This week's lessons: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 , Psalm 22:23-31 , Romans 4:13-25 , Mark 8:31-38 or Mark 9:2-9
This
week's lessons: Genesis
17:1-7, 15-16 , Psalm
22:23-31 , Romans
4:13-25 , Mark
8:31-38 or Mark
9:2-9
Emmanuel Community Church
Inter-generational Lectionary Study;
Sundays from 10:0 to 10:45 in the Board Room
Opening
Opening prayer by leader, or invite another participant to pray, or us:
Almighty God, who has caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning, open our ears and hearts today to learn from your word and from one another, we ask in Jesus' Name. Amen
Set the calendar-clock to the right date. Lent is the season of preparation for the great feast of Easter. We spend 40 days in self-denial and solemn prayer, readying our hearts and minds to celebrate Christ's great Easter victory over Death and Sin.
Today, the Gospel reviews for us the story of Christ's baptism, which we will remember from the first week of Epiphany, but adds to that context the story of Christ's 40-day fast in the wilderness.
Review of Last Week
What was the sermon on? - Missions: Demo Crew; and Mexican Orphanages
What was the Gospel lesson? - Christ's temptation in the wilderness
Did anyone have any insights about...
1.What does it mean to you to "walk with God"?
2.How can you “be blameless” in your walk before God?
3.How do you reconcile the competing claims of grace and the requirements of covenant?
4.How do you and your congregation experience yourselves as included in this covenant?
5.Who else is included, perhaps in spite of our own expectations and desires?
Sarai is childless and advanced in years; she has not provided Abram with an heir. A covenant is between two parties, each of whom have benefits and obligations; it is made by both, and can be terminated by either. God’s covenant with Abram is different:
Abram’s change of name in v. 5 is significant: the gift of a new name signifies a new relationship, a new status, a new stage in life. It was believed that such a change altered one’s personality and fate. In v. 8, God promises the land of Canaan, where Abraham is now an “alien”, to Israel for ever; he will be God of Israel. As a sign of this agreement, all males will be circumcised, soon after birth. (Egyptian and Canaanite practice was to circumcise at puberty.) Being circumcised as infants, Abraham’s descendants will bear this mark of identity, showing them to be members of the covenant community, throughout their lives. Sarai shares in God’s blessing, as shown by her change in name (v. 15). She will be blessed with fertility; she too will “give rise to nations” (v. 16) and kings. In v. 17, Abraham laughs in incredulity at the idea of Sarah bearing a son (who will be named Isaac, meaning May God laugh in delight).
© 1996-2003 Chris Haslam -- http://www.montreal.anglican.org/comments/blnt2m.shtml
The legend of Abram’s and Sarai’s names being changed to Abraham and Sarah has little meaning apart from God’s covenant promise that went with it. All subsequent history of the Jewish people rests on this promise. They were to be God’s people.
Today, two other religious traditions, Christianity and Islam, also trace their origins to Abraham and Sarah. With Judaism, these three form the majority of the world’s total population of six billion. Despite our many divisions and frequent conflicts, does this not say something about God’s sovereignty over the history of our time and all time? Is this the meaning of the covenantal promise in vss. 6-7? Is it not at least something we should ponder as we move through the Lenten season? What on Earth is God doing? Why has God made covenant with humanity – ordinary, sinful human beings such as we are?
It should be noted that according to the documentary theory of the Pentateuch this particular story was part of the so-called Priestly document written by a school of priests which forms the framework for the whole Book of Genesis. At least two earlier documents, called J and E after the distinctive names Jahweh and Elohim used in each, were fitted into this framework to create the present text. This editorial work was done in the 5th century BC, long after Israel’s return from exile in Babylon and more than a thousand years after the presumed time of Abraham’s migration to Canaan.
Much scholarly debate continues as to the historicity of Abraham. The most extreme views banish him to the status of a fictitious hero of the post-exilic or Persian period (539-330 BCE), or even later in Hellenistic times of the late 4th century BCE. The intent of this theological fiction was to create a new sense of self-identity among the Jewish people thus bringing about harmony among the returning exiles and the peasant classes who had not been transported to Babylon. Strictly orthodox Jewish interpreters, on the other hand, depend on vs. 8 as the charter for “Eretz-Israel” and the ideological foundations of modern Zionism.
