Text: Isaiah 11:1-10 and Matthew 3:1-12

Pastor Dennis Sanders looks at the texts for the Second Sunday of Advent, where Jonny B gets judgy.

Read the Devotional, “The Unforgettable Fire.”

What are your answers? What are your questions? Please send them to lectionaryq@substack.com. Listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Listen to Church and Main Podcast (Dennis’ Other Podcast):

https://churchandmain.org/

Opening and closing music by David Cutter Music:

https://www.davidcuttermusic.com

(website) https://www.youtube.com/@dcuttermusic (YouTube)

Lectionary Q is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Text: Romans 13:11-14 and Matthew 24: 36-44

Pastor Dennis Sanders looks at the texts for the First Sunday of Advent.

What are your answers? What are your questions? Please send them to lectionaryq@substack.com. Listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Listen to Church and Main Podcast (Dennis’ Other Podcast):

https://churchandmain.org/

Opening and closing music by David Cutter Music:

https://www.davidcuttermusic.com

(website) https://www.youtube.com/@dcuttermusic (YouTube)

Lectionary Q is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Text: Luke 23:33-43

Pastor Dennis Sanders looks at Luke 23:33-43 for Christ the King Sunday.

Christ the King Sunday is one of my favorite Sundays of the Church Year. It’s a rather young church holiday. It was founded a century ago in 1925 by Pope Pius XI. He was Pope during the interwar period, during the rise of totalitarian ideologies. Pius saw communism on the rise with the establishment of the Soviet Union and saw the rise of fascism all around him with Benito Mussolini becoming dictator in Italy. The creation of this holiday was to remind Christians that in a world where there were ideologies and people who were asking for their allegiance, we believe that Jesus is the one who is our King and Lord.

These days, there are some who feel uncomfortable with calling Jesus king and talking about the kingdom of God. Kings were and are anti-democratic and it reminds us of things like colonialism. We might think this is something new, but it isn’t. Colleague Robert Myallis reminds us that even in Jesus’ time, people knew how kings operated and usually it wasn’t great. In a few weeks’ time, we will be reading from Matthew 2:13-23, where King Herod, the king appointed by Rome to rule over Israel, decides to have all the boys under the age of 2 killed because he fears another king that could usurp his rule. This is the way kings have ruled. We might not have many kings today, but we do have leaders who love to lord it over other people. David Brooks reflected on the characteristics of leaders of what he calls of the authoritarian global wolfpack. They are performance artists creating their own reality, warriors over bureaucrats, formentors of chaos and unpredictability.

But that’s not the way of the king we find in Jesus. In Luke we find a king that is being put to death on a cross, a tool used for criminals and revolutionaries. This king forgives those who seek his death. He chooses to sacrifice his life instead of seeking to save it, even though he has the power to do so. He is the King who offers salvation to a common thief by telling him even as he is dying, he will join Jesus in paradise- he will not be forgotten.

There are kings out there now that seek to rule through fear and oppression, just as in Jesus’ time and just as in the time of Pius XI. But we worship a King who gave up his life for our sake. That’s why we call Christ the anointed one King. He alone is the one who rules with justice and mercy. He alone is the one, true king.

* Several times in the text, people mock Jesus by saying that he saved others; he should save himself. What is the significance of those sayings?

* Why do you think Jesus asked God to forgive his killers?

* Why do you think one of the criminals was mocking Jesus? Why did the other one ask to be remembered?

* What did Jesus mean when he said to the criminal, “Today you will be with me in paradise?”

What are your answers? What are your questions? Please send them to lectionaryq@substack.com. Listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Listen to Church and Main Podcast (Dennis’ Other Podcast):

https://churchandmain.org/

Opening and closing music by David Cutter Music:

https://www.davidcuttermusic.com

(website) https://www.youtube.com/@dcuttermusic (YouTube)

Lectionary Q is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Text: Luke 21:5-19

Dennis Sanders explores Luke 21:5-19 for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, where Jesus predicts the temple’s destruction and the trials His disciples will face. I reflect on the beauty of the temple contrasted with its impending ruin, connecting it to themes of impermanence observed at the 9/11 Memorial.

