The hands of GodThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ produces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for Wednesday, March 3rd: Psalm 105:1-11, 37-45; Jeremiah 30:12-22; and John 12:36-43. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
I think today’s Gospel holds one of the saddest statements in the New Testament. Jesus had come into the world to do something quite radical: prove that God loves unconditionally and that people are worth that love. His was a unique religious authority, and rather exceptionally, Jesus sought the privilege of His uniqueness in service to others. I remember attending a clergy retreat many years ago. I know that I had read the book of Isaiah several times over the years, which meant that I had read this particular passage several times, but this passage never stopped me in my steps. Our retreat was led by a nun who was stopped in her steps. She was impressed, moved and motivated by Isaiah 49:16. In this passage, God reveals to the prophet: “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.” The book of Isaiah begins these words: “The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw …” In the tradition of this prophet, revelation was conveyed by visions. In the passage above, Isaiah may have seen the hands of God, and on the proverbial hands of God are the names of His people. We are each and all the “you” of 49:16. The reference offered by this vision was to the practice of a slave-owner branding his name onto the hand of a slave that he owned. To Isaiah, God discloses that He has branded our names onto His hands revealing that, and remember this is sacred text not Randy Calvo, God belongs to us. This blasphemous sounding statement is inspired revelation. The retreat leader did not find this passage at all blasphemous, but rather inspiring. The God who is so devoted to His people that He would reveal it in the imagery of a branded slave inspired her to loving service because of God’s loving service. Jesus lives the revealed truth of Isaiah 49:16. The nail prints in His hands repeat the vision of 49:16. And as we have discussed, the resurrected Jesus still has those nail prints in His glorified body for all of eternity. They are there forever to remind Jesus of His full devotion to loving service. This is what Jesus lived His entire life. And yet, in today’s Gospel passage we read: “After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.” Jesus needed to remove Himself from the world, to hide from the world, a world that wanted to kill Him. Jesus needed to prepare His followers for what lay ahead. He didn’t hide out of fear, but as a tactical retreat to better prepare His followers for the nail prints in His hands. Jesus came into the world to serve lovingly, and the world chased Him away. The world continues to chase Jesus away. We choose not to be bothered by His example of radical loving service. We go about our business seldom thinking about Jesus. Others corrupt Jesus’ message by somehow imagining that this loving Saviour prefers violence rather than gospel. And still more people turn away from Jesus. We still force Jesus to depart and hide from us. The privilege of Lent is to remember. It is to keep Jesus close. It is to welcome His example and to be inspired by it. Jesus deserves at least this. If you’d like, here is the link to the Massachusetts Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.macucc.org/lectionary.
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Isaac no, Jesus yesThroughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ produces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for Tuesday, March 2nd: Genesis 22:1-19; Psalm 105:1-11, 37-45; and Hebrews 11:1-3, 13-19. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
The sacrifice of Isaac is an extremely disquieting story. Covenant is a two-way agreement. A covenant with a god sets forth what the deity expects of his/her adherents, and also what the followers can expect from their god. The people need to be worthy of the covenant by their faithfulness, but the god also needs to be worthy by his/her character. The ancient Jews practiced henotheism, which is an adherence to one particular god out of several. (cf. Psalm 58:1; 82:1; 89:5-7; 95:1-7; 97:6-9; 135:5; 136:2) Israel’s covenant with Yahweh was celebrated as one of God’s justice, righteousness and equity. (cf. Psalm 72:1-4; 99:4) This stood by divine decree in repugnant opposition to false gods such as Moloch who demanded child sacrifice as part of their covenant. (cf. Leviticus 18:21; 2 Kings 23:10) Yahweh proved worthy of devotion. Then there is the story of the sacrifice of Isaac. This account has agonized many. Women have wondered, and rightly so, how this would have played out if Sarah had known of Abraham’s intention. Isaac’s mother would never have acceded to such a demand. Sarah would have questioned God as she stood between Isaac and anyone who wished him harm. And women have asked if such a protest may not have been more in accordance with faithfulness to Yahweh than was Abraham’s raised knife. Some Jewish scholars have asked if the biblical account is a sanitized version of the original (E) account where Isaac actually dies. There is a later story in which Jacob swears an oath and he calls on God to act as the witness: “Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.” (Genesis 31:53) The son of Isaac knows God by the name of “Fear.” The dilemma of Isaac’s sacrifice continues into the New Testament. Yesterday’s Gospel reading at Service was of Jesus’ first foretelling of His death and resurrection. Jesus does this three times, and three times it is met with incredulity. The actual crucifixion is faith-shattering. No follower is beneath Jesus’ cross in the earliest Gospel of Mark. And yet today the author of Hebrews suggests glibly that Abraham envisioned resurrection as he considered the religious killing of his son: “By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, of whom he had been told, ‘It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named after you.’ He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” These struggles continue because it is difficult to reconcile the religious violence of child sacrifice with the worthiness of Yahweh our God. We may not wish to admit it, but we seem repulsed by the very notion and it lingers in the various ways mentioned above. How could Yahweh expect Abraham to sacrifice his God-promised son? But are we as conflicted when we speak about the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, the Son of God, on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for our sins? We even call that day Good Friday because it is good for us. It is our redemption. But what about the effects on Jesus, even on God? Let’s not paper-over the trauma of the cross with Hebrews’ ointment that the sacrifice was not all that painful because God and Jesus know full well “that God is able even to raise someone from the dead.” When Jesus dies with “a loud cry,” (Mark 15:37) we can’t minimize the savagery of the cross by racing to the empty tomb. If we are troubled by the sacrifice of Isaac, we must also face the scandal of the sacrifice of Jesus. Looking at the cross and the one crucified is Lent’s purpose. It is to take us deeper into the mystery of Jesus’ love for us. Dare to question. Dare to ask the hard questions of Christ crucified. Dare to find meaning in Jesus’ death that is personal not doctrinaire. And dare always while believing that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” If you’d like, here is the link to the Massachusetts Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.macucc.org/lectionary. “I think there’s one thing that can make it all better: editing.”Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ produces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches. These are the suggested readings for Monday, March 1st: Genesis 21:1-7; Psalm 105:1-11, 37-45; and Hebrews 1:8-12. I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.