Many Christian scholars still hold to the more conservative position that Abraham was at least the leader of a tribe which migrated from the Upper Euphrates River valley (Haran) to Canaan circa 1750 BCE. One scholar has identified at least twenty-two separate episodes in the Abraham saga in Genesis 11:27 to 25:11. This reading is but one of those episodes. (See L Hicks. The Interpreter’s Bible Dictionary. I.16)
Without question, second only to Moses, Abraham was the hero of NT authors. Twice he is regarded as the father of the impious (Matt. 3:9; John 8:39), but more often as an inspiration to Jews to live up to their spiritual heritage as people of faith (Luke 19:9; 16:24; Heb. 6:13). In Galatians 3:7 Paul cited him as father of all believers and so a source of unity and harmony. This attitude offers hope for greater respect and dialogue rather than conflict and dissent among Jews, Christians and Moslems today.
John Shearman’s Lectionary -- http://seemslikegod.org/lectionary/2009/02/second-sunday-in-lent-march-8-2009/
This psalm, as a whole, is a prayer for deliverance from illness. The psalmist, gravely ill, feels that God has forsaken him. In the past, God has helped his people (vv. 4-5): may God help him now. His detractors laugh at him for trusting in God (vv. 6-8); his suffering is worse because they think that his illness is proof of God’s displeasure. But, he says, God helped me when I was an infant, so I trust in him (v. 9). I will offer thanksgiving in assembly of the community in the Temple: v. 22 is that vow. God does hear, even the “poor” (v. 26, or afflicted); he provides perpetual life for the “poor” those who live in awe of him. May all people everywhere turn to God and worship him (v. 27). God is Lord of all (v. 28). All mortals, all who die (“go down to the dust”, v. 29) worship him. I, the psalmist says, will live following his ways, and so will my offspring: they will be God’s for ever, and will tell future generations about God’s saving deeds.
© 1996-2003 Chris Haslam -- http://www.montreal.anglican.org/comments/blnt2m.shtml
There is a possibility that this part of the psalm is actually a separate hymn of praise and thanksgiving unrelated to the lament of the first part. It may also have served as a liturgy for anyone who came to give thanks for deliverance from affliction.
The first few verses of this reading presents some insight into the common practices surrounding a thank offering in the temple. Rejoicing in deliverance from distress, the worshipper invites the gathered congregation to join him in praise as he offers his sacrifice. The invitation includes sharing in a feast, or at least the eating of a portion of the sacrifice, possibly meat, sweet cakes or fruit. It may only have been a token and symbolic meal such as we share in the celebration of holy communion.
The psalmist, however, has a more universal understanding of what happens. Not only is this act of worship and praise to Yahweh shared by those in attendance at the time. It is for all people and for all time because Yahweh is sovereign over all (vss. 27-28). And not only the living, but the dead will join in the worship (vs. 29) and so also shall the unborn (vss. 30-31).
The psalm as a whole reflects the lament for the terrible tragedy of the Babylonian exile and the hopeful universalism of Second Isaiah. Like the various NT descriptions of the Passion of Christ and the theological insights of the Epistles, vss. 1-22 speak of hate-filled hostility and horrible suffering. Yet vss. 23-31 bring out the triumphant note of thanksgiving and praise for deliverance from affliction efficacious for all people of faith. It is highly probable that this psalm typified for the NT authors what Jesus has done for us. Hence the quotations from vss. 7, 8 and 18 in the Passion story in all four Gospels and the underlying motif of Paul’s Christology.
John Shearman’s Lectionary -- http://seemslikegod.org/lectionary/2009/02/second-sunday-in-lent-march-8-2009/
In Chapters 2 and 3, Paul has argued that through the gospel, it is faith that brings humans into harmony with God. Now he considers Abraham as an example. At the time, rabbis argued that God’s blessings came to Abraham because he kept Mosaic Law (which, they said, he knew in advance – before Moses received the tablets on Mount Sinai.)
