The Readings for Sunday, July 13th, 2014

First Reading: Isaiah 55:10–13

¹⁰For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

and do not return there until they have watered the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

  ¹¹so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

  ¹²For you shall go out in joy,

and be led back in peace;

the mountains and the hills before you

shall burst into song,

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

  ¹³Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;

instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;

and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial,

for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.\

Second Reading: Romans 8:1–11

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  ²For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.  ³For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,  ⁴so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  ⁵For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  ⁶To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  ⁷For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law — indeed it cannot,  ⁸and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.  ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  ¹¹If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Gospel: Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.  ²Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.  ³And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow.  ⁴And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up.  ⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.  ⁶But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.  ⁷Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.  ⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  ⁹Let anyone with ears listen!"

¹⁸Hear then the parable of the sower.  ¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.  ²⁰As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;  ²¹yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.  ²²As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.  ²³But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty." 

The Text in Greek - Pr. Fourman

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 - parable of the [sower] or [the four soils] or [the miraculous harvest]?

v1 εν τη ημερα (α) that same day - at that time.

εξελθων (εξερχομαι) aor. part. "went out" - attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb " sat"; 

της οικιας (a) gen. "of the house" - The genitive is ablative, source / origin; "from the house." παρα + acc. "by" - την θαλασσαν (α) "the sea" i.e. Galilee, hence "at about the same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach".

v2 οχλοι πολλοι "large crowds" -  συνηχθησαν (συναγω) aor. pas. "gathered"

ωστε + inf. "so that [he got into a boat and sat]

ειστηκει (ιστημι) pluperf. "stood" - The cultural teaching stance of the time is adopted; the teacher sits and the students stand.

v3 παραβολαις  dat. "parables" - a story which points to another meaning beyond its face value. The word can be used of illustrations (teaching parables) but also of gospel riddles (kingdom parables). The synoptics have Jesus preaching the news of the coming kingdom openly in much the same form as John, but as rejection and opposition sets in, Jesus begins to present the news of the coming kingdom in the form of riddles.  This unclear revelation of the kingdom serves to enact the judgment of God on a stiff-necked people, so "let anyone with ears listen!"

ο σπειρων (σπειρω) pres. part. "a farmer" – actually one who sows

του σπειρειν (σπειρω) "to sow his seed" .

v4 εν τω + inf. "as [he was scattering the seed]" - α pl. pro. "some" μεν .... δε ... an adversative comparative construction. The contrasting δε is picked up in v5, 7 and 8; "some seeds [fell] but others"

παρα + gen. "along" beside [the road]- the compacted ground beside a path.

ελθοντα (ερχομαι) aor. "came" - the birds came and ate.

v5 τα πετρωδη (ης ου) "rocky places" – a shelf of rock covered by a thin layer of soil.

εξανετειλεν (εξανατελλω) αορευθεως adv. "it sprang up immediately”

δια "because - on account of a causal clause. Shallow ground causes an earlier germination because, with rock so close to the surface, it warms up in Spring much more quickly than deeper ground which has been mulched/fertilized. As Yoda would say “Not just a carpenter he is!”

v6 ανατειλαντος (ανατελλω) gen. aor. part. "when [the sun] came up" – i.e. the heat of the day.

εκαυματισθη (καυματιζω) aor. pas. "the plants were scorched" - burnt up, dried out.

v7 επνιξαν (πνιγω) aor. "choked".

v8 την γην την καλην "good soil".

εδιδου (διδωμι) imperf. "it produced" – lit. they were giving i.e. the plants kept on producing.

ο μεν ...... ο δε .....ο δε ......”the one ..... the other ..... the other” .... an adversative comparative; "some on the one hand .... some on the other..... and still some other .....". In Mark the reference to three harvests probably serves to balance the three wasted sowings. It is sometimes argued that there is significance in the size of the harvest, particularly by those who view the parable as climactic, ie. the excessive bounty has eschatological meaning. But it has been shown that seed in Syria could easily yield a hundredfold (Davies & Allison)and since the story is simple yet needs explanation: good seed going into good ground bearing a good crop seems hardly an outcome worthy of parabolic reflection!

v9 ο εχων (εχω) pres. part. "he who has [hears]" ακουετω (ακουω) pres. imp. "hear!"

