Bible Challenge Day 17: Spiritual Growth (Genesis 43-45; Matthew 15)

I did not really agree with the Bible Challenge author on Joseph. He seems to like Joseph. Maybe it is because I am an eldest child, but Joseph seems to me to have started out pretty obnoxious and to have become positively cruel by the end. I suppose I have to give him credit for forgiving his brothers . . . .

But the character who is more interesting to me is Judah. He is the one who originally proposed selling Joseph into slavery (37:26-28). In the next story, he does not do right, including impregnating his daughter-in-law! But Tamar (the daughter-in-law) shames him, and he actually grows up. At the climax of the Joseph story, Judah is the one who offers himself as a slave in place of his brother Benjamin (44:33). He has come a long way! Joseph is so moved that he finally reveals himself to his brothers. So the real interest of the whole story to me is less Joseph’s rise to greatness than Judah’s growth in love and responsibility.

I would not want to push this argument too far, but it is possible to see a similar growth in Jesus. When he sent out his disciples to preach and heal, he was explicit: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samarians, but go rather to the lost sheep of Israel” (Matt 10:5-6). In our story he repeats his commitment to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (15:24) and compares a Canaanite woman to a dog. That seems pretty narrow minded. But when the woman persists, Jesus changes his tune, heals her daughter, and praises her faith. I do not know exactly what to make of this, except to say that Jesus’ mission broadens, and it happens in our reading for today.

I love seeing these stories of growth—they always give me hope!

 

Fr. Harvey Hill

Bible Challenge Day 15: Jesus on the Kingdom

I love Jesus’ parables. And one of the things I love about them is how edgy they typically are. We sometimes miss the edges because we don’t know enough about the culture. But almost always, if we probe beneath the surface, we find a surprising and challenging message.

One of the best examples of this, in my view, is the parable of the yeast (Matt 13:33). The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened. That’s it!

On a quick reading, the point is that the kingdom spreads and eventually effects everything. That is already a good message. But the edge comes when we pay attention to the cultural significance of yeast. At Passover, the Hebrew people are commanded to eat only unleavened bread. Somehow the leaven, the yeast, is corrupting. Yeast is not exactly unclean. But it is to be avoided at a holy time.

Now here Jesus is, using yeast as a symbol for the kingdom of heaven! It is as if the kingdom itself is somehow tainting. What are we supposed to do with that!

I assume that the point is that the kingdom does not look super-pious and only include the super-righteous. The kingdom of heaven turns out to include tax-collectors and sinners and prostitutes and ordinary women who bake bread at least as much as Pharisees and priests and the outwardly holy. All Church people should take note!

The good news in this is that we don’t have to be perfectly holy. All of us fall short; all of us have a little leaven in our lives. So it is a mighty good thing that the kingdom includes yeast after all!

 Fr. Harvey

Bible Challenge Day 13: Jacob again

One of the striking things about Jacob’s story is the way he negotiates with God. God blesses Jacob with the same blessing that God gave Abraham and Isaac (Gen 28:10f). Jacob’s reaction is the surprising thing. He doesn’t, for example, thank God. Instead he decides to wait and see. “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall me my God” (Gen 28:20-21). If I were in God’s place, I would be a little irritated!

God does in fact do all those things. And when Jacob finally does return to his father’s house in peace, he returns to the place where he first received the blessing, has his household put away their foreign gods (only now! See 35:2) and dedicates himself to God. Sealing the deal, God blesses him again (35:11f).

All too often I am like Jacob—trying to make deals with God. But it seems better to trust God up front, as Abraham does, than to play the waiting game. I take comfort in the fact that God puts up with Jacob. And I wish I could do better than Jacob did!

Fr. Harvey

Bible Challenge: Week 2 ->January 19 (Day 8) – January 24 (Day 13)

Genesis 19-36

Psalm 7-12

Matthew 7-12

To start with a few housekeeping items:

•   The Bible Challenge seems to be in stock again at Amazon in paperback, for those who haven’t yet purchased it. 
• For those who still may be working out some of the technological kinks, we’ll have a “tech night” on January 28 at 7 p.m. in conjunction with our “Off the Cuff” evening.  If you’re working out how to comment on the blog, finding the blog, downloading e-books onto your iPad, or other logistical issues, come to the St. Andrew’s Room, bring your computer or tablet if you can, and we’ll try to sort out the issues.
• As you read, if you have questions, please feel free to ask  … this is a great opportunity for collaborative learning.
• If you have a question or comment you’d like to post on the blog, but haven’t yet worked out the mechanics, just email it to me, and I’ll be happy to post it for you (wende.wheeler(at)gmail.com)

So how is it going?  I’m having a few challenges finding a rhythm for my reading …. I thought I might read each evening, but in actuality, in the first week, I read a chunk mid-week, and then caught up this weekend.  I’m hoping that I will be a little more even in the coming week.  What are you finding works for you?

This second week has us working through more of the familiar and dramatic stories of Genesis.  The important narratives of Abraham and Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac flow along, showing us the highs and lows of the patriarchs’ and matriarchs’ lives and behavior.   One of the details, though, that has struck me anew is Jacob’s name-change.  Once again, God is changing a name (like Abram-> Abraham and Sarai-> Sarah) with prophetic purpose.  Jacob is renamed Israel (32:24) after a night of wrestling with a stranger (sometimes referred to as an angel) who turned out to be God.  His identity is literally changing … he is going from Jacob - which means “supplanter,” referring to his relationship with his brother Esau - to Israel.  Not only is he given a name that will identify his descendants throughout the centuries, but it is a name which foretells the history of that people: “wrestles with God.”

