The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 11 - 22 July 2012
Jeremiah
23:1-6
Psalm
23
Ephesians
2:11-22
St.
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
Background: Jeremiah
Jeremiah came from a priestly family that were landowners as well, and
was principally active as a prophet from the thirteenth year of King Josiah’s
reign, 626 BCE, until after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 587
BCE. He is known as the “weeping prophet”
who lamented the destruction that would come upon the Kingdom of Judah due to
their abandonment of the God of Israel.
Jeremiah is considered a major prophet in Judaism, and is equally
honored by Islam and Christianity. He
lived at a politically difficult time, when the kings after Josiah abandoned
his religious reforms and turned to political answers in dealing with the
geo-politics of the time. It was against
these policies that Jeremiah raged, and he was treated poorly for it, attacked
by his own family, by the priestly caste, the royal family, and by other
prophets. He was imprisoned several
times, and finally freed by Nebuchadnezzar.
His life ended as an exile in Egypt.
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Woe to the shepherds
who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD. Therefore thus
says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my
people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and
you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings,
says the LORD. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the
lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and
they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will
shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall
any be missing, says the LORD.
The days are surely
coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and
he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and
righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live
in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: "The LORD is
our righteousness."
We need to be clear on terms here.
The shepherds that the prophet mentions are the kings of Judah who have
been unfaithful to YHWH. It is because
of their infidelity that God has condemned them and judged them in the actions
of the larger powers that surround them.
In this passage we meet a principal concept for Jeremiah – that of the
“remnant”, the few that remained faithful to God. The “flock” designates the people of the
kingdom who have been left to stray by the willfulness of their rulers. These God shall gather up again, and “raise
up new shepherds” to guide them.
The final paragraph in this pericope also contains and lively and
striking model of Jeremiah’s preaching – that of the “righteous branch”. The ancient tree of the Davidic line must be
cut down, but a righteous branch – a sprout will come forth and in it is the
promise of a new messianic kingship. The
transformation will be complete, and Jeremiah supplies a new name for this new
king, a reworking of King Zedekiah’s name (YHWH is our justice) into a new
throne name, “YHWH is our righteousness”.
Breaking
open Jeremiah:
- Is American a “messianic kingdom”? If so, how? If not, why?
- Do you see a “righteous branch” sprouting up into our world?
- Are you a remnant of belief?
How so?
Psalm 23 Dominus regit me
The LORD is my
shepherd; *
I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in
green pastures *
and leads me beside
still waters.
He revives my soul *
and guides me along
right pathways for his Name's sake.
Though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil; *
for you are with me;
your rod and your
staff, they comfort me.
You spread a table
before me in the presence of those
who trouble me; *
you have anointed my
head with oil,
and my cup is running
over.
Surely your goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, *
and I will dwell in the
house of the LORD for ever.
This psalm provides liturgical commentary on the first reading. Here, however, the shepherd is YHWH, not the
king. In the psalm is modeled the
behavior of a righteous shepherd, whose behaviors are drawn from the pastoral
context of Judah’s past. The green
meadows and the quiet waters hark back to the “land of milk and honey” as the
prosperity of Canaan was described in earlier days. But all is not sweetness and light. Just as it was in Jeremiah’s time, there is
the “valley of the shadow of death” which can be seen as either individual or
corporate destiny. Even here, YHWH
provides and ministers, just as the messianic king, promised by Jeremiah.
Breaking
open Psalm 23
- Is this one of your favorite psalms? Why?
- Have you walked through a valley of the shadow of death? What was it really?
- How has God accompanied you in life?
Ephesians 2:11-22
Remember that at one
time you Gentiles by birth, called "the uncircumcision" by those who
are called "the circumcision" -- a physical circumcision made in the
flesh by human hands-- remember that you were at that time without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of
promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus
you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he
is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down
the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law
with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new
humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both
groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility
through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace
to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to
the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are
citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the
cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a
holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a
dwelling place for God.
Just as Jeremiah did, St. Paul envisions a new community, a new “nation”
as he speaks to the Ephesians about their movement from being “alien” to
becoming fellow citizens. Just like the
new kingdom promised by Jeremiah, led by the messianic king, so under Christ a
new Israel is formed, “brought near by the blood of Christ.” Paul then moves to a new metaphor, using the
model of a building with Christ as the cornerstone, and the people of God (saints,
prophets, apostles, and the household of faith) gathered into and within the
structure. Jeremiah’s promises were made
after the Temple was destroyed. Paul’s
promises look forward to a “holy temple in the Lord.”
Breaking
open Ephesians;
- What comprises your best “community of faith”? What are its attributes?
- Do you feel like an alien in our society? In your church?
- Who is the faithful leader of your “community of faith”? Who inspires you?
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
The apostles gathered
around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them,
"Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while."
For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they
went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them
going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns
and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had
compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he
began to teach them many things.
When they had crossed
over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of
the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and
began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he
went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces,
and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who
touched it were healed.
The theme of shepherds does not easily leave us today. As Jesus attempts to gather his disciples
into a quiet place in the wilderness for refreshment and inspiration, the
crowds will not leave him alone. (This
“retreat”, if you will, may have been in response to the murder of John the
Baptist by Herod.) In spite of his original aims, Jesus, the Good Shepherd,
cannot see the crowds without having compassion for them. Mark describes them as “sheep without a
shepherd.” The verb that captures our
imagination here is “recognized”. This
crowd, aimless and wandering, recognizes what promises there are at the hand of
Jesus. What these people bring to Jesus
are the signs of the messianic kingdom: healing, teaching, community, and
faith.
Breaking open the Gospel:
- How do you recognize Jesus?
- What do you ask of Jesus?
- How do you appropriate what you want from Jesus?
After
breaking open the Word, you might want to pray the Collect for Sunday:
Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities
before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and
mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for
our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ
our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
for ever. Amen.
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