An imperative, so "pay attention"!

v18 υμεις you. The emphatic use of the pronoun - either the crowd or the disciples.

v19 ακουοντος (ακουω) gen. pres. part. "when [anyone] hears".

της βασιλειας (a) "[the message] of the kingdom" - genitive i.e. anyone hearing the preaching about the kingdom".

μη συνιεντος (συνιημι) gen. pres. part. "does not understand it"  in the sense of failing to address the spiritual truths contained in the gospel, rather than not being able to comprehend those truths, ie. the problem revealed by the Greek here is the unreceptive attitude of the hearers rather than the inadequacy in the communicating of the message". Some people hear the message about the kingdom; but like hardened paths, they do not let the truth penetrate.

αρπαζει (αρπαζω) pres. "snatches away" that the evil one snatches away "the living results of or the spiritual truth of the message. Having been rejected, the ideas are subsumed into the business of everyday life.

ουτος εστιν ο παρα την οδον σπαρεις " the seed sown along the path" – who is the identity of ουτος, "this/this one"- the pronoun is usually taken to represent the one who hears the word of the kingdom, yet, in what sense is this person being sown along the path? It is the seed that is sown. i.e. the situation where a person hears the gospel but fails to respond to it and then forgets what he has heard. 

v20 σπαρεις (σπειρω) aor. pas. part. "the one who receives the seed" - the one having been sown

ο .... ακουων (ακουω) pres. part. "the one who hears"

λαμβανων (λαμβανω) pres. part. "receives [it]" attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying "hearing"; so "hears the word and accepts it with joy".

v21 προσκαιρος adj. "lasts only a short time" – temporary

γενομενης (γινομαι) gen. aor. part. "when [trouble or persecution] comes".

δια + acc. "because of [the word]".

σκανδαλιζεται (σκανδαλιζω) pres. pas. "he [quickly] falls away" - is offended/falls into a trap, is tempted/stumbles.

v22 του αιωνος (ων ωνος) gen. "[the anxieties] of this life" - [ [the worries] which preoccupy men in the world", or objective, "[the worries] for things of the world."

του πλουτου (ος) gen. "[deceitfulness] of riches"

συμπνιγει (συμπνιγω  pres. "choke [it]" – idiom, smothers the truth.

γινεται (γινομαι) pres. "making it [barren]. The subject is usually regarded as τον λογον, "the word", so the word is choked and does not produce a renewed spiritual life in the person.

v23 την καλην adj. "good soil" attributive limiting an assumed "soil".

ο .... συνιεις (υνιημι) pres. part. "[hears the word and] understands" - the one [hearing and] understanding. As for ακουων, "hearing", the participle serves as a substantive. The sense of "understands" as in v19, i.e. the illustration in the parable where seed is sown on good ground and grows to produce fruit represents the situation where a person hears the gospel, "grasps the message" and is converted by it.

καρποφορει (καρποφορεω) pres. "produces a crop" - the various levels of fruitfulness has tended to promote an interpretation where the hearing and understanding the gospel involves putting it into practice and thus bearing the fruits of the spirit but the image is of the fruit of salvation; i.e. those who take in the message of the kingdom they are converted.

ο μεν .... ο δε .... ο δε ..... " on the one hand ....., but then on the other hand, ..... but also on the other hand ...... adversative comparative construction.

The Good Ship Zarephath - Pr. Kruse

The U.S average yield for wheat is 50 bushels an acre though it can be as high as 80 in inland Washington and northern Idaho, but they only get it two of three years so it comes out even. The normal wheat field is planted using about 2 bushels of seed. So the average American field yields about 25 fold using seed drills, 40 fold in the Palouse of Eastern Washington. Using broadcast methods as described by Jesus use 50% more seed so the rate is 3 bushels of seed for 50 bushels of yield or 16 fold. 

The world record is in the Netherlands where the yield is 130 bushels an acre — in other words, 65 fold. 

Even in 2014, 100 fold is not normal. Ah, but if there is 100 fold harvest, then the landowner will be paid, taxes will be settled, the family will be fed, loans will be paid, debts settled, and seed for next years harvest will be stored up. Life will be good — even at 25 fold. If you are a peasant and you hear Jesus speak, you kind of know that sowing is not easy because conditions are hard. There will be rocks, they are just reality, weeds just sort of happen, birds are relentless and omnipresent, and small fields will have much footpath to contend with in comparison to the size of the field. In an agriculture that broadcast seeds — scatter first, plow later — this parable just is plausible somehow. Its miracle is that there is an incredible, unheard of, unbelievable yield. God is good.

