The Good Shepherd

Some thoughts about the texts for the fourth Sunday in Easter.  For earlier devotional writings on these texts, follow this link for Easter 4 B.  

Good Shepherd Sunday is the middle Sunday of the seven Sundays of the Easter Season.  It is the pivot point between looking back towards Easter Sunday and turning forward toward Pentecost.  The texts before this Sunday are resurrection appearances.  After this, we read from John’s Gospel of the abiding presence of Christ Jesus in the community of his followers, moving us towards the outward mission empowered by the Spirit on Pentecost.  Recognizing this helps us resist the urge to hear this Good Shepherd language not just in personal terms (Jesus and me or Jesus and us) but that the crucified and risen one is the Good Shepherd of the world.  

Shepherd as political language

The language of shepherd is used throughout the Hebrew Scriptures with reference either to God (Psalm 80:1; Isaiah 40:11; Jeremiah 31:10) or to the king as God’s “son”, God’s representative (2 Samuel 5:1-2).  By extension it refers to the Jerusalem leadership (Jeremiah 10:21; Jeremiah 23:1-6; Ezekiel 34), and concerns not only the leadership of the nation but the world, for it is also used of Cyrus! (Isaiah 44:28)

Sunday’s texts exist in the world of political machinations and the struggle for position, influence, and power. The Biblical record is rife with political conflict even before we get to the struggle between God and Pharaoh over slaveholding.  It records in detail the rise and fall of Saul, the struggle for the succession to King David, the political struggle leading to the breakup of the Davidic kingdom, the multiple bitter revolutions in the northern kingdom of Israel, the involvement of the prophets in the political struggles, and the conflicted political history of the southern kingdom of Judah leading to its destruction.  The conflict between Jesus and the governing elite in Jerusalem shows up quickly in the Gospels and ends with Jesus’ execution.  That conflict continues in the book of Acts.  Leadership, shepherding, of the nation and the world is a very large part of the biblical witness.  Psalm 23 is powerful at a graveside, but it is written amidst palace intrigue and dares to claim that the king himself has a shepherd.

It is worth saying that these texts are about shepherds, not about the sheep.  Too often we get sidetracked talking about ourselves as sheep.

Also worth noting, in most of the world shepherds drive their flocks from behind; in Palestine, shepherds walk in front and their sheep follow.  Again, though, this is about shepherds not the sheep.  Shepherds lead the way.  They go ahead of us.  They don’t tell us what to do, they do it.  

Psalm 23 (The Lord is my shepherd)

As deeply personal as is Psalm 23, as much as it embraces us in and around death or in times of trial, we still need to hear these words in the context of the struggles for power in the royal court.  (“You set a table before me in the presence of my enemies”!) David makes a remarkable claim there is a shepherd above him, a shepherd who leads him, a shepherd he follows.  

This is what makes David a faithful king, despite his failings.  When confronted by the prophet Nathan about the murder of Uriah and the taking of his wife, Bathsheba, David repents. It didn’t go so well for other prophets.  Elijah has to flee, Jeremiah is thrown in prison, John the Baptizer loses his head, and Jesus gets tortured and publicly executed.  David, however, listened.  And admitted the truth.  And turned back toward faithfulness.

Acts 4:5-12 (Peter’s defense before the Sanhedrin)

The selection of apostolic speeches used in the Easter season is somewhat troubling because the assigned readings leave off the context that gives rise to the preaching – context that is important.  It would make more sense this Sunday to from 4:1 and at least to 13.

The Sanhedrin is the governing body charged not only with religious leadership but civil order.  It is their responsibility to maintain the peace. Failing to do that would result in Roman action to appoint new leaders, costing these families not only their position, but their wealth and privilege.  This is why it was necessary in their eyes to silence Jesus, and to demonstrate through the shame and degradation of crucifixion by Rome that he was nothing but a powerless insurrectionist resisting the rightful rulers of the nation.

The claim by Peter and John that God has raised this Jesus “whom you crucified” means that God has not only revoked the sentence imposed by the Jerusalem leadership that Jesus was false but abrogates the Sanhedrin’s claim to authority.  To proclaim the resurrection is to indict the Jerusalem leadership as being against God.  It declares them false shepherds (“hired hands”, to use the Gospel’s phrase – hired by Rome – who do not care for the sheep).  This is why the preaching of the apostles must be silenced.

Words in the translation like “arrest” suggest to our ears some judicial process.  Peter and John were snatched, grabbed, or seized (literally, hands thrown upon them).  Jail, too, sounds like there was some juridical process; they were more literally something like “under guard”.

Despite their arrest, the number of believers (those who trusted the message that Jesus was raised/vindicated by God) grew to 5,000.  This raises the stakes for the Jerusalem leadership.  The word is spreading, and they have to get it under control.  They must silence this testimony – but the message can’t be silenced!

When the text says that “There is salvation in no one else …”. It’s very important to locate that sentence not in the modern worldview that death leads either to heaven or hell, and that having the right ticket matters, but in the confession that Jesus is the one who brings “the kingdom of God”, God’s new creation, God’s reign of light and life, justice and mercy.   No one else is bringing that healing/wholeness/governance of God’s spirit over all creation – certainly not the Sadducees and pharisees or any others aligned with Rome or leading an insurrection against Rome. 

Luke is writing after the rebellion and war with Rome.  All those who claimed or were acclaimed to be God’s Messiah did not bring life, but the brutal and devastating destruction of Jerusalem.  There was no healing brought by these shepherds.  No healing brought by the Romans.  No healing brought by anyone other than this Jesus who would not and did not take revenge against those who crucified him.  

