Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, October 28, 2012, the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

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 may be linked to the NRSV via the oremus Bible Browser.)  Lectionary Ruminations is also cross-posted on my personal blog, Summit to Shore. 

First Reading - Job42:1-6, 10-17

42:1 What would you answer The LORD.

42:2 The classic question: Can God make a rock so heavy that God cannot lift it?

42:3 Is Job eating humble pie?

42:4 Is Job planning to cross examine God?

42:5 What is the difference between hearing with the ear and seeing with the eye?  Hearing is a classic Semitic posture.  Seeing is a classic Greek posture.

42:6 Despicable me?

42:10 What is the moral of this story?  What lesson has been learned and is being taught?

42:11 The LORD had brought evil upon Job?

42:12-13 Are these numbers symbolically significant?

42:14 What do these names mean?

42:15 Did daughters usually receive an inheritance?

42:16 is 140 symbolically significant?  Should it be taken literally?

Psalm - Psalm 34:1-8 (19-22)

34:1 Is this a promise, a vow, or an expressed intention and desire?

34:2 How does one’s soul make its boast in the LORD?

34:3 How does one magnify the LORD?  Is this a mini Magnificat?  How does one exalt the LORD’s name when the LORD’s name is unpronounceable?

34:4 How does the LORD answer us today?

34:7 Who is the angel of the LORD?

34:8 How does one taste that the LORD is good?

34:19 If the LORD rescues the righteous, why are the righteous afflicted?

34:21-22 This Psalm seems to suggest that evil is still a force to be reckoned with but that the wicked will succumb to it while God will redeem the righteous from it.

34:1-8, 19-22 It seems obvious why the lectionary pairs this Psalm with the Reading from Job, but does the pairing invite us to read this Psalm with blinders on?

Second Reading - Hebrews 7:23-28

7:23 What came before the “furthermore”? Who were the former priests?

7:25 Is there a change in emphasis from Christ as sacrifice to Christ as intercessor?

7:26 How is it fitting?

7:27 In light of 7:25, it sees we are back to understanding Christ as sacrifice rather than intercessor?

7:28 What is “the word of the oath”?

 Gospel - Mark10:46-52

10:46 Who came to Jericho?  Is there anything about Jericho that makes it more than just a setting for this story? “Bartimaeus  son of Timaeus” seems redundant.

10:47 What do you know about the The Philokalia, Hesychasm, and The Jesus Prayer?

10:48 who were the many and why did they order him to be quiet?

10:49 Why did Jesus have Bartimaeus brought to him rather than going to Bartimaeus?

10:50 Is there any symbolism in his throwing off his cloak?

10:51 Did Jesus really need to ask this question?  What is the significance of Bartimaeus calling Jesus “My teacher”?

10:52 What faith?  How did it make him well? What does “followed him on the way” mean?

ADDENDUM

In addition to serving as the half time Pastor of North Church Queens and writing Lectionary Ruminations, I also tutor part time.  If you or someone you know needs a tutor, or if you would like to be a tutor, check out my WyzAnt page and follow the appropriate links.

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, October 21, 2012, the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

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 may be linked to the NRSV via the oremus Bible Browser.)  Lectionary Ruminations is also cross-posted on my personal blog, Summit to Shore.

First Reading - Job 38:1-7 (34-41)

38:1 What was the LORD doing in a whirlwind?

38:2 What examples are there today of words without knowledge?  What is the difference between a word with and without knowledge?

38:3 Whose masculinity was in question?  Is this going to be a trial or an interrogation?

38:4 And the answer is?

38:5-7 How would you classify these questions?

38:34-41 Who asks these kind of questions anymore?

 Psalm - Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c

104:1-9 Can you find all four classical elements—earth, air, water, and fire—in this reading? 

104:1-4 How can an urbanized and industrialized Christianity still find any meaning in this psalm?

104:24 There are fewer species on the earth than there once were.

104:35 Perhaps the earth, Gaia, will consume the sinners threatening death to the planet God has entrusted to our care.  Will any humans survive?

 Second Reading - Hebrews 5:1-10

5:1 Who are our high priests today? In what ways are you like a high priest?

5:2 Who are the ignorant and wayward of our day?