 But why a whole chapter on seeds and agriculture? The sower, the weeds, the mustard seed are all here. The treasure in the field, the pearl of great price, the parable of the net all are here. 

Also gathered into this context are two more tragic stories: the episode between Jesus and his family (12:46-50) which seems to suggest that Jesus is making a cut with his family, at minimum rejecting their claims on him or their authority over him, and Jesus’ own rejection at Nazareth. (13:53-58) He has had to be firm with his family and he has had to suffer the rejection by his closest community for not being in exclusive allegiance with them.  The same issue: allegiance is raised here as in 12:46-50. 

In the middle (13:16-17) are a few verses that suggest that a new allegiance has been formed, though. The disciples will not hear merely the parables but have them explained to them. 

16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

I would hold that Jesus real ministry has not yet started. No, John the Baptist, his forerunner, will die first. (14:1-12) Then, Jesus will take his own and all their followers to a desolate place and the feeding of the 5,000 will inaugurate his ministry; he will walk on water and beckon his church to trust that, through him, they can do likewise, then arguments with the pharisees will commence about the traditions of the elders. The ax will finally be laid to the root and it is Jesus who does it, not John. His own, his religion, will reject him and leave him to die on a hill and on  hill he will tell his disciples that now authority is with him. He will lend them that authority by virtue of his pretense with them always.

I know, I have walked off the Matthew 13 interpretation reservation a bit, but context matters. I am asking a really fundamental question for church and believer, especially in my own place: “Is it worth it, or are we better off playing widow of Zarephath?” (“I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”)

It would seem to me that converts in Jesus’ time had to pay a price, a steep one at that, to convert. In our day what is the price of commitment?

I am not sure who wrote the column but here is its gist: Once the church was an ocean liner, designed for one thing: Get people from the shore here to another one not seen but dearly longed for over the horizon. It mattered not which deck you had booked passage on. You would stand on that beautiful shore. Without this ship you will not get there.

Today, the article continues, there are no more ocean liners. There are cruise ships. They are much bigger and 100 fold more luxurious than the ocean liners of old. They also go nowhere. They embark in Miami, run around for 10 days and return to Miami and her passengers go from Miami to Miami and not one of them would contend himself with a cabin in steerage. No, all cabins are luxury and accommodation is king. Without this ship . . . you would have to find yourself another means of amusement, that’s all. 

In our day, the faith is supposed to “add” something to you that someone finds “useful,” for your presentation as a human being to the world. Church, you are supposed to be “useful.” 

What is one to say about this  text? It tries to offer assurances to new believers saying: “It is worth it. All you have lost you shall regain and then some; 30 fold, 60 fold, maybe even 100 fold,” and I am not talking about people who have put aside a past of “hard living.” That was a worldly benefit that they should have longed for anyhow and not pine to pick back up. I am not sure we know the type of price paid for Faith right now. I lie awake at night worried that my church might just be the good Cruise Ship Zarephath. 

A repost from 6 Years ago

Get off the Lawn, you darn kids!

I admit it- I am very grouchy today and not but a bit tired.  The problem?  Well, it all started 200 years ago and, as often is the case, a lawyer was at the center of it.  You see, this guy got himself involved in government.  Somehow lawyers and government meet all too often but I digress.  He got himself involved with government and in 1814 found himself in the position of hostage negotiator.  Why they did not take him as a hostage as well I don;t know but then- he was a lawyer.  Anyway: he negotiated the release of his hostages and was ready to cross the battle lines over to his own side but while he was talking a naval battle had commenced so he was left watching the whole thing from the other side of things as the Brits shelled Fort Mc Henry.

It appears that fashionable gentlemen of those days were required to engage themselves in artistic pursuits and he was no exception.  He was a poet and belonged to the Anacreontic Society a group of men who enjoyed poetry and had named themselves after the Greek poet Anacreon who had written many a love poem and many a drinking song.  In a way, they enjoyed poetry and drink, but I digress again.  

The story is that he was remembering the theme-song of the society, a song penned by John Stafford Smith known as: "To Anacreon in Heaven" and wrote a poem that described the battle in verse to fit the song.  His name was Francis Scott Key and the result was the national anthem.  A nice effort of poetry and song if it had not been for the; "rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air" line, but I get ahead of myself.

