Reflecting on the Twentieth
Sunday after Pentecost

Year B

Prayer

Psalm 39

Worn down by the blows of your hands

 

I said, “I will guard my ways

that I may not sin with my tongue;

I will keep a muzzle on my mouth

as long as the wicked are in my presence.”

I was silent and still;

I held my peace to no avail;

my distress grew worse,

my heart became hot within me.

While I mused, the fire burned;

then I spoke with my tongue:

“Lord, let me know my end,

and what is the measure of my days;

let me know how fleeting my life is.

You have made my days a few handbreadths,

and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.

Surely everyone stands as a mere breath.    Selah

Surely everyone goes about like a shadow.

Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;

they heap up, and do not know who will gather.

“And now, O Lord, what do I wait for?

My hope is in you.

Deliver me from all my transgressions.

Do not make me the scorn of the fool.

I am silent; I do not open my mouth,

for it is you who have done it.

Remove your stroke from me;

I am worn down by the blows of your hand.

“You chastise mortals

in punishment for sin,

consuming like a moth what is dear to them;

surely everyone is a mere breath.    Selah

“Hear my prayer, O Lord,

and give ear to my cry;

do not hold your peace at my tears.

For I am your passing guest,

an alien, like all my forebears.

Turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again,

before I depart and am no more.”

 

Job 32:1-22

Elihu is upset with Job’s friends

 

So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God; he was angry also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to be in the wrong. Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he. But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, he became angry.

 

Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered:

 

“I am young in years,

and you are aged;

therefore I was timid and afraid

to declare my opinion to you.

I said, ‘Let days speak,

and many years teach wisdom.’

But truly it is the spirit in a mortal,

the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding.

It is not the old that are wise,

nor the aged that understand what is right.

Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;

let me also declare my opinion.’

“See, I waited for your words,

I listened for your wise sayings,

while you searched out what to say.

I gave you my attention,

but there was in fact no one that confuted Job,

no one among you that answered his words.

Yet do not say, ‘We have found wisdom;

God may vanquish him, not a human.’

He has not directed his words against me,

and I will not answer him with your speeches.

“They are dismayed, they answer no more;

they have not a word to say.

And am I to wait, because they do not speak,

because they stand there, and answer no more?

I also will give my answer;

I also will declare my opinion.

For I am full of words;

the spirit within me constrains me.

My heart is indeed like wine that has no vent;

like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.

I must speak, so that I may find relief;

I must open my lips and answer.

I will not show partiality to any person

or use flattery toward anyone.

For I do not know how to flatter—

or my Maker would soon put an end to me!”

 

Luke 16:19-31

Lazarus comforted by Abraham

 

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”