Lectionary Ruminations 2.0 for Sunday, August 16, 2015, the Twentieth 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 - 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14

2:10 Having 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.

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 Protestanets 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?

3:6 Is this genuine thanks or just a piece of public relations?

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.

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 - Psalm 111:1-10

111:1 Alleluia.  But could dis even fulfill good, holy, instructional, jovial, kaleidoscopic, language? Note that this psalm is an acrostic and therefore the acrostic forms somewhat limits the word choice available to the psalmist.

111:2 Can you list, in alphabetical order, or course, 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 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?

Second Reading - 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 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?

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

Gospel - 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 au bon pain or le pain quotidian?  What other bread came down from heaven?

6:52 The million dollar question! Are Christians any better than the Jews as we wrestle with what Jesus meant?

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?

6:57 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 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 currently serving at the Interim Pastor of The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, worshiping at 154 West Market Street, Cadiz, Ohio, every Sunday at 11:00 AM.  Please like The Presbyterian Church of Cadiz on facebook.