Readings for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Sep. 29)

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15: At a time when disaster was about to fall on Judah with the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, Jeremiah was given instructions from God to buy a plot of land for sale in his home town. He did so as a symbol of his faith that God still intended for the people of God to survive.

Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16 (UMH 810): The psalmist expressed absolute trust in God and promised security to those who love God. Such faith in the midst of many dangerous situations cited did not deal with the more complex problem of why evil things happen to good people. The concluding segment may have been recited antiphonally by the priest when the psalm was used in worship.

1 Timothy 6:6-19: To conclude this pastoral letter this church leader (probably not Paul but someone using his name at a later date) pointed out that security could be found in godliness and contentment, not in wealth. The great example for Timothy as for us was Jesus Christ. The moral obligations cited here could have been part of early Christian baptismal sermons. In a final admonition, the writer urged his disciple to practice his faith rigorously until Jesus Christ comes again.

Luke 16:19-31: This parable has sparked some controversy due to its forceful attitude toward wealth and poverty. The futility of dependence on wealth to the neglect of the poor is as strongly stated here as anywhere in scripture. The story clarifies God's sense of economic values as distinct from what we might call common sense.
   
The description of life after death is to be taken figuratively rather than literally. Hades, a Greek idea, represented the Hebrew  word Sheol, the abode of the dead perceived a shadowy place full of misery and suffering from which no one returned. It was not like Purgatory, a place of moral discipline and improvement.