Biblical scholars have long noted that the books of the Pentateuch – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy – give evidence of multiple authors. Few, other than biblical literalists, believe that these books were all written by Moses, as in the putative “Books of Moses.” This documentary theory is an impressive piece of work. The earliest writing is (J) and is named as such because of this author’s preference for the name of God, Yahweh, which was sometimes conveyed as Jehovah, thus (J). The second writing is (E) for God’s name, Elohim. The third is (P) and this stands for the priestly tradition. (D) does not enter our story today, but (D) is the source of Deuteronomy’s re-telling of the Law. J is a raucous story, uninhibited and primitive. Scholars see the hand of J in the passage: “So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, and say, “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied, saying, ‘I did not laugh’; for she was afraid. He said, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’” (Genesis 18:12-15) J has little problem in showcasing the human, sometimes unflattering, side of these biblical stories. Sarah laughs at God’s preposterous promise of her being able to give birth long after “it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women,” (Genesis 18:11) and God seems quite offended. P’s task is to round the rough edges of earlier stories such as this one and make them more seemly. In the Priestly tradition, Sarah, the mother of the People of God, can’t be left to laugh at God’s promise. Instead, from P, we receive today’s reading: “Now Sarah said, ‘God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.’” Now the laughter is not derisive; it is joyous. It is not the spontaneous, natural reaction of a 90-year-old woman; it is the pious acclamation on one blessed by God. This reminds me of an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. It was Robert’s wedding day and all had not gone well, and somehow Raymond needed to make a toast to celebrate this awkward occasion. What he settled upon was this: “I think there’s one thing that can make it all better: editing.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVPcklJ8M0w ) The examples above are biblical editing within the biblical tradition itself. This is a sign of the Bible’s vitality. It’s not about undermining the inerrant Word of God. It’s about accepting that the words may change, but The Word remains. What came to be the biblical text shifted and changed as the people writing and reading these stories shifted and changed in their relationship with God. This editing reflected the sacredness of the relationship between the people of God and God. That relationship was living, changing and developing, and was far more significant than the unchanging words. That relationship was not bound up in the static words on the page, but in the lives, thoughts and faith of the people. This should be remembered when we read New Testament passages such as today’s from Hebrews, a passage that celebrates God’s immutability. Again, we need to be open-minded. Hebrews is addressed to Jewish-Christians who may be wavering in their newfound faith and might be contemplating returning to Judaism. To such an audience, the author of Hebrews emphasizes the continuity between the Jewish faith and the nascent Christian faith. Thus, he addresses God’s immutability. But Hebrews also speaks of the Son of God. This is traditional for 2021 Christians, but not for first century Jews. Son of God is a radical departure from the earlier faith. Change is present even in a passage celebrating the absence of change. Looking at it from the other direction, when Hebrews mentions “‘Sit at my right hand,’” this is a profound effort to elevate Jesus to the highest ranks of the holy. Jesus is above the heavenly angels. Jesus sits at God’s right hand. This remains an image used to this day in Christianity, but back in Hebrews it meant far less than it does today. In Hebrews, Jesus was glorified to God’s right hand, but Jesus still was not the fullness of God. Jesus was the Son of God, sat at the right hand of God, but God was something separate. In Trinitarian Christianity, this profound statement in its original form would be insufficient. It wouldn’t recognize Jesus as part of the Trinity, sharing in the very nature of the Godhead. Why? Because Christians had not yet progressed to the concept of the Trinity. Again, even in this passage on immutability, change permeates the text. Lent is a journey. Faith is a journey. We see it right in the textbook of our faith. To grasp the holy doesn’t mean to grab onto the past as if that’s when God was more interactive with us. To grasp the holy means to meet God, to meet Christ, where we are now. This is the promise offered through our Lenten regimens, to bring Jesus closer to us, and us closer to Him, our crucified God. If you’d like, here is the link to the Massachusetts Conference’s daily reading schedule: www.macucc.org/lectionary. |
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