Patrick Comerford
Next Sunday, 13 February 2022, is the Third Sunday before Lent.
The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland are:
Readings: Jeremiah 17: 5-10; Psalm 1; I Corinthians 15: 12-20; Luke 6: 17-26.
There is a direct link to the readings HERE.
Dealing with confusion about the readings:
Do you recall a time when the Sundays before Lent were known by the traditional names of Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima? Next Sunday, the Third Sunday before Lent, was known in the Book of Common Prayer until recently as Septuagesima.
These names were established by about the seventh century. The name Quadragesima was given to the first Sunday in the 40-day fast of Lent. Quinquagesima was given its name, by analogy, because it is exactly 50 days before Easter.
The Sundays Sexagesima and Septuagesima, although lying 57 and 64 days respectively before Easter, were similarly given their names representing 60 and 70 days.
In the Western Church, these Sundays were a preparation for Lent: The refrain alleluia was forbidden in services, and the Alleluia acclamation at the Eucharist was replaced by the Tract, usually verses from the Psalms.
The liturgical colour was also changed, so that purple or violet vestments were worn.
In a very visible and audible way, the three Sundays became an extension to Lent, and the longer period was often called ‘the Greater Lent.’
However, these days did not feature in the calendar of the Eastern Church, and although the names have a certain beauty and a tradition associated with them, they have no real logical foundation and make no sense numerically.
As a result of the Second Vatican Council, the Calendar and Missal were revised, and Lent began on Ash Wednesday. The ‘-gesima Sundays before Lent became part of Ordinary Time, and from the late 1960s on they were no longer regarded as a pre-penitential season.
Meanwhile, outside the Roman Catholic Church, the report of the Joint Liturgical Group in 1967 proposed a nine-week pre-Easter season, and many churches started to call these three ‘-gesima’ Sundays the Third, Second, and First Sundays before Lent.
This approach has been adopted in the Church of Ireland in the Book of Common Prayer, in the Church of England in Common Worship, and in the Revised Common Lectionary.
However, much confusion is created by the numbering of these Sundays and the readings if we hop and move between the Book of Common Prayer, Common Worship, the Revised Common Lectionary, the Church of Ireland Directory, the readings on the Church of Ireland website, and the correlation of Sundays, readings, hymns and dates in Sing to the Word.
This confusion is compounded if people are using desk diaries or pocket books produced primarily for use in the Church of England.
For clarity, these postings today and over the next few weeks are based on the readings and calendar in the Church of Ireland Directory 2022 and the Book of Common Prayer (Church of Ireland, 2004).
Introducing the readings:
Jeremiah contrasts those who trust in mere mortals and those who trust in the Lord. God tests the mind and searches the heart. The psalmist contrasts those who follow wicked leaders and those who follow God. In both readings, those who follow God’s ways are compared to ‘a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream’ … and that ‘does not cease to bear fruit’ (Jeremiah 17: 8), and ‘trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season’ (Psalm 1: 3).
The Epistle reading continues Saint Paul’s reflections on the meaning of faith in the Resurrection, which may be useful in sermon preparations that consider preparation for Lent. But Saint Paul also talks about the Risen Christ as ‘the first fruits of those who have died,’ an image that relates to themes in the reading from Jeremiah and the psalm.
The Gospel reading, which is Saint Luke’s version of the ‘Sermon on the Mount,’ also has a set of contrasts between the two sets of people, although those who first heard this must have been surprised by who fits into which category.
Jeremiah 17: 5-10:
In this reading, God is heard speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, and contrasts the fate of those who trust in ‘mere mortals’ and those who trust in the Lord. Those who trust in mere mortals turn away from God in their hearts and instead they trust in human power and strength.
But they shall dry up like a shrub in the desert and find their lives are like living in ‘the parched places of the wilderness’ or an ‘uninhabited salt land.’
On the other hand, those who trust are like a tree planted by water, taking firm roots by the stream, not fearing the heat or being anxious, but bearing good fruit.
When it comes to judgment and reward, God tests the minds and searches the hearts of all people and knows their true intentions, whether they are good or evil.
Psalm 1:
Psalm 1 is often known by its opening words in the Latin Vulgate Bible, Beatus vir, ‘Blessed is the man …’ In illuminated mediaeval manuscript psalters, the start of the main psalms text was traditionally marked by a large Beatus initial for the ‘B’ of Beatus, and the two opening words are often much larger than the rest of the text.
It is suggested by some commentators that Psalm 1 sets the agenda for the Psalter through its identification of the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked as well as their respective fates, along with its emphasis on the Torah, the joy of studying it and its positive benefits for those who do.
Like many psalms, Psalm 1 contrasts the ‘righteous’ person (tzadik צדיק) with the ‘wicked’ or ‘ungodly’ (rasha' רשע) or the ‘sinner’ (chatta' חטא). The righteous person is one who takes care to know the laws of God and so has good judgment and avoids bad company. The result is the ability to withstand difficult times in life supported by God’s protection.
On the other hand, the wicked person’s behaviour makes them vulnerable to disaster, like chaff blowing away in the wind. The point that the wicked and the righteous will not mingle at the judgment is clearly stated. The path the wicked have chosen leads to destruction, and at the judgment they receive the natural consequences of that choice.
