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Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B, January 15, 2006

First reading, 1 Samuel 3:3b-10, 19

The Historical Situation: This book begins a long narrative of what we might call ancient Israel's middle history. Their land is settled and the age of the Exodus is over. Moses, Aaron, and Joshua are gone. The period of rule by Judges had begun at about 1000 BCE. In the first chapter of this book, Samuel is born to a long-barren couple by divine intervention. They dedicated him to God's service in the temple at Shiloh (not the later grand temple to be built by Solomon on Mount Zion in Jerusalem). Young Samuel is an apprentice to the priest Eli.

Proclaiming It: While preparing your proclamation, try telling this story in your own words. Tell it to yourself or someone in your home. You're likely to use far more words than the text itself. Here's the beginning of my version, as compactly as I can write it:

Clear enough? Yes, but you don't have the luxury of rewriting the Bible. You don't have a summary to recite but a terse narrative. The characters are not introduced by description, age or occupation (well, the occupation of the Lord goes without saying). The context is a "temple," but the author just assumes you know what the "ark of God" is (like he assumes you've read chapters 1 and 2, also). This all threatens to be even less clear to contemporary worshipers listening to the story for the first time in at least three years.

So how will you help them out? As always, slow down. Use pauses and different tones of voice to distinguish the three speakers. When you finish the first, "You called me," your listeners should realize that Samuel has mistaken the identity of the one who called him. Put some drama in the speaker's words. The second and third time he runs to Eli, Samuel should sound confused if not exasperated.

Listeners are used to things happening in threes, after which they expect a resolution. So put a significant pause after the third "You called me." Let the tension build for a moment before you say, with relief and understanding in your voice, "Then Eli understood ..."

Also emphasize that the Lord "revealed his presence" in his last call of Samuel.

Second Reading, 1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20

The Historical Situation: Suddenly we find ourselves again in the middle of one of Saint Paul's letters to the Corinthians. We saw earlier chapters of this epistle early last year, too. The needs of the Christian community at Corinth were many and complex. So Paul's letters to them are long and complex, and the Lectionary cites them often. (So do Lector's Notes.) Corinth was both a bawdy seaport and a center of intellectual ferment. One would find there all the vices and and all the philosophical posturings that one would expect. It was a difficult place to preach a new doctrine and new morality. Paul had dared to preach both, provoking no little controversy.

The Literary and Liturgical Situation: The editors of the Lectionary have bowdlerized this passage. In the great scheme of things, that may be for the best, although it won't help make worshipers into smarter readers of God's word. The lector, however, should know the context, at least all of 1 Corinthians 6. And I recommend even more strongly than usual Pastor Dan Nelson's exposition of the chapter.

Proclaiming It: The verses left for you to proclaim offer a compelling idea three times in two ways. That's the notion that our bodies are "for the Lord." The three phrases are:

As lector, I would emphasize those sentences and hope the homilist in my assembly tackles the job of exposing Saint Paul's teaching more fully.
If you don't mind a few obnoxious pop-up ads, you can look up "bowdlerize" in an online dictionary. Click here
Here's another dictionary site, without pop-up ads, covering that word.

Several other commentaries on these passages. All are thoughtful, all quite readable, from the scholarly to the popular.
Links may be incomplete more than a few weeks before the "due date."
Lutheran pastor and college teacher Dan Nelson's notes for a study group
Excellent on 1 Corinthians, as you would expect. Covers John 1:43-51, the gospel paragraph following the one in the Roman Catholic Lectionary today. 		Father Roger Karban's column, probably from the year 2000.

Father Frank Cleary's column, from 2003, from the site of the Saint Louis Review.
The Text This Week; links to homilies, art works, movies and other resources on the week's scripture themes Saint Louis University's excellent Sunday liturgy site
The Lectionary selections in the frame at the left, if any, are there for your convenience. The publishers of the page in that frame have no connection, except for membership in the one Body of Christ, with the publisher of this page. Likewise the publishers of the pages on the links above.

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Last modified: Fri Jan 13 17:16:58 CST 2006