Earlier this year, my husband and I went to New York City. We took the train to lower Manhattan to visit the 9/11 Memorial. It was quite moving to see these two grand footprints of where the two towers stood. The busyness of this massive city was stilled as we heard the rushing of the water fountain. The water flowed down into a hole, concealing its destination. It was a reminder of how many people; workers, first responders, and travelers entered buildings and planes and never returned.

Maybe the thing that captured my attention the most was The Sphere. This is a bronze sculpture that stood in the plaza between the two towers. It was damaged in the September 11 attacks, but it was salvaged and placed in Liberty Plaza overlooking the memorial. It’s no longer a perfect sphere. The top is dented inward. It is a stark reminder of that horrible day, but it is also a stark reminder of how things don’t last.

The disciples were quite stunned at the sheer beauty of the temple. But Jesus told them that these beautiful stones wouldn’t last. He was right. By 70 CE, the Romans would level Jerusalem and destroy the temple. It would come tumbling down. Jesus then talks about terrible things: wars. Persecutions. Betrayals. None it is good. As William Butler Yeats says, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.”

In the midst of everything going to seed, Jesus says don’t be terrified which seems sort of bonkers. But he tells them to trust in him. He will give us the words to speak. We can bear witness to his mighty acts in the world. And even if they take our lives, we can rest assured that our souls are secured in Christ. Buildings don’t last, but Christ and his church does.

Questions:

* Jesus warned that we shouldn’t be led astray. How could we be led astray?

* The word “testify” can also be “witness.” In Greek, the word translates to martyr. What did it mean to testify for the disciples who faced persecution? What does it mean now?

* How will the followers of Jesus be treated because of him? How might we be treated if we take Jesus at his word?

* Jesus says, Don’t worry about formulating a defense; instead, trust in Jesus to give us the words and bear witness to God. What does that look like?

What are your answers? What are your questions? Please send them to lectionaryq@substack.com. Listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Listen to Church and Main Podcast (Dennis’ Other Podcast):

https://churchandmain.org/

Opening and closing music by David Cutter Music:

https://www.davidcuttermusic.com

(website) https://www.youtube.com/@dcuttermusic (YouTube)

Lectionary Q is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Text: Luke 20:27-38

In this episode of Lectionary Q, host Dennis Sanders reflects on the biblical passage from Luke 20:27-38, focusing on the Sadducees’ question to Jesus about resurrection and marriage. He explores themes of legacy, the significance of resurrection, and the importance of faith in understanding life beyond death.

What’s going on here? The Sadducees decide to ask Jesus a question. Okay. But the question they ask is one of those “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin” kind of questions. They take what was a custom in Jewish law to protect a widow and blow it out of proportion. “So if a woman’s husband dies, his brother then marries her. Then he dies, and his brother marries her,” one of them says. You can see Jesus rolling his eyes farther and farther into the back of his head.

The day after my mother died, my husband shared a message from a friend of ours on Facebook saying that I was her legacy. In the midst of my grief, I was very touched by that note.

Having children can be a sense of immortality, a legacy that outlasts you. It has been that way for a long, long time. That was kind of the thrust behind the very odd question that the Sadducees asked Jesus in today’s text. It was based on the concept of Levirate marriage, which is summarized in Deuteronomy 25:5-6. Theologian and pastor Bob Cornwall points out that the key in this passage is found in verse 6, “so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.”

Since the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection, it would make sense they would place more emphasis on this than anything else. But then again, this probably wasn’t really the point. The whole point was to trip Jesus up. It was a loaded question.

In human terms, we focus on legacy. We focus on who is going to carry our names after we are gone from this mortal coil. But Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees and to us is to look ahead to the resurrection. And that is hard. It’s hard, especially for us moderns, because we have a hard time believing in anything other than what we see with our own two eyes. We are worried that our names might be forgotten, but in Christ, our names aren’t forgotten; we aren’t forgotten.

I am grateful to be a legacy of my dear mother. But also know that I look forward to the resurrection when I will see her again. I don’t put my hope in a legacy, but in Christ, who brings new life and when I can look forward to that great gettin’ up morning.

