Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 4th Sunday of Easter Year C)

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.

ACTS 9:36-43

9:36 Is there anything we need to know about Joppa to help interpret this Passage?  What does the name Tabitha mean?  If Tabitha is not Greek, what language is it?  Does her being devoted to good works and acts of charity suggest an appeal to works righteousness?

9:37 Who are “they?”  Is there anything suggestive about her body being placed in “an upper room?”

9:38 What do we know about Lydda and why was Peter there? Who were these disciples that sent two men to Peter?

9:39 Do we need to know anything about weeping widows to help us understand this verse?

9:40 Why would Peter put them all outside. Did anyone remain in the room with Peter, and if so, whom? If no one remained in the room with Peter, how do we know what Peter did?

9:41 Who are “the saints?”

9:42 Why would people believe in the Lord rather than believing in Peter?

9:43 Do we know anything else about Simon, other than that he was a tanner? Does it matter that he was a tanner?

PSALM 23

23:1-6 Is this Reading too familiar for us to hear in it anything new?

23:1 Who is this Psalm speaking about?  Can the image of a first century middle-eastern shepherd still speak to an industrialized, postmodern world?

23:2 People usually do not mind being led, but most people do not want to be “made” to do anything, even lie down in a green pasture.

23:3 How is a soul restored?  What is a right path?

23:4 What is the darkest valley you have ever walked through?  What evil(s), if any, do you or most people fear?  What are rods and staffs used for?

23:5 What does it mean to have a table prepared for you?  Would you want to eat in the presence of your enemies?  Have you ever been anointed with oil?  Have you ever anointed someone with oil?  What might oil symbolize and signify? What does it mean for a cup to overflow? What might be overflowing from this cup?

23:6 Would you rather have goodness and mercy precede you or follow you.  Would you like to dwell in the house of the LORD the rest of your life?  What and where is the house of the LORD?

REVELATION 7:9-17

7:9 After what?  What is being described?  Who is robed in white, the lamb or the multitude? What do palm branches symbolize?

7:10 Did they cry out in one language or many languages?

7:11 How would you describe this scene in your own words? What sort of gesture is falling on one’s face?

7:12 Does it make any difference that they sing rather than say? What is the symbolism of a sevenfold ascription of praise?

7:13 Was this a rhetorical question?

7:14 What was the great ordeal? How does washing anything in blood make it white?

7:15 Where is this temple?

7:16 Does this remind you of anything, even other Scripture?

7:17 Is a lamb being a shepherd ironic? How many springs of the water of life are there?

JOHN 10:22-30

10:22 At what time? What is the festival of the Dedication? Does it matter that it was winter?

10:23 What is the portico of Solomon and where was it in the temple?

10:24 What suspense?  “If?” Why did Jesus prefer parables over plain language?

10:25 Did Jesus ever really come right out and tell he Jews that he was the Messiah?  What works was Jesus referring to?

10:26 Why did they not belong to his sheep? This is the third Reading this Sunday that mentions sheep!

10:27 Should we be reading this in juxtaposition to anything else this gospel?

10:28 What sheep snatcher might Jesus have had in mind?  Is there a difference between eternal life and everlasting life?

10:29 Why is Jesus so concerned about snatching?

10:30 Have fun unpacking this six word statement. How does it follow from what came before in this reading?

                                                                  

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.