1 John 3:16-24 (Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action)

Our second reading continues through 1 John.  There’s too much to talk about (since everything in John touches on everything else in John) except to note that this letter arises after the Johannine community has divided and the author is writing about those who have left the community (leaving it in need) to pursue a more personal spirituality.  To “love” is to treat others as members of one’s own household.  It is the fulfilling of obligations to care for, provide and protect.  “Hate” means regarding others as strangers to whom one has no obligation.  It is more akin to the word apathy.   Those who have left the community have broken their obligation to care and provide, thus they “hate”.

John 10:11-18 (The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep)

We have the second section of the Good Shepherd discourse in year B, but it’s hard to keep the elements separate.  The text has previously talked about the thief who “comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” whereas Jesus, the good shepherd, comes to give, make alive, and create.  (And it should be noted that to have life abundantly doesn’t mean wealth, power and success!  It is to possess the mercy, truth, joy, love that are imperishable.)

This leads to the language about the Good Shepherd who doesn’t take life but lays his life down.  The shepherds (political leaders) take.  They take people’s grain and livelihood.  They take their sons and daughters.  Read again 1 Samuel 8 about the nature of kings!  (I wrote recently about this here ).  The Jerusalem elite allied with the empire are “hired hands,” owned by the Romans.

“I have other sheep” keeps us aware and focused on those who are not yet part of our faith communities.  “They will listen to my voice.”  They will attend to the things Jesus says, they will obey his command to love.

“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.” God doesn’t feel affection for Jesus because he is willing to go to the cross, God shows faithfulness to Jesus, is bound to him as one family member to another, just as Jesus is bound to the Father.  It is because of this bond, this sharing of the divine will and way, that Jesus lays down his life.  He loves as God loves.  He is faithful as God is faithful.

In v. 17: “I lay down my life in order to take it up again.”  The key word is λαμβάνω. What if it should be translated “so that I may receive it again”?  And in v. 18: “I have power to take it up again.”  What if it should be translated as “I have authority to receive it again”? 

In a world of many rulers who plunder the sheep, we are met by the world’s true and good shepherd, who embodies the divine mercy and faithfulness and brings the healing of the world.  This proclamation that Jesus is risen confronts and challenges the present rulers and order of our world.

Gracious Heavenly Father, 
Christ Jesus the Good Shepherd laid down his life for the world 
that he might gather into one flock all the nations of the earth.  
Be at work within us 
that we might hear and respond to his voice, 
and follow him in lives of service and love.

+   +   +

Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22The_good_Shepherd%22_mosaic_-_Mausoleum_of_Galla_Placidia.jpg; Petar Milošević, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
© David K Bonde, 2024, All rights reserved.

To understand the scriptures

Some thoughts about Luke 24:36-48 as we look to the third Sunday in Easter.

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ³⁷They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?

(A note: I think it’s silly to cut off the front part of verse 36, trim Jesus’ words, and skip the ending of Luke’s Gospel.  To me, it makes more sense to go ahead and read 36-53.) 

For many, Easter is a one-day thing that quickly recedes into the background of daily life.  There is work to be done.  The dogs need walking.  Children need feeding.  Laundry demands our attention.  And political noise fills too much of the airwaves and social media.  This Sunday’s worship should draw us back into the wonder of Easter and the grace of a shared table.

Easter doesn’t mean death isn’t real.  There is still war in Gaza and Ukraine and other places that do not reach our attention.  People still face deadly diseases and tragic sorrows.  Death still grasps at us.  But Easter means that God has spoken to create a future when the future seems lost. 

This is what our Gospel text means when it says that Jesus “opened their minds to understand the scriptures” and declared that “everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.”

The great drama of the scriptures is the story of death and resurrection.  The scripture is not a law book dropped from heaven or a purity code for a special people.  And it is certainly not a science text or history book.  It is a narrative about God and the world, a story of dead ends and new life.

God’s good and beautiful world is racked by human violence and the devastating word that God is sorry for making humans – but then God rescues the creatures of the earth with Noah and his family.  After the flood, the line of Shem comes to a grinding halt in the barrenness of Sarah, but then God gives them a son.  The promised son’s life is threatened by Abraham’s knife, but the knife is held back and a ram given.  Jacob wrestles with God at the river Jabbok with enemies behind and before him, and walks away with a new name: Israel.  Joseph lies betrayed and in prison as a deadly famine haunts the future, but the prison door is opened.  The descendants of Jacob fall into bondage in Egypt and pharaoh commands the death of their male children, but the people are saved and a way is opened through the sea and the desert.  Again and again and again this pattern of hopelessness and unexpected new life is repeated in ways big and small.  Ruth finds a home and become the grandmother of David.  City and temple, King and priests, are destroyed by the Babylonians and the people are carried off in chains, but the call comes to build a highway in the desert.  God’s way is not our way, the prophets declare:  God forgives.  God creates.  God redeems.  Dry bones are brought to life.

The death and resurrection of Jesus doesn’t fulfill certain predictive proof-texts, it embodies and fulfills the whole drama of a life-giving, redeeming God and a rebel world.  That’s what we need to hear when we let Jesus open our minds to understand the scriptures.  This God manifest in the Bible and in Jesus is not a god who validates and defends the established order of power and privilege in the world; God is a god who creates a future when the future is lost – a future of mercy and faithfulness and care of one another, a future where all gather at a shared table.  

The communion table – where we eat with the risen lord – is both promise and witness of that new day when every debt is lifted and every tear wiped away.

+   +   +

Some other thoughts about the Gospel text:

A “ghost”?

The Greek word translated ‘ghost’ is the same word as ‘spirit’.  How differently it sounds if we read: “They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a spirit.”