Questions:

* Why do you think the Sadducees asked Jesus such an outlandish question?

* What did Jesus mean when he said, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage?”

* Read Luke 19:45-48. How does this passage connect to our lectionary passage this week?

* Read verses 38 and 39. They say that Jesus answered well because they dared not ask any more questions. Why did they say that?

What are your answers? What are your questions? Please send them to lectionaryq@substack.com. Listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Listen to Church and Main Podcast (Dennis’ Other Podcast):

https://churchandmain.org/

Opening and closing music by David Cutter Music:

https://www.davidcuttermusic.com

(website) https://www.youtube.com/@dcuttermusic (YouTube)

Lectionary Q is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Text: Luke 6:20-31 (All Saints C)

I can remember it like it was yesterday, but it was 20 years ago. It was a Friday afternoon and I was called to my supervisor’s office. I was being fired. I messed up. I could feel waves of shame as I left his office and was escorted by an administrative assistant out of the office and down to the lobby of the office building.

Jesus is on a plain and starts talking to his disciples and to the crowd. In Greek, the word for crowd is basically “riff-raff.” These are people who were the down and out. They probably felt like nobodies in their world. All of a sudden, Jesus tells them that the poor belong in the Kingdom of God, that those who hunger will be filled, those who weep will find laughter. In a time when people were told that being rich meant God favored you, this was good news. God remembers those who weren’t at their best. That means that God remembers us. That means God lifts us up. That means God lifts up those who are the poor and the forgotten.

Jesus also offers some woes and too often we think these are different people, and at times they can be. But more often than not, we are the ones who are blessed and also facing woes. And God still loves us and God still remembers us.

The writer David Brooks tells a story of a man who worked at a plant until he was laid off. On his last day, he hoped to just quietly leave the building. But as he left, his co-workers decided to line the hallway and clap for him to send him off. It was a wonderful way to treat him with a sense of dignity.

And this is the promise Jesus gives to all of us. When life seems to fall apart, when just can’t get it together, Jesus says we are blessed. Luke’s version of the Beatitudes might be best summed up in Beck’s 1994 breakout single, in that we are all Losers and God loves us. We are not forgotten. We matter. Thanks be to God.

Questions:

* In Matthew’s version, Jesus is on a mountain. Here, Jesus is on a plain. Does that matter? Why?

* Matthew’s version talks about the “poor in spirit.” Luke just says “ Blessed are the poor. Does the difference matter?

* Luke includes woes in addition to the blessings. Why does he do this? Are these different people from the people who are blessed?

* This is the gospel text for All Saints Sunday. How does this relate to this day? What does this mean about saints who went before us?

What are your answers? What are your questions? Please send them to lectionaryq@substack.com. Listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Listen to Church and Main Podcast (Dennis’ Other Podcast):

https://churchandmain.org/

Opening and closing music by David Cutter Music:

https://www.davidcuttermusic.com

(website) https://www.youtube.com/@dcuttermusic (YouTube)

Lectionary Q is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Dennis is back after a week off with not one, not two, but three passages to look at and ask questions: Hebrews 7:23-28, Mark 10:46-52 and John 8:31-36.

What are your answers? What are your questions? Please send them to lectionaryq@substack.com. Listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Listen to Church and Main Podcast (Dennis’ Other Podcast):

https://churchandmain.org/

Opening and closing music by David Cutter Music:

https://www.davidcuttermusic.com

(website) https://www.youtube.com/@dcuttermusic (YouTube)

Lectionary Q is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Dennis Sanders had a busy week so he’s only looking at one text this week, Mark 10:17-31, but makes up for it by asking more questions than usual.

What are your answers? What are your questions? Please send them to lectionaryq@substack.com. Listen to the podcast on your favorite podcast app.

Listen to Church and Main Podcast (Dennis’ Other Podcast):

https://churchandmain.org/

Opening and closing music by David Cutter Music:

https://www.davidcuttermusic.com

(website) https://www.youtube.com/@dcuttermusic (YouTube)