Proper 18 | Ordinary Time 23 - A
Last week we suggested that if Genesis is the account of God's election, then Exodus is the story of God's redemption. Today we take the next step in the unfolding drama: If Moses is the person God uses to redeem, then the sacrifice is the means.
The Passover may be the most deeply rooted of all celebrations among devout Jews. Little wonder. As we see in this text, it is a family celebration. Everyone, including the poorest among the Hebrew people, must be involved in Passover. For this reason, Passover has survived the destruction of tabernacle and temple.
We also note that this chapter, together with 13 and 14, marks a sort of interlude in the deliverance story. After the plagues and before the passage through the...
The Passover may be the most deeply rooted of all celebrations among devout Jews. Little wonder. As we see in this text, it is a family celebration. Everyone, including the poorest among the Hebrew people, must be involved in Passover. For this reason, Passover has survived the destruction of tabernacle and temple.
We also note that this chapter, together with 13 and 14, marks a sort of interlude in the deliverance story. After the plagues and before the passage through the...
William H. Shepherd
Good old golden rule days. The children will be going back to school this week, if they aren't there already. Yellow school buses reemerge from their hidden garages; crossing guards don their white shoulder belts and pick up their stop signs. Parents stock up on spiral notebooks and highlighter pens, while teachers give themselves bouquets of freshly sharpened No. 2 pencils. You can just smell the chalk in the air.
The lections this week send us back to school. Just in case we've forgotten over the summer, we begin with a review of some basics. Exodus reminds us about ... well, the Exodus. Romans looks back to the time of Moses, too, as it instructs us on the proper meaning of the Ten Commandments, and Matthew teaches us what it means to study together as a community. These...
The lections this week send us back to school. Just in case we've forgotten over the summer, we begin with a review of some basics. Exodus reminds us about ... well, the Exodus. Romans looks back to the time of Moses, too, as it instructs us on the proper meaning of the Ten Commandments, and Matthew teaches us what it means to study together as a community. These...
Mark Ellingsen
Exodus 12:1-14
The First Lesson is drawn from a book so named for the Greek term referring to the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. Its Hebrew name (meaning “These are the names”) refers to the first words of the text’s prologue. Like Genesis, the book is a compilation of three distinct oral traditions. This lesson is the priestly oral tradition’s (the p strand of the pentateuch, probably composed in the sixth century BC) version of the passover. It follows the account of the final plague the Lord worked against Pharaoh, which does not succeed in liberating the people (ch.11).
The First Lesson is drawn from a book so named for the Greek term referring to the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. Its Hebrew name (meaning “These are the names”) refers to the first words of the text’s prologue. Like Genesis, the book is a compilation of three distinct oral traditions. This lesson is the priestly oral tradition’s (the p strand of the pentateuch, probably composed in the sixth century BC) version of the passover. It follows the account of the final plague the Lord worked against Pharaoh, which does not succeed in liberating the people (ch.11).
Mark Ellingsen
In accord with the Pentecost season’s preoccupation with living the Christian life (Sanctification), the theme for this Sunday is how God keeps us together by setting us free, with glimpses at how the Christian life looks from those vantage points.
Exodus 12:1-14
The first lesson is the story of the establishment of the Passover, taken from a book so named for the Greek term referring to the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. Its Hebrew name (meaning “these are the names”) refers to the first words of the text’s prologue. Like all of the first four books of the Pentateuch, it is the product of three distinct oral traditions. This text originates with P, the 6th-century BC source rooted in a priestly oral tradition.
Exodus 12:1-14
The first lesson is the story of the establishment of the Passover, taken from a book so named for the Greek term referring to the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. Its Hebrew name (meaning “these are the names”) refers to the first words of the text’s prologue. Like all of the first four books of the Pentateuch, it is the product of three distinct oral traditions. This text originates with P, the 6th-century BC source rooted in a priestly oral tradition.
David Kalas
Many of us deeply cherish Micah's famous answer to that question (Micah 6:8). Yet our three selected passages for this week, while combining to form a considerably longer passage than that verse from Micah, offer us some excellent insight into just what the Lord requires of us.
