First Reading, Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4

The Historical and Literary Situation: The first two chapters of the book of Habakkuk (HAB uh cook, with a short A) take the form of a dialog: the prophet complains, the Lord answers, the prophet complains again, and again the Lord replies. The setting is around 600 B.C.E. God's people are in trouble. They have been unfaithful, and another nation is making war against them. Habakkuk takes this for granted. People in his time believed that misfortune, whether personal or national, is deserved punishment for sin. It's that simple.

So that's not what makes Habakkuk complain. What puzzles and irritates him is that Judah's punishment comes at the hands of brutal pagans who are overly aggressive. As The New Jerusalem Bible puts it, "Why should the bad be punished by the worse? Why should [the Lord] appear to strengthen the arm of injustice?" To use such peoples is unworthy of the the holiness of God. Furthermore, the prophet thinks the punishment has gone on quite long enough, and that the excesses of the enemy are going unpunished. Habakkuk breaks new ground by demanding of God an account of all that God has let go on. (Our Lectionary selection draws from the prophet's first complaint and the Lord's second reply. The whole dialog is much richer.)

Your Proclamation: As lector, make the complaint-response structure clear by an appropriate pause and contrasting tones of voice. Habakkuk, in the first sentences, should sound very impatient, on the border of outrage. Can't imagine how that sounds? Remember in high school how you had to do Patrick Henry's speech from the American Revolution, "Give me liberty or give me death!" The buildup to that climax is the kind of outrage you need. So is the indictment of King George III in the United States' Declaration of Independence (1776).

Pause dramatically.

Then, slowly, deliberately, "The Lord answered me and said: ..." Continue slowly and with patience in your voice. Say the final sentence with firmness, "but the just one, because of his faith, shall live". (Saint Paul was to make much of this sentence in his letter to the Romans. It's the sentence that ties the first reading most clearly to today's gospel.)

Second Reading, 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14

The Historical Background: Remember that Timothy was a person, not a congregation. And the senior pastor, writing in the name of Paul. is speaking to him personally here. This "Paul" had laid hands on Timothy, the gesture we still use in confirmation, ordination and the anointing of the sick. Timothy received gifts of the Spirit then, but he is responsible for choosing to exercise them (stirring them into flame). Paul refers to his own imprisonment, and does not want his protegé Timothy to yield to shame on that account.

When I first wrote this page, I assumed the Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus) were conventional and bland, without the theological development, vigor or rigor of the genuinely Pauline letters. Since the early Christians had stopped waiting for the end of the world, they were settling down, and so were their sacred authors, I supposed. Well, I was wrong. This is not bland, conventional advice. The Pastor (the title that modern scholars give to the author) is quite strict with young Timothy. And here's the reason: Timothy was giving in to the values of the surrounding culture, instead of boldly calling them into question as Jesus had. The supreme value in ancient Middle East was honor, and the most devastating loss was to be put to shame. The Pastor is calling Timothy a conformist. He says, "For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel!"

Did you see that? "Do not be ashamed ... of me!" The writer of those words was furious! Scholar John Pilch*, who knew the norms of that culture, observed: "How dare a 'child' dishonor a father by being ashamed of him? Unthinkable, unacceptable, almost unpardonable!" That describes Timothy's fault. Timothy was evaluating his mentor, and perhaps even his Lord, by the terms of his conformist, honor driven, shame-averse culture, instead of by the gospel.

Proclaiming It: The revisions above require me to strike my earlier advice about proclamation: These are straightforward words of encouragement from "an old hand" to a young servant of the Lord and of the church. Read them that way, more formally than you would a "pep talk," but in that spirit. Decide which words apply not only to Timothy but to yourself and the people in the assembly who will hear you, and emphasize those (perhaps "power and love and self-control" and "bear your share of hardship for the gospel"). Be sure to contrast "spirit of cowardice" with "power and love and self-control."

New recommendation for proclaiming: The writer finds Timothy weak and disappointing. But he also finds God powerful, merciful and capable of bringing good out of this unfortunate lapse on Timothy's part. That ember can still be stirred into flame. So when you proclaim this, be emphatic, as if to imply, "How can you not get this, Timothy?!?!?!" Your tone of voice should swing wildly, like that of an very dissapointed, angry person (even a dishonored father; see above). Your listeners, frankly, are expecting you to sound bland and conventional, aren't they? Shock them! You can tone it down, finally, at "the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us," but not before.

*John J. Pilch (1936-2016), an American scriptural theologian, was a member of the Context Group of scholars, who probe the cultural context from which biblical authors wrote. This enables us to know what the original writers were writing about, as opposed to what their words might seem to us to be about, millennia later and far away. (Click here for Pilch's book covering this Sunday's second reading. There's a small chance that the Pilch link among the "other smart commentaries," below, will show it to you for free, but that site is still to be updated.)