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<Proper 4> =The Sunday closest to June 1=

PRAYER (traditional language) O God, whose never-failing providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth: We humbly beseech thee to put away from us all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language) O God, whose never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

FOR YEAR A

FIRST READING: Deuteronomy 11:18-21,26-28 (You shall keep my law always before you, for you are blessed if you keep it, and cursed if you do not.)

PSALM 31 (or 31:1-5,19-24) (Lord, you are my sure refuge from all my adversities.)

EPISTLE: Romans 3:21-25a,28 (God sets us right with himself, not through the law, but through his grace given to those who believe in Jesus Christ.)

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Matthew 7:21-27 (It is not enough to call me Lord. You must do as I say. He who obeys my words builds his house on a rock. He who does not builds on sand.)

FOR YEAR B

FIRST READING: Deuteronomy 5:6-21 (The Ten Commandments)

PSALM 81 (or 81:1-10) (Sing with joy. Blow the trumpet. When God brought us out of Egypt, and eased our burden, he commanded us to rejoice. He said, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.")

EPISTLE: 2 Corinthians 4:5-12 (Those who minister the Gospel are called to participation in the death of Christ.)

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Mark 2:23-28 (On the Sabbath, the disciples of Jesus pluck ears of grain to munch. Someone objects, and Jesus replies by citing the example of David (1 Samuel 21:1-6), and by quoting a proverb, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath," which he interprets as, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.")

FOR YEAR C

FIRST READING: 1 Kings 8:22-23,27-30,41-43 (Solomon, having built a Temple in honor of the LORD, prays at its dedication, saying: "O LORD, the heavens cannot contain you, much less this house. But, accept it as a place for your worship, and when those of the household of Israel pray toward this house, hear their prayers. And when God-fearing worshippers from other nations pray toward this house, hear their prayers.")

PSALM 96 (or 96:1-9) (The gods of the heathen are nothing but idols. It is the LORD who made the heavens. Declare his glory among the nations. Let all peoples praise the LORD.)

EPISTLE: Galatians 1:1-10 (Paul begins his letter to the Christians of Galatia, by saying, "How quickly you have turned from the true Gospel which you received from me to follow a counterfeit message!")

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 7:1-10 (A Roman centurion asks Jesus to heal his servant. Jesus does so and says, "I have not found so great a faith even in Israel.")

NOTE ON THE EPISTLE: We are at present reading in order through the Gospel of Luke, and beginning to read in order through the Epistle to the Galatians, so that there is no reason to expect the Epistle and the Gospel to have the same theme. However, although it is not spelled out in todays's selection, the reason for Paul's letter to the Galatians is that, after they had been converted by the preaching of Paul, and after he had gone on to preach elsewhere, they had listened to other preachers who said, "In order to be good Christians, you must first be good Jews and be circumcised and accept the obligation to keep the Law of Moses. A Gentile Christian is a contradiction in terms." Paul was outraged by this, and said, "If you do this, you are ignoring the revolutionary change in our relationship with God that the saving work of Jesus Christ has accomplished. Christ has opened the door to Jew and Gentile alike, without requiring either to become the other." Thus the theme of Paul's letter, though not necessarily of the opening verses which we read today, ties in with the theme of the Gospel, and of the Psalm and the First Reading, which were chosen to match the Gospel, and all deal with the welcoming of believing Gentiles into the community of worship and salvation.)

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<Proper 5> =The Sunday closest to June 8=

PRAYER (traditional language) O God, from whom all things do come: Grant that by thy inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language) O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

FOR YEAR A

FIRST READING: Hosea 5:15--6:6 (God says: In their distress my people return to me, but their love is as short-lived as morning dew. I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice.)

PSALM 50 (or 50:7-15) (God says: I do not need your sarifices. I have all the cattle I need. Offer me your thanksgiving, your obedience, your prayers.)

EPISTLE: Romans 4:13-18 (Abraham was made the father of many nations, not just of the Jews, and the promise to Abraham was received by faith (for the Law was not yet given), and is a promise to all who share the faith of Abraham, not just to the one branch of his family that was later given the Law.)

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Matthew 9:9-13 (Jesus called Matthew, the tax-collector, to be one of his followers, and some were shocked. But Jesus said, "It is the sick who need a doctor. Go study the text, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'")

FOR YEAR B

FIRST READING: Genesis 3:(1-7)8-21 (We read of the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden, and of its consequences in alienation from God, from nature, and from each other.)

