Ordinary Time Week 19

Psalm: Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16 or Psalm 146 
Old Testament: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
  or Amos 6:1a, 4-7 
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31
Epistle: 1 Timothy 6:6-19

I am still trying to catch up with these posts and spend some time each week in the Lectionary texts. The beauty of the Lectionary is that it keeps us engaged in all areas of the biblical text each and every week. This week we have a clear theme that emerges across at least the two New Testament passages, and it is similar to last week: wealth is not the be-all-to-end-all. This ending pericope in Luke ch. 16 is actually the end of a whole section on wealth and it's potential pitfalls.

Ordinary Time Week 18

Psalm: Psalm 79:1-9 or Psalm 113
Old Testament: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
  or Amos 8:4-7
Gospel: Luke 16:1-13
Epistle: 1 Timothy 2:1-7

This week I will admit that I am not really inspired or coming up with any great insights in terms of the Scriptures this week. Sometimes that just happens. I have said before that often during Ordinary Time the Scripture readings seem to each go in a different direction and that is definitely true this week. So it will be a short post this week and I am just going to mention the Gospel reading, but definitely read all four passages if you have time.

Ordinary Time Week 17

Psalm: Psalm 14 or Psalm 51:1-10

Old Testament: Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

 or Exodus 32:7-14

Gospel: Luke 15:1-10

Epistle: 1 Timothy 1:12-17

Today in Luke we have two parables about losing things. Everyone hates to lose things, so Jesus picked a universal truth as an analogy for what he was teaching. I'm trying to think back to a time when I lost something that I couldn't just replace, like computer files, homework, my glasses, or a favorite jacket. There is always that moment of anxiety at the realization of what has occurred. I remember losing my glasses in Rome and thinking how am I going to see anything the rest of the semester! Luckily, they were right where I thought I had left them when were taking pictures.

Ordinary Time Week 16

Psalm: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 or Psalm 1 
Old Testament: Jeremiah 18:1-11
  or Deuteronomy 30:15-20 
Gospel: Luke 14:25-33
Epistle: Philemon 1-21

This Sunday I think the most appropriate thing to do is to talk about Philemon. The Epistle is so short it is only one chapter long. And you will notice that the reference from the Lectionary doesn't even give a chapter number. But to add insult to injury, the whole thing is only 25 verses, and the Lectionary doesn't even include the last four verses! So, I think when Philemon is read one time in the 3 year cycle, it ought to get its due.

Philemon was written by Paul at some point when he was prison, the consensus date among scholars is some time around 60 AD. If you follow New Testament and specifically Pauline scholarship, then you know that the authorship of virtually every book has been questioned and in certain cases the consensus has become that Paul did not in fact right a letter bearing his name. Saying that however, Philemon is one Epistle where it is generally agreed that Paul did indeed write this letter. There are numerous reasons for this, but they're  not that exciting, so I'll move on.