{"id":766931,"date":"2018-07-01T00:08:40","date_gmt":"2018-07-01T04:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/episcopalchurch:8888\/bible_study\/bible-study-proper-8-b-2018\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T20:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:00:11","slug":"bible-study-proper-8-b-2018","status":"publish","type":"bible_study","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/bible_study\/bible-study-proper-8-b-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Bible Study: Proper 8 (B) &#8211; 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Characters in the biblical narrative of the Old Testament tend to be complex, a mixed bag of vice and virtue, and they are good as moral exemplars only in a selective way. In this portrait, two of David\u2019s greatest \u2013 though perhaps least understood \u2013 virtues shine forth unmixed for our own imitation: reverence and friendship. David\u2019s reverence for God causes him to have a supernatural respect for, and even love of, his king\u2014the Lord\u2019s Anointed\u2014despite Saul\u2019s repeated and unjust hostility, even despite Saul\u2019s illegitimate possession of the crown at that point in time. Likewise, the more we come to love God, the more we come to love those people and things that are associated with him and to voluntarily avoid those actions that could displease him. And so it is with the virtue of friendship, which produces the true miracle of community, the miracle of selflessly desiring the good of another, sharing one\u2019s life and highest values with them. The ancients saw friendship as truly essential to a person\u2019s happiness, such that the philosopher Aristotle once said, \u201cWithout friends, no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">David possessed such a bond of friendship with Jonathan, that he considered Jonathan a brother, and his loss provokes a profound sense of grief. It is for such a context as this, I suspect, that Jesus says, \u201cBlessed are those who mourn\u201d (Matthew 5:4), for their love was genuine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Does our culture practice reverence toward those in positions of great responsibility, such as government officials or priests and other ministers, or even the elderly? Have cultural norms or scientific advances made reverence obsolete, or does our reverence have some connection to our relationship to God?<\/li><li>Has our present culture allowed a space for true friendship between two men or two women that is a non-sexual relationship? How might we go about regaining friendship in the church?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Psalm 130<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a psalm that should be in the emergency toolkit of every Christian. Here we are taught that, even in the depths of anguish, shame, and guilt, we can wait with earnest expectation upon the Lord\u2019s forgiveness. The psalmist neither presumes upon that forgiveness, as though sin did not matter to God, nor does he shrink back before God, even at that moment when I imagine his soul is most tempted to flee in fear and self-condemnation. In great humility, he cries out to be restored to communion with God. He knows from experience that his relief and redemption come only from the Lord, even though it is the Lord whom he has offended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the psalm comes to a close, the psalmist encourages God\u2019s people to follow his example, keeping confidence in a God \u201cwhose property it is always to have mercy,\u201d as we say in the Prayer of Humble Access. And Israel\u2019s hope is not disappointed, for God sends into the world his son, whose name shall be called \u201cJesus, for he will save his people from their sins\u201d (Matthew 1:21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>How have your past experiences of God\u2019s character and his promises in his Word affected the way you handled some difficult circumstance or emotion in your life?&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2 Corinthians 8:7-15<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I remember there was a time when I would cringe a little every time I heard one of these passages about financial giving in church. So often, we see in the news another megachurch pastor or televangelist who has been lining his pockets with a six-figure paycheck, pleading with congregants to hand over their hard-earned money for \u201cGod\u2019s Kingdom\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the circumstances for St. Paul\u2019s appeal to the Corinthians to undertake a collection is radically different from such so-called \u201csuper-apostles,\u201d who exalt themselves and make a personal fortune from the Gospel. St. Paul calls us to remember the example of Christ\u2019s own self-emptying in our giving: \u201cFor your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich\u201d (v. 9). The collection is an opportunity to test the genuineness of their love, how much the generous love that is in Christ Jesus is abiding in them. This generosity of Christ, when it is living in you, moves as naturally and instinctively to take care of the poor as you would move to take care of the wounds on your own body. Martin Luther King, Jr., once said, \u201cAll life is inter-related. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, it affects all indirectly. As long as there is extreme poverty in the world, no man can be totally rich, even if he has a billion dollars.\u201d Only in generously enriching the lives of those in need are we ourselves made truly rich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Have you ever felt enriched by sharing generously with others?<\/li><li>John Wesley famously wrote, \u201cThe last part of a man to be converted is his wallet.\u201d What can our spending habits tell us and others about our relationship with God?<\/li><li>How does St. Paul understand economic justice in this passage? Is it merely equality of wages, or is it somehow more complex?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Mark 5:21-43<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to ancient Jewish purity laws, any Jew who had come into contact with one who has misplaced bodily substances, or with a cadaver, was ritually defiled and thereby unworthy to approach the Divine Presence \u2013 the essence of wholeness and life \u2013 until he or she could be ritually purified. Ritual impurity was transferred like an infection from the impure to the pure. Shockingly, in this passage, we see two stories where Jesus comes into direct contact with perceived impurity, and rather than infecting him, the purity and power which are within Jesus transferred wholeness and life to the two subjects! St. Mark is showing us in this narrative that Jesus himself is the Holy of Holies, the Temple of God upon whom the Spirit dwells, walking among us and \u201ccounter-infecting\u201d the world with holiness, purity, righteousness, and life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In reality, like the crowds in this story, we often brush shoulders with Jesus without any awareness of the fact. But when we touch him with faith and eager expectation, the power and life that are in his glorified body are made available for the healing and transformation of our humanity and world. We as Christians become conduits for Jesus\u2019 power and grace to a world alienated from God\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>What sorts of things do you suppose might hinder a free flow of the life-giving Holy Spirit into our lives and circumstances?<\/li><li>Why do you suppose Jesus put the scoffers outside the room before he raised Jairus\u2019 daughter?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a href=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bible-Study-English-Proper-8B-2018.pdf\"><strong>Bible-Study-English-Proper-8B-2018<\/strong><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bible-Study-English-Proper-8B-2018.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button\" download>Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 Characters in the biblical narrative of the Old Testament tend to be complex, a mixed bag of vice and virtue, and they are good as moral exemplars only in a selective way. In this portrait, two of David\u2019s greatest \u2013 though perhaps least understood \u2013 virtues shine forth unmixed for our&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201221,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23,52,33,1953],"tags":[373],"class_list":["post-766931","bible_study","type-bible_study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-studies","category-sermons-that-work","category-the-season-after-pentecost","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-proper-8b"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":23,"label":"Bible Studies"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":1953,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":373,"label":"Proper 8B"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bible_study"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":952349,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766931\/revisions\/952349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}