PSALM 130 (An acknowledgment of sin, a plea for forgiveness, and an expression of confidence in the mercy of God.)

EPISTLE: 2 Corinthians 4:13-18 (Our troubles are light, and lead to an eternal glory that far outweighs them.)

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Mark 3:20-35 (Deputies from Jerusalem say that Jesus casts out demons through Beelzebub; He replies that by casting out demons He shows Himself stronger than Beelzebub; He warns them against blasphemy; when told that His family wants Him, He replies that all who do the will of God are His family.)

NOTE ON THE READING FROM THE HOLY GOSPEL: Some writers have drawn questionable inferences from Mark 3:19b-21,31-35, which reads:

+ And they [Jesus and his disciples] came home [to Capernaum]. + And a crowd gathered again, so that they + could not even eat. + And when his family heard, they went out to restrain him, + for they said, "He is beside himself."

[controversy with Jerusalemites omitted]

+ There came, then, his brothers and his mother, + and, standing outside, sent him a message. + and the crowd surrounded him, and they said to him, + Your mother and your brothers want you. + And he answered, + "Who is my mother, or my brothers?" + And he looked round about at those with him, and said, + "Behold my mother and my brothers. + For whoever does the will of God + is my brother, and sister, and mother."

Some persons use these verses as proof that Mary was not sinless, since she showed a lack of faith in her Son by believing Him to be crazy. Others use these verses as proof that Mary was not a virgin, since if she were she would have known that Jesus was the Son of God and therefore not crazy. I reply that these verses prove neither.

In the first place, the "for they said" in verse 21 can be an impersonal "they," as in "people in general were saying." Thus, His family may have come to rescue Him, not because they believed He was crazy, but because they believed that He was in danger from those who said He was. In the second place, if some of His kinsmen thought Him crazy and were going to bring Him home by force, Mary might have wished to go along, both in the hope of being a moderating influence on the kinsmen, and in order to see her Son. This is consistent with her having complete confidence in Him. In the third place, the Greek can be otherwise translated. In verse 21, some translations have "his family heard," while others have, "his friends heard." The Greek says, "those with him" or "those beside him." As far as I can tell, the only argument for supposing that it refers to His family is that His family does in fact show up in verse 31, after an interevening episode. I suggest that a legitimate alternate translation of verse 21 is the following:

+ When his disciples heard [the crowd], + they went out to restrain it, for they said, + "It is beside itself."

This fits the Greek grammatically, and it makes perfect sense, in that Mark has already told us that the crowd was out of control, but has given no hint of any behavior by Jesus that might serve as a basis, however farfetched, for a similar complaint about Him. I am assuming that the arrival of His family as described a few verses later, is an unrelated incident. Someone will say: "But if His family has come just to see Him, why does He snub them?" I reply that I do not think He does. His family, being unable to enter the house because of the crowd, send word in that they are outside. This message passes from mouth to mouth, and reaches Jesus (however it may have started) in the form of a demand that He stop His sermon at that point, dismiss the crowd, and send everyone home while He chats with His family. His response is that His work is more important. I conclude that Mark 3:21 cannot be used to prove that Mary thought, or that other relatives thought, or indeed that anyone thought, that Jesus was crazy.

FOR YEAR C

FIRST READING: 1 Kings 17:17-24 (The prophet Elijah raises a widow's son from the dead.)

PSALM 30 (or 30:1-6,12-13 BCP = 30:1-5,11-12 KJV) (The Psalmist says: "I was proud, and I was brought low, to the very brink of of death; and I cried to the LORD, and he rescued me from the abyss. I will praise him forever.")

EPISTLE: Galatians 1:11-24 (Paul states his credentials. Apparently his critics said that he was not one of the original Apostles, and so was only a second-hand commentator. He replies that he has seen the risen Christ (Acts 9:1-22, see also Acts 22:6-10,17-21), and that his eye-witness testimony to the Resurrection and his commission to preach the Gospel are as first-hand as those of the original Twelve.)

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 7:11-17 (Jesus raises a widow's son from the dead.)

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<Proper 6> =The Sunday closest to June 15=

PRAYER (traditional language) Keep, O Lord, we beseech thee, thy household the Church in thy steadfast faith and love, that through thy grace we may proclaim thy truth with boldness, and minister thy justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language) Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

FOR YEAR A

FIRST READING: Exodus 19:2-8a (The LORD, having delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, makes an agreement with them that they will be his people for ever.)

PSALM 100 (Rejoice in the LORD!)

EPISTLE: Romans 5:6-11 (While we were still God's enemies, he loved us and brought us back to himself. How much more will our blessings be now that we are God's friends!)

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Matthew 9:35--10:8(9-15) (Jesus chooses twelve disciples. He sends them out to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom.)

FOR YEAR B

FIRST READING: Ezekiel 31:1-6,10-14 (The king of Nineveh was like a magnificent cedar tree of Lebanon, with birds nesting in its branches; but God das judged him for his wickedness and has cast him down.)

PSALM 92 ("The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, or a cedar of Lebanon.")

EPISTLE: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (We focus our attention, not on the passing things of this world, but on the eternal life that awaits us.)

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Mark 4:26-34 (Jesus said: the kingdom of Heaven is like a stalk of grain springing up, suddenly and mysteriously while the sower's back is turned. It is like a tiny seed that will some day be a great tree, with birds nesting in its branches.)

FOR YEAR C

FIRST READING: 2 Samuel 11:26--12:10,13-15 (David took another man's wife to bed, and had her husband killed. Nathan the prophet went to David and said, "A rich man had everything, and a poor man had only a lamb, that was like a daughter to him. And the rich man took the lamb and killed it for a feast." David said, "That man deserves to die." Nathan said, "That man is you. God's judgement is on you." David said, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan said, "The LORD has transferred your guilt. You shall not die. But the son that shall be born to you shall die." (See NOTE below.))

PSALM 32 (or 32:1-8) ("Blessed is he whose unrighteousness is forgiven, whose sin is covered. When I was silent, I had no peace. But I confessed my sin, and the LORD forgave me. He surrounds me with songs of deliverance." NOTE: This Psalm is commonly supposed to have been written by David after his repentance and forgiveness for his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah as recounted above.)

EPISTLE: Galatians 2:11-21 (Paul says: When Peter and I were at Antioch together, we both ate with the Gentiles, but when visitors arrived from Jerusalem, Peter stopped doing so, which was timid of him, and I chewed him out for it in public. Now if we Jews look not to the Law but to Christ for our salvation, like the Gentiles, has Christ made us sinners? Not at all. Rather, if we, having been reconciled with God through Christ, use the Law to justify myself, then I set aside the work of Christ.)

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 7:36-50 (Christ dines at the home of a man called Simon. As they are eating, a sinful woman enters and, weeping, kisses his feet and annoints them with costly perfume. (Diners reclined on couches with their feet pointing out away from the table, and thus his feet would be the most accessible part of him.) Simon is shocked, but Jesus says, "A certain man had two debtors, and one owed him 500 denarii and the other 50. Since neither could pay, he forgave them both. Which will love him more?" Simon answers, "The one who has been forgiven more." Jesus answers, "Right. This woman loves me more than you do, because she has been forgiven more than you have.")

NOTE ON THE FIRST READING: Most modern translations of verse 14 have Nathan saying: By this deed, you have scorned the LORD. The Hebrew text reads: You have scorned the enemies of the LORD, which makes little sense. It is probable that the writer inserted the "enemies" here simply to avoid saying the words "you have scorned the LORD," which would be considered a shocking violation of a verbal taboo, but that every ancient reader would have understood that the wording as given was a euphemism. The analogous construction is used in 1 Samuel 25:22, where David has been insulted and says, "May the LORD smite the enemies of David if I do not avenge this insult." In fact, he meant, "May the LORD smite me if I do not..." but it would have been considered irreverent actually to say this. The King James translators look at the original text, and instead of translating it as, "You have scorned the enemies of the LORD," they take it to mean, "You have caused the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme." This has been the subject of many fine sermons on how we must be careful how we act, since a Christian who misbehaves (Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker are two recent conspicuous examples) gives non-Christians a plausible reason for saying, "You see? Christianity is a fraud, as I have always suspected!" Thus, in addition to the direct harm you do by a wrong action, you also by your action preach the opposite of the Gospel to those who learn of your action. This is an excellent point, but not in fact the point that Nathan is making. Some readers may wonder how the KJV translators got the word "caused" into their translation, given that there is no such word in the Hebrew. A partial answer is that for Hebrew this would just be a different form of the verb. In English, to LAY a book on the table is to cause it to LIE there. To SEAT a guest is to cause him to SIT. To FELL a tree is to cause it to FALL, and so on. Now this modification of_the verb, which in English is incomplete, irregular, and unpredictable, is standard in Hebrew. A slight modification of the form of the verb makes it causative. However, (ASK STAN ABOUT THIS.)

NOTE ON THE FIRST READING: The New English Bible translates Nathan's final speech with the words, "the LORD has laid on another the consequences of your sin...the boy that will be born to you shall die." When I first read this, I was so startled that I took it up with a rabbi. I was at the time attending a lecture series by a rabbi on "Being a Jew in a Christian Society." (An eye-opener, by the way. Who would have guessed that many Jews consider "Jingle Bells," "Winter Wonderland," and "Frosty the Snowman" to be Christmas songs, and therefore songs that should not be sung in the public schools?) The rabbi had complained that Christian translations of the Hebrew Scriptures often distort the meaning in order to fit Christian doctrine, and had given examples. I asked him about this particular passage as translated in the NEB. He was no fool, and knew perfectly well what I was driving at. He asked for time to study the matter, and during the intervening week he carefully examined the Hebrew, and told me at the next meeting that there was no doubt that the NEB was correct. Nathan speaks of transferring the consequences of the sin to another, and says that the child of David's that will be born (future tense) shall die. But the child that David had conceived with the wife of Uriah had already been born. The text therefore points to some future Son of David who would die for David's sin. (As far as the theology of the passage is concerned, the death of the child already in the royal nursery is a red herring.)

NOTE ON THE GOSPEL READING: The story of the "woman who was a sinner" (Luke 7:36-50) has been misunderstood by some readers. When Jesus was a dinner guest, a woman who was a "sinner" (sins not specified) came into the room and wept, and kissed and annointed his feet, and the host was shocked. Jesus told a parable: "A man had two debtors, one who owed him 500 denarii, and the other 50. Since they could not pay, he forgave them both. Which will love him more?" The host said: "I suppose, the one whom he forgave more." Jesus said: "Good answer. This woman has been forgiven much, and you see that she loves me much. You have been forgiven little, and you love little." One verse reads: "Her sins, which were many, are forgiven, for she loved much." Some readers take this to mean that her love for Jesus was the cause of his decision to forgive her. Some assume that she was an adulteress, and understand the verse to mean that adultery is okay if you are truly in love. But there is a language problem here. If someone says, "It has been raining, for (or because) the pavement is wet," he does not mean that the wetness of the pavement is the cause of the recent rain. He means that it is evidence of the recent rain. It is the cause of our KNOWLEDGE of the recent rain. His statement, "It has rained, because the pavement is wet," is shorthand for, "I know that it has rained, because I see that the pavement is wet." So here, as far as our knowledge goes, we see that the woman is grateful to Jesus, and as a result we believe that he has done something great for her (such as forgiving her sins and restoring her to life and joy). But as far as the events are concerned, the restoration comes first and is the cause, and the love and gratitude follow as a result. A point often overlooked is the claim that Jesus here makes about his own status. His story casually assumes that all sin is a debt owed to him, and that those who have been forgiven ought to be grateful to him. This does not fit will with the notion that Jesus thought of himself only as a moral teacher, and that his Deity was a later invention of over-enthusiastic followers.

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<Proper 7> =The Sunday closest to June 22=

PRAYER (traditional language) O Lord, we beseech thee, make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name, for thou never failest to help and govern those whom thou hast set upon the sure foundation of thy loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language) O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

FOR YEAR A

FIRST READING: Jeremiah 20:7-13 (Jeremiah says: Zeal for the LORD consumes me, and I speak, but everyone mocks me and seeks my destruction. Yet the LORD is my deliverance.)

PSALM 69:1-18 (or 69:7-10,16-18) (Zeal for thy house has consumed me, and the insults of thine enemies fall on my head. I am a byword, and the drunkards make songs against me. But thou art my deliverance.)

EPISTLE: Romans 5:15b-19 (The rebellion of one man (Adam) brought death into the world, but the free gift of God's grace in Jesus Christ brings life.)

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Matthew 10:(16-23)24-33 (Jesus said: You will be persecuted and slandered for my sake, but do not fear, for I am with you. Acknowledge me before men, and I will acknowledge you before my Father.)

OR YEAR B

FIRST READING: Job 38:1-11,16-18 (It is the LORD, and no one else, who has set the boundaries between land and water, and who controls the raging of the waves and the fury of the typhoon.)

PSALM 107:1-32 (All they that to the sea go down The wonders of our God behold. At His command the winds arise, And storms with angry billows rolled.

When in distress on Him they call, He stills the raging of the sea, And brings them glad of heart unto The haven where they long to be.)

EPISTLE: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 ("If one died for all, then all are dead. God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. As Christ's ambassadors, we urge you to be reconciled to God.")

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Mark 4:35-41; 5:1-20 (Jesus and His disciples are in a boat and a storm arises. Jesus quiets the storm. They land in Gentile territory, and meet a man possessed by demons. Jesus commands the demons and they leave the man and enter a herd of swine, which rush into the lake and are drowned. The natives of the area ask Jesus to leave.)

NOTE ON THE EPISTLE: It is often supposed that the Biblical doctrine of the Atonement is one of straightforward penal substitution. God demands punishment for our sins. His wrath is kindled against us. But Jesus agrees to be punished as a substitute, and so the wrath of God is appeased. It will be noted that Paul's words in today's epistle do not quite fit this formula. He says: "If one man died for all, then are all now dead." Now, if one man dies as a substitute for a second (as Sidney Carton died in place of Charles Darnay in A TALE OF TWO CITIES) then we conclude that the second man remains alive. It seems that Paul is saying "for all," not in the sense of "in place of all," but rather, "on behalf of all, as the representative of all," in the sense that, when at the end of World War II, the Emperor of Japan said, "I surrender," he acted for all Japan, and every Japanese surrendered in the person of the Emperor. His surrender did not mean that the ordinary citizen did not surrender. It meant that the ordinary citizen did. So likewise Jesus, laying down His life in an act of perfect obedience, acted as the representative of the human race and brought all mankind out of its state of rebellion against God and into a state of obedience and harmony. Note that Paul never speaks of reconciling God with us. It is not a question of appeasing God's wrath, or averting His judgement. It is we who are to be reconciled with God. It is our hostility, not God's, that needs to be overcome. And it is God's action in Christ that overcomes it. (To obtain further comments on this point, send the messages get gen01 ruff get gen02 ruff get gen04 ruff get gen05 ruff get gen06 ruff get gen07 ruff to listserv@asuvm.inre.asu.edu or to listserv@asuacad.bitnet Only the last four deal with the Atonement, but reading the first three will not be a waste of time.))

NOTE ON THE READING FROM THE HOLY GOSPEL: Today's Gospel reading comes in two parts, and many Lectionaries make the second part optional. The first part describes Jesus as stilling a storm on the Sea of Galilee with a word of comand. The First Reading and the Psalm (the Epistle readings form a continuous sequence from Sunday to Sunday and match the Gospels in theme only by co-incidence) make the point that no one but God controls the waves, and thus we see that Jesus speaks with Divine authority.

The second part of the Gospel reading deals with the possessed man, and the demons, and the swine, and it is not surprising that the compilers of the Lectionary indicate the option of ignoring it. Many Christians find the story embarrassing. I suspect several reasons. (1) References to demons appear to be bad science. Someone who believes that God made the world and that God is fully present in Christ is not likely to have trouble with the notion that Christ can turn water into wine. It is no objection that water does not ordinarily turn into wine by itself. That is the whole point. It is turned into wine by an external Agent acting on it, and the extraordinary nature of the result shows the extraordinary nature of the Agent. It is as if we placed a magnet under a flat sheet of paper and sprinkled iron filings on the sheet. They are at once aligned along curves reaching from one spot on the paper to another, and we say, "Behold the magnetic lines of force." If someone objects, "But iron filings sprinkled at random do not form that sort of pattern," we say, "Of course they don't in the absence of some external agent, such as a magnet. Hence the conclusion that there is a magnet under the paper." But when we read the New Testament stories of demonic possession, the question for some of us is not whether Jesus has the power to cast out demons, but whether there are demons there to be cast out in the first place. The Gospel writers seem to think that in the average Galilean village there will be at least one or two persons possessed by demons, and here many of us have trouble going along. (2) The demons in this particular story present a special problem because they can also possess non-human animals. Now, the idea that a man might, by deliberate bad behavior on his part, so mess up his mind as to give malicious alien spirits a foothold in it is one that we might be prepared to consider, but we do not view dumb beasts as capable of making that sort of moral choice, and clearly the ones in this story are not portrayed as doing so. (3) Then there is the matter of humor. In our current culture, demons are already the raw material of humor. For examples, consider the cartoon series, "The Far Side," or Flip Wilson's line, "The Devil made me do it," or the Church Lady on Saturday Night Live, or the musical "Damn Yankees." And this particular story has something extra. For most readers, there is something very funny about the idea of a pig that is possessed by a demon. Pigs are so down-to-earth, and demons so out-of-this-world, that the combination of the two is a joke. Any political speaker knows that if you can once get the public to think of your opponent, or some proposal of your opponent, as a joke, your troubles are over. Your opponent may have serious evidence to back up his statement, but if the voters have accepted the notion that he is ridiculous, that his statement is ridiculous, and that anyone who thinks his statement might have some merit is ridiculous, they will refuse to listen to anything he says lest by the mere act of listening they themselves become legitimate targets of ridicule. Hence a Christian who firmly believes in the Virgin Birth, and the Resurrection, and the Miracle at Cana, and so on, may find himself disarmed when it comes to answering, even in his own mind, the question whether he believes in "the miracle of the deviled ham."

If we ask what sort of behavior a village of Galilean peasants might mistake for demonic possession, we get an interesting list: Some persons are just plain crazy, and we might suppose that all craziness was mistaken for possession (although Matthew 4:24 seems to distinguish). Some persons have epilepsy, and are likely to lose control of their bodies for a spell. This has often been explained by supposing that some other personality has temporarily seized them. Some persons have Tourette's Syndrome, and will at unpredicted times begin to grimace, twitch, and utter irrelevant phrases in a loud voice. Often the words are taboo (sexual, scatalogical, blasphemous, insulting), so that someone with the symptom will be afraid to go out in public, lest he involuntarily find himself using "fighting words" to a gang of youths not disposed to overlook it. It is easy to see how this could be regarded as a form of demonic possession. Some persons have Multiple Personality Disorder, as described in such popular books as THE THREE FACES OF EVE. The supposition that all the personalities but one are really demons will suggest itself to some observers. Sometimes an alternate personality will explicitly claim to be a demon, as in the novel THE EXORCIST. (The author of this work of fiction has published two non-fiction books in which he describes some of the case-studies on which he based his writings. Weird!)

Some Christians will argue that some of the phenomena mentioned above really are instances of demonic possession; and I confess that if I were challenged to defend the contrary, my reasons would be short on experimental evidence and long on the notion that "belief in medical explanations for deviant behavior is enlightened, while belief in demonic explanations is icky." Instead of trying to settle the question of whether certain documented forms of behavior are in fact instances of demonic possession, I propose to assume for the sake of argument that when Jesus seemed to be casting out demons, He was really healing victims of complex hormone imbalance or brain tumor or whatever. I then ask the question: "If this was really a brain tumor, or a Valium deficiency, and Jesus was God and therefore not deceived into thinking that there were demons at work here, why did He let his hearers go on thinking that there were demons, and that He was casting them out?" And here I find myself answering a question with a question. "What do you think that He ought to have told them? When He healed other diseases, ought He to have accompanied the healings with lectures on modern medicine (or rather, on post-modern medicine, since it is arrogant to suppose that the present is the last word in scientific knowledge)? When someone said, 'My son has a demon, please heal him,' Jesus said, 'Demon, begone,' and the boy was healed. Ought He to have given a lecture on Tourette's Syndrome?" Now the case of the Swine has a special twist. Let me offer a possible account of the events, supposing that the man simply had a mental disorder. Jesus healed him, and as the man was being healed he gave a shout which stampeded the swine, and they rushed over a cliff into the water and were drowned. In Matthew's version, the herdsmen "rushed into the city and told everything, and what had happened to the demoniac" (actually, Matthew says "the demoniacs," in the plural, but that is a whole lecture in itself). In other words, for them, the significant news was that a valuable herd of swine had been lost. The healing of the man was just an afterthought. The people did not fully understand what had happened, but they did understand that there was a connection between the healing and the loss of the swine -- that there had been a trade-off here, and they did not like it. They decided that if there were going to be any further trades in which one man was restored to life and health in exchange for one herd of swine, that they did not want such trades to involve their country. Would Jesus kindly take his healing powers elsewhere? And so Jesus did. He did not pause to explain to them that there were no real demons involved, and that it was just an instance of the shout of the healed man stampeding the pigs. That was irrelevant to the decision they had made about where their priorities lay. He left them to their theories, and their priorities. And the Gospel writers repeated the story in those terms, because it was not part of their commission to give lectures on modern or post-modern psychiatric medicine. It was their commission instead to ask us where our priorities lie, and that they have done.

