March 13: Genesis 22-24; Psalm 8; Matthew 8

Genesis 22--What is known in the Jewish tradition as the Akkedah, "The Binding of Isaac."  Another heart-breaking story; and I still, having read it dozens of times, don't understand how God could have asked this thing of Abraham.  Did Abraham misunderstand?  It seems nothing short of cruel to imagine God saying, "Just kidding...this was only a test..."
Genesis 23--Note that Sarah's death is recorded right after the Akkedah.  As a mother I can't imagine living long past such a terrible and ambiguous event.  (An aside:  the bargaining that goes on between Abraham and Ephron is a beautifully-told and amusing story.  So Abraham is going to leave his beloved Sarah on land that he actually has purchased and owns.)
Genesis 24--The next generation of the Patriarchs: Isaac and Rebekah.  Kathy Hintz sent me a nice link to an NPR piece about camels being an anachronism in this story: http://www.npr.org/2014/02/14/276782474/the-genesis-of-camels.  I appreciate the scholar's statement that we need to think about the MEANING of these stories beyond the FACTUALITY of the stories.

Psalm 8  One of my favorites!  About how the created order reflects the majesty of God, and leads the psalmist humbly to ask:
            What are human beings that you are mindful of them,
                   mortals that you care for them?  (8:4)

Note also the concern of the psalmist with the NAME of God.

Matthew 8  End of Sermon on the Mount, beginning of the description of Jesus' teaching and healing ministry through the region.  Jesus:

• cleanses a man with leprosy
• heals the servant of a centurion (a Roman official) --enabling Jesus to comment on how Gentiles are alert to the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven "while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (8:12).  Leading us to ask: does Jesus really think that everlasting punishment reflects the will or the character of his Father?
• heals Peter's mother in law and many others, giving Matthew an opportunity to quote Isaiah in a servant song.
• discourages spontaneous would-be followers, via his own identification with the homeless
• stills a storm while he and his disciples are in a boat crossing the lake
• Heals the Gadarene demoniac.  What about the herd of swine?  People really are more valued in Matthew's eyes than are animals, especially unclean pigs that were owned presumably by Gentiles--and they would have had to be rich gentiles to have such a large herd.  But still this is economically disruptive to the community, which "begged him to leave" (8:34).

Wow!  That is a lot packed into a single chapter; and it kind of lays out the plan for much of the rest of Jesus' ministry.