Proper 19

The Sufferings of the Servant of God

Collect - Lord Jesus Christ, our support and defense in every need, continue to preserve Your Church in safety, govern her by Your goodness, and bless her with Your peace; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Isa 50.4-9a

Isaiah 50:4–9a RSVCE

The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him that is weary. Morning by morning he wakens, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.

notes: (L→10) Good to read the "I gave them my back, cheeks, beard" and the "set my face like a flint" in this servant song context. I wonder of the Isaiah passages quoted in the NT, what percentage come from the servant songs.

Gradual: Psalm 34:9, 19, alt. Fear the Lord, you his saints / for those who fear him lack nothing! / Many are the afflictions of the righteous / but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Jam 3.1-12

James 3:1–12 RSVCE

Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness. For we all make many mistakes, and if any one makes no mistakes in what he says he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. If we put bits into the mouths of horses that they may obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Look at the ships also; though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So the tongue is a little member and boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no human being can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening fresh water and brackish? Can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

notes: I think James is honest to say we can't control the tongue—I interpret that as we will never fully be able to control it. But the lesson here is with the grace of God, do as much as possible to control it, because if you can do that or have God do that, then that is a major step forward. Investing in that aspect of self-control pays dividends in all other areas of life. Self-control is not just sex/pornography and substance abuse but the tongue, and women fail as much as men, so we ought to be preaching that, so as to speak to all in the congregation.

Blessing - eulogia

Cursing - katara

Psalm not read but sung Psa 116

Mrk 8.27-38

Mark 8:27–38 RSVCE

And Jesus went on with his disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter, and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men.” And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

notes: The Markan account of Peter's Confession of Christ followed by Jesus predicts his death, and ending with a bang, "if you would follow me, then take up your cross."