Bible on the Back Porch
Reading, pondering and studying God’s Word is sometimes best done “on the back porch.” Each week we will try to offer something for you and your “back porch time.”
23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
What We Celebrate
“If your brother sins, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.” (Mt 18:15) Let’s be honest…how often do we do this? Matthew Long offers that we are inclined to 'forgive' sins in advance of repentance rather than have to confront the guilty parties. The cartoonist at agnusday.org captures one of any number of reasons we don’t often carry out this gospel mandate.
It is not easy stuff. It involves preparation, a possible hard conversation, presenting your observations in such a way that true listening is made possible so that you “win” your brother or sister back to the path of righteousness. There is a whole lot more. It is a rich and robust gospel. Come and take a moment on the back porch!
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary on the Gospel
Image credit: Sermon on the Mount (1877) by Carl Heinrich Bloch, Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, Public Domain
Sin
Sin is an interesting word. The oldest and first word used to describe sin is khata’. It means to fail or to miss the mark, miss the goal. In Judges 20:16, we learn that a slingshot expert who successfully nails the bullseye does not khata’, which means he did not fail, he didn’t miss the target. Similarly, we read in Proverbs 19:2 that people who act hastily while traveling are likely to khata’—to miss their intended destination, to end up lost, and perhaps in danger.
So, if sin is failing, missing the mark, or missing a goal, what’s the goal?
When God created humanity in his divine image, He set the goal. Genesis 1:26 captures the moment: “Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness.” We are reminded that God exists in three undivided persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—inseparable but distinct, forever together in an unbreakable bond of love. To be created in the image of a God means that our most essential nature is divine love. And as such we are to live with love for God and one another and all creation. That is the mark, that is our goal. Choosing to not love is to fail, to miss the goal. Choosing not to love is the most intrinsic instance of khata’ – sin.
Adam and Eve missed the goal of loving God when they ignore his instruction and redefine good and bad on their own terms. Their choice fractures their relationship with God and each other, leading to death. Turn the page and quickly see the corruption that comes from khata’ – in fact we encounter the Bible’s first use of khata’. Cain is faced with the decision to be truly human and love his brother or to corrupt himself and others by murdering his brother Abel. God warns Cain: “If you do not choose what is good, khata’ (sin) lies in wait at the door: its urge is for you, yet you can rule over it.” (Gen. 4:7). Sin is described as something outside of Cain, like a crouching predator waiting to attack and destroy life. But Cain can resist sin if he chooses to—he can rule over the crouching beast. So can we. Every person can reject sin by choosing to aim for the truest human goal—becoming infinitely loving toward God and others. To be perfect, whole, complete as is our heavenly Father.
24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
What We Celebrate
Peter has just confessed Jesus as Messiah, Son of the living God…and now he has a question: "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?" (Mt 18:21) Jesus’ opening response, “I say to you…” echoes the language of the Sermon on the Mount: “not seven times but seventy-seven times.” Some translations have “seventy-times seven. But in any case, this is the language of hyperbole, not of calculation. Those who are concerned as to whether the figure should be 77 or 490 have missed the point. The benchmark is provided by the unimaginable scale of God’s forgiveness of his people illustrated in the parable to follow (vv. 24–27). In other words, there is no limit, and no place for keeping a tally of forgiveness already used up. Peter’s question was misconceived: if one is still counting, however “generously,” one is not forgiving.
There is a lot more to this gospel. Sit with it for a moment on the back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary on the Gospel
Image Credit: Raphael, Handing-over the Keys, 1515, Victoria and Albert Museum, London | Public Domain
Forgiveness
How do you offer forgiveness? I suspect that the most common offer consists of “I forgive you” or “Don’t worry about” “Don’t give it a second thought” or “It’s nothing.” And that all might be true, but sometimes it is only the socially-expected response. It is what we do because we are Christian and we are called to forgive. But, are we really at peace with our response?
