Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 14th 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.

2 KINGS 5:1-14

5:1 Why would the LORD give victory to the General of a foreign king?  What is the nature of this “leprosy?”

5:2 Were the Arameans and the Israelites at war?

5:3 What prophet was in Samaria?

5:4 Why did Naaman report to his lord, presumably the king of Aram?

5:5 Is this an example of Old Testament international diplomacy? Are the silver, gold and garments a gift, a peace offering, a bribe, or what?  What would be their current economic value?

5:6 Why did Naaman go to the king of Israel instead of directly to the prophet in Samaria?

5:7 At least this king, unlike previous kings, knows that he is neither God nor exercises divine-like power.

5:8  Who really needs to learn that there is a prophet in Israel? What is more important, learning that there is a prophet in Israel or learning the God of Israel is a mighty God?

5:9 I wonder how many were in Naaman’s entourage.

5:10 Why did Elisha send a messenger to Naaman rather than meeting with the leper general? What is the significance of the number seven? Are there any other examples in Scripture of the restorative powers of the Jordan, or of someone washing seven times?

5:11 What might the the waving of a hand symbolize? It seems that Naaman wants theatrics but Elisha eschews them.

5:12 I think Naaman has a point. What does this verse have to say about holy healing shrines like Lourdes?

5:13 At least the servants had some sense. What might this verse teach us about spiritual disciplines?

5:14 What does this verse say about Elisha? Would or could others be so healed or was there something special about Naaman? Was the Jordan considered to possess restorative and healing properties? As a pastor, I resonate with this story.  Sometimes it seems that people will take to heart major proposals but dismiss less major ones.  

PSALM 30

The Psalm Reading is usually chosen as a commentary on the First Reading.  How does Psalm 30 enlighten or expand upon 2 Kings 5:1-14?  Whose voice might we be hearing in this Psalm, the voice of the leper general or the voice of Elisha, both, or another voice altogether?

5:1 Drawn up from what and to what?

5:2 Is healing the only form of help to pray for?

5:3 What and where is Sheol? What kind of pits are there?

5:4 How can one give thanks to God’s holy name when God’s holy name is usually not to be pronounced?

5:5 Personally, I love this verse.

5:6 Maybe this verse explains why Presbyterians are so often unmoved when change is needed.

5:7 What does it mean for God to hide the divine face?

5:8 How do you define “supplication?”

5:9 Is the Psalmist attempting to blackmail God?  Reason with God? Bribe God?

5:10 Is that all the psalmist wants, a helper?

5:11 Again, on a personal note, this verse ranks right up there with v.5. Was the psalmist doing a happy dance?

5:12 What is the relationship between praise and thanksgiving?

GALATIANS 6:(1-6)7-16

(6:1) By addressing his readers as “My friends” is Paul being honest?  Patronizing? Buttering them up? Were their Christians in Galatia who had not received the Spirit?

(6:2, 5)  Compare and contrast “Bear one another’s burdens” with “For all must carry their own loads.”  What is the difference between a burden and a load?

(6:3) Who are nothing? Who are something? Which are you?

(6:4) What does it mean to “test” one’s work?

(6:6) Is Paul arguing for just compensation, asking for an honorarium, gift or stipend, or something else altogether?

6:7 How were the Galatians, or at least some of the Galatians, “mocking” God?  How do we mock God today? What do you sow? What do reap?

6:8  How, or in what ways do we sow to our own flesh and how, or in what ways, do we sow to the Spirit? Doi agricultural images, similes, and metaphors still have a place in a post-industrial, information economy and age?

6:9 When are we tempted to give up?

6:10 Note that we (Christians) are to work for “the good of all” even though we may focus on

the family of faith.  I am reminded of a phrase from George Orwell’s Animal Farm, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”

6:11 Is this an example of Paul taking over from his secretary? What a find it would be to discover or unearth the original manuscript of Paul’s letter to the Galatians!  Maybe this could be another Indiana Jones story. Why might Paul have written in such large letters?

6:12 What persecution might Paul have been talking about?

6:13 What law was Paul thinking of?

