Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 for Sunday, September 28, 2014, the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 is a revised continuation of Lectionary Ruminations.  Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 draws on nearly thirty years of pastoral experience.  Believing that the questions we ask are often more important than any answers we find, without overreliance on commentaries I intend with comments and questions to encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged.  All lectionary links are to the via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings website.

FOR AN UPDATED AND REVISED VERSION, GO TO THIS LINK

First Reading - Exodus 17:1-7

17:1 Where was the wilderness of Sin?  I wonder how worshipers hear the location. What does it mean to journey by stages?  Did the LORD command them to journey or to journey by stages? Why would anyone camp at a place where there was no water?

17:2 How many times now, have the people quarreled with Moses?  How is quarrelling with Moses the same as testing the LORD?

17:4 How many pastors, how many times, have similarly cried out?

17:5 Apparently Moses served in a multi staff congregation!  I want to know more about this staff.  Where might it be now? Why am I thinking of Gandalf and his staff?

17:6 How would Moses recognize the LORD standing on the rock? Was this a well-known rock?  What do you know about Horeb? Were the elders there to serve as witnesses?

17:7 “Is the LORD among us or not” seems to be the question of the day.  Why do we never see churches with names like “The Massah …” or “The Meribah (put your denomination here) Church”? Why is quarreling and the grumbling rather than the water from the rock remembers by the naming?

Psalm - Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16

78:1 Who speaking here?

78:2 Apparently someone was teaching in parables centuries before Jesus.  I love the phrase “dark sayings from of old”.  It reminds me of literature such as Beowulf and the Legend of King Arthur as well as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.  I imagine the whole congregation of Israel gathered around a blazing fire while camped for the night, telling stories from the past as well as re-hashing the day’s events.

78:3 I sometimes wonder what dark sayings from of old have been lost from the oral tradition. How does preaching contribute to the oral tradition?

78:4 Why would anyone want to hide such things from their children? Were they ashamed of their past? What are the glorious deeds of the LORD? What wonders has the LORD done?

78:12 In the sight of whose ancestors? Where is Zoan?

78:13-16 Are these the only glorious deeds of the LORD and the only wonders God has done.

78:15-16 Do these two verses talk about the same thing?

Second Reading - Philippians 2:1-13

2:1 Why “if”?

2:2 Are we to assume Paul’s joy was not complete?

2:4 This seems to run against most current practices.

2:5 Based on this verse, are we then to think and act in accordance with 2:6-8?

2:6 How would one exploit equality with God?

2:9-10 Was “Jesus” above every name before it was given to Christ, or was it elevated above every name because of Christ’s obedience? What knees are under the earth?

2:11 Is this not the most basic confession of the Christian faith?

2:12 How have the Philippians “obeyed” Paul? How do we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling?

2:13 Or?  What is the meaning and function of this verse?

Gospel - Matthew 21:23-32

21:23 Is this a legitimate question?  What is the answer?

21:24 Is Jesus engaging in a tit for tat?

21:25-27 It seems the chief priests and elders choose to not speak the truth but the most politically advantageous answer. Does this behavior remind you of any person or persons in our day?

21:27 Did the chief priests and elders really know but were not willing to answer, or did they really not know? What is the difference between not knowing the truth and not speaking the truth?

21:28-32 Whom is Jesus addressing? How does this parable logically follow from what precedes it?

21:28 What is the symbolism of the vineyard? Whom might the two sons represent?

21:31 Touché!  Maybe the tax collectors and prostitutes will go into the kingdom ahead of the chief priests and elders, but perhaps the elders and chief priests will still go in. Is this another reversal parable, similar to the Gospel Reading from last week?

21:32 And the lesson is?

ADDENDUM

I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, worshiping at 154 West Market Street, Cadiz, Ohio, every Sunday at 11:00 AM.