Jonah

Eric Lemonholm

January 25, 2009

Epiphany 3 B

Jonah 3:1-10; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20

The Bible is an amazing book.

Someone once said that the Bible is such an awesome and life changing book that few people actually read it.

But the Bible is a rich collection of stories, songs, poems, prophecies, and more.

It’s the word of God.

It’s worth reading.

That’s why I am reading through the Bible this year and blogging about it.

It’s not too late to pick up a reading guide and start reading through the Bible yourself.

One of the great stories in the Bible is the story of Jonah.

I encourage you to read the whole story. It’s just 4 short chapters.

Jonah was a prophet in Israel. He spoke God’s word to God’s people.

Imagine Jonah’s surprise when the word of God came to him and said, ‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.’

Do you know where the city of Nineveh is? Today, we call it Mosul. It’s a major city in northern Iraq.

But at the time of Jonah, almost 2,800 years ago, Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, at the time the most powerful nation in the area.

Eventually, some years after Jonah’s time, the Assyrians attacked and conquered Northern Israel, and scattered the people.

It was a brutal empire.

Is it any wonder that Jonah goes the other way and runs from God’s call?

Do you ever run from God’s call?

Do you ever say, “Whoa, God, you want me to forgive my brother? You want me to say I’m sorry to my co-worker? You want me to help that family that lost their home? You want me to confront the person who hurt me? You want me to get help for my drinking problem?”

How often do we turn and run the other way when God calls to our hearts? I know I sometimes do.

Jonah takes the next ship to Tarshish in Spain.

You know what happens next. God intervenes, through a storm and a big fish.

Fleeing from God’s will for him, Jonah is swallowed up in the depths of the sea.

Only the whale preserves his life.

Eventually, the fish spits Jonah back on land.

A Sunday school teacher had been telling her class the story of Jonah and the whale. Finally, she asked them what lesson they thought the story taught.

One little boy put up his hand. “I know, Miss!” he said. “It teaches that you can’t keep a good man down!”[i]

Back on dry land, covered with who knows what from the whale’s stomach, Jonah hears God’s command again, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.”

This time, Jonah obeys God and walks the right direction.

He arrives in Nineveh and proclaims what may be the shortest sermon ever: “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”[ii]

God’s judgment is coming.

Forty days, and the end will come for Nineveh.

Their sin will boomerang back on the Ninevites and knock them into the pit of destruction.

The end is coming soon.

The response of the people of Nineveh to Jonah’s message from God is unexpected.

They repent.

They are sorry for their sin.

They proclaim a fast, and neither eat nor drink.

They dress in rough burlap sacks.

They turn from their evil ways.

They renounce violence.

Even the animals of Nineveh wear sackcloth.

Here is how God responds:

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

God changed his mind.

Instead of judgment, there is mercy.

Instead of destruction, there is forgiveness.

Later in the story, we find out that Jonah was actually hoping that God’s judgment on Nineveh would come to pass.

He wanted to see Nineveh destroyed.

He wanted to see the Ninevites pay for their evil ways.

He wanted revenge for all the evil things the Assyrian Empire had done (or would do?) to Israel.

Here is what Jonah said to God:

“O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. ³And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” ⁴And the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Jonah knew God. He knew that God is:

gracious,

merciful,

slow to anger,

abounding in steadfast love,

and ready to relent from punishing.

Jonah did not want to proclaim God’s judgment on Nineveh because he did not want to see God’s mercy on Nineveh.

He wanted the Ninevites to face justice for their violence.

But God disappointed Jonah.

So, here is the rest of the story, from Jonah chapter 4:

⁵Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there.

He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.

⁶The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort;

so Jonah was very happy about the bush.

⁷But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered.

⁸When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die.

He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

⁹But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?”

And [Jonah] said, “Yes, angry enough to die.”

¹⁰Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night.

¹¹And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”

As someone said, “God still can’t get over those animals running around in sackcloth.”[iii]

God is concerned about the people and the animals of Nineveh.

God does not wish their destruction.

So, when they repent and turn from their evil ways, God forgives them.

The city of Mosul in Iraq is still called Nineveh by the Assyrians who live there. Amazingly, most Assyrians in the world today are Christians, and they speak a modern form of the language Jesus spoke – Aramaic.

About 400,000 of them have had to flee Iraq since the war began. They may be starting to return.

This people that God spared nearly 3,000 years ago is still alive, and they are our Christian brothers and sisters.

They still remember Jonah and his call to their ancestors to repent.

What do we need to repent of?

What sins of commission – sins we have committed – or sins of omission – good things we have failed to do – lie buried in our past or dwell in our present?

When you get down to it, are we really that much different from the Ninevites?