6:14 What does Paul mean “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world?”

6:15 What sort of new creation was Paul talking about?

6:16  What rule?  “The Israel of God” sounds like an odd phrase. To whom does it refer?

LUKE 10:1-11, 16-20

10:1 After what? Compare the parallels in the other Gospels.  Why send people out in pairs?  I think the argument can logically be made that Jesus intended to visit at least thirty-five towns and places. What does this verse say about the need for planning and preparation? I wish we had the names of some if not all these seventy. Why don’t we?

10:2 Is the harvest still plentiful in the community in which you live?

10:3 Who are the wolves? What do lambs in the midst of wolves need?

10:4 Why greet no one on the road?

10:5 Do you bless homes when you enter them?

10:6 What does it mean to share in peace? What does it mean for peace to rest on a person?

10:7 Another economic imperative?  Compare this to Galatians 6:6.Why not go about from house to house?

10:8 Do food restrictions, allergies, and other concerns not matter?

10:9-11 Regardless of the reception, the message is nearly the same:  “The kingdom of God has come near (to you).”  How do we know when it is appropriate to wipe the dust off our feet in protest and to move on? Have you ever wiped the dust off your feet when you left a place? I have.

10:16 The logical argument is that whoever rejects you rejects the one who sent Jesus, which I presume is God. This has undoubtedly been quoted by some unscrupulous pretenders.

10:17-19 How shall we interpret and apply these verses in a postmodern world which often shuns “the spiritual” as make believe and unreal?  I mean, when was the last time a
“spirit” submitted to you or anyone else you know?

10:20 How has this verse influenced those who appeal to the longer ending of Mark to defend their “snake handling?”

                                                                  

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 14th 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.

2 SAMUEL 5:1-5, 9-10

5:1 All the tribes, or representatives of all the tribes?  Why Hebron?

5:2 Could someone be putting words into the tribes’ mouths?

5:3 Is this the only instance of a covenant not involving God, or does making a covenant between people before God count as involving God?

5:4 According to the US Constitution, David would have been five years too young to be President of the United States.

5:5 Why did David first rule from Hebron and later move to Jerusalem?

5:9 what was the condition and status of Jerusalem before David took up residence there? What and where is the Millo?

5:10 Did David become more powerful because God was with him or did people think God was with him because David was becoming more powerful?

PSALM 48

48:1 Where is the city of our God? What is God’s holy mountain?

48:2 What and where is Zion? Who is the great king?

48:3 Is there a difference between a citadel and a fortress? Does God need a defense?

48:4 What kings and what alliance is being referred to?

48:5 Could this verse be alluding to the siege of Tiglath-Pileser?

48:6 I would appreciate some women commenting on the simile.

48:7 Were ships of Tarshish ever shattered? What and where is Tarshish?

48:8 The United States has never really had a religious center or religious capital. What about other countries?

48:9 Do you ever ponder? Do you ever meditate in the sanctuary?

48:10 Another slight toward left-handedness?

48:11 Compared to Jerusalem, are all other habitations mere towns?

48:12 How many towers were around Zion?

48:13 What is the difference between a rampart and a citadel?

48:14 I would expect “defender” rather than “guide.”

2 CORINTHIANS 12:2-10

12:2 This must be one of the stranger and more bizarre verses in the New Testament.  Have you ever had an out of the body experience?  How many heavens are there? Could this be autobiographical?

12:3 Are you losing track of what Paul knows and does not know?

12:4 How does Paul know this? Is Paradise the same as heaven?

12:5 Why would Paul boast about the people he has just described? Why would Paul boast about his weaknesses?

12:6 Has Paul just tooted his own horn?

12:7 What revelations is he referring to? What do you make of this thorn?  Why did Paul think this thorn was a messenger of Satan?

12:8 Only three times? Did Paul not have faith that it would be taken away?

12:9 Paul will not boast about his greatness but rather about his weakness. I think he is still boasting.

12:10 Poor Paul. Is he asking for a pity party?

Mark 6:1-13

6:1 Jesus left where? Where was his hometown? What are the possible meanings of “followed?”

