Genesis 11:10-13:18…
Here’s our first encounter with Abram (his name’s not been changed to Abraham yet – that’s significant and we’ll get to that soon enough). But, after a little info about his ancestors, God speaks up and tells Abram simply to get up and go. And not just to get up and go but to leave behind all that is familiar – his people and his father’s household. And the promise God attaches to this instruction is that he will make Abram ‘into a great nation.’ Now we’ve already discovered that Abram’s wife can’t have children so Abram must have wondered what kind of promise this was. But, all the same, he obeys God in faith. He doesn’t know where he’s to go (God simply says he’ll show him when he gets there) and he doesn’t know exactly what the promise means. But he gets up and heads off with his wife, Sarai, his nephew, Lot, and everyone and everything attached to his household.
And it’s important to note that all along his journey Abram keeps his focus on God (after all, without him he’ll get nowhere). He does this by building altars at significant points. He builds an altar in Canaan in response to the fact that God has told him that his ancestors will be given that land – the promised land! At the end of today’s reading he builds another altar near the great trees of Mamre by Hebron. And at these altars Abram ‘calls on the name of the Lord’… in other words he worships God there and seeks his presence.
But before he gets to building the altar near Hebron we’ve got this account of a famine that caused Abram to head into Egypt in order to survive. But this great hero of the faith uses some questionable tactics to ensure that he saves his own skin and gets as much out of his detour into Egypt as he can.
Sarai, his wife, is a real stunner and so, lest the Egyptians get envious and kill this foreigner to get his woman, he convinces her to go along with this story that she’s his sister. Now I don’t know about you but that, to me, is a bare faced lie! And, as it goes on, we discover that Abram’s even willing to let Sarai become the Pharaoh’s wife – with all that being a wife entails. And all because Abram’s so keen to keep himself safe and get enough stuff to survive the famine. But, in so doing, he causes Pharaoh to commit adultery and God duly punishes Pharaoh accordingly for believing a lie and taking another man’s wife (for all that Abram was in the wrong, Jesus will tell us in today’s reading in Matthew that desiring a woman that’s not your wife is a pretty serious business). But, as I say, Abram’s pretty guilty too and God must have been mighty cross at him too. Basically, Abram creates one heck of a mess. And, on the back of it all, he even becomes wealthy, accumulating livestock and silver and gold! But Abram is a hero of faith.
Are you beginning to realise that the people God calls to follow him are less than perfect people? In fact, more often than not, they’re pretty messed up really. First we had Noah – the righteous of his generation – drunk as a skunk and lying naked in his tent, then taking it out on his son. And now we’ve had Abram – who we’ll be with for while – passing his wife off as his sister and allowing another man to marry her all to save his own skin and get enough stuff to survive a famine. But, as much as I look at Noah and Abram and wonder what on earth they were thinking, when I look at my own life I become awfully pleased that God chooses the sort of people who make major blunders and who fall way short of his standards to be his followers. If Noah and Abram – a drunk and a liar – are among the first heroes of the faith then there’s hope for me and you, isn’t there?!
Matthew 5:21-42…
Now, if anyone thinks Jesus is meek and mild then they’ve obviously never read these words. For some, these words might hurt but Jesus is simply laying out how radical life withing the Kingdom of Heaven is…
Of course, Jesus is saying murder is a really terrible thing but he also says that simply being angry with someone is really bad too. He’s putting murder and anger in the same bracket – i.e. someone who gets mad at someone else is effectively a murderer.
And having sex with a woman that’s not your wife is a really terrible thing too. But Jesus says to simply look at a woman and think to yourself something like, ‘I’d like a bit of that’ is just the same thing. Jumping into bed with a woman you’re not married to and thinking about jumping into bed with a woman you’re not married to are just as bad as each other, Jesus says. And he even goes as far as to say, ‘gouge out your eye and cut off your hand if it helps stop you from sinning.’ Of course, he meant it figuratively, but you get the point: sin is serious and you ought to stop at nothing to avoid it.
And divorce – with the exception of one half of the couple having an affair – causes the other to become an adulterer. Woah! I guess one thing to note here is that Jesus doesn’t want you to get married unless you really want to spend your whole life with that person – don’t take it lightly like a lot of people do these days (think Britney Spears and her one day marriage). Of course, where domestic abuse and things like that come into the equation, it’s difficult. But divorce is not something Jesus thinks little of.
Even when it comes to promises… don’t swear on this or that (and how many of us actually do say things like, ‘I swear on my life?’ I do!). Jesus tells us just to say ‘yes’ if we promise something or ‘no’ if we don’t. And not because it would be simpler that way or because it’s more to the point. No… because anything more comes from the evil one!
And, finally, and eye for an eye. Not so. Turn the other cheek. What on earth? This is a radical kind of generosity that shows God’s love and his patience with people in amazing ways. Now fair enough if God wants to do these things (turn the other cheek for another slap, giving someone who ask for your favourite shirt your jacket as well; walking two miles when all the Roman soldier or whoever told you to walk was one) but Jesus tells us that, if we want to follow God, this is the lifestyle we’ve to live out too, so that God’s extreme love and patience with people will be seen in our lives.
This is difficult stuff. This is something of what it means to live in God’s Kingdom. And Jesus lays it out straight. Meek? Mild? As if.
Psalm 5:1-12…
Basically, there’s two kinds of people. People like Abram – messy as he was – who listen to God and do as he commands and people who don’t. Or, as in Matthew, people who live according to what Jesus teaches – as radical and as difficult as it is – and those don’t. The later group the Psalmist calls the wicked. The former group the Psalmist calls the righteous. Let’s try and be like Abram and have the faith to go wherever God leads us. And let’s really pay attention to what Jesus teaches and try to live our lives accordingly. Then we’ll come under the righteous category. Then we, by God’s great mercy, will come into his house and bow before him. Then we will be joyful and God will spread his protection over us, bless us and surround us with his favour as with a shield. That’s go to be worth aiming for.
Here’s our first encounter with Abram (his name’s not been changed to Abraham yet – that’s significant and we’ll get to that soon enough). But, after a little info about his ancestors, God speaks up and tells Abram simply to get up and go. And not just to get up and go but to leave behind all that is familiar – his people and his father’s household. And the promise God attaches to this instruction is that he will make Abram ‘into a great nation.’ Now we’ve already discovered that Abram’s wife can’t have children so Abram must have wondered what kind of promise this was. But, all the same, he obeys God in faith. He doesn’t know where he’s to go (God simply says he’ll show him when he gets there) and he doesn’t know exactly what the promise means. But he gets up and heads off with his wife, Sarai, his nephew, Lot, and everyone and everything attached to his household.
And it’s important to note that all along his journey Abram keeps his focus on God (after all, without him he’ll get nowhere). He does this by building altars at significant points. He builds an altar in Canaan in response to the fact that God has told him that his ancestors will be given that land – the promised land! At the end of today’s reading he builds another altar near the great trees of Mamre by Hebron. And at these altars Abram ‘calls on the name of the Lord’… in other words he worships God there and seeks his presence.
But before he gets to building the altar near Hebron we’ve got this account of a famine that caused Abram to head into Egypt in order to survive. But this great hero of the faith uses some questionable tactics to ensure that he saves his own skin and gets as much out of his detour into Egypt as he can.
Sarai, his wife, is a real stunner and so, lest the Egyptians get envious and kill this foreigner to get his woman, he convinces her to go along with this story that she’s his sister. Now I don’t know about you but that, to me, is a bare faced lie! And, as it goes on, we discover that Abram’s even willing to let Sarai become the Pharaoh’s wife – with all that being a wife entails. And all because Abram’s so keen to keep himself safe and get enough stuff to survive the famine. But, in so doing, he causes Pharaoh to commit adultery and God duly punishes Pharaoh accordingly for believing a lie and taking another man’s wife (for all that Abram was in the wrong, Jesus will tell us in today’s reading in Matthew that desiring a woman that’s not your wife is a pretty serious business). But, as I say, Abram’s pretty guilty too and God must have been mighty cross at him too. Basically, Abram creates one heck of a mess. And, on the back of it all, he even becomes wealthy, accumulating livestock and silver and gold! But Abram is a hero of faith.
