The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 7, 23 June 2013

The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 7, 23 June 2013

I Kings 19:1-15a

Psalm 42 and 43

   Or

Isaiah 65:1-9

Psalm 22:18-27

Galatians 3:23-29

St. Luke 8:26-39

                                                                                   

Background:  Elijah and Ahab

In the Track 1 readings from the Hebrew Scriptures we have been reading the Ahab stories that form a section of the Elijah cycle in the Book of Kings.  The prophet Elijah and King Ahab interacted during Ahab’s reign (874 – 853 BCE).  The name Elijah means “My God is YHWH”, and may be an indication of his fervent defense of Yahwism in the face of a resurgent worship of Canaanite and Phoenician gods, the Ba’alim.  This turn to the Ba’alim is blamed on Jezebel, daughter of the King of Tyre and Ahab’s consort.  This may be, however, a kind of scapegoating.  There was a constant attraction of the fertility religions of the Levant and Mesopotamia to the Hebrew peoples living along the central ridge.  Elijah becomes the champion of the YHWH cult, which was centered by David in Jerusalem.  The political aspect of the Temple in Jerusalem presented another difficulty for Elijah and other defenders of YHWH. 

Elijah challenges the religious policies of Ahab (the building of a temple to the Ba’alim in Samaria, and the raising of Asheroth) by first proclaiming a drought in the land.  Since the Ba’al was a lord of the wind, rain, and storm, this would have been a direct confrontation to the worship of the foreign gods.  Later, after the story of the Widow of Zarephath (see Pentecost III), Elijah causes the drought to cease and challenges the priests of the Ba’alim to a “contest”, which enrages Jezebel.  Fearing retribution, Elijah flees to “Mt. Horeb” (perhaps this location is another name for Sinai, or perhaps it is not.  There are traditions concerning the giving of the Law at both locations.)  Elijah wants to give up, and is burned out.  He is convinced in a stunning revelation by God to continue (see the First Reading below). Finally, the incident with Naboth (see Pentecost IV) serves as the final confrontation of Elijah with both Ahab and Jezebel. 

1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow." Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." [Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you."] He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.

Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away."

He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." Then the LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus."

There are themes in this story that are similar to the situation with Jonah.  Exhausted by his prophetic tasks, Elijah, like Jonah, seeks to run away from the prophetic role, first going to Beersheba (a city in Judah (the Southern Kingdom), and then to the desert, where he is refreshed by angels (thus setting the desert as a place of spiritual refreshment and refinement once again).  Finally he makes his way to Horeb (perhaps Sinai, perhaps not), and there he settles down in a cave and awaits God.  In a manner similar to Jeremiah, Elijah complains about the effectiveness of his ministry.  And like Jeremiah, God will have nothing to do with the complaints but arranges for a spectacular theophany (a vision of the divine) that is meant to send Elijah on his way, and back into action.

What is displayed to Elijah is a symbolic conundrum that challenges not only Elijah’s state of mind, but the reader’s as well.  As with Moses, Elijah is confronted by a mighty wind, an earthquake, and a fire – but God is not found in these.  What does convince Elijah of God’s presence is “a sound of sheer silence” (NRSV).  What moves the prophetic ministry forward is not the presence of God, as such, but rather the commission that God imposes upon Elijah.  The exact aspects of this commission are not kept in this reading.  None-the-less, they embody Elijah’s continued confrontation with “the kingdom” and the God who leads them.

Breaking open I Kings:

1. Have you ever felt that your life mission has been in vain?
2. How does God make Godself available to you?  What are the images?
3. Where do you seek God?

Psalm 42 Quemadmodum

As the deer longs for the water-brooks, *

so longs my soul for you, O God.

My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God; *

when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?

My tears have been my food day and night, *

while all day long they say to me,

"Where now is your God?"

I pour out my soul when I think on these things: *

how I went with the multitude and led them into the house of God,

With the voice of praise and thanksgiving, *

among those who keep holy-day.

Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? *

and why are you so disquieted within me?

Put your trust in God; *

for I will yet give thanks to him,

who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

My soul is heavy within me; *

therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan,

and from the peak of Mizar among the heights of Hermon.

One deep calls to another in the noise of your cataracts; *

all your rapids and floods have gone over me.

The LORD grants his loving-kindness in the daytime; *

in the night season his song is with me,

a prayer to the God of my life.

I will say to the God of my strength,

"Why have you forgotten me? *

and why do I go so heavily while the enemy oppresses me?"

While my bones are being broken, *

my enemies mock me to my face;

All day long they mock me *

and say to me, "Where now is your God?"

Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? *

and why are you so disquieted within me?

