Epiphany 9
Devotional
Streams of Living Water
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle B
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.
-- Deuteronomy 5:12
It is interesting to note that the sabbath commandment requires more explanation than any of the other commandments and that it is the only one to receive different explanations in the giving of the commandment in Exodus 20 and here in Deuteronomy 5. In Exodus, the reason for the commandment is based on the creation story. This suggests that the reason for the commandment is that this rhythm of life was built into the very structure of the universe. Living creatures, including livestock, were not meant to work continuously but by their very nature require a rhythm of rest and work. In the Deuteronomy passage, the reason given for the sabbath is based on God's act of freeing them from slavery in Egypt. Here it may be interpreted that the sabbath was meant to enable people to preserve their freedom. God commands us to step back from incessant productivity in order to reflect on who we are and to pay attention to our relationships with God and each other. Failure to do that will result in our becoming slaves and losing our full humanity. The sabbath commandment deserves further reflection in light of the pressures of our current society. It may again be the gift of God that protects our humanity and freedom.
Psalm 81:1-10
Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
-- Psalm 81:1
Psalm 81 is a call to praise by the entire worshiping community. The people are called to shout (v. 1), the Levites to use their instruments (v. 2), and the priests to blow the shofar to begin the celebration (v. 3). Such worship constitutes the identity of Israel (v. 4) from the time that God revealed himself to Joseph's ancestors who were slaves in Egypt (v. 5a). God had not been revealed as a "saving" God until he began to rescue the Hebrews through the plagues in Egypt (v. 5b). God lifted the burden of oppression (v. 6) in response to their cry for help (v. 7a), even though they doubted God's ability to save when they were thirsty in the wilderness (v. 7b). Worship is Israel's opportunity to listen to the God who has claimed them (v. 8). It is in worship that they (we) are confronted with the tendency to bow down to other gods (v. 9) and forget that our existence depends on none other but God (v. 10).
Worship becomes the context in which we reaffirm our central identity. It is when we reaffirm our allegiance to God who has called us forth as a people (vv. 1-4). We do that in worship by remembering how God has revealed God's self to us by responding to our cry for help in the past (vv. 5-7a). We also remember how God stayed with us even when we resisted God (v. 7b). It is in worship that we hear God appealing to us afresh (v. 8) and reminding us of the misplaced priorities that have become gods for us (v. 9). In remembering how God has been faithful in the past, we are encouraged to again trust him for our future (v. 10). Without regular worship, which re-members us with God and each other, we quickly forget and succumb to a world that resists God.
2 Corinthians 4:5-12
But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.
-- 2 Corinthians 4:7
It is easy to become discouraged by the frailty of the church and its failure to exemplify the very gospel that it proclaims. It is important to recognize that this is not a recent issue but one that has been part of the faith community from the beginning. From Abraham to the disciples and the early church, there is ample evidence of the failure of the community of faith to live out their faith. Paul is fully aware of that and describes many of the weaknesses in his letters to the Corinthians. Has God failed again in creating a church that shows no more ability than previous communities had to be faithful to God? Paul believes that there is a message of hope in this very reality.
The church is like a clay jar whose flaws are clearly visible precisely so that as the grace of God is made visible in our lives we will be fully aware that it is not our accomplishment but God's. The temptation to self-righteousness is especially strong among religious peoples. Most of the bloodiest wars have had a religious impulse behind them. The recent deluge of "how to create a growing church" books reflects the temptation to believe that success in churches is a matter of technique rather than God's work. Paul's response suggests a more realistic view of the church as like a clay jar whose imperfections are obvious. When you begin with that viewpoint, you are more open to the amazing things that God is doing among us and less tempted to think that we have achieved a formula for success.
Mark 2:23--3:6
Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?
-- Mark 2:24b
The sabbath commandment has proved to be one of the most perplexing commandments of the faith. In Jesus' day the controversy was over whether he or his disciples had acted in a way that violated the sabbath. There were many areas of life over which the Jewish people had little control, and there were many temptations for them to abandon the faith and blend in with the larger world. Yet throughout the exile and during the time of their occupation, each week they stepped aside from the demands of living and reconnected with the divine through their worship. Once a week, despite all that had happened during the week, they experienced again who they were as a people of God. Some believe that their identity throughout their history rested more on the sabbath than any other reality in their lives.
Ironically, in our time, the opposite challenge has arisen. In the West, the culture around us once supported our faith by providing time for a sabbath; now that passive support has been removed from us, and that time is challenged by many competing activities. Christians, in the meantime, have grown lax about their practice of the sabbath, and the result is that for many they have lost their sense of identity. Jesus' famous saying, "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath" (v. 27), has often been used to liberate people's conscience from oppressive legalisms with respect to the sabbath. Today, however, we may need to remember again that the sabbath was established in order to protect our humanity and that its neglect may cost us both our connection with the divine and our own freedom as humans.
Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.
-- Deuteronomy 5:12
It is interesting to note that the sabbath commandment requires more explanation than any of the other commandments and that it is the only one to receive different explanations in the giving of the commandment in Exodus 20 and here in Deuteronomy 5. In Exodus, the reason for the commandment is based on the creation story. This suggests that the reason for the commandment is that this rhythm of life was built into the very structure of the universe. Living creatures, including livestock, were not meant to work continuously but by their very nature require a rhythm of rest and work. In the Deuteronomy passage, the reason given for the sabbath is based on God's act of freeing them from slavery in Egypt. Here it may be interpreted that the sabbath was meant to enable people to preserve their freedom. God commands us to step back from incessant productivity in order to reflect on who we are and to pay attention to our relationships with God and each other. Failure to do that will result in our becoming slaves and losing our full humanity. The sabbath commandment deserves further reflection in light of the pressures of our current society. It may again be the gift of God that protects our humanity and freedom.
Psalm 81:1-10
Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
-- Psalm 81:1
Psalm 81 is a call to praise by the entire worshiping community. The people are called to shout (v. 1), the Levites to use their instruments (v. 2), and the priests to blow the shofar to begin the celebration (v. 3). Such worship constitutes the identity of Israel (v. 4) from the time that God revealed himself to Joseph's ancestors who were slaves in Egypt (v. 5a). God had not been revealed as a "saving" God until he began to rescue the Hebrews through the plagues in Egypt (v. 5b). God lifted the burden of oppression (v. 6) in response to their cry for help (v. 7a), even though they doubted God's ability to save when they were thirsty in the wilderness (v. 7b). Worship is Israel's opportunity to listen to the God who has claimed them (v. 8). It is in worship that they (we) are confronted with the tendency to bow down to other gods (v. 9) and forget that our existence depends on none other but God (v. 10).
Worship becomes the context in which we reaffirm our central identity. It is when we reaffirm our allegiance to God who has called us forth as a people (vv. 1-4). We do that in worship by remembering how God has revealed God's self to us by responding to our cry for help in the past (vv. 5-7a). We also remember how God stayed with us even when we resisted God (v. 7b). It is in worship that we hear God appealing to us afresh (v. 8) and reminding us of the misplaced priorities that have become gods for us (v. 9). In remembering how God has been faithful in the past, we are encouraged to again trust him for our future (v. 10). Without regular worship, which re-members us with God and each other, we quickly forget and succumb to a world that resists God.
2 Corinthians 4:5-12
But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.
-- 2 Corinthians 4:7
It is easy to become discouraged by the frailty of the church and its failure to exemplify the very gospel that it proclaims. It is important to recognize that this is not a recent issue but one that has been part of the faith community from the beginning. From Abraham to the disciples and the early church, there is ample evidence of the failure of the community of faith to live out their faith. Paul is fully aware of that and describes many of the weaknesses in his letters to the Corinthians. Has God failed again in creating a church that shows no more ability than previous communities had to be faithful to God? Paul believes that there is a message of hope in this very reality.
The church is like a clay jar whose flaws are clearly visible precisely so that as the grace of God is made visible in our lives we will be fully aware that it is not our accomplishment but God's. The temptation to self-righteousness is especially strong among religious peoples. Most of the bloodiest wars have had a religious impulse behind them. The recent deluge of "how to create a growing church" books reflects the temptation to believe that success in churches is a matter of technique rather than God's work. Paul's response suggests a more realistic view of the church as like a clay jar whose imperfections are obvious. When you begin with that viewpoint, you are more open to the amazing things that God is doing among us and less tempted to think that we have achieved a formula for success.
Mark 2:23--3:6
Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?
-- Mark 2:24b
The sabbath commandment has proved to be one of the most perplexing commandments of the faith. In Jesus' day the controversy was over whether he or his disciples had acted in a way that violated the sabbath. There were many areas of life over which the Jewish people had little control, and there were many temptations for them to abandon the faith and blend in with the larger world. Yet throughout the exile and during the time of their occupation, each week they stepped aside from the demands of living and reconnected with the divine through their worship. Once a week, despite all that had happened during the week, they experienced again who they were as a people of God. Some believe that their identity throughout their history rested more on the sabbath than any other reality in their lives.
Ironically, in our time, the opposite challenge has arisen. In the West, the culture around us once supported our faith by providing time for a sabbath; now that passive support has been removed from us, and that time is challenged by many competing activities. Christians, in the meantime, have grown lax about their practice of the sabbath, and the result is that for many they have lost their sense of identity. Jesus' famous saying, "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath" (v. 27), has often been used to liberate people's conscience from oppressive legalisms with respect to the sabbath. Today, however, we may need to remember again that the sabbath was established in order to protect our humanity and that its neglect may cost us both our connection with the divine and our own freedom as humans.
