Proper 11A
Notes
Transcript
Parable Sunday (sdg)
LCMS Lectionary Summary:
OT: RCL is 1Ki 3.5-12 which is not read any other time. It is God speaking to Solomon in a dream. Presumably Solomon wakes up and that’s when he asks God for wisdom (RSV an understanding mind). LCMS’s Deu 7.6-9 is very good, but the 1Ki 5 passage is so important I’d say read L but only once every three cycles (nine years).
Epistle: R starts with Rom 8.26 whereas L at v 28. Verses 26 and 27 are read Pentecost B, but it is good. Doesn’t matter to me either way, and is kind of distracting to the new points made beginning at 28.
Gospel 128, 129, 132, 133, 134: same but R includes Mat 13.31-33 as well. It won’t be read otherwise, so I’d say read it, going with RCL rather than LCMS.
The Son of God Has Redeemed Us for Himself with His Holy and Precious Blood
The Lord our God has chosen us to be “his treasured possession,” not because of any strength in us, but solely “because the Lord loves” us (Deut. 7:6–8). He is faithful, and He “keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments” (Deut. 7:9). He has searched for us and found us in love, and He has bestowed on us “great value” by the great price that He has paid on the cross (Matt. 13:45–46). In His joy, He has redeemed us by His cross and gathered us into His Kingdom by the Gospel. Now we are “hidden in a field,” covered by the cross and subject to the persecution of the world (Matt. 13:44), not for destruction, but “to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29). Since we “are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28), and because Christ Jesus died, rose again and lives to intercede for us “at the right hand of God” (Rom. 8:34), there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from “the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39).
Summary: Choose the Real Treasure
Hymn of the Day: 713 From God can nothing move me
Liturgy:
Themes: Real treasure, wisdom/understanding and listening heart
Summary:
Wisdom of Solomon 12.13, 16-19
For neither is there any god besides thee, whose care is for all men, to whom thou shouldst prove that thou hast not judged unjustly;
For thy strength is the source of righteousness, and thy sovereignty over all causes thee to spare all. For thou dost show thy strength when men doubt the completeness of thy power, and dost rebuke any insolence among those who know it. Thou who art sovereign in strength dost judge with mildness, and with great forbearance thou dost govern us; for thou hast power to act whenever thou dost choose. Through such works thou has taught thy people that the righteous man must be kind, and thou hast filled thy sons with good hope, because thou givest repentance for sins.
1Ki 3.5-12
At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” And Solomon said, “Thou hast shown great and steadfast love to thy servant David my father, because he walked before thee in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward thee; and thou hast kept for him this great and steadfast love, and hast given him a son to sit on his throne this day. And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people whom thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude. Give thy servant therefore an understanding mind to govern thy people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to govern this thy great people?” It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.
Wisdom of Solomon
a) interesting that Solomon said David was faithful. We could object and say that his numbering of the soldiers, his allowing Uriah to get killed and taking another man's wife meant he wasn't faithful. My initial reaction was, "strange, wasn't it David's passion for God his whole heart for God was the quality I would have remembered. Jesus forgave sin as well as healed diseases, he probably did the pairing of miracle (making a blind man see, a lame man walk) together with forgive their sin more times than what we read in the Gospels.
b) Paul tells us in Romans 1-8 that we are all under sin. So really in the last analysis, being forgiven is better than even trying not to sin, since the trying is soulish and lacks God's power. Rather we put the cart before the horse. Love for God and faith in God is the kernel, the power source. Then righteousness follows. Does it result in perfect people? No, as Abraham and the patriarchs, Moses and David and Josiah clearly demonstrate. But God declares us righteous, and the end result is better people than those who seek to be justified by the law. So Solomon, when he says that his father David was "honest and true and faithful." He was faithful with hiccups, as we all are.
Understanding heart is leb shm listening heart לֵ֤ב שֹׁמֵ֙עַ֙
Psa 119.129-136
Thy testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. The unfolding of thy words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. With open mouth I pant, because I long for thy commandments. Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is thy wont toward those who love thy name. Keep steady my steps according to thy promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me. Redeem me from man’s oppression, that I may keep thy precepts. Make thy face shine upon thy servant, and teach me thy statutes. My eyes shed streams of tears, because men do not keep thy law.
The psalmist is right in his or her impulses, listen to these (mostly) verbs, "wonderful...pant/longing...love...tears." There is the warm and fuzzy touchy-feely positive words but also tears. The truly good and rightly-ordered person will be sad and upset by all that's wrong in one's own life, in the lives of those in his or her family and circles, and also in society in general. There are also four consecutive imperatives, so a prayer in the middle (excepting the ends) of the psalm, "come...guide...ransom...look upon-teach."
Rom 8.26-39
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Carl Fickenscher says that in Ordinary Time, as we know the epistle readings are semi-continuous and don't match the OT-Gospel linked readings. But sometimes they sound a similar bell and today is one of them. And I can't remember what that was. Because the Nocent theme is choose the real treasure I guess one could say that the Holy Spirit is so precious to us because he can take over when we don't even know how to pray. We all know the sequence in 30, called-justified-glorified and of course we can't forget that (and won't because it's so memorable) but in one statement the goal of being called is to become like God's Son. And those steps, justified-glorified, are steps along the way, justification happens instantaneously but not sure about glorified.
Mat 13.31-33, 44-52
Another parable he put before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. “Have you understood all this?” They said to him, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
Tell people about the chiastic form of Matthew, ABCDEDCBA where E is chapter 13 and the central core, which is what we read today
Mustard seed - a weed, something you wouldn't want in your garden acc. to Sermon Brainwave
Yeast - Matt Skinner calls this the subversive nature of the Gospel
Hidden treasure - he stumbled upon this
Pearl merchant - this guy was on the lookout for choice pearls
Dragnet:Fishing net - like wheat and weeds
I don't think this is just a grab bag but it could partially be. Matthew collects as he's editing his book and the parables that he may not even know the meaning of clearly like the parable of the sower, he still wants to include. But hidden treasure and pearl are two different stories, one can just "happen" on God and the truth or one can be searching for it. We know the first case nothing is by chance but God engineers divine appointments. But I bet if you interviewed the "how did you get saved" stories of a hundred people, a couple three would be this "just happened to run into" story.