September 4

OLD TESTAMENT: Exodus 12: 1 - 14 (RCL)

Exod 12:1 (NRSV) The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2 This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. It is the passover of the LORD. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.


Ezekiel 33: 7 - 9 (Roman Catholic)
Ezekiel 33: 7 - 11 (alt. for RCL)

Ezek 33:1 (NRSV) The word of the LORD came to me: 2 O Mortal, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one of their number as their sentinel; 3 and if the sentinel sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people; 4 then if any who hear the sound of the trumpet do not take warning, and the sword comes and takes them away, their blood shall be upon their own heads. 5 They heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; their blood shall be upon themselves. But if they had taken warning, they would have saved their lives. 6 But if the sentinel sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any of them, they are taken away in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at the sentinel's hand.
7 So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8 If I say to the wicked, "O wicked ones, you shall surely die," and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. 9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
10 Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: "Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?" 11 Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?


PSALM 149 (RCL)

Psal 149:1 (NRSV) Praise the LORD!
Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
2 Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with victory.
5 Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their couches.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters
and their nobles with chains of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment decreed.
This is glory for all his faithful ones.
Praise the LORD!


149 Cantate Domino (ECUSA BCP)

1 Hallelujah!
Sing to the LORD a new song; *
sing his praise in the congregation of the faithful.

2 Let Israel rejoice in his Maker; *
let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.

3 Let them praise his Name in the dance; *
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.

4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people *
and adorns the poor with victory.

5 Let the faithful rejoice in triumph; *
let them be joyful on their beds.

6 Let the praises of God be in their throat *
and a two-edged sword in their hand;

7 To wreak vengeance on the nations *
and punishment on the peoples;

8 To bind their kings in chains *
and their nobles with links of iron;

9 To inflict on them the judgment decreed; *
this is glory for all his faithful people.
Hallelujah!


Psalm 119: 33 - 40 (alt. for RCL)

Psal 119:33 (NRSV) Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes,
and I will observe it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
and observe it with my whole heart.
35 Lead me in the path of your commandments,
for I delight in it.
36 Turn my heart to your decrees,
and not to selfish gain.
37 Turn my eyes from looking at vanities;
Give me life in your ways.
38 Confirm to your servant your promise,
which is for those who fear you.
39 Turn away the disgrace that I dread,
for your ordinances are good.
40 See, I have longed for your precepts;
in your righteousness give me life.


119
He Legem pone (ECUSA BCP)

33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, *
and I shall keep it to the end.

34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law; *
I shall keep it with all my heart.

35 Make me go in the path of your commandments, *
for that is my desire.

36 Incline my heart to your decrees *
and not to unjust gain.

37 Turn my eyes from watching what is worthless; *
give me life in your ways.

38 Fulfill your promise to your servant, *
which you make to those who fear you.

39 Turn away the reproach which I dread, *
because your judgments are good.

40 Behold, I long for your commandments; *
in your righteousness preserve my life.


Psalm 95: 1 - 2, 6 - 9 (Roman Catholic)

Psal 95:1 (NRSV) O come, let us sing to the LORD;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

6 O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Mer'ibah,
as on the day at Mas'sah in the wilderness,
9 when your ancestors tested me,
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.


NEW TESTAMENT: Romans 13: 8 - 14 (RCL)
Romans 13: 8 - 10 (Roman Catholic)

Roma 13:8 (NRSV) Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

h/t Montreal Anglican

In vv. 1-7, Paul has written about the obligations we Christians have to civil authorities; he now continues his instructions on ethics for Christians. The only thing we Christians should “owe” (v. 8) others – Christians and non-Christians – is love: this sums up the obligations of the Christian in life. But as Christians, love is part of the deal rather than an obligation, and can never be completely discharged. Love among Christians is something special: it is mutual.
Then vv. 9-10: if we love our neighbours, we will treat them as the Ten Commandments (“the law”) requires: this flows naturally out of our love for them, e.g. we will not offend them by adulterous behaviour. This is why “one who loves another ... [fully satisfies] the law” (v. 8).
In v. 11, Paul tells us another reason why ethical behaviour is important for Christians. We know that we are living both in the present and in the age which is after the first coming of the Messiah and before the second: “salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers”. Paul expresses it in terms of night and day: we should awake, pass from darkness to light, from evil to good. The image of armour is also found in Jewish contemporary writings about the end of the age; in 1 Thessalonians 5:8, Paul tells us that the “armour of light” (v. 12) is faith, hope, charity, fidelity, uprightness, etc. “Let us live” (v. 13), he says, as if the Day of the Lord is already here, “honourably”, not in ways that harm ourselves and our neighbours. Rather, let Christ be our armour, and let us not give in to the temptations of the flesh. (In baptism, we have already “put on”, v. 14, Christ, but life in Christ is something that grows with experience. As we grow in the faith, we are more and more able to resist sinful opportunities.)


