Bible Tuesday for June 7, 2015

Genesis 3:8-15

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ 10He said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.’ 11He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’12The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.’ 13Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent tricked me, and I ate.’ 14The Lord God said to the serpent,
‘Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals
and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.’

Whereas God is not described in Genesis 1,—“And God said… Let us make humankind in our image…” is all the description given in that first chapter of the Bible—Genesis 2-4 tells of God walking through the Garden of Eden in the cool of the evening breeze, forming Adam from adamas (soil) and Eve from Adam’s rib. This second story of creation stands alone as it describes the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and God’s prohibition of its fruit, and of the Tree of Life.

But Eve is enticed to eat the unspecified fruit of the prohibited tree, and Adam shares that piece with Eve, and then all hell quite literally breaks loose. In Penteteuch class, Rev. Dr. Ralph Klein called this section of the creation stories, “The Curses”: women will desire their mates while their mates will desire will be for dominance over women, and vocation, men will only gain food by the sweat of their brow and their bodies will return to the adamas from which they were formed, and lastly, our above text, enmity will be between humans and snakes, biting and striking between them.

In other words, God’s will for humanity’s and all creation’s harmonious living was destroyed through lies and willful disobedience. The curses seem not so much punishments as ramifications of deviation from God’s will.

Psalm 130

A Song of Ascents.

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
2 Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!

3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
8 It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.

This psalm is titled “A Song of Ascents”. The author may or may not have written it originally as a piece of liturgical music, but it was used as such by the time the book of psalms was compiled. King Solomon built the original Temple on a hill called Mount Zion. The subsequent Temples were constructed on that same site. To get to Jerusalem, and then to Mount Zion, from the surrounding country, one had to go up topographically speaking. In addition, the Temple had many steps at most entrances. So whether coming from surrounding country into Jerusalem, or coming into the Temple from elsewhere in the city, once ascended to the worship place of God. Pilgrims and worshipers would have sung this hymn as they climbed to worship God.

The psalmist states that he/she is down low, in the depths, crying to God who is enthroned above. Slowly, as the supplicant gains a few steps toward the Temple court, he/she says “If you keep track of our sins we cannot survive. But (because I am still climbing) you must be forgiving us, which gains you great honor. “ As the pilgrim nears the great courts of the Temple with its colonnades and golden doors, breathless, “My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning” pant…pant. Then, at last, the top step is reached and the marvel of the Temple stretches on all sides. “O Israel, hope in the Lord! It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities!!!”

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—“I believed, and so I spoke” —we also believe, and so we speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence.15Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 16So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, 18because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

5For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

One of the real challenges of the Christian faith is the constant claim of “Those who believe will have life everlasting,” and yet there is not any Christian who is older than 120. Where is eternal life?! The first Christians dealt with the same issue. Paul writes his letters to the Corinthians and others, in part, to respond to the questions they were posing, “How can the promise of eternal life you and Jesus make be real when devout Christians are dying and being buried every day?!” Paul says that Jesus has not returned yet, “For your sake, so that grace extends to more and more people…” Sure, our bodies are aging and dying but that is just the outward self. The inward self, or as St. Paul calls it, the spiritual self, “is being renewed day by day.” While this is a total mystery, because of faith into Jesus, given by the Holy Spirit, “we do not lose heart.”

Mark 3:20-35

0and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.21When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” 22And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” 23And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 27But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

28“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

31Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” 33And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

The first question a Bible reader should ask when the pericope begins with “and” is “What came before this?” The beginning of Mark 3 is Jesus teaching and healing in front of the Pharisees. Because they Pharisees are not enthralled, Jesus and his disciples (many people of both genders and all ages) depart by boat. When they land, crowds from “Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, the east side of the Jordan and Tyre and Sidon” crowd to Jesus to hear him and be healed by him. Once again, Jesus casts out demons who identify him as “the Son of God!” Jesus tells the disciples to ready the boats, as the crowds press him tighter and tighter. Once off again, away from the crowds, Jesus gathers his disciples and selects twelve men to be apostles. Disciples=students, followers. Apostles= sent ones. Then the above pericope begins.

Jesus and his disciples and apostles (aka: the twelve) are now so busy with the regathered crowds that they don’t even get time to drink or eat (or use the bathroom. Those with small, high maintenance, demanding children will know exactly what this is like.) Jesus family come out and try to get Jesus to get real, give up these shenanigans and come home, where he belongs!!! Mary and sons honestly believed Jesus was mentally ill, suffering from a Jesus complex or something! Temple authorities came to scrutinize Jesus. Threatened by Jesus’ powers of healing and teaching, they accused him of channeling the Devil. The gospel writer is making a dark humor pun here. In this whole gospel, only the demons, as they are being cast out and chastised by Jesus, correctly identify Jesus as “the Son of God.” Yet here Jesus is being accused of working for and with these same demons.