6:2 When was the last time anyone was astounded by your teaching?  How would YOU answer the questions asked in this verse?

6:3 You mean Jesus was not an only child?  That his brothers but not his sisters are named is an example of the patriarchy of the times. Why did his family take offense at him?

6:4 What prophets might Jesus have been referring to? Did Jesus consider himself a prophet?

6:5 As if laying your hands on a few people and healing them is something minor.

6:6 Whose lack of faith, his family’s or that of other hometown folk?

6:7 Why two by two?

6:8-9 Why these instructions?  How could they be expected to accomplish their mission without any provisions or a building and/or sanctuary? Was Jesus sending them out to be beggars? How might these instructions be related to the detachment of the contemplative tradition?

6:11 Enacting this verse can be quite cathartic. Believe me, I know!

6:12 Was this preaching any different than the preaching of John the Baptizer?

6:13 Why do Presbyterians not do more anointing with oil? Why do Presbyterians generally not drive out demons?

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. My various blog posts have appeared on PRESBYTERIAN BLOGGERS and Appalachian Trials.

Lectionary Ruminations 2.5 for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time / Proper 10 (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 25:19-34

25:19-20 Last Sunday, Isaac and Rebekah got hitched.  This week, we learn about their offspring.  First, however, we are reminded of Isaac and Rebekah’s ancestry.  Why such an emphasis on lineage?

25:21 Where have we read about something like this before? I wonder how long the couple was not able to conceive.

25:22 Children (plural)? Is this an example of pre-natal care or pre-natal prayer?

25:23 Is this an example of prophecy or foreshadowing? How many “nations” can we now trace to Abraham?

25:24 Did we not see this coming based on 25:22?

25:25 What does “Esau” mean?

25:26 What does “Jacob” mean? Based on this verse and 25:20, it seems that Isaac and Rebekah were married for twenty years before they became parents.

25:27 What two ways of life do these two brothers represent?

25:28 There are some interesting family dynamics at work here. How might Edwin Friedman and Bowen theory help interpret this passage? What greater conflict might be represented by the personal conflict between Esau and Jacob?

25:29 Jcob must have been quite domestic.

25:30 The red boy wants some red stuff!

25:31 What is a “birthright” and what does it mean to sell it?  How can such a thing be sold?

25:32 Was Esau prone to hyperbole and impulsiveness?

25:33 What about the commandment that prohibits swearing?

25:34 If Esau despised his birthright, did Jacob despise his bother?

25:29-34 Is Jacob’s behavior an example of unbridled capitalism or exploitation?

PSALM 119:105-112

How does this Psalm serve as a commentary on or contrast to the Genesis 25:19-34 Reading?  Does it make any difference that these verses are only part of a larger acrostic work?

119:105 This is a rather well known verse, thanks to its use in the liturgy.  Does such familiarity make it more difficult to read and hear it in new ways?  What “word” is being referred to? Note that it is “my” path!

119:106 What does it mean to “confirm” an oath? What are God’s righteous ordinances?

119:107 I wonder how the psalmist was afflicted.

119:108 Do most people in the pews have any sense or awareness that their praise of God is an offering?

119:109 What is being contrasted with “but?” Does law refer to the Decalogue, the Torah, or the Levitical code?

119:110 What might be the nature of this “snare?” Who are the wicked attempting to snare you?

110:111 What is a heritage?

110:112 What does it mean to incline one’s heart?

110:105-112 Are “word”, “ordinances”, “law”, “precepts”, “decrees”, and “statutes” mere synonyms used for poetic reasons, or are there nuanced differences being suggested?

ROMANS 8:1-11

8:1 Once again I must say that I detest it when readings begin with a “therefore” because I always wonder what came before. Who would condemn those who are in Christ Jesus?

8:2 What is the “law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus”?  Note how law/Spirit/life is contrasted with law/sin/death.

8:3 How was the law weakened by the flesh? What is the meaning of “likeness”?  Does “likeness” suggest anything less than full humanity?

8:3-11 In our day and age, how do we deal with all this “flesh” and “spirit” language?

8:4 What is the “just requirement of the Law”?

