The Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 27) - 7 November 2010


Job 19:23-27a
Psalm 17:1-9
II Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Saint Luke 20:27-38

      











BACKGROUND

Job

The name connotes for me a ballet, the works of Blake, and a debate that rages at the core of human existence.  The genius of the Hebrew Scriptures is written in many places, and this is one of the most certain of them.  Although it is part of what we call Wisdom Literature, it stands in a place well apart.  Some of that is due to its poetic form, and its almost intimate relationship with the psalms.  Like other wisdom literature, it bears a relationship with Egyptian and Babylonian models, and some have wondered about a Greek influence, although that is probably not likely.  In the arguments of Job we see the covenantal theology of ancient Israel intersecting with the pragmatic concerns of daily life.  The author wants us to see a God who has a more engaging agenda than dispensing retributive justice.  This argument is wrapped up in an ancient story about an ancient character – Job.  Perhaps, given the state of evangelicalism in this age,  this is reading for modern times.

First Reading: Job 19:23-27a

Job said,
"O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock forever!
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another."



In this reading we hear a Job longing for an answer to his existential situation that will arc beyond his own personal death.  He wants a permanent record of his righteousness, written down, as on a parchment, or chiseled into rock and filled in with lead.  Then we come into a problem area, and need to take off our Christian glasses, and forget the words of the Easter hymn (I know that my redeemer lives).  Job is in a different place and understanding here.  He is not concerned about his survival as an individual, nor is he professing belief in resurrection.  Rather he is hoping for a glimpse, while in Sheol (the place of the dead), of his vindication by God.  He wants an exoneration that is timeless, evident to both friend and family. Jesus will comment in the parable about the Rich man and Lazarus on the effectiveness of such witnesses from the dead.

Breaking open Job:

1.     How much does your reputation mean to you?
2.     Do you feel that you have suffered in life?
3.     How does God afflict or comfort you?

Psalm 17:1-9 Exaudi, Domine

Hear my plea of innocence, O LORD;
give heed to my cry; *
listen to my prayer, which does not come from lying lips.

Let my vindication come forth from your presence; *
let your eyes be fixed on justice.

Weigh my heart, summon me by night, *
melt me down; you will find no impurity in me.

I give no offense with my mouth as others do; *
I have heeded the words of your lips.

My footsteps hold fast to the ways of your law; *
in your paths my feet shall not stumble.

I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; *
incline your ear to me and hear my words.

Show me your marvelous loving-kindness, *
O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand
from those who rise up against them.

Keep me as the apple of your eye; *
hide me under the shadow of your wings,

From the wicked who assault me, *
from my deadly enemies who surround me.



The author of this psalm describes it as “a David prayer”.  He does not see it as a psalm, but rather as a prayer.  In this intent, it ties nicely into Job’s angst as he views life with its enemies and challenges.  In the third verse we get a glimpse in the personal psychology and actual physical reality of the author, who seems to wrestle with God (compare Jacob) in the night.  And isn’t that indeed where we seem to wrestle with our anxieties?  To get a glimpse of those who assail the author we would need to read verse ten, beyond the scope of today’s psalm, where it says, “Their fat has covered there hearts”, thereby rendering the seat of understand impermeable to his concerns.  The author hopes in God, “for you will answer me.”  This is a similar vein to Job’s hopes for a timeless vindication.

Breaking open Psalm 17:
1.       Does the author see himself as a righteous person?
2.       In what way is he like the Pharisee in the Gospel last Sunday?
3.       In what way is he like the Publican?

II Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?

But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.



This reading continues a continuing reading from the Second Letter to the Thessalonians.  In the first paragraph we come face to face with the Pauline hope of the second coming, only it is Paul now who cautions, “Not so quick!”  Somehow the people of Thessalonika have become convinced that the End Time was upon them, and Paul uses ancient images and memories to correct them.  He recalls to them the abominations of Antiochus IV, a Hellenic king who ruled over Palestine prior to the Romans, and who desecrated the temple in Jerusalem.  That antihero has not appeared, says Paul, so your expectations are in vain.

In the next two paragraphs, some verses from the initial paragraph, Paul redirects the attention of his audience, urging them to look at the example of Christ, and of their own salvation.  Christ is the first fruit of the resurrection, but Paul calls these people, “the first fruits of salvation,” and seeks to comfort them by recalling his own witness to them.  The words are of comfort and consolation to a people frightened of their own time.

Breaking open II Thessalonians:
  1. What are your personal expectations about the second coming of Christ?
  2. Do you feel that the times in which we are living are pointing toward a judgment?
  3. What are your thoughts about resurrection?

Saint Luke 20:27-38

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her."

Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive."



The questions that “Scribes and Pharisees” pose to Jesus from time to time were not needless “needling”, but rather a part of the rabbinic tradition in which items of every day concern were debated.  The question revolves around the notion of “levirate marriage” in which the kin of a man were expected to impregnate his widow, so that she might have both children (sons) and a future.  In the question, however, it seems reasonable that the inquiry was designed to push Jesus into a corner and to skewer the notion of resurrection (which the Sadducees did not believe in).  Jesus will have none of it, but rather raising the notion of life as being quite separate from the concerns that his questioners have raised.  Jesus is looking to the new kingdom of God’s concern and love that leaves beside the worries of the present life.  God is the living God.

Breaking open the Gospel:
  1. What does it mean to you when we talk about God as the “Living God?”
  2. How do your thoughts about resurrection guide your life?
  3. How do your parents thoughts and practices regarding religion guide your own?

Contemporary Reading: from “Resurrection of the Body”, Gail Ramshaw

At funerals, the language of the resurrection of the body is often replaced with language of immortality, it not in the rite, then in preaching and conversation.  Immortality is a commonplace human idea that at the time of death is decidedly comforting.  Socrates is said to have welcomed death, which would free his immortal soul form his troublesome body.  But this idea is not a Christian one.  Both Judaism and Christianity see the body as God’s good creation, and for Christians the language of the resurrection of the body praises the God who gives life to the matter of the earth.  Although a literal re-creation of human-like individual bodies may await us at the end of time, the Christian faith is not focused on such a personalized future expectation.  According to eschatological thought, the future is already appearing in the present.  We are already now to experience in baptism, in eucharist, and in shared life and mission some of what the faith means by resurrection of the body.



Gail Ramshaw is a scholar of liturgical language. She is a graduate of Valparaiso University (BA), Sarah Lawrence College (MA), The University of Wisconsin-Madison (PhD) and Union Theological Seminary (MDiv). She is past president of the North American Academy of Liturgy and member of Societas Liturgica. Gail has prepared numerous liturgical helps, including Richer Fare for the Christian People and Between Sunday. She collaborated with Paivie Jussila on Koinonia, a worship resource published by the Lutheran World Federation, and with Gordon Lathrop on inclusive language revisions of the Sunday lectionary texts, in Psalter for the Christian People and in Readings for the Assembly, Years A, B, C. Her prayers have been included in denominational worship resources published in the United States, Canada, Sweden and New Zealand.



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

O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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