Archive for the ‘Genesis 13’ Category
Above: Jesus, from The Gospel According to Saint Matthew (1964)
A Screen Capture
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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Genesis 13:1-16 or Ezra 1:1-7; 3:8-13
Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26
Revelation 7:9-17
John 11:1-3. 16-44
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Jesus wept.
–John 11:35, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
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They will never hunger or thirst again; neither the sun nor scorching wind will ever plague them because the Lamb who is at the throne will be their shepherd and will lead them to springs of living water; and God will wipe away all tears like their eyes.
–Revelation 7:16-17, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)
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I could take so many paths through the assigned readings for this week. These readings are rich texts. I will take just one path, however.
Before I do, here are a few notes:
- Abraham waited for God to tell him which land to claim. Abraham chose well.
- Lot chose land on his own. He chose poorly. However, at the time he seemed to have chosen wisely; he selected fertile land.
- I agree with Psalm 136. Divine mercy does endure forever.
- The chronology of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah weaves in and out of those books. I know, for I blogged my way through them in chronological order at BLOGA THEOLOGICA last year.
For the record, the chronological reading order of Ezra-Nehemiah follows:
- Ezra 1:1-2:70; Nehemiah 7:6-73a;
- Ezra 3:1-4:5;
- Ezra 5:1-6:22;
- Ezra 4:6-24;
- Nehemiah 1:1-2:20;
- Nehemiah 3:1-4:17;
- Nehemiah 5:1-19;
- Nehemiah 6:1-7:5;
- Nehemiah 11:1-12:47;
- Nehemiah 13:1-31;
- Nehemiah 9:38-10:39;
- Ezra 7:1-10:44; and
- Nehemiah 7:73b-9:38.
I take my lead in this post from the New Testament readings. Tears are prominent in both of them. Tears are on my mind during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are also on my mind as I continue to mourn the violent death of my beloved. Her departure from this side of the veil of tears has left me shaken and as forever changed me.
The full divinity and full humanity of Jesus are on display in John 11. We read that Jesus wept over the death of his friend, St. Lazarus of Bethany. We also read of other people mourning and weeping in the immediate area. We may not pay much attention to that. We may tell ourselves, “Of course, they grieved and wept.” But two words–“Jesus wept”–remain prominent.
There is a scene in The Gospel According to Saint Matthew (1964) that fits this theme. At the time, Hollywood studios had recently released technicolor movies about a Jesus who had no tear ducts yet had an impressive command of Elizabethan English while resembling a Northern European. Yet Pier Paolo Pasolini, who committed about half of the Gospel of Matthew to film, presented a Jesus who had tear ducts. Immediately after the off-camera decapitation of St. John the Baptist, the next shot was a focus on Christ’s face. He was crying. So were the men standing in front of him.
Jesus wept.
We weep. Jesus weeps with us until the day God will wipe away all tears of those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 23, 2021 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN THE ALMSGIVER, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA
THE FEAST OF CHARLES KINGSLEY, ANGLICAN PRIEST, NOVELIST, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF EDWARD GRUBB, ENGLISH QUAKER AUTHOR, SOCIAL REFORMER, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JAMES D. SMART, CANADIAN PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF PHILLIPS BROOKS, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF MASSACHUSETTS, AND HYMN WRITER
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2021/01/23/devotion-for-proper-19-year-d-humes/
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Above: Abraham and Lot Divided the Land
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
—The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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The Assigned Readings:
Genesis 13:1-18 or 2 Samuel 7:18-29
Psalm 38
John 7:40-52
Galatians 3:1-22 (23-29) or James 3:1-18
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Abram and Lot had to separate their families and herds. Abram (God’s covenant with whom is a topic in Galatians 3, Genesis 15, and Genesis 17) was generous in giving Lot the first choice of land. It might have seemed like a good choice at the moment, but it was a selfish and short-sighted decision that placed him in the proximity of bad company and set up unfortunate events in Genesis 19.
David’s character flaws had begun to become obvious by the time of 2 Samuel 7. Nevertheless, there was much good about him. God’s covenant with him was a matter of pure grace, for not even the best of us has ever been worthy of such favor. David became a great historical figure and, in the minds of many throughout subsequent centuries, a legendary figure. Our Lord and Savior’s descent from him was a messianic credential.
Among David’s better qualities was a sense of honesty regarding his character, at least some of the time (2 Samuel 11 and 12). He was a mere mortal, complete with moral blind spots and the tendency to sin. Psalm 38, attributed to David, typifies this honesty at a time of distress. This is a situation with which many people have identified.
