Sunday, July 18, 2021 – 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:
– First Reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-14a
– Psalm 89:20-37
– Second Reading: Ephesians 2:11-22
– Gospel Reading: Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

The liturgical color for the day is: Green

Bruce Metzger said, “David wishes to build a temple, but God wills that he establishes an everlasting dynasty.”  What if, like David, God is calling us to build “the dynasty” and not the building?  In this regard the dynasty is one of relationship and family.   If Covid has taught us anything in the Church, relationship and family become the “house” that we are called to construct, and the concrete and mortar structures in which our ministries are located are secondary. 

As one brings this passage alongside the Gospel Lesson, consider the building of a dynasty of compassion.  We are told in Mark 6:34: “As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.”

What if we were to understand our charge to build the church as a charge to build a “dynasty of compassion?”

In the New Testament, the word used for compassion is reserved for talking about Christ.  It is a characteristic of God.  It is what God has for humanity.  God, if you will, suffers with us.  In the cross of Christ, we have been “compassioned.”

God’s heart towards us—God’s spirit towards us—God’s movement towards us is one of suffering alongside of us.  God goes with us.  God holds us and has us.  We have been compassioned.  God is at hand.

When we adopt that God-like view of compassion and apply it to our neighbors, then we are building a dynasty of compassion.  Such building is the building of the church, yet our challenge is that we, like David, grow to see that building such a dynasty is vastly more important (and timely) than ciders, concrete, and stained glass.

May we build a dynasty of compassion.

—

Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk