{"id":872648,"date":"2022-08-03T16:37:44","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T20:37:44","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-06-23T19:45:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:45:39","slug":"bible-study-pentecost-15-c-september-18-2022","status":"publish","type":"bible_study","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/bible_study\/bible-study-pentecost-15-c-september-18-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Bible Study: Proper 20 (C) \u2013 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/lectionary\/proper-20c\/\"><strong>[RCL]<\/strong> <strong>Jeremiah 8:18-9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Pr20-2022-Bible-Study-Graphic-1024x536.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-272655\" width=\"512\" height=\"268\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Jeremiah 8:18-9:1<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here in the eighth chapter of Jeremiah, we hear directly from God\u2019s voice, as God laments the waywardness of God\u2019s chosen people. Watching as the people of Israel worship idols and turn away from their relationship with the Divine, God cries, \u201cGrief is upon me; my heart is sick.\u201d God hears the shouts of God\u2019s people as they claim an absence of Holy presence and that not one among them will be saved. In response to this claim, God states, \u201cFor the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken, I mourn, and horror has seized me,\u201d and we hear God\u2019s deep desire for relationship with God\u2019s chosen people. For even while lamenting Israel\u2019s infidelity, God consistently invites the chosen into continued relationship, one defined by abiding loyalty. God longs for reciprocity in that relationship of loyalty and mourns when that loyalty is forgotten or lost. Yet even amid lament, God\u2019s promise of loyalty remains, as well as God\u2019s invitation to participate in the loyal relationship that defines the covenant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Where in our lives have we turned away from the loyalty of God?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How might we turn toward a relationship of loyalty with God?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Psalm 79:1-9<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is it possible for justice and mercy to both rule the day? It seems that the psalmist prays for just this as the psalm petitions for God to \u201cpour out your wrath\u201d and \u201clet your compassion be swift to meet us.\u201d How, though, can wrath and compassion both serve in hastening the coming of the Kingdom of God? The psalmist asks God to deal wrathfully with those who have \u201cprofaned [the] holy temple,\u201d those who have destroyed that which is God\u2019s. Reducing Jerusalem to \u201ca heap of rubble\u201d must be answered for and amended, as it goes against the very heart of God. This raises the questions: What in our own time has been destroyed and turned to a heap of rubble that belongs to God? What systems still profane the holy temple?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the psalmist shifts the tone toward the end of the psalm, we are taken again into the heart of God\u2019s promise of relationship, one marked by forgiveness and compassion. Committing to living as recipients of that compassion calls for an admission of \u201cour past sins,\u201d as the psalmist names, and serves as a reminder that we are forever called to look to God when \u201cwe have been brought very low.\u201d Thus, we begin to see the connection of justice and mercy, a Divine connection that, in serving justice by correcting the wrong of the destruction of the holy, gives us a compassionate, merciful, and eternal place to dwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Where do we see that which belongs to God being destroyed in our own time?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What do we see that calls for God\u2019s justice? What do we see that calls for God\u2019s mercy?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How might we know when justice and mercy have both been served?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1 Timothy 2:1-7<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What if we really prayed for everyone? While prayers for family, friends, and those we count as allies might come easily, that isn\u2019t always the case for those whom we\u2019ve never met, those with whom we disagree, and those we perhaps consider enemies. Yet, this segment of the pastoral letter of 1 Timothy notes that if we claim the authority of God, including the \u201cone mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus,\u201d as followers of Christ, we are called to pray for all whom Christ came to save: all of humankind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As 21<sup>st<\/sup>-century readers of this text, while we grapple with systems of oppression and injustice, it is worth noting and naming that those very systems have not afforded a \u201cquiet and peaceable life\u201d for all, as those \u201ckings and all who are in high positions\u201d have not sought a life of \u201cgodliness and dignity\u201d for all. What do we do in the face of long-held structures that divide instead of unite, pulling us away from our shared salvation in Christ? Perhaps we do what we\u2019ve always been called to do, and what we are reminded of here: we pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>For whom or what is easy to pray in your life? For whom or what is it difficult? For whom do you think it is difficult to pray for you?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How might you begin to pray for those for whom it is difficult to offer prayers? How might that shift perspective, action, and relationship?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Luke 16:1-13<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The parable of the dishonest manager sets the scene in true Lukan fashion: \u201cThere was a rich man,\u201d thus communicating the privileged corner of society in which the parable takes place. However, the rich man is not the focus of the story; his manager is the main character of this pericope. Having squandered away his master\u2019s property, the manager is set to lose his job. Unable to work and unwilling to beg, the manager searches for a way to fix his predicament. He rushes to two of his master\u2019s debtors and has them cut their debt, one as much as half, so that \u201cpeople may welcome [him] into their homes\u201d when he loses his job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the text continues, the master recognizes the manager\u2019s dishonesty and, in fact, praises him. Why would Luke include a story that seems to valorize dishonesty, even to the point of comparing and contrasting the shrewdness of the \u201cchildren of light\u201d (i.e., believers) with the \u201cchildren of this age\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps we are called to reflect on the (at least partial) forgiveness of debt that the manager offers the master\u2019s debtors. The story leaves open the details of the transaction, and we are left to wonder: Did the manager falsify records to give to the master, or did he pay them from his own account? This is, admittedly, a generous view of the manager\u2019s last actions on the job, but the fact remains\u2014two substantial debts were cut. Such a level of debt forgiveness can bring with it new life and freedom, and perhaps the debtors were given just that. The redemption found in the Kingdom of God, as the Lukan Jesus\u2019 parables proclaim, comes about in surprising, unexpected ways. Perhaps then, even the manager, if he is welcomed into homes as he hopes, will be redeemed, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Have you ever been surprised by the way redemption has come about?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How might we remain open to the possibility of God redeeming that which seems beyond redemption?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-fbecf91c-f14e-4764-b61e-6ff4fade62e1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Bible-Study-Proper-20C-English.docx\">Word \u2013 Proper 19 (C) Bible Study<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Bible-Study-Proper-20C-English.docx\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-fbecf91c-f14e-4764-b61e-6ff4fade62e1\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-9edab28b-e0ec-4e07-a9bf-d89bc412d9b9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Bible-Study-Proper-20C-English.pdf\">PDF \u2013 Proper 20 (C) Bible Study<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Bible-Study-Proper-20C-English.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-9edab28b-e0ec-4e07-a9bf-d89bc412d9b9\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[RCL] Jeremiah 8:18-9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13 Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 Here in the eighth chapter of Jeremiah, we hear directly from God\u2019s voice, as God laments the waywardness of God\u2019s chosen people. Watching as the people of Israel worship idols and turn away from their relationship with the Divine, God cries, \u201cGrief is&#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":[23,52,33,3],"tags":[349],"class_list":["post-872648","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-20c"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":23,"label":"Bible Studies"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":349,"label":"Proper 20C"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/872648","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\/872648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":952201,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/872648\/revisions\/952201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}