Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 is a further revision and refinement
of my Lectionary Ruminations and Lectionary
Ruminations 2.0. Focusing on The Revised Common Lectionary Readings
for the upcoming Sunday from New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 draws on over thirty years of pastoral
experience. Believing that the questions we ask are often more important
than any answers we find, without over reliance on commentaries, I intend with
sometimes pointed and sometimes snarky comments and Socratic like questions, to
encourage reflection and rumination for readers preparing to lead a Bible
study, draft liturgy, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and
encouraged.
24:12-18 Why must Moses go up to
God rather than God coming down? In Christ, God came down to us. What mountain
is this? If it were not for this verse, would we still make a distinction
between the two tablets of the law? I can understand why “law” is singular, but
why is “commandment” also singular?
24:13 Note that that Moses
does not go up to God on the mountain alone. Moses takes with him his assistant
(and heir apparent), Joshua. Why does the NRSV say Moses went up “into” the
mountain?
24:14 Who is Aaron? Who
is Hur?
24:15 What shall we make of
the cloud?
24:16 Shall we equate “the
glory of the Lord” with the cloud? From personal experience, I know
there is something “numinous” about being on a mountaintop, above tree line,
when clouds enshroud the summit. What does the explicit
linguistic connection to the creation account, i.e. “six days and the seventh
day”, suggest about any theological connection between this account and the
first creation account? Is the giving of the law anything like a new creation?
24:17 What does a devouring
fire on top of a mountain look like? Does this suggest lightening or
a volcano or something else altogether? If this is what the people of Israel
saw, what did Moses and Joshua see?
24:18 How much is the forty
days and forty nights a prefiguration of the forty years in the wilderness and
how much is this a post Exodus influence on an earlier tradition? Or is
the mention of forty days and forty nights an allusion to the story of the
flood? How might this passage inform our understanding of The Season of
Lent?
24:12-18 While this reading
stands on its own merits, I find it difficult to read it without looking for
connections to the Gospel Reading and wonder how much we should read the Gospel
account of the Transfiguration as a Midrash on this text. There are
many similarities between the two texts, perhaps the least being the setting;
that of a mountain.
PSALM 2
2:1 Is this a rhetorical
question?
2:2 Is this a reference to secularization?
Who is the LORD’s “anointed”?
2:3 What is the meaning of
this? What are bonds? What are cords?
2:4 I like this image of a
laughing God although we might debate the nature of the laughter.
2:5 From laughter to wrath and fury.
2:6 Zion, the
holy hill, rather than the holy mountain Moses and Joshua ascended or upon
which Jesus is transfigured. Is this “king” to be equated with the
“anointed” of 2:2?
2:7 What decree? Is
this the King speaking? Why does this verse sound familiar?
2:8 Forget the Promised
land, have all the earth!
2:9 Was iron the hardest
known metal at the time?
2:8-9 I this a prophecy or
promise never, or not yet, fulfilled?
2:10 This sounds like good
advice in the world’s contemporary political and social climate.
2:11 What is fear? When was
the last time you served the LORD with trembling?
2:12 What does it mean to
(euphemistically?) kiss God’s feet?
PSALM 99
99:1 The earth quakes but
the people tremble (see Psalm 2:11). What are cherubim and where are
they? If The LORD is king, who is not the king?
99:2 Is The LORD great only
in Zion? What is the meaning of “peoples”?
99:3 What is God’s awesome
name? How can one praise God’s name if it is not pronounced?
99:4 This is great imagery
for God appropriate for addressing God in prayer. What is the meaning of
“equity”?
99:5 This sounds like a call
to worship. Where and what is God’s footstool? Not that
this verse addresses the people while the previous verse addresses The LORD.
99:6 How does Samuel come to
be included with Moses and Aaron? Who do you know who has cried to
the LORD and God answered them?
99:7 This is undoubtedly a
reference to the Exodus. Note that “decrees” and “statutes” are both
plural. Whom did God speak to in the pillar of cloud? What does a
pillar of cloud look like?
