Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (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.

ISAIAH 5:1-7

5:1 Does this remind you of the Song of Solomon? Who is speaking? I wonder what this song’s tune sounded like.

5:2 What is the difference between wild grapes and cultivated grapes?

5:3 In this context, what does it mean to judge?

5:4 Is this a rhetorical question?

5:5 This sounds like a pretty severe judgment. Why would a vineyard owner do this?

5:6 Now any grapes that might grow will really and truly be wild grapes.

5:7 So, justice and righteousness are equivalent to cultivated grapes while bloodshed and cries (resulting from wickedness?) are the equivalent of wild grapes?  What sort of grapes are we?

PSALM 80:1-2, 8-19

80:1 The Isaiah reading gave us vineyard imagery.  Today’s Psalm begins by offering us shepherd imagery. Who is the Shepherd of Israel? What and where are cherubim?

80:2 Who or what are Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh?

80:8 Here is some vineyard imagery to juxtapose with similar imagery from the Isaiah Reading.  How do we deal with the changing and mixed metaphors of shepherds, flocks, and vineyards?

80:9 What came first, Isaiah’s imagery or the psalmis’s imagery?

80:10-11 Hyperbole?

80:12 This reads like a specific reflection on Isaiah 5:5-6.  Are both the Isaiah reading and the Psalm perhaps reflecting on a larger cultural and religious image popular at the time?

80:13 Are these allusions to anyone in particular?

80:14 Again?

80:15 What is the symbolism of the right hand?

80:16 Who are “they”?

80:17 Who is “the one at your right hand, the one whom you made strong for yourself?”  How can we not read this illuminated by Hebrews 11:2?

80:18 Is there a quid pro quo at work here?

80:19 What does God’s shining face symbolize?

80:1-2, 8-19 There are several images in this reading that can be employed to address God.  How many can you identify?

HEBREWS 11:29-12:2

11:29, 30, 31 Note the repetition of ‘By faith.”  By comparison, what have we done recently “by faith?”

11:29 If there had been no faith, would the people not have passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry ground?

11:30 Is the writer suggesting that miracles rely upon faith?

11:31 Rahab had faith? What was the nature of Rahab’s faith?

11:32 I wish the author had taken the time to write more. Even though Rahab is mentioned, I wish more women had been named.

11:33-34 “By Faith” is replaced by “through faith.”  Is there is difference? I find some of these examples a little too militaristic.

11:35 What in the world does “Women received their dread by resurrection” mean? What is a “better resurrection?”

11:36 Is the author now writing about Christian martyrs?

11:37 This is gruesome. I wonder how children might hear this.

11:38 Who is the author writing about? This was at least two centuries before the advent of the desert mothers and fathers.

11:39 What was promised?

11:40 What does it mean to be made perfect?

12:1 The author has previously given us a long list of names to include among the great cloud of witnesses, but I am sure the list is not meant to be all inclusive.  What names would you add?  What does it mean to be surrounded by “so great a cloud of witnesses?”  Does this image send shivers up your spine and cause the hairs on the back of your neck to stand on edge?  I think it should! How does this “great a cloud of witnesses” correlate with the communion of the saints? What is the nature of the race that is set before us? Is it a sprint or a marathon?

12:2 Do we look to Jesus as the finish line, the leading runner, the prize, or what? How was Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith? What was shameful about the cross?

LUKE 12:49-56

12:49 Who is speaking? What does fire represent or symbolize?

12:50 We had fire language in the previous verse. Now we have Baptism language. Is this baptism by water or baptism by fire?

12:51 Well, there goes our image of Jesus the peacemaker. How do we read this in the midst of America’s divisive political rhetoric?

12:52 Do the numbers matter? What is the meaning of “household?”

12:53 So much for Christian family values.  I wonder how James Dobson and Focus on the Family handle this verse. Note that there is no division based on sex or gender.

12:54-56 Apparently weather forecasting was a more highly developed art or science in Jesus’ day than was social critique.  Do we do any better?

12:55 Why the weather imagery in this and the preceding verse?

12:56 So weather forecasting is more of a science than prophecy?

12:49-56 Shall we classify these verses as some of the tough, harsh, and troubling sayings of Jesus? Is this apocalyptic language?

                                                                  

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.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

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.

1 KINGS 2:10-12; 3:3-14

2:10 Having once taught a undergraduate level Psychology/Philosophy course on Death and Dying, I hate euphemisms for dying and death, even Biblical ones.  As Christians, we are called and equipped to look death in the face and call it by name. David didn’t sleep with his ancestors. David died.

2:11 Do you think there might have been a little rounding up or down here?