Liberation in Christ is a theme of the Letter to the Galatians. This is freedom to enjoy and glorify God. This is freedom to build up others. This is freedom to become the people we ought to be. According to mythology God spoke the world into existence. With our words, whether spoken or written, we have the power to bless people or to inflict harm upon them. We have the power to build them up or to libel and/or slander them. We have the power to help them become the people they ought to be or to commit character assassination. We have the power to inform accurately or to mislead. We have the power to heal or to soothe feelings or to hurt them. We have the power to act out of consideration or out of a lack thereof. We have the power to be defenders or bullies. We have the power to create peace or conflict. We have the power to work for justice or injustice.
The peace shown by peacemakers brings a harvest of justice.
–James 3:18, The New Jerusalem Bible (1989)
May we approach God humbly, avoid making selfish decisions, build up others, and generally function as vehicles of grace. May our thoughts, words, and deeds glorify God and create a world better than the one we found. May we recognize that pursuing selfish gain hurts us as well as others. We might gain in the short term, but we hurt ourselves in the long term. Our best and highest interest is that which builds up community, nation, and world.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 9, 2016 COMMON ERA
PROPER 21: THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR C
THE FEAST OF SAINT DENIS, BISHOP OF PARIS, AND HIS COMPANIONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS
THE FEAST OF SAINT LUIS BERTRAN, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY PRIEST
THE FEAST OF ROBERT GROSSETESTE, SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF WILHELM WEXELS, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR; HIS NIECE, MARIE WEXELSEN, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN NOVELIST AND HYMN WRITER; LUDWIG LINDEMAN, NORWEGIAN ORGANIST AND MUSICOLOGIST; AND MAGNUS LANDSTAD, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, FOLKLORIST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNAL EDITOR
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Adapted from this post:
https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2016/10/09/devotion-for-the-third-sunday-in-lent-year-d/
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Above: Lot and His Daughters, by Lucas van Leyden
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
Merciful God, gracious and benevolent,
through your Son you invite all the world to a meal of mercy.
Grant that we may eagerly follow this call,
and bring us with all your saints into your life of justice and joy,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 52
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The Assigned Readings:
Nehemiah 13:1-3, 23-31 (Monday)
Zechariah 7:1-14 (Tuesday)
Psalm 50 (Both Days)
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 (Monday)
Jude 5-21 (Tuesday)
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“When you see a thief, you make him your friend,
and you cast your lot in with adulterers.
You have loosed your lips for evil,
and harnessed your tongue to a lie.
You are always speaking evil of your brother
and slandering your own mother’s son.
These things you have done, and I kept still,
and you thought that I am like you.”
–Psalm 50:18-21, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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The Law of Moses teaches that, among other things:
- We humans depend on God for everything,
- We depend on each other also,
- We have no right to exploit each other,
- We are responsible to each other, and
- We are responsible for each other.
Thus hospitality is a great virtue, for it can make the difference between someone coming to harm or avoiding harm, as well as the difference between someone dying or living.
My summary of the forbidden behaviors in these days’ readings is that they are generally activities that harm others. I note that, in post-exilic zeal to obey the Law of Moses, many people went too far with regard to the treatment of foreigners. The Book of Jonah pushes back against such excesses. The Book of Ruth, in which a Moabite woman marries a Hebrew man and becomes an ancestor of King David, is probably another protest against such zealousness-turned-xenophobia, such as that praised in Nehemiah 13:1.
As for homosexual behavior (as opposed to homosexuality as a sexual preference, an understanding which did not exist until recent centuries), Jude 7 is the only verse in the Bible to make explicit the link between homosexual conduct and the story of Sodom in Genesis 19. In that chapter Lot, who has lived in the city since Genesis 13, presumably knows his neighbors well enough to understand what they like. Lot has taken in two angels. A mob gathers outside his door and demands that he send them outside to that they can gang rape the angels. Lot refuses the demands and offers to send his two virgin daughters out instead. (Bad father!) Fortunately for Lot’s daughters, the mob is not interested and the angels have a plan to save Lot and his family from the imminent destruction of the city. In the context of Genesis 19 the planned sexual activity is rape, not anything consensual; may nobody miss that point. The standard Biblical condemnations of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah are like those in Ezekiel 16:48-50 and 3 Maccabees 2:5-6, where one reads that the cities’ sins were notorious and the people were arrogant and brazen in their iniquity. Ezekiel 16 adds to that description the neglect of the poor and the hungry–a lack of hospitality.
Zechariah 7:8-14 states that the pre-exilic Kingdoms of Israel and Judah violated the basic requirements of the Law of Moses, and paid the price. The societies, generally speaking, did not administer true justice and act kindly and compassionately. No, it oppressed widows, orphans, the poor, and resident aliens. The societies were unrepentant, and divine patience ran out.