In v. 13, Paul argues against this rabbinic lore: Abraham was blessed because he believed, had faith, that he would be father of a nation and a source of blessing for “all ... families” (Genesis 12:3). If only those who keep Mosaic Law are God's people, faith is meaningless (“null”, v. 14) and God's “promise” of universal godliness is nonsense – because the Law is a contract; in a contract, each party has responsibilities, each knows what he will receive (e.g. “wages”, v. 4), but a promise is a gift, and is therefore an object of faith: faith that what is promised will be received. Paul now notes: because we all deviate from God’s ways at times, sinning does happen. For those under the Law, a penalty (God’s “wrath”, v. 15) ensues, but for us, not living under the Law (“no law”), there is no contract to violate. Paul now returns to his main argument: so rather than the human relationship being legally based, “it depends on faith” (v. 16), on God’s freely given gift of love (“grace”). Were it legally based, continually breaking the pact would make a nonsense of it, but being faith-based, the relationship is “guaranteed” to all peoples in every age - not just to Jews but also to others. Per Genesis 17:5, Abraham is spiritual father of us all (v. 17). Sarah’s bearing of Isaac when beyond child-bearing age (“gives life to the dead”) was due to his faith; it had been promised to him by God. Isaac was called into existence. So Abraham is a model for the Christian. Contrary to expectation, in hope (“Hoping against hope”, v. 18) he believed. He had every reason to doubt that he would become a father, but believe he did – because of the hope given by God's promise – in God's creative power. Abraham's faith grew stronger as he thanked God for his gift (“gave glory to God”, v. 20). He attained a right relationship with God (“was reckoned to him as righteousness”, v. 22). Our faith in God’s promises will also be considered worthy by God when Christ comes again (“our justification”, v. 25).
© 1996-2003 Chris Haslam -- http://www.montreal.anglican.org/comments/blnt2m.shtml
Paul had a difficult task in writing to the Roman Christian community. They were unknown to him. He may have met some of them in his travels, but by and large he did not know them personally. He did know, however, that like so many other communities of faith he had founded in Asia Minor and Greece, they were a mixed group of Jews and Gentiles drawn from many different backgrounds with very little in common. He also carried with him the weight of his own background. A Jew of the Diaspora, he had a sensitivity toward Greek-speaking Gentiles. As a thoroughly trained rabbi of the Pharisees, he knew the Torah intimately as well. Then too, his mind and heart had been profoundly transformed by his conversion to Christ and his many years as a missionary apostle since that tumultuous experience on the Damascus Road..
All of this personal and religious history comes to bear on this passage. Paul’s argument here was that God’s promise to Abraham (our Old Testament lesson) had special meaning for the Roman Christians. As for the patriarch, faith in God, not keeping the law, made the promise effective for them. Faith works in the same way for us. Our being given a right relationship with God (Paul calls it ‘justification’) depends on our faith in what God has done in the deaht and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and not on any good behavior of our own.
Note how many times Paul used the word faith in this passage - seven. Believe occurs three more times and promise five times. Isn’t faith an extremely fragile basis to depend on for anything, let alone one’s eternal justification, a permanent relationship with the Creator of the universe? If one does not have faith - trust is a better word, perhaps - in what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, like Abraham, we are as good as dead. Isn’t that rather contemptuous of all we “enlightened” people have achieved in making life wholesome and worthwhile in the past two or three hundred years?
A friend of mine once was asked, “What happens to those who died without believing?” His blunt answer went right to the point, “They’re dead.” Edward Fitzgerald put it more poetically in his sardonic work The Rubaiyat of Omar Khaiyim : “Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend, Before we too into the Dust descend, Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and - Sans End.”
But is it all so simple? Believe or else? Canadian theologian, Douglas John Hall, in his monograph, The Cross in Our Context (Minneapolis, MN. Augsburg Fortress Press, 2003) put it differently. After convincingly stating that God loves the world and all of creation so much that he sent Jesus to redeem us from our alienation from God, he points out that “the cross reveals the compassionate determination of God to bring the creation to the full realization of its potentiality for authenticity…. By grace you are being humanized, made human, made truly human…. God wills that you be human: vere homo - truly human.”
Paul’s conviction was based on his own faith in what Christ had done for him, even with many generations of the Hebrew tradition behind him. Yes, this was a whole new interpretation of the Torah. But this was for Paul precisely the meaning of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. He knew from painful personal experience how deadly every attempt to achieve authentic righteousness acceptable to a Holy God could be. He also knew that the Gentiles’ ignorance of the Torah did not exclude them from the gracious love of God so fully revealed in Jesus. Yet both could be come heirs of God’s promise to Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ (vss. 16-17).
