Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, 02Oct2022, LoLLC
Channel: Lord of Life Lutheran Church
Date: 2022-10-03

These passages explore love, human and divine, fallible and faultless. The soap opera-worthy monarchal saga in the first lesson demonstrates aptly that love and marriage do not always coincide. And though the royal setting can evoke romantic readings upon first blush, in these stories love is a resource to be manipulated and exploited in the pursuit and maintenance of power. In contrast, God’s faithful love in the psalm is enduring. The Epistle offers a vision of human love beyond the romantic framework, one that seeks to emulate the fidelity of God’s love. And in the Gospel, Jesus offers a paradigm for love of God, love of self, and love of neighbor. In the first lesson, Saul, like monarchs across time, uses his daughters to secure allies and loyalty. In most of the contexts in which these lessons will be read, fathers do not hold absolute sway over their daughter’s lives, marriages, and ultimately, sexuality.

Cover art:  “David and Saul” by Keith Vaughan; gouache, watercolour and ink on paper unframed (sheet).