BCP Daily Office Lectionary for Nov. 11, 2004
Source: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm
Morning Psalm(s): AM Psalm [83] or 23, 27 [Presbyterian: 36:1-12]
Evening Psalm(s) PM Psalm 85, 86 [Presbyterian: 80:1-19]
Old Testament: Joel 2:21-27
Epistle: James 1:1-15
Gospel Luke 15:1-2,11-32
Presbyterian Readings for the current day:
http://www.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/lectiond.cgi
Joel presents God's answer, "in response" (Joel 2:19), to the prayer of repentance he called for in yesterday's lesson. He will undo the damage of the locusts, "I will repay you for the years/that the swarming locust has eaten,/the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter/my great army, which I sent against you" (v. 25, cf. v. 20). He will heal the soil (v. 12) so the animals can be fed and trees bear fruit (v. 22). The people will "eat in plenty and be satisfied," and they will "praise the name of the LORD your God" (v. 26). As in other prophetic books pronouncements of judgment are followed by promises of mercy and grace. But here, the promises follow the call to repentance. For emphasis, the promise is repeated, "And my people shall never again be put to shame" (vv. 26, 27, last line of each).
James pronounces a blessing on "anyone who endures temptation" (Jas. 1:12), and advises us to "consider it nothing but joy" "whenever you face trials of any kind" (v. 2). Testing produces endurance (v. 3) and leads to maturity: "let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing" (v. 4). "One virtue leads to another" (Sophie Laws, HarperCollins Study Bible, cf. Rom 5:3-4; 1 Pet. 1:6-7). Here we are advised to ask God for wisdom (v. 5); in chapter 3, we are advised to demonstrate wisdom: "Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom" (3:13). Here (1:5) James promises that God will give wisdom. Compare Jesus' statement that God will give "good things" (Mt. 7:11) or "the Holy Spirit" (Lk. 11:13) to those who ask.
It is frequently pointed out that the prodigal son's elder brother represents the complaining Pharisees (Lk 15:2). "By calling his brother ‘this son of yours' he fails to recognize his brotherhood with outcast sinners" (G. W. H. Lampe, Peake's Commentary). "The basis of his relationship to his father is servitude, and keeping the commandments in a Pharisaic manner. . . . Luke always sees the Christian mission as directed in the first instance to the Jews as the chosen people" (Lampe). But we should not forget the seriousness of sin, all sin, whether the pride and blindness of the elder brother, or the willful departure of the younger brother. Older translations say "he gathered (synagō) all together" (Lk. 15:13; KJV), and recent translations are similar "the younger son gathered all he had" (NRSV). But commercial papyri discovered in modern times, and recent Lexicons, suggest that he "cashed it all in." Verse 13 means "gather everything together, perhaps in the sense or with the connotation turn everything into cash" (Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker). He perhaps didn't recognize the Devil's signature on the contract, but by his squandering of property "in dissolute living" (v. 13), he sold himself out, down the river, so to speak. For such people, the only hope is the grace of God. Such people also are clearly in a place to recognize their lostness, and to determine to return to the father. In some ways, the older brother was just as lost, but less likely to recognize his condition and do something about it.
Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.