What evil ways are we stuck in?

What violence?

Do we not repent every Sunday in worship?

Do we take that repentance seriously?

The Ninevites spent 40 days fasting and wearing sackcloth.

Lent is coming up in exactly one month – Ash Wednesday is February 25.

Isn’t it interesting that Lent is a 40 day season!

Now, we are going to explore the marks of discipleship during those 40 days.

We are going to explore spiritual practices like fasting.

We need a 24-hour prayer vigil to pray for this church and God’s mission for us.

Our growing edges as a church are still inspiring worship and passionate spirituality.

We need to grow our roots deeper so that our branches can grow wider and encompass our neighbors, so that we can bear the fruit of God’s mercy and justice in the world.

We are going to focus on prayer, worship, and loving our neighbors.

We have a lot to be thankful for in 2009.

We serve a gracious, merciful God, abounding in steadfast love.

God is steadfast. God will stick with us through thick and thin.

We are going to face challenges, just as our nation and world face challenges. But God is faithful.

We are growing.

Growing in membership.

Growing in fellowship.

Growing in service.

Growing in prayer and worship and reading the Bible.

God has blessed us with one another.

God has blessed us with loving relationships in our church family.

The time is ripe for revival and renewal here at Grace.

The time is ripe for repentance, not as a morbid inward focusing on our sin, but as quite the opposite:

· Setting aside habits and practices that hinder our relationship with God and our neighbors,

· Turning toward God,

· Opening up to God’s possibilities for us and for God’s church.

As your pastor, I need to wear sackcloth and sit in ashes for a while.

I am refocusing on what I am called to do and to be.

I am seeking God’s will for me and for this congregation.

But I cannot do it alone.

We are a team.

Let us renew our vision: Grace by grace, seeking to be God’s faithful people.

Let us seek to be God’s faithful people in 2009.

That’s what today’s annual meeting is all about.

That’s God’s call to us.

Amen.

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[i] Homiletics, 9/21/2008.

[ii] David Lose made this observation on www.workingpreacher.com

[iii] James Ackerman, in the HarperCollins Study Bible.

Samuel, Samuel!

Here is last Sunday's sermon. Please note my bipartisan prayer.

Eric Lemonholm

January 18, 2009

Epiphany 2B

1 Samuel 3:1-10; John 1:43-51

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

This week we will witness an historic event, something that was once rare in the world – a peaceful, democratic transition in political leadership.

It will be the seventh time in my life that we inaugurate a new president of the United States.

Let us pray for our nation and our leaders:

God, be with us at this time of transition.

Thank you for faithful leaders who have led this nation for over two centuries.

Thank you for President Bush, and those who have served under his leadership for the past eight years. Bless him in his retirement from public office.

Guide our new president, Barack Obama. Give him wisdom and insight, humility and patience, to help him lead this nation.

Let the United States be a beacon of freedom and hope, of peace and justice, in the world.

Walk with us through these times of uncertainty and financial hardship.

Help us to focus on what matters most: the good of our neighbors, in our nation and our world.

We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Samuel was a boy or young man.

He lived in ancient Israel, before Israel had a king. At that time, it was a loose federation of 12 tribes.

Samuel lived in the temple of God at Shiloh, where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, where Eli and his two sons Hophni and Phinehas were priests, where the people of Israel came every year to worship the Lord.

The Bible tells us that “The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions [of God] were not widespread.”

Even though Samuel was sleeping right in the temple, he had never heard God speak.

So it’s no wonder that when God started calling his name, “Samuel, Samuel,” he did not realize who was calling.

Three times God called, and three times he answered, “Here I am,” and ran to Eli, thinking the old, blind priest had called him.

Finally, Eli realizes that the LORD is calling Samuel, and he tells Samuel what to say to God when God calls again.

A fourth time, God calls, “Samuel, Samuel,” and this time Samuel replies, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’

God has a word of judgment for Samuel to speak.

It is a time of transition or succession.

No longer will Eli and his sons be priests of the Lord.

In fact, Scripture tells us that Eli’s sons were scoundrels who abused their religious authority for their own personal gain. When Eli confronted them with their sin, they did not listen, and he could not or would not stop them.

So it is through the voice of a boy, Samuel, that God judges and condemns Eli and his sons.

God passes the mantle of leadership from Eli to Samuel.

It is Samuel’s inauguration.

Samuel becomes a great prophet, someone who speaks the word of God to God’s people.

No longer would the word of God be rare in Israel, for God was with Samuel and “let none of his words fall to the ground.”

The name Samuel in Hebrew means something like “Name of God” or perhaps even “Listen to God.”

