First Reading, Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24

Our Liturgical Setting: This year's journey through Saint Mark's gospel takes us today to Mark 5: 21-43, where Jesus revives a dead girl and heals a chronically sick woman. As usual, the editors of the lectionary chose a first reading to complement the day's gospel passage. This passage from Wisdom is a most interesting essay on the origins of evil and death. As presented in the lectionary, it's the ancient question, how can a good God permit this?

The Literary, Historical Setting: In the first century B.C.E., Jews were living in many places around the Mediterranean, and elsewhere, outside the original Promised Land. Many were in Alexandria, Egypt, a cosmopolitan city famous for two great libraries and a university. Many Jews there had "assimilated" into the dominant pagan culture. They and native pagans sometimes ridiculed practicing Jews. So a learned, faithful Jewish sage wrote a book of Wisdom, to bolster the faith of his friends.

Just as they do today, non-believers there were asking the faithful questions like "If your god is so good, how can he permit the deaths of innocent people? How can your god allow all the suffering in the world?" Today's lectionary selection samples the answer proposed by the Book of Wisdom. (The lectionary omits substantial passages of Wisdom, chapter 1 and chapter 2. Those verses are an interesting caricature of the nonbelievers.)

The Lector's Proclamation: To prepare to read this to the congregation, you might imagine yourself in college again. The scene is a late-night bull-session in your dorm room. You're in a discussion with a sophomore who has had enough philosophy and history courses to convince him to be an atheist. You still believe in God, pretty much, anyway, but you have all the questions that a college student is supposed to have. Your buddy demands, "If your god is all-powerful and all-good, how can he permit the AIDS epidemic [or the Holocaust, or ghetto poverty, ...]?". Your response is "God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living..." In other words, read this passage to the congregation as if you were defending the goodness of God against an atheist's criticism.

Second Reading, 2 Corinthians 8: 7, 9, 13-15

The Historical Situation: The Christians in Corinth were rich in the spiritual gifts (prophecy, healing, speaking in tongues, etc., the "faith, discourse, knowledge ..." of today's first verse. See chapters 12-14 of 1 Corinthians). Here, though, Saint Paul reminds them of their material prosperity and asks them to come to the financial aid of the destitute congregation in Jerusalem. In other words, he's doing what Christian preachers have to do all the time, softening up his people to prepare for a collection.

Then Paul appeals to the example of Jesus, who, indescribably rich as Son of God, emptied himself in assuming human life and death, for our sake. This is a fine example of Paul's frequent blending of profound theology with very practical considerations of the Christian life.

Your Proclamation: The passage has four related ideas:

• You Corinthians have excelled in the spiritual gifts, now it's time to excel in charity. In your proclamation, stress "may you excel in this gracious act also."
• Jesus was rich but emptied himself to make you rich, so follow his example. In reciting this sentence, stress again "gracious act".
• Practically, you're not to become impoverished; just let things be balanced among the congregations. This includes a long sentence that you should speak carefully, contrasting "your" and "their."
• A reference to Exodus 16:18 where the wandering Israelites collected varying amounts of manna, but each wound up with exactly enough. In literary terms, the Hebrew Scripture writers like balanced couplets such as this. Say it with rhythm and a flourish indicating that you're pleased to clinch your argument with a Scripture quote.