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August 27, 2018

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 11

Psalm 11^[a]

Unshakable Confidence in God

¹For the director.^[b] Of David.

^[c]In the Lord I take refuge.
    How can you say to me,
    “Flee like a bird to your mountains!
²For behold, the wicked are bending their bows
    as they fit their arrows to the string
so that from the shadows
    they can shoot at those who are upright.^[d]
³If the foundations^[e] are destroyed,
    what can be done by those who are righteous?”
⁴^[f]The Lord is in his holy temple;
    the Lord, whose throne is in heaven.
His eyes are fixed on the world;
    his gaze examines everyone.
⁵The Lord tests the upright and the wicked;
    he detests the lover of violence.
⁶Upon the wicked he will rain down
    fiery coals and brimstone;^[g]
    a scorching wind will be their allotted portion.
⁷For the Lord is just
    and he loves righteous deeds;
    the upright will behold his face.^[h]

Footnotes

Psalm 11:1 This is a confession of confident trust in the Lord’s righteous rule at a time when one’s wicked adversaries seem to have the upper hand. Friends counsel flight to a mountain refuge to escape trouble, but the innocent psalmist stands fast, for the Lord protects those who seek asylum in his temple.
In praying this psalm, we should be mindful that although we can rely on God, we are never sure of ourselves. The Spirit of God is quick to help, but the “flesh,” human nature, is weak—so much so that we must ask not to be put to the test (see Mt 26:41) and must flee from it if this is possible and permitted (see Mt 10:23).
Psalm 11:1 For the director: these words are thought to be a musical or liturgical notation.
Psalm 11:1 The psalmist remains confident in the Lord even though he is under attack by the wicked and receives counsel from his advisers to flee.
Psalm 11:2 The wicked are likened to archers setting traps; they are treacherous, furtive, and bent on maligning the upright and making them fall (see Pss 10:7-10; 37:14). Those who are upright: i.e., the righteous who know and love the Lord (see Pss 7:10; 36:11; 73:1).
Psalm 11:3 The psalmist’s advisers are concerned about the collapse of the foundations (i.e., the order of society; see Pss 75:4; 82:5; Ezek 30:4). This order has been established by the Lord at creation and is being maintained by him.
Psalm 11:4 The psalmist relies on God, who is seated on his heavenly throne—a symbol of his royal rule and authority to judge (see Pss 9:8; 47:9)—and totally against those who love violence. At the right time, he will mete out to the wicked the judgment they deserve, and he will deliver the upright and grant them access to himself.
Psalm 11:6 Fiery coals and brimstone: an image of judgment taken from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (see Gen 19:24; Deut 29:23; Ezek 38:22). Scorching wind: another image of judgment taken from the hot desert winds that blow over the Middle East and devastate the vegetation (see Isa 21:1; 40:7f; Jer 4:11). Their allotted portion: literally, “the portion of their cup.” The cup that God gives people to drink is a symbol for their destiny (see Ps 16:5; Mt 20:22; 26:39; Rev 14:10).
Psalm 11:7 Behold his face: an expression usually denoting access, especially to the king. Here the expression indicates access to the heavenly King, with reference to his presence at the temple (God’s royal house on earth). It is legitimate for us to see in this text an allusion to ultimate access to the heavenly temple (see Pss 16:11; 17:15; 23:6; 140:14).

1 Kings 5:13-18

¹³^[a]Then King Solomon raised up a labor force from all of Israel, and the labor force numbered thirty thousand men. ¹⁴He sent ten thousand of them each month to Lebanon in shifts. They were in Lebanon for one month, and then they were home for two months. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.

¹⁵Solomon also had sixty thousand who served as porters, and eighty thousand who carved stone in the hill country. ¹⁶In addition, Solomon had three thousand and three hundred supervisors in charge of the work. They directed the people who did the work. ¹⁷The king gave orders, and they prepared huge, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with hewn stones. ¹⁸Thus Solomon’s workmen, and Hiram’s workmen, and the men of Gebal prepared the timber and the stone for the construction of the temple.

