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Dances and Grudges: The Lectionary for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Dances and Grudges: The Lectionary for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Last updated on: July 5, 2015 at 11:00 am by Eric Smith

Dances and Grudges: The Lectionary for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost 2015-07-04T13:59:06-07:00 Eric Smith

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2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 and/or Amos 7:7-17

What It’s About: These are two very different texts. The first, from 2 Samuel, is an amazing look into the life of David and the world of ancient Israel. Here we see David dancing, frolicking almost, among the people and before the Lord. It’s a beautiful moment of seemingly unabashed joy. The Amos text, on the other hand, bears witness to clashing agendas, with Jereboam and his loyalists on one side and Amos (and possibly God) on the other. It’s a dramatic moment, captured in a text, that communicates a contest for the nation’s loyalties and its soul.

What It’s Really About: Both of these texts are political texts, in a way, and both attempt to speak to what’s most true about Israel. It’s not accidental that those two things go together. In the 2 Samuel text, Saul’s daughter (understandably) despises David, laying bare a division in the elite of the nation that had not yet healed. And the Amos text is explicit about the presence of a fault line in the society, between moneyed royalty with lots of power on the one hand and the righteousness of God on the other. Both texts point to the fractured nature of politics, orthodoxy, and society in ancient Israel–and that’s remarkable.

What It’s Not About: It’s not about carpentry, but the plumb line sure does make for a compelling image. Here’s one of the places where you can see how close the parables of Jesus are to the prophetic tradition; Jesus is speaking right within the tradition when he talks about the kingdom of God. Can’t you just hear him starting out, “the kingdom of God is like a plumb line set above a house…?” I can. Also: Can’t you just see Jesus dancing? I can.

Maybe You Should Think About: Dance is one of those worship tools that should be deployed carefully. But maybe this is a Sunday to think about adding dance to the service. This will be easier for some than for others, but it might be worth it. David danced before the Lord! What a beautiful image.

Psalm 24 and/or Psalm 85:8-13

What It’s About: The earth! The universe! The cosmos! This is another one of those creation-centered psalms.

What It’s Really About: These psalms are all about recognizing the greatness of God in creation. As such, they make great companions when you are preaching about environmental or ecological concerns, or when you simply want to draw attention to the many ways God is present around us in the created world.

What It’s Not About: It’s not about the king! Notice the last couple of verses of Psalm 24: the king of glory is explicitly not the king of Israel, it is God. I’d love to have been a fly on the wall the first time they debuted that one in front of the king!

Maybe You Should Think About: Thinking of an outdoor worship service, as many churches do in the summertime? This would be a great choice. But you already knew that!

Ephesians 1:3-14

What It’s About: These are some of the opening words of the letter to the Ephesians. However, there are some issues with that. Most scholars (but not all) think that Paul was not the author of Ephesians, and there is good manuscript evidence that the letter once circulated without the name of Ephesus in its “To” line. So the theological debates encapsulated in these verses (see below) should be tempered by the very real possibility that Paul didn’t write this book. Whether that changes what it means as scripture is up to the interpreter.

What It’s Really About: If these are Paul’s words, then we can read some things into them. Paul was very formulaic in his letter-writing, and this is the part of a typical Pauline letter where he would kind of give away the ending–where he would say what he thought the letter would be about. So if Paul wrote this, then we can read into it that he thought he was writing to Ephesus (a vibrant center for Christianity and a site Paul is associated with in Acts) about theological matters. But if he didn’t write these words or this letter, then we should be careful (depending on our views of scripture) making too much theology out of this passage.

What It’s Not About: For me, it’s not about predestination, which for my money is one of the least interesting debates in Christian theology (and that is saying something). It’s a debate that is nearly unintelligible for non-reform folks. Don’t get me wrong–I love a good theological debate. But this one just isn’t one I’m interested in.

Maybe You Should Think About: Give Ephesians a re-read and decide what you think about its authorship before you preach it. That might go a long way toward helping you decide what you want to do with this text. If it’s Paul, it’s one thing; if it’s not, then it turns into a very different text.

Mark 6:14-29

What It’s About: This is the story of the death of John the Baptist (or John the Baptizer, as my Methodist congregants used to tell me, to avoid giving satisfaction to the Baptists). For such a charismatic and dynamic figure John dies in a strange way–as fodder in a strangely-sexual, strangely-political power play among the provincial rulers. It’s not quite a martyr’s death, and it’s not quite a straightforward murder. It’s a strange tale, almost out of some some of macabre book of horror stories.

What It’s Really About: This story serves to lay the groundwork for how horrible the Herodian family is, which will pay dividends later in the gospel. But it also serves to remind us of John’s existence, which in turn helps to remind us of Jesus’ purpose and destiny. It’s almost a kind of narrative foreshadowing, this death: if John, who came before Jesus and was lesser than him, should fall to the Herodians, then of course Jesus would too, right?

What It’s Not About: It’s not about John–or at least the gospel writers don’t want it to be. The John the Baptist material is so delightfully awkward in the gospels, because the evangelists don’t know what to do with it. They need John to introduce and legitimate Jesus, but then he needs to fade away quickly. They can’t leave his storyline hanging, but they also don’t want to glorify his death and risk putting him above Jesus. (Followers of John the Baptist seem to have persisted at least into the fifth century). So I wonder if that’s why this story reads like a morality tale–it can’t take on the full flavor of martyrdom, because it would overshadow Jesus, but neither can John simply wander around Judea while Jesus is doing the same. This story ties up that storyline nicely

Maybe You Should Think About: What would John think about his role in this gospel and the others? Would he approve? Why or why not?

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