The word “ghost” has a distinctive meaning in our culture that’s significantly different than seeing a being from the spirit realm.

Not “doubt”.  

Verse 38 is translated “Why do doubts arise in your hearts?”  We get the English word ‘dialogue’ from the Greek word that is translated here as ‘doubt’.  This is not the same Greek word translated doubt in the story of Thomas last week (which also didn’t mean doubt, but faithlessness).  This word is about a back and forth mental debate about what is happening and what it means. 

The heart, in the world of the first century, is the place where decisions get made.  So this is about the community puzzling over how to respond to the appearance of Jesus among them.

About Jesus eating

The physicality of Jesus connects their present experience with the life they lived with Jesus.  They are not meeting some apparition different from the historical Jesus conveying some new spiritual truth. This is the Jesus they have known and followed calling them to continue the work of healing and life he embodied.

Jesus eats with them not just to demonstrate his physicality, but because eating with people is what Jesus always did.  Jesus is bringing the banquet of God, the wedding feast of the new day when every debt is lifted and all things made new.  And he is eating with us as we gather around the table each Sunday morning.

The ongoing work

Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

The proclamation that we are released from our debt to God and called to show allegiance to Jesus is an essential part of the whole biblical message.  The scripture is not just about Jesus’ death and resurrection, but the proclamation of God’s life-giving work to all the world.

Abraham and their descendants were to be a source of blessing to the world.  That essential work continues in those who show allegiance to God and Jesus.

A possible Prayer of the Day: 

God of Wonder and Grace,
as the risen Lord Jesus 
opened the minds of his followers 
to understand the scriptures, 
open our hearts and minds 
that, hearing your voice, 
we might rejoice in his presence
and bear faithful witness
to your imperishable love. 

Or a shorter form:

God of Wonder and Grace,
who brought forth Jesus from the tomb
and revealed him to his followers,
grant us confidence in your mercy 
and courage to bear witness 
to your imperishable love.

+   +   +

For previous reflections on the texts for 3 Easter B follow this link.

Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woman_Reading_the_Bible_1.jpg; Tonny Mpagi, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
© David K Bonde, 2024, All rights reserved.

Why should we be loyal?

Thoughts on Thomas and faith as we look toward the Second Sunday in the Easter Season

²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”  (John 20:19-31)

I have no problem saying that we don’t understand what happened to Jesus.  But I also have no problem affirming that Jesus appeared again and again to his followers to give witness that God had reversed the sentence of death and affirmed all that Jesus said and did. The resurrection is God’s witness to the word and work of Christ.  The leaders in Jerusalem sentenced him as a liar and deceiver, but God declared him true. And the issue for us is not what we think might have happened to Jesus, but whether we will accept God’s judgment and show fidelity to Jesus.  The issue for us – as for those first believers – is not doubting or believing an idea, but showing faithfulness and allegiance to a person. 

Jesus walked in their midst.  He taught in their synagogues.  He sat in Peter’s boat and spoke to the crowds from the water.  He talked to them about the kingdom of God, about God’s dawning governance of the world and our hearts.  He showed the healing and forgiving work of God.  He fought against false ideas about what mattered to God. He welcomed all – including those regarded as sinners and outcasts.  He renounced violence and revenge.  He refused to take up arms against Roman imperial power and surrendered himself in order to protect his followers.  He died honorably, never breaking faith with God. But he had died disgraced and helpless, judged a sinner and a threat to the temple and government.  

The followers of Jesus had seen all this and now they are confronted with this report that God had raised Jesus from the realm of the dead.  What was supposed to happen to all at the end of history had happened to Jesus already.  God’s ultimate redemption of all things was breaking in to this moment!

For ordinary people the first year of death was a time of purgation.  As the flesh rotted away sins were purged.  At the end of the year another burial was held, this time of the bones to await the resurrection on the consummate day of human history.  For Jesus to be raised without that year meant he had no sins that needed to be purged.  He was not a sinner as the authorities claimed.  He was not in league with the devil.  All he said and did was true and faithful to God.

God was making a statement that everything Jesus said and did was righteous and true.  He was not a mere prophet headed for a martyr’s death. He was not a peasant healer who met an ignominious end.  He was not a zealot revolutionary whose ambitions came to naught. He was a true and faithful witness to the dawning reign of God.

This is what is reported to Thomas when he wasn’t present on that first Sunday when Jesus appeared to the others. Thomas is not being asked to accept as true something he didn’t see.  He is being asked to show allegiance to Jesus and his teaching.  He is asked to show fidelity to Jesus as a true and faithful witness to the reign of God.

This is what Thomas finds hard to do.  All the weight of human authority has judged Jesus a fraud.  Whatever Thomas was expecting would happen in Jerusalem, whatever kingdom he thought would be born there, has clearly come to nothing.  No angelic armies appeared.  Rome was still firmly entrenched in power.  The family of Caiaphas still ruled Jerusalem.  The temple economy still thrived.  Poor widows were still being bled of their last two pennies.  People in the countryside were still being crushed by debt.  The law of God was being manipulated to protect the wealthy.   Why should Thomas show allegiance to Jesus and his teaching?  Had it not all been a fool’s errand?  Why should he remain loyal to a pipe dream?  Why should he remain loyal?  

Why should we be loyal?

We need to understand this about the text: the words that Jesus uses when he speaks to Thomas are not about ideas or cognitive assent.  These are words about relationship.  I understand why Jesus’ words get translated as “Do not doubt but believe,” but those words don’t mean the same thing to us as they did to the first century.  