Society is people. It shapes its members, who also influence it. May we–you, O reader, and I–influence society for the better–to care for the vulnerable, to resist bullying and corruption, to favor kindness and compassion, and to seek and find the proper balance between individual and collective responsibility. May we eschew bigotry in all forms, for we have a divine mandate to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. May we seek to love God and each other fully, manifesting respect for the image of God in each other, seeking to build each other up, for that is not only the path to the common good but is also godly.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 31, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF THE VISITATION OF MARY TO ELIZABETH
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/devotion-for-monday-and-tuesday-after-proper-26-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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Above: The Sacrifice of Isaac, by Caravaggio
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
Almighty God, you sent your Holy Spirit to be the life and light of your church.
Open our hearts to the riches of your grace,
that we may be ready to receive you wherever you appear,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 44
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The Assigned Readings:
2 Chronicles 33:1-17 (Monday)
2 Chronicles 34:22-33 (Tuesday)
Psalm 89:1-18 (Both Days)
Hebrews 11:1-7 (Monday)
Hebrews 11:17-28 (Tuesday)
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How blessed the nation that learns to acclaim you!
They will live, Yahweh, in the light of your presence.
–Psalm 89:15, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
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That is the theology in the accounts of Kings Manasseh and Josiah of Judah. We read of Manasseh (reigned 698/687-642 B.C.E.) in 2 Chronicles 33:1-20 and 2 Kings 21:1-18. The story in 2 Kings is more unflattering than the version in 2 Chronicles, for the latter mentions his repentance. Manasseh’s grandson, Josiah (reigned 640-609 B.C.E.) is on the scene in 2 Chronicles 34-35 and 2 Kings 22:1-23:30. His fidelity to the Law of Moses delays the destruction of Judah, we read.
Hebrews 11 focuses on faith. Verse 1 defines faith as
the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
—The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
In context this definition of faith is consistent with the understanding of St. Paul the Apostle, for whom faith was inherently active, hence the means of one’s justification with God. In the Letter of James, however, faith is intellectual, so justification comes via works. This is not a contradiction, just defining “faith” differently. Active faith is the virtue extolled consistently.
I argue with Hebrews 11:17-20. The near-sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22) was a form of child abuse. There was no way it did not damage the father-son relationship. Earlier in Genesis Abraham had interceded on behalf of strangers in Sodom (Chapter 18). Yes, he had relatives there (see Genesis 13, 14, and 19), but he argued on behalf of strangers. In Chapter 22 he did not do that for his son, Isaac. God tested Abraham, who failed the test; he should have argued.
Did I understand you correctly?
would have been a good start.
May we have the active faith to follow God. May we know when to question, when to argue, and when to act. May we understand the difference between an internal monologue and a dialogue with God. Out of faith may we act constructively and thereby leave the world better than we found it.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 23, 2016 COMMON ERA
WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK
THE FEAST OF GEORGE RUNDLE PRYNNE, ANGLICAN PRIEST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT GREGORY THE ILLUMINATOR, PATRIARCH OF ARMENIA
THE FEAST OF HEINRICH VON LAUFENBERG, GERMAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT TURIBIUS OF MOGROVEJO, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF LIMA
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/23/devotion-for-monday-and-tuesday-after-proper-14-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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Above: The Parable of the Sower
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
Eternal God, you draw near to us in Christ, and you make yourself our guest.
Amid the cares of our lives, make us attentive to your presence,
that we may treasure your word above all else,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 43
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The Assigned Readings:
Genesis 12:10-20 (Thursday)
Genesis 13:1-18 (Friday)
Genesis 14:1-16 (Saturday)
Psalm 15 (All Days)
Hebrews 5:1-6 (Thursday)
Ephesians 3:14-21 (Friday)
Luke 8:4-10 (Saturday)
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Yahweh, who can find a home in your tent,
who can dwell on your holy mountain?
Whoever lives blamelessly,
who acts uprightly,
who speaks the truth from the heart,
who keeps the tongue under control,
who does not wrong a comrade,
who casts no discredit on a neighbour,
who looks with scorn on the vile,
but honours those who fear Yahweh,
who stands by an oath at any cost,
who asks no interest on loans,
who takes no bribe to harm the innocent.
No one who so acts can ever be shaken.
–Psalm 15, The New Jerusalem Bible (1985)
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Abram (later Abraham) was a fascinating, contradictory, and frequently puzzling figure, for he was a human being. In Genesis 12-14 alone he pretended that Sarai (his wife) was his sister, lied to the Pharaoh (who, unlike Abram, suffered because of the lie), prospered (in large part due to that lie), remained in Canaan and engaged in warfare while Lot, his nephew, moved to Sodom. At the end of Chapter 14 Abram encountered Melchizedek, hence one reason for the reading from Hebrews 5, I suppose.