Verses 1-7: Though the Christian has no right to punish (see 12:19-21), the state does have that right, and the Christian must respect it. Paul’s confidence that the Roman state (under the despotic emperor Nero!) is on the whole just and beneficent reflects Jewish teaching (see Wisdom of Solomon 6:1-3) and is also found in 1 Peter 2:13-17; 3:13. [NOAB] Up to the time when these verses were written, there was no official persecution of Christians in Rome, but infighting there (probably between Jews and Christians) had caused the emperor Claudius to expel all Jews from Rome: see Acts 18:2. But here Paul states general principles – based on Proverbs 8:15-16 and as Jesus taught: see Matthew 22:16-21. [NJBC]
Verse 1: “governing authorities”: i.e. political powers that govern society. [CAB] Civil authorities is also a possible translation.
Verse 1: “there is no authority except from God”: Though pagan rulers would not recognize its origin.
Verse 2: To Paul, obedience to civil authorities is a form of obedience to God – for the relationship of humans to God is not restricted to the religious sphere. Paul does not envisage the possibility of tyrannical government or one where the rights of the individual are limited or denied. He is only concerned with the duty of subjects to legitimate authority. [NJBC] I quote this scholar to show the range of scholarly opinion; however, I find it hard to believe that Paul had the same concept of individual rights and liberties that we do in our culture today. It is true that Paul used his rights as a Roman citizen to avoid being summarily flogged (see Acts 22:25), but that is still rather different from our understanding of citizenship rights. (For example, Rome had a law on proscription which effectively stripped a person of his basic rights, including right to life. Anyone could murder a proscribed person with impunity. It was a very effective method of getting rid of enemies of the state.)
In fact, this whole passage (vv. 1-7) is quite problematic in the realm of social ethics precisely because there is no distinction made among legitimate and illegitimate authorities, nor any criterion supplied to make such a distinction. If it says quite plainly that we are to be obedient even to Nero, then to which modern state do we not owe allegiance? North Korea? Nazi Germany?
There are perfectly good reasons to develop criteria for distinguishing among legitimate and illegitimate government, but these are always controversial to some extent, and certainly fly in the face of this passage, which is not easily explained away. Christians of good conscience support either social-democratic or neo-conservative policies, for example. Many conservative Christians would see taxation as an illegitimate confiscatory power exercised by left-wing politicians – a view which neatly ignores v. 6. Other Christians are more likely to support a welfare-state-style program. Both views are espoused in good faith. [Alan Perry]
Verse 4: Paul says that civil authorities, whether good or bad, are placed in their positions by God.
Verse 4: “the sword”: A symbol of the powers of punishment that are possessed by legitimate authorities, which they have to maintain order and avoid strife. [NJBC]
Verse 4: “It is the servant of God to execute wrath ...”: Civil authorities are able to deliver God’s “wrath”!
Verse 5: “conscience”: In 2:15, Paul says of unbelievers who keep Mosaic law: “They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them”. Christians should obey civil authorities not only because of the fear of punishment for breaking civil law, but also as a matter of conscience.
Verse 7: In Mark 12:17, Jesus says “‘"Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God’s’”. See also Luke 20:25; Matthew 22:21; 1 Peter 2:17. [CAB]
Verses 8-10: These verses expand on 12:9-13. [CAB]
Verse 8: In Galatians 5:14, Paul writes: “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’”.
Verse 8a: Pay every debt; do not stand under any obligation except the obligation to love. [NOAB]
Verse 8b: The “law” here is Mosaic law.
Verse 9: The commandments are in the order found in the Septuagint translation of Exodus 20:13-17 and Deuteronomy 5:17-21. In Matthew 19:18-19, Jesus tells a “young man” that the commandments to keep are: “‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honour your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbour as yourself’”.
Verse 9: “Love your neighbour as yourself”: As God commanded in Leviticus 19:18. See also Matthew 5:43; 19:19; 22:39; Mark 12:31, 33; Luke 10:27; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8.
Verse 10: See also 1 Corinthians 13:5-6. In Galatians 6:2, Paul advises: “Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”.
Verse 10: “love is the fulfilling of the law”: If Christ is the “end of the law” (10:4), where “end” is taken as meaning goal and “the law is Mosaic law, then “love”, which motivated his whole existence and saving activity (8:35), can be said to be the Law’s fulfilment. It becomes the norm for Christian conduct and, when properly applied, achieves all that the Law stood for. [NJBC]
Verses 11-14: Eschatology and morality are often connected in the New Testament: see also Philippians 4:4-7; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, 23; Hebrews 10:24-25; James 5:7-11; 1 Peter 4:7-11; Matthew 25:31-46; Mark 13:33-37. For the concurrency of the era of this world and that of the world to come. see also 1 Corinthians 10:11.
Verse 11: “time”: Greek has several words which are translated into English as time. The one used here, kairos, means decisive time, time of an event or milestone.
Verse 11: “wake from sleep”: Ephesians 5:14, perhaps quoting from an early Christian hymn based on Isaiah 60:1, says “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you”. See also 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8.
Verse 12: “night ... day ... darkness ... light”: The contrast of day and night and of light and darkness is symbolic of good and evil, just as in 1 Thessalonians 5:7-8. These pairs of terms are found in contemporary Jewish writings, especially in the Qumran literature: see 1QS (Rule of the Community) 2:7; 3:20-4:1 and 1QM (War Scroll) 15:9. [NJBC]
Verse 12: “put on the armour of light”: Christians cannot afford to remain in the unprotected condition of scantily clothed sleepers at a time when the situation calls for “armour”. [NJBC]
Verse 13: “revelling ...”: A list of vices that are deeds of darkness.
Verse 14: “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”: i.e. to enter fully into the existence (way of being) which God has created through Christ. See 6:1-14 for the effects of baptism.



