BCP Daily Office Lectionary for Oct. 25, 2004

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

Morning Psalm(s): AM Psalm 41, 52

Evening Psalm(s) PM Psalm 44

Old Testament: Ecclus. 19:4-17

Epistle: Rev. 11:1-14

Gospel Luke 11:14-26

Ben Sira presents warnings about careless speaking. "Never repeat a conversation,/and you will lose nothing at all./With friend or foe do not report it,/and unless it would be a sin for you, do not reveal it" (Ecclus. 19:7-8). "Have you heard something? Let it die with you./Be brave, it will not make you burst!" (v. 10). "Like an arrow stuck in a person's thigh,/so is gossip inside a fool" (v. 12). One is advised to question what he or she hears (vv. 13-17), for example, "Question a friend, for often it is slander;/so do not believe everything you hear" (v. 15).

In the second vision between the sixth and seventh trumpets, the temple "and those who worship there" (Rev. 11:1) are "measured with a view to their preservation" (Metzger). The two witnesses (v. 3) are "the two olive trees and two lampstands" (cf. Zech. 4:2-3); they are "unnamed but resembling Zerubbabel and Joshua (Zech. 3:1-4:14) as well as Elijah (vv. 5-6 [i.e. Rev. 11:5-6]; 2 Kg. 1:10) and Moses (v. 6: Ex. 7:17, 19)" (Metzger). The two witnesses' prophecy "wearing sackcloth" is "a sign that their prophecy was of repentance" (Metzger). Their witness is powerful, like that of Moses and Elijah, but the adversary is "the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit" who "will make war on them and kill them" (v. 7). But although the enemy rejoices over them (vv. 9-20), God will resurrect them (v. 11) and call them up to heaven (v. 12). In spite of the deadly confrontation, we see here the pattern of Christian hope. "But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself (Phil. 3:20-21; cf. 2:9-11).

Luke reports how Jesus was accused of casting out demons "by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons" (Lk. 11:15; cf. 11:14-23; Mk. 3:22-27; Mt. 12:22-30) followed by Jesus' sayings about the unclean spirit which, when cast out, returns with more devastating consequences (Lk. 11:24-26; cf. Mt. 12:43-45). The good news is that Jesus has defeated Satan. "But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you" (Lk. 11:20; cf. "by the Spirit of God," Mt. 12:28). By "finger of God," Jesus refers to the Egyptian magicians' reaction to the third Plague (gnats). "This is the finger of God! (Ex. 8:19). Matthew interprets the metaphor, but both expressions point to God's power behind Jesus' exorcisms. This victory over Satanic powers is celebrated at some length in the Book of Revelation. "If God is for us, who is against us?" (Rom. 8:31).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.