{"id":149,"date":"2015-06-28T11:00:54","date_gmt":"2015-06-28T18:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lectio\/?p=149"},"modified":"2015-06-27T14:40:09","modified_gmt":"2015-06-27T21:40:09","slug":"prophets-in-their-hometowns-the-lectionary-for-the-sixth-sunday-after-pentecost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lectio\/2015\/06\/prophets-in-their-hometowns-the-lectionary-for-the-sixth-sunday-after-pentecost\/","title":{"rendered":"Prophets in their Hometowns: The Lectionary for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A view of Mt. Zion, near present day, from Abu Tor. Image is in the public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10<\/a> <\/strong>and\/or\u00a0Ezekiel 2:1-5<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

What It\u2019s About:\u00a0<\/strong>The 2 Samuel text is about David\u2019s ascension to the throne and an overview of his reign; the Ezekiel text is an account of a prophetic call and charge. Both of these are ways of describing how God insinuates God\u2019s presence into the midst of the people. Kingship was a major way that the divine was mediated to the people, and kings like David were presumed to have an especially close relationship to God, and to receive advice and aid from God. The prophets were not always so straightforwardly aligned with the national machinery, but they still represented God\u2019s voice calling out in the midst of the people. In both of these texts, we have the voice of God breaking into common life.<\/p>\n

What It\u2019s Really About:\u00a0<\/strong>These passages are about two of the three major ways that the Israelites understood God\u2019s voice and presence to be exhibited\u2013at least in official, textual accounts. Prophet, priest, and king is a familiar triad, and here we have two of those three in view. These ways of finding God\u2019s presence were woven into the fabric of everyday life for the Israelites (again, at least officially and textually).<\/p>\n

What It\u2019s Not About:\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s not about 2 Samuel 5:6-8, which describes the way David came to possess Jerusalem. It\u2019s easy to see why these verses were left out, but reading them does help to make sense of verse 9, in which David is seen as occupying the city.<\/p>\n

Maybe You Should Think About:\u00a0<\/strong>In the wake of President Obama\u2019s moving eulogy for Clementa Pinckney<\/a>, it might be interesting to think about the way the bible describes David. David is especially close to God, \u201cafter God\u2019s own heart,\u201d and seemingly attuned to the will of God in powerful ways. Is that what we want from our leaders? Some say yes, and some say no, and President Obama\u2019s eulogy was probably the most forthrightly religious speech from a sitting president in a generation. What do we make of that?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Psalm 48<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

What It\u2019s About:\u00a0<\/strong>This is a psalm to Zion, the city and mountain of God.<\/p>\n

What It\u2019s Really About:<\/strong>\u00a0This psalm really underscores a couple of things: national strength and national identity with God. These two things are connected in the city of Jerusalem (Zion), the geographical place where God\u2019s presence was most keenly felt and God\u2019s security was most fully realized. Zion is seen as an impregnable fortress before which the kings of the earth flee. There was a concept in antiquity called axis mundi<\/em> that held that there was a kind of umbilicus for the world\u2013a spot where the earth and heaven could nearly touch and where the divine was accessible to humans. Jerusalem was this for the Israelites; it was the spot on the earth where God was most near. This psalm communicates that proximity and the comfort that God\u2019s presence can bring.<\/p>\n

What It\u2019s Not About:\u00a0<\/strong>This psalm is not as much about the temple as you might expect\u2013although the temple does make an appearance in verse 9. We tend to think of Jerusalem as one big temple complex, with the temple and its concerns dominating the city. But this psalm paints the city itself heroically, with the city\u2019s own architecture and geology making up the source of its strength. It\u2019s a different way to think about what was important about the city of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

Maybe You Should Think About:\u00a0<\/strong>Summer sometimes seems to be a time of pilgrimage for people. Folks take trips to places and spaces that are sacred to them in one way or another: to relatives\u2019 homes, to favorite beaches or lakes, to summer camps or cookouts with friends. These kinds of experiences will be familiar to many, and that might be a good way to introduce what Jerusalem meant to people like this psalmist. Many people have sites of great importance, where they return to again and again because of the meaning layered onto them. That\u2019s not too far from what this psalm is describing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2 Corinthians 12:2-10<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

What It\u2019s About:\u00a0<\/strong>This is a marvelous passage, and a splendid mystery. There are passages like this hidden away in Paul\u2019s letters\u2013places where strange things are embedded in the text that you might not notice or think about very often\u2013but things that, when confronted with them, you have to account for. Here we have what seems to be an account of a mystical experience, maybe Paul\u2019s own or maybe someone else\u2019s, and then also an account of an affliction visited upon Paul, a \u201cthorn in the flesh\u201d that keeps him from complacency. The revelations that stemmed from this experience are too wonderful to tell, Paul says, but they nevertheless produce wonder and humility in the apostle.<\/p>\n

