The festival season has come to an end and we enter ordinary time. Call it Sundays in Trinity or Pentecost given the early arrival of Easter this year we get a longer than usual such season and we will be getting around to lessons normally bypassed.
The Gospel reading begins by setting the scene, "He went to Capernaum". What is seen as remarkable in this story is the fact that this foreign instrument of Roman Opression showed more faith than the followers among Jesus own people. We see that faith can appear in the most unusual places, that God can use even our enemies to do good things, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." Luke 6:27
The OT Lesson from Kings re-enforces the theme that God's faithfulness to his people Israel is a message that penetrates to far-flung places. We are to welcome these strangers and our keeping of the covenant is to be a witness to all that God has meaning in our lives. God's Holy Temple is both a testament to God's importance in our lives and a symbol of God's presence with us. God is present with us, we have a duty to live in a way that witnesses to that presence. We have here but a snippet of the complete lesson.
Psa 96:2 Sing to the LORD, and praise him! Proclaim every day the good news that he has saved us.
Psa 96:3 Proclaim his glory to the nations, his mighty deeds to all peoples.
(Psa 96:9) Bow down before the Holy One when he appears; tremble before him, all the earth!
Verse 9 is from the Good News Bible. An interesting interpretation as contrasted with the following from RV:
(Psa 96:9) O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: tremble before him, all the earth.
I would ask, just how does God appear? Is God's presence made known by the witness of his followers? How great then is our responsibility to make His presence known through the way we live our lives. The wonders of God's creation bear witness to his presence. God created the world and every living thing in it and continues to support and sustain it, to make all things new.His act of creation continues to this very day.
In the Epistle Paul is writing to the Galatians in response to an attack made upon him. It would seem obvious that Paul's past as Saul the prosecutor of Christians has caught up with him and the legitimacy of his message is being challenged. In particular a new message was being spread that to be a Christian one must first be circumcised. Paul protests his calling as a witness to Christ. Paul's message is not one of exclusivity but one of inclusiveness. God's grace is for all people, Jew or Gentile, slave or free. Implicit in the Epistles of Paul is the message that if Christ can use even me to spread his message then this message must be for all peoples.
The unifying theme then? The message of God's Grace is for all people. God's people have a responsibility to live lives that reflect that this grace is active in our lives. We should not be surprised when belief in this grace shows up in unexpected places and be prepared to welcome the foreigner into our midst.
The Gospel reading begins by setting the scene, "He went to Capernaum". What is seen as remarkable in this story is the fact that this foreign instrument of Roman Opression showed more faith than the followers among Jesus own people. We see that faith can appear in the most unusual places, that God can use even our enemies to do good things, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you." Luke 6:27
The OT Lesson from Kings re-enforces the theme that God's faithfulness to his people Israel is a message that penetrates to far-flung places. We are to welcome these strangers and our keeping of the covenant is to be a witness to all that God has meaning in our lives. God's Holy Temple is both a testament to God's importance in our lives and a symbol of God's presence with us. God is present with us, we have a duty to live in a way that witnesses to that presence. We have here but a snippet of the complete lesson.
Psa 96:2 Sing to the LORD, and praise him! Proclaim every day the good news that he has saved us.
Psa 96:3 Proclaim his glory to the nations, his mighty deeds to all peoples.
(Psa 96:9) Bow down before the Holy One when he appears; tremble before him, all the earth!
Verse 9 is from the Good News Bible. An interesting interpretation as contrasted with the following from RV:
(Psa 96:9) O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: tremble before him, all the earth.
I would ask, just how does God appear? Is God's presence made known by the witness of his followers? How great then is our responsibility to make His presence known through the way we live our lives. The wonders of God's creation bear witness to his presence. God created the world and every living thing in it and continues to support and sustain it, to make all things new.His act of creation continues to this very day.
In the Epistle Paul is writing to the Galatians in response to an attack made upon him. It would seem obvious that Paul's past as Saul the prosecutor of Christians has caught up with him and the legitimacy of his message is being challenged. In particular a new message was being spread that to be a Christian one must first be circumcised. Paul protests his calling as a witness to Christ. Paul's message is not one of exclusivity but one of inclusiveness. God's grace is for all people, Jew or Gentile, slave or free. Implicit in the Epistles of Paul is the message that if Christ can use even me to spread his message then this message must be for all peoples.
The unifying theme then? The message of God's Grace is for all people. God's people have a responsibility to live lives that reflect that this grace is active in our lives. We should not be surprised when belief in this grace shows up in unexpected places and be prepared to welcome the foreigner into our midst.
No comments:
Post a Comment