This is, of course, the deep desire of every earnest heart. We want to know what he desires and requires. The heart of a servant is eager to please his master and the devotion of a child is eager to delight his parent. So it is, therefore, that you and I yearn to know what pleases him.
In the three passages we will consider together this week, the Lord expresses some of what he requires of his people. In the case of the people in Exodus, we read his requirements for the observance of...
This is, of course, the deep desire of every earnest heart. We want to know what he desires and requires. The heart of a servant is eager to please his master and the devotion of a child is eager to delight his parent. So it is, therefore, that you and I yearn to know what pleases him.
In the three passages we will consider together this week, the Lord expresses some of what he requires of his people. In the case of the people in Exodus, we read his requirements for the observance of...
Wayne Brouwer
Gilbert and Sullivan, the dynamic duo of the stage, created fun-filled musicals and light
operas a generation ago, giving high school drama departments and community theaters
plenty of material to dazzle and delight. Their names always appeared in tandem on the
programs. It was as if they were a married couple. Indeed, much of their career felt like
that. It was only right that their names be wedded together in common speech.
At the height of their success they even purchased a theater together so they could exert full creative control over their new works. Then came the nasty disagreement. Sullivan ordered the installation of new carpets. When the bill arrived, Gilbert hit the roof at the cost and refused to share in payment. They argued and fought about it and...
At the height of their success they even purchased a theater together so they could exert full creative control over their new works. Then came the nasty disagreement. Sullivan ordered the installation of new carpets. When the bill arrived, Gilbert hit the roof at the cost and refused to share in payment. They argued and fought about it and...
In June the American Film Institute released its list of the top 100 romance movies of all time. It is an interesting and surprising list. It goes all the way from such expected ones as Dr. Zhivago (no. 7) to such unexpected ones as King Kong, (no. 24). They include the light and playful ones, like When Harry Met Sally (no. 25); the heavy and serious ones, such as The English Patient (no. 54); and even the animated, such as Lady and the Tramp (no. 95). Number 1 was Casablanca (no surprise there) and number 100 was Jerry McGuire (I had to think: was that a romance?). And of course, as with all such lists, it starts off the popular parlor game of disagreeing with it.
(Dr. Foster R. McCurley has had a distinguished career as St. John's Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. In addition to his career as a pastor, seminar leader, and international lecturer and consultant, he has written numerous books and articles and is currently the Theologian-in-Residence of Tressler Lutheran Services, LSS of South Central PA and LutherCare.)
My contributions to Emphasis during this past year are dedicated to the Reverend Charles P. Sigel, friend, tutor, and colleague in ministry, on the occasion of his retirement as Professor of New Testament at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.
-- Foster R. McCurley
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My contributions to Emphasis during this past year are dedicated to the Reverend Charles P. Sigel, friend, tutor, and colleague in ministry, on the occasion of his retirement as Professor of New Testament at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary.
-- Foster R. McCurley
* * *
Listen to most people talk about responsibility and you will soon hear them speaking of duty and obligation. Generally their words are couched in terms that lay heavy on the hearer. There is something we must, or ought, to do.
The easy thing to do is to let our thoughts run in a straight line from such suggestions and assume there must be some sanction hanging over our heads in the case we do not keep our duty or obligation. Surely there is some threat, some cost, some price to be paid for our non-performance.
Such thinking is generally associated with the concern for salvation. It is suggested there are things we must do, duties to be performed, standards to be met, demands to be met if we are to expect salvation and the rewards which go with it.
But...
The easy thing to do is to let our thoughts run in a straight line from such suggestions and assume there must be some sanction hanging over our heads in the case we do not keep our duty or obligation. Surely there is some threat, some cost, some price to be paid for our non-performance.
Such thinking is generally associated with the concern for salvation. It is suggested there are things we must do, duties to be performed, standards to be met, demands to be met if we are to expect salvation and the rewards which go with it.
But...
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