5:4 I think anyone who desires to be a priest (of any faith tradition) without a little fear and trepidation about actually serving as one is headed for trouble.

5:5 Who said this to Christ, and when and where?

5:6 and where might this other place be?  Who was Melchizedek?  This has got to be one of the most bizarre, mysterious verses of Scripture.

5:7 what is the difference between a prayer and a supplication?

5:9 How was Jesus made perfect?  Was he not perfect before being made perfect?  What is the meaning of perfection?

5:10 In addition to Melchizedek and Jesus, who else might have been or is a high priest according to the order of Melchizdek?

 Gospel - Mark 10:35-45

10:35 could anyone else other than these two have asked this question?

10:36 Did the Teacher no know their hearts and minds?

10:37 Had their Teacher granted their request, would the brothers have been content with where Jesus sat them?

10:37 What cup?  John’s baptism?

10:40 For whom do you think it has been prepared?

10:42 To whom was Jesus referring?

10:43-44 The classic reversal.

10:45 Assuming Jesus s talking about himself, why did he always refer to himself as the Son of Man?  Does this verse rule out any but a ransom theory of the Atonement?

ADDENDUM

In addition to serving as the half time Pastor of North ChurchQueens and writing Lectionary Ruminations, I also tutor part time.  If you or someone you know needs a tutor, or if you would like to be a tutor, check out my WyzAnt page and follow the appropriate links.

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, October 14, 2012, the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

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 may be linked to the NRSV via the oremus Bible Browser.)  Lectionary Ruminations is also cross-posted on my personal blog, Summit to Shore. 

Job 23:1-9, 16-17

23:1 Whom is Job answering?

23:2 What is Job’s complaint?  What is a “bitter” complaint?  Whose hand is heavy?

23:3 Whom does Job not know where to find?

23:4 Job is sounding like a trial attorney.

23:6 Why does Job think he would not be contended with?

23:8 Has Job really gone in all directions?  Like the Khan character in The Wrath of Khan, Job is a two dimensional thinker.  In a Copernican universe, three dimensions might be enough, but in a post-Einstein universe, we must posit at least four dimensions.  Where do we look for God in a four or more dimensional world?

23:9 Is Job’s terror anything like Rudolph Otto’s Mysterium Tremendum?

23:16 Does Job’s “if only” indicate the futility of trying to hide from God?

Psalm 22:1-15

22:1 Where have we heard this before, every one to three years?

22:2 How many times have you felt this way?

22:3 I think this “yet” is a one word statement of faith.

22:6 But I am not like my ancestors?

22:9 God takes us from the womb?

22:10 This reads as if life begins at birth, not conception.

22:12 What is a bull of Bashan?

22:14 Mixed metaphors/images?

22: 15 Give this Psalmist a drink of cool, refreshing water of life.

Hebrews 4:12-16

4:12 How can a word, any word, be living and active?  What does it mean to separate soul from spirit?

4:13 Were Adam and Eve still naked even after they attempted to cover themselves?

4:14 What is a high priest?  What is a great high priest? Why the plural “heavens”?  How many heavens are there? What confession?

4:15 Are there high priests who are unable to sympathize with our weaknesses?  Is there a difference between being tested and being tempted?

4:16 In the context of this verse, how do you define “boldness”?

Mark 10:17-31

10:17 Who was setting out, where was he setting out from, and where was he heading to? Is there any significance to the many using the word “inherit”?  What words, other than “inherit”, do we usually hear associated with “eternal life”?

10:18 What has the Church and Christian community not learned from this verse?

10:19 Why does Jesus refer only to the second tablet of the law rather than both tablets?

10:20 This man is a saint!

10:21 The conundrum: give away your riches and you will have what you lack.

10:22 Was he grieving because he gave up eternal life for riches, or because he gave up riches for eternal life?

10:23 Do you hear this, 1%?

10:24 The kingdom of heaven must be like flying with all one’s possessions in a carry on.

10:25 It is easier to drive a car through the Queens Blvd. overpass on the Jackie Robinson Pkwy than it is for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

10:26  Is the answer not obvious?  The poor can be saved.

10:27 So even God can enable a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God?

10:28  Peter, also known as “open mouth, insert foot”.

