The Christian Year in Biblical Perspective
August 1, 2010
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)
Liturgical Color: Green
“God’s golden thread -- Love.”
Hosea 11:1-11
This and the Psalms text are for those who believe that the OT is about judgment and the NT about grace. In Hosea 11, an agonized God is torn between the demands of judgment and of grace. The images of parent and spouse emphasize the love of God. This love is constantly cast aside by a sinful people.
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
This text is a song of thanksgiving over the hesed of Yahweh, God’s steadfast love. Lostness, hunger, thirst, and weariness are the condition of those cut off from God, yet if they feel abandoned, they are not. God has guided them out of the desert and back to their homes again.
Colossians 3:1-11
Early Christians struggled to understand the implications of being forgiven. Did this mean they must refrain from doing certain things? Or, was it a freeing sort of condition? The writer of Colossians seeks to show the liberty of the baptized life. It is our spiritual freedom that causes us to reject such things as fornication. Impurity, and the like. The writer of Hebrews says, “I will write my law on their hearts.”
Luke 12:13-21
How do we return the love that God has always extended to us, from the beginning of the Biblical record? We do it, indicates Luke, by being “rich toward God.” And that means putting our possessions in their proper place. The farmer in the parable is condemned not because his production was great, but because he thought his relationship with God was guaranteed by what he owned. On what basis do you believe God loves you? Read the parable again. What does it say to your attitude?
Rev. Bill Thompson, MemberCherry Log Christian Church