When Jesus calls us to be forgiving people, He asks us to tend to a garden in the Kingdom where our lives and relationships flourish, blossom and yield a 100-fold. And like all gardens you have to tend to it daily. It is a habit to be formed, a routine to be lived, and takes practice and patience.
It is a wonderful thing to consider how God tends to His garden, ever showering it with grace and love – and a whole lot of forgiveness. And there is the model of the way we are to tend the garden of our relationships. While we can hold out the image of color, wonder, and harvest as the fruit of our labor – we have to be realistic about the hard, back-breaking work of gardening…and true forgiveness.
25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
What We Celebrate
This is one of those gospel parables that sometimes does not sit right with us. I think we share in one or all three of the basic complaints by the first set of workers, the ones who worked all day. (1) They assumed they’d be paid more for more work. (2) The others were made equal to us and we worked harder than the others. (3) This was all a burden in the first place. It isn’t fair.
Robert Smith summarizes our reaction to the parable: “It is simply a fact that people regularly understand and appreciate God's strange calculus of grace as applied to themselves but fear and resent seeing it applied to others.” In a similar way, the parable of the unforgiving servant (last week’s gospel) suggested a great appreciation for God forgiving all of my sins; but a desire that God (and I) should punish all those who had sinned against me.
There is a lot more to this gospel. Sit with it for a moment on the back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary on the Gospel
Image Credit: Laborers in the Vineyard, icon | Public Domain
Grace
When God reveals who he is to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7, one of the words he uses to describe himself is gracious, or in Hebrew, khanun. “Yahweh, Yahweh, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, overflowing with loyal-love and faithfulness.” This verse is the most quoted and reused verse in the Hebrew Bible.
What does it mean to say that the God of the Bible is gracious? In this video, we’ll look at the Hebrew words for grace and understand it to be a rich concept that has profound implications for how we see God. When we look to the biblical meaning of grace and understand God as gracious, we see a God who loves to give generous gifts to undeserving people. The Golden Calf Incident is perhaps the best example of God showing undeserved favor in Exodus 34, the context from which the first description of God’s character is recorded in the Hebrew Bible.
The people break the first two terms of the covenant—no other gods and no idols—right after making them. God tells Moses that he is done with these people, that they are going to keep doing this. He is going to leave them and let them go toward the promised land without his presence.
Moses first shatters the tablets of the covenant (and makes the people drink the powdery ash!), and then he ascends to Yahweh for five rounds of intercession and conversation.
At one point Moses says, “If your presence doesn’t go with us, do not bring us up from this place [Mount Sinai], for how then can I know that I have found favor in your eyes, I and your people? Isn’t it by your going with us, so that I and your people are marked as distinct from all other people on the face of the land?” (Exodus 33:15-16).
God responds, “I will do this thing that you have asked, because you have found favor in my eyes” (Exodus 33:17).
So God ends up recommitting to the people and renewing the covenant they just broke, and he appears to Moses saying that he is “compassionate and khanun…” (Exodus 34:6). He is the giver of generous favor to people, even when they deserve the opposite.
This character trait of God from Exodus 32-34 becomes foundational for all of God’s future interactions with Israel.
26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
What We Celebrate
This well-known parable is located within a section of Matthew's gospel when Jesus is being questioned about the source of his authority. While the scribes and Pharisees have already reached a conclusion (Jesus is in league with Satan), they are seeking to have Jesus make a public statement about the source of his teaching and miraculous powers. Jesus' response to the challenge to his authority indicates two possibilities: authority can come from heaven or from humans.
One biblical scholar offered, "First, there is human authority. No matter how sophisticatedly it is packaged, human authority is a matter of raw power. If you have enough people behind you or guns with you, you have it, and what you say goes, period. Divine authority, on the other hand, has to do with truth, the truth of God, the truth about who God made us to be. In the short run, human authority can appear to overwhelm divine authority – even to crucify it – but, ultimately, God's truth prevails."
