This is Tuesday in Holy Week. The Collect of the day follows:
O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Leviticus 16-18 Interesting to be reading about the Day of Atonement during the week when Jesus offers himself as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world…Interesting that it is Passover, and not Yom Kippur that is the holy day on which the story of Jesus is focused. This bears some more thinking about!
Are we to read Leviticus 17 to mean that ALL meat that the Israelites ate was sacrificed first to the LORD?
And notice how the chapter on "sexual relations" begins with the words: (18:3) You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes." Sexual behavior is part of the way that God sets apart for himself a people, and makes sure that they don't mingle with people with different religious loyalties. There are then laws about incest. Interestingly, behaviors that are proscribed here are behaviors that the Patriarchs participated in. ("You shall not take a woman as a rival to her sister" 18:18--remember Jacob and the pain that Rachel and Leah had as two sisters each longing for Jacob's attention and respect and love.)
Finally, notice how the land will "vomit" the people out if they commit what this text calls "abominations."
Psalm 36 The Bible really doesn't have much good to say about people who "flatter themselves in their own eyes" (36:2). But those who trust God and have a proper sense of their "creatureliness" are surrounded by his steadfast love (hesed in Hebrew) and his care.
Mark 12 1. Notice that Jesus is still telling parables, even (especially??) during his last week with his disciples. As we move into the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible, we will see that there is a long tradition of presenting Israel as a vineyard. This parable of the vineyard (12:1-12) is so sad. In the context of Jesus cursing the fig tree and cleansing the Temple, the anger of the owner of the vineyard (12:9) is especially troubling. Again, I realize how uncomfortable I am with the notion of the wrath of God.
2. Then, in 12:18, the Sadducees (who don't believe in the resurrection) come up with a hypothetical story about a woman who is married, in succession, to 7 brothers, as each dies leaving her childless. It's a biblical "shaggy dog story" and it is a case of someone worrying much more about the rules than about the wellbeing of the individuals involved.
3. I never paid attention before to the fact that Mark places this discussion of 12:28 about the Greatest Commandment in Holy Week. Love God, love neighbor. Those who seek to live this way are "not far from the kingdom of God."
4. Then we see, finally, how people who ARE far from the Kingdom: hypocritical and taking advantage of the poorest of the poor--are contrasted with behavior that is the pinnacle of Kingdom living. The widow who gave everything to God's work is the best exemplar of a faithful subject of the Kingdom.
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