Lector's Notes		To the home page of Lector's Notes
Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B, July 20, 2003

First reading, Jeremiah 23:1-6

Historical Background of Jeremiah: The prophet lived from about 650 B.C. to perhaps 580 B.C. Most of his work was in Judah's capital Jerusalem. He tried to keep the people and several kings faithful to God amidst an atmosphere of political intrigue and backstabbing. Jeremiah was blunt about what was right and what was not, and he suffered at the hands of the powerful because of his outspokenness. For details, see these Notes, which quote liberally from the Introduction to Jeremiah in The New Jerusalem Bible.

Even more specifically, at the time of this prophecy, a good king in Judah had just been replaced by a king who put the country in thrall to Egypt. Jeremiah raged against this policy, on the grounds that God's people should trust in God, not in alliances with pagan nations. Some obsequious "prophets" of the court backed the king and criticized Jeremiah.

Proclaiming It: This is Jeremiah's response. In your proclamation, don't let Jeremiah sound like he's on Valium. If anything, he should sound like steroids and caffeine. He was a vigorous, courageous, outspoken man. Today we'd say Jeremiah had fire in his belly. Here he thunders on behalf of a God outraged at the powerful people's neglect of their responsibility to the poor. "I gave you the privileges of a shepherd, you mislead and scatter the flock, I'm about to replace you, and my people will be restored!"

Second Reading, Ephesians 2:13-18

The "law with its commandments and legal claims" means the law of Moses. It had served to separate those who kept it (or tried to), the Jews, from the Gentiles who didn't know of it and didn't bother. The law can no longer separate God's single people into factions (Indeed, there were attempts by Jewish Christians to impose the Mosaic law on Gentile converts to Christ; Paul came down decidedly against that in the Letter to the Galatians and elsewhere.)

Proclaiming It: Your task as lector is to make sure the congregation understands this historical change. The ancestors of your hearers were once on the outside, without even enough spiritual sense to be looking in. Now we are in, together with the original insiders, and that's the greatest privilege imaginable. Be sure your voice contrasts the contrasting parties and conditions here.

There are 66 words in the second sentence (of only three sentences). The translators were being strict, I suppose, but the editors of the printed Lectionary have been as merciful as they could be, breaking up this giant sentence into sense lines. Practice your pauses. Stop long enough where the sense lines suggest it, but not so long that what follows is noticeably a sentence fragment.

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."
Father Roger Karban's 2003 column, courtesy of The Evangelist, of Albany, New York, USA and Roger's year 2000 column Lutheran pastor and college teacher Dan Nelson's notes for a study group	Weekly column of Father Francis X. Cleary, S.J. from the website 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 new site for liturgy Most welcome here are Reginald Fuller's commentaries. (Caveat lector. As of July 6, 2006, Lector's Notes' author is speculating about the exact URL of SLU's July 23 offering, since it's not yet posted. If you get a 404 Not Found, try here).

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.