What It\u2019s Really About:\u00a0<\/strong>The Jewish Annotated New Testament\u00a0(which you should buy<\/a> if you don\u2019t already have\u00a0it) has really helpful notes on this passage. The notes there take this as a self-reference\u2013a kind of humble way of relating one\u2019s own special experiences without being too showy about it. I think that makes sense; Paul is telling about his own mystical experience in an almost reverential kind of way, recognizing that they are ultimately inaccessible to anyone else. That then helps to make sense of the bit about the thorn in the flesh, which follows after. The thorn, in verse 7, was to keep Paul from being too overtly boastful or self-satisfied about his special knowledge.<\/p>\n

What It\u2019s Not About:\u00a0<\/strong>There are probably a thousand explanations for Paul\u2019s thorn in the flesh. People have suggested everything from gout to homosexuality, from impotence to baldness to epilepsy to\u2026an actual thorn, stuck in his flesh. This is definitely one of those things that we will never know for sure, but it almost doesn\u2019t matter, does it? It\u2019s not about what the thorn is, but it\u2019s about the function of the thorn for Paul. The thorn works to set Paul off-balance, to counter some of his self-confidence and self-satisfaction, of which he had plenty. In that regard, the thorn is a placeholder for human frailty and fragility. Most of us know what he means; most of us have our own fleshly thorns. Paul, here, is saying that he is reminded daily of his own mortal nature.<\/p>\n

Maybe You Should Think About:\u00a0<\/strong>Sharing mystical experiences is always difficult. Over the years, I\u2019ve had several people try to convince me of their experiences, and it always kind of falls flat. And I\u2019ve had my own\u2013nothing as dramatic as Paul\u2019s, but still, things that felt very real and dramatic to me in the moment. But describing those to others is always hard, and sometimes they can come across as hokey. But a few years ago, I started trying something. Whenever the topic would come up in a bible study or in conversation, I would simply ask\u2013usually groups of church folks, but sometimes broader groups\u2013whether anyone had ever had experiences like this. I\u2019ve been astonished; usually 1 or 2 out of every group of 20 will raise their hand. Often they are hesitant to share, knowing that they will sound ridiculous, but sometimes they are also glad to share, and glad to be listened to. So, maybe try to find a way to ask about those experiences. During a sermon, ask people to share them in writing at a prayer station, or in some small group setting. Or find another small group setting to ask about these experiences. Over a few years of trying this, I haven\u2019t really gained access to anyone else\u2019s experiences, but I\u2019ve gained a great appreciation for the fact that a lot of people do have<\/em> these experiences\u2013and that has changed the way I think about them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mark 6:1-13<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

What It\u2019s About:\u00a0<\/strong>This is the story of Jesus\u2019 homecoming, when he returned to where he had grown up and tried to be Jesus there. It didn\u2019t go too well! His teaching was interrupted by the incredulity of his old friends and neighbors, who just couldn\u2019t believe that Yeshua from down the street had come back talking like this. To me, the most interesting verse in the whole passage is verse 5: \u201cHe could do no deed of power there.\u201d This is a familiar sensation to many, who return to homes and families and friends that belong to another phase of life, only to find that they don\u2019t really belong there anymore. Jesus seems to have been dramatically changed by whatever had transpired between his departure and return, and this change left him distant from those he used to know. And that distance made it almost impossible for him to be who he was everywhere else.<\/p>\n

What It\u2019s Really About:\u00a0<\/strong>There is an interesting geographical hinge in this passage. Verses 1-6 are about gathering inward, toward Jesus\u2019 hometown. And verses 7-13 are about going outward again, to \u201cthe villages\u201d and beyond where Jesus sent the twelve. It\u2019s almost as if Jesus needed to go home, to the center of his life, to be able to progress outward from that point\u2013even if that central point itself wasn\u2019t fertile ground for his work.<\/p>\n

What It\u2019s Not About:\u00a0<\/strong>A lot of folks seize on verse 3 as a kind of \u201cgotcha\u201d verse to challenge the perpetual virginity of Mary. Mark seems to know nothing about a doctrine of the virgin birth, or doesn\u2019t care to communicate it here or anywhere else. For many, the mention of brothers and sisters is evidence that the whole thing is hooey. My personal opinion: who cares? I mean\u2013I know a lot of people care. But I just can\u2019t bring myself to care. The virgin birth is one of those aspects of Christian theology that everyone seems to agree is important, but I can\u2019t for the life of me figure out why. It\u2019s just not important to me. I get that it is important to others, and that\u2019s great, but this passage doesn\u2019t threaten me or elate me in the way it seems to do for others. So Jesus had brothers and sisters? OK.<\/p>\n

Maybe You Should Think About:\u00a0<\/strong>What is it that makes Jesus so relatively powerless? Is it the disbelief of those around him, as the text seems to suggest? If so, that\u2019s a pretty fascinating account of the source of Jesus\u2019 power. Is it embarrassment at people thinking ill of him? Again, that\u2019s interesting. Even with the caveat that Mark\u2019s Jesus is the most human Jesus of the four gospels, this is an awfully frail moment for Jesus. Why does he lose so much strength in this place?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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