Put your trust in God; *

for I will yet give thanks to him,

who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

and

Psalm Judica me, Deus

Give judgment for me, O God,

and defend my cause against an ungodly people; *

deliver me from the deceitful and the wicked.

For you are the God of my strength;

why have you put me from you? *

and why do I go so heavily while the enemy oppresses me?

Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, *

and bring me to your holy hill

and to your dwelling;

That I may go to the altar of God,

to the God of my joy and gladness; *

and on the harp I will give thanks to you, O God my God.

Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? *

and why are you so disquieted within me?

Put your trust in God; *

for I will yet give thanks to him,

who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

Psalms 42 and 43 actually form one unit of three stanzas (42:1-5, 42:7-11, and 43:1-4), each of which end with a refrain: “Put your trust in God; for I will yet give thanks to him, who is the help of my countenance, and my God.”  The first verses give us a setting for the elegant contemplation that the psalmist experiences.  Thirsting in the desert, he ponders his sorrow, and serves as an example of Elijah in the first reading above.  There are several images that explicate his emotions.  He speaks of the cataracts, and floods that threaten him – an ancient allusion to death.  (Even in the wilderness a spring rain could mean destruction as the waters rushed down the wadi (arroyo) in southern Palestine).  There is also a longing for the Temple and its worship (bring me to you holy hill and to your dwelling).  The refrain serves as an answer to each of these longings, reasserting the author’s trust of God, and God’s subsequent help and favor.

Breaking open Psalm 42 and 43

1. What do you do with your sorrow?
2. How do the images of the psalm speak to you?
3. Do you ever long for “God’s dwelling place?”  Where is that.

Or

Isaiah 65:1-9

I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask,

to be found by those who did not seek me.

I said, "Here I am, here I am,"

to a nation that did not call on my name.

I held out my hands all day long to a rebellious people,

who walk in a way that is not good,

following their own devices;

a people who provoke me

to my face continually,

sacrificing in gardens

and offering incense on bricks;

who sit inside tombs,

and spend the night in secret places;

who eat swine's flesh,

with broth of abominable things in their vessels;

who say, "Keep to yourself,

do not come near me, for I am too holy for you."

These are a smoke in my nostrils,

a fire that burns all day long.

See, it is written before me:

I will not keep silent, but I will repay;

I will indeed repay into their laps

their iniquities and their ancestors' iniquities together,

says the LORD;

because they offered incense on the mountains

and reviled me on the hills,

I will measure into their laps

full payment for their actions.

Thus says the LORD:

As the wine is found in the cluster,

and they say, "Do not destroy it,

for there is a blessing in it,"

so I will do for my servants' sake,

and not destroy them all.

I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,

and from Judah inheritors of my mountains;

my chosen shall inherit it,

and my servants shall settle there.

Two major Isaianic themes are rehearsed here, in this reading, which begins rather strangely with God answering to a people who “did not ask.”  So who are these people who know not God, and are not in conversation with God?  They may be an indication of the “universalism” that we find in the Isaiahs, or they may be the people of Israel, returned from Exile, but forgetful of the God of Israel and of God’s ways.  There is a rehearsal of bad behaviors (sitting in tombs, thus making oneself ritually impure, the eating of swine’s flesh, the “broth of abominable things”) that could be assigned to either a foreign nation, or to a forgetful Israel. 

Following verses that imply revenge and punishment, the mood suddenly changes.  It is here that we see the second major theme – the theme of the “remnant”.  “As wine is found in the cluster, and they say, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it’” – clues us into this theme.  There is something good remaining, as in the nascent wine resident in the berry of the grape.  It is the kernel of faith that still exists with either people or foreign nation.  This spark, God will not put out, but will bring them back.  Here the image is one of a people returned to the land of their mothers and fathers, and, Isaiah hopes, to their God.

Breaking open Isaiah:

1. What do you think Isaiah means when he talks about a “remnant”?
2. Are you, as a Christian, part of a remnant?
3. Have you ever been “in Exile”?  Where?  When?  Feelings?

Psalm 22:18-27 Deus, Deus meus

Be not far away, O LORD; *

you are my strength; hasten to help me.

Save me from the sword, *

my life from the power of the dog.

Save me from the lion's mouth, *

my wretched body from the horns of wild bulls.

I will declare your Name to my brethren; *

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.

Praise the LORD, you that fear him; *

stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel;

all you of Jacob's line, give glory.

For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty;

neither does he hide his face from them; *

but when they cry to him he hears them.

My praise is of him in the great assembly; *

I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied,

and those who seek the LORD shall praise him: *

"May your heart live for ever!"

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, *

and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.

