Bible Study: Pentecost 26 (B) – November 17, 2024

RCL: Daniel 12:1-3; Psalm 16; Hebrews 10:11-14 (15-18) 19-25; Mark 13:1-8

Daniel 12:1-3

The experience of being a stranger, an exile, or a refugee is one faced by millions across the world. Daniel is widely known for his stay and deliverance from a lion’s den, but before the lions, Daniel was chosen to be educated and serve in the palace of the empire that conquered, exiled, and captured his people. Daniel had no agency, voice, or power, until God granted him visions and dreams, and the ability to interpret them. Daniel gained voice but had to navigate between those in power and honoring God and God’s commandments. Daniel bore the weight of knowing – knowing that God had and would deliver the Israelites and knowing that this deliverance would not come soon or without anguish. Like Daniel, many in our day are faithful and courageous, and still burdened physically, emotionally, and spiritually by unjust, oppressive systems. As Christians, we are called to love, serve, and respect the dignity of every human being. This is the work we are called to do, and we, like Daniel, carry the weight of knowing this work will continue until all things are made new.

• Was there a time when you carried the weight of knowing alone? Did this experience distance you from God or did it draw you closer?
• How might you seek and serve those new to your community? How might you lend your voice and agency to those who are marginalized and oppressed?

Psalm 16

Psalm 16 asks for God’s protection and goes on to share ways the Lord is good above all other; God’s faithfulness, provision, and presence that gives hope, blessing, and joy.

The Book of Psalms is a place where people find refuge, a place to engage with voices from long ago that sing out to God in praise, ask questions, give thanks, cry out in sorrow, groan in anger, or shout in victory and praise. We hear voices from a different time, culture, and place – but uncannily similar to our own experience of what it means to be human. The psalmists, like us, experienced life within a world full of problems and possibilities, with all its emotions, and with faith in a God who loved them – and us – relentlessly.

• Have you ever considered the ancient Israelites singing and saying psalms as they went about their daily lives? What might you see and hear in your holy imagination?
• How might we lovingly and respectfully speak of the psalms as something we share with our Jewish neighbors?

Hebrews 10:11-14 (15-18), 19-25

It must have been quite a revelation to hear this section of Hebrews preached for the first time. A passage from Jeremiah reframed with the love of God through Christ the Son. The assurance that sins are forgiven and no longer remembered. These concepts of forgiveness, hope, and love are difficult to grasp (For Christ-followers of any century). This may be why the author of Hebrews goes on to assure the audience that Jesus is so much more than the priests they have seen in the past. Those who believe in Christ are to approach him with boldness and confidence – a confidence born of the faith, hope, and love Christ gives us as we journey with him, provoking one another to love and good deeds, to gather together, and to encourage one another. Notice that “one another” does not seem to be limited to an exclusive group. The idea of provoking love and good deeds among all God’s beloved children seems nearly as revolutionary as a God that forgives, remembers our misdeeds no more, and loves us forever.

• Do you struggle with accepting God’s grace and love? How might this passage from Hebrews assure you of God’s love for you?
• How might we provoke one another to love and good deeds? What might that look like in our communities?

Mark 13:1-8

Some things must end for new things to begin. This passage from Mark is one of the ‘little apocalypses.” Oftentimes, the space between knowing and realizing can feel apocalyptic. Take childbirth, for example: Mothers are told about what is to come, they have a knowing, and then they experience the realization of what they have learned about and prepared for. There is pain during birth as changes for mother and baby begin. The baby leaves the sanctuary of its mother’s body, its body changes as its lungs breathe air for the first time. The mother’s body is changed; some changes are welcome, others not, and still others like the phenomenon of microchimerism, are miraculous. Microchimerism allows a bit of baby’s genetic material to pass into and remain in mother’s blood and brain tissue for the rest of her life. A connection unlike any other remains.

Jesus, like Daniel in our first reading, carries the weight of knowing the pain of what is to come for him, and the grief and confusion those who follow him will endure. Stones will be thrown down, one will roll away, and out of death will come eternal life; separation will be destroyed, connection and full relationship will be restored. There will come a love like no other, connecting us forever to the one who loved us into being.

• What in your life might be ending? Is this ending painful, necessary, a relief, or a combination of emotions and realities?
• How have previously experienced endings given birth to new journeys, relationships, or unexpected possibilities?

The Rev. Rachel Joiner, a seminarian from the Seminary of the Southwest, is curate at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in San Marcos, Texas.

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