Welcome to Holy Textures - Season of Pentecost, Year A

Holy Textures is a spot for my musings on the various Biblical texts that come our way through the Revised Common Lectionary.

My goal is to provide timely, short, easy to use and faith-provoking background commentary for your sermon or bible study preparation.

Year A - Season after Pentecost - 2017

Note that in Pentecost, the Sundays are numbered as "after" Pentecost Sunday. So the first Sunday after Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, is Pentecost 1.

This year, Easter was almost as late as it can possibly be. And so Pentecost and Trinity Sundays come just as we in the Northern Hemisphere enter the summer season.

And having left off reading through Matthew three months ago, we pick up at the end of Chapter 10. What has happened since we last were listening to Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount back in Chapter 7?

Quite a bit actually. Jesus has been demonstrating that he can walk the talk, and he has been teaching about the costs of following in his footsteps:

• Jesus cleanses a leper (8:1-4)
• Jesus heals a Centurian's servant (8:5-13)
• Jesus heals many at Peter's house (8:14-17)
• Jesus teaches the Son of Man has no where to lay his head (8:18-22)
• Jesus stills a storm (8:23-27)
• Jesus heals two Gadarene men possessed by demons (8:28--9:1)
• Jesus heals a paralytic (9:2-8)
• Jesus calls Matthew, a tax collector, to follow him (9:9-13)
• Jesus teaches about new wine (9:14-17)
• Jesus heals a woman and restores a girl to life (9:18-26)
• Jesus heals two blind men (9:27-31)
• Jesus heals a mute person (9:32-34)

And so we re-join Jesus as his words and deeds are spreading his reputation far and wide - and therefore, also attracting the attention of - and opposition from - the authorities in Jerusalem.

And remember, "the authorities in Jerusalem," the priests, scribes and Pharisees, are elites who are collaborating with the Roman occupation, and who are therefore also dependant on pleasing their masters for their survival. Jesus' reputation is attracting crowds and raising the authorities' fears about social unrest.

And for those who like to plan in advance, a heads up that Advent 4 is also Christmas Eve, Sunday, December 24. 

Pentecost Sunday
June 4, 2017
Acts 2:1-21  
"We might all hear the same words - each in our own language - but we will not all hear and understand exactly the same meaning. The problem with life, and faith, and following Jesus is always: What does this mean?"

John 20:19-23, Alternate Reading 1.
"To be a spirit-filled community of peace requires that we learn and practice and experience the reality and art of repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation." 

John 7:37-39 
"In John, "thirst" has the double meaning of literal thirst for real water and physical life; and "spiritual" thirst for a real relationship with God and eternal life. Thus, those who come to Jesus and trust him will have floods of life flowing out of them." 

Trinity Sunday
June 11, 2017
Matthew 28:16-20 
"These 4 short verses touch on several crucial themes: 1) The authority of Jesus. 2) The purposes of the church: go, make disciples, baptize, teach, obey, remember. 3) The presence of Jesus-now-resurrected. A congregation that is centred on these will not go far wrong. And might even get a fair bit right."

Pentecost 2
June 18, 2017
Matthew 9:35--10:8,(9-23)  
"Jesus then instructs his disciples on how to live as itinerants, what to expect, and how to handle difficulties. These teachings were important because his followers would only have known village life - relying on family and kin for sustenance - and would be totally unfamiliar with the social realities of being an outsider."

Pentecost 3
June 25, 2017
Matthew 10:24-39  
"We all know how to lose our life so that it is lost. The trick is to figure out how to lose one's life so that it will be found. And the key to that mystery is to lose our life for Jesus' sake. For Jesus' purpose, aim, or end."

Pentecost 4
July 2, 2017
Matthew 10:40-42  
"Welcoming "in the name of" means welcoming in the honour of; in the reputation of. It means welcoming in a way that is true to the integrity and character and goals of the one being welcomed. In a way that is truly worthy of the one being welcomed."

Pentecost 5
July 9, 2017
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30  
"A good way to open today's worship service might be to ask: Are there any here today who have never been weary? Never had to carry a heavy heart burden? Okay, you're free to go."

Pentecost 6
July 16, 2017
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 
"You and I might not waste our efforts on the down trodden, the thorny, and the hardened, but God does."  

Pentecost 7
July 23, 2017
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 
"This is a parable about the FIELD - about the collective experience. At the end, the weeds ARE separated and burned. At the end, what is pleasing to God is taken in to God's care and keeping. But remember, think of yourself as the FIELD. At the harvest, the weeds in you are removed, and the wheat in you is gathered in."

Pentecost 8
July 30, 2017
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 
"Even those who are accustomed to finding and trading fine things might still encounter a life-changing experience. Even those involved in the church all their lives might still be transformed in ways beyond their imagining."

Pentecost 9
August 6, 2017
Matthew 14:13-21 
"This lesson invites us to remember our own wildernesses, our own places of chaos, when our own insufficiencies may have been blessed, broken, and given away. And yet it was precisely in risking that impossible insufficiency that there was enough. Indeed, more than enough."

Pentecost 10
August 13, 2017
Matthew 14:22-33 
"Walking on the sea is not an idle, capricious, magic trick. After spending time alone in prayer, Jesus has stepped out onto the back of a chaotic and dangerous spirit to go and be with his friends."