The traditional name of the reading from Luke 8 is the Parable of the Sower. Nevertheless, the emphasis in the story is the soils, so, as some commentators I have read have argued, we should refer to the Parable of the Four Soils. Each of us is, under the best circumstances, good soil, albeit not entirely so. That is a fact of human nature. Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah had serious defects of character, as did St. Paul the Apostle. Likewise, you, O reader, and I have character flaws. Nevertheless, may the lovely prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 be others’ prayer for us and our prayer for others.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 16, 2016 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ADALBALD OF OSTEVANT, RICTRUDIS OF MARCHIENNES, AND THEIR RELATIONS
THE FEAST OF SAINTS ABRAHAM KIDUNAIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT, AND MARY OF EDESSA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ANCHORESS
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Adapted from this post:
https://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/16/devotion-for-thursday-friday-and-saturday-before-proper-11-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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Above: Abraham and Lot Separate
Image in the Public Domain
Legalism and Fidelity
FEBRUARY 18 and 19, 2016
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The Collect:
God of the covenant, in the mystery of the cross
you promise everlasting life to the world.
Gather all peoples into your arms, and shelter us with your mercy,
that we may rejoice in the life we share in your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 27
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The Assigned Readings:
Genesis 13:1-7, 14-18 (Thursday)
Genesis 14:17-24 (Friday)
Psalm 27 (Both Days)
Philippians 3:2-12 (Thursday)
Philippians 3:17-20 (Friday)
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The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom then shall I fear?
the LORD is the strength of my life;
of whom then shall I be afraid?
–Psalm 27:1, Book of Common Worship (1993)
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Sometimes the portrayal of Abram/Abraham in the Bible puzzles me. In Hebrews 10:8-22 the patriarch is a pillar of fidelity to God. Yet he hedges his bets and lies in Genesis 12, and the only people who suffer are the Pharaoh of Egypt and members of the royal household. Abram exiles his firstborn son, Ishmael, in Genesis 21:8-21. The patriarch intercedes on behalf of strangers in Genesis 19 yet not for his second son, Isaac, three chapters later. Abram, who is wealthy, refuses even to appear to have enriched himself by means of the King of Sodom in Genesis 14. In so doing the patriarch, who has just paid a tithe of war booty to Melchizedek, King of Salem (Jerusalem) and priest of El Elyon, a Canaanite sky deity, invokes YHWH, not El Elyon. I do not know what to make of Abram/Abraham.
Circumcision is a major issue in Philippians 3. St. Paul the Apostle refers to rival missionaries who favor the circumcision of Gentile male converts to Christianity. He calls these Judaizers “dogs,” a strong insult many Jews reserved for Gentiles. One can find the mandate for circumcision of males (including some Gentiles) in Genesis 17:9-14, where it is a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant. It has been, for Jews, a physical sign of the covenant for millennia. It has become an emotional issue for people who favor it as a religious obligation and a mark of identity as well as for those who consider it cruel.
In Philippians 3 circumcision is, for St. Paul the Apostle, a physical sign of righteousness based on law, not on active faith in God. The line between legalism and righteousness can be difficult to locate sometimes. One should obey certain commandments out of fidelity and love and respect for God. One loves and honors God, so one keeps the commandments of God.
If you love me you will obey my commands…,
John 14:15 (The Revised English Bible, 1989) quotes Jesus as saying. But when does keeping commandments turn into a fetish of legalism? And when does the maintenance of one’s identity transform into exclusion of others? Where is that metaphorical line many people cross?
One sure way of knowing if one has crossed that line is catching that person obsessing over minute details while overlooking pillars of morality such as compassion. If one, for example, complains not because Jesus has healed someone but because he has done this on the Sabbath, one is a legalist. If one becomes uptight about personal peccadilloes yet remains unconcerned about institutionalized injustice (such as that of the sexist, racial, and economic varieties), one is a legalist. If one’s spiritual identity entails labeling most other people as unclean or damned, one is a legalist. If one thinks that moral living is merely a matter of following a spiritual checklist, one is a legalist. If one becomes fixated on culturally specific examples of timeless principles at the expense of those principles, one is a legalist.
