Episcopal Church of the
Incarnation
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 27](C)
Job
19.23-27a Psalm 17 2 Thessalonians 2.13-3.5 Luke 20.27-38
Job 19.23-27a
1) The story of Job was already considered proverbial by the time of the writing of Daniel. Job is considered a model of righteousness.
a) The book is structured as the story of the trial and restoration of a holy man, with extended dialogue on the meaning of suffering in life.
2) The lesson for today is taken from Job’s fifth speech, his central discourse in the book, in which he attains to an insight into God’s justice, and a profession of faith.
a) Job now speaks having lost or been abandoned by family, friends, fellow humans, and apparently even God.
i) From this depth he attains a “leap of faith”. If God will not speak now, then He will in the future.
(1) Because this vindication will come in the future, Job now wants his words written down.
3) The words used by Job for recording can refer to any writing, but also refer specifically to the Persian practice of inscribing rock and filling the inscription with molten lead.
a) The words to be recorded are found in vv. 25-27, the references to the Redeemer, to the coming of the Redeemer, and to the resurrection of the dead.
Psalm 17
1) An
individual lament, perhaps a “psalm of vigil” to be prayed by one who spends
the night in the
a) The content may reflect the plea either of one falsely accused, or of the king beset by foreign enemies.
2) Structure:
a) vv. 1-5: prayer for help, made confidently because of the psalmist’s righteousness.
b) vv. 6-12: petition for deliverance from enemies.
c) vv. 13-16: final petition for destruction of foes, and recitation of the blessedness of the divine presence.
3) The language at times sounds boastful, but in Hebrew this was an accepted way of expressing fidelity to God.
a) The reference to seeing God (in the final verse) is an expression of vindication; that the psalmist shall see God, but that his enemies shall be defeated.
2 Thessalonians 2.13-3.5
1) In much of this letter Paul focuses on a proper understanding of the second coming of our Lord.
a) We are to focus on thanksgiving for our coming salvation.
i) God has chosen those who He shall save. The initiative is with God. The question is how we respond to this initiative.
2) Salvation, becoming the Lord’s own possession, follows from moral holiness and doctrinal fidelity according to the Christian vocation.
a) Paul calls his readers to “stand firm” in that which they have been taught. Notably absent is the idea that we may be led by a “spirit” in a new direction.
3) Prior to final greetings, Paul ends this letter with a prayer in which he asks for prayer, for the support of apostolic work and teaching in the face a malevolent forces.
a) The apostolic work is the triumph of the Lord’s word.
b) Paul’s confidence in the work of the faithful is grounded in his confidence in the Lord’s own fidelity, that he will strengthen and guard those who are His.
Luke 20.27-38
1) This
passage comes from the time when Jesus is challenged in the
a) The verses for this Sunday follow immediately on those in which Jesus teaches that believers are to “render unto God that which is God’s”.
2) Jesus now teaches that God is the One who gives life and sustains life beyond the grave.
a) Jesus is posed a trick question by the Sadduccees, who do not believe in resurrection.
i) The Sadducees also did not believe in angels, and thought only the five books of Moses to be Scripture.
ii) Jesus therefore uses an argument from Exodus to refute the Sadducees’ thinking.