beatitudes it is said, “O how happy” is the person who fears the Lord. Such a person will be prosperous, righteous, respected, unafraid, generous, and remembered forever. These Psalm 1 and 112 Beatitudes express the characteristic thought of the Israelites, which continued in the Rabbinic Literature and in most segments of the Jewish religion until the horrors of the Holocaust shattered it for many Jews.

The Matthew 5:3-12 and Luke 6:20-23 Beatitudes carried the thought of “O how happy” into a different area, the area of humbleness and of enduring persecution. An excellent sermon could be developed in which we would ask the members of the congregation at worship together whether in their experience they have found that the Beatitudes of Psalms 1 and 112 or the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3-12 and Luke 6:20-23 conform more closely to reality as they perceive it. It would be helpful to the members of the worshiping congregations if we would ask them to think more than we usually do, rather than simply telling them what they should think. In order to accomplish this, our homilies/sermons should take on more aspects of dialogue rather than merely of monologue.

The Holocaust has caused many Jewish philosophers and theologians to raise questions about the validity for Jews since 1933 of the thoughts expressed in Psalms 1 and 112 and to be attracted to the guidelines for enduring suffering and persecution in the Matthew 5:3-12 and Luke 6:20-23 Beatitudes. These Jewish leaders, because of the Holocaust and because of constructive Jewish-Christian dialogue since 1945, are increasingly interested in the Jesus of history, their brother in the faith who has been largely avoided in Jewish studies for nineteen centuries because of Christian coercive pressures on Jewish people. For an example of this interest, see the article by the Jewish theologian Pinchas Lapide, “Is Jesus a Bond or a Barrier? A Jewish-Christian Dialogue,” in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies 14 (1977, pp. 466-483).

There are many points of continuity between the thought of Psalms 1 and 112 and the Matthean and Lukan Beatitudes. Each emphasis has been found to be helpful for certain people in particular situations. We should not expect that all of the people in any congregation will find the same emphasis to be helpful for them, to be valid for them, to be “true” for them. We should, therefore, ask the questions, “What do you think?” “What have you found from your experiences?” One way to do this would be to set up a portion of the homily/sermon in the format of a TV talk show in which these theological questions would be discussed.

Sirach 10:12-18

In this wisdom tradition there is a warning against human pride that causes people to turn away from their dependence upon the Lord God. The results are disastrous, the opposite of what is acclaimed in the Beatitudes.

Jeremiah 2:4-13

The people who have so richly been blessed by God are condemned here for their forsaking the fountain of living water provided for them by the Lord and instead digging their own cisterns for themselves, cisterns that are cracked and hold no water during dry times.

Psalm 81:1, 10-16

Here also the people are condemned by the Lord for turning away from the Lord God who loves them. Even after this, the Lord greatly desires to feed the people again with the finest harvests and with honey from the rocks in the land.

Proverbs 25:6-7

Humbleness and modesty in the presence of those who are in high positions of authority (kings and rulers, and by implication the Lord God) are emphasized here. Luke 14:7-11 is an application of this in the context of a marriage feast, continuing the idea of this Proverbs 25:6-7 text that it is wise to humble one’s self rather than to be humbled and humiliated by other people.

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Among the many parenetic admonitions in this text are the requirements of providing hospitality for strangers and care for those who are afflicted. Each of these admonitions is said to be especially important because of our faith in Jesus perceived as the Christ, who is the same person yesterday, today, and forever. It is through Jesus perceived as the Christ that we offer up our sacrifice of praise to God and share our resources with those who are in need.

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Many of us as Christians seem to be so willing to obey the admonition in Luke 14:7-11 to sit in the lowest place at a marriage feast by sitting as far back in church as we can and so reluctant to obey or even to notice the admonition in Luke 14:12-14 to invite people who are poor, physically and mentally challenged, blind, and in other ways different from the majority of people to be guests in our homes and to full participation in our worship services. Nevertheless, it is in Luke 14:12-14 rather than in Luke 14:7-11 that the related themes of many of the texts selected for this occasion are brought together. Let us together experience the joy of sharing and of providing in personal, meaningful ways for those who have the greatest needs and who have the greatest appreciation for the care that we provide.

Sunday between September 4 and September 10 inclusive

Human reasoning and human relationships are ephemeral and transitory. Only through the wisdom given by God and through our relationships with God can we survive and live joyously, blessed by God.

Psalm 1

The lives of those who are wicked are worthless. Their lives are like the chaff that the wind blows away. Happy, meaningful, and blessed are the lives of those who delight in the Torah, the way of the Lord. The Lord watches over them and they are like trees planted along streams of water. Their leaves never wither and die.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

These words in the final six verses of the “Sermon of Moses” in Deuteronomy 4:44–30:20 express the admonition of Psalm 1 and of many other texts in our Older Testament, as well as of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:13–6:10 and elsewhere, and in the first portion of the Didache in the Apostolic Fathers. In the words of the “Sermon of Moses” here, we, as well as the Israelites and Jews, are given by God the choice between life and death. It should seem to be such as easy choice to make! Why do we and others so often choose the path of death?

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

In this text the psalmist marvels at the infinite wisdom of the Lord God, who brought the life of the psalmist into being and knows every thought, word, and deed of the psalmist. The Lord God is everywhere, in the heavens, everywhere on the land and sea, and even in the graves of those who have died (vv. 7-12, which should be included in this selection). It is only because of the love and wisdom of God that the psalmist has life.

Jeremiah 18:1-11

The same basic message of the other texts chosen for our worship services this coming weekend is expressed in this account of the symbolic act of Jeremiah and his visit to the potter’s house. God is the potter; we are the clay. God can and will smash and destroy any person, nation, or religious community that does evil, but will shape into a beautiful container all who choose to establish and retain a faith relationship with the Lord God.

Philemon 1-21

The relationships that exist between Paul, Philemon, and Onesimus are all bonded together by the relationship that they share “in Christ.” It is because of that relationship they share “in Christ” that Paul asks his friend Philemon to accept Onesimus, the runaway slave, back as a brother “in the Lord.” Paul makes his request so forcefully that we may assume that Philemon could not refuse Paul’s request without jeopardizing Philemon’s own relationship with the Lord. This short letter, therefore, provides for us a paradigm to follow in our relationships with each other as Christians.

Luke 14:25-33

The overall theme of the texts selected for us for use next weekend that human reasoning and human relationships are ephemeral and transitory unless they are linked into our relationship with God continues here in Luke 14:25-33. It is probable that on many occasions the Jesus of history said in one way or another, “Whoever is not willing to give up all other relationships and to put God first is not ready to let God rule.”

For Jesus and for most of the top leaders of the early Church, the cost of discipleship was very high. To let God rule meant that they would no longer let Caesar rule over them. If as a leader among Jews in Galilee and Judea or as a leader in the early Church you publicly rejected the authority of Caesar in favor of the authority of God, you would soon be carrying your cross to your own crucifixion event. You would have to give up all human relationships and give up your life at that point. The cost was very high for this level of commitment! Before you would make this level of commitment, you would do well to determine whether you possessed enough strength to make this commitment. Jesus obviously had this level of strength and commitment.

Unless we have some understanding of the oppressive political situation in which Jesus and his earliest followers lived, we cannot understand Luke 14:25-33 and many other similar Newer Testament texts. As we are able to understand more about what it is like to live in some of the totalitarian states that exist in our time, we gain an increased understanding of many of the Newer Testament texts. Jesus believed, the leaders of the early Church believed, and we believe that by the grace of God our relationship with God, and in some sense on a different level our relationships with each other, will continue even after we die.