May we who claim to follow and love God eschew legalism. May we also care for our close friends and relatives at least as much as we do suffering strangers for which we harbor concern.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 14, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHN AMOS COMENIUS, FATHER OF MODERN EDUCATION
THE FEAST OF THE CONSECRATION OF SAMUEL SEABURY, FIRST EPISCOPAL BISHOP
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM ROMANIS, ANGLICAN BISHOP AND HYMN WRITER
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Adapted from this post:
https://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2015/11/14/devotion-for-thursday-and-friday-before-the-second-sunday-in-lent-year-c-elca-daily-lectionary/
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Above: The Separation of Abraham and Lot
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Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
–The Book of Common Prayer (1979), page 236
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The Assigned Readings:
Genesis 11:27-12:20 (8th Day of Lent)
Genesis 13:1-18 (9th Day of Lent)
Psalm 38 (Morning–8th Day of Lent)
Psalm 22 (Morning–9th Day of Lent)
Psalms 126 and 102 (Evening–8th Day of Lent)
Psalms 107 and 130 (Evening–9th Day of Lent)
Mark 4:1-21 (8th Day of Lent)
Mark 5:1-20 (9th Day of Lent)
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Some Related Posts:
Genesis 11-13:
http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/second-sunday-in-lent-year-a/
http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/proper-5-year-a/
http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/week-of-proper-7-monday-year-1/
http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/all-hallows-eve-a-k-a-the-vigil-of-the-eve-of-all-saints-day-october-31/
Mark 4-5:
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/week-of-3-epiphany-thursday-year-1/
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/week-of-3-epiphany-friday-year-1/
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/week-of-3-epiphany-saturday-year-1/
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/week-of-3-epiphany-thursday-year-2/
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/week-of-3-epiphany-saturday-year-2/
http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/week-of-4-epiphany-monday-year-1/
http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/proper-6-year-b/
http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/proper-7-year-b/
Prayers:
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/prayer-for-thursday-of-the-first-week-of-lent/
http://gatheredprayers.wordpress.com/2011/01/25/prayer-for-friday-of-the-first-week-of-lent/
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Abram trusted God when he moved his household away from all that he had known. Yet he did not trust God in Egypt. Ironically, Abram did not pay the price for that distrust; others did. Likewise, the Apostles feared for their lives during the storm. May we refrain from being too critical; the actions of Abram and the Apostles were predictable. Any of us, in such a circumstance, might have done the same.
Yet we ought to draw useful spiritual lessons from these stories. I will be brief today, for I have covered similar material recently: Survival is in God alone. Trusting in God can be difficult, but is possible via grace. And I do not presume to have mastered this trust.
The struggle to trust God continues, but with the understanding that what God has in mind is better than what we or others imagine as being best for ourselves. We read in Genesis 13 that
Lot chose for himself (verse 11, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures).
God directed Abram where to go. And the Gereasene demoniac’s neighbors did not rejoice in his new wholeness. We are like that: selfish, at least some of the time.
May we seek the best for each other in the context of the common good while trusting in God. There will be plenty for everybody to have enough. And our identities will depend on whose we are–God’s–not who we are not–in this case, the Gerasene demoniac.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 12, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF DUNCAN MONTGOMERY GRAY, SR., EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF MISSISSIPPI
THE FEAST OF SAINT GREGORY OF OSTIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT, CARDINAL, AND LEGATE; AND SAINT DOMINIC OF THE CAUSEWAY, ROMAN CATHOLIC HERMIT
THE FEAST OF SAMUEL MARSDEN, ANGLICAN MISSIONARY IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
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Adapted from this post:
http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/devotion-for-the-eighth-and-ninth-days-of-lent-lcms-daily-lectionary/
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Above: The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, by John Martin (1854)
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Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.
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Genesis 19:15-29 (An American Translation):
When dawn appeared, the angels urged Lot on saying,
Bestir yourself; take away your wife, and the two daughters that are at hand, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.
When he hesitated, the men, because of the LORD’s pity on him, seized his hand and those of his wife and his two daughters, and bringing them out, they left him outside the city. After they had brought them outside, they said,
Fly for your life; do not look behind you, nor stop anywhere in the valley; fly to the hills, lest you be swept away.
Lot said to them,
O no sirs! Your servant has indeed found favor with you, and great is the kindness that you have done me in saving my life, but I cannot possibly fly to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I perish. Here is the town near enough to fly to, and quite small; pray, let me fly there (is it not small?) to save my life.
The LORD said to him,
See, I grant you this request as well, in that I will not overthrow the town of which you speak. Hurry and fly there; for I can do nothing until you reach there.
Thus the name of the town came to be called Zoar [small].
Just as the sun rose over the earth and Lot entered Zoar, the LORD rained sulphur and fire from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah, devastating those cities and all the valley, with all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation on the land. And Lot’s wife looked back, and had become a pillar of salt.
Lot’s Wife Pillar, Mount Sodom, Israel
Next morning when Abraham went early to the place where he had stood before the LORD, he gazed toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the region of the valley, and he saw smoke from the land rising like smoke from a kiln.