Samuel certainly listened to God, and for the rest of his life faithfully exalted God’s name, and proclaimed God’s will to Israel.

It is Samuel who will later anoint Saul, and then David, as kings of Israel.

Do you know what it’s like to be called by God?

Garrison Keillor tells an anecdote from his youth. It’s a story about the choosing-up of sides for sandlot baseball games. Here’s how it happened back then — and, how it happens still.

There were two boys, as Garrison tells it: Daryl and David. They were always the captains, exercising their prerogative as though by divine right. First they would pick the popular boys, the natural athletes. Then it came time to deal with the rest:

“After the popular ones got picked, we stood in a bunch looking down at the dirt, waiting to see if our rating had changed. They took their sweet time choosing us; we had plenty of time to study our shoes. Mine were Keds, black, though white ones were more popular. Mother said black wouldn’t show dirt .... Nine boys to a side, four already chosen, 10 positions left, and the captains look us over. They choose the popular ones fast (‘Brian!’ ‘Bill!’ ‘Duke!’ ‘John!’ ‘Bob!’ ‘Paul!’ ‘Jim!’ ‘Lance!’), and now the choice is hard because we’re all so much the same: not so hot — and then they are down to their last grudging choices, a slow kid for catcher and someone to stick out in right field where nobody hits it, except maybe two guys, and when they come to bat, the captain sends the poor right fielder to left, a long, ignominious walk. They choose the last ones two at a time, ‘You and you,’ because it makes no difference, and the remaining kids, the scrubs, the excess, they deal for as handicaps (‘If I take him, then you gotta take him’). Sometimes I go as high as sixth, usually lower. Just once I’d like Daryl to pick me first. ‘Him! I want him! The skinny kid with the glasses and the black shoes! You! Come on!’ But I’ve never been chosen with any enthusiasm.”[i]

The amazing thing is that you have all been picked by God.

And you’re not God’s last pick.

You’re on God’s list of first choices.

God has called your name.

Perhaps not as dramatically as Samuel’s experience in the temple of Shiloh.

But God has called you by name.

You are God’s chosen one.

And God has given you a task, a vocation, a calling.

God wants you on the team.

Just like Samuel, you have a role to play in God’s plan for the world.

How will you answer God’s call?

How will we answer God’s call in 2009?

That’s the question for today, and that’s the question we will ask one another at our annual meeting next Sunday.

What is God calling us to be and to do?

Here is what we heard in the Gospel story:

Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Jesus command is so direct and to the point: “Follow me.”

Jesus follows the K.I.S.S. rule: Keep It Simple, Sweetie!

“Follow me.”

Follow Jesus.

That’s the call we have received.

Our special focus during Lent this year is going to be on the Marks of Discipleship: growing habits of life that ground us in God’s word and will, and send us into the world as Jesus’ co-workers.

Our focus for the year will be growing the marks of discipleship in our congregation.

After Jesus called to Philip, “Follow me,” Philip said to Nathanael, “Come and see.”

Come and see. It’s what you want to say to your friends and family when you’ve discovered something—or someone– wonderful. You want the people you love to come and see.

Come and see. It’s what you want to say when you’ve been called by Jesus to follow Him.

God is calling us on an adventure, a journey, a life of faith as Jesus’ disciples. The number one way that Grace Lutheran Church will continue to grow is by each of us saying to our friends and neighbors, “Come and see.”

God is calling to you.

Answer God’s call:

‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’

‘Come and see.’

Amen.

Let us pray:

Lord God, you have called us by name, by grace.

Guide us as your church in this place, as your people, as your children.

Lord Jesus, you call to us, saying “Follow me.”

Give us the strength to answer your call and follow you this day, this week, this year.

Grow us in your image as we follow you.

Grow in us, faith in your faithfulness, hope in your future, and love for you and your creatures.

In Jesus’ name and by the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

---

[i] Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon Days (Viking, 1985), 180-181. Quoted in Homiletics, 1/18/09.

January 23, 2009

Exodus 1:15-4:9

Shiphrah and Puah, the midwives of the Israelites in Egypt, are unsung heroes, for saving innumerable infant boys from death. Moses (whose very name may be either Egyptian or Hebrew) is raised as a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, with his own mother as his nurse. When he is grown, Moses kills an Egyptian while defending a Hebrew slave, flees to the wilderness of Midian (which is in the northwest of contemporary Saudi Arabia), and marries the priest of Midian’s daughter Zipporah.

The burning bush of Exodus 3 is an important theophany, or appearance of God to a human. God reveals Godself to Moses: ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ God has seen the suffering of his people Israel, and has come to free the people through Moses. When Moses asks for God’s name, God answers, ‘I am who I am’ or better ‘I will be who I will be.’ God’s most common name in the Old Testament, “Yahweh,” is here explained to mean “I will be” (EhYeh). God is the God who will be with Moses and the people Israel. Therefore, God’s name Yahweh essentially means I will be with you. Note: the name Jehovah, used so much by Jehovah’s Witnesses, is a mispronunciation of this divine name. In any case, Yahweh is by no means the only name for God in the Bible.^*

Matthew 14:22-15:20

Peter starts to sink when he sees the strong wind and becomes afraid. Peter’s cry, “Lord, save me!” is often on our lips too. In the depths of fear and despair, we cry “Lord, save me!” and Jesus reaches out and catches our hands.

January 22, 2009

I’m finally back! Sorry for the lack of writing lately. I was overwhelmed by the annual report, lots of homebound visitation last week, and then the flu in the last two days. I still feel pretty awful, but I am able to work at home today on my sermon and other projects.

Genesis 49-50

In this passage, we read the end of the family history from Abraham and Sarah through their great grandchildren, Jacob’s children. Jacob’s 12 sons’ families will become the 12 tribes of Israel. Jacob’s last words to his sons include prophecies about the future of these tribes. For example, the prophecy about Judah reflects the fact that David comes from the tribe of Judah, and he and his descendents will rule over Israel.

After Jacob dies and is buried, the brothers come to Joseph and ask for forgiveness for what they did to him when he was young – throwing him into a pit and selling him into slavery. Joseph’s response is fitting conclusion to Genesis: ‘Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? ²⁰Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. ²¹So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.’ God used the harm the brothers did to save the family through Joseph.

Exodus 1:1-14

‘Exodus’ means exit, referring to the eventual exit of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. After Joseph and his brothers died, the Israelites multiplied in Egypt. After some generations, the Egyptians started to oppress and enslave the Israelites.

Matthew 14:1-21

This passage combines two related stories: the execution of John the Baptist and the feeding of the 5,000+ (we call it the feeding of the 5,000, but that’s only counting the men). In the Lectionary cycle of readings for Sundays, we never hear the first story, but only the second. But there is an important contrast going on here: what (and who) is served at Herod’s feast vs. what (and who) is served at Jesus’ feast. Jesus feeds the multitude with bread and fish as a sign of the coming kingdom of God; Herod serves up death for God’s servant John at a feast for the rich and powerful (by the way, this is Herod Antipas, one of the evil Herod the Great’s sons).

God's Family Tree

Here is my sermon for this Sunday. As I note in the footnote, I was inspired to preach on this text, in part, from a sermon I recently heard David Lose preach, as well as by conversations had at the same preaching conference.

Eric Lemonholm
January 11, 2009
Baptism B – with alternate Gospel from 2ChristmasB
John 1:1-18



God’s Family Tree

We humans are story telling beings.

We understand our lives through telling stories.

If I want to get to know who someone is, I ask them to tell me their story.

Our stories make sense of who we are.

I have begun putting our family tree together, collecting pictures and facts that tell the stories of our family history.

Now, if all I had were names and dates on a family tree, it would not mean much to anyone.

It’s the stories of our ancestors, the lives they lived, that help put our stories into the context of a family history.

For example, my great-great grandfather Nels Holm used to be just a name on my family tree, until I found the life story that he wrote down. Now, we know a little about his struggles as a boy of 15 in Sweden, living on his own as a farm hand; how he learned to make nails out of iron and became a craftsman and machinist; and how he came to America in search of a better life for his family. We also know of his faithfulness to God, a faith which he passed on to his children. The story of me and my family is connected to Nels’ story as a part of our family history.



Your stories, and my story, are part of a bigger story.

It’s a wonderful story.

We are characters in the story of the Bible.

As someone has said, we live somewhere in between the book of Acts, which tells the story of the early church, and the book of Revelation, which tells the story of the coming of the Kingdom of God.

We heard a part of that big story in our reading from the Gospel of John. John begins his story of Jesus with this prologue.

Whereas Matthew and Luke begin their Gospels with stories of Jesus’ birth, John goes all the way back before the creation of the world.

Just as the book of Genesis begins the story of the Bible with “In the beginning” – “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth…” so John begins his story about the Word of God, Jesus Christ, with “In the beginning”:

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He [Christ] was in the beginning with God.

Christ is one of the three persons of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They have been and will be forever one God in three persons.

John tells us that the Word of God took part in the creation of the universe: “All things came into being through him.”

The Word is the source of life: “What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”



The amazing thing about the Word of God, the Christ, is this, as John tells us:

14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

The Word became flesh and lived among us.

God became one of us in Jesus Christ.

That’s the amazing truth we celebrate each Christmas.

If you remember those Greek philosophers that Paul spoke with in Athens, they would have followed along with John up until this point nodding their heads, and then they would have said, “What’s that you said?”

Stop right there!

The Word of God became flesh and blood?

God’s Word was born in that physical, difficult, messy way that babies are born into the world?[i]

John’s answer is yes.

The Word became flesh – one of us, a human being.

We need to step back and see what an amazing, earth shaking truth that is.



The last verse of this passage tells us two important truths, as my professor David Lose points out.[ii]

First, “No one has ever seen God.”

No one has ever seen God.

If seeing is believing, then with God we’re out of luck. If someone asks, “Where is God?” You cannot point and say, “Right there!”

In ancient Israel, there was a belief that a human being cannot see God face to face and live to tell about it. God is too awesome, too amazing, too far above and beyond us.

If you remember the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, when the Nazis open the Ark of the Covenant, the only people who survive are Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood, because they keep their eyes closed in the presence of God.

No one has ever seen God’s face – and lived.

That is a reality we experience; sometimes painfully.

(Remember Mother Theresa, and the decades she spent without experiencing God’s presence with her.)





Moses came close to seeing God face to face. He asked God, “Show me your glory, I pray.”

God replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The LORD’ [YHWH]; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he [God] said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” And the LORD continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen” (Exodus 33:18-23).

God is holy, and too awesome for mortal eyes to behold.

In another time, Elijah the prophet experienced God while hiding in a cave in this way:

[God] said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. (1 Kings 19:11-13)

God was not in the great wind, or the earthquake, or fire, but in the sound of sheer silence.

No one has ever seen God. However, there is a second truth in John 1:18:

It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made [God] known.

Do you want to know what God is like?

Look at Jesus.

Jesus is close to the heart of God.

God reveals God’s heart of love for us in Jesus.

We can know what God is like, when we get to know Jesus.



In this life, we cannot see God in God’s self, face to face.

But God has made God’s self known to us in Jesus Christ.

The Word [of God] became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

It’s a little like children. Children first learn about God and God’s love for them through their parents or other loving adults.

You learned something about God through your earthly parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, teachers, and other caring adults.

That’s why strong, loving, nurturing families are so important.

That’s why it is so important that our church is intergenerational, with children and adults learning about God’s love for them from people of all ages and stages of life.

Hopefully, as a child you learned something about God’s unconditional love for you from adults in your life.

Hopefully, you learned something about how far God would go for you, how much God would give for you.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

That is the love of God that Jesus reveals to us.

The light of Jesus Christ shines into the darkness of the world, the darkness of our lives.

And the darkness did not overcome the light.



John says,

10He [the Word, Jesus Christ] was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.

12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

That is the promise of God revealed in the Word of love that God spoke, Jesus Christ. To all who receive Jesus, who trust in him, Jesus gives power to become children of God, born of God.

From Jesus’ “fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”

We become members of God’s family, branches grafted onto God’s family tree.

Our story becomes a part of God’s great story of creation and salvation.

It’s the greatest story ever told.

And it’s your story.

Thanks be to God!





[i] David Lose makes this point, in reference to Tertullian’s debate with Marcion, during a sermon preached on January 6, 2009. This sermon was inspired, in part, by Lose’s sermon.

[ii] During a sermon preached on January 6, 2009.

January 11, 2009

Genesis 26-27

Here, Isaac makes the same mistake his father did, with Abimelech. But God still blesses Isaac and his family, and he grows prosperous and powerful in the land. In chapter 27, you see a family conflict. Isaac prefers his eldest (by a few seconds!) son Esau, the hairy hunter; while his wife Rebekah prefers Jacob, the smooth skinned younger brother. Rebekah helps Jacob deceive his father into giving him the blessing, instead of Esau. Esau plans to kill Jacob, but Rebekah hears of it and helps Jacob flee to his uncle Laban’s home in Haran.

One of the best things about the stories of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in the Bible is how down to earth and honest the stories are. You see them as they really were, with all their family conflicts, sins, and limitations.



Matthew 8:23-9:8

Jesus was asleep in the boat. The disciples were in the same boat, but they were afraid of the wind and the waves. Where are you in that story? Are we not often just like those disciples, worried and afraid, all the while our Lord Jesus is in the boat with us? This reminds me of the most common command in the Bible: Do not be afraid.

I am also struck by the reactions of the Gadarenes to Jesus’ healing of the demon-possessed men. They ask Jesus to leave. Are they afraid of Jesus’ power to upset their world by healing the men? Or are they afraid of losing more pigs into the sea?

