Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, September 12, 2010, the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

Posted each Thursday, Lectionary Ruminations focuses on the Scripture Readings, taken from the New Revised Standard Version, for the following Sunday per the Revised Common Lectionary. Comments and questions are intended to encourage reflection for readers preparing to teach, preach, or hear the Word. Reader comments are invited and encouraged. All lectionary links are to the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible via the PC(USA) Devotions and Readings website, but if you prefer another translation, feel free to use that instead. (Other references are linked to the NRSV via the oremus Bible Browser.)


Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
v. 11 How shall we interpret what appears to be a stock prophetic phrase, “At that time”?

v. 11 Not just any wind, but a “hot” wind.

v. 22 God is sounding like the parent of a teenager. Will we ever outgrow our spiritual adolescence? When?

v. 23 Is this still God speaking, or Jeremiah speaking?

v. 25 This could have served as an introduction to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.

v. 27 What is the difference between the scene as described and a “full end”?

Psalm 14:1-7
v. 1 The general, generic “God”

v.2 The specific, relational “LORD”.

v. 3 Hyperbole? Or honest judgment?

v. 5 If no one does good (v. 3), then who is in the company of the righteous?

v.7 “When” suggests a reversal.

1 Timothy 1:12-17
v. 15 A classic call to confession.

v. 17 Ascription of praise

How do we teach/preach such a personal, autobiographical passage?

Luke 15:1-10
vs. 1-2 Are the tax collectors and sinners being juxtaposed with Pharisees and scribes?

v.3 This is not the first time in Luke that Jesus responds to questions about his behavior with a parable.

v.5 Is this the verse that inspired that “Jesus with a sheep on his shoulders” illustration I remember from childhood?

v. 7 Did Jesus just say that the Pharisees and scribes are righteous?

v. 8. Even though one coin has been lost, all the coins are of equal value, but there is no need to search for the coins that were not lost because we already know where they are.