|
July 16, 2006
Proper 10 - B
Book of Common Prayer Lectionary
Amos 7:7-15
Psalm 85:8-13
Ephesians 1:1-14
Mark 6:7-13
Revised Common Lectionary
Amos 7:7-15
Psalm 85:8-13
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29
Reflection and Response
Prayer Starter
Today's readings invite us to reflect on our participation in Christ's mission and ministry today. In the first reading, Amos defends his prophetic calling in the face of opposition from Israel's rulers. The psalmist proclaims God's faithfulness to God's people. God has chosen us from the beginning to share in the redemptive work of Christ. Jesus instructs and sends out twelve disciples to share in his ministry.
First Reading: Amos 7:7-15
Amos is the first of the prophets whose words have come down to us in a separate book. Although he was from Judah his mission was to the northern kingdom of Israel about the years 760-750 B.C. when, under Jeroboam II, the kingdom was at the height of its prosperity. Its wealth and power rested, however, upon injustice.
Today's reading follows the third of five visions (7:1-9:6) of the Lord's judgment upon the people. In response to the first and second visions, Amos had interceded for the people and God had relented, but now the condition of the nation is made so evident Amos cannot plead for them. By the Lord's measure, they are irrevocably warped (2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 34:11).
Today's selection describes what happens when Amos incurs the anger of Amaziah, the representative of civil religion, for attacking the king, and he is told to ply his trade elsewhere. Amos answers that he is not a 'professional' prophet. He does not make his living at it (1 Samuel 9:6-10), nor is he a member of the guild of prophets (2 Kings 2:3; 1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Kings 22:6). He is merely a shepherd and a dresser of sycamore trees. This seasonal occupation meant puncturing the fig-like fruit, food only for the poor, so that it would grow large enough to eat. Rather, Amos has been constrained by the Lord to speak God's word. (3:8b).
Amos 7:7-15
This is what the LORD God showed me:
the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line,
with a plumb line in his hand.
And the LORD said to me,
"Amos, what do you see?"
And I said, "A plumb line."
Then the Lord said,
"See, I am setting a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will never again pass them by;
the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,
and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste,
and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword."
Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel,
sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying,
"Amos has conspired against you
in the very center of the house of Israel;
the land is not able to bear all his words.
For thus Amos has said,
'Jeroboam shall die by the sword,
and Israel must go into exile away from his land.' "
And Amaziah said to Amos,
"O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah,
earn your bread there, and prophesy there;
but never again prophesy at Bethel,
for it is the king's sanctuary,
and it is a temple of the kingdom."
Then Amos answered Amaziah,
"I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son;
but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees,
and the LORD took me from following the flock,
and the LORD said to me,
'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'"
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 85:8-13
This national lament gives thanks for the exiles' restoration and recounts the people's affliction and need for God's continued help (vv. 4-6). The Lord's answer comes (vv. 8-13), perhaps as an oracle uttered by a prophet or priest. Verses 10-11 beautifully reassure the people of God's gracious care. These four qualities-steadfast love, faithfulness, righteousness, and peace-spring from God and are the genuine foundation for relationships among God's people.
Psalm 85:8-13
Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people,
to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.
Surely his salvation is at hand
for those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
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.
The LORD will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before him,
and will make a path for his steps.
Second Reading: Ephesians 1:1-14
This letter was probably first circulated as an encyclical letter to a number of churches, for there is no mention of Ephesus in the many early manuscripts or in quotations from the early fathers. There are no personal greetings, and the letter seems to presuppose that the recipients do not know Paul personally (1:15, 3:2-9). The letter may possibly have been a baptismal homily for new converts.
Chapter 1 centers on the privileges of the believer's new life in Christ. After the initial greeting, the usual Pauline thanksgiving (which comes in 1:15-23) is displaced by a blessing in the form of a hymn. In Greek, verses 3-14 are one long sentence, linked by relative clauses and prepositional phrases.
The hymn is trinitarian in emphasis, framed by the repeated phrase "the praise of his glorious grace" (1:6, the Father; 1:12, the Son; 1:14, the Holy Spirit), and centered about the revelation of God in Christ. Just as Christ's mission of redemption was not a belated stop-gap measure on God's part but rather part of God's will for all time, so likewise the believer has been chosen to participate in that mission since "before the foundation of the world" (v. 4).
"The mystery of his will" (v. 9) is not an incomprehensible secret, but God's age-long purpose now revealed in Christ. God's aim is the unity of all things, heavenly and earthly, in Christ. The ultimate cosmic re-unification is to be shown forth on earth by the unity in the Church of Jew and Gentile (3:4-6). The individual believer appropriates a role in the Church through baptism, the sealing with the Holy Spirit, as the down payment on his new life (2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5; Romans 8:23).
Ephesians 1:1-14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus
and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
just as he chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world
to be holy and blameless before him in love.
He destined us for adoption as his children
through Jesus Christ,
according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of his glorious grace
hat he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
In him we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of his grace
that he lavished on us.
With all wisdom and insight
he has made known to us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure
that he set forth in Christ,
as a plan for the fullness of time,
to gather up all things in him,
things in heaven and things on earth.
In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,
having been destined according to the purpose
of him who accomplishes all things
according to his counsel and will,
so that we,
who were the first to set our hope on Christ,
might live for the praise of his glory.
In him you also,
when you had heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation,
and had believed in him,
were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
this is the pledge of our inheritance
toward redemption as God's own people,
to the praise of his glory.
