Tag: Sunday commentary

The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. 1 Kings 19:4-8 Background of the book Chapters 17-19 are stories of the greatest prophet Elijah. He began prophesying in the reign of Ahab who you can read about in 1 Kings 16:29-33. Ahab was an evil man and Elijah frequently stood READ MORE

The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 Background of the book Exodus 1-15 tells the story of the flight of the Israelites from Egypt. The next few chapters cover their journey into the Sinai desert, and then the rest of the book is about their time READ MORE

The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. 2 Kings 4:42-44 Background of the book Chapters 4-8 contain ten legends about the Prophet Elisha, a miracle worker by all accounts. Today’s reading is a very short account from those legends where Elisha feeds a crowd of one hundred men with READ MORE

The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. Jeremiah 23:1-6 Background of the book Chps 21-22 talk about different kings of Israel. The beginning of chp 23 talks about a future king. The chapter begins with these verses, a compare/contrast of a good king/shepherd with a bad one. We all READ MORE

The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. Amos 7:12-15 Background of the book Chapters 7-9 contain five visions, interrupted by a biographical interlude in 7:10-17. In v11 Amos gives a prophecy that the king would die and Israel would be exiled. This, of course, was considered treasonous. Amaziah was READ MORE

The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. Ezekiel 2:2-5 Background of the book The beginning chapters of this book explore the prophet’s call. Like Isaiah (Is. 6) and Jeremiah (Jer. 1), Ezekiel had a vision of God accompanied by a call. And, like the other prophets, God laid it READ MORE

The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24 Background of the book Wisdom literature was written to pass on instructions on how to live the good life. This was at a time when a belief in any afterlife was only just beginning, and most people viewed this READ MORE

The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. Job 38:1, 8-11 Background of the book In chapters 28-41, God asks Job a series of questions about the limits of what Job can do and understand. Today’s reading comes from a section around God’s creation – was Job even present at READ MORE

The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. Ezekiel 17:22-24 Background of the book In 2 Samuel 7, David wanted to build God a temple. God rejects that idea but, instead, God says God will establish a house and lineage for David that will never end. This will later be READ MORE

The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time Click here for more information. Genesis 3:9-15 Background of the book One of the most frequent questions in the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation) process when we talked about scripture and salvation history was this: are the Genesis stories true? For many people coming from faith backgrounds READ MORE