11th Sunday after
Pentecost (Proper 16C)
1st Reading
(Track 1): Jeremiah 1:4-10
In the first three
verses of chapter one, Jeremiah is said to be the son of Hilkiah, a priest at
Anathoth. As such, he was probably a descendent of the priest Abiathar, who
King Solomon banished to Anathoth (1 Kings 2:26,27). Anathoth may represent an
alternative priestly and prophetic voice to that of Jerusalem, i.e., Jeremiah
is an outsider to the political and religious establishment. He was a witness
to the rise of the Babylonian empire and the attempt by the Kingdom of Judah to
play off Babylon and Egypt against one another, which ultimately failed. An
“alliance” was made with Babylon in 598 b.c.e.
which led to a “puppet kingdom.” Judah ceased to exist in 586, and significant
portions of its population taken into exile, an event which overshadows the
whole book of Jeremiah. Our reading this morning is the story of Jeremiah’s
call to a ministry which involves that fate of Judah, through the word of the Lord who speaks through the prophet.
1:4
Now the
word of the Lord came to me
saying, 5 “Before I formed you in
the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed
you a prophet to the nations.” 6 Then
I said, “Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” 7 But the Lord
said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I
send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you
to deliver you, says the Lord.” 9 Then the Lord
put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord
said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and
over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to
build and to plant.”
Psalm 71:1-6 (Track 1)
Psalm 71 as a whole is the prayer of an elderly person,
pursued by enemies and in urgent need of hope. This contrasts with the “youth”
Jeremiah claims in the above reading, although one can easily hear this psalm
on the lips of an elder Jeremiah. Verse 6 uses the imagery of a midwife,
stating clearly that the writer has known and trusted the Lord from the day of his birth.
1 In you, O Lord,
have I taken refuge; *
let
me never be ashamed.
2 In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free;
*
incline
your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; *
you
are my crag and my stronghold.
4 Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, *
from
the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.
5 For you are my hope, O Lord God, *
my
confidence since I was young.
6 I have been sustained by you ever since I was born;
from my
mother’s womb you have been my strength; *
my
praise shall be always of you.
1st Reading
(Track 2): Isaiah 58:9b-14
In 58:1-14, the prophet
Isaiah speaks to the newly returned exiles about the requirements for
rebuilding holy community. This can only happen when worship and the practice
of daily living are in sync with one another. Those who worship the just God
must live the just life. The crown jewel of living the just life is the
practice of sabbath. Sabbath is not just about setting aside a day for worship
and rest. To practice sabbath is to practice an alternative way of life, one in
which the anxiety of acquiring things and the drive to control life by our own
strength and for our own self-gain are rejected in favor of living in true
community, where all may delight in the abundance of creation.
58:9b If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the
finger, the speaking of evil, 10 if
you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then
your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. 11 The Lord
will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make
your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of
water, whose waters never fail. 12 Your
ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many
generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of
streets to live in. 13 If you
refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy
day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not
going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; 14 then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the
heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
for the mouth of the Lord has
spoken.
Psalm 103:1-8 (Track 2)
Psalm 103 is a psalm of praise for God’s salvation, the forgiveness
of sins and the healing of infirmities, the vindication of human life and the
doing of justice. Verse six is translated in the New Revised Standard Version,
“The Lord works vindication and
justice for all who are oppressed.”
1 Bless the Lord,
O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy Name.
2 Bless the Lord,
O my soul,
and forget not all his
benefits.
3 He forgives all your sins
and heals all your
infirmities;
4 He redeems your life from the grave
and crowns you with mercy
and loving-kindness;
5 He satisfies you with good things,
and your youth is renewed
like an eagle’s.
6 The Lord
executes righteousness
and judgment for all who
are oppressed.
7 He made his ways known to Moses
and his works to the
children of Israel
8 The Lord
is full of compassion and mercy,
slow to anger and of great
kindness.
2nd Reading:
Hebrews 12:18-29
Throughout the Letter to the Hebrews, the writer contrasts the “old”
covenant with the “new.” Our passage
this morning comes from near the end of the letter and is a kind of climax of
this contrast, using the images of Mount Sinai (where the old covenant was
formed) with Mount Zion (which is the vision of the new covenant
fulfilled). The old covenant was
received in terror such that even the great Moses trembled with fear (the quote
regarding touching the mountain is from Exodus 19:12-13). In contrast, the approach of Mount Zion is
summed up in a long list of vivid images which speak of eager anticipation
rather than dread. Yet there is a
warning: do not refuse this new vision,
and remember "our God is a consuming fire,” which is to say that the
graciousness of God requires the offering of our whole lives just as much as
the terror of God did. The quote in verse 26 is from the prophet Haggai (2:6).
12:18
You have
not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and
gloom, and a tempest, 19 and the
sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not
another word be spoken to them. 20 (For
they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the
mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” 21 Indeed,
so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in
festal gathering, 23 and to the
assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of
all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new
covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood
of Abel. 25 See that you do not
refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused
the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the
one who warns from heaven! 26 At
that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, “Yet once more I
will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the
removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken
may remain. 28 Therefore, since we
are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we
offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; 29 for indeed our God is a consuming fire.
Gospel Reading: Luke 13:10-17
In our Gospel reading today,
Jesus continues a pattern in Luke’s Gospel establishing that the care of our
fellow human beings takes priority over all ritual requirements and social
“standards.” The practice of such things as sabbath was not intended to be a
means of social control, but an enabling of social justice. Another way of
putting this is to say that sabbath, or any other religious practice, must
never be used as a means of burdening people, but of freeing them, as the woman
in this story is given freedom from her physical burden. An almost identical
sabbath healing occurs in 14:1-6. The reference for the synagogue leader’s
protest in verse 14 is Exodus 20:9-10. The reference to “Satan” binding the
woman in verse 16 was simply an acknowledgement that this state of affairs for
the woman is evil, meaning that it does not come from God, which many of her
contemporaries surely believed.
13:10
Now Jesus
was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 And just then there appeared a woman with a
spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was
quite unable to stand up straight. 12 When
Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your
ailment.” 13 When he laid his hands
on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant
because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are
six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and
not on the sabbath day.” 15 But the
Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the
sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it
water? 16 And ought not this woman,
a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free
from this bondage on the sabbath day?” 17 When
he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was
rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
The Scripture
quotations (except for the psalm) are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division
of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the
U.S.A., and are used by permission. All
rights reserved. The Psalm translation is
from The Book of Common Prayer. Commentaries are copyright © 2019 Epiphany
ESources, 67. E. Main St., Hornell, NY
14843, www.EpiphanyEsources.com.
All rights reserved. Permission is given
to copy for group study.
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