BCP Daily Office Lectionary for Oct. 18, 2004

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

Morning Psalm(s): AM Psalm 25

Evening Psalm(s) PM Psalm 9, 15

Old Testament: Ecclus. 4:20-5:7

Epistle: Rev. 7:1-8

Gospel Luke 9:51-62

The reading from Ecclesiasticus is a series of instructions about speech and everyday living. Some themes here have echoes in the New Testament Book of James, though the context differs somewhat. "Do not show partiality, to your own harm,/or deference, to your downfall" (Ecclus. 4:22; cf. Jas. 2:1-7). "Do not be reckless in your speech,/or sluggish and remiss in your deeds" (Ecclus. 4:29; cf. Jas. 3:1-12 on controlling the tongue, and Jas. 1:22-23 on being "doers of the word"). Other precepts represent enlightened common sense living or piety. "Do not rely on your wealth,/ or say, ‘I have enough'" (Ecclus. 5:1). "Do not be so confident of forgiveness/that you add sin to sin" (v. 5). "Do not depend on dishonest wealth,/for it will not benefit you on the day of calamity" (v. 8).

Today's lesson begins a series of readings from Revelation in an interlude between the sixth and seventh seals (Rev., chap. 6; 8:1-5). With a play on the word "seal," a calculation is given for "the number of those who were sealed" (Rev. 7:4): 144,000 (= 12 X 12,000). They are defined here as 12,000 from each of twelve Israelite tribes (vv. 5-8), "the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads" (v. 4), but the 144,000 appear in chapter 14 with the Lamb as those "who have been redeemed from the earth" (14:3). In both chapters, the number is "a symbolic expression for the whole number of the faithful" (Bruce M. Metzger, NOAB), not some kind of inner circle of the elect. The book ends with Jesus' invitation: "The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come,'/And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come,'/And let everyone who is thirsty come./Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift" (Rev. 22:17). God is in the business of including all who do not resist him, not arbitrarily excluding people. As C. S. Lewis once said somewhere (in Mere Christianity?), "There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way'" (http://www.nonstopenglish.com/reading/quotations/A_C1-S1-Lewis.asp).

Luke; reports that a Samaritan village did not receive Jesus and his disciples (Lk. 9:51-56). Jesus rejects the proposal to "command fire to come down from heaven and consume them" (v. 56), and comments further on some would-be followers, emphasizing the "costs" of discipleship. "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" (v. 58). "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God" (v. 60). "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" (v. 62). The "dead" (v. 60) have been described as "the spiritually dead, who are not alive to the greater demands of the kingdom of God" (Elwyn E. Tilden on Mt. 8:22, NOAB). Another speculated that the one who said, "first let me go and bury my father," meant "let me go and help my father farm; then, when he dies, I'll come and follow you." Not that farming is a bad thing to do, for one called to such work. Jesus was not instructing that we break the commandment to honor parents. But he was putting a priority on proclaiming the Kingdom of God.

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.