Some introductory thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday - 20th after Pentecost
Joel 2:23-32
+ the aftermath of the locust invasion!
+ “the day of the Lord” – typically seen as a time of judgment. Joel turns it to a day of salvation as well. Preaching the Revised Common lectionary says the day of the Lord is “not a day as such, but a definite divine event in time, an action by God that determines the character of the world.”
+ “God has sent the autumn and spring rains.” So – how much do we attribute climate and weather to God, how much to ourselves? If we attribute drought to human activity, should we hold God responsible for the rain? How has this idea of God active in creation since humans have pretty much overwhelmed it all?
+ some nice lines about God’s spirit coming to all – sons and daughters, oldsters and young folks. What dreams and visions do our children have? How much attention do we pay to them?
+ so the structure of Joel has been a warning, the response (rend your hearts), and redemption. Nice.
+ 2 creation oracles -
vs21 tell the soil to celebrate! I don’t think our farmlands are celebrating, actually. With pesticides, herbicides, erosion, dust storms. But if the autumn and spring rains do come, that will help. I like the image of the desert blooming after a rain! Grain and oil and wine – sounds like a good lunch to me!
vs25 Israel will recover from the locusts! There was a piece (New York Times?) about how there is only one player using an ash bat in the playoffs – partly because of the emerald ash borer! Are the ash trees recovering?
+ another couple of nice lines about how “God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
+ vs32 – those who call on God...and...those whom God has called. Life is a conversation.
Psalm 65
+ We are called to praise God. We and “all flesh” (vs2). Does that mean all people? All animals? Do animals have cause to praise God, considering the lives they are living, the way human existence has impacted them?
+ Interesting collection of images – God is strong, awesome, powerful, yet experienced in the gentle spring rains and flowering meadows. Are those conflicting, or can gentle and lovely also be strong?
+ one writer notes the call to praise God can be an important corrective – “often times in our secular culture gratitude is actually self-congratulations. (See gospel lesson!)
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 (ok – finally sat down and read it, so here are a few things that came to mind as I read the whole letter)
+ ”Have you been to jail for justice” – it’s a song by Four Shillings Short
+ “I know whom I have believed” - it’s a hymn!
+ “Turn your eyes upon Jesus” – also a hymn
+ “Onward Christian Soldiers” – well, yeah, it’s a hymn too. Questionable one.
+ Each one tell one – social media? Paul speaks of “followers who can be trusted to tell others.” Does that mean “followers who can be trusted” or “trusted to tell others”? Who do you trust?
+ 2.13 “If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful.” Does this conflict with 2.12 “he will deny that he knows us” – or is that in fact being faithful, true?
+ “Don’t argue about words” – Ursela K LeGuin writes about playing with words. Paul in fact spent much of his time arguing? Was he arguing about ideas, not words? Did he finally come to think arguing didn’t work?
+ “In the last days” – do the last days come from God of do we cause them? Or what if we cause “last days” to come before God’s “last days” happen?
+ “people will love only themselves and money” – They will be stuck-up. Anybody come to mind?
+ “All scriptures are inspired by God”, “Everything in them is God’s word” (CEB) Everything?
+ Preaching !) correct people, point out sins and 2) cheer them up, patiently teach
+ “They will look for teachers who will tell them what they want to hear.” Well, that’s why I listen to NPR instead of Fox!
+ Lectionary skips over 9-15, people and places. But how does God come to us if not through people and places.
+ from PRCL “Friends and colleagues have abandoned him or are a great distance from him.” Paul is alone.
Luke 18:9-14 The Tax Collector and the Pharisee
+ another one of these stories that we have heard so often and know so well that it is really hard to actually catch what Jesus might have been saying. Richard Swanson will help us hear it afresh below.
+ comes right after The Unrighteous Judge and “Will the Son of Man find faith” – so Luke lines up three pray-ers – the widow, the Pharisee, the Tax Collector.
+ Would Jesus’ comment be a surprise? Who are the Pharisees in your life, The Tax Collectors, or how/when do you behave like either. Careful now – remember we have heard this story so often that we know who the “good guy” is. Don’t rush to judge!
+ note there is some question about the Pharisee – was he “standing off by himself” or was he “praying to himself” (and that can be taken a couple of ways.)
+ we notice that the Pharisee details his faithfulness, using a lot of “I’s”; Is he asking for God’s confirmation?
+ the Tax Collector gives a simple confession – no long line of failures!
+ so, Swanson -
- he notes that as the story begins, the Pharisee would have been the expected hero in Jesus’ day. The Pharisees had after all preserved the faith during Roman occupation. And they did it by holding fast to the tradition and rules. So is he a little boastful, perhaps. Or perhaps we have put that label on him.
- the Tax Collector was a collaborator with the occupying forces. What does that bring to mind?
- Swanson notes that both were honest and correct in their self-descriptions, and that there is no suggestion that either would change. The Pharisee went home to continue his ultra-faithfulness, the Tax Collector went home to continue to collaborate with the occupying forces. They were both probably fairly well dressed, fairly secure in their lives.
- so the Pharisee’s fault is – he sees a separation between himself and the Tax Collector, even though they are both Jews, both of the host of Israel. The Pharisee “fractures the host of Israel”, just what the “divide and conquer” occupiers want him to do.
+ and it also connects with Jesus’ question about faith on earth.
+ so how does that resonate with our political environment today? Is “the other side” doing the “divide and conquer” routine or is it the forces of evil that are doing it to all of us?
That’s what I got for now……..
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