For kingship belongs to the LORD; *

he rules over the nations.

This is the psalm that is often said or sung at the Stripping of the Altar at the end of the Maundy Thursday Liturgy.  Its references to mocking, being stripped of clothing, and being “dried up” are a comfortable match with the Passion of Jesus.  In this reading we focus on the latter verses of the psalm.  Implicit in the sorrow of the author is the past mercy of a gracious God.  It is these mercies that the author wishes to proclaim in “the midst of the congregation”.  This gathering of people represents those truly in need: the poor, foreigners, outcasts, and even the dead.  It is these that are invited to a “great assembly” which subsequent verses describe as a banquet that satisfies all. 

Breaking open Psalm 22

1. How do the images of the psalm match the Passion of Jesus?
2. When you feel distant from God, do you have remembrance of God’s presence?
3. Who needs to be welcomed to your Eucharistic table?

Galatians 3:23-29

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.

We continue our reading from Galatians.  The initial verse provides an image of a child being taught by a governess (the Law).  To this image Paul adds the theme of liberation, “we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian” – the Law.  The image continues with the believer being seen as a “child” of God, this new status being formed in the faith that the believer has.  In early church baptisms, the candidate entered the waters in the nude, and came out of the waters to be clothed with a white garment.  Thus Paul says, that the candidate is “clothed with Christ.”  Here distinctions end.  All the usual ways of describing individuals are no longer useful, for “all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”  In the final verse, Paul ties the Christian into the salvation history of Israel, implying the satisfaction of an ancient promise.

Breaking open Galatians:

1. How do you use rules in your life?
2. How do you use freedom in your life?
3. What does it mean to be “one in Christ Jesus?”

St. Luke 8:26-39

Jesus and his disciples arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me" -- for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion"; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

One wonders what the purpose of this story might be, told in such detail.  Thematically, we see in its image of the possessed man the people mentioned in Psalm 22, or even the returnees in the reading from Isaiah (he lived in tombs – an abomination).  This is the only story in Luke that takes place outside of Israel, and it serves as premonition of the ministry to the Gentiles that will be so important in Luke’s program.  The story is of an exorcism, a healing (or the word could mean “saving”), and the consequences.  The presence of pigs underscores the “foreign” nature of this healing, and of the role that Gentiles will play in proclaiming the ministry of Jesus.  A couple of notes:  the demons request that they not be sent back into “the abyss”, a reflection of the Hebrew place of the dead – Sheol.  Also the pigs rush into the waters, another ancient image of death.  Finally, when the people come out to see what Jesus had done, they find the demoniac seated at Jesus’ feet – the position of a disciple.

Breaking open the Gospel:

1. How was Simon inhospitable?
2. How is his inhospitality answered by the woman?
3. How might this teaching affect your life?

After breaking open the Word, you might want to pray the Collect for Sunday:

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving­kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 6, 16 June 2013

The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 6, 16 June 2013

I Kings 21:1-21a

Psalm 5:1-8

   Or

II Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15

Psalm 32

Galatians 2:15-21

St. Luke 7:36-8:3

                                                                                  

Background: King Ahab

The realities of the ancient near east during the ninth century BCE are never more pronounced or real than in the stories regarding Ahab and the prophet who was his nemesis, Elijah.  The situation was shaped by several factors.  First was the division of the Northern Kingdom (Israel) from the Southern Kingdom (Judah) in the tenth century, with the north being ruled from Samaria, and the south from Jerusalem.  Second was the expansionism of the Assyrians, who eventually conquer and resettle the north, but their threat was felt by Omri, Ahab’s father, and Ahab himself.  There was significant pressure from the south as well, however the pressure of Egypt was felt more in Judah.  Finally there is the matter of religion, with the Yahwism of Israel and Judah distinguishing itself from the Canaanite and Phoenician practices to the west.  Ahab marries a Syro-Phoenician woman, Jezebel, daughter of the king of Tyre.  She brings with her religious practices a matter of concern for the prophetic community seen primarily in the ministry of Elijah.  Of equal concern was the encroachment of royal prerogatives in the lives of common folk, which is seen in the Track 1 reading from the Hebrew Scriptures.  All of these situations cause Ahab to be painted in not too kind a light in the biblical materials.  Ahab was killed in a battle in which he joined with Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, attempting to recover the city of Ramoth-Gilead.  Underscoring the derision that the biblical authors had for Ahab, they describe the dogs licking up his blood upon his death in the battlefield.  The Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) does it one better, stating that it was pigs that licked up his blood. 

