BCP Daily Office Lectionary for Oct. 10, 2004

    Source: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm

Morning Psalm(s): AM Psalm 146, 147

Evening Psalm(s) PM Psalm 111, 112, 113

Old Testament: Micah 6:1-8

Epistle: 1 Cor. 4:9-16

Gospel Matt. 15:21-28

Micah says "the LORD has a controversy/case with his people" (Micah 6:2). The Hebrew word riv, sometimes "dispute, quarrel," sometimes "lawsuit," appears three times in the first two verses, translated "case . . . controversy . . . controversy" (NRSV). The mountains and hills are the jury, "Rise, plead your case before the mountains,/and let the hills hear your voice" (v. 1). God has delivered Israel from Egypt (v. 4), and from other enemies along the way (v. 5). What then is Israel to offer in return? Not a multitude of burnt offerings and related sacrifices (vv. 6-7) but humble and righteous living. "What does the LORD require of you/but to do justice, and to love kindness,/and to walk humbly with your God?" (v. 8).

In the first four chapters of First Corinthians, Paul addresses the problem of divisions within the church at some length. Since the divisions seem related to the alliegance of some to one apostle, and some to another (1 Cor. 1:12-13), Paul discusses the relative importance of "the one who plants and the one who waters" (3:8) in chapter three, and before leaving the subject he gets very ironic. "Already you have all you want! [You wish!] Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle . . ." (4:8-9). These ironic contrasts between the people and the apostles continue, not "to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children" (v. 14). "I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me" (v. 16). What imitating Paul means is not spelled out in the immediate context, but it is surely similar to what he means in Philippians, chapter 3. Paul wants to "gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own . . . but one that comes through faith in Christ" (Phil. 3:8-9). He wants to "press on toward the goal for the porize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus" (v. 14), and he wants the Philippian believers to join him in that (vv. 15, 17), not focused on the goods of this world, like some, whose "god is the belly" (v. 19), but with their "citizenship . . . in heaven" (v. 20).

I'd like to think that Jesus was joking with the Canaanite (Mt. 15:22) or Syrophoenician (Mk. 7:26) woman when he said, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs" (Mt. 15:26; cf. Mk. 7:27). In the end, he would respond to the woman's faith (Mt. 15:28) and heal the daughter. Somehow, the twinkle in his eye when he said it did not make it into the text. This would not be the only instance in which Jesus encouraged persistence (cf. Lk. 11:5-8). The "lost sheep" saying, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt. 15:24), reminds us that, at the time, Jesus' "primary mission was to call Jews back to God. The Gentile woman's claim must be based on her own personal acceptance of his message. The distinction is between his mission and his willingness to respond to faith wherever found" (Elwyn E. Tilden & Bruce M. Metzger, New Oxford Annotated Bible).

Ronald D. Worden