There is a lot more to this gospel. Sit with it for a moment on the back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary on the Gospel
Parable of the Two Sons, Andrei Monorov, 2012 | CC BY SA 4.0
Fairness
In the first reading for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) we hear from the Prophet Ezekiel: "You say, 'The LORD's way is not fair!' Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?"
When we assert that something is "unfair," in Biblical terms we are saying it is "unjust." We want to restore fairness, restore justice. It is a need in our world today and a controversial topic. But what is justice, exactly, and who gets to define it? In this video, we'll explore the biblical theme of Justice and discover how it's deeply rooted in the story-line of the Bible that leads to Jesus.
27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
What We Celebrate
This well-known parable is located within a section of Matthew's gospel when Jesus is being questioned about the source of his authority. It is during the events of Holy Week and the confrontation with the religious leaders is reaching its climax. In the parable of the "The Evil Tenants" there is a progression of people sent by the Landowner to collect the produce. The servants are sent, beaten by the tenants, and turned away. The Landowner sends his Son thinking surely they will respect him. The evil tenants kill the son thinking they will be able to take possession of the land.
Like all parables, it is to speak to the heart of the hearer. The Pharisees and Priests heard a tale of economic revolt. What did you hear? Just a story from long ago told to people of one time? Even today, the Kingdom of God calls for laborers for the harvest. What is your role in all this?
There is a lot more to this gospel. Sit with it for a moment on the back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary on the Gospel
The Parable of the Wicked Tenants, Maarten Van Valckenborch, c. 1585, Kunsthistorisches Museum | Public Domain PD-US
Covenants
The vineyard appears in Scripture many times. What does it represent? In the Prophet Isaiah it represents Israel and the promised land. But even that is but a representation of a deeper thing: the Covenant with God. What is a covenant? It is not the same as a “contract.” Where a contract exchanges goods and services for some consideration, a covenant is an exchange of persons. Each gives themselves to the other, whole and complete, without reservation. Such is the nature and goal of marriage. Such is the more fundamental covenant of God with people. In the Bible, humans continually fail as God’s covenant partners, until Jesus came to fulfill what we could not, restoring us to relationship with God.
28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
What We Celebrate
This well-known parable is the third of three parables within a single section of Matthew’s gospel. All the parables raise the question of rightful authority to interpret and proclaim God’s word. All three call for obedience, a change of heart, and bearing fruit in one’s life. But the parable of the Great Wedding Feast extends the teaching to indicate a time for obedience and choosing is approaching. The inheritance of Israel may be squandered, the Gentiles invited in - but they too must answer the call to obedience and faithfulness - and dress themselves in the robes of righteousness.
Like all parables, it is to speak to the heart of the hearer. Are you dressed and ready for the invitation?
There is a lot more to this gospel. Sit with it for a moment on the back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary on the Gospel
Parable of the Great Banquet by Brunswick Monogrammist (circa 1525) National Museum, Warsaw | Public Domain
29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
What We Celebrate
Over the three previous Sunday gospels we have heard parables of sons, servants and invited guests doing (or not doing) what the father, master, or king asks of them. They were all parables of the Kingdom of God. In today’s gospel we have a controversy story between Jesus and religious leaders about paying taxes to the secular kingdom of Rome. It is a story about image, trust, loyalties, and about being a faithful religious person in a secular world. In other words, a story for our times.
There is a lot more to this gospel. Sit with it for a moment on the back porch.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary on the Gospel
The Tribute Money, Peter Paul Rubens (1610–1615), Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Public Domain PD-US
The Kingdom of God
In the first reading for this Sunday we have an interesting intersection between the secular and the sacred - God calling the Persian King, Cyrus, as his “anointed.” In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, God is using Cyrus to return the people of Israel from captivity in Babylon back to Jerusalem. It is God’s message to the people that the true King still reigns, is in control, and fulfills his promises that they would be returned. This is another act in the play of God’s kingdom coming to fruition as the world awaits the true King. And this is Good News.