Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
July 28, 2013

HOSEA 1:2-10.  Does God really want Hosea to marry a prostitute? But that isn’t the real story of this passage. The essence of this prophetic act lies in the meaning of the names Hosea gave to the children born of his marriage to this profligate wife. Their names symbolized Israel’s degraded moral
status and conveyed the message of judgment Hosea had received from God. The names restore the moral credibility of the prophet and proclaim God’s will that the people of God live faithfully in all respects.

PSALM 85. With this beautiful lament the psalmist pleads for God’s mercy and justice. In curious juxtaposition to the foregoing prophecy, it presents a very hopeful attitude. It voices sincere humility and asks for salvation on the basis of God’s past beneficence.

COLOSSIANS 2:6-15, (16-19). The Scottish scholar, William Barclay, called this one of the most difficult passages that Paul ever wrote. Many metaphors and images are stacked one upon the other in these two paragraphs written primarily for Gentiles. Yet the message can be summed up in one sentence: Christians grounded in their faith in Jesus Christ have been forgiven all their sins through his death and resurrection. Thus all are freed from all demands of the Jewish ritual laws and any other forms of worship or discipleship.

LUKE 11:1-13 (the sermon will come from this text).  Most of us feel rather inferior about how we pray; and so did Jesus’ disciples. Their time with Jesus, however, had shown them how much prayer meant to him and how effortless it was for him to pray. They wanted to learn from him. Would that it was so for all of us!
   
The brief homily that follows what we call “The Lord’s Prayer” explains the willingness of God to match our requests with a grace and kindness beyond all  measure. God’s answer may not be exactly what we ask for or expect. It is far more important that God’s will be the determining factor in our
prayers, our lives, for us and for all the world.