1 Kings 21:1-10, (11-14), 15-21a

The following events took place: Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel, beside the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. And Ahab said to Naboth, "Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house; I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money." But Naboth said to Ahab, "The LORD forbid that I should give you my ancestral inheritance." Ahab went home resentful and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him; for he had said, "I will not give you my ancestral inheritance." He lay down on his bed, turned away his face, and would not eat.

His wife Jezebel came to him and said, "Why are you so depressed that you will not eat?" He said to her, "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, `Give me your vineyard for money; or else, if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard for it'; but he answered, `I will not give you my vineyard.'" His wife Jezebel said to him, "Do you now govern Israel? Get up, eat some food, and be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite."

So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal; she sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. She wrote in the letters, "Proclaim a fast, and seat Naboth at the head of the assembly; seat two scoundrels opposite him, and have them bring a charge against him, saying, `You have cursed God and the king.' Then take him out, and stone him to death." [The men of his city, the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them. Just as it was written in the letters that she had sent to them, they proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the assembly. The two scoundrels came in and sat opposite him; and the scoundrels brought a charge against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, "Naboth cursed God and the king." So they took him outside the city, and stoned him to death. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, "Naboth has been stoned; he is dead."]

As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, "Go, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead." As soon as Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab set out to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying: Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, who rules in Samaria; he is now in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. You shall say to him, "Thus says the LORD: Have you killed, and also taken possession?" You shall say to him, "Thus says the LORD: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood."

Ahab said to Elijah, "Have you found me, O my enemy?" He answered, "I have found you. Because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, I will bring disaster on you."

What we have here is the clash of culture and polity.  In ancient Israel the transfer of land outside of the family either by gift or purchase was discouraged.  Thus Naboth takes his stand even with the reasonable offer that Ahab extends.  It is this cultural line that Naboth draws that fires up the ire of Jezebel, who comes from a different tradition, and who schemes and plots Naboth’s demise.  The reality for Israel is, however, that there is no royal prerogative for Ahab or Jezebel.  In spite of their success, there is the failure to follow the Law of God (and of the culture) and thus they are doomed.  Of interest is the parallelism between the death and blood of Naboth, and the death and blood of Ahab and Jezebel.  This is a causality that the ancients would have both understood and appreciated.

Breaking open I Kings:

1. How reasonable was Ahab’s request, and how reasonable was Naboth’s response?
2. What is the undercurrent of this reading?
3. What role does Elijah play and what role does God play?

Psalm 5:1-8 Verba mea auribus

Give ear to my words, O LORD; *

consider my meditation.

Hearken to my cry for help, my King and my God, *

for I make my prayer to you.

In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; *

early in the morning I make my appeal and watch for you.

For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, *

and evil cannot dwell with you.

Braggarts cannot stand in your sight; *

you hate all those who work wickedness.

You destroy those who speak lies; *

the bloodthirsty and deceitful, O LORD, you abhor.

But as for me, through the greatness of your mercy I will

go into your house; *

I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you.

Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness,

because of those who lie in wait for me; *

make your way straight before me.

If the first reading is a contrast between those who follow YHWH, and those who do not but scorn the traditions of the peoples, this psalm makes a similar distinction.  In verse four a better reading would heighten the contrast: “For you are not an ungod who takes pleasure in wickedness, such an ungod could not possibly dwell with you.”  The scene is perhaps in the Temple, where God living amongst all the gods, is “awakened” by the author’s voice.  The implication is that God is not listening, so the author is intent upon giving his request.  Unlike the ungods, YHWH listens to the request that the psalmist be led into righteousness.

Breaking open Psalm 5

1. What does the psalmist mean by the term “ungod”.
2. What forms your prayer in the morning?
3. Does God listen to your praying?

Or

2 Samuel 11:26-12:10,13-15

When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son.

But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD, and the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him." Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."

Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife."

David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan said to David, "Now the LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child that is born to you shall die." Then Nathan went to his house. The LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became very ill.

The story of David and Bathsheba is a story of indirect exploitation of a situation.  In the first half of the story, which precedes this reading, both Bathsheba and her husband Uriah are controlled indirectly by the King, David.  Now God enters the picture, and underscores the fact that even indirect sins are still with their consequences.  Even the message is indirect, with the prophet Nathan telling the story of the neighbor’s need to strike a note of repentance in David’s heart. Part of the insinuation in the story of the Lamb and the Neighbor are words that push at the sexual nature of David’s sin.  The Lamb “slept at his breast,” and the lamb became like his “daughter.”  Drawn by the story, David realizes his own guilt.

