Daily Scripture Readings
Wednesday (November 23, 2005)
Daily Office Lectionary, The Book of Common Prayer, the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.	Daily Lectionary, The Book of Worship, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.	Daily Lectionary, Book of Worship Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, c. 1978 (2002 printing)
http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm http://www.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/lectiond.cgi
Unless otherwise indicated, the scripture texts quoted are from The New Revised Standard Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers), 1989.
According to Proper29*	According to Proper 29*	According to Proper 28*
Wednesday AM Psalm 119:145-176 PM Psalm 128, 129, 130 Obadiah 15-21 1 Pet. 2:1-10; Matt. 19:23-30 Clement of Rome: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Clement_Rome.htm Psalm 78:3-7 or 85:8-13 2 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 6:37-45	Morning: Psalm 96:1-13 Obadiah 15-21 1 Peter 2:1-10 Matthew 19:23-30 Evening: Psalm 132:1-18	Wednesday Morning Pss.: 96, 147:1-12 Evening Pss.: 132, 134

NOTE: Some comments for today are repeated with adaptation from an email message sent November 25 for November 26, 2003.

 

On the day before Thanksgiving, we read about restoration of Israel (Obadiah), spiritual renewal for Christians, preparing them for work as a holy priesthood in a spiritual temple (Peter), and Jesus' perspective on the relative value of riches and the rewards for those who have "left everything and followed him.

 

Obadiah 15-21

 

¹⁵ For the day of the Lord is near against all the nations.

As you have done, it shall be done to you;

your deeds shall return on your own head.

¹⁶ For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,

all the nations around you shall drink;

they shall drink and gulp down,

    and shall be as though they had never been.

 

¹⁷ But on Mount Zion there shall be those that escape,

and it shall be holy;

and the house of Jacob shall take possession of those who dispossessed them.

¹⁸ The house of Jacob shall be a fire,

the house of Joseph a flame,

and the house of Esau stubble;

they shall burn them and consume them,

and there shall be no survivor of the house of Esau;

 for the Lord has spoken.

¹⁹ Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau,

and those of the Shephelah the land of the Philistines;

they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,

and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

²⁰ The exiles of the Israelites who are in Halah

shall possess Phoenicia as far as Zarephath;

and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad

shall possess the towns of the Negeb.

²¹ Those who have been saved shall go up to Mount Zion

to rule Mount Esau;

and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s. (Obadiah 15-21, NRSV)

 

As the focus of Nahum is on Assyria, so the focus of Obadiah is on Edom. In both cases, the LORD’s judgment upon the enemy nation is relief for Israel. Obadiah rebukes Edom: “On the day that you stood aside,/on the day that strangers carried off his wealth,/and foreigners entered his gates/and cast lots for Jerusalem/you too were like one of them” (Obadiah 11). From Israel’s perspective, Edom stood by and watched the Babylonian destruction and captivity of Israel. “But you should not have gloated over your brother/on the day of his misfortune;/you should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah/on the day of their ruin;/you should not have boasted/on the day of distress” (v. 12). Edom added insult to injury by “gloating over Judah’s disaster” (v. 13), even hindering the flight of fugitives (v. 14).
Apparently, they even moved in to take over Jewish territory when the Jews were deported. (Compare the location of Edom on maps of the Old Testament period in your Bible, southeast of the Dead Sea, with the location of Idumea, a later name for Edomite territory, in Persian-Hellenistic times.)

            The selection for today’s reading continues Obadiah’s rebuke and judgment of Edom (vv. 15-16). “As you have done, it shall be done to you;/your deeds shall return on your own head” (v. 15). The restoration of Israel which follows is described as blessing for Israel at Edom’s expense. Israel is “a fire,” “a flame” and “the house of Esau stubble,” and Edom will be burned with “no survivor” (v. 18). Various Israelite tribes and groups will repossess land from Esau, the Philistines, Samaria and Gilead (v. 19), and others will repossess “Phoenicia as far as Zarephath,” and “the towns of the Negeb” (v. 20). “Those who have been saved [i.e. Israelites restored from captivity] shall go up to Mount Zion/to rule Mount Esau;/and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s” (v. 21).

 

1 Peter 2:1-10

 

            2:1 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

            4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture:

“See, I am laying in Zion a stone, dk

a cornerstone chosen and precious;

and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,

“The stone that the builders rejected

has become the very head of the corner,”

8 and

“A stone that makes them stumble,

and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

            9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

10 Once you were not a people,

but now you are God’s people;

once you had not received mercy,

but now you have received mercy.

 

Peter urges Christians to "Rid yourselves...of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander" (1 Pet. 2:1), but to "long for the pure spiritual milk, so that, by it you may grow into salvation" (v. 2). He then uses three Old Testament texts (Isa. 28:16; Ps. 118:22; Isa. 8:14) to develop the picture of Christ as the rejected stone that "has become the very head of the corner" (v. 7), "a cornerstone chosen and precious" (v. 6), and to invite Christians, "like living stones [to] be built into a spiritual house," a new temple, as it were, with "a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (v. 5).

 

Peter H. Davids comments on the “stone” (v. 8) which “divides believers from unbelievers (including the persecutors of these Christian readers)” (The First Epistle of Peter, NICNT, 1990, p. 90 on 1 Pet. 2:9). Peter then

 

returns to the topic of their privileged position in God’s temple, using the emphatic “but you” to make the transition and contrast clear. This position is described by transferring to the church the titles of Israel in the OT (for the church is the true remnant of Israel, as the use of Israel’s titles from 1:1 on indicates), in particular the titles found in the Septuagint of Exod. 19:5-6 (cf. 23:22) and Isa. 43:20-21 (cf. Deut. 4:20; 7:6; 10:15; 14:2). (Davids, p. 90 on 1 Pet. 2:9)

 

Today’s reading concludes with “a poem based on Hos. 1:6, 9-10; 2:23” (Davids, p. 93 on 1 Pet. 2:10). Hosea’s unfaithful wife had children with symbolic names. “She conceived again and bore a daughter. Then the LORD said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have pity on the house of Israel or forgive them” (Hos. 1:;6). “When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God” (Hos. 1:8-9). This judgment on Israel is reversed in Hosea 2:23: “And I will have pity on Lo-ruhamah,/and I will say to Lo-ammi, ‘You are my people’;/and he shall say, ‘You are my God’.”

 

Unlike Israel these Christians never experienced themselves as unfaithful to a covenant, but they did realize that they were once outside God’s favor, that is, rejected. Once they were “not a people,” for “the people of God” was a term reserved for Israel. . . . But now these Christians know they are elect—not just a people of God, but the people of God. They are the recipients of God’s mercy, that is, his care and concern. (Davids, p. 93 on 1 Pet. 2:10)

 

Matthew 19:23-30

 

23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, “Then who can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

27 Then Peter said in reply, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

 

When the rich young man "went away grieving" (Mt. 19:22), Jesus continues the discussion with his disciples. "Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven....it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" (vv. 23-24). Even so, "for God all things are possible" (v. 26), that is, for mortals, including the rich, to be saved (vv. 25-26). Jesus adds something about rewards for those who "have left everything and followed" him (v. 27), but reminds them that "many who are first will be last, and the last will be first" (v. 30).

 

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com