Musings on the Lectionary Readings for Proper 10 - Ordinary 15 Sunday (paired to the Gospel) July 13, 2003 by Philip W. Gilman1 |
Amos 7: 7--15
To Amos himself Amaziah said, >Go away,
seer, take yourself off to Judah, earn your living there, and there you can
prophesy! But never again will you
prophesy at Bethel, for this is a royal sanctuary, a national temple.= (12-13) And they would not accept him. But Jesus said to them, >A prophet is
despised only in his own country and in his own house= (Mat. 13: 57).
"As it was in the beginning,"
Now the earth was a formless void,
there was darkness over the deep, with a divine wind sweeping over the waters. (Gen. 1: 2)
"is now, and ever shall be,"
What was, will be again, what has
been done, will be done again, and there is nothing new under the sun! (Eccl. 1: 9)
strife "without end. Amen. Amen."[1]
Of course, it is not like
that in your Church, is it? No turmoil,
factious rancor, discord, spite, rejection.
Nothing but >Peace! Peace!= (Jer. 6: 14) Truly, there is a divine wind sweeping over the
waters, raising up great waves that come crashing down
upon themselves, spewing up foam and spray, then subside and flatten out
beneath the next. But the divine wind
is not in the water.
·
But
Yahweh took me as I followed the flock, and Yahweh said to me, AGo and prophesy
to my people Israel.@ So now listen to what Yahweh
says
(15-16a).
But
they are a stubborn people, as God remarked last week, and will not
listen. Even so, AGo and prophesy to my people@, the Church.
Many will hear. Some will
listen.
Psalm 85: 8--13
Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for [YHWH] will speak peace to [the LORD's] people, to [the] faithful, to those who turn to [God] in their
hearts. Surely [YHWH's] salvation is at
hand for those who fear [the LORD], that [God's] glory may dwell in
our land. (8-9, NRSV)[2]
Eph. 1: 3--14
Blessed be God the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of
heaven in Christ. Thus [God] chose us
in Christ... to be holy and faultless before him in love, marking us out... to
be adopted [children], through Jesus Christ. (3..5a)
·
[T]o
the praise of the glory of [God's] grace, [the] free gift to us [is] the
Beloved, in whom, through [Jesus'] blood, we gain our freedom, the
forgiveness of our sins. (6-7)
And it is in [Christ] that we have
received our heritage, marked out beforehand as we were, under the plan of the
One who guides all things... by [God's] own will (11).
Now you too, in [Christ], have heard
the message of the truth and the gospel of your salvation, and having put your
trust in it you have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the
Promise (13).
It matters nothing at all
which human being put these words on paper; they are the Word of God, and they
are true. It matters nothing at all
which human being reads these printed words; they are the Word of God, and they
are true. That which does matter is
this, and this alone: you too, in [Christ], have heard
the message of the truth and the gospel of your salvation, and [have] put your
trust in it. What
matters is that you believe in Jesus. Then they said to
him, >What must we do if we are to carry out God=s work?= Jesus gave them this answer, >This is
carrying out God=s work: you must believe in the one he has sent.= (Jn. 6: 28-29)
It matters nothing at all
what the agnostic and heretic leaders of the Church Fundamental may proclaim,
even though they quote the Scripture to their purpose (following their
paradigm). It is not they who determine
whom the sovereign Lord God Almighty shall redeem in Christ. Rather, they speak as did Amaziah,
for they are priest[s]
of Bethel[3] (Amos 7: 10),
not of God the LORD.
Let me hear what God the LORD will speak, for [YHWH] will speak peace to [the LORD's] people, to [the] faithful, to those who turn to [God] in their
hearts.
·
God, being rich in faithful love, through the great love with which he
loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, brought us to life with Christ--
it is through grace that you have been saved-- and raised us up with [Christ] (Eph. 2: 4-6a).
Mark 6: 14--29
So, good friend, in Whom
do you believe and put your trust? With
whom, in this story, do you most closely associate yourself? Herod the king? Herodias, his stolen wife?
Salome, her daughter? The bodyguard? Or have you been told-- or made-- to cease
to prophesy?
Surely [YHWH's] salvation is at hand
for those who fear [the LORD], that [God's] glory may dwell in
our land.
[1] Gloria Patri.
[2] Several versions end v.8 with
"folly". The Heb. is H3690, kiclah,
fem. of H3689; in a good sense,
trust; in a bad one,
silliness:[KJV]--confidence, folly. (Strong's Concordance Dictionary)
[3] "House of God", the Church.
(comments to Phil at ENAPXH@juno.com )