So what is it that David finally exacts from this transaction?  First there is Bathsheba, but we have no idea of what her feelings are.  They are absent, and she is depicted as property and an object.  Secondly there is the child of their union, who dies.  One commentator opines that David’s sin results in other losses of offspring: Amnon, Absalom, and Adonijah.  David’s yearning to build a temple for YHWH will be refused, for his house had become a house of the sword. 

Breaking open II Samuel:

1. If you were a prophet, how would you address today’s political leaders?
2. What are the sins that you would point out?
3. What is the restitution that David must make?

Psalm 32 Beati quorum

Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, *

and whose sin is put away!

Happy are they to whom the LORD imputes no guilt, *

and in whose spirit there is no guile!

While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, *

because of my groaning all day long.

For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; *

my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you, *

and did not conceal my guilt.

I said," I will confess my transgressions to the LORD." *

Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.

Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble; *

when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them.

You are my hiding-place;

you preserve me from trouble; *

you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go; *

I will guide you with my eye.

Do not be like horse or mule, which have no understanding; *

who must be fitted with bit and bridle,

or else they will not stay near you."

Great are the tribulations of the wicked; *

but mercy embraces those who trust in the LORD.

Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the LORD; *

shout for joy, all who are true of heart.

This psalm is one of the seven so-called (by Christians) “Penitential Psalms” (6, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143).  Largely didactic in its approach – a veritable psalm of instruction, it is divided into four sections, Introduction (1-2), Autobiography (3-7), Instruction (8-10), and Liturgical finale (11).  In verse one we are clued into the “Wisdom” elements of this psalm with the words, “Happy are they.” (Cf. Psalm 1).  Some of the content on sin and forgiveness ties into the story of David in the first reading.   It is, however, a forgiveness that comes with a cost – “many are the sorrows of the wicked”.  The bottom line of the psalm, after it concludes its journey through sin, the cause of sin, and the forgiveness of sin, is the declaration of God’s intent to show mercy to those who trust in God.  The reader, designated as “righteous” in the final verse, is asked to “rejoice” and to “shout for joy.”

Breaking open Psalm 32

1. What is the wisdom in life that makes you happy?
2. If you need instruction from God what might that entail?
3. In what ways are you righteous?


 Galatians 2:15-21

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners - yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

In this reading Paul continues to wrestle with the divisive discussions about what was to be required of Gentile believers.  Thus he addresses his fellow Jew; “We ourselves are Jews by birth.”  The arguments that follow will be in contrast to that statement as he seeks to separate the requirements of the Law from the faith that we are to have in Christ Jesus.  Paul has come to the conclusion that the Law and its works will justify (put into a right relationship with God) no one.  There is a new entity as far as he is concerned and it is a life that having been crucified with Christ, now finds its reason for being the Christ who lives in it.  Thus it is not only the Jew, Paul, who lives but also the Christ who lives in him.  It is this Christ who is the promise of life for the Gentiles, not the law.

Breaking open Galatians:

1. How is Paul a Jew, and yet, how is he not?
2. How do you follow the Law – is it necessary to do so?
3. How does Christ live in you?

St. Luke 7:36-8:3

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him-- that she is a sinner." Jesus spoke up and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Teacher," he replied, "Speak." "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt." And Jesus said to him, "You have judged rightly." Then turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." Then he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

There are many aspects of these readings that form a common thread or idea, but there is also a methodology that ties these readings together as well.  In the Track 2 reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, Nathan uses a story to convict David of his sin with Bathsheba.  In the Gospel, Jesus tells a story to convince Simon the Pharisee of the essential goodness of the act of the woman “who was a sinner”.  In a culture of hospitality, it is Simon who has missed the mark by not offering the traditional water with which to wash feet soiled by travel.  In a way, the “woman who was a sinner” becomes a foil to Simon’s arrogance in the face of the graces he has been offered.  Her anointing, not to be confused with those mentioned in Mark, Matthew, and John, are a response to the graces that she has been offered.  This is the “good news of the kingdom of God” that Jesus will continue to offer to the cities and villages in the final paragraph of this reading.  Other reasons for a joyful response are offered there: the cure from evil spirits, infirmities, demons, and other moments of healing and reconciliation.

Of equal importance is the negation of Simon’s declaration, “If this man were a prophet he would have known what kind of woman this was.”  Jesus’ prophetic role, the role of speaking God’s word to this place and to this time, is made manifest in the acts of this woman, and Jesus’ response to her.  There is a “wisdom” lesson here – the response of thanksgiving is related to the gravity of the sin forgiven.  Of such was the love that she bore to Jesus.

Breaking open the Gospel:

1. How was Simon inhospitable?
2. How is his inhospitality answered by the woman?
3. How might this teaching affect your life?

After breaking open the Word, you might want to pray the Collect for Sunday:

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.