Sunday, November 10, 2019

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 27/22nd Sunday after Pentecost

First Reading: Haggai 1:15b-2:9 Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21
Second Reading: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Gospel Reading: Luke 20:27-38

The liturgical color for the day is: Green

From the Leadership Development Bible Study – Unit 2 on 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

In our own theological realm and context, we often read such texts with some chagrin. Our tendency is not to personify evil and speak of Satan or the devil. We would do well to consider that just because we choose not to actively personify evil in a person (as if to dismiss it from ourselves), we dare not dismiss the reality of evil in our own world. Systems of injustice, oppression, power imbalance, and economic tyranny continue as rivals to the justice God would have us welcome. Our own role and participation in such systems must be named and claimed as the evil in which we are active participants every single day.

The aim in the letter is not to paint a picture of the Parousia, or the Day of the Lord. Nor should we have this aim. The aim in the letter is to reframe and redirect the thinking and focus of the people of the church at Thessalonica. Their attention is to be focused rightly on their relationship with God in Christ Jesus, and they are to accomplish that by “holding fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.” Attentiveness to words and The Word was then, and is now, the centerpiece of a praxis of faithfulness for the Church.

From the Leadership Development Bible Study – Unit 2 on Luke 20:27-38

The Sadducees that approach Jesus have a clear point of view that must not be overlooked. They did not believe in resurrection. They believed that life is to be lived fully, and they believed that with death all is ended. Their scenario is set up to trap Jesus. “If this, then this, then this…then what…” We have all been trapped in theological debates that take this shape, and the goal is always to win and rarely to learn.

Jesus turns to their body of literature and shows how the very language of the story of the bush demonstrates resurrection. In that story, God announces to Moses that God is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. The tense matters. It is a present tense. God does not announce to Moses, “I was the God of Abraham,” but rather, “I am the God of Abraham.” This shows that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob continue in resurrection. In Luke’s Gospel, we also encounter Moses as one who continues in resurrection. The story of the Transfiguration has Moses as one of the dazzling white figures who is transfigured on the mountain.

Ponder…

What is the difference between theological conversation and contest? How do leaders in your church invite conversation about faithfulness while discouraging theological contest? What might be done to encourage conversation while discouraging contest?

Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk