The Second Sunday in Lent, 1 March 2015
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:22-30
Romans 4:13-25
St. Mark 8:31-38
Background: Covenant
This
is one of those terms that we assume that people know and understand. However,
with the lack of biblical studies in general, such an assumption is probably
wrong, and people need to be reminded of the import of such a concept. The
notion of covenant appears in several aspects in both the Hebrew and Christian
Scriptures. The first of the covenants to be described in the Bible is the
covenant with Noah (last
Sunday’s first reading.) In the story of the flood, God reveals his
covenant with Noah not only with words, but also with the sign of the Rainbow.
Other covenants follow, with Abraham, Moses, “the new covenant” of Jeremiah,
the so-called “Priestly Covenant” made with Aaron and his descendants, the
Davidic covenant, and finally the covenant of the Kingdom of Heaven, described
by Jesus. All of these agreements have deep roots in the legal systems of the
ancient near east, most especially with the legal form of Hittite treaties. Other
ideas and actions flow from the covenant: a) The sacrifice that sealed the
covenant (see Genesis 15)
b) the witnessing of the covenant by heaven and earth (see Deuteronomy 30:19), c) or
the trial that comes when the covenant is not kept. These promises and their
consequences become an important part of Christian theology, and are best seen
at work in the readings for the Easter Vigil, and in the Christian Scriptures
that follow in the Mass after the Baptisms. From here we could go on to discuss
the Baptismal Covenant, but will save that for a time closer to the Great
Vigil.
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD
appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me,
and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make
you exceedingly numerous." Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to
him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor
of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name
shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I
will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings
shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your
offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant,
to be God to you and to your offspring after you."
God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you
shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and
moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give
rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."
On one level this reading
is about names. We are introduced to an archaic name for God, “El Shaddai”, and
learn that Abram and Sarai’s names will be changed to Abraham and Sarah. The
latter may be the tying together two ancient Abrahamic traditions, or in the
style of kings, one may be a common name, and the other a “throne name”. This
is not the Abraham who argues with God over the fate of Sodom, but rather a
quiet individual who falls on his face in the presence of God. The covenant
that God proposes has two aspects: a) the promise of a multitude of descendants
some of whom will be “nations”, and “kings”, and b) that Sarah will become a
mother. Verses omitted from the reading (verses 8-14) include the provision for
the circumcision of males, which was not unique to Israel, but also to other
Semitic peoples in the western part of the Fertile Crescent, and especially
amongst the priestly castes of Egypt. The cutting of flesh (see the reference
to the Abrahamic Covenant in the background above) involved both animals and
humans in making the covenant incarnate.
Breaking open Genesis:
- What promises has God made
to you?
- Have you believed in them?
Why or why not?
- How is Abraham a symbol of
faith?
Psalm 22:22-30 Deus,
Deus meus
Praise the LORD, you that fear him; *
stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel;
all you of Jacob's line, give glory.
For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their
poverty;
neither does he hide his face from them; *
but when they cry to him he hears them.
My praise is of him in the great assembly; *
I will perform my vows in the presence of those who
worship him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
and those who seek the LORD shall praise him: *
"May your heart live for ever!"
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to
the LORD, *
and all the families of the nations shall bow before
him.
For kingship belongs to the LORD; *
he rules over the nations.
To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in
worship; *
all who go down to the dust fall before him.
My soul shall live for him;
my descendants shall serve him; *
they shall be known as the LORD'S for ever.
They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn
*
the saving deeds that he has done.
We know this psalm from the
liturgies of Holy Week, where the initial verses of the psalm connect with the
suffering of Jesus. Our usage this morning is limited to the latter verses of
the psalm. Here the author gives thanks for preservation from the difficulties
outlined in the first half of the psalm, and begins with a shout of
thanksgiving. Now we are in the Temple, in the “great assembly” that has
gathered there to honor the God who “does
not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty.” The extent of God’s grace extends from the
Temple to include not only the poor, but also “all the ends of the earth”, including the dead as well, “all who sleep in the earth bow down.” This
is very unusual, for the psalter usually does not entertain the notion that the
dead can praise God. Indeed it is the opposite – the dead cannot praise God.
Here, however, the author expands on the extent of the praise, and exaggerates
the number of those who are praising God. The author does not stop there, but
includes those yet to come, “a people yet
unborn” who will know the love and grace of God, and “the saving deeds that he has done.”
Breaking open Psalm 22:
- Are you included in the
psalmist’s list of those for whom God is concerned?
- Who is on your list of
concern?
- How wide is God’s mercy
for you?
Romans 4:13-25
The promise that he would inherit the world did not
come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the
righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the
heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but
where there is no law, neither is there violation.
For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the
promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to
the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for
he is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you the
father of many nations") -- in the presence of the God in whom he
believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that
do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the
father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous
shall your descendants be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered
his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred
years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust
made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith
as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he
had promised. Therefore his faith "was reckoned to him as
righteousness." Now the words, "it was reckoned to him," were
written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us
who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over
to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
Here we have Paul’s
excursus on the first reading (see above). Abraham and Sarah are used as
examples in Paul’s argument about the Law and Faith. Paul sees these ancients
as primary examples of faith. He observes that the promise given to Abraham and
Sarah extends beyond them and their age, to be delivered “also to those who share the faith of Abraham.” What follows then
is a midrash on the new recipients of God’s promise and covenant. The argument is succinct: “Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him,’
were written not for his sake alone, but for ours as well.” The task of the Letter to the Romans: to
recognize the gifts of Israel in her relationship with God, and the extension
of those gifts to the gentiles.
Breaking open Romans:
- What was the faith of
Abraham?
- In what or whom do you
trust?
- In what ways was Israel
blessed?
St. Mark 8:31-38
Then Jesus began to teach his disciples that the Son
of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief
priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He
said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get
behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on
human things."
He called the crowd with his disciples,
and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save
their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the
sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the
whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their
life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful
generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the
glory of his Father with the holy angels."
Again, I offer the suggestion
that you read the entirety of
the pericope, for the initial verses have been lopped off by the
lectionary. They describe an important context for the reading. The answer of
the disciples to Jesus’ question, “Who are the people saying that I am?” is
made more poignant by a further question to them, “who do you say that I am?” The answer that is forthcoming is Peter’s
confession that Jesus is the Messiah – the anointed one, just as priests,
prophets, and kings in Israel were anointed. From that confession follows a
further examining of what those words of faith are really all about. Jesus
wants to press deeper, and with this we join our lectionary reading again. What
Jesus teaches now is not about the correctness of Peter or their observations,
but of what needs to happen next – a prediction of the Passion. Peter finds
this odious, and says as much. Suddenly we are back in the wilderness of
temptation, but now it is Peter who is playing the role of Satan, and who must
know step behind.
The teaching that follows is
what any disciple should know – the cost of the cross not only to Jesus, but
also really to all of us. There is here language of denial – Lenten language.
It is not denial of trivial things, such as we might suggest in our Lenten
disciple, chocolate, meat, movies, etc., but rather the essential thing, life
itself. The author of Psalm 22 (see
above) gets at the same thing with his phrase, “my soul (better translated
‘my seed’) shall live for him.” The seed of psalm 22 is the essence of the
future and the descendants of Abraham that Paul argues for. What do we give up
for Jesus? Ourselves! If we are not ashamed of the Christ (using Peter’s
confession) then God will not be ashamed of us.
Breaking open the Gospel:
- Why does Jesus call Peter “Satan”?
- What does Jesus mean about
“giving up ourselves”?
- Are you ever ashamed of your faith?
After breaking open the Word, you might want to pray the
Collect for Sunday:
O God, whose glory it is
always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways,
and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and
hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with
you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Questions and
comments copyright © 2015, Michael T. Hiller
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