Thus it was that God remembered Abraham when he destroyed the cities of the valley, by sending Lot away from the catastrophe when he devastated the cities where Lot lived.
Psalm 26 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 Give judgment for me, O LORD,
for I have lived with integrity;
I have trusted in the LORD and have not faltered.
2 Test me, O LORD, and try me;
examine my heart and my mind.
3 For your love is before my eyes;
I have walked faithfully before you.
4 I have not sat with the worthless,
nor do I consort with the deceitful.
5 I have hated the company of evildoers;
I will not sit down with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence, O LORD,
that I may go in procession round your altar,
7 Singing aloud a song of thanksgiving
and recounting all your wonderful deeds.
8 LORD, I love the house in which you dwell
and the place where your glory abides.
9 Do not sweep me away with sinners,
nor my life with those who thirst for blood,
10 Whose hands are full of evil plots,
and their right hand full of bribes.
11 As for me, I will live with integrity;
redeem me, O LORD, and have pity on me.
12 My foot stands on level ground;
in the full assembly I will bless the LORD.
Matthew 8:23-27 (An American Translation):
And he [Jesus] got into the boat, and his disciples with him. And suddenly a terrific storm came up on the sea, so that the waves broke over the boat, but he remained asleep. And they woke him, saying,
Save us, sir! We are lost!
And he said to them,
Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!
Then he got up and reproved the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men were amazed and said,
What kind of man is this? For the very winds and sea obey him!
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The Collect:
Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant to us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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One of the challenges of following a lectionary can be identifying the common theme present in two or more readings from different parts of the Bible. After consulting commentaries and pondering all that I have read in the readings and the commentaries, I have found the common thread: Faithfulness to God is the path to life. This faithfulness needs only to be present. However, as Paul wrote in Romans 6:23, the wages of sin is spiritual death. The wages of sin can also be physical death, and the punishment flows from the sin itself. In other words, we reap what we sow. God is faithful to those who are faithful to him.
Let us examine the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah carefully. In Genesis 19:1-14, two angels arrive at Sodom, where Lot rescues them from would-be gang rapists. The angels tell Lot that God will destroy Sodom and Gomorrah very shortly because, as Professor Richard Elliott Friedman translates verse 13, they have “grown big before YHWH’s face.”
I pause at this point to ponder the importance of growing “big before YHWH’s face.” Later in Chapter 19, YHWH permits Lot and his family to flee to Zoar, which is small, for safety. (Two angels appear early in Chapter 19, and by chapter’s end, YHWH is there, too. When did God show up, after disappearing between the end of Chapter 18 and the beginning of Chapter 19? Following the bouncing ball can be challenging.) Anyhow, I posit that growing “big before YHWH’s face” indicates spiritual arrogance, a lack of faithfulness.
There is an interesting feature in the Hebrew text of verse 15. The word for punishment, as in “…or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city,” means sin as well. Sin and punishment are the same thing; consequences flow from actions, so we reap what we sow.
Lot is sufficiently hospitable to rescue the angels, strangers in Sodom, and, as Genesis 19:29 indicates, God saves Lot and family out of faithfulness to Abraham. Indeed, Lot is a disturbing character, one who offers his two virgin daughters to the would-be gang rapists gathered outside his house (verse 8). Fortunately for the daughters, the men are not interested.
But Lot is kind to the strangers, if not his own daughters, and the angelic guests offer him and his family a safe way out–if only they follow instructions. Nobody must look back. I suppose that curiosity about what is happening would inspire one to look back; we are a species of people who stare at the aftermath of car wrecks.
Biblical writers over many generations used Sodom and Gomorrah to demonstrate various points. These include:
- Repent, or be destroyed.
- Sexual immorality (in all its forms) is wrong. The first explicit link between homosexual acts and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah comes in Jude 7, however.
- Any town that refuses to heed visitors bearing the word of God will face condemnation.
- The failure to extend hospitality to strangers will lead to condemnation.
- The neglect of the poor will lead to condemnation and destruction.
