Lectionary Ruminations for Sunday, September 23, 2012, the Twenty-Fifth 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 - Proverbs 31:10-31

v. 10-31 Is this an example of a sexist Lectionary, not necessarily because the reading itself is sexist, but because there is no “capable husband” text to balance it?   If Jesus had a wife, would she have been the sort of wife described in this Reading?

v. 10 On the other hand, comparing a woman to a physical item could be seen as sexist, suggesting that a capable wife is a possession, mere “arm candy”, like a “trophy wife”.

v. 18 Is there a double meaning here?

v. 26 At least this verse does not seem sexist.

v. 28 How would a wife who is childless, perhaps not by choice, hear this verse?

Psalm - Psalm 1

v. 1 Where do scoffers sit?

v. 2 What does it mean to meditate on God’s law?

v. 3 To borrow a phrase going around facebook, following the law of the LORD bears fruits, not nuts.

v. 4 What process is being alluded to here?

v. 6 Is thee a difference between the LORD watching over the way of the righteous and watching over the righteous?  Note that it is not the wicked who perish but the way of the wicked.

Second Reading - James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

v. 13 Socrates, Plato and Aristotle might agree.

v. 14 what is the relation between wisdom and truth?

v. 15 There seems to be at least two types of wisdom, earthly and spiritual.

v. 18 In or out of context, this is one of my favorite verses and one we should all keep in mind.  Why does the United States have a Defense Department (formerly the Ward Department) but has never had a Peace Department.  We have Military Academies but no nationally funded Peace Academy.

v. 1 Is this a naïve understanding of conflict?  How much of our conflict is based on psychological projection?

v. 2 I can not disagree.

v. 3 This is sounding like an indictment of the consumerist economy and marketing that appeals to selfish emotions.  How would this verse play out on Mad Men?

v. 7 I can do without devil language.

v. 8 This makes sense to me and based on personal experience seems somewhat true.

Gospel - Mark 9:30-37

v. 30 Who are “they” and where was “there”?  Why did he not want anyone to know it?

v. 31 Do you think that when Jesus teaches his disciples he is teaching the church, and that when he speaks to the crowd, he is speaking to the wider culture?  Why is Jesus portrayed as using “Son of Man” imagery and no other imagery?

v. 32 How often to people in the pews or in the classroom not understand the preacher/teacher but are afraid to ask a question?

v. 32 What do you know about Capernaum?  Whose house might he have been in?  Disciple’s arguing?

v. 34 Is Jesus not the greatest?  Oh, right, he is the least!

v. 35 Why did Jesus sit them down?

v. 36 Where did the little child come from?

v. 37 So welcoming a little child and holding him or her in my arms is akin to welcoming Jesus and thus God?  I can live with that.

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.