Break Open the Word

The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 11, 19 July 2015 II Samuel 7:1-14a Psalm 89:20-37 Or Jeremiah 23:1-6 Psalm 23 Ephesians 2:11-22 St. Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 Background: Circumcision In the second reading for today, Paul confronts the issue of male circumcision as a covenantal act, and notes that life in Christ supersedes such acts. Nevertheless, it is a physical act that is still practiced in some Christian circles, and is the subject of intense debate in our time. We often connect the act with Judaism solely, but circumcision was practiced in other cultures as well. It was variously seen as a rite of passage at puberty, an act of magic, a hygienic act, or an act that demarked one’s social status. It is known in some African cultures, and it was practiced in ancient Egypt as well. In Semitic culture it was connected with the notion of covenant – indeed the verb used when describing the enacting of a covenant is the verb “to cut”, one would cut a cove...

The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 10, 12 July 2015 II Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 Psalm 24 Or Amos 7:7-15 Psalm 85:8-13 Ephesians 1:3-14 St. Mark 6:14-19 Background: Herod Antipater (Antipas) Born around 20 BCE and died sometime after 39 CE, Herod was the tetrarch (a ruler of a quarter) of Galilee and Perea. We know him from the Christian scriptures for his role in the life and death of John the Baptist, and incidents in the life of Jesus. He was given the throne by Augustus at the death of his father, Herod the Great, in 4 BCE. His area of responsibility was serving as the ruler of a Roman client state. He oversaw several building projects at Sepphoris and Tiberias. He is remembered in the New Testament as the person who imprisoned John the Baptist for speaking against his marriage to his divorce from Phasaelis, and subsequent marriage to Herodias the former wife of his brother, Herod Philip I. According to the gospels (see the reading below) he ...