99:8 An interesting
juxtaposition: The forgiving LORD and the avenging LORD. Can The LORD have
it both ways? Can we?
99:9 This sounds like
another call to worship? Must we worship only at God’s holy
mountain? What and where is God’s holy mountain?
2 PETER 1:16-21
1:16 What is a cleverly
devised myth? I wonder what Rudolph Bultmann or Joseph Campbell
might have to say about this? Were some claiming that the gospel was a cleverly
devised myth? How shall we read this verse as it relates to the mythopoeic
nature of Scripture?
1:17 Did Jesus not have
honor and glory before the event being recounted? What does the voice seem to
echo? What event is being referred or alluded to?
1:18 When Scripture relates
the personal experience of the first followers of Jesus, what does that say
about our own personal experience of the risen Christ?
1:19 What is the prophetic
message? How has it been confirmed? How can we do
anything else than be attentive to a lamp shining in a dark place? Where
might this dark place be? What is the morning star and how does it rise in our
hearts? Might this be a reference or allusion to Mercury and/or Venus? Why do
we see Mercury and Venus only in before sunset or just after sunrise? Will
there be any need for a lamp once the morning star rises and the day dawns?
1:20 This is why Christians
interpret Scripture in community and why I invite, solicit, and encourage your
comments responding to Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 (hint, hint; plead,
plead). What do we do when someone offers a new or different
interpretation that is at odds with the historic or current community?
1:21 Prophecy, like poetry
and art, comes from somewhere other than the prophet, poet, or artist, but who
gets to make that claim? What does it mean that Scripture (and thus
prophecy) is self-authenticating?
MATTHEW 17:1-9
17:1 Six days later, after
what? See Exodus 24:16. As Moses took Joshua, Jesus takes Peter, James and John.
17:2 What does it mean to be
transfigured? Why am I thinking of Franz Kafka? Has anyone else’s face ever shone like the sun? Has
anyone else’s clothes ever become dazzling white?
17:3 What is the meaning of
“Suddenly”? Why Moses and Elijah? What might Moses and
Elijah represent? Why would Moses and Elijah want to talk with
Jesus, or Jesus want to talk with them? Is there any significance to the fact
that the three greats (Moses, Jesus, Elijah) are balanced by the three mere
disciples (Peter, James and John)? It seems we have a dyad of
trinities.
17:4 Way to go Peter,
interrupt a spiritual experience with mundane concerns! I wonder if at that
moment Jesus really thought it was “good” Peter was there. Why three dwellings
rather than just one for all three? What is the meaning of “dwelling”?
17:5 The text suggests a
chronology of Jesus being transfigured before the bright cloud appeared. Note
the reappearance of the word “suddenly.” Why does this voice and
what it says sound familiar? What does the Gospel add or include that the
Reading from 2 Peter did not? You may want to take another look at
Exodus 24:16.
17:6 Were the disciples
overcome by fear by hearing the voice or by hearing what the voice said? What
does it mean to “fall to the ground”? Might falling to the ground
refer to posture? What might have been the nature of the fear that
came over the disciples?
17:7 Was this a reassuring
touch? Would there be any difference in interpretation if Jesus had
said “Do not be afraid and get up.”?
17:8 Where did Moses and
Elijah go? Why did they leave?
17:9 Why would Jesus “order”
these three disciples to tell no one about the vision until after the Son of
Man has been raised from the dead”? Who is the Son of Man? Could
this, indeed, be a misplaced resurrection appearance read back into the Gospel
at an earlier point? How might this Reading prefigure the
resurrection? Why does Jesus refer to this as a “vision”? What is a
“vision”? Have you ever experienced such a “vision”?
ADDENDUM
I am
a Minister Member of Upper Ohio Valley Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.) and am serving as the Interim Pastor of the Richmond United
Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Ohio. Sunday Worship at Richmond begins at 11:00
AM. Some of my other blog posts have appeared on PRESBYTERIAN BLOGGERS and The
Trek.
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