First of all, in this sentence neither the word ‘doubt’ nor the word ‘believe’ is a verb.   They are nouns.  The verb Jesus uses is the verb that sort of means ‘to be’ but is really more like ‘to become’.  The nouns are ‘pistij’ and ‘apistij’ (‘pistis’ and ‘apistis’).  The ‘a’ at the beginning of a word is a negative.  It’s like the words happy and unhappy, successful and unsuccessful.  The one is the negation of the other.  So these words should be translated something more like ‘faithful’ and ‘unfaithful’, or ‘faithful’ and ‘faithless’.  

And these words don’t refer to ideas, but loyalty.  You could also translate this phrase as: “Do not be disloyal, but loyal.”  It speaks of trust, obedience, fidelity, and loyalty.   It’s a mistake to translate these as ‘doubt’ and ‘believe’.  

Secondly, the verb has this element of becoming, so we have something more like “Don’t become disloyal.”

Finally, the Greek is clear that Jesus is forbidding an action already underway or done repeatedly. 

So the sense of Jesus’ statement is something more like: “Stop becoming disloyal, and become loyal.”  That’s awkward, and it’s not all that precise.  But it gets at the meaning here.  Stop heading towards unfaithfulness; head towards faithfulness.  Go towards fidelity.  Go towards loyalty.  Be ever more faithful to what I have said and done.

Live justice. Live mercy.  Live forgiveness.  Live love of one another.  Live joy and freedom.  Live grace and life.  Live compassion and hospitality.  Live truth.  Walk towards me not away from me.  Walk with me not apart from me.  Grow in grace; don’t diminish.  Live the kingdom not the empire.  Live the reign of God not the tyrannies of men and mammon.  Live hope not despair; courage not cynicism.  Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  The gate is wide and the path easy that leads to destruction – walk the narrow way.

Though Jesus tells Thomas to put his hand in Jesus side – and that word, by the way, means to throw or thrust.  It’s an amazingly strong word.  No tenderness here: “Push it in all the way” – though Jesus tells Thomas to stretch out his hand, Thomas falls to his knees.

Notice, too, that what Jesus says to Thomas is for him to ‘see’.  See with eyes open.  See with heart open.  Recognize the wonder that stands before you.  See what God is showing you.  See the truth to which this all points.  Recognize the hands and heart of God.  

In the presence of Jesus, Thomas sees.  He sees these deep things.  And he falls on his knees and confesses that Jesus is both Lord and God.

Jesus meets us when we are heading the wrong way.  He meets Mary when she thinks the body has been stolen.  He meets the disciples leaving town and headed for Emmaus.  He meets the community hiding in fear.  He meets Paul on the road to Damascus.  He meets us wherever we travel and guides us towards himself, towards faithfulness.  Paul is rendered sightless by his encounter on the Damascus road, but, when Jesus sends Ananias to lay hands on him, he sees.

This story that is before us this morning is not about Thomas assenting to the idea of resurrection; it is about Thomas living it – living love of neighbor and love of enemies, living forgiveness and mercy, living grace and peace, living light and truth, living the reign of God.

We read this story every year on the Sunday after Easter because the resurrection is not the end of the Jesus story; it is the beginning of our story – our journey into faithfulness.

+ + +

Photo: DKBonde
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
© David K Bonde, 2018, 2024, All rights reserved.

Our long journey

Watching for Ash Wednesday

February 17, 2021

Tomorrow we begin our long journey to Jerusalem where Jesus will wash feet, break bread, pray in Gethsemane, get kissed by Judas and abandoned by his followers, be abused by the thugs who snatched him in the night and tortured by Roman Soldiers in the full light of day.  And he will not fight back.  He will raise no army.  He will lift no sword.  He will call for no chariots of fire.  There will be no joining of earthly and heavenly armies to slay the imperial troops of Rome.  There will be hammer and nails and a tomb with its entrance barred by a stone.

And in the darkness of that final night will shine the light of a divine mercy that envelops the whole world in grace.  “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Christian observance of Lent, a forty day period of fasting, sharing and serving, a time of spiritual renewal that will bring us to that day when the women find the tomb empty and see a vision of angels declare that God has raised Jesus from the dead.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.  And our evening begins with the burning of the palm fronds from Palm Sunday last year and the ancient practice of anointing ourselves with ashes.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust – it is partly about remembering our mortality.  More profoundly it remembers that death came when humanity broke faith with God in the garden.  And so it is a day of repentance, of turning back to God. It begins a period of forty days of intentional turning towards God, an intentional deepening of our spiritual lives, an intentional deepening of compassion, faith, hope, and joy.

Our signs of repentance are not merely personal.  We ask God’s forgiveness on behalf of the whole human race.  And there is much to confess.  The deceit and destruction loose in our world, the greed and over-consumption, the violence, the warring.  There is much to confess.  And we will stand with the victims of all our evil.  With those ashes we stand with the abused and forgotten, the hungry and homeless, the refugees unwanted, the fearful and grieving.  We stand with them all, daring to name our human brokenness, knowing that Jesus will share that brokenness and bear the scars in his hands and feet.

We dare to name it all, because God is mercy.  Because God is redemption.  Because God is new life.  Because God is new creation.  Because God is eager for us to turn away from our destructive paths into the path of life.

So with ashes on our foreheads we will renew the journey that leads to the empty tomb, the gathered table, and the feast to come.

The Prayer for Ash Wednesday

Almighty God, Holy and Immortal,
who knows the secrets of every heart
and brings all things to the light of your grace.
Root us ever in your promised mercy
that, freed from every sin and shame,
we may walk the paths of your truth and love.