The word “Sodom” appears in the New Revised Standard Version 51 times. For those of you who wish to follow up, here they are:
- Genesis 10:19
- Genesis 13:10, 12, and 13
- Genesis 14:2, 8, 10-12, 17, 21, 22, and 26
- Genesis 18:16, 20, and 26
- Genesis 19:1, 4, 24, and 28
- Deuteronomy 29:23
- Deuteronomy 32:32
- Isaiah 1:9 and 10
- Isaiah 3:9
- Isaiah 13:19
- Jeremiah 23:14
- Jeremiah 49:18
- Jeremiah 50:40
- Lamentations 4:6
- Ezekiel 16:46, 48, 49, 53, 55, and 56
- Amos 4:11
- Zephaniah 2:9
- 3 Maccabees 2:5
- 2 Esdras 2:8
- 2 Esdras 7:106
- Matthew 10:15
- Matthew 11:23 and 24
- Luke 10:12
- Luke 17:29
- Romans 9:29
- 2 Peter 2:6
- Jude 7
- Revelation 11:8
The reading from Matthew tells the familiar story of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee. In all fairness to the Apostles, I would have been afraid, too. I note also that Jesus said they had little faith, not no faith. This is a difficult text, one with more possible interpretations than I dreamed possible before reading commentaries. However, remaining consistent with my methodology of following a common thread between or among lectionary readings, I latch onto the “little faith” comment. At least the Apostles had some faith. Are we not like this much, if not most, of the time? We have some faith and we know that we need more. We believe, yet we need God to forgive us for our unbelief. But a little faith is better than none, and from little faith much more can spring. As the Book of Psalms says, God knows that we are “but dust.”
Reciprocity matters in a healthy relationship with God. We will get much wrong, for we are fallible. But, by grace, we can walk in the paths of righteousness more often than not. We might save not only ourselves, but friends and family members, too. But are we trying? That is the first question. Fortunately, God is faithful to those who are faithful to him. And let us remember what Mother Teresa of Calcutta said about faithfulness: God calls us to be faithful, not successful.
Certainly, how we treat others can be an outward sign of faithfulness. If we love God with our essence and respect ourselves, following the Golden Rule will result in frequent acts of kindness. To follow up on a previous devotion in this series, Jesus said that “you shall know them by their fruits.” I add to this thought the entire Letter of James.
May we be faithful to God for the glory of God and out of awe of God and gratitude for all the wonderful deeds God has done. And why not? God is faithful.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 16, 2010 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF GUSTAF AULEN, SWEDISH LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF SAINT ADELAIDE, HOLY ROMAN EMPRESS
THE FEAST OF MARIANNE WILLIAMS, ANGLICAN MISSIONARY
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Adapted from this post:
http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/week-of-proper-8-tuesday-year-1/
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Above: Golden Rule, by Norman Rockwell (1961)
Images of this painting are plentiful online, but I took it from http://gardenofpraise.com/art12.htm.
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Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.
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Genesis 13:2, 5-18 (An American Translation):
Abram was now very rich in cattle, silver, and gold.
Lot, who accompanied Abram, also had flocks and herds, as well as tents. The land could not support them both; for their possessions were so great that they could not live together. Trouble arose accordingly between the herdsmen of Abram’s stock and those of Lot’s. (The Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.)
There simply must be no quarrel between you and me,
Abram said to Lot,
nor between your herdsmen and mine; for we are kinsmen. The whole land is open to you, is it not? Please part from me then. If you go to the left, I will go the right; or if you go to the right, I will go to the left.
Then Lot looked out, and saw that the whole basin of the Jordan was well watered everywhere (this was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the LORD’s own garden, like the land of Egypt in the vicinity of Zoar. So lot chose the whole Jordan basin. Lot set off eastward, and thus they parted from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the Basin, extending his tents as far as Sodom. (Now the men of Sodom were wicked, being great sinners against the LORD.)
After Lot had parted from him, the LORD said to Abram,
Raise your eyes now, and look out from the place where you are, north, south, east, and west; for all the land that you see, I am going to give to you and your descendants for all time. I am going to make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that it will be as possible to count the dust of the earth as to count your descendants. Go and travel the length and breadth of the land; for I am giving it to you.
So Abram moved his tent, and went to live beside the terebinth of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.
Psalm 15 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
1 LORD, who may dwell in your tabernacle?
who may abide upon your holy hill?
2 Whoever leads a blameless life and does what is right,
who speaks the truth from his heart.
3 There is no guile upon his tongue;
he does no evil to his friend;
he does not heap contempt upon his neighbor.
4 In his sight the wicked is rejected,
but he honors those who fear the LORD.
5 He has sworn to do no wrong
and does not take back his word.
6 He does not give his money in hope of gain,
nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
7 Whoever does these things
shall never be overthrown.
Matthew 7:6, 12-14 (An American Translation):
[Jesus continued,]
Do not give what is sacred to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you in pieces….Therefore you must always treat other people as you would like them to have them treat you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Go in at the narrow gate. For the road that leads to destruction is broad and spacious, and there are many who go in by it. But the gate is narrow the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few that find it.