Meanwhile, 600 years earlier someone in mainland China became increasingly concerned about the spirits of the dead that were hanging around and decided that a really, really loud boom would drive them away.  The Chinese are a quiet people- it makes sense.  Anyway, gunpowder was the result of it all and not only that, they discovered that by adding lithium carbonate they could color the boom red, by adding magnesium they could color the boom white and by adding copper chlorite they could make a blue boom.   

Put all these streams of history together and you end up at Crazy Charlie's in Indiana or Kentucky where they will gladly sell you Class 1.4G Explosives, also known as "Fireworks," if you but sign on a piece of paper promising that you will not light the stuff.  Again a lawyer was involved.  You can sell the stuff as long as the customer promises he wont' use it.  Brilliant!

So July 4th weekend came, and the sheriff had made it known that, even though fireworks are illegal in Ohio, they would not enforce that during the Independence Day weekend because there would just be too many complaints to handle anyway and fireworks started to go off at sunset.  I lay in bed until 2AM when they finally stopped that night.  It went on on the 4th, and the 5th.  

On Sunday I rose for church with a glorious 3 hours of sleep and therefor tired and very grouchy.  But that is O.K.  I have lawyers I can blame.  

The Texts for Sunday, July 6th, 2014

First Reading: Zechariah 9:9–12

⁹Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!

Lo, your king comes to you;

triumphant and victorious is he,

humble and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

  ¹⁰He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

and the war-horse from Jerusalem;

and the battle bow shall be cut off,

and he shall command peace to the nations;

his dominion shall be from sea to sea,

and from the River to the ends of the earth.

  ¹¹As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

  ¹²Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;

today I declare that I will restore to you double.

— The word of the Lord.

Second Reading: Romans 7:15–25a

¹⁵I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  ¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.  ¹⁷But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.  ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.  ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.  ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

²¹So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.  ²²For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self,  ²³but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  ²⁵Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

— The Word of the Lord.

Gospel: Matthew 11:16–19, 25–30

¹⁶But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,

¹⁷'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

we wailed, and you did not mourn.'

  ¹⁸For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon';  ¹⁹the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds." 

²⁵At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants;  ²⁶yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.  ²⁷All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

²⁸Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Holy Rest - Pr. Kruse

God is humble, and we are proud! The judge is gentle; the criminal arrogant! The potter speaks in lowered voice; the clay discourses in the tones of a king! “Come, learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.” Our master carries a whip not to wound, but to heal us.— St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Saint Bassus

No one, certainly not I, can jump over his own shadow. So, since we talked about part of this text last Advent, I revisit a little of what I said then:

That which we are most afraid might be the right answer to our spiritual yearnings often is what greets us at the end of our journey of running away from that answer. 

But those who go seeking tend to run after that which might give them relief from the yearning in their spirits. In the process they will happily go after one thing after another. Play them a happy song they will not dance because it does not seem right, play them a dirge they will question whether the purpose of their spirituality ought ever be to mourn. (Matt 11:17) Give them a holy man in the dessert and they will run to the ends of the earth to find him but come home thinking he might just be mad.(Matt 11:18) Let the Messiah come to them unexpected and unbidden and let him draw near to them in spite of there being tax collectors and sinners about and they will wonder about his sense of propriety. (Matt 11:19) 

This kind of running about is the Dark Night of the Senses. (St. John of the Cross) It is the demand that the world of the spirit somehow “pay off” for the seeker. That it might make the seeker feel good about themselves. These type of journeys are really about the seeker. They are about the rest or fulfillment they think they are seeking and not about the Lord who holds this rest. These type of journeys end in endless restlessness or demoralized giving up. It is the act of spiritually crossing Jordan in the wrong direction, out of the Holy Land and into the land of wandering. 

Hearts are not at rest until they rest in God. (Augustine) Jesus invites the crowd to enter that rest. (Matt 11:28) How does one do this? The Apology uses this verse to say this:

For Christ says, Matt. 11:28: Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Here there are two members. The labor and the burden signify the contrition, anxiety, and terrors of sin and of death. To come to Christ is to believe that sins are remitted for Christ's sake; when we believe, our hearts are quickened by the Holy Ghost  through the Word of Christ. Here, therefore, there are these two chief parts, contrition and faith. (Ap. VIIA) 

There is no rest until one finds remission of sin for the yearning and longing that are themselves a sign of being conscious of one’s sin. That forgiveness ends the frantic search.