The Texts for Ash Wednesday

First Reading:  Joel 2:1-2, 12-17   (alternate: Isaiah 58:1-12)
“Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly.” – Facing a devastating plague of locusts, the prophet calls the community to renew their fidelity to God and cry out with fasting, rending their hearts and not just their garments.

Psalmody: Psalm 103:8-14
“He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.” – In our parish, we use the appointed Psalm 51 (the famous cry of repentance by David after he has been confronted by the prophet Nathan over the murder of Uriah and the taking of Bathsheba ) in the confession at the beginning of our liturgy.  When we come to the time for the psalm, we hear the poet speak of the tender love and faithfulness of God who has “removed our sins from us” “as far as the east is from the west.”

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:1  (appointed: 5:20b-6:10)
“We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” –  Paul calls his troubled congregation to live within the reconciling work of God in Christ.

Gospel Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” – Jesus declares at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount that, in order to enter into God’s dawning reign, our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.  Now, having spoken about the meaning of the commandments (in contrast to the way they are taught by the scribes) Jesus turns to the acts of piety for which the Pharisees were known.  Our prayer, fasting and charity must be done not for public acclaim but to please God.

+   +   +

This post is revised from February 14, 2018

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Korfu_(GR),_Nissaki,_Kloster_von_Ipsilos_–_2018_–_1010.jpg; Dietmar Rabich / Wikimedia Commons / “Korfu (GR), Nissaki, Kloster von Ipsilos — 2018 — 1010” / CC BY-SA 4.0

In unradiant times

Watching for the Morning of February 14, 2021

Year B

The Feast of the Transfiguration

It’s hard to imagine anything radiant right now.  Visions of the assault on the capital haunt those who’ve been watching the impeachment trial or the news.  Covid numbers seem to be improving, but new threats shadow us.  The death toll is approaching half a million.  If we had simply matched other industrialized nations, we would have saved 200,000 of these, yet a poll released Tuesday says a third of the country thinks there is little risk from Covid if we were to open everything back up.  The future seems uncertain and troubling.

Jesus has just told his followers that he will be killed in Jerusalem and on the third day rise.  Peter has taken Jesus aside to rebuke him for such talk – and Jesus, in turn, has rebuked Peter quite publicly.  What’s more, Jesus has said that anyone who wants to follow him must take up the cross, that brutal instrument of shame and suffering with which Rome crushed any rival claim over human life.

How can it make any sense for God’s anointed to suffer and die at the hands of Rome?  What life is this when what we exulted in was the very concrete deliverance of healing and release from debts?

When Peter sees Jesus radiant with the presence of God and talking with Elijah and Moses, he is completely right to imagine that these three are here to watch the great battle when the heavenly armies come to cast down Rome and its minions.  They need three tents from which these apocalyptic generals can watch the battle.

But it is not to be.  Elijah and Moses disappear, and we are left with Jesus only.  And the voice from heaven saying, “Listen to him.”  If ancient Greek had used exclamation points and italics, I suspect it would have said, “Listen to him!”

Listen to Jesus.  Listen as he speaks of death and resurrection.  Listen as he speaks of taking up the cross.  Listen as he speaks, casting out demons, forgiving sins, and giving sight to the unseeing.  Listen.  There is a new world here – just not one that can be gained by armed mobs seizing the capitol.

Sunday takes us to the top of the Mount of Transfiguration where a divine glory is seen, but the path to that glory takes them back down the hill towards Jerusalem and a costly sacrifice.  God will affirm again that this Jesus who speaks of dying and rising is God’s beloved Son – a royal designation.  Jesus will shine with all the radiance of God’s glory.  But God will also command us to listen to him.  There is a fearful and wondrous mystery ahead.  A fearful and wondrous calling for us all.

Sunday’s first reading will speak of the chariots of fire that swept Elijah into the heavens – and left Elisha behind with a double inheritance of his Spirit.  The psalm, too, will speak of a divine fire: “Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire.”  And Paul will talk about us being transformed “from one degree of glory to another” by God “who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

In unradiant times, there is yet a radiance to see, a radiance to be.

The Prayer for February 14, 2021

Holy and Wondrous God,
hidden in mystery yet revealed in your Son, Jesus,
to whom the law and prophets bear witness
and upon whom your splendor shines:
Help us to listen to his voice
and to see your glory in his outstretched arms.

The Texts for February 14, 2021

First Reading: 2 Kings 2:1-14
“Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal.” – As Elijah heads toward his end in the whirlwind, Elisha seeks a “double share” of Elijah’s spirit, an expression drawn from the inheritance that goes to the eldest son.

Psalmody: Psalm 50:1-6
“Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.”  – With the imagery of a storm over Jerusalem the poet speaks of the majesty of God who comes to speak to his people.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 3:17-4:6 (appointed 2 Corinthians 4:3-6)
“It is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” – Paul expounds on the story of Moses, whose face radiated with the glory of God after God spoke to him in the tent of meeting.

Gospel: Mark 9:2-9
“He was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.” – Peter, James and John serve as witnesses when God appears to Jesus (and, like Moses, his appearance is transformed) and testifies that he is God’s beloved son to whom we should listen.

+   +   +

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%C3%89glise_Saint-Maurice_de_Talloires-D%C3%A9tails_sculpture_en_bois.JPG  B. Brassoud, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia CommonsIn unradiant times

Come and see

Watching for the Morning of January 17, 2021

The Sunday of the Epiphany of Our Lord

It’s a sweet story, the call of Samuel as a boy in the tabernacle.  Stories involving children showed up frequently in the Sunday school lessons of my childhood.  But this is not a sweet story; it is a powerfully dramatic one.  The voice of God has fallen silent.  The society has corroded.  The sons of Eli the priest are corrupt, abusing their position as religious leaders for their own pleasure and gain.  The final story in Judges, a work that continues into First Samuel, is a horrifying one of violence and rape, and the book closes with the haunting sentence: “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes.”