8:5 What are the things of the flesh? What are the things of the spirit?

8:6 Note the construction flesh/death vs. Spirit/life/peace. Must it be either – or?

8:7 Why can’t it?

8:8 Why not?

8:9 How does the Spirit dell in us? Is the Spirit of God and Spirit of Christ the one in the same Spirit?

8:10 Now we have dead bodies and living spirits.

8:11 This sounds like life now, not everlasting life later.  Is it also true that those whom the Spirit does not dwell in are already dead?

MATTHEW 13:1-9, 18-23

13:1 What day? Same day as what? Whose house did Jesus leave? What sea did he sit beside?

13:2 Why did Jesus get into a boat?

13:3 If Jesus told the crowds many things, why is this parable and not some other parable or parables included in the Gospel? Did Jesus tell parables that were not included in the Gospels?  Is this parable about a sower, about the seeds, or about something else altogether?

13:4 What might the seed represent? What might the path represent?

13:5 What might the rocky ground represent?

13:6 How are your roots?

13:7 What might thorns represent?

13:8  What might good soil represent? Must the seed, path, rocky ground, thorns, and good soil represent anything?

13:9 Maybe the sower was sowing seed corn! Really, who does not have ears?

13:18 Does the fact that we have this verse mean that Jesus or the Gospel writer knew or assumed we do not have ears? Must parables be explained?

13:19 What is understanding? What is the relationship between understanding and heart?

13:20-21 What do roots look like and how does one establish them? Is this talking about about new fair weather Christians?

13:22 Are “cares of the world” the same as Paul’s “flesh” in the Romans 8:1-11 Reading?

13:23 So not all seed, even if it falls on good soil, bears the same quantity?  What about quality?

In retrospect, was this parable about a sower, about the seed that was sown, or about the soil where the seed was sown, or about something else altogether?  Why did Jesus tell this particular parable?  What was Jesus trying to tell the crowd that he could tell them only through this parable? What is a parable? Is there any relation, other than etymology, between “parable” and “parabola?”

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 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time / Proper 9 (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 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

Even after skipping over some verses of chapter twenty-four, this is still the longest of the day’s Readings.

24:24 Who is speaking?

24:35-40 This sounds like things have turned out pretty well for Abraham and Sarah.  Almost sacrificed, Isaac is now of marrying age.  What to do? He cannot marry one of the locals, can he?  Do we find in these verses the roots of a prosperity Gospel?

24:35 How do we deal with the slavery issue?

24:36 Note that Abraham, not Sarah, is the master.

24:37 Abraham and Sarah consider the land they are living in to be a foreign land. Are Abraham and Sarah refugees, illegal aliens, settlers, invaders, or what? Why is it important that Isaac not marry a foreigner?

24:42-44 Do these verses remind you of any verses in the NT, John 4:1-42 perhaps?

24:42 What is it about springs? Is the LORD not also the God of the person speaking? Where slaves usually compelled to worship and serve the god of their master?

24:43 Must the woman be young?

24:44 What do you think if this almost divining, soothsaying, match-making method?

24:45 What does it mean to “speak in one’s heart”? How did the servant know Rebekah’s name?

24:46 Why was Rebekah so willing to serve a stranger?

24:47 Who are these people and why are they being named?  What is the significance of the ring and bracelets?

24:48 I wonder if there were any women in this village who were not Abraham’s kin.

24:49 Is the servant speaking to Rebekah, the LORD, or someone else? What is this turning to the right hand or the left language all about?

24:58 Who called? Can we consider this “The call of Rebekah?”

24:59 Why does Rebekah have a nurse?

24:60 Can we read this as the blessing of Rebekah? Is it mere coincidence that this apparent blessing almost perfectly dovetails with the LORD’s blessing of Abraham and Sarah?

24:61 Rebecca had maids as well as a nurse? I wonder how many maids accompanied Rebekah.  How does a nurse differ from a maid?

24:62 What do we know about these places?

24:63 Was Isaac expecting or watching for camels to appear?

24:64 Why did Rebekah slip from the camel when she saw Isaac?