FOR YEAR C

FIRST READING: Zechariah 12:8-10;13:1 (In the day to come, says the LORD, I will strengthen the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and will make them compassionate, and they shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn for him. See NOTE.)

PSALM 63:1-8 ("O God, thou art my God...my soul thirsts for thee.... Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.")

EPISTLE: Galatians 3:23-29 (Paul calls the law an attendant to bring us to Christ. But now that we have Christ, the attendant has done his job. See NOTE.)

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 9:18-24 (Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus tells the disciples not to proclaim this, saying that his path leads to rejection, death, and resurrection, and that those who follow him must be ready to follow him to the cross.)

NOTE on the First Reading. There is a disagreement about whether the text says "look on him" or "look on me." (see_STAN, ANCHOR, etc.)

NOTE on the Epistle: The KJV says that the Law is a "schoolmaster" to bring us to Christ. What the Greek word means is a slave whose job it is to escort the boy to school, carry his books, and see that he does go to school instead of playing truant.

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<Proper 8> =The Sunday closest to June 29=

PRAYER (traditional language) O Almighty God, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto thee; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER (contemporary language) Almighty God, who have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

FOR YEAR A

FIRST READING: Isaiah 2:10-17 ("The haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the pride of man shall be brought low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted on that Day.")

PSALM 89:1-18 ("Thou hast a mighty arm... Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before thee. Blessed are those who walk in the light of thy countenance.)

EPISTLE: Romans 6:3-11 (By our baptism we share in the death of Christ, and likewise in his resurrection.)

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Matthew 10:34-42 ("He does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.")

NOTE: The prayer and readings for this Sunday were chosen partly in view of the celebration on 29 June of the martyrdoms of the Apostles Peter and Paul.

FOR YEAR B

FIRST READING: Deuteronomy 15:7-11 (You must not harden your heart against the poor in your midst.)

PSALM 112 (Blessing shall be upon the righteous man, who does not hoard his wealth, but generously relieves the poor.)

EPISTLE: 2 Corinthians 8:1-9,13-15 (Paul speaks of the generosity of the Christians of Macedonia, who have sent money to relieve the church at Jerusalem, where there is a famine.)

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Mark 5:22-24,35b-43 (Jesus raises a twelve-year-old girl from the dead.)

FOR YEAR C

FIRST READING: 1 Kings 19:15-16,19-21 (The prophet Elijah calls Elisha to be his disciple and eventually his successor. Elisha asks permission to bid his family farewell, and is granted it.)

PSALM 16 (or 16:5-11) (You will not abandon me to the grave, nor leave your chosen one to rot. In your presence is the fulness of joy, and at your right hand is pleasure for ever.)

EPISTLE: Galatians 5:1,13-25 (Paul says: You are called to freedom in Christ. This does not mean that anything goes, but that you are to love one another, and so fulfill the law. Walk in the Spirit. The works of unrenewed nature are clear: unchastity, hatred, strife, envy, violence, etc. The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, etc. If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit.)

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 9:51-62 (Jesus and his disciples head toward Jerusalem. A Samaritan village refuses them hospitality, and James and John wish to see it punished. Jesus rebukes them. Three men offer to become his disciples, but with strings attached, and they told that their commitment must be total. One wants leave to say good-bye to his family first and is refused.)

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