Category: General

Well, I fell behind during the Christmas break and didn’t keep up with posting.  I did keep up with reading, and I may even post some of my thoughts on the older passages as I have time.  I hope you won’t mind finding those in the feed. Today I will post some overviews of the lectionary passages for the Baptism of Jesus.

But there is one useful feature of this site that works even when I’m not posting myself.  Each day I scan hundreds of blogs and feeds that relate to the Bible, Christianity, religion in general, and how these interact with society.  I tag various ones of them.  One of the groups I tag is those that are related to the lectionary and appear useful.

You will find two lists in the right hand sidebar.  The first lists those posts on the lectionary that I have written elsewhere.  In general, I will link to these here in specific articles, but this provides a summary.  But below that you will find my selections of lectionary passages.  I don’t take these by any automatic tagging system.  If a post is there it means I at least scanned it, and thought it would be useful to those who teach, preach, or write on the lectionary.

Watch here also for links that will offer you the chance to discuss the passages in the forum at Energion.net.

It’s not surprising that, as I read the passages for Advent 1B, [corrected from 1A-What can I have been thinking?] I got the sense of expectation, and even just a bit (or more) of impatience.  We have the prayer for God’s intervention and protection in Psalm 80, the cry for God to rend the heavens and come down in Isaiah 64, while in Mark 13:24-37 we have both the promise of the future coming and the command to hang on because we don’t know when.  In 1 Corinthians, Paul is writing to a congregation that was very confused on expectation.  Some thought they had already arrived.  Others were looking for a variety of signs.

The idea of being in connection with the world is one that has caused Christians considerable distress over time.  We have those who think that the only thing we must do is to look for the second coming.  Saving souls becames the only important thing.  Saving bodies and dealing with the problems of the world fades into the background.  On the other hand we have those who get so involved with living in the world and solving its problems that they have no time for heavenly things.

We tend to see connection with the world as something that is in constant tension with preparation for the heavenly kingdom.  It comes up when it’s time to vote.  How much attention do I pay to elections?  How much weight do I put on their results?  Is my kingdom not the one in heaven?

(more…)

The following audio introduction comes from a previously podcast series on 1 Corinthians.  It will serve as introductory notes for the various comments I will make on passages from 1 Corinthians.  I think it is very important to consider the structure of the letter in understanding these passages.  The first epistle to the Corinthians is often regarded as mildly disorganized, but I disagree.  Paul is speaking on a central theme and relating the questions he is asking back to that theme.

I also strongly commend Dr. Gordon Fee’s commentary on 1 Corinthians in the New International Commentary on the New Testament series.  I regard it as the best commentary on a single book of the Bible that I have ever used.

{audio}1_corinthians_intro.mp3{/audio}

I will use a number of standard references, and will cite them in brackets [] by abbreviation. I list the references I expect to cite regularly in the list below. I will expand this list as I work. In cases of lexicons, dictionaries and commentaries, where the particular reference is quite obvious, I will just give the work. For example, the reference [BDAG] following discussion of a Greek word means that I used “A Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition” edited by Danker, under the appropriate article. Similarly [IDB] means the “Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible” again under the word being discussed. If there is doubt about what article I’m citing, I will include that. Commentaries will be cited the same way. For example, any volume in the Anchor Bible series will simply be [AB__] with the volume. In this case, it is that commentary relating to the text under discussion. For example, in Psalms 19, if I’m referencing the Anchor Bible commentary I would say use [AB Psalms I], first volume of the three volume Anchor Bible commentary on the Psalms. In addition, in the abbreviation list, I will give only the minimum information necessary to identify the work. Further bibliographic data will be available if there is a review on Energion.com. If there is, there will be a link to it in the abbreviation list. As I see that this list is being used I will improve the reference information.

Other references will be given in greater detail. On each reference in this list, I will include a link to purchase that item via Amazon.com. If you find these notes helpful, please consider making your purchases from Amazon after linking from this site. The referral fees help to keep the site running and make it possible for me to write these notes.

While I am fairly old fashioned and use many print books, I do now use the Logos Scholar’s Library as a foundation for my study. In some cases, works cited are in the editions used in that library. I enthusiastically recommend the Libronix system as a whole, and their Biblical languages material in particular.

Abbreviations for Standard References:

Links after each title go to a page on which I discuss the value of that title for my lectionary study if I have written such a page, or to the detail page from the Energion.com Book site if I have not yet done so.  While I am busy revising this page (11/21/2008), there may still be links directly to Amazon.com.

My pastor preached from the gospel lesson, Matthew 25:31-46 this past Sunday, and reminded me of something important.  Though this is called a parable, it is really much more of an apocalyptic vision, presenting the scene of judgment day.

Besides the differences in the way one would understand a vision and a parable, this provides a good context for connecting the various texts.  Consider the visions around the throne for example in Revelation 4 & 5, or even other theophanies such as Ezekiel 1 or the second coming scene in Daniel 7.

What does it mean to stand before God?  How will we feel when we do so?  Frequently we speak of “being in the presence of God” in our worship services, but the presence of God is never so casual a thing in scripture.

In our texts we have the question of the shepherds that God is going to replace because they haven’t been feeding his people in Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24.  God’s judgment in that case involves removal from a position but if we tie it in to the view of the sheep and the goats, who are asked whether they cared for one another, then the failure of the shepherds takes on a new–and final–meaning.

Psalm 100 is the most positive of these texts in that it is a Psalm of praise.  In the one sense it’s entirely positive, but it references the “sheep of God’s pasture” (v. 3) which might give a slightly different view if connected with the shepherds of Ezekiel 34 and the goats of Matthew 25!

Finally, Ephesians 1 brings us in for another angle, but connects to Matthew 25 by centering the entire judgment, and the path to judgment, in Jesus Christ, his work, and his authority and lordship.

I think it will be very hard to teach or preach from this passage without centering in some way on the final judgment.

• Acts 2:14a, 22-32
  Peter opens the proclamation of the gospel.
• Psalm 16
  Celebration of deliverance.
• 1 Peter 1:3-9
  The outcome of the testing of our faith.
• John 20:19-31
  Jesus appears to the disciples and the doubting of Thomas.

(more…)

Acts 16:16-34

Psalm 97

Revelation. 22:12-21 (12-14, 16-17, 20-21)

John 17:20-26

(more…)

Acts 16:9-15

Psalm 67

Revelation 21:10,22-22:5

John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9

(more…)