LECTIONARY REFLECTIONS

September

You will not fear

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 This Psalm depicts a Creator God who is intimately involved in the ongoing process of Creation: not a distant being in the sky, but an inescapable presence. There is little separation between God and the Psalmist’s body. God is present in their sitting and their standing, their every word both spoken and unspoken, their growth into personhood – and God knows the writer “completely”. Like a parent watches their child learn more and more about themselves, God is attentive to each stage of our becoming. In verse 13, the Psalmist affirms what we hear in the first Genesis creation myth: that every human being is created in the image of God. Many interpretations focus on the “wonderful” part of this verse, but I encourage you to ponder how we are also “fearfully” made. There is an element of surrender in the giving of God’s image to a human being; and yet, knowing our capacity for destruction and for love, God chooses to take that chance, again and again, in both fear and wonder. 11 SEPTEMBER

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 God’s presence in this passage takes a very different form, approaching the people of Israel as a “hot wind”. Metaphorically breathing down their necks, God’s judgement of Their people does not hold back, verging on destructive. The prophet condemns the people’s capacity for “evil,” conveyed through a series of images of a land made barren.

Hetty Lalleman, in the paper Jeremiah, Judgement and Creation, suggests that verses 23-26 are a “return to the chaos situation which existed before creation”. While Psalm 139 portrays a God whose presence is inextricable from the ongoing work of creation, this passage in Jeremiah depicts God’s absence through the “desolation” of the land. The tone of this passage is a mixture of judgement and grief. Jeremiah prophesies a destruction he feels is deserved by the Israelites’ unfaithful ways; however, he too is one of them. He, too, will see his land laid waste and be exiled along with the rest of his people. This reminds me of contemporary prophets of our time such as Greta Thunberg, a young adult who will live through the desolation of our planet if we fail to listen to voices like hers. 18 SEPTEMBER

Luke 16:1-13 Jesus presents us, yet again, not with a neatly packaged doctrine but a many-layered story about how God can be found in the messiness of human interaction. We are introduced to a rich man and his manager, responsible for his master’s property and wealth. The “rich man” is an archetype often challenged by Jesus’ teachings, in which wealth is frequently seen as an obstacle to overcome in the path towards discipleship, and this parable takes a similar stance.

This rich man confronts his manager with claims of mishandling and, faced with the end of his employment, the manager decides to further mishandle his master’s wealth. Motivated by selfpreservation, the manager is moved to generosity to secure his own future, rather than serving the whims of wealth. Unexpectedly, the rich man praises this dishonesty with his wealth, perhaps because the rich man’s debtors might also now look more favourably upon him. In interpreting the parable, Jesus portrays faithfulness and dishonesty as a dichotomy: dishonesty in the handling of wealth can reveal a different kind of faithfulness, one that prioritises relationships over power structures. Instead of shoring up his master’s financial position, the manager demonstrates faithfulness to the debtors. 25 SEPTEMBER

Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16 The Psalmist begins by addressing God’s people; the different ways of naming God in turn become ways of naming God’s people and their relationship to God. The central theme of this Psalm is finding comfort and safety in God’s presence, in the face of hardship. God is portrayed as a protective figure, warding off violence and illness like a parent. In verse 5, the Psalmist promises, “You will not fear.” The tone here is hopeful and future-oriented, but it mirrors the most repeated command throughout the Bible: “Be not afraid.” Time and time again, the people of God encounter an Almighty who is powerful but uses that power to shelter Their people, who might inspire fear but who reassures them again and again that there is no need to be afraid.

Naming returns as a theme from verse 14; God’s people are the people who know God’s name, who call on that name and find that their deep connection to God is reciprocated. Naming each other truthfully and communicating openly are important to any life-giving relationship, and God promises to be present with Their people even when “in trouble”.

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October

The challenge is to remain present

Lamentations 1:1-6 Zion is personified in the book of Lamentations as a grieving, wounded woman. Likely written while the people of Israel lived in exile in Babylon, this passage portrays a city who openly mourns for her people “like a widow”. Daughter Zion is brought so low as to “become a vassal”, a humiliating reversal of power. Feminist theologian Gina Hens-Piazza examines the way that images of a desolate Jerusalem and an abused woman become interchangeable here. This fusing of images offers not only a “glance at the ruinous remains of Jerusalem” through the lens of a violated woman, but “the grim portrait of the punished city encourages the stereotype of woman as violated victim who invites the abuse that comes her way”. The author tries to theologically make sense of the exile as a punishment from God. Like so many women, daughter Zion searches for a narrative in which to contain her suffering and finds it all too easy to blame herself. 9 OCTOBER

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 This passage also wrestles with the Babylonian exile, though with a very different tone. Rather than being weighed down by lament, God – through the prophet Jeremiah – encourages Their people to make the best of a dire situation. Instead of living in limbo, waiting with bated breath to reclaim their homeland, Jeremiah asks the people of Israel to settle down and makes homes for themselves.

