BCP Daily Office Lectionary for Nov. 18, 2004
Source: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm
Morning Psalm(s): 105:1-22 [Presbyterian: 143:1-12]
PM Psalm 105:23-45 [Presbyterian: 81:1-16]
Old Testament: Malachi 2:1-16
Epistle: James 4:13-5:6
Gospel: Luke 17:20-37
Presbyterian Readings for the current day:
http://www.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/lectiond.cgi
Through the prophet Malachi, the LORD rebukes the unworthy priests. “If you will not listen, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse on you and I will curse your blessings; indeed I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart” (Mal. 2:2). He reminds them of “my covenant with Levi” (v. 4) and the example of Moses, of the tribe of Levi (v. 6). The “third oracle” (Mal. 2:10-16) condemns the faithlessness of marrying “the daughter of a foreign god (v. 11) and divorcing one’s first wife (vv. 14-16). L. H. Brockington calls this passage a “charge of faithlessness to Yahweh by marrying foreign women who worship other gods and of neglecting their own wives whom they married in a covenant relationship ratified by Yahweh” (Peake’s Commentary).
James condemns the presumption of merchants who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money” (Jas. 4:13). “These merchants were the materialist core of the contemporary bourgeois prosperity. In 4:11, 12 the sin of arrogance was in self-righteous smearing of others; here it is in the equally godless self-assurance in the usual trader’s mentality and prospectus” (James B. Adamson, New International Commentary on the New Testament). James continues with “a new attack on the rich; the message is the same as that of Jesus’ parable of the rich fool (Lk. 12:16-21)” (Sophie Laws, on vv. 13-17, HarperCollins Study Bible). James then turns to rich farmers with a similar message (5:1-6) that “recalls prophetic denunciations” (Sophie Laws).
Luke’s material parallel to the eschatological speech of Mark 13 and Matthew 24 appears, for the most part in Luke, chapter 21. But some with parallels in Matthew appears in Luke 17: a warning not to go out looking for the Son of Man (Lk. 17:23-24; Mt. 24:26-27); comparison with the days of Noah (Lk. 17:26-27; Mt. 24:37-41); “Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it” (Lk. 17:33; Mt. 10:39; Mk. 8:35; Mt.16:25; Lk. 9:24). One saying of Jesus from today’s lesson seems to be unique: “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you” (Lk. 17:21). Some scholars, aware of debates about what Jesus meant by his eschatological teaching, have labeled the concept presented by this verse “realized eschatology.” It seems to me that, whatever else Jesus may have meant by that statement, he is saying that he himself will be with the sincere believer who seeks him out--with him or her as Lord, Savior and Friend.
Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.