I find the commentary on Day 12 from the Rev. Dr. Francis Wade particularly helpful; since I know that some still don’t have the book, I’ll include an excerpt here:

What is especially revealing about this story is that when our faith had developed to the point where it needed a name, there were many options.  The people of God could have been named for obedient Abraham or faithful Isaac or Moses the Law Giver.  But the chosen name was Israel because the people of God continually wrestle with God about almost everything in life – faith, morality, sin, forgiveness, etc.  We wrestle with God partly because, as the psalmist says, God tests the righteous along with the wicked.  We wrestle as John the Baptist did when he lost his confidence in Jesus as the messiah and sent a deputation to ask if he really, really was the Anointed One.

The name Israel was not lightly chosen but rightly chosen because the people of God must always wrestle with God.

Two images below depict that struggle: the top is by Rembrandt, the bottom by Delacroix.  I love the expressions in the Rembrandt version, but the Delacroix image certainly suggests more of a struggle.

Wende

Bible Challenge, Week One

Bible Challenge Week One

(Genesis 1-18; Psalms 1-6; Matthew 1-6)

I am excited to be starting the Bible Challenge! Reading the whole Bible this year may be hard, but it should also be really rewarding. And we start with a bang! The first chapters of Genesis are packed with famous stories: creation and fall; Cain and Abel; Noah and the flood; the tower of Babel; the calling of Abraham; and the beginning of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Matthew also covers a lot of ground: Jesus’ birth; baptism and temptation in the wilderness; the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount; and the Lord’s Prayer. It can be a little overwhelming!

 
What follows is intended as a conversation starter. Please share your thoughts about it or about anything else that occurs to you as you take the Bible Challenge!
 
What most strikes me this week is the shift that happens with Abraham (chapter 11:27). Before Abraham, God is working with all people. We are all children of Adam and Noah. We all inherit those promises. But with the tower of Babel (chapter 11), real human diversity enters the story. As Genesis tells it, God no longer blesses all people directly. Instead God works with and through a single line, Abraham’s line. The blessing is for all people (12:3), but people experience it quite differently, depending on who they are.

As Scott Gunn points out in his commentary on day two, Matthew’s story of the wise men from the east indicates that the story opens up again with Jesus. People from outside the chosen line receive revelation and encounter Christ. This both fulfills God’s promise to Abraham and takes us back to the time before Abraham when God was more directly accessible to all people.

Over the course of this year, I know we will see more of both: more emphasis on how much God loves some and also more emphasis on how much God loves all. I look forward to pursuing this issue as we go.

Harvey

Take The Bible Challenge: Read the Bible in a Year

Is this your year to read the Bible?  We'll be doing it together, here, using The Bible Challenge, edited by Marek Zabriskie.

If you wish to join us, pull out your Bible and get your hands on a copy of the book (available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Forward Movement).  Zabriskie has broken down the Bible into daily pieces -- some Old Testament, some New Testament, and some Psalms.  He also includes a daily meditation written by a church leader or scholar.  Each week (at least), we'll put up a post on this blog to start some conversation -- you will be able to join in the conversation via the comments.

We'll start next Monday (January 12) with Day 1.  If you'd like to join us, take a moment and add a comment now, so we know who's on board, and to make sure that you can comment if you wish.

If you have a problem, email me at wende.wheeler(at)gmail.com

Harvey and I are looking forward to reading the Bible with you this year!

Wende

Negotiating Religious Differences

Religion is the subtext for a lot of news these days, and the news is mostly bad. All too often religion seems to fuel the violence between different religious groups or even within a single religious group divided by interpretations of their common tradition. As best I can tell, virtually every major religious tradition has been used at one point or another to justify heinous deeds. Tragically Christianity is no exception.

Lots of people today respond by giving up on religion altogether. Religions, so some argue, cause more harm than good. Religions require people to believe and to do irrational things, and too high a percentage of these irrational things are evil. This is not my own position, but the sad fact is, religious difference really does seem to generate a lot of violence.

Others do not reject religion altogether but effectively reject the idea of meaningful religious difference. They suggest that, at base, all religions teach essentially the same thing. Different religions are simply different paths to the same ultimate end. People from different traditions should not fight since the other person knows the same God I know, just under a different name and in a different way.

This position holds more attraction for me. And yet it does not seem to do justice to the integrity of different religious traditions. For example, Christians generally insist that the divinity of Jesus matters. For Jews and Muslims, however, the assertion that Jesus is divine compromises belief in the oneness of God, which they consider vitally important. I am not prepared to surrender on the divinity of Jesus, nor am I inclined to insist that Jews or Muslims acknowledge the divinity of Jesus. That means we differ on a non-trivial point.

I wish that I had a theologically satisfying solution to the question of how people from different religions could (1) be genuinely committed to their own religious traditions (2) without killing people who differ (3) or pretending that they agree more than they in fact do. I do not have such a solution.

But I would like to think that people from different religious traditions can get along. And I have a pair of convictions that may not cohere but that have worked for me so far.

(1) I believe in rooting myself as deeply as I can in a single tradition, Christianity in its Episcopal form.

(2) But I take it as obviously true that Christians do not have a monopoly on wisdom or goodness. I have been inspired by people from many different traditions and from no tradition at all. Moreover I have learned a great deal about God and about my own faith from talking to (or reading) them, even, indeed especially, on points where we differ.

As a result, I want to be the best Christian and the best human being I can be by drawing on the wisdom and the practices of my own religious tradition AND by knowing as much as I can about people from other religious traditions. In the process, I want to grow in my respect and love for people despite religious differences that matter.

Fr. Harvey