2:12 To whom can Solomon give credit for the firmly established kingdom he inherited?

3:3 What does it mean to Love the LORD?  What were the statutes of David?  Note the plurality “high places.”  Where, and what, were these high places? Why do Protestants generally not use incense in worship?

3:4 What was so special about Gibeon? What is a burnt offering? Why might Solomon have offered so many of them?

3:5 If you want to know more about biblical dreams and dreaming, read Morton Kelsey and John Sanford. Has the LORD ever appeared to you in a dream? When Solomon was a Gibeon, might he have engaged in the spiritual exercise of incubation?

3:6 Is this genuine thanks or just a piece of public relations? When we recall that Bathsheba incident, can we really claim all this about David?

3:7 How old was Solomon when he experienced this dream? What does Solomon mean when he says that he does not know how to go out or come in?

3:8 This seems to say more about the people than about the LORD or Solomon.

3:9 Wasn’t the sin of Adam and Eve that they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?  What separates Solomon’s request from their action?

3:10 Was pleasing the LORD perhaps Solomon’s intent?

3:11 How might this inform our prayers?

3:12 I am reminded of the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion in the Wizard of Oz.  The Great Oz did not give then what they did not already have.  Solomon, in making his request, had already demonstrated that he possessed a wise and discerning mind.  I also think Socrates would have approved of Solomon’s request.

3:13 God gives Solomon riches and honor. Could some reverse psychology, or rather “theochology” have been behind Solomon’s request?

3:14 It seems Solomon must earn long life.

PSALM 111

111:1 Alleluia.  Note that this psalm is an acrostic and therefore the acrostic form somewhat limits the word choice available to the psalmist.

111:2 Can you list, in alphabetical order ofcourse, the works of the LORD?

111:3 It seems God’s work reflects God’s attributes.

111:4 Is this less true in a secular world?

111:5 What is the meaning of “fear?”

111:6 What is the heritage of the nations?

111:7 Must the Psalmist anthropomorphize God?

111:8 What are to be performed?

111:9 What redemption was sent to the people? Is the name of the LORD so awesome and Holy that we cannot even attempt to pronounce it?

111:10 Consider again 111:5. What does it mean to fear the LORD? If the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, what is wisdom’s end?  Those who practice “fear of the LORD” or those who practice “wisdom” have a good understanding?

EPHESIANS 5:15-20

5:15 Apparently wisdom is the theme of the day.  Consider again 1 Kings 3:12. How do the wise and the unwise live differently? 

5:16 Are our days, our age, and our time evil?

5:17 Is foolishness the opposite of, or the absence of, wisdom?  Is understanding the will of the Lord the same as wisdom?

5:18 Is it ok to get drunk with something other than wine?  How is being filled with the Holy Spirit like being drunk with wine?

5:19 What are the differences among psalms, hymns and spiritual songs?  Is this just a literary device or are they three different things?

5:20 How can we give thanks “at all times?”

JOHN 6:51-58

6:51 How many of Jesus’ “I am” sayings have we read in the Fourth Gospel before now?  What is the difference between living bread and the bread available at au bon pain or le pain quotidian?  What other bread came down from heaven?

6:52 Is this not the million dollar question! Are Christians any better off than the Jews as we wrestle with what Jesus meant? Perhaps the mythologist Joseph Campbell can help us out here.

6:53 How did Jesus segue from just bread to bread and blood?  How shall we read this in light of the fact that there is no Last Supper in John’s Gospel? Rather than offering us a Last Supper, this Gospel offers us Eucharistic imagery and theology.

6:54 Not “will” have eternal life but “have” eternal life.  Nevertheless, they will not be raised up until the last day.

6:55 Thank God they are not false food and false drink. What would false drink and false food look and taste like?

6:56 What does it mean to abide in Jesus Christ?

6:57 Why “living Father” and not just Father?

6:58 What bread did our ancestors eat and then die? What does it mean to live forever? 

6:51-58 Is it even possible to read these verses without reading them through the lenses of a sacramental and Eucharistic hermeneutic?  How might we understand them differently if we approached them with a tabula rasa heuristics?  I am inclined to read them as mythological, mystical, almost Gnostic verses filled with multivalent meaning.  This is perhaps the author of the Fourth Gospel at his or her best.

                                                                  

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.

If you are interested in spirituality and contemplation in general and more specifically Thomas Merton, you might be interested in my series of five blog posts reflecting on Merton and his book New Seeds of Contemplation. This link will take you to the first post in the series. The first post in the series links to the other four posts in the series.

http://summittoshore.blogspot.com/2018/08/musings-on-merton-true-self-encounters.html

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time / Proper 15 (Year A)

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.

