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27th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
This week's themes provide us with a wide range of themes and genre from which to
listen for God’s word to proclaim to our listening communities!
Judges 4:1-7-Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition . . .
The common lectionary committee has made an exceedingly odd cut in this lection; the
story of Barak and Deborah requires all twenty-four verses to tell the story. Admittedly,
the story is not told because it is violent and one not fit for weak stomachs. But then we
are in Judges. This book tells as no other the tale of violence and moral depravity
through one bone-jarring, bone-shocking story after another. Who wouldn’t want a king
to bring stability after reading Judges? In our lesson, we are introduced to a
judge-Deborah, Sisera, the commander of a Canaanite king, and Barak, son of Abinoam. What
precedes and follows in the continuing saga, of course, is the cycle of doing evil in the
Lord’s sight, getting handed over to another oppressor, Israel’s cry to the
Lord, and Yahweh’s deliverance of Israel.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11-Day of the Lord
Paul offers closing thoughts on the Day of the Lord which we considered last week. The
recipients are aware, according to Paul, that "The Day" will come unexpectedly
and without warning. The two metaphors uses to describe this second coming are varied: as
a thief in the night and as the labor pains of a womyn. Then Paul shifts to a third
metaphor to describe the Thessalonians’ status: "you aren’t in the dark
about these things . . . For you are all children of the light and of the day" (new
living translation, vs. 4-5). Around this light vis-à-vis darkness image Paul clusters
the spiritual armor of love and faith and hope. Christ died our death so that we could be
with him always-in life and in death. Such words are indeed encouraging.
Matthew 25:14-30-Eschatological Parable #2: The Three Servants
We move from the ten bridesmaids to the story of the three stewards. In today’s
lesson, the three steward-servants are entrusted with wealth and commanded to invest it.
In the genre of humorous anecdotes, the first two servants are only to contrast the action
of the third. We are not surprised to discover that the first two have accomplished their
mission. What surprised first-century ears was what went wrong with the third guy. One of
those "the dog ate my homework" excuses hopes to deflect the master’s
anger; but in the end the third party suffers and the other two gain. The moral? "To
those who use well what they are given even more will be given and they will have an
abundance, but to those unfaithful with the resources given them, even what they have will
be taken away from them."
