The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 20 - 19 September 2010

The Readings for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Contemporary Reading: E. M. Cioran, Tears and Saints

Amos 8:407

Psalm 113

I Timothy 2:1-7

Saint Luke 16:1-13

Ruins at Samaria

                                                                                      

BACKGROUND

The reading from Amos for this morning, prompts me to talk a bit about the context in which Amos does his ministry.  Although a citizen of the Southern Kingdom (Judah), his prophetic oracles are spoken against the Northern Kingdom (Israel).  The Southern Kingdom was smaller, and had as its capital, the city of Jerusalem.  When David was chosen as king by the tribe of Judah, seven years passed before the northern tribes chose to have him as their king as well, in a united kingdom. During the kingship of David, all the local shrines and cult centers (such as Beth-el, and Shechem) were suppressed and worship was centralized at the Temple in Jerusalem.  Following the reign of Solomon, David’s son, he was succeeded by Rehoboam, his son.  Around 930 BCE, the northern tribes left the unified kingdom and formed the Kingdom of Israel, based in Samaria.  The Jerusalem temple was out of bounds for Israel’s citizens, and a temple and cult center was built on Mt. Gerazim in Israel.  Israel was conquered by the Assyrians in 720 BCE.  Judah survived as a political entity until 586 when it was conquered by the Babylonians.

Amos 8:4-7

Hear this, you that trample on the needy,

and bring to ruin the poor of the land,

saying, "When will the new moon be over

so that we may sell grain;

and the sabbath,

so that we may offer wheat for sale?

We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,

and practice deceit with false balances,

buying the poor for silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals,

and selling the sweepings of the wheat."

The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:

Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

The Prophet Amos

Amos, who was a shepherd who lived in the southern kingdom of Judah, lived at a time of prosperity for both the land in which he lived, and the land to the north, the kingdom of Israel, the land where he did his ministry as a prophet.  Both lands were at peace, and in the case of Israel, was enjoying a bit of hegemony over the small kingdoms that surrounded it.  It would seem to be an idyllic time, but for Amos it was a time of corruption and evil.  In his oracles and visions, he rails against what he sees as a greedy and self-serving society.  In today’s reading he shows the shallowness of Israelite faith, as the people wait for the religious holidays to be over so that they can once again gouge the poor and sell shoddy goods. 

Breaking open Amos:

1.     Are there people in our community who buy and sell at the expense of the poor?

2.     Do you do business with them?  Why or why not?

3.     What should a Christian do?

Psalm 113 Laudate, pueri

Hallelujah!

Give praise, you servants of the LORD; *

praise the Name of the LORD.

Let the Name of the LORD be blessed, *

from this time forth for evermore.

From the rising of the sun to its going down *

let the Name of the LORD be praised.

The LORD is high above all nations, *

and his glory above the heavens.

Who is like the LORD our God, who sits enthroned on high *

but stoops to behold the heavens and the earth?

He takes up the weak out of the dust *

and lifts up the poor from the ashes.

He sets them with the princes, *

with the princes of his people.

He makes the woman of a childless house *

to be a joyful mother of children.

This is the first of six psalms known as the Hallel, psalms which begin with the Hebrew imperative, “Hallelujah” (Praise God).  These psalms are recited in the synagogues during the festival services, and close the Seder meal.  The sentiments of the final verses are familiar to us in the Song of Hannah, or in The Magnificat, or in Luke’s casting of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  The sentiments are built on a series of parallelisms:  God enthroned on high, the poor lifted up and seated with princes, and the childless woman enthroned in her home among her offspring.  This is the ideal promise that Amos holds up as a model of life – a model that Israel cannot meet.

Breaking open Psalm 113

1.       How has God lifted you up in your life?

2.       Why might you praise the name of God?

3.       Why might you ask others to praise the name of God?

I Timothy 2:1-7

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God; 
there is also one mediator between God and humankind, 
Christ Jesus, himself human, 
who gave himself a ransom for all 
this was attested at the right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

We continue with our readings from I Timothy, where Paul, or another author discusses public prayer and worship.  In Pauline fashion there is a list of different kinds of prayer, but there is one assertion about all prayer, and that is that it is to be made for everyone.  The universalism of these prayers is in parallel with God’s wish that all might be saved.  It is interesting that Paul includes political authorities in his explanation of what “everyone” means.  Perhaps his imprisonment at the time of the writing this letter informs his political loyalties here.  Implicit in the “everyone” who is the object of Christian prayer, are all the sorts and conditions that Paul has mentioned in other writings (slave – free, men – women, Jew – Greek). 

Breaking open I Timothy:

1. When do you pray?  At what times of the day do your pray?
2. For what do you pray?
3. For whom do you pray?

Saint Luke 16:1-13

Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, `What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.' Then the manager said to himself, `What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.' So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, `How much do you owe my master?' He answered, `A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, `Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' Then he asked another, `And how much do you owe?' He replied, `A hundred containers of wheat.' He said to him, `Take your bill and make it eighty.' And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

"Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?

No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

In this reading we have a parable on riches (verses 1-8a) followed by three moralizations.  The character of the manager is curious, if we don’t understand the social systems of the time in which he managed.  Given a great deal of freedom, but expected to show a profit, he most likely charged usurious interest rates so that he could show his master a profit, and see a bit for himself as well.  The wisdom that Jesus speaks of is the manager’s astute actions in cutting down on the rates of interest seeing greater benefit in continued employment than in bilking the master’s clients.  The first moralization (8b-9) is an independent saying of Jesus that reflects the theology of the Essenes (those Jews who were responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls) and their “light vs. darkness” theology.  This version translates the old “unrighteous mammon” as “dishonest wealth”.  Mammon is used once in Sirach, but is mentioned several times in the Qumran scrolls (Essenes).  The second moralization (10-12) moves from the “eternal homes” to the practicalities of daily life.  The comments almost seem to be of a “wisdom” nature.  The final moralization (13) is also found in Matthew where it follows the instructions on prayer given by Jesus to the disciples.  The saying has nothing to say to the parable given, only serving as a notice of the fidelity that Jesus demands of his followers.

Breaking open the Gospel:

1. Are you street wise?  Are you wise in the ways of the world?
2. In what ways is your street wisdom consonant with your Christianity? How is it not?
3. Have you ever bargained with someone?  How did it come out?  How did you feel?

Emile Cioran

Contemporary Reading: Tears and Saints, E. M. Cioran

“Catherine of Siena lived only on communion bread.  Easy to do when you have heaven to back you up!  Ecstasy destroys the fruit of the earth.  She drank the sky in the eucharist.  For the faithful, communion, that tiny particle of heaven, is infinitely more nutritious than earthly food.  Why do the heights require the suppression of appetite?  Why do poets, musicians, mystics, and saints use askesis in various ways?  Voluntary hunger is a road to heaven; hunger from poverty, a crime of the earth.”

E. M. Cioran (1911-1995) was born and educated in Romania and lived in Paris from 1937 until his death.  He is the author of numerous works, including On the Heights of Despair, The Temptation to Exist, and History and Utopia.

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

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.