Bible Study: Proper 16 (B) – 2024

Note: During the 2024 Season after Pentecost, Sermons That Work will use Track 2 readings for sermons and Bible studies. Please consult our archives for many additional Track 1 resources from prior years.

RCL: Joshua 24:1-2a,14-18; Psalm 34:15-22; Ephesians 6:10-20; John 6:56-69

Joshua 24:1-2a,14-18

I once read a booklet, published in the 1940s, full of stories, jokes, and anecdotes written from an evangelical perspective. One of the stories told of a small curiosity shop in which stood, among various other items, religious statues from around the world. While the language is not particularly polite to our modern ears, one brass statue was marked, “Hindu Idol”. Another, of a bearded man bearing an ax, was marked, “Norse Idol”. At the end of a short line of these statues sat a dollar bill, with the inscription, “American Idol”. Idolatry is not some long-ago and far-away practice that only needed to be considered by the children of Israel at Shechem. It needs to be a constant consideration for those who seek to follow our Lord.

• What idols exist in your life? How can you turn from them and back toward God?

Psalm 34:15-22

In a world marked by human-built injustice, cruelty, warfare, bigotry, and fear, is it any wonder we take refuge in God’s promises to redeem pain? The problems of the ancient Near East are, as above, not so far removed from us as we would like. Who of us has not experienced evil, trouble, or crushed spirits? Who of us does not long for deliverance or a friendly, listening ear? Luckily for us, the longing is not the end; just as it was true for our forebears, it is true for us: God cares. While we sometimes need to wait for redemption, and sometimes it doesn’t come exactly as we’d like, it does come.

• Do you ever pray for God’s justice and deliverance?

Ephesians 6:10-20

Paul’s words, while inspirational, can be hard for us to hear and even harder to put into practice. My worship preference involves some loud organ music, an inspirational sermon, and some transcendence of the normal, everyday world. Knowing that, I’m not going to be unrighteous, but do I really need to put on a breastplate each Sunday? Yes, I do. I have to put on this whole get-up because Paul is right. Our worship can be transcendent and stunningly beautiful and majestic, but whatever the trappings, it must point us toward the mission God gives us, his followers. We will confront lies with truth; we will overcome wickedness with righteousness. Standing against evil – which has an unfortunate propensity for fighting back – is not for the faint of heart!

• Why do you think Paul uses martial metaphors in this selection?

John 6:56-69

Just like last week, Jesus says something truly shocking: “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” We hear from John that this was enough to turn many followers away, and it’s not hard to understand why! But like the faithful few who continued on with him, we almost have no choice but to believe – whether he does things exactly as we like or not, this Jesus has the words of eternal life. We might find, that no matter how far we go astray, we are drawn back into the orbit of the God-man, the Messiah. Who knows us like him? Who strengthens and challenges us like him? Who gives us a vision of the good like him? Put simply: To whom else can we go?

• When you receive communion, do the words jar you, or have you perhaps heard them so many times that they barely register?

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