Lectionary readings for October 20th

The Prophet Jeremiah by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Jeremiah 31:27-34 (sermon text): Jeremiah utters God's promise that the Israel and Judah (as the separated northern and southern kingdoms were called after Solomon's death) will be restored.

This restoration will come about through individuals taking responsibility for their own sins and the making of a new covenant relationship with God set in each person's heart. This passage is frequently quoted as a prophecy that the coming of Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled.

Psalm 119:97-104: This longest of the psalms is an acrostic with each of the twenty-two sections beginning with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. While artificial in its construction, the whole psalm celebrates the value system of the divine covenant and law on which Israel's existence as a special people depended.  This section, perhaps a little sentimentally, speaks of the sweetness of the law to the Israelite and its power to provide wisdom.

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5: Debate continues whether or not the letters to Timothy were written by Paul or by an early 2nd century church leader using his name and familiar with his teaching and correspondence.  In this passage an elder churchman urges a second or third generation Christian evangelist to maintain his enthusiasm and commitment when many opponents are preaching false doctrines. He also warns that the challenge will be difficult and costly as many turn away from the true faith.

Luke 18:1-8: The perversion of justice was a common theme in the Hebrew scriptures. The parable contrasts the judge who gave in to the widow's pleading (vss.2-5) with God’s sense of justice (vss.6-8). The passage makes the point that if persistence brings results in human relationships, how much more so will God respond to persistent prayer.  

The issue of God’s election of some but not others may puzzle us today. “How odd of God to choose the Jews,” poet Ogden Nash caustically commented. God’s bias always favours those who suffer innocently under persecution, a common experience of many people of faith then and now.