10:29 What relative is not mentioned?

10:30 I can do without the persecution part.

10:31 The classical Christian inversion.

ADDENDUM

In addition to serving as the half time Pastor of North Church Queens and writing Lectionary Ruminations, I also tutor part time.  If you or someone you know needs a tutor, or if you would like to be a tutor, check out my WyzAnt  page and follow the appropriate links.

Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, October 7, 2012, the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

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 may be linked to the NRSV via the oremus Bible Browser.)  Lectionary Ruminations is also cross-posted on my personal blog, Summit to Shore. 

Job 1:1, 2:1-10

1:1 Is this similar to “once upon a time”?  What do you know about the land of Uz?  What does it mean that he “feared God”?

2:1 How many heavenly beings are there?  What is the meaning of the name “Satan”?

2:2 Would not an omniscient God not have to ask this question?  Do I hear an echo of Genesis chapter 3 verse 9?  Did Satan prefer the earth to heaven?

2:3 Why did the LORD bring up the topic of Job?  Since Satan had just been on the earth, is this a put down of Satan, God saying to Satan “Job is better than you”?\

2:4 What is the meaning of “skin for skin”?

2:5 What does it mean to  touch bone and flesh?

2:6 Is this going to be a test of Job’s integrity or Satan’s power?  Is God testing, even tempting, Satan?

2:7 Is there a double meaning at work here?

2:8 Some days, we anyone of us may feel like Job.

2:9 Why do Republicans not accuse Job’s wife of constituting the first death panel?

2:10 Job is, above all, a man of clear logic.  Job may not have sinned with his lips, but what about with his heart or mind?

Psalm 26:1-12

26:1 Yep, this sounds like something Job would have said.

26:2 What about lead me not into temptation?

26:4 If I did this, how could I stay in the church?

26:6 This Psalmist is beginning to sound self-righteous.

26:7 What are God’s wondrous deeds?

26:8 Can we truly say this when God is omnipresent?  This seems to reflect worship of a domesticated God confined to the Temple rather than a wild and primitive wandering God sometimes abiding in a tent, a cloud, and a column of fire.

26:11 Is the Psalmist pleading his case before God’s bench?

26:12 What is “the great congregation”.

Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12

1:1 “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...."   Sorry, wrong story.  What were the many and various ways God spoke by the prophets?

1:2 What does the author mean by “last days”?  Why the plural “worlds”?

1:3 What is the difference between a reflection and an imprint?  What is his powerful word?  Does “purification for sins” presume any particular understanding of the atonement?

1:4 What name did he inherit and from whom did he inherit it?

2:5 What is the coming world?

2:6 What is the source of this saying?

2:9 Is death suffering, of did Jesus suffer in a way that no human has suffered and died?

2:10 Who are God’s many children?  What is perfection?

2:12 Where in the Gospels does Jesus say this?

Mark 10:2-16

10:2 How many Pharisees, two, twenty, two hundred?  Were the Pharisees seeking to “test” Jesus as God tested Job and the Psalmist?  What could Jesus know about a man having a wife?

10:3 What did Moses, or what did God command you?

10:4 So much for family values.

10:5-9 This seems to answer a question about divorce, or rather the afterlife, not marriage, let alone same sex marriage.  Speaking of same sex marriage, check out this Stand For Love link: http://www.mlp.org/2012/10/03/stand-for-love/

10:10 In whose house?  Where the disciples also seeking to test Jesus?

10:11-13 How have Biblical literalists arguing against same sex marriage seem to ignore the fact that Jesus said nothing about same sex marriage but said this about heterosexual marriage and divorce?

10:13 Ouch.  This sounds ugly in light of recent sexual abuse of young boys by priests and football coaches.  I would prefer “laying on of hands”  rather than “touch”.

10:14 How can the kingdom og God belong to little children.  Can we grow to big or too old for God’s kingdom?

10:15 I think a whole sermon could be preached based on this single verse.

10:16 Who do we bless and how do we bless them?

ADDENDUM

In addition to serving as the half time Pastor of North Church Queens and writing Lectionary Ruminations, I also tutor part time.  If you or someone you know needs a tutor, or if you would like to be a tutor, check out my WyzAnt page and follow the appropriate links.