Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 for the First Sunday in Lent (Year C)

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 - Deuteronomy 26:1-11

26:1 How shall we define this “land”?

26:2 How do we move from “some” to 10%.  What is the meaning of “first”? What difference does it make for our Stewardship that we are commanded to take some of the “first fruit” rather than what happens to be left over to present to God? Where is the place of the LORD?

26:3 “Your” seems odd.  I would expect “our”. This sounds like a liturgical formula.

26:4 Since it is the contents of the basket that matter, I wonder what happens to the basket.

26:5 Please, please, please know the difference in meaning and pronunciation between Aramean and Armenian. Did this wandering Aramean have a name? Who is your daddy? Might this passage suggest that faith is a journey or lead into a reflection on the Lenten journey?

26:6 Why not the overt mention of slavery or servitude?

26:7 How do we move from “ancestor” in 26:5 to “ancestors” in this verse?

26:8 What is the meaning of “mighty hand” and “outstretched arm”?

26:9 What does it mean for a land to flow with milk and honey?

26:10 Apparently fish and fowl were not brought. Is this set down before the priest, by the priest, or is the priest not at all involved in this setting down?

26:11 Who are Levites and why are they and aliens singled out?  Note that the people are to celebrate “with all the bounty”, not celebrate the bounty.

Psalm - Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

91:1-2, 9-16 How many ways does this Psalm identify God?

91:1 Is God’s shadow the same as God’s shelter?  What does a shadow shelter from?

91:2 What is the difference, if any, between refuge and fortress?  Is this couplet nothing more than an example of Hebraic poetic construction?

91:9 This verse contains the second appearance of “Most High”.  What does this title of God communicate that other titles do not?

91:10 I hereby proclaim this the backpackers and campers verse!

91:11-12, 1a3 Cn we read and interpret these versus without hearing them applied to Christ?

91:11 What is your angelology?

91:12 What about this verse troubles me?

91:13-14 Note the switch from the third person to the first person between verses 13 and 14.

91:14 Who is now speaking? What is God’s name and how can we know it if we are not supposed to pronounce it?

91:15 Is God present only in times of trouble?

91:16 What is the meaning of “salvation” in the context of this verse?

Second Reading - Romans 10:8b-13

10:8b  This is Paul writing, not John.  What does Paul mean by “word”.

10:9 Is Paul is calling for both verbal assent as well as spiritual assent?  The church can judge the first but not the second.  This is perhaps one of the oldest, and simplest, statements of faith.  Note what is does not say.  How did this short Biblical confession become expanded into the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed, not to mention the Westminster Confession?

10:10 What is the difference between being justified and being saved?  Did Paul really mean to relegate justification to the affections and salvation to confession?

10:11 What Scripture is Paul quoting?

10:12 What is the meaning of “Greek”?

10:13 What does “call on the name of the Lord” mean and what does it sound like?  How can we interpret this without wandering into debate between inclusive universalism and exclusive particularism?  What are the implications for evangelism on the one hand and interreligious dialogue on the other?

Gospel - Luke 4:1-13

4:1-13 Do not forget to look at the parallels, beginning at Matthew 4:1 and Mark 1:12.

4:1 What does it mean to be full of the Holy Spirit?  Can one be led by the Spirit if one is not full of the Spirit? Is wilderness simply a geographical reference or is it also symbolic? I referred you last week, and I will refer you again to Belden Lane’s book The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality.

4:2 What is the symbolic significance of forty?  What does it allude to? Who was there counting?  What is your demonology?  What would the physical, psychological, and spiritual state of anyone who had fasted forty days be like?

4:3 “If”?

4:4 Where is this written?

4:5 Is this physically possible in a round world?

4:6 Had any authority been given to the Devil, or is the Devil lying?

4:7 Why does the Devil want to be worshiped?

4:8 Where is this written?

4:9 “If”? Yet again? It sounds as though the Devil is taunting or even attempting to sew seeds of doubt.

4:10-11 Where is this written? Note that even the Devil can quote Scripture! Look above at Psalm 91:11-12.

4:12 Where is this said?

4:13 What would be an opportune time?  This verse always reminds me of Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel Last Temptation of Christ.  I think the movie adaptation is better than the book, but nevertheless, what does it mean for our faith that Jesus was tempted at least three times and perhaps more, even at a later time?

ADDENDUM

I am currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, Ohio but will be available to supply preach or serve in a part-time of full-time position beginning late February or early March, 2016.