Ephesians 5:21-6:9

Christ and Christian Spouses^[a]

Be Subject to One Another in Christ. Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. ²²Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. ²³For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the Church, the body of which he is the Savior. ²⁴Just as the Church is subject to Christ, so also wives must be subject to their husbands in everything.

²⁵Love One Another in Christ. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her ²⁶in order to sanctify her by cleansing her with water and the word,^[b] ²⁷in order to present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such flaw, but holy and without the slightest blemish.

²⁸In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. The man who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹For no one ever hates his own body; rather, he nourishes it and cares for it, even as Christ does for the Church, ³⁰because we are members of his body.

³¹For this reason
a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.

³²This is a great mystery. Here I am applying it to Christ and the Church. ³³However, each one of you should love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife should respect her husband.

Chapter 6 Christ and the Members of the Household^[c]

Children and Parents. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for it is only right that you should do so. ²“Honor your father and your mother.” This is the first commandment that is connected with a promise: ³“that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on earth.”

⁴Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Slaves and Masters. ⁵Slaves, be constant in your unwavering obedience to your earthly masters with fear and trembling and with the same heartfelt sincerity that you show to Christ. ⁶Do this not just when they are watching you, as if you only had to please human beings, but as slaves of Christ, wholeheartedly carrying out the will of God. ⁷Do your work willingly, as for the Lord and not for human beings, ⁸knowing that whatever good we may do, whether as slaves or as free men, we will be repaid by the Lord.

⁹And masters, treat your slaves fairly. Stop threatening them. Remember that both of you have the same Master in heaven, and he shows no favoritism.

Footnotes

Ephesians 5:21 Christianity promotes, in community and in family, a new kind of relationship that is marked by humility and mutual submission. Here is a practical essay on the subject. The Old Testament had a lofty idea of marriage and liked to use the image of spouses to suggest God’s faithful love for his people (Ps 45; Song 1:3; Isa 54:4, 8; 62:4-5; Ezek 16; Hos 1:3).
²¹
In the same tradition, Christians compare the relationship of Christ and the Church with a marriage (Mt 9:15; 22:2-4; 25:1-13; Jn 3:29; 2 Cor 11:2; Rev 19:7; 21:2-9). Here Paul goes even further: marriage as such is related to the mystery of Christ and the Church; the reciprocal love of Christ and the Church becomes the foundation and model for the life of spouses, who ought to be a sign and manifestation of that reciprocal love. There is a profound connection between the oneness of marriage and the oneness of Christ with the Church; the former reveals the ultimate intention of the creator when he created the human couple: an intention that the first generation of Christians saw in the text of Gen 2:24 (see Mt 19:5; Mk 10:8; 1 Cor 6:16-17). Chapter 5 of the Letter to the Ephesians, following the same theological line of thought, gives us one of the finest passages on the mystery of the Church and the spirituality of marriage. Paul’s ideas on marriage may be completed by a reading of 1 Cor 7:1-14 and Col 3:18-19.
Ephesians 5:26 Cleansing her with water and the word: a reference to Baptism (pouring of water and sacramental formula). Perhaps Paul had in mind the Oriental practice in the purification of a wife.
Ephesians 6:1 Christian life also gives a new meaning to relations between children and parents. In an age less attentive than ours to the lot of little children, Paul was already emphasizing the responsibility of parents, without denying the duties of the young. The atmosphere he suggests is one of dialogue.
¹
As for slavery, Paul does not pass judgment on the social structure of his age (see 1 Cor 7:21-22; Col 3:22-25; 1 Tim 6:1-2; Tit 2:9-10; Philem), but he does foretell new relations between master and slave, since all are equal before God, whatever the differences in their roles and social obligations.

New Catholic Bible (NCB)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 11[a]

Unshakable Confidence in God

Footnotes

Footnotes

Christ and Christian Spouses[a]

Chapter 6

Christ and the Members of the Household[c]

Footnotes

Psalm 11^[a]

Christ and Christian Spouses^[a]

Christ and the Members of the Household^[c]