Proper 15 / Pentecost 10 / Ordinary Time 20, Cycle A
THEME OF THE DAY
God will never abandon us. The texts testify to God’s forgiving love, which never forsakes us and its implications for how we live (Justification by Grace, Providence, and Sanctification).
Psalm 133
This is a Song of Ascent, extolling the joys of harmony in the family. The songs of ascent are a series of Psalms that may be songs of pilgrims returning from exile to Jerusalem. They are so named because to get to the temple in Jerusalem one needed to climb a hill. This particular one is a Wisdom Psalm (offering maxims for everyday life) comparing good relations among brothers [achim] to oil [shemen] on Aaron’s beard, which comes to saturate his beard and then his whole gown (v. 2). (As the ancestor of all priests, anointing oil was frequently handled by him and his fellow priests.) It is like the dew of Hermon (Syria’s chief mountain) falling on all the mountains of Zion (the highest and oldest part of Jerusalem) (v. 3). The Psalm may presuppose the ancient custom of clan and extended family groups living together in close proximity. But given the Psalm’s likely origin in the exiles’ return from Babylon, the harmony may have to do with the restored Israel or the people of God.
Application: Sermons either on family harmony or the relationships among people in any community (including the church) are suggested by the text. In both cases, the sacredness of the oil that saturates the whole community reminds us that good relations are sacred. They all begin with God’s grace and presence among us (Justification by Grace, Sanctification, and Social Ethics).
OR
Psalm 67
This is thanksgiving for a good harvest. It begins with a prayer that God would continue to be gracious [chanan] and that his way [derek, or path] and saving power be known among all the nations [goi] (vv. 1-2; cf. the Aaronite benediction [an early priestly blessing on the faithful] in Numbers 6:25). (A call is made for a musical interlude with the term “Selah” after verses 1, 4.) Petitions are offered that all people would know that Israel’s God is Lord of all (vv. 3-5). The occasion for the Psalm (a great harvest) is described along with a petition that God’s blessing continue (vv. 6-7).
Application: The sermon on this Psalm affords opportunity to praise God’s goodness in creation and providence, in providing us with all the goods of the earth. The text might be interpreted Christologically as a prophecy of how Jesus’ ministry led all people, not just Jews, to this awareness of the grace and love of God.
Genesis 45:1-15
The First Lesson is again drawn from the Bible’s Book of Origins, the product of four distinct oral strands. Again as told by either the book’s J source (composed in the ninth or tenth century BC, so named for its use of the name Jahweh/Yahweh), the E source (composed in the eighth century BC and referring to God as Elohim) or a combination of both, we consider this week the story of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers when they encounter him in Egypt.
After several encounters with his brothers in Egypt when they did not recognize him, interacting with him only as governor, and recently charging his brothers with theft (43:19–44:34), Joseph loses control of himself and empties his house of everyone except him and his brothers (v. 1). He cries loudly and then reveals himself to his brothers, inquiring if his father still lives. His brothers are in stunned silence (vv. 2-3). Joseph reassures them. He claims that God had sent him to Egypt to preserve life (vv. 4-5). The length of the famine plaguing the region where Israel had settled is noted (v. 6). Joseph claims that God sent him to Egypt to preserve a remnant [sleerith]. God has made him a father [ab] to Pharaoh [this may have been an official cabinet post in ancient Egyptian government] (vv. 7-8). Joseph exhorts his brothers to go to their father and summon him with instructions to settle in Egypt, where Joseph could provide for them as the famine continued (vv. 9-11). His father is also informed how honored Joseph is in Egypt (v. 13). Feeling a special kinship to the youngest brother Benjamin, Joseph and he fell on each other and wept. Then he kissed all his brothers and wept (vv. 14-15).
Application: A sermon on this text affords excellent opportunity to proclaim the virtues of forgiveness. God’s role in using Joseph’s forgiveness for the good of the people of Israel should be stressed. Points made in connection with Psalm 133 are relevant to a sermon on this lesson (Justification by Grace, Sanctification, and Providence). The ancient Hebrews were not abandoned by God, and neither are the faithful today.
OR
Isaiah 56:1, 6-8
We have previously noted that this is a book of two or three distinct origins — a first section written by an eighth-century BC prophet to Jerusalem and Judah, and a second section written immediately before the fall of Babylon in 539 BC (and so during the Babylonian captivity). The third section of the book was likely composed by a follower of the prophet after the restoration of exiled Judah in the homeland, expressing some disappointment about what had transpired since the exiles’ return. This lesson, stemming from this third source, is part of a blessing on all who keep the Sabbath. Yahweh calls the faithful to maintain justice [tsedaqah] and do what is right, for soon his salvation [yeshuah] will come (v. 1). Faithful proselytes [sons of aliens, referring to Gentiles who had converted] and all who keep the Sabbath [shabbath], holding fast to the covenant [berith] even if not yet Jews, will be brought by God to his holy mountain and they will be made joyful in the temple. Their sacrifices will be accepted, for Yahweh’s house [bayith, referring to the temple] is a house of prayer for all people [am] (vv. 6-7). Yahweh Elohim gathers the outcasts [dachah] of Israel (v. 8).
