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Lectionary Notes
-21st Sunday after Pentecost
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Readings for
21st Sunday after Pentecost, 10/5/08:
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20, Psalm 19, Philippians
3:4b-14, Matthew 21:33-46
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20:
- The Ten Commandments - all the rage lately with
courtroom battles. People have spent a lot of energy defending these
commandments. Are they worth defending? While I don't feel they need to be
posted in our courtrooms, I think they are still pretty important for us.
- The ones I am most drawn to are the first commandments.
God is God and our only God. We might not worship other deities, but sometimes
we're in danger of worshipping our possessions, our work, our culture, or our
country. We may not make golden calf idols, but we idolize plenty of things,
don't we?
- "Remember the Sabbath." This is so hard for me. We're
recently started a twice-weekly prayer chapel at our church - 30 minutes to be
still and be with God. I find even that hard. My mind is always racing over my
to-do list. How do you keep Sabbath?
- Coveting - that's another commandment that I think is
so important. We always want what we don't have, no matter how much we do
have. How do we live a life of gratitude?
Psalm 19:
- "The heavens are telling the
glory of God." These famous words from the Psalm are often set to music...
- This imagery of the sun "like a
bridegroom from his wedding canopy", this personification of the sun draws to
my mind Greek/Roman mythology, and no doubt made contemporaries of the
psalmist think of similar images of sun-gods in other religions. The
difference? Here the sun is put into place by God, not a god in itself.
- God is more than gold, sweeter
than honey. A simple message - but reminds us of things we put too often
before God in our lives.
- "Let the words of my mouth and
the meditations..." This verse is often used by pastors before they begin
preaching. I like it, but if there's a way to use a Bible verse too much to
the point of over doing, this one makes it on my personal list!
Philippians 3:4b-14:
- One of my least favorite things about Paul is that I
feel he is always boasting about himself while pretending to be humble. But
here, he actually is making good, thoughtful points about his identity and his
identity in Christ. A faithful Jew all his life, Paul says his faith identity
would give him reason to boast except that now, in Christ, these
things are "regard[ed] as loss]." Why? These things simply aren't important in
Christ: in Christ there is no Greek or Jew.
- "Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to
what lies ahead." The them here is of a clean slate. It isn't easy to forget
the past. Indeed, it is not always wise either. But what Paul urges here is to
forget the identity that was without Christ, so that we can focus on 'the
prize' of living fully in Christ in the present/future.
- "I press on." We can't underestimate the importance of
simply pressing on, I think, even when we struggle. We just press on, try
again, reach toward the goal.
Matthew
21:33-46:
- Jesus tells stories about his identity. The
landowner/tenants story is interesting - it almost reads like "God
should have expected Jesus to be killed" - which isn't helpful.
- Looking for more help, I check
Chris
Haslam's comments. Now it makes more sense. Jesus is saying: God will find
tenants who will produce. Do we want to be tenants? What will we produce for
the landowner? If we produce nothing, why would that landowner want us to stay
as tenants?
- The Pharisees get that Jesus is talking about them, but
remain immobilized. Do you ever feel that way? The scriptures you know
are calling you to accountability, and yet you still do not act. Jesus is
calling us to action!
Pastor’s Note: (I use the Greek-English
Lexicon from Liddell and Scott, the “little Liddell”
and the Metzger et. al Greek New Testament in my translation work.)
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