{"id":10050,"date":"2012-06-16T22:19:10","date_gmt":"2012-06-17T05:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/?p=10050"},"modified":"2015-03-19T15:32:47","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T22:32:47","slug":"gods-green-finger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/restlesspilgrim.net\/blog\/2012\/06\/16\/gods-green-finger\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Lectionary: God’s Green Fingers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time: June 17th, 2012<\/h2>\n

After the feasts and solemnities of recent weeks, we finally return to the regular Sundays in Ordinary Time<\/a>. \u00a0For the next few weeks, our New Testament Reading\u00a0we will come from St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians and, for\u00a0the remainder of this year, we will be working sequentially through the Gospel of Mark.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Readings this week make heavy use of plant imagery. So, dig out your trowel, dust off your gardening gloves and let’s get stuck in!<\/p>\n

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Reading I: Ezekiel 17:22-24<\/h3>\n

Our First Reading this week is the interpretive key to our Gospel Reading. However, before we can use it, we must first understand it! A little bit of background will help…<\/p>\n

At the time of this passage, things are not good in the Holy Land. After Solomon’s death, civil war broke out and the Kingdom of David was divided into two parts: the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. The Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom and took its people into exile. The southern kingdom had its own problems, especially with King\u00a0Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon:<\/p>\n

605 BC<\/strong>
\nIsrael is under siege by the Babylonians. Some of the people are deported to Babylon, one of whom is the Prophet Daniel.<\/p>\n

597 BC<\/strong>
\nTen thousand men, together with King Jehoiachin (GEE-HOYA-KIN), are deported to Babylon. A priest by the name of Ezekiel\u00a0(“God strengthens”<\/em><\/span>)\u00a0is part of this deportation.<\/p>\n

Four years after entering captivity, Ezekiel is called by God to be a prophet.\u00a0The people in exile are convinced that they will soon be returning home. Ezekiel disabuses them of this notion,\u00a0prophesying\u00a0that Jerusalem will fall and the Temple will be destroyed.<\/p>\n

586 BC<\/strong>
\nSeven years later, Ezekiel’s prophecy comes true. The vast majority of the\u00a0Judean people are taken into captivity in Babylon.<\/p>\n

The people now come under the\u00a0misapprehension\u00a0that their current suffering is due to the sins of their parents<\/span>. Again, Ezekiel sets them straight, pointing them very clearly to their own<\/span> sin. However, through His prophet, God gives a word of encouragement to His people saying that if they repent, they will be saved.<\/p>\n

We now come to our First Reading.\u00a0God promises His people that the Davidic Dynasty will be preserved and, one day, it will become great again.<\/p>\n

Thus says the Lord GOD: I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot, and plant it on a high and lofty mountain; on the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it. It shall put forth branches and bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it, every winged thing in the shade of its boughs. And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the LORD, bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree, wither up the green tree, and make the withered tree bloom. As I, the LORD, have spoken, so will I do.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Cedar<\/p><\/div>\n

Questions:<\/p>\n