Pentecost 11
August 20, 2017
Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28 
"But this incident is a beautiful illustration of the teaching Jesus has just made. Outwardly, this woman has nothing about her that is "clean." But she has two things in her heart that make her right with God: her unwavering, nagging, persistent care for her daughter; and, her unwavering, nagging, persistent trust that Jesus can cure her daughter. And these two things cause Jesus to undergo a change of heart himself."

Pentecost 12
August 27, 2017
Matthew 16:13-20 
"It is very problematic that the Lectionary separates Verses 13-20 from Verses 21-23, the first of three occasions of Jesus showing his disciples that he must go up to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed, and on the third day be raised. If we want the transformational bonding with Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, we also can't avoid bonding with Jesus the Crucified One."

Pentecost 13
September 3, 2017
Matthew 16:21-28 
"Peter rebukes Jesus. Jesus rebukes Peter. Calls Peter - or at least Peter's rebuke - Satan. That is, Tempter, Snake in the Garden, Introducer of Hesitation, Mixer of Motivations, Flaunter of Red Herrings, Side-Tracker of Mission, Setter of One's Mind on Human Things. Well, fear of pain and death will do that to most people, and Peter was no exception."

Pentecost 14
September 10, 2017
Matthew 18:15-20  
"Real churches have - or should have - real conflicts. The only real harm that will come to a church community is to refuse to deal with conflicts. Conflicts do not kill churches. Refusing to deal with conflict kills churches."

Pentecost 15
September 17, 2017
Matthew 18:21-35  
"Jesus is calling us to give up calculating offenses and forgivenesses; and instead to have a forgiving heart; a forgiven heart; a heart for forgiveness. This is a shift of ATTITUDE. But it is not an "anything goes" attitude. Forgiveness actually stands FOR some things; and therefore, does NOT stand for everything."

Pentecost 16
September 24, 2017
Matthew 20:1-16 
"Where 2 or 3 are gathered together - in families, friends, or church - the challenge is always: How will we deal with envy when God is generous with some but not all."  

Pentecost 17
October 1, 2017
Matthew 21:23-32 
"It is we who are sitting in church who SAY (and sing and pray) many things. But this text puts the focus on what we actually DO. Just exactly what is it that we do after we leave church on Sunday? Ouch."

Pentecost 18
October 8, 2017
Matthew 21:33-46 
"Who, ACTUALLY, is producing the fruit of the Kingdom? It could be the religious leaders. Nay. It SHOULD be the religious leaders. But are they? Are we?"

Thanksgiving Sunday (Canada)
October 8, 2017
Luke 17:11-19
"The 9 who do not return are the ones who do what is expected of a leper who has been cured. But they do what is expected because they CAN do what is expected - they are Galileans, they can go and see a priest. The Samaritan cannot."

Pentecost 19
October 15, 2017
Matthew 22:1-14 
"How is this a parable teaching about what the Kingdom of Heaven is like? What sort of behaviours and attitudes does it call for now? At a minimum it means: expect to have to hang out with non-elites - good and bad all together; take seriously the honour of the invitation and do it right."

Pentecost 20
October 22, 2017
Matthew 22:15-22 
"How can a Jew be faithful and observant and also stay alive under Roman rule? Yikes. But it is precisely this position of being caught in a bind of irreconcilable, conflicting obligations and duties that make real life so interesting. The desire to make the tension go away, to solve it, is the enemy of true faithfulness."

Pentecost 21
October 29, 2017
Matthew 22:34-46 
"The "love" that is being called for is not emotion; it is not "liking," "getting along with," "desiring," or "feeling warm about." The "love" Jesus is talking about here is trust, loyalty, enduring devotion, being attached to. You may actually hate your neighbour, but you will still love them in the Biblical sense if you continue to act for their well-being."

Pentecost 22
November 5, 2017
Matthew 23:1-12 
"Unfortunately, the scribes and Pharisees - like us - were the ones who studied the Bible, who prayed regularly, and who earnestly sought to live in accordance with Biblical teachings. That is, they are who we are now. Are we like them? Yikes!"

All Saints
November 1, 2017  or  November 5, 2017
Matthew 5:1-12 
"Those we honour as saints have never been ALL good, ALL the time. But thankfully, those who followed Jesus, at some time, have had some inkling of hearing these words and practicing them. Their lives inspire us to do the same."

Pentecost 23
November 12, 2017
Matthew 25:1-13 
"This is a story about honouring the bridegroom who has gone away to fetch his bride by being prepared for his return - at the time of his own choosing, whenever that might be."

Pentecost 24
November 19, 2017
Matthew 25:14-30  
"This a Wisdom parable teaching us about the perils and difficulties of the ways of the world until the Kingdom comes. It warns us to continue to expect the rich to steal from the poor; and for the followers of Jesus to expect to be punished by the rich for behaving honourably - burying the ill-gotten wealth and refusing to use it to take even more from the poor."

Pentecost 25
Reign of Christ  or  Christ the King
November 26, 2017
Matthew 25:31-46  
"The judgement is NOT based on doing the right things to/for Jesus. Of course we would do all those things if we knew it was Jesus. (Wouldn't we?) But unfortunately, the judgement is based on just doing the right things for the dispossessed. This is not rocket science; it only requires common sense and human decency. And we all have that don't we?"

Thanksgiving Sunday (USA)
November 23 or 26, 2017
Luke 17:11-19
"The 9 who do not return are the ones who do what is expected of a leper who has been cured. But they do what is expected because they CAN do what is expected - they are Galileans, they can go and see a priest. The Samaritan cannot."