Are you beginning to realise that the people God calls to follow him are less than perfect people? In fact, more often than not, they’re pretty messed up really. First we had Noah – the righteous of his generation – drunk as a skunk and lying naked in his tent, then taking it out on his son. And now we’ve had Abram – who we’ll be with for while – passing his wife off as his sister and allowing another man to marry her all to save his own skin and get enough stuff to survive a famine. But, as much as I look at Noah and Abram and wonder what on earth they were thinking, when I look at my own life I become awfully pleased that God chooses the sort of people who make major blunders and who fall way short of his standards to be his followers. If Noah and Abram – a drunk and a liar – are among the first heroes of the faith then there’s hope for me and you, isn’t there?!
Matthew 5:21-42…
Now, if anyone thinks Jesus is meek and mild then they’ve obviously never read these words. For some, these words might hurt but Jesus is simply laying out how radical life withing the Kingdom of Heaven is…
Of course, Jesus is saying murder is a really terrible thing but he also says that simply being angry with someone is really bad too. He’s putting murder and anger in the same bracket – i.e. someone who gets mad at someone else is effectively a murderer.
And having sex with a woman that’s not your wife is a really terrible thing too. But Jesus says to simply look at a woman and think to yourself something like, ‘I’d like a bit of that’ is just the same thing. Jumping into bed with a woman you’re not married to and thinking about jumping into bed with a woman you’re not married to are just as bad as each other, Jesus says. And he even goes as far as to say, ‘gouge out your eye and cut off your hand if it helps stop you from sinning.’ Of course, he meant it figuratively, but you get the point: sin is serious and you ought to stop at nothing to avoid it.
And divorce – with the exception of one half of the couple having an affair – causes the other to become an adulterer. Woah! I guess one thing to note here is that Jesus doesn’t want you to get married unless you really want to spend your whole life with that person – don’t take it lightly like a lot of people do these days (think Britney Spears and her one day marriage). Of course, where domestic abuse and things like that come into the equation, it’s difficult. But divorce is not something Jesus thinks little of.
Even when it comes to promises… don’t swear on this or that (and how many of us actually do say things like, ‘I swear on my life?’ I do!). Jesus tells us just to say ‘yes’ if we promise something or ‘no’ if we don’t. And not because it would be simpler that way or because it’s more to the point. No… because anything more comes from the evil one!
And, finally, and eye for an eye. Not so. Turn the other cheek. What on earth? This is a radical kind of generosity that shows God’s love and his patience with people in amazing ways. Now fair enough if God wants to do these things (turn the other cheek for another slap, giving someone who ask for your favourite shirt your jacket as well; walking two miles when all the Roman soldier or whoever told you to walk was one) but Jesus tells us that, if we want to follow God, this is the lifestyle we’ve to live out too, so that God’s extreme love and patience with people will be seen in our lives.
This is difficult stuff. This is something of what it means to live in God’s Kingdom. And Jesus lays it out straight. Meek? Mild? As if.
Psalm 5:1-12…
Basically, there’s two kinds of people. People like Abram – messy as he was – who listen to God and do as he commands and people who don’t. Or, as in Matthew, people who live according to what Jesus teaches – as radical and as difficult as it is – and those don’t. The later group the Psalmist calls the wicked. The former group the Psalmist calls the righteous. Let’s try and be like Abram and have the faith to go wherever God leads us. And let’s really pay attention to what Jesus teaches and try to live our lives accordingly. Then we’ll come under the righteous category. Then we, by God’s great mercy, will come into his house and bow before him. Then we will be joyful and God will spread his protection over us, bless us and surround us with his favour as with a shield. That’s go to be worth aiming for.
1 comment:
Jonathan' daily exposition of the bible readings is amazing, he paints such a vivid explanation of it all.
Hope all the youth of the church are enjoying his teaching. I also hope that the "older youth" of Hilton church are enjoying the readings.
Brian
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