BCP Daily Office Lectionary for Oct. 26, 2004
Source: http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/index.htm
Morning Psalm(s): AM Psalm 45 [Presbyterian: Ps. 12:1-8]
Evening Psalm(s) PM Psalm 47, 48 [Presbyterian: Ps. 36:1-12]
Old Testament: Ecclus. 24:1-12
[Presbyterian: Jonah 3:1-4:11; for comments, see Thurs., Oct. 14]
Epistle: Rev. 11:14-19
Gospel Luke 11:27-36
Presbyterian Readings for the current day:
http://www.pcusa.org/cgi-bin/lectiond.cgi
Ben Sira introduces Lady Wisdom (Ecclus. 24:1-2; cf. Prov. 8:1-30; 3:13-20), who then speaks: "I came forth from the mouth of the Most High" (Ecclus 24:3), and though "over every people and nation I have held sway (v. 6), she says, she could not find "a resting page" (v. 7), until "the Creator of all things . . . said, ‘Make your dwelling in Jacob,/and in Israel receive your inheritance'" (v. 8), so "eternal Wisdom ministers to the Lord in the Jerusalem temple (Bruce M. Metzger & Roland E. Murphy, NOAB). In early Jewish thought there was a relationship, if not an identification, of Wisdom and Torah (Law/Instruction). "Long before the 1st cent., the torah had been identified with Wisdom, which was both pre-existent and the agent of creation. Thus the torah came to be conceived as the ground plan of the universe, which God himself had studied and made the very instrument of creation itself" (W. D. Davies, Peake's Commentary, sec. 617a, p. 708). Ben Sira has Wisdom continue speaking: "Before the ages, in the beginning, he created me" (v. 9; cf. Prov. 8:22). "In the holy tent I ministered before him [the Creator],/and so I was established in Zion" (v. 10). "I took root in an honored people,/in the portion of the Lord, his heritage" (v. 12). This understanding of Wisdom, which in Judaism comes to be understood in terms of Torah, underlies the Christian conception of Christ as the Word (Logos, Jn. 1:1-4). Judaism calls for a serious commitment to Torah; in a similar way, Christianity calls for a serious commitment to Christ.
In Revelation 11:14-19, "the seventh trumpet announces (v. 15) the consummation of God's Kingdom (10:7)" (Bruce M. Metzger, NOAB). "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord/and of his Messiah [Christ],/and he will reign forever and ever" (Rev. 11:15). The song (vv. 17-18) rejoices in God's victory: We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty,/who are and who were,/for you have taken your great power/and begun to reign./The nations raged,/but your wrath has come,/and the time for judging the dead,/for rewarding your servants, the prophets,/and saints and all who fear your name,/both small and great,/and for destroying those who destroy the earth." This good news for the saints and the vision of the redeemed (14:1-5) bracket the account of the atrocities of the dragon and the two beasts (chaps. 12-13). I take comfort in this song of victory and reference to the redeemed.
Luke reports the blessing of Jesus' mother by a woman in the crowd (Lk. 11:27-28). Jesus responds, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!" (v. 28), emphasizing discipleship and obedience, his spiritual family in contrast to, but without rejecting, his physical family (cf. Mk. 3:31-35). Jesus then responds to the request for a sign (Lk. 11:29-32; cf. Mt. 12:38-42). "The search for a sign is wicked. The only sign to be given is that of Jonah, who was a sign to heathen Nineveh, as Jesus is to Israel [which] will be condemned by the eager response of a Gentile queen and the repentance of the Gentile Ninevites" (G. W. H. Lampe, Peake's Commentary). Further sayings on light and the lampstand remind me of the promise in 1 John 1:7, "If we walk in the light as he himself [God, cf. v. 6] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."
Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.