1st Reading
(Track 1): Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
Jeremiah prophesies
the invasion of an army (“a hot wind”) of destruction (“a wind too strong
[just] to winnow or cleanse”). Verses 13-21, not read today, deliver that
message in stark terms and make the claim that it is God who is intervening as
a consequence of Israel’s unfaithfulness. Yet (as verses 22-28 make clear) the
people are oblivious, which only assures the “desolation.” But there is a faint
glimmer of hope: “I will not make a full
end.” God cannot quite let go of the people he has made and loved.
4:11 At that time it will
be said to this people and to Jerusalem:
A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights in the desert toward my
poor people, not to winnow or cleanse—12 a
wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them. 22 “For my people are foolish,
they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They
are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.” 23 I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste
and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I looked on the mountains, and lo, they
were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. 25
I looked, and lo, there was no one at all, and all the birds of
the air had fled. 26 I looked, and
lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the Lord, before his fierce
anger. 27 For thus says the Lord:
The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. 28 Because of this the earth shall mourn, and
the heavens above grow black; for I have spoken, I have purposed; I have not
relented nor will I turn back.
Psalm 14 (Track 1)
Psalm 14 is a reflection on the nature of fools to do evil as
opposed to the righteous poor, for whom God is a refuge and deliverer. If there is a refrain in the psalm it is
“no…no one…none…none…no...no one.” Verse
4 may be the crux of the argument: indifference
toward God and social injustice go hand in hand.
1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”
*
All
are corrupt and commit abominable acts;
there
is none who does any good.
2 The Lord
looks down from heaven upon us all, *
to
see if there is any who is wise,
if
there is one who seeks after God.
3 Every one has proved faithless; all alike have
turned bad; *
there
is none who does good; no, not one.
4 Have they no knowledge, all those evildoers *
who
eat up my people like bread
and
do not call upon the Lord?
5 See how they tremble with fear, *
because
God is in the company of the righteous.
6 Their aim is to confound the plans of the
afflicted, *
but
the Lord is their refuge.
7 Oh, that Israel’s deliverance would come out of
Zion! *
when
the Lord restores the fortunes of
his people,
Jacob
will rejoice and Israel be glad.
1st Reading
(Track 2): Exodus 32:7-14
Moses has been on the mountain forty days and the people have
grown restless. In the first six verses of chapter 32, they ask Aaron, the priest,
to make them an idol to worship and he comes up with a golden calf (which will
appear again in Israel’s history—see 1 Kings 12:28ff). To say that God is upset is an
understatement! Notice how God calls
Israel “your people” and Moses turns around and says the
same to God. Moses successfully
negotiates with God (reminiscent of Abraham bargaining over Sodom and Gomorrah
in Genesis 18:16-33). God changes his
mind and renews the promise. As the story goes on, however, there was severe
punishment. Aaron is spared though he made the calf. He shows his own weakness
as a leader when he says (v. 24): “so they gave it [the gold] to me, and I
threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”
32:7
The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once!
Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted
perversely; 8 they have been quick
to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves
an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said,
‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 The Lord
said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10 Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn
hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.”
11 But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot
against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power
and with a mighty hand? 12 Why
should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to
kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’?
Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your
people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac,
and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to
them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this
land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall
inherit it forever.’” 14 And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster
that he planned to bring on his people.
Psalm 51 (Track 2)
Psalm 51 is a psalm of penitence and a prayer for
deliverance. Verse 8 suggests the
underlying problem is illness, although the penitent feels he has been sinful
from his mother’s womb. The Hebrew
introduction to the psalm ascribes it to David “when the prophet Nathan came to
him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” The first verse contains three key
words of Israel’s faith in God: mercy,
loving-kindness (or steadfast love), and compassion. They are played off
against three descriptive words of separation from God: iniquity, sin, and transgression. It is
Israel’s faith that the former will trump the latter.
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness;
*
in your great compassion
blot out my offenses.
2 Wash me through and through from my wickedness *
and cleanse me from my
sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, *
and my sin is ever before
me.
4 Against you only have I sinned *
and done what is evil in
your sight.
5 And so you are justified when you speak *
and upright in your
judgment.
6 Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, *
a sinner from my mother’s
womb.
7 For behold, you look for truth deep within me, *
and will make me understand
wisdom secretly.
8 Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; *
wash me, and I shall be
clean indeed.
9 Make me hear of joy and gladness, *
that the body you have
broken may rejoice.
10 Hide your face from my sins *
and blot out all my
iniquities.
11 Create in me a clean heart, O God, *
and renew a right spirit
within me.
2nd Reading: 1
Timothy 1:12-17
We will spend six weeks reading through 1 & 2 Timothy. They are attributed to Paul, but the great
majority of biblical scholars consider them second generation. It was not unusual for followers of someone
to write in his name. Here Paul’s story
is rehearsed to make the point: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners.” Timothy, of course, was Paul’s
protégé and probably continued his ministry in Ephesus after Paul’s death. The first portion of verse 15 is one of the
“comfortable words” after the confession and absolution of Rite I in The Book of Common Prayer (p. 332).
1:12
I am
grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged
me faithful and appointed me to his service, 13 even
though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I
received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me
with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15
The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. 16 But for that very reason I received mercy, so
that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience,
making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal
life. 17 To the King of the ages,
immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading: Luke 15:1-10
Chapter 15 of Luke’s
Gospel contains three parables answering the charge of the religious
authorities: “This fellow welcomes
sinners and eats with them.” We have the
first two this morning (the third is the much longer parable of the Prodigal
Son, which we read in Lent). The two
parables below parallel one another almost exactly and they follow a pattern in
Luke of male and female examples being held up together. Of all the Gospel writers, Luke is not afraid
to use feminine imagery in referring to God.
The point of the parables is clear: the joy of the forgiveness of sins
available to all. They also bring home the message from the Sermon on the
Plain, “Be merciful, just as your heavenly Father is merciful.” (6:36)
15:1
Now all
the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were
grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “Which
one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the
ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds
it? 5 When he has found it, he lays
it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And
when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to
them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy
in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons
who need no repentance. 8 Or what
woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp,
sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she has found it, she calls together
her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin
that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I
tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who
repents.”
The Scripture
quotations 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. The Psalm 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. Bulletin inserts are
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