Lectionary Notes - Pentecost 4A

Lectionary Notes - 4th Sunday after Pentecost

(view sermon for this text)

Readings for 4th Pentecost, 6/8/08:

Genesis 12:1-9, Psalm 33:1-12, Romans 4:13-25, Matthew 9:9-13,18-26

Genesis 12:1-9:

"So Abram went" - ah, I can't imagine just up and going like Abram did. What courage he must have had.
Why did he go? God laid out a vision and a promise to him, which Abram found compelling enough to take risks for. As a church, perhaps that is also what we need to do: lay out a compelling vision for where we are going. Then, perhaps, people will have the courage to go with us as we seek to follow God.
"I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse." Not sure how I feel about this. But God is protecting God's promise here, however you look at it. Protecting the vision God wants to see come into fullness.
There is such a sense of hope and building for the future in this passage - it is "promising", isn't it? What do you feel God is promising for your future? What are you promising God?

Psalm 33:1-12

A good praise psalm. Notice particularly the emphasis on God's words, or God's voice, and action in this passage. "by the word" the heavens were made, "by the breath of his mouth" and "for he spoke, and it came to be." Our own words may not have the power of God's words, but we are reminded of the power they do have by this passage. It also reminds us that we should try to connect our words to real actions!
"[God] gathered all the waters of the sea as in a bottle." What a great visual!
"[God] frustrates the plans of the peoples." An interesting statement, and in way true, I think. We make lots of plans for ourselves, but sometimes, often, we forget to include God's plans in our plans! No wonder we feel that God is frustrating our plans. Maybe we need to let ourselves be frustrated more often!

Romans 4:13-25:

Our Old Testament lesson ties in with this lesson from Romans - read the Genesis account of Abraham to give you more grounding for Paul's theological arguments here.
This was a text I studied carefully when I was writing a paper my freshman year of college on sola fide. Ah, how enlightened I was! But the texts I used still bring me straight back to the paper I was working on: are we saved by faith or works? We answer faith with our lips, but sometimes works with our actions and attitudes. We're always trying to earn God's love, and always convinced we (and others) can never live up to it.
According to Paul, Abraham's faith is in God's promises. "No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God." Sometimes I think we get confused and try to have faith simply in our own abilities. That's an impossible task. Instead, our faith should focus on God's promises and the fulfillment of those promises in our midst.

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26:

Another passage (like the Genesis account) where someone just gets up and follows when called. What would it take for you to do that? What would you have to rearrange in your life right now for that to be possible? What aren't you willing to give up to do that?
Compare this with the passage from Mark 5:21-43, which gives some more details.
This is a hard passage because there are two sections that seem quite unconnected, at least at my first glance through, though what Jesus teaches in the first section is perhaps illustrated in the second section. Still, I think I might want to only focus on one section or another.
"Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'" - Ah, we're still trying to learn this, I think.

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.)

Return to Notes Year A

Return to Lectionary Notes Page

Return to Home Page