24:65 Why was Rebekah not veiled until she was about to meet Isaac? How does this verse shed light on current debates about the hajib? I thought Abraham, not Isaac, was the slave’s master.

24:66 Have we just been told everything Isaac was told?

24:67 Why did Isaac take Rebekah into his mother’s tent rather than his own? Freud might have something to say about this verse. How did we get from the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah to the death of Sarah in just one verse?

PSALM 45:10-17

45:10-15 While these words were not originally addressed to Rebekah, they do seem to fit.  This reads like a liturgy from a royal wedding.  Have you ever used them or heard them used in a wedding liturgy?

45:10 What does it mean to incline one’s ear?

45:11 Is beauty all that matters? Is the Lord and bowing language just an example of the sexism of patriarchy?

45:12 Who are the people of Tyre?

45:13 Is every bride a princess? Was Rebekah a princess?

45:14 How have we gone from many colored, gold-woven robes to white wedding dresses?

45:15 Who is joyful and glad?

45:16-17 The psalm seemed to have been speaking to and of the Bride.  Now it seems to speaking to the Bridegroom/King.

45:16 What and where is the place of ancestors? Why are sons but not daughters mentioned?

45:17 Is male progeny the only way to be remembered?

SONG OF SOLOMON 2:8-13

Perhaps this alternate reading is suggested by the love mentioned in Genesis 24:67.

2:8-13 Can you hear these words perhaps coming from Rebekah’s mouth?  These are some of the most sensual passages in Scripture.  I think we do them disservice to spiritualize them and see them as anything less than biblical erotica.

2:8 Is there some poetic hyperbole here?

2:9 Why the plural “our”? It sounds like the beloved is a bit of a peeping Tom.

2:10 “Come away” to where and what for?

2:11 Why do we have this reference to the seasons and weather?

2:12-13 Do these verses suggest more than just natural fertility and human love?

2:12 Whose time of singing has come?

2:13 The ending lines sound like a refrain., See 2:10.

ROMANS 7:15-25a

7:15 Here are some Pauline verses I can finally fully identify with!

7:16 Why?

7:17 Does the devil make us do it?

7:18 I too, know this. What is the relation between flesh and will?

7:19 Sometimes even the good we think we are doing is corrupted and ends up being sinful.

7:20 I doubt if the “sin” defense would stand up in a court of law.

7:21 Is this just a play on words or 180° theological move?

7:22-23 What is the contrast being made between “inmost self” and “members”? How many “laws” are there?

7:22 Does “law of God” refer to the Ten Commandments or something else?

7:23 What members is Paul referring to? What is the relationship between members and mind?

7:24 Could we ever use this liturgically as part of a Confession of Sin or does it sound to antiquated? Does anyone even use the word “wretched” in common, every day speech anymore?

7:25 What does this phrase add to Paul’s argument? Why does Paul make this exclamation?

MATTHEW 13:1-9, 18-23

11:16 Why might I read this differently in my late 50’s than I would have in my early 30’s? What generation was Jesus speaking about?

11:17 Is this a quote? From what or where is Jesus quoting?

11:18 Why does John get dragged into this? Who said John had a demon?

11:19 How do those in the pews hear and understand “Son of Man”?  Who was saying such things about Jesus? What point is Jesus making by referring to Lady Wisdom and “Her” deeds?

11:18-19 It seems that prophets are damned if they don’t and damned if they do? 

11:25 What “things” have been hidden from some and revealed to others?  Who are the “wise and intelligent” and who are the “infants”?  Does the mention that the Lord of heaven and earth has “hidden” these things place this in the genre of apocalyptic literature or a mystery religion?

11:26 What was God’s gracious will?

11:27 It seems as though Jesus has gone from praying to proclaiming.

11:28-30 These verses seem to stand on their own.  Are they out of context?  Do they naturally and logically follow from what precedes them?  How might they add to our understanding of the previous verses? I think a whole sermon could be preached – a whole lesson developed – around these three verses.

11:28 What heavy burdens might Jesus have had in mind?

11:29 What is Christ’s yoke?

11:30 What is Christ’s burden? 

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.