AUGUST 31 - SEPTEMBER 6, 2020
Below are our lectionary passages for this week in the Church calendar. For those unfamiliar, the lectionary is a resource that churches all over the world use to consistently and uniformly read through the scriptures every week as we gather for worship. The lectionary passages typically consist of a combination of Old Testament readings, a Psalm, a New Testament letter, and a Gospel reading.
We dwell on these passages throughout the week so that when we gather together on Sunday we may proclaim these truths together in worship. We encourage you to find some rhythm of reading and meditating on these passages throughout the course of the week, whether that’s reading through all of the passages daily or reading a single passage a day until you’ve read them all. We have included below some commentary and thought for guided prayer and reflection.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. - Psalm 119:105
Reading One
EXODUS 12:1-14 (click here for the passage)
This first reading from Exodus describes the inaugural celebration of the Passover feast. It was named so by virtue of the Lord “passing over” the Israelite homes, sparing them from the tenth and final plague upon the Egyptians; the death of the firstborn sons. The temptation in reading texts like these is to think that they are so far removed from our time, context, and customs that they could not possibly carry any relevance for us today. After all, how could the preparation of a lamb for an antiquated feast possibly speak to my life today?
Despite the author of Exodus writing to and for a different audience (the ancient Israelites), we are reminded of the traditions of the people of God throughout history and how these teachings point to Christ. In our own time we can understand the sacrificial lamb to be Christ and the feast as The Lord’s Supper. There are so many interesting things to note here but one in particular that sticks out to me is in verse 4, “If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat it.” It was required that the entirety of the lamb was to be eaten by sunrise and if a single lamb was too much for a family they were to join with their neighbors in sharing the lamb ensuring that every piece of it was consumed. This small caveat, in a way, points to the deeply communal nature of our faith and informs how we are to live.
In what ways might God be calling us to join with our neighbors, even only for a feast?
Reading Two
Psalm 149 (click here for the passage)
It’s interesting that in the readings this week we move from our first passage in Exodus, describing an inaugural celebration feast while Israel is yet in the midst of captivity, to Psalm 149: A Praise for God’s Goodness to Israel. The tone of this Psalm is not praise after they had achieved some sort of victory over their oppressors, but before. It is a Psalm in anticipation of God’s justice. It is praise for a victory that is yet to happen! Not unlike celebrating a feast for liberation that is yet to occur. “Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their couches.” This seems like the kind of praise that only the faithful can participate in insofar that the praise is for what God has done throughout history and what God will do; it’s the kind of praise that requires faith. God hasn’t brought liberation yet, but He will. God hasn’t brought redemption yet, but He will. God hasn’t brought the victory yet, but He will. And this is worthy of praise!
What is God delivering us to or from that demands our praise?
How do we choose to praise in this moment trusting that God’s deliverance is coming?
Reading Three
ROMANS 13:8-14 (click here for the passage)
Coming out of Psalm 149 and Exodus 12, the question might be asked, how does faith in God’s deliverance cause us to live? How does our trust in God’s redemption and healing of the world cause us to respond? In this passage in Roman’s, Paul implores that we are to respond in Love for One Another. Paul reminds us of the commands of the Law and of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and sums them up in a word; love. “Love your neighbor as yourself”. This is how we are to fulfill the law. We are being called to wake from our dream-like state that our eyes might be opened to the reality of the salvation at hand through love. This is a radical notion, that love might be our salvation, our deliverance. Here we might find salvation to be a present reality, not a far-off event to be discovered after life. Paul makes it seem like fulfillment of the Law is in some sense our salvation and the fulfillment of the Law is love. We are being saved by and through love.
So who is our neighbor?
How are we being called to love our neighbors as ourselves?
Reading Four
MATTHEW 16:21-28 (click here for the passage)
This brings us to our Gospel reading for the week. This passage is part of a series of Jesus’ teachings to the Disciples. Here Jesus gives the disciples His expectation in dealing with a member of the church who has sinned. It’s interesting that we would turn from the passage in Romans exulting love for one another to this passage in Matthew that deals with reproof, but they are not unrelated! In fact, they seem to be two sides of the same coin that is life together. Love is not synonymous with harmony and often it requires confrontation and reconciliation. It’s for love’s sake that we hold ourselves accountable to one another in the church that we might grow to be made more and more like Christ.
Are there instances in our lives that require this kind of confrontation in love and grace?
Are there instances in our lives that we have found ourselves on the receiving end of reproof that require our reconciliation and humility?
REFLECTION
This week’s lectionary readings cover a lot of ground but something that seems to rise to the surface throughout all of these passages is this notion of how it is that we ought to live and how it is that we ought to live together. The Christian life is not characterized primarily by what it is that we think. Although orthodoxy is an important facet of Christian living, greater still is what it is that we do and how it is that we act. Throughout these passages we are reminded that the people of God a people of gratitude, a people of community, and first and foremost a people of love. What it is that we think or profess is secondary to the manner in which we reflect the love of the triune God.
Throughout this week would we be challenged in the reading and rereading of these scriptures. Would they shape our thought lives and our prayer lives. Would we ask the Spirit to reveal something new to us in our dwelling on these texts.