GOSPEL: Matthew 18: 15 - 20 (all)

Matt 18:15 (NRSV) "If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."


Jesus has just told the parable of the lost sheep. When one sheep gets lost, he says, doesn't the shepherd “go in search of the one that went astray?” (v. 12). And, if he finds it, doesn't he rejoice “over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray”? (v. 13).

So, in the church, how should a “member” (v. 15) who has strayed, i.e. sinned, be treated? First, try taking him (or her) aside and “point out the fault” to him. Do not humiliate him by having others present. But if he doesn't listen, face him with his misdemeanour before a few witnesses. Sharing the reproof adds weight to it. If the person still refuses to listen, bring the matter before the whole assembly of the (local) church. If “the offender refuses to listen even to the church” (v. 17), consider the person an unworthy outsider: in Jewish parlance in Jesus' time “a Gentile and a tax collector”. Expel him from the church (as Paul did at Corinth, where a man was living with his father's wife.)

Then, in v. 18, Jesus broadens what he said earlier of Peter (16:19); “you” (the whole assembly) have the authority to “bind” (here, condemn) and to “loose” (here, acquit). Their decision will be ratified by God. Finally, in vv. 19-20, Jesus tells us that in common prayer, study, and in decision-making, however small the group, if we ask God for anything seeking to know his will and do it (“in my name”), he will do it, because Jesus, God the Son, is there in the community.

There is a partial parallel in Luke 17:3. See also 1 Corinthians 6:1-6; Galatians 6:1; James 5:19-20. [NOAB]
Verses 15-20: Members of the community are to take responsibility for reproving erring brothers and sisters, with referral of the case to the whole community (“church”, v. 17) if the counsel is rejected. The group decisions will be confirmed by God, who is present (“there among them”, v. 20) when they gather. [CAB]
Verse 15: “church”: BlkMt says that this refers to the local group of believers. This is not later structured church.
Verse 15: “regained”: A technical rabbinic term for missionary (re-)conversion. [NJBC]
Verse 16: “two or three witnesses”: This is the requirement stated in Deuteronomy 19:15. The Qumran community and the rabbis debated whether one witness was sufficient. Jesus seems to reduce the requirement to one, in addition to the plaintiff. [NJBC]
Verse 17: “tax collector”: Jesus welcomed tax collectors who trusted in him and repented of their misdemeanours: see 9:9-13. In Galatians 6:1, Paul advises: “My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted”. See also Titus 3:10 and James 5:19-20. [NJBC]
Verse 18: See also 16:19, John 20:21-23 and Clippings for Year A Proper 21. In John 20:21-23, the Church, having received the Holy Spirit, inherits Jesus’ mission of forgiveness. [NOAB]
Verse 18: “will be bound”: This, says NJBC, is a theological passive meaning God shall bind. Leaders are given the same power as Peter to bind and loose, but not “the keys to the kingdom of heaven” (see 16:19).
Verse 19: “anything you ask ...”: NJBC offers a translation that stresses the legal senses of the terms: any claim that they may be pursuing.
Verse 20: In John 15:7, Jesus says: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you”. There is a parallel, with reference to the Law rather than to Christ, in Midrash ‘Abot 3.2.6; 4.11. So Jesus identifies himself not only with God’s presence (see 28:20: “I am with you always”) but also with the Law. [NJBC]