Application: The Complimentary First Lesson offers several sermon possibilities. The lesson affords opportunity to preach on the importance of observing the Sabbath (Sanctification). Preachers can develop sermons along the lines of the First Lesson and on Psalm 133 regarding community and God’s desire for it (Sanctification and Social Ethics). Along those lines the text invites emphasis on how even in Old Testament times God would have us cut across ethnic lines so that anyone who confesses the faith is one with us (Social Ethics). In that sense we may read this text as a prophecy of the work of Christ. We might also take the historical context for Trito-Isaiah, the likely source of this text. There was a need for the people of Israel to pull together when they returned from exile, not to let ethnic differences separate them. So if oppressed people (or any group) are to thrive, unity given by God is crucial (Social Ethics).
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
In Paul’s introduction to Christians in Rome (written between 54 and 58 AD), he turns in this lesson to a discussion of the salvation of Israel. Paul asks if God has rejected the Jews and insists God has not, for God foreknew [proginosko] them (vv. 1-2a). After a discussion of how some of the branches of the tree (unfaithful Jews) have been broken off so that Gentiles might be grafted into the tree (vv. 18-20), claiming all Israel will be saved [sozo] (v. 26), Paul notes that as regards the gospel the Jews are enemies of the gospel, but as elected they are beloved [agapetos] for the sake of their ancestors (v. 28). The gift and calling of God are said to be irrevocable (v. 29). Addressing Gentile readers, Paul notes that just as they were once disobedient to God and have received mercy [eleeo], so the Jews have now been disobedient in order that Gentiles may receive mercy (vv. 30-31). God has imprisoned [sunekleise, literally "shut up"] all in disobedience in order to be merciful to all (v. 32).
Application: This lesson provides another excellent opportunity to emphasize the Jewish roots of the Christian faith and that Christians are really adopted Jews (and the Social Ethical implications of this insight). This opens the way to preach on predestination or on God’s faithfulness to his promises.
Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28
We turn again to the most Jewish-oriented of all the gospels, addressing an original audience that was probably Jewish Christians no longer in full communion with Judaism (see 24:20). The book may well have been written in the last third of the first century in Antioch, for Bishop Ignatius seems to quote it as early as 110 AD. In this lesson we consider Jesus’ teaching of things that defile and the story of a Canaanite woman’s faith, accounts found in the other two Synoptic Gospels, though the story of the woman at the well is only told by Mark (7:24-30).
Speaking to a crowd still in Gennesaret (a town on the shore of the Sea of Galilee), Jesus notes that it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles but what comes out of the mouth that defiles (vv. 10-11). (He was responding to the earlier Pharisees’ critique of his disciples for not washing their hands before eating or observing Jewish dietary laws [vv. 1-2].) His disciples ask if he was aware that the Pharisees had taken offense at what he had said (v. 12). Jesus responds with the claim that every plant his Father had not planted will be uprooted (v. 13). (A plant was a common metaphor for righteous Israel [Isaiah 60: 21].) He suggests the Pharisees be left alone for they are blind guides of the blind (v. 14). Peter then demands an explanation (v. 15). Jesus responds wondering how Peter still fails to understand. Only what comes out of the mouth and proceeds from the heart can defile [koinoo, make common or unclean] (vv. 16-18). Out of the heart comes evil intentions [dialogismos, literally "thoughts"] — murder, adultery, fornication, false witness, and slander. They are what defile, not eating without washed hands (vv. 19-20).
Jesus leaves Gennesaret to journey northwest to Tyre and Sidon in Phoenicia (v. 21). He meets a Canaanite woman who shouts for him to have mercy (calling Jesus Lord [kurios] and Son of David), begging help for her daughter afflicted by a demon (v. 22). Jesus does not answer and the disciples ask him to send her away (v. 23). He answers that he came only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (v. 24). (These two verses are unique to Matthew, not appearing in Mark’s parallel account.) The woman still comes and kneels before Jesus, asking for help (v. 25). He responds that it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs (v. 26). This was not necessarily a pejorative comment since dogs were household pets in first-century Jewish homes. The woman responds that even the dogs eat crumbs that fall from the master’s table (v. 27). Jesus commends her for her faith and promises to give her the healing she requests (v. 28).
Application: At least two possibilities for sermons are suggested by the gospel. If the focus is on the optional verses regarding things that defile, a focus on Jesus’ words that trees (righteousness) not planted by God would be uprooted opens the way to remind us that our own righteousness (by works) is worthless. Only the righteousness given us by God has value (Justification by Grace). Another angle more in line with the bulk of the lesson relates to the Canaanite woman who is willing to give up all her pride for Jesus’ help. Like her, we can come to realize that we deserve nothing more than the crumbs. Jesus does not allow ethnic differences ultimately to separate himself from her. In short, he abandons no one (Justification by Grace).
