The entries for each section of the Lectionary become available when current with the Liturgical Calendar

The lectionary scripture commentaries available on this website consists of the present seasons of this year's cycle. The commentaries on scriptures for other seasons or other years will soon be published. See the section, "Works in Process" for further information.

Western (and particularly American) Christians of the twenty-first century approach their faith from out of the western traditions of individualism, independence and self-determination. We view life through the colored glasses of these traditions. Consequently, we read the Bible from these same perspectives. People from Asia, Africa, the Mideast and Latin America, however, read the Bible quite differently. They view the Bible from their cultural perspectives on life as being corporate, intertwined and profoundly social.

Which is right? How should one read the Bible? Well, when one considers that the Bible was written by Mideasterners and not Europeans or North Americans, one must realize that the Bible is written out of a corporate, social and interdependent cultural perspective. Thus, when one reads the Shema, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:4-5); one is primarily reading instructions to the nation (a corporate entity) to be centered in Yahweh, and only secondarily to individuals within that nation.

In order to capture the authentic message of the scriptures, it is important for us who are westerners (and especially Americans) to remove our cultural individualistic sunglasses and see through the clear discerning glasses of a people who both viewed life and wrote their Bible from a corporate, social and interdependent perspective.

Much of the church today uses the lectionary each Sunday to cover much of the Bible in a three-year cycle of weekly readings from the Hebrew Bible, the Gospels and the Epistles (including Acts). The lectionary we are using is the Common Lectionary (Revised), developed by the Consultation on Common Texts. The Consultation is a forum for liturgical renewal among many of the Christian churches of North America.

Out of this corporate reflection on the given texts, the lectionary for a given Sunday enables pastors and Christian workers to use these scriptures in their personal reflection, for sermon preparation and for Bible study.

What is significant about this biblical work, however, is that it intentionally seeks to read the Bible with the Hebrew and early Christian “eye-glasses” of a people and a faith that is corporate in perspective, committed to the transformation of the world, is centered on social justice and stresses our interdependence with each other.

We hope you will find these Bible studies helpful, both for your personal reflection upon scripture and in your sharing of scripture through the sermons you may preach or the Bible studies you may teach.

Dr. Robert C. Linthicum

All materials Copyright (c) 2010 by Robert C. Linthicum

The entries for this section of the Lectionary become available when current with the Liturgical Calendar

The entries for this section of the Lectionary becomes available when current with the Liturgical Calendar

The entries for this section of the Lectionary become available when current with the Liturgical Calendar.

The season of Lent is a season of penitence or fasting preceding Easter. It is traditionally forty days in length, symbolic of the time spent by Moses on Mount Sinai, the forty years’ wanderings in the wilderness, the forty days’ temptation of Jesus or his forty hours in the tomb. It is a period set aside in the Church for personal examination, contrition, repentance and spiritual formation. Unlike other seasons of the Christian Year, the six Sundays in Lent do not observe the fast. Therefore, the designation is “Sundays in Lent”, rather than “Sundays of Lent”.

Observance of a penitential fast as the Church approaches Good Friday has been a part of the liturgy of the church for almost its entire history. The first mention of such a fast was by Irenaeus (c. 130-200). And the Canons of Nicaea (c. 325) that came out of that historic meeting that created the primary creedal statements of the church stipulate a period of Lent, consisting of the forty days before Easter. Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540-604) wrote to the church that Lent should not only be observed in the worship of the Church but by every believer, “so that we, who through the past year have lived too much for ourselves, should mortify ourselves to our Creator through abstinence.”[1]

During the early centuries, observance of the fast was very strict. Only one meal a day was permitted (and that, near the end of the day), and meat, fish, eggs, milk and cheese all had to be “given up for Lent”. By the ninth century, these restrictions began to be relaxed. By the 18th century, fasting had moved away from a strict emphasis on food and toward the “fasting” of other elements of life, such as abstaining from festivities, avoiding marriage feasts, almsgiving and concentrating upon spiritual disciplines. The emphasis on fasting as a way of preparing ourselves for the agony of our Lord continues to today, with the traditions of using the season of Lent to institute a discipline (e.g., going on a diet, exercising daily, etc.) or in giving up some choice food (like chocolate, sweets, etc.) for Lent.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday (see list), which is forty days before Easter. It continues through Holy Week, and concludes with the Saturday before Easter (technically, at noontime). Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday and continues through Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, is both the conclusion and apex of Lent, a time for intensive commemoration of the sufferings and death of Jesus. This final intensive preparation of penitence is accomplished in anticipation of Easter Day and the inauguration of the season of Eastertide. The traditional color of Lent is purple (the color of penitence), and Good Friday is black to designate mourning.

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[1]Gibson, George M., The Story of the Christian Year (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1945), p. 92.

All materials Copyright (c) 2010 by Robert C. Linthicum

Essays

• Ash Wednesday
• 1st Sunday of Lent
• 2nd Sunday of Lent
• 3rd Sunday of Lent
• 4th Sunday of Lent
• Passion Sunday

The entries for this section of the Lectionary become available when current with the Liturgical Calendar.

The entries for this section of the Lectionary become available when current with the Liturgical Calendar.

The entries for this section of the Lectionary become available when current with the Liturgical Calendar.