Jeremiah offers images of growth in the context of exile, encouraging God’s people to put down roots both figuratively and literally. This means accepting that they are in Babylon to stay and that the exile will last for generations. Taking it even MAY WE further, the Israelites are ENGAGE IN PRAYER tasked with caring for the

AS A PERSISTENT place they find themselves in,

PRACTICE OF through both action and prayer. RESISTANCE 16 OCTOBER Luke 18:1-8 The parable opens on a judge without respect for God or people, both important tenets of a life of discipleship, and God’s character is conveyed by contrast to this unjust judge. The active player in this story is a widow who has been accused of an unknown wrongdoing. She does not ask politely that the judge consider her plight but demands justice – again and again. The scales the judge uses to weigh this issue are not those of justice, and yet justice is granted – because the widow does not relent, a persistence characteristic of many justice movements. If even an unjust judge will grant justice based on persistence alone, how swiftly will God, often portrayed as a judge, grant justice to those who cry out? And yet, despite God’s justice, Jesus observes a lack of faith among the people of God. In the widow’s footsteps, may we engage in prayer as a persistent practice of resistance and approach injustice with posture of hope. 23 OCTOBER

Psalm 65 In this Psalm, God brings order amid chaos in a pattern that echoes the first Genesis creation narrative. When the people of God are overwhelmed by our own faults, God grants respite through forgiveness. When waves roar and people tumult, God silences the storm. In its place, God brings forth abundance, watering the soil as a gardener does until richness overflows, “for so you have prepared it.” Each time we fail to care for our planet, God forgives our transgressions and new life emerges from charred ground. But our chances of achieving the abundant vision of verses 9-13 are fast disappearing; God has laid the groundwork of creation, and we must bring order to climate chaos in God’s image. 30 OCTOBER

Luke 19:1-10 While many of us remember Zacchaeus for his short stature in Sunday school colouring-ins, his reputation in this passage is of wealth and corruption. Jesus knows that being a “rich man” is often an obstacle to encountering the kingdom and immediately invites himself to partake of Zacchaeus’ hospitality. Onlookers are perplexed that this revered teacher would seemingly endorse the actions of a tax collector, and in so doing they misunderstand the purpose of Jesus’ ministry. We have witnessed in other gospel stories the way that powerful figures in the communities Jesus travelled through often sought to provide him hospitality to solidify their status. Zacchaeus is instead humbled by Jesus’ presence. He commits to active repentance and reparations for the harm his corruption has caused and is inspired to generosity. Jesus recognises Zacchaeus’ shared humanity and heritage, naming him a “son of Abraham”, and re-affirming that the true purpose of Jesus’ ministry is “to seek out and to save the lost”.

November

The promise that all things will be made new

Luke 20:27-38 The Sadducees deliberately bring a trick question to Jesus, believing they can trap him with this narrative into disproving the resurrection. The story they tell describes the practice of Levirate marriage, where a childless woman marries her deceased husband’s brother so that the men of that line may have offspring. The Sadducees’ question, too, dehumanises the woman in the story and is concerned with her ownership rather than her agency. Jesus’ response takes an unexpected turn; rather than discerning whose property the woman is, he affirms the notion of resurrection while removing marriage from the equation. He describes people who do not marry as “like angels”, referring to a common myth shared by the Synoptic gospels. Feminist theologian Barbara E. Reid explains, “In some versions of this myth, the two genders assigned to fleshly humans, male and female, also fall away for those who live within the spiritual realm… In this immortal angelic state, there is neither need nor desire for procreation.” Jesus concludes his argument with a statement that not only is God the God of the living, but because of resurrection God considers even the dead to be alive. 13 NOVEMBER Isaiah 65:17-25 The author of Isaiah speaks to a postexile Israel here, one that has faced God’s judgement and been offered God’s hope. This passage is a promise that all things will be made new; Israel’s mistakes will be forgotten and replaced with delight. Creation is depicted here as an ongoing process that God actively participates in, and the purpose at its heart is joy. The people of Israel will be “offspring blessed by the Lord,” a blessing to be passed down between generations. Importantly, this idyllic vision promises that the Israelites “shall not labour in vain” only to have their houses and agriculture stolen from them, as they were during the Babylonian exile. Images of joy and fertility recur throughout this passage, culminating in a command not to “hurt or destroy.” God’s promises hinge on the people of Israel’s willingness to honour their covenant with God instead of turning to their previous destructive ways.

Colossians 1:11-20 The Christ Hymn, as verses 15–20 are commonly called, is the focal point of the letter to the Colossians. This passage affirms the importance of Christ, over worldly powers such as the Roman Empire and instead of local patron deity Zeus. When describing how “all things” where created in Christ, the author explicitly names “thrones or dominions or rulers or powers” among them. While the writer’s agenda may not have been intentionally anti-imperial, these verses are “at remarkable odds with Roman imperial ideology, even as it mimics facets of that same imperial ideology” in the language it CREATION IS DEPICTED AN ONGOING uses for Christ, according to theologian Arthur M. Wright Jr. PROCESS AND This hymn also bears THE PURPOSE striking parallels to the AT ITS HEART opening of John’s Gospel, in IS JOY the way it describes Jesus as a spiritual force present long before the incarnation in human form. Jesus in this passage is “the image of the invisible God” and intimately involved in the creation of “things visible and invisible”, affirming Jesus’ mystic divinity. His humanness, however, is also vitally important. 27 NOVEMBER Isaiah 2:1-5 We bring November to a close with a dream of peace. Isaiah offers Israel God’s vision of the role it can play in unifying the nations with God’s teachings. As the Israelites sure up arms and alliances to defend themselves from growing military powers like Assyria and Babylon, Isaiah reminds them that to “walk in the light of the Lord” is to pursue peace. Instead of winning wars in God’s name, Isaiah describes a world where “all the nations shall stream” to Israel to learn the wisdom of the God of Jacob. This vision disarms religion as a force for division and destruction, instead framing it as an offering to Israel’s neighbours and the wider world. God takes on the role of judge for all nations in this vision, arbitrating peaceably where difference causes conflict. Weapons of war become tools for gardening, exchanging the ways of violence for growth and unity. Gabi Cadenhead is a Mission Worker for Christian Students Uniting at the University of Sydney.