Genesis 45:1-15

45:1 Much has transpired between this week’s First Reading and last week’s First Reading.  Does any of what transpired between the two readings matter? Has Joseph reached his limit? Perhaps Joseph did not want to let the Egyptians know that the men before him were his brothers.

45:2 I wonder what the Egyptians and household of Pharaoh thought when they heard Joseph weeping? What was the cause of his tears?

45:3 Note that Joseph asks if “his” father, not “our” father was still alive. Why were the brother’s dismayed by Joseph’s presence?

45:4 Why does Joseph repeat himself?

45:5 Is this an example of Joseph engaging in some theological reflection?  Why would Joseph’s brothers be angry? Joseph is the one we might expect to be angry.

45:6 It sounds like things will get worse before they get better.

45:7 Might we compare Joseph to Noah?

45:8 Might Joseph have been older than Pharaoh?

45:9 How many ways might this verse be interpreted?

45:10 Was there anything significant about the land of Goshen? Why might Joseph want to keep hit family close by?

45:11 How will Joseph provide for his brothers? From what resources will he draw?

45:12 Why is Benjamin singled out?

45:13 Is Joseph rubbing it in?  Is he blowing his own horn? In other words, go back and tell Dad that my dreams have come true.

45:14 Once again, why Benjamin?  What was so special about the relationship between Joseph and Benjamin?

45:15 Would Joseph’s brothers not talk with him before this?  I wonder what they talked about.

PSALM 133

133:1 In light of today’s First reading, is this supposed to be a comment on Joseph’s family?  Would it be a comment on Joseph’s family before or after the reunion narrated in the First Reading? Where is Edwin H. Friedman when you need him?

133:2 I have always appreciated the sensual nature of this verse.  What does oil symbolize?

133:3 What and where is Hermon?  What is significant about Hermon’s dew? What did the LORD do (no pun intended) at Hermon? Is the Lord’s blessing life for evermore?

ROMANS 11:1-2a, 29-32

11:1 Might Paul have answered this rhetorical question differently after the Shoah?  Even though we are currently reading the Joseph narrative and the Pauline corpus lectio continua, the “Benjamin” connection between this Second Reading and the First Reading is a nice one. See Genesis 45:12 & 14.

11:2 What does Paul mean by “foreknew”?

11:29 What are the gifts of the calling of God? Christians in particular ought to remember this verse when engaging in dialogue with religious Jews.

11:30-31 Who are “they” and how have they been disobedient?

11:32 What does it mean to be imprisoned in disobedience?

MATTHEW 15:(10-20) 21-28

(15:10) I think every time Jesus says something like “listen and understand” that we can expect some enigmatic saying to follow. The crowd will probably neither listen nor understand.

(15:11) What comes out of the mouth?  Is Jesus commenting on the digestive system?

(15:12) What did the disciples think? Did the disciples take offense?

(15:13) Does this verse reflect a negative view of the Pharisees?  Is Jesus saying that the Pharisees are plants not planted by God?

(15:14) Leave them alone even though they are blind or “because” they are blind?  Might there be some creeping anti-Semitism in this verse?

(15:15) What parable?  Why is it that Peter is usually the first one to open his mouth – and then stick his foot in it?

(15:16) Me thinks the answer is “YES”! At times it seemed like the disciples misunderstood Jesus nearly as much as the Pharisees. Is our understanding any better?

(15:17-18) Oh, that parable!  So Jesus was in fact talking about the digestive system.  Is Jesus saying that words are dirtier than crap?

(15:19) All these come from the heart?  This is an impressive list. Is anything not mentioned that you might have expected to be here?

(15:20) Is this a comment about religion or hygiene?

15:21 What place did Jesus leave? Is there anything significant about Tyre and Sidon?

15:22 What makes a “Canaanite” woman different than any other woman, or a Jewish woman?  What do you know about “The Jesus Prayer,” Hesychasm and the Philokalia? How do post-moderns deal with demons?

15:23 Why does Jesus ignore this woman?  Why do the disciples want to send her away?

15:24 Who are the lost sheep of the house of Israel?

15:25 What does a kneeling posture signify? This is the second time this woman calls Jesus “Lord”!  Is her supplication not an example of the simplest prayer of a believer?

15:26 Did Jesus just call this woman a bitch?

15:27 Did this woman just accept the insult of being labeled a bitch by Jesus yet still refer to him as “master”?  Must “crumbs” refer to bread crumbs or any type of leftover?

15:28 Now Jesus addresses her as “woman”! Whom else as he addressed this way? What makes her faith “great”?  How would anyone know that the woman’s daughter was healed instantly?

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.