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For the August 12 Lectionary Readings

Psalm 130
There are at least two words/phrases, used in Ps 130, that deserve some further explanation.  The first is the word used in vv 5 & 6, “soul”, which is how the NRSV translates the Hebrew word, “nephesh”.  This Hebrew word is frequently translated as “soul” in Christian-based versions of the Bible, whereas the TaNak, a Jewish translation, most often uses “life” to render nephesh.  The latter is a more accurate rendering of nephesh; “soul” reflects a more Greek understanding of a human being, in which the person is made up of a body and a soul.  Within the Hebrew Bible, this dichotomy within humans does not occur.  In Gen 2:7, when the LORD breathes the breath of life into the first human, the texts says that “[‘adam] became a living being [nephesh]”.  In this lament, the psalmist is expressing a deep longing for the LORD, one that is experienced in one’s very “being”.  Just as those who are experiencing the depths of despair, which are like a never-ending night, wait for the hope brought by the dawn.

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
While the focus in the story is on the specific brokenness between David and his son, the Wise Woman of Tekoa takes this opportunity to address a broader concern for justice and mercy in the human family and to offer a prophetic word to those who might have ears to hear.  In pointing out David’s sin, she also makes important claims about community and about God.  She declares that what the king has done has implications for the rest of the people in Israel, “Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God?”  The turmoil in his own family prevents the king from assuring the safety and well-being of those under his care.  When there is brokenness anywhere within the human family, no one can know wholeness.  The Wise Woman also offers an alternative view to that of the human desire for vengeance and violence, which create alienation among God’s children and strains humanity’s relationship with God.  Hear the wisdom in her prophetic words:  “God will not take away a life; God will devise plans so as not to keep an outcast banished forever from God’s presence.”

Ephesians 4:25-5:2
In the preceding chapters, the author of this epistle offered theological grounding for “Christian” behavior within a community and, now, begins to speaking plainly, “truthfully” to the Ephesian congregation.  Though the words of the author are good advice about living in secular culture, his/her words are about life within Christian community and not about living and interacting within Roman culture.  It brings to mind the lyric, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”6  And that’s the point, I think, that the author wants to impress upon the Ephesian community of faith.  If you cannot alter your life and your behavior with people for whom you share a “seal for the day of redemption,” then you are grieving God.  Like many things in life, this is much easier said than done.  Creating lists of what is “grieving God”7 is an easy thing to do because it is often closely associated with what is grieving the list creator.  It is a serious question to ponder about your participation within secular and religious community.  What do think is grieving God about humanity and creation in the 21st century?  Often it is said that Christian “disunity” grieves God most.8  I don’t think that is so.  Rather, it might be those things carried out in God’s name, or in Jesus‘ name, to cause division and are violent, that are unjust or oppress, which grieve God, if God can be grieved.

John 6:35, 41-51
The Gospel of John continues to knead Jesus into the “bread of life.”  Having set the major ingredients together in the preceding chapters, the author continues this week to work his ideas, his argument for Jesus, into bread fit to serve both Gentile and Jewish culture.  It is helpful to remember that the authentic writings of Paul predate the gospels.  Could the gospel writers have had copies of Paul’s letters, or were they working from other texts yet to be discovered?  Yes.  No. Maybe.  An interesting aspect of the Gospel of John is that, where the synoptic gospels have a “last supper” scene, John has a story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet.  For this gospel writer, this servant image is the preferred way of remembering Jesus and model for doing the things that Jesus does.  Have you ever heard this servant message as the heart of an elder’s prayer or as the invitation to communion?  For example:  “Come, to the table and pick up your towel and basin.  That’s the example that Jesus set for you.”  But, this does not mean that John’s gospel lacks the language of the last supper because it can be found in this portion of chapter 6.  Though not explicitly part of a last supper “liturgy”, as in the other gospels, this “bread of life” finds its way into many communion meditations, liturgies, and prayers.  E.g.:  “This is the bread of life.  Eat and be satisfied.”  This chapter seems like a theological transliteration as much as it does a metaphor or a credo about who Jesus is.

One approach to this text is to ponder your bread of choices?  When the restaurant server comes with the bread tray, and there are choices, what do you choose?15  If there is only one choice do you take the bread or pass it?  Whole wheat or whole grain bread is said to be better for the body, but how often do you partake of this healthy option, particularly if you have a choice?  If believers ingest Jesus when sharing bread, how are they affected or altered by that nutrition?  Is Jesus a memory or an active ingredient, portrayed in your living between servings of bread in sacred community?