What is God’s answer to the religious and moral decay of the nation?  It is the birth of a child.  And then God speaks, calling the child’s name: “Samuel! Samuel!”

We have been through Christmas and the birth of a child.  We have heard the voice from heaven speak at the Baptism of Jesus.  Now Jesus speaks to Philip saying, “Follow me.”  Something new is at hand, a new and wondrous work of God to rescue a people whose future seems dim.

Philip will find Nathanael and Nathanael will ask “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Philip will answer wisely, “Come and see.”  He will come and see that Jesus is the one who sees: seeing him under the fig tree.

This Sunday we will encounter this God who sees and knows us.  We will read the story of Samuel.  We will hear Jesus call Philip and Nathanael.  And with the psalmist we will sing of God who knows “when I sit down and when I rise up.”  And in all these words we, too, will hear the divine voice calling our name, summoning us to come and see the heavens opened and the heart of God made known.

The Prayer for January 17, 2021

In the mystery of your love, O Lord,
you call people to your service.
Grant us open ears and willing hearts
that we may respond with joy
and follow you in faith.

The Texts for January 17, 2021

First Reading: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 (or 1 Samuel 3:1-20)
“Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” – Samuel, the gift of God to Hannah when she cried out in her barrenness, whom she entrusted as a child to the shrine at Shiloh, is summoned by God while still a child to be the bearer of God’s message.

Psalmody: Psalm 139:1-6, 13, 16-18 (appointed: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18)
“O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.”  – A profound and moving psalm describing God’s intimate knowledge and care; there is nowhere in heaven or earth that God will not be with us.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial.” – A fundamental misunderstanding of our freedom in Christ must be answered, not by appeal to the law, but by a recognition that we are in Christ and Christ in us.  The community is a vessel of God’s Holy Spirit.

Gospel: John 1:43-51
“The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” – Jesus calls Philip and Philip goes to get Nathanael saying “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote.” 

+   +   +

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Museum_-_Nathaniel_Under_the_Fig_Tree_(Nathana%C3%ABl_sous_le_figuier)_-_James_Tissot_-_overall.jpg; James Tissot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
© David K Bonde, 2021, All rights reserved

A royal proclamation

Lion as icon of Mark, the writer of the Gospel

Watching for the Morning of October 11, 2020

Year A

The Second Sunday of Advent

John the Forerunner (John the Baptizer) makes his appearance on the second Sunday of Advent.  Wrapped in camel’s hair with a leather belt, like the description of Elijah, he calls the nation out into the wilderness to reset their relationship with the God who rescued them from bondage, met them at Sinai, and led them through the wilderness to take possession of a land whose previous inhabitants had desecrated it with idolatry.  By implication, the people now need to start over and show true allegiance to God.

Starting over.  Being ready to welcome the dawn of grace.  Leaving behind the failures and falsehoods of the past. Getting ready to embrace God’s dawning reign.  Luke will spell out some of what that means – “let him who has two coats share with him who has none” (I dare you to go count the ‘coats’, i.e. the dresses/shirts & pants in your closet).  But Mark is content to just let the royal proclamation stand.  Today is a day of new beginnings!  A herald appears!  Now is the moment to show allegiance!

And with the royal proclamation of a new reign comes a reprieve: a release of prisoners, a release from debts, and an abundance of royal benefactions.

The texts Sunday are full of promise, even as they summon us to prepare.  Isaiah will cry out a word of comfort, declaring “the Lord GOD comes with might” and “will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms.”  Peter will assure us that the day for which we wait shall surely come – a world made new “where righteousness is at home.”  The appointed psalm declares that

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
….righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
….and righteousness will look down from the sky.

And in our psalmody we will sing with Zechariah: ^“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people and set them free.”

The sighs and cries we heard last Sunday of the world yearning to be made whole, “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,” are answered with a promise this Sunday: “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me…I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The Prayer for December 6, 2020

O Breath of Life, our source and goal,
who hears the sighs and cries, the troubled hearts,
the yearning of the world for your redeeming presence:
Draw near to us and bring your day of peace.

The Texts for December 6, 2020

First Reading: Isaiah 40.1-11
“Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.” – A prophet is called to speak a word of comfort to the people in exile in Babylon.  Forgiveness is at hand, and the cry goes forth to build a highway through the desert to bring God’s people home.

Psalmody: Luke 1:68-79
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.” – Our parish departs from the appointed psalm to sing this song of salvation from the opening chapter of Luke.  It is attributed to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, when he regains his voice after following the divine command to name his son John.

Second Reading: 2 Peter 3.8-15
“The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.” – In the circular letter where we hear the familiar words “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” the author writes to encourage the fledgling Christian community to patience and faithfulness as they wait for the day of the Lord.

Gospel: Mark 1.1-8
“John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” – Mark begins his Gospel with the language of royal decree and the prophetic words of John pointing to the one who will wash the world in the Holy Spirit.

The appointed psalm: Psalm 85.1-2, 8-13
“Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.” – The poet prays for renewal of Israel’s life in the land after the return from exile, acknowledging God’s previous help and expressing prayerful trust that God, in his faithfulness, will come to their aid.