This is the heart of the Lenten message for our generation. We no longer put much stock in faith or in holy living, particularly in our complacently prosperous part of the world. We proudly assert that we have done so well in mastering our economic problems. And despite current disruptions, we shall do so again. We change governments without violent revolutions and political instability. We have become so self-sufficient and so self-righteous about our success. Who needs faith, God, salvation, holiness, or Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour? These have become foreign words to our generation.
For Paul and for all people of faith that is not our true inheritance. Despite all our remarkable achievements in recent centuries, we have lost our sense of sin, our alienation from God, and our need for redemption. We are dangerously close to being spiritually dead. According to the Genesis story, Abraham was a hundred years old when he received the promise that he would inherit the world (vs. 13). A hundred years from now, we shall all be dead and the world may not remember very much of what we have achieved. Our vaunted prosperity may have passed to some other part of the world in control of other people. Will Edward Fitzgerald’s rhyme then be our lot? How then can we justify our existence?
The point Paul makes in this passage is that we don’t need to justify ourselves. We need faith, like that of Abraham, like that of Paul himself. Faith in God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, alone makes it worth living creatively, redemptively as Christian disciples, in the world as it is right now.
John Shearman’s Lectionary -- http://seemslikegod.org/lectionary/2009/02/second-sunday-in-lent-march-8-2009/
Jesus has asked his disciples: “‘... who do you say that I am?’” (v. 29); Peter has answered him: “‘You are the Messiah’”. Jesus now predicts his Passion for the first time. He teaches them something unexpected: that the Messiah (“the Son of Man”, v. 31) will suffer, be rejected, killed, and rise again was contrary to contemporary (and their) expectation. When Peter impetuously rejects Jesus’ teaching, he is told that he is under the influence of the devil: he is relying on human values, not divine ones (v. 33). Jesus then describes true discipleship: first, a disciple must renounce self-centeredness (“deny themselves”, v. 34) and follow him. Those who are prepared to give even their lives (“take up their cross”) for his sake and for the sake of spreading the good news (“gospel”, v. 35) will have (eternal) life. Those who seek worldly well-being and deny their true selves will be the losers (vv. 35-37). View things from a divine, rather than human, viewpoint! At the Last Day (“when he comes in ... glory”, v. 38), Christ will not stand up for those who shirk from being identified with him and the good news.
© 1996-2003 Chris Haslam -- http://www.montreal.anglican.org/comments/blnt2m.shtml
John Shearman’s Lectionary -- http://seemslikegod.org/lectionary/2009/02/second-sunday-in-lent-march-8-2009/
Jesus has foretold his death and resurrection; now he takes the inner circle of disciples up a mountain, where he is “transfigured”, changed in form, metamorphosed. He appears in “dazzling white” (v. 3), a sign of God’s presence. “Elijah” (v. 4) was taken up into heaven. Moses’ burial place was unknown (see Deuteronomy 34:6); he was also thought to have been taken up. (Others suggest that Elijah represents the prophets and Moses the law, the basic authority in Judaism.) Peter rejoices in this experience (“good”, v. 5): it is a preview of Jesus’ glorification as God’s Son. He wishes to prolong the event by making “dwellings”, temporary shelters as erected at the Feast of Tabernacles, a joyous festival of God’s presence. V. 6 may say that he was so dumbfounded by the experience that what he said was irrational. The “cloud” (v. 7) is a symbol of God’s presence. The proclamation spoken by the divine voice is like that at Jesus’ baptism (1:11). The Son of Man is revealed to be Son of God. The vision ends “suddenly” (v. 8). Then v. 9: only when Jesus has risen will the vision make sense to others.
© 1996-2003 Chris Haslam -- http://www.montreal.anglican.org/comments/blnt2m.shtml
John Shearman’s Lectionary -- http://seemslikegod.org/lectionary/2009/02/second-sunday-in-lent-march-8-2009/
“Pew-work” is like Home-work, except that it is done in the pews, instead of being done at home. Because it is focussed on the readings (as the sermon, presumably, also is) it can be done during the sermon to help the listener concentrate. Or, it can be done while waiting for everyone else to finish their communion. It isn't done during prayers, or hymns, or the readings, because
During Prayers, we pray
During Hymns, we sing
During the Readings, we listen
Middle-school Students' Pew-work
Elementary-School Students' Pew-work
Next Week: Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 , Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21