Jesus has authority to forgive sins. Through Jesus, we Christians have the power to forgive one another’s sins in Jesus’ name. That is an awesome privilege and responsibility!

January 10, 2009

Genesis 24:28-25:34

Isaac does not get to play a big part in the story of Genesis – he does not even get to go and find his wife Rebekah. But it seems that he loved his mother Sarah very much, and he grows to love Rebekah too. It is notable that Isaac and Ishmael together bury their father Abraham after his death. Rebekah has twins, and had a difficult pregnancy. Esau was born first covered with red hair, with Jacob gripping Esau’s heel coming second. In Hebrew, this scene is humorous, since Esau’s other name Edom sounds like the word for red, while Jacob sounds like the word for heel. Esau was an avid outdoorsman, while Isaac was more of a homebody. Esau foolishly sells his birthright to Jacob for some red lentil stew. This sets the stage for an epic family conflict.

Matthew 8:14-22

In this passage, we learn that Peter has a mother-in-law whom Jesus heals, and thus Peter was apparently married. We also learn something of the difficulty and urgency of following Jesus: we can expect to be homeless and to put Jesus above all other relationships.

January 9, 2009

Genesis 22:1-24:27

Genesis 22 is one of the hardest passages in the Bible. God says to Abraham, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.’ What kind of command is that? After all that time and God’s promise of a son for Abraham and Sarah, what is God up to? There is no easy answer. First, we must say that God very specifically prohibits child sacrifice in the Bible. As far as I know, this is the only time God has asked anyone to do this. Second, God is testing Abraham, and does not let him go through with it. Instead, God provides a substitute – a ram. Third, remember that later God offered his own Son as a willing sacrifice for us and our salvation. This story may be a preview of things to come in God’s plan. In any case, when Abraham passes the test of fear of God – honor, respect, and obedience – God blesses him and his descendents again.

When Sarah dies, Abraham purchases land to bury her near Hebron. Then, Abraham sends a trusted servant to find a wife for his son Isaac from among his relatives back in Haran (modern day Harran in southeast Turkey), and with God’s guidance the servant finds Rebekah.

Matthew 7:13-8:13

Jesus tells the truth that you know a good tree by its fruits, not its roots. Though we are saved by God’s grace, and not by anything we do, yet how we live is important. Jesus calls us to be ‘fruitful’ as we live obediently to God; that is how we build a life on a strong foundation. You’ll find this emphasis of Jesus’ especially in the Gospel of Matthew.

The Sermon on the Mount done, Jesus gets to work in chapter 8, healing a leper and a servant of a centurion. Jesus is amazed at the faith of the centurion, who is a Gentile (a non-Jew).

January 8, 2009

Genesis 19:12-21:34

Lot was rescued from Sodom; while his unnamed wife looked back, and did not survive. The next story is a rather graphic one, telling about the dishonorable origins of the Moabite and Ammonite nations (remember, though, that an ancestor of King David was a Moabite – Ruth).

In Gen. 20, King Abimelech makes the same mistake that the Pharaoh earlier did – but he acted honorably. God protects Abraham even when he acts poorly. Isaac is finally born in Gen. 21, and Hagar and Ishmael are sent off into the desert – but God watches over them.

Matthew 6:16-7:12

Do you fast? Jesus seems to assume that we do: “Whenever you fast…” Fasting is going for a time without food, and spending extra time in prayer. I need to fast more regularly.

In the face of our everyday worries about the economy and our financial lives, Jesus has a word to say to us: Do not worry. Do not let money be your treasure. Strive first and foremost for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness. Do not worry about tomorrow. Live today.

More of Christ’s vision for our lives: do not be judgmental; lift up your concerns to God in prayer; follow the Golden Rule.

January 7, 2009

Genesis 17:9-19:11

God has a sense of humor. After Sarah laughed to herself when she heard God (she probably did not know it was God) say that she will have a son (18:12), when the son is eventually born, he’ll be named Isaac, which means ‘he laughs’ or ‘laughter.’ It’s worth noticing that when God visits Abraham and Sarah, three people arrive together.

The sin of Sodom lies especially in their extreme lack of hospitality, which they show by trying to abuse the men (angels?) staying with Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Here is what Ezekiel says about Sodom’s sin: “This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it” (Ezekiel 16:49-50).

Matthew 5:38-6:15

Here are some more difficult passages from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is calling us to a different kind of life, a life where one turns the other cheek, and loves and prays for one’s enemies. Jesus also warns us about being “religious” just to impress others. Faith is a matter of the heart, and we do not need to flaunt our faith in God before others. That does not mean, of course, that we need to hide our faith. We can share it, but simply, honestly, and without putting ourselves above others.

In 6:7-15, Jesus teaches the people what we now call the Lord’s Prayer. It really is a model for prayer. We begin with praising God, and asking that God’s kingdom come on earth as it already is in heaven. We ask God for our bread for today, and we ask for forgiveness (the prayer assumes that we are also forgiving others!). Finally, we pray that God saves us from the time of trial and evil.

January 6, 2009

I am catching up – and getting ahead – on the Bible blog today.

Genesis 14:1-17:8

Abram shows himself to be a capable military leader in chapter 14, and then he receives bread and wine (anyone think of Holy Communion?) and a mysterious blessing from King Melchizedek of Salem – probably Jerusalem (which long ago was called Uru-Salim by the ancient Egyptians and others). Melchizedek is called priest of God Most High. Abram gives him a tithe, one-tenth of the plunder.

Just so you know, whenever you see “Lord” in the Old Testament in all capitals, the translators are replacing the name YHWH, which sounds something like Yahweh, with the LORD out of respect for God’s name (more on Yahweh in a couple weeks). In chapter 15, God makes another covenant with Abram, and promises him a son, many descendants, and the Promised Land. God also prophesies Israel’s oppression in Egypt and the Exodus.

In ch. 16, Abram and Sarai get impatient with God’s promise, and take things into their own hands. Sarai gives her Egyptian slave to Abram to bear a child for them. You have to have compassion on Hagar here. My Bible says that Hagar ‘looked with contempt’ on Sarai after she conceived, but the original may mean more that Hagar saw herself as an equal with Sarai. Certainly, Sarai’s harsh treatment of Hagar is not justified. Hagar flees into the desert, and she is met by an angel of God. God makes a covenant with Hagar, the Egyptian slave! Her son Ishmael became the ancestor of the Arabs. Muslims trace their genealogy to Abraham through Ishmael. This is important to note in the light of the war going on right now in Israel and Gaza. Every war is, ultimately, a family feud.

At the beginning of chapter 17, God makes another important, everlasting covenant with Abram and changes his name to Abraham (‘ancestor of a multitude’) and Sarai’s to Sarah.

Matthew 5:17-37

The Sermon on the Mount continues. Jesus does not abolish God’s law. Instead, in some ways he heightens it. Following the law is not a matter of just fulfilling the bare minimum of the law. It is a matter of the heart and our concrete relationships with others; it is a matter of how we live every day.

January 5, 2009

January 5

Genesis 11:10-13:18

Shem was one of Noah’s sons. Just for fun, I made a spreadsheet of Shem’s descendents (11:10-26). The interesting thing is, if you take this passage completely literally, Shem lived for 35 years after his great great great great great great great grandson Abraham dies at age 175. Here is the spreadsheet:

Name		Age his son was born			Total age
Shem		100			600
Arpachshad		35			438
Shelah		30			433
Eber		34			464
Peleg		30			239
Reu		32			239
Serug		30			230
Nahor		29			148
Terah		70			205
Abraham		100			175

The point of this genealogy, as my Study Bible notes, is to make a bridge from the world’s history (and pre-history) to the ancestors of Israel, starting with Abram (whose name will change to Abraham) and his wife Sarai (whose name will change to Sarah).

Genesis 12 is an important chapter. First, God calls Abram to go to the Promised Land, and God makes a big promise to Abram: ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ²I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ God promises to make a great nation out of Abram, bless him, make his name great, and bless all the families of the earth through Abram.

Then, in the same chapter, we see that Abram is far from perfect – even though God has blessed him and watches over him, he is a human being just like us. In chapter 13, God promises Abram all the land of Canaan (which will one day be Israel).

Matthew 5:1-16

This is the beginning of Jesus’ sermon on the mount. Wow. You could write a whole book on the Beatitudes (5:1-12). Let me just say that, we would all do well to stop and reflect on what character traits Jesus calls blessed, and ask God to grow those traits in us.

Jesus calls us “salt of the earth.” As someone said today at the preaching seminar I am attending, when you add salt to food, it disappears into the food and flavors it. In the same way, we Christians are called to ‘disappear’ into the world and add a godly flavor to it – perhaps spicing up the world with the Beatitudes – being poor in spirit, mourners, meek, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted for righteousness’ sake.

January 4, 2009

Genesis 9:1-11:9
The pre-history of the Bible continues. Here, God makes a covenant with Noah and every creature on earth, not to flood the world again. God sets down his weapon, his bow (a rainbow), as a sign of God’s covenant agreement with creation. People begin to multiply again on the earth.

Matthew 4
Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil for 40 days and nights. Jesus withstands the temptations of food, of fame, and of power. After this, and after John the Baptist is arrested, Jesus begins his ministry, proclaiming “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Jesus also begins to call his disciples to fish for people. Jesus’ ministry in Galilee consisted of teaching, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing the sick.

January 3, 2009

Genesis 6-8
We are continuing our journey through the primordial, pre-history of Genesis 1-11. There some mysterious parts of this story. The ‘sons of God’ in 6:2 seem to be fallen angels, and the Nephilim in 6:4 seem to be their heroic descendants. The ancient Greeks thought similarly of the people who lived before their time in Greece. God becomes sorry that he made the world, when he sees all the violence in it, and God decides to make a clean sweep and start over with Noah, his family, and two of each kind of animal. During the flood, God does not forget Noah and the ark. After the flood, God decides not to ever ‘curse the ground because of humankind’ again. God realizes that the flood really did not change humankind: “the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth” (8:21). God will find another way to deal with sin and evil.

Matthew 2:13-3:17
The beginning of this passage is a terrifying one. Joseph takes Mary and the infant Jesus and flees to Egypt to escape King Herod’s wrath; the rest of the little ones of Bethlehem are not spared. After Herod’s death, the family relocates to Nazareth.
John the Baptist bears a message of repentance to Israel, turning from sin, turning to God. He is preparing the way for Jesus. When he cries out, “Bear fruit worthy of repentance,” I ask myself, How is God calling me to be fruitful in my family, my church, my community? How can we live fruitful lives? Jesus will help answer that question.

January 2, 2009

Genesis 3-5
Isn’t it interesting that in Hebrew ‘Adam’ means ‘human,’ and ‘Eve’ means ‘life-bearer’! Adam and Eve, as our first parents, stand for all of us. The woman has good intentions when she takes the fruit (see 3:6), but she was disobeying God’s command. When the woman and man eat of the fruit, their eyes are opened, and they know shame for the first time. Because of their disobedience, their close relationship with God is harmed, and they must leave the garden, and begin a life of struggle and labor. And yet God provides clothing for them before sending them out into the world.
Genesis 4 shows us that jealousy and violence go far back into history. The first son of Adam and Eve, Cain, kills the second son, Abel. God banishes Cain, but puts a mark of protection on him, so that he would not be killed by others. After Abel is murdered, Adam and Eve have another son, named Seth, and the family tree continues to Noah and his sons.

Matthew 1:12-2:12
When Joseph found out that his fiancé Mary was pregnant, he was undoubtedly deeply troubled. Joseph was ‘righteous,’ and yet he did not want Mary to be publicly shamed. He had decided to quietly break off the engagement. But then, he was visited in a dream by an angel of God, who told him that Mary’s child was from the Holy Spirit. The angel also told Joseph to name the child “Jesus,” which means ‘He saves.’
The story of the Wise Men tells us that even some non-Jewish people recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One of God. They offer the infant Jesus gifts worthy of a King. King Herod, of course, really does not want to pay Jesus honor, as we shall see tomorrow.

January 1, 2009

This is the beginning of a journey through the Old and New Testaments of the Bible in 2009. You can click on the Bible passage link to go to an Online Bible.

Genesis 1-2

This is the very beginning of the Bible, and it starts with the creation of the world. Here is what is most important about the creation story, as I see it. First, God is the creator of everything. The universe has a beginning, and it was created by God’s word of command. God says, “Let there be…” and something comes into being. Second, when God creates something, God sees that it is good. When God finishes creating the universe, God sees that it is ‘very good.’ Third, God makes humankind, both male and female, equally in God’s own image. Fourth, when God blesses humanity and says, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth,” God is not telling humanity to trash the earth, but to be stewards, caretakers, of the earth and its creatures (in the beginning, before sin, God even told all creatures to be vegetarians! – see 1:29-30). Fifth, after the act of creation, God rested on the seventh day and made it holy. Are you able to find rest, Sabbath time, in your life?

What is not so important about the creation story is what people often argue about: how long were God’s days of creation? Some people think it was six 24 hour earth days; some people think God’s days of creation could have been millions or billions of earth years (God’s time being different than our own). As long as we agree that God created everything, then it should not matter how long God took to do it, or what process God used to create the universe and its inhabitants.


Matthew 1:1-11

This is the beginning of the New Testament. Matthew starts his Gospel with a genealogy of Jesus. As you read through it, notice the women from the Old Testament that Matthew includes: Tamar, who fooled her father-in-law to bear a child with him; Rahab the prostitute of Jericho; Ruth the Moabite woman; and the wife of Uriah – Bathsheba, the woman with whom David committed adultery. Even though they had questionable backgrounds or were foreigners, these women, like Mary, were important people in God’s plans for Israel and the world.