+   +   +

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trabzon_Hagia_Sophia_Evangelists%27_fresco_4829.jpg Dosseman, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons
Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
© David K Bonde, 2020, All rights reserved

The memory of smoke

“The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans Under the Command of Titus, A.D. 70” by David Roberts, 1850

Watching for the Morning of October 11, 2020

Year A

The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost:
Proper 23 / Lectionary 28

Luke’s congregation lives in the shadow of the fearful war that destroyed Jerusalem and its temple once again.  They hold in their hands the ancient scriptures with the prophetic warnings about impending destruction, and in memory that the kingdom of Israel fell before the judgment of God at the hand of the Assyrians, and that the kingdom of Judah followed some 135 years later.  Jerusalem, its royal palace, and its temple fell to Babylonian sword and fire.

What Luke’s people see in the events of their lifetime, when Rome marched through the region and brutally suppressed Jerusalem’s revolt, when the blood of rebels, martyrs, and innocents was spilled, is the same tragic story of a people who broke faith with God and paid its terrible price.  They betrayed God’s command to show faithfulness to one another, to protect the vulnerable, feed the hungry, love the neighbor as oneself.

Jesus called the nation to its proper path.  Jesus stood in the long line of the biblical witness.  But the nation’s leadership rose up against him, judging him false and condemning him as a threat to the social order.  And he was a threat – just not the kind they feared.  He was a threat to all our accommodations to the brokenness of the world.  He called us to let God reign.  He called us from glory to the healing, mercy, and redeeming work of God.  He was that redeeming work.

Sunday, Jesus is still in Jerusalem.  These final days are filled with strong prophetic words.  He has just told the story of the rebel tenants and, lest the leaders of Jerusalem missed it’s point, declared: “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”

Matthew tells us they want to arrest him but fear the crowds, then has Jesus tell us about a royal wedding banquet. The leading citizens who were summoned to come refused.   They abused and murdered those who carried the invitations, and the king sent his troops. “destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.”

The smoke still lingers over Jerusalem, at least in the memory of Matthew’s congregation. The parable echoes profoundly.  Painfully.

Sunday we will hear God’s promise of a banquet for all peoples on Mt. Zion, when “the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces.”  Psalm 23 will speak of the table that God prepares.  And Paul will urge the Philippians not to worry about anything but to lift up their needs in prayer: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

But over these assurances of God’s work of restoring this broken world, lingers the smoke of Jerusalem and the warning not to rebel when the king of all summons us to live the wedding feast that knows no end.

The Prayer for October 11, 2020

Gracious God,
shepherd and guardian of our souls,
keep us from the folly that would spurn your grace
and grant that, clothed in Christ,
we may live the joy of the eternal wedding feast.

The Texts for October 11, 2020

First Reading: Isaiah 25:1-9
“On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines.” – Following a section of the book of Isaiah containing words of judgment against the nations surrounding Judah and Israel, we are given an oracle of salvation declaring a day when God will gather all people to a feast on Mt. Zion.

Psalmody: Psalm 23
“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” – The language of shepherds is used for kings in ancient Israel – but here the poet declares that God is the one who guides, protects and prepares for him God’s royal banquet.

Second Reading: Philippians 4:1-9
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” – Paul begins his concluding remarks to the believers in Philippi with a series of exhortations about their life together both to specific individuals and to the community as a whole.

Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14
“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.” – With a story about a royal wedding and the vassals of the king who declare their rebellion by refusing the king’s invitations and abusing his messengers, Jesus presses his attack against the leadership of the nation who have aligned themselves with the empire of Rome rather than the reign of God.

+   +   +

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roberts_Siege_and_Destruction_of_Jerusalem.jpg; David Roberts / Public domain

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

© David K Bonde, 2020, All rights reserved

A world made whole

Watching for the Morning of October 4, 2020

The Commemoration of St. Francis and The Blessing of the Animals

(Special readings are chosen for this celebration.  The appointed texts for this Sunday are those for Proper 22 A / Lectionary 27 A. For these, see also the post on Wicked tenants or Isaiah’s “Song of the Vineyard.”)

The prophet Ezekiel was among those taken to Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar first laid siege to Jerusalem in 597 BCE and the 18-year-old king, who had reigned but three months, surrendered.  Nebuchadnezzar plundered the temple, appointed the king’s uncle to rule as a vassal of Babylon, and took the captured king, members of the royal family, royal guard, leading citizens and skilled workers to Babylon.  There, by the river Chebar, Ezekiel had his visions of the glory of God and received his commission as a prophet.

From afar the prophet followed his homeland’s final descent into folly and destruction.  From afar he spoke God’s warning about the nation’s idolatries and faithlessness.  From afar he heard its dying cries.  And then, amidst the newly arrived exiles, he spoke again describing visions of hope: dry bones come to life and a new temple perfect and pure.

From that new temple flowed a stream that became a mighty river bringing life to the land, resurrecting even the Dead Sea.

Sunday speaks to us of a world made whole and holy.  One this day when we celebrate and give thanks for all the creatures of the earth, we are pointed toward the promise of a world made new.  The prophet speaks of the life-giving river flowing from God’s temple.  The psalmist will sing of God “coming to judge the earth” and all the trees singing for joy.  That God “will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth” means that God will restore faithfulness to God’s world.  Colossians will speak of Christ Jesus as “the image of the invisible God,” and proclaim that “all things have been created through him and for him,” and that “through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things.”  The texts speak God’s vision of a world made whole, a world redeemed, a world saved.

There are haunting visions of the future in the fires, floods, and pestilences that shake our world.  We have cared poorly for God’s garden and these are reapings of what we have sown.  But the beauty of the world lingers.  The goodness of creation yet overwhelms us.  The gift of the natural world made visible to us in the flowers that bloom, the vistas that abide, and the pets that lay their heads in our laps.

