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Lectionary Notes
-
8th Sunday after
Pentecost, Proper 11, 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(view sermon
or sermon
for this text)
Readings for 8th Sunday after Pentecost,
7/22/07:
Amos 8:1-12, Psalm 52, Colossians 1:15-28, Luke 10:38-42
Amos 8:1-12:
- Please read Chris
Haslam's explanation of this passage for details that I, frankly, can't
give you. But my own thoughts:
- "a basket of summer fruit" - imagery rises
of harvest, life, creation, end of season, gathering up
- Note the death/destruction/wailing/bodies imagery in
this passage
- Amos describes those who follow the law up to and only
to the letter. "When will Sabbath be over so we can get on with our lives?"
they ask. Their concern is for self and self only. "selling the sweepings
of wheat" - instead of leaving them for the poor. An early picture of
capitalism at work?!
- "Shall not the land tremble on this account?"
Indeed - even the earth - the creation, revolts at our behavior. Trembles
in agony!
- Famine - not of bread and water, but of God's word! "They
shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find
it." How devastating. Sometimes we feel this way - void of the word of
God. Is there a famine in our land?
Psalm 52:
- This Psalm seems to be directed more at a person of
type of person than at God, setting it apart a bit. It's like a psalm of curses
and threats - I don't find it very uplifting.
- "You love all words that devour." At least,
here, is an interesting criticism of the enemy. You love words that devour.
Vivid phrase. Words that eat us up.
- "But I am like a green olive tree." I, with
God in my life, am the very opposite of you, who has rejected God.
Colossians 1:15-28:
- "invisible God." I think the question of whether
we "see" God or not is an interesting one to grapple with in light
of the way God figures into our scriptural accounts, particularly the unique
ways God is always showing up in the Old Testament. How do we see or not see
God? Food for thought.
- Paul is basically working to show
Christ as co-creator - the divinity of Christ.
- "through [Christ] God was
pleased to reconcile all things." This brings up for me, and many, issues
of atonement and the necessity of Christ's death for our salvation. Couldn't
God reconcile us without Christ's death? Is our reconciliation the purpose
of Christ's death? That's an essay (or dissertation, or collection of books)
unto itself. But the question made me think of The Lion, The Witch, and
The Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis. In the first book, a child-turned-traitor,
Edmund, is threatened with death, the punishment for his treachery. The evil
white witch demands a death as payment for wrong. Instead, Aslan, the Christ-figure
of the series, lays down his life, and comes back to life again. But it is
interesting that it is the evil witch who requires death as payment for sin
here, not Aslan's never-seen father across the sea...
Luke 10:38-42:
- I like reading this passage against
today's text from Amos. There, the people, having rejected God, will seek
the word, but not find it. Here, Martha and Mary are both seeking Christ's
presence in different ways - but it is Mary who seems able to rest right in
Christ's presence.
- Poor Martha - is Martha always
in the wrong, trapped forever as a caricature in our scriptures, like "doubting
Thomas", "Judas, who later betrayed him," etc.? I.e., we criticize
people by saying, "(S)he's a real Martha."
- Mary chose "the better"
part. Not that Martha's part was so bad in itself. A time and a place for
Martha's tasks to be done. But in the presence of the living Christ, what
should we do?
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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