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The Collect:
O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Many readers of the Bible (especially novices to the sacred anthology) become bogged down in the Hebrew Scriptures. My experience was different, for my first real reading of of any part of the Old Testament was the Joseph epic from Genesis. There are so many wonderful and epic stories in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Among these is the Abraham epic, through which the Canadian Anglican lectionary I am following guides a reader. Since our previous lection, famine has forced Abram (later to renamed Abraham) and his family into fertile Egypt. No sooner had they gone to collect on a divine promise than circumstances had forced them to delay claiming it. Abram was concerned that royal officials might kill him and claim his lovely wife, Sarai (later to be renamed Sarah), so he claimed that she was actually his sister. (This was partially true, for she was his half-sister. But a half-truth is still a half-truth.) Most English versions of the Bible use a euphemism for what happened next, for they claim that the Pharaoh took Sarai into his palace, his house, or his household. Kenneth N. Taylor’s The Living Bible, which cuts through euphemisms like a knife through butter, gets to the point:
…and she was taken into the harem. (12:15)
In exchange, the Pharaoh bestows upon Abram much livestock, silver, and gold.
Let us pause here. There are Bible stories and portions thereof that one does not find discussed often (or at all) in children’s Bible story books and in juvenile Sunday School classes. I understand why, for the Bible does not carry a “G” rating. But we are adults here, and we should be able to discuss the R-rated portions of the Bible intelligently and maturely. This portion of the story of Abram and Sarai has an unsavory taste about it. He benefited financially (as did she in the medium term and the long term, despite immediate risks) from her compromising situation.
This is an early example of Abram not trusting God to fulfill divine promises. It is not the most notable one. Even Abram, a great man of faith, was imperfect. And God still protected and blessed him. We can take comfort from that.
Genesis 12 tells us that God caused “great plagues” to befall the Phaoronic household, so the Egyptian monarch deported Abram, Sarai, and company–along with the livestock, silver, and gold. They returned (in Genesis 13) to Bethel, where there was too little space for Abram, his nephew Lot, and their livestock and herdsmen. So Abram and Lot parted company and relocated, so that each would have sufficient space and harmony might be preserved. Then God reiterated the divine promise to Abram.
Genesis 13 contains foreboding foreshadowing regarding Lot, but I will not discuss it here and now. I intend to follow the events of the Abraham epic in sequentially in this lectionary series.
Now I turn toward the excerpt from Matthew.
Matthew 7:6 is a difficult saying. Swine were unclean beasts, and dogs were wild scavengers, not beloved pets. So who among the humans were supposed to be the swine and dogs?
Reading in textual context is especially useful here. Matthew 7:6 follows 7:1-5, the “do not judge” teaching. Jesus reminds us that the standard we apply to others will apply to us, as well, and that we ought to notice and deal with our own faults before focusing on those of others. Then we have this admonition not to throw pearls before swine and to give dogs what is sacred.
I have consulted various books with regard to this verse. The best interpretation comes from W. Clyde Tilley in The Surpassing Righteousness: Evangelism and Ethics in the Sermon on the Mount (Smyth & Helwys, 1992). Tilley writes:
We cannot simply assume that all the beneficiaries of our good deeds, all of the hearers of our treasured teachings, will receive them with equal gratitude. We cannot even assume that they will be received at all….Now we are being reminded in this case that one’s own perception can be so distorted that the sharing of the sharing of true values with that person can may be hopeless for him and harmful to ourselves….Maybe the only certainty we can have here is that such persistent and final rejecters do exist, even if we must ever defer to God for the final judgment about who these are. (pages 149-150)
This interpretation is consistent with 7:13-14, the teaching about the narrow gate and the wide road.
In the middle of all this we have 7:12, the Golden Rule. God is the final judge, and we are not to judge others. We are called to love one another and ourselves actively, treating others at all times in ways we would want them to treat us. I recall the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3b-9, 18-23): many seeds will come to naught. But we have to try, do we not?
And, by the way, would not the world be a vastly better place if many more people went about practicing the Golden Rule? Try it on a smaller scale; practice the Golden Rule among all those with whom you come into contact. Witness the results, in full knowledge that, in a “do unto others before they do unto you” world, you might experience what state intelligence agents call blowback, or unintended negative consequences. But God is the final judge about who is worthy. Let us not play God.
Chiefly, may we trust God. Abram trusted God some of the time, as do we. Decisions he made when he did not trust God had bad consequences–sometimes for himself and other times for others. And, as we attempt to live according to the Golden Rule, may we trust that God is just, that our judgment and knowledge are limited, and that loving God and respecting human dignity are always good standards of ethical behavior.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 8, 2010 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARTIN RINCKART, ARCHDEACON OF EILENBURG
THE FEAST OF RICHARD BAXTER, ANGLICAN THEOLOGIAN
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Adapted from this post:
http://ordinarytimedevotions.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/week-of-proper-7-tuesday-year-1/
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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