The world is wondrous, and God does not give it up freely.  God comes in justice.  God comes in judgment and grace.  God comes to heal and lead and transform.  And so we come on Sunday to a simple line full of richness in Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed.  It will grow and become a tree “so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”  The seed, the promised kingdom that seems now but little, will come to its fulfillment and it will mean shelter for the nations.

We who gather at the Lord’s table are people of this promise, citizens now of the world that is dawning, children of the creation made whole.  We serve its Lord.  We live its values.  We sing its songs.  We speak its blessings.

The Prayer for October 4, 2020

Gracious God,
from whom and for whom all things exist:
In the wonder of the creation
you bear witness to your majesty and grace.
All things proclaim your praise.
Grant us wisdom and courage
to tend with faithfulness all that you have entrusted into our care
and to lift our lives to you in thankfulness and praise.

The Texts for October 4, 2020

First Reading: Ezekiel 47:1-12
“Water was flowing from below the threshold of the temple towards the east.” – The prophet is granted a vision of a new temple and a life-giving river flowing from it’s threshold.

Psalm: Psalm 96:9-13
“Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice” – the psalmist calls all creation to sing with praise of God who comes to reign in faithfulness.

Second Reading: Colossians 1:15-20
“In [Christ] all things in heaven and on earth were created… and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven.” – with rich hymnic language the author proclaims the wonder and glory of Christ.

Gospel: Matthew 13:31-32
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard…when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” – one of Jesus’ parables of the kingdom describing the certainty of God’s reign of grace.

+   +   +

Image: dkbonde

Laborers in the vineyard

Watching for the Morning of September 20, 2020

Year A

The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost:
Proper 20 / Lectionary 25

An edited version of the post from 2017

Sunday we are jumping ahead to chapter 20 of Matthew’s gospel.  We are skipping the Pharisees’ challenge about the legality of divorce and the strange saying about being eunuchs for the kingdom.  We are skipping past the disciples’ harsh words to those who would bring their children to receive a blessing from Jesus – and Jesus’ welcome of those children.  We are skipping past the words of Jesus to the young man seeking the life of the age to come, telling him to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor, and past the disciples’ astonishment that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”   All of which leads us once again to the truth that “many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”  The reign of God is a profound reversal of the way of the world.

And so, Sunday, we come to the story of a landowner hiring day laborers for his vineyard and the remarkable choice to pay a full day’s wage to every worker, even those who worked but one hour.  It is not the act of an accountant; it is the act of a patron taking care of those who depend upon him.  Except these day workers are not his people.  He has no long and established relationship with them.  He is not their patron.

But he chooses to be.

And what shall we do with this portrait of a God who chooses to treat all people as their patron?  What shall we do when our long and historic fidelity to God gains no privilege?  What shall we do with a God who shows faithfulness to those who deserve none?  The landowners’ final words are painful: “Are you envious because I am generous?”  The Greek is literally “Is your eye evil because I am good?”  This is not mere envy; the evil eye is a destructive power, destroying what it cannot possess, tearing at the fabric of the community.

We don’t understand mercy.  We don’t understand the breadth and depth of the compassion of God.  We don’t even truly understand the notion that God is the god of all.  We claim to be monotheists, but we are more likely to think that God is our god and he can be your god too, if you become one of us.  But the truth is there is no ‘us’ and ‘them; we are all ‘them’.  We have no claim on God’s mercy; it is gift given to all.  Rich, abundant, overflowing, fidelity to a world as corrupt and violent, greedy and cruel as ours.  Yes, we are capable of great kindness and generosity – but we are also fully capable of its opposite.  We are not God’s people.  Not really.  We are strangers to the reign of God.  We don’t really understand the language or culture of heaven.  Nevertheless, God comes to us.  Nevertheless, God speaks.  Nevertheless, God shows faithfulness, steadfast love.

So Sunday we will hear once again that “the last will be first, and the first will be last.”  We will listen as Jonah wrestles angrily with God because God chooses to forgive the cruel and barbarous Ninevites.  We will sing with the psalmist in praise of God who is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”  We will listen as Paul exhorts us to live our lives “in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”  And we will once again shift in our seats as Jesus speaks of the just injustice of a landowner who is generous to all, pushing us to see something of the strange and wondrous truth of God.

The Prayer for September 20, 2020

Wondrous God,
whose mercy knows no bounds,
and whose salvation is offered to all:
renew us by your Holy Spirit
that we may walk in the paths of your kindness
and bear your grace to the world;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Texts for September 20, 2020

First Reading: Jonah 3:1 – 4:11 (appointed: 3:10 – 4:11)
“When God saw what [the people of Nineveh] did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.  But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry.” – Jonah sought to avoid his mission to the Assyrian capital for fear God would forgive the city that had destroyed Israel.  Now, when this has happened, God seeks to help Jonah understand God’s compassion for its people.

Psalmody: Psalm 145:3-4, 7-8  (appointed: 145:1-8)
“I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.” – Psalm 145 is an acrostic hymn, each line beginning with a successive letter of the alphabet, in which the poet sings God’s praise “from A to Z.”

Second Reading:  Philippians 1:3-5, 12-13, 20-30  (appointed: 1:21-30)
“For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.” – In prison in Rome, Paul is faced with the possibility of his execution and writes to his beloved congregation in Philippi to encourage them to remain faithful to their Lord, living “in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16
“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.” – As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he tells this story comparing the reign of God with a vineyard owner who chooses to relate to his workers not on the basis of what they deserve, but on the basis of his goodness.

+   +   +

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CodexAureusEpternacensisf76fDetail.jpg
from the Middle Ages, unknown / Public domain

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

© David K Bonde, 2020, All rights reserved