The righteous man is compared in verse 3 to a tree planted by a stream. His harvest is plentiful, and whatever he does flourishes. We hear here echoes of the words of the Prophet Jeremiah in our first reading.
I Corinthians 15: 12-20:
Continuing from last Sunday’s reading and its early description of the Resurrection, in this reading Saint Paul continues his argument against those people in the Church in Corinth who denied the bodily resurrection.
Last Sunday, we heard Saint Paul highlight three basic doctrines that he has received and passed on: Christ died, Christ was buried, and Christ was raised on the third day (I Corinthians 15: 3-4).
Now, Saint Paul restates as a basic point of faith that Christ is raised from the dead, and this has five logical consequences for us as Christians:
● if there is no Resurrection of Christ, there is no resurrection of the dead;
● if there is no Resurrection, Saint Paul’s preaching is in vain – and our faith is in vain;
● if there is no Resurrection, Saint Paul’s has been misrepresenting God;
● if there is no Resurrection, our faith is futile;
● if there is no Resurrection, those who have died in Christ have perished.
Indeed, if our faith in Christ is only about this life, then we are to be pitied.
Instead, however, Christ was raised from the dead, and he is the first fruit of those who have died – more is to follow, more are to follow. We are all part of God’s rich harvest.
Luke 6: 17-26:
Christ has ascended a mountain to pray. While there, he has chosen twelve of his disciples. Now he descends the mountain as far as a level place. Here he finds a large number of people, including other followers, as well as many Jews (‘people from all Judea and Jerusalem’) and many Gentiles (‘people from … the coast of Tyre and Sidon’). They come to hear and to be healed – they are here in mind and body, expecting their spiritual and their physical needs to be met.
Many are healed, so they realise in their own bodies that they have been restored to their rightful place in the Kingdom of God: those who were once regarded as unclean now have a place in the religious and worshipping community.
Saint Luke then narrates his account of the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ (verses 20-26). Here he tells of four beatitudes and four corresponding woes or warnings. It is a form of blessing that we have heard in Psalm 1.
The word blessed (Greek μακαριοι, makarioi) is an adjective that occurs about 50 times in the Greek New Testament and is defined by the lexicographers as meaning ‘blessed’ or ‘happy.’ It corresponds to the Hebrew ’ashrei, meaning ‘fortunate.’
Some are blessed by being included in the Kingdom of God, others are warned of the consequences of their choices in life.
The paired blessings and warnings are:
● to the poor (verse 20), and to the rich (verse 24);
● to the hungry (verse 21), and to the ‘full’ (verse 25a);
● to those who weep (verse 21), and to those who are laughing (verse 25);
● to those who are hated, excluded, reviled and defamed (verse 22), and to those who are held in esteem (verse 26).
Saint Luke records the ‘poor’ without any qualification (verse 20), compared with Saint Matthew’s ‘poor in spirit’ (see Matthew 5: 3). In Jewish tradition, the poor and the hungry are not cursed or impure, but are deserving recipients of divine and earthly care (see Deuteronomy 11: 15; Isaiah 49: 10; Jeremiah 31: 25; Ezekiel 34: 29). The poor are to receive the Kingdom of God; the rich have their reward today in their comfortable lifestyles.
Those who are excluded are denied their right to worship in the Temple and in the synagogue. But in the past, the prophets – including Jeremiah – were hated, excluded, reviled and defamed (verse 23), while the people in power spoke well of the false prophets (verse 26; see Jeremiah 5: 31).
Luke 6: 17-26 (NRSVA):
17 He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
‘Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
‘Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23 Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
24 ‘But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
25 ‘Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
‘Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26 ‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.’
Liturgical Resources:
Liturgical Colour: Green
The Collect:
Almighty God,
who alone can bring order
to the unruly wills and passions of sinful humanity:
Give your people grace
so to love what you command
and to desire what you promise;
that, among the many changes of the world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed
where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect of the Word:
Righteous God, you challenge the powers that rule this world
and you show favour to the oppressed:
instil in us a true sense of justice,
that we may discern the signs of your kingdom
and strive for right to prevail;
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Merciful Father,
you gave Jesus Christ to be for us the bread of life,
that those who come to him should never hunger.
Draw us to our Lord in faith and love,
that we may eat and drink with him at his table in the kingdom,
where he is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
now and for ever.
Suggested Hymns:
Jeremiah 17: 5-10:
10, All my hope on God is founded
257, Christ is the world’s Redeemer
553, Jesu, lover of my soul
Psalm 1:
649, Happy are they, they that love God
56, Lord, as I wake I turn to you
383, Lord, be thy word my rule
I Corinthians 15: 12-20:
251, Alleluia! Alleluia! Hearts to heaven and voices raise
255, Christ is risen, alleluia!
703, Now lives the Lamb of God
289, This joyful Eastertide
Luke 6: 17-26:
494, Beauty for brokenness
324, God, whose almighty word
513, O Christ, the healer, we have come
448, The trumpets sound, the angels sing
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from The Book of Common Prayer (the Church of Ireland, 2004) is copyright © Representative Body of the Church of Ireland 2004.
The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000).
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