Episcopal Church of the Incarnation
The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost [Proper 8 B]
Wisdom of Solomon
1.13-15, 2.23-24 Psalm 30 2 Cor. 8.7-15 Mark 5.21-43
Wisdom of Solomon
1.13-15, 2.23-24
1) This book is found in the Apocrypha, so is considered (under Article VI of the Prayer Book Articles of Religion) of use “... for example of life ... but yet doth ... not ... establish any doctrine ...”
a) For this reason, the lector closes the lesson, “Here ends the lesson,” rather than saying “The word of the Lord.”
b) The book must be distinguished from the book Wisdom (also known as Sirach).
c)
The original (like most of the Apocrypha) is written in
Greek, not Hebrew, and probably dates from the second half of the first
century, B.C., from
d)
The purpose of the book is to strengthen faith amongst
the Greek-speaking Jews living in
e)
2) Wisdom is defined as right-living, as following God’s law. Immortality is the reward of wisdom.
a) The book thus begins with an exhortation to justice.
b) The death which the author refers to is not physical death but spiritual death (cf. 2.24).
c) The physical world around us does not have the capacity to cause spiritual death (righteousness is immortal).
i) The corollary (made clear in ch. 2) is that the wicked invite death.
ii) The wicked espouse a functional atheism, in which the human condition is defined to be the result of chance.
Psalm 30
1) An individual psalm of thanksgiving for deliverance from mortal illness.
a) As one delivered from death, the psalmist invites others to join him in his praises of God.
2) In Hebrew the linguistic parallelism is more striking.
a) The psalmist “will exalt” God (v. 1) in thanksgiving, for God as “exalted” (“brought me up”) the psalmist from the shadow of death (v. 3).
3) Vv. 4-6 state a thought parallel to that found at Ps. 22.23-24. One delivered from death is reintegrated into the worshipping community, in joy.
2 Corinthians 8.7-15
1)
In this chapter Paul challenges the Corinthians to move
from eager acceptance of the idea of raising funds to support the Church in
2)
Paul reflects realistically on the situation in
a) Paul does not want to give the impression that he is making a demand. He later (at 9.7) states the theology behind the act of giving.
i) He does not command but advises (v. 10).
ii)
The desire to act is more important than the failure
experienced in
(1) Paul is masterful here in management technique, avoiding direct criticism while engaging in motivation.
(2) He finishes this thought by making it clear that giving is on the basis of what one has. Apparently, the Corinthians failed in their collection because they had promised a great sum.
b) Paul finishes by quoting from Exod. 16.18, but omits the verb “to gather,” which is supplied contextually.
Mark 5.21-43
1) Mark’s narrative shifts from the stilling of the sea (4.35-43) and the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac (5.1-20) to healing of the sick and the raising of the dead. Jesus demonstrates His power in order to demonstrate who He is.
a)
Jesus has now returned to the western shore of the
2) The present lesson is an example of what scholars refer to as a “Marcan sandwich,” a combination of two stories in one narrative, in which the stories share common elements and turn on a common “hinge” or center.
a) In the stories of the healing of the woman with the flow of blood and the raising of Jairus’ daughter the common points are: female sufferers; the number 12 (5.25, 42); and vocabulary (“faith,” “fear,” “well,” “daughter”).
3) Mark says (v. 23) that the little girl is at the point of dying, while the other evangelists say that she is dead already. (Cf. Matt. 9.18; Luke 8.42.) That Jairus is the head of the synagogue but begs Jesus is intended to show him as a suppliant.
a) Jairus recognizes Jesus’ power. So does the woman with the issue of blood. This theme is programmatic in Mark, the coming of the Jesus as the One with power.
i) He has exercised power over the sea and air, and over the demons. Now He exercises power over life and death.
(1) Matthew makes the same point at Matt. 12.29, quoting Jesus (in the context of an exorcism) to say that the One who comes to exercise power “first binds the strong man”.
(a) Jesus binds the devil, the powers of the seas and sky, and the power of disease and death.