Gospel: Mark 6:7-13 (BCP)
The commissioning and instruction of the Twelve is paralleled by Matthew (Mt. 10:1, 9-14) and Luke (Luke 9:1-5); each account is adapted in a way reflecting the evangelist's particular emphasis. Mark uses the account of the commission of the Twelve to bracket the story of John the Baptist's death. The disciples, so often negatively portrayed by Mark, here are shown as participating in Jesus' own mission as set forth in 1:14-15, 32-39. The warnings about what should be taken indicate the urgency and sacred nature of their work. Jesus "began to send them out" (Greek, apostellein) as heralds, in word and deed, of the coming kingdom. In Mark, the disciples are allowed staff and sandals (Mt. 10:10); perhaps he has modified the list for the more arduous non-Palestinian terrain familiar to his audience.
Verses 10-11 reflect the importance of hospitality in the mission of the early Church, for which Jesus' words set the standard. Pious Jews, when returning to the Holy Land, shook off alien dust before entering, lest they defile the land; thus the 'shaking off of dust' symbolically marks a place as heathen, not part of the true Israel. It is acted out, not as a curse against, but as a solemn warning for, those who reject the disciples. The "apostles" report on their mission in 6:30. As Jesus' rejection in Nazareth (6:1-6) foreshadows the final repudiation in Jerusalem, so the sending forth of the disciples points toward the mission of the Church.
Mark 6:7-13
Jesus called the twelve
and began to send them out two by two,
and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff;
no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;
but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.
He said to them,
"Wherever you enter a house,
stay there until you leave the place.
If any place will not welcome you
and they refuse to hear you,
as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet
as a testimony against them."
So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.
They cast out many demons,
and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
Gospel: Mark 6:14-29 (RCL)
In this section of the gospel, Mark uses one of his familiar "sandwich" constructions to highlight the meaning of the mission of the disciples. In between their sending (vv. 7-13) and their return (v. 30), instead of narrating the details of their mission Mark recounts the death of John the Baptist. His message is clear: there is no privileged form of discipleship. Sharing in Jesus' mission will always cost.
In Mark's gospel, the fate of John the Baptist and Jesus are closely linked. When John is arrested (Greek, handed over), Jesus then began his ministry (1:14). Now in the ministry section, the fate of John serves as a warning about the hardships that disciples will also face after Jesus' death. John's death also foreshadows the difficulties that Jesus must face in carrying out his mission. He will soon have to reveal to the disciples that his death must be an essential part of his messianic role (8:31, 9:31, 10:45).
Later in the gospel, John will once again be mentioned when Jesus arrives at Jerusalem and engages in his final controversies with the Jewish authorities before his death (11:27-33). The authorities' inability to answer about the meaning of John and his authority leaves them also unable to decide about Jesus.
Mark 6:14-29
King Herod heard of the disciples' preaching,
for Jesus' name had become known.
Some were saying,
"John the baptizer has been raised from the dead;
and for this reason these powers are at work in him."
But others said, "It is Elijah."
And others said, "It is a prophet,
like one of the prophets of old."
But when Herod heard of it, he said,
"John, whom I beheaded, has been raised."
For Herod himself had sent men
who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison
on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,
because Herod had married her.
For John had been telling Herod,
"It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."
And Herodias had a grudge against him,
and wanted to kill him.
But she could not, for Herod feared John,
knowing that he was a righteous and holy man,
and he protected him.
When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed;
and yet he liked to listen to him.
But an opportunity came
when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet
for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee.
When his daughter Herodias came in and danced,
she pleased Herod and his guests;
and the king said to the girl,
"Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it."
And he solemnly swore to her,
"Whatever you ask me, I will give you,
even half of my kingdom."
She went out and said to her mother,
"What should I ask for?"
She replied, "The head of John the baptizer."
Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested,
"I want you to give me at once
the head of John the Baptist on a platter."
The king was deeply grieved;
yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests,
he did not want to refuse her.
Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard
with orders to bring John's head.
He went and beheaded him in the prison,
brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl.
Then the girl gave it to her mother.
When his disciples heard about it,
they came and took his body,
and laid it in a tomb.
Reflection and Response
We might expect a drum roll, or at least a lightning flash, when God chooses human beings to participate in God's work. Yet in today's readings we see a more human, humble face of the choice described so beautifully to the Ephesians. "[God] chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love."
Amos is an example of the Lord's stamp of destiny on responsive people, whom God may call from any modest quarter, fill with the Holy Spirit, and commission to speak God's word. Amos had no credentials as a prophet, and sounds rather bewildered that he was called away from his sheep and sycamores. Nevertheless, he had no doubt that he had been divinely called to speak God's word.
Like the people in Nazareth who turned a deaf ear to Jesus, so Amos's listeners rejected his unpopular message. In less than fifty years, however, his prediction came true.
When Jesus sent out twelve disciples, they were ill-equipped by our standards-no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, no extra clothes. Only sandals on their feet-to carry them to the receptive and away from the unreceptive; and a staff-a support for walking and perhaps a symbol of the shepherd's profession. Neither were they prepared for their mission by understanding fully what it was all about. Jesus sent them out with a message that had made him offensive even to his own family. Yet something about him must have impelled them to go forth with the same message.
How then do we follow their model? Perhaps they show us that we needn't have our own houses perfectly in order before we minister to others. Nor do we need to spruce up our credentials: apparently none of the disciples took theology courses in the seminary. Jesus calls them in their ordinary clothes, pursuing their usual routines. To do his work, it seems more important to have a companion than a new wardrobe.
Their willingness enables them to drive out demons and cure the sick. They discover powers they didn't know they had. And people knew there had been followers of Jesus among them. These disciples had been chosen for an astonishing destiny.
Quietly consider: To what have I been called by Christ? How will I respond?
Prayer Starter
God who empowers me to proclaim the kingdom, be with me so that...
|