Mmmm . . . Yes . . . still think that.

Spiritual seekers, says St. Terese Lisieux, need to first be about one task: being “little.” Custom tailored spiritualities are probably doomed to fail eventually because they are the creation of the will of the one who holds them. Yes, there is a religion that venerates the spaghetti monster. It was an atheists farce that, just to be weird about it, was recognized in court as a religion that had to be given space in the public square. It even has a sacred vessel: The colander. Everyone knows it is a fake. Yet, every spirituality that comes from the will and opinion of the holder thereof is as much spaghetti monster territory, only without the dimension of humor. 

But back to being “little” for a moment: In this pericope they are lauded because they are not the ones shaping the spirit or world around them. They, as little ones, infants (Matt 11:25) do not do this. Instead they are claimed by a patron, in this case Jesus. They are on the receiving end.

The act of a patron, here Jesus,  claiming others as his own is not strange to Jesus’ time. The influentials just did that. 

“As everyone in the Mediterranean world knows, a patron is someone who freely selects clients and then decides to treat the clients “as if” they were family. Thus any image of father in the New Testament which does not entail the biological fact of parenthood ought to be properly understood in terms of patronage.” 

Pilch goes on to explain that “infants” the powerless ones were the last to be served and helped. Think of it this way: “Women and children first,” is a staple of Victorian chivalry. In Jesus time the children would have been last. Their mortality rate was high anyway, so who knows if they will grow up anyhow. There can always be more of them. In famine the elders ate first because the continuation of the house depended on them. The children and the slaves ate last, in descending order of age. 

The patron might claim the least as his own and therefore consider them pretty much like family.  It would be a peculiar patron that did so. But as patron he would still not do “women and children first.” In Jesus case, the remarkable thing is that that is exactly what he does in the end. 

But, again back to being “little.” The Pharisees and rich folk of Jesus time would have laughed at Jesus claiming them as “Clients.” The “little” ones on the other hand were available for the Lord to reach down to and lift up. (Terese Lisieux; also Chrysostom)

The Pharisees are the brood of vipers who had come to John — about whom Jesus’ words here were spoken in the first place — not as little ones but as those who had not been warned of the wrath to come. (Matt 3:7) No, they had come for purposes other than to totally receive God’s patronage. They had come to have John’s Baptism sown onto an already complete garment that was their spirituality. It was going to rip. (9:16) They lacked humility was John’s assessment. They thought themselves sons of Abraham and therefore above it all.

“Good art will not match your furniture,” goes the poster saying. I enjoy the occasional theological joust. The perennial one that seems to come around like a refrain — I quit arguing it — is about universal salvation: Does God save everyone? Argue at your own risk; bicker; joust; lecture; pontificate; yes, all of it only, leave me out of it. 

My question is about the obverse of universal salvation or exclusivity of salvation: it is about exclusivity of believing. God might not be exclusive in saving but does that mean the Christians are free to be syncretic in their belief or their spirituality? Even if they are, would it be helpful or would it be the bitten apple that leads to no good because it has the potential to lead everywhere and therefor lead away from the anywhere that in the end defines Christian life, spirituality and salvation. To be “little” is to be claimed by Jesus Christ and let that claim stick and be complete just as an infants embrace of mother’s or father’s presence often for a stage or two even to the exclusion of grandma. But once picked up, why look anywhere else? 

The Text for June 29th, 2014 - the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost

Note: June 29th can also be celebrated as St Peter and St Paul this year as the festival has its day on June 30th. I chose not to do that. My partners did otherwise so there is only one commentary for you today. Here is the regular text for the day.

First Reading: Jeremiah 28:5–9

⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD;  ⁶and the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD fulfill the words that you have prophesied, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD, and all the exiles.  ⁷But listen now to this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people.  ⁸The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms.  ⁹As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet." 

Second Reading: Romans 6:12–23

¹²Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.  ¹³No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.  ¹⁴For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

¹⁵What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!  ¹⁶Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?  ¹⁷But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted,  ¹⁸and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.  ¹⁹I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.

²⁰When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.  ²¹So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death.  ²²But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life.  ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gospel: Matthew 10:40–42

⁴⁰Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.  ⁴¹Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous;  ⁴²and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple — truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward."