Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 for Sunday, July 12, 2015, the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

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 - 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19

6:1 Was one of those 30,000 named Indiana Jones?  Is there any significance to the number 30,000?

6:2 Where was Baale-judah and what does the name mean?  What are cherubim, where were they, and how was God enthroned upon them?

6:3 Why a new cart and not the old cart? Who was Abinadab?

6:4 If Ahio went out in front, did Uzzah follow behind?

6:5 What might this dance have been like?

6:12b. I though the ark had been in the house of Abinadab.  Who was Obed-edom?  What took place in the verses, 6-12a (that are not part of the lectionary) that could explain this?

6:13 Why make a sacrifice after six paces?  Why not four paces, or seven or eight?

6:14 Déjà vu.  What is a linen ephod?

6:15 I wonder what this shouting sounded like.

6:16 Why might Michal have despised David?

6:17 What is an offering of well-being?

6:18 Was David acting as if he were a priest?

6:19 What do you make of the ditribution of food?

Psalm - Psalm 24

24:1 Is there any difference between “the earth” and “the world” or is this just an example of Hebraic poetic structure? Might we be reading this verse differently in light of Laudato Si’?

24:2 Are “seas” and “rivers” another example of Hebraic poetic structure?

24:3 Ditto “hill of the LORD” and “holy place”?

24:4 And again.

25:5 And again.

25:6 And again. How does one seek the face of God? How do you handle “Selah”?

24:7-10 I think these verses were mis-numbered.  Where four verses exist, we ought to have six.  It is too late to change versification now, however.  How does the First Reading influence your reading and interpretation of this Psalm?

24:7 Does God really need open doors in order to enter in?

24:8 Is this a rhetorical question or a form of call and response?

24:9-10 Redundancy or refrain?

Second- Reading Ephesians 1:3-14

1:3 This reads like a liturgical formula.

1:4 This sounds like predestination.

1:5 What is the difference between destined and predestined?

1:6 Who is the “Beloved”?   Is this an allusion to the Song of Songs?

1:7 How does blood bring redemption?

1:8 What do you make of “lavished”?

1:9 What is the mystery of God’s will? If we now know it, how is it a mystery?

1:10 Does “all things” suggest a universalism?

1:11 Same question as for verse 5.

1:12 Who are “we” and in what why were “we” first?

1:13 How is the Holy Spirit a seal that marks?

1:14 What is “the pledge of our inheritance”?

Gospel - Mark 6:14-29

6:14 Herod heard of what?  What does it mean for a name to become known?  I have a hunch it is more than Andy Warhol’s fifteen minutes of fame.  Could anyone have been saying that “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead” is there had not been a fertile soil for belief in the resurrection?

6:15 Of all the Prophets, why Elijah?  Who were “the prophets of old”?

6:16 What might have been going on in Herod’s mind?

6:17-19 Is this discourse really necessary for telling the Gospel story?

6:20 Did anyone ever refer to Jesus as a “righteous and holy man”?

6:21-29 More backstory?

6:29 Whose disciples?  This is not an example of déjà vu but prefiguring and sounds like language used to refer to Jesus after his death.

6:14-29 You be the judge: Is this passage more about John the Baptizer than it is about Jesus? Why would the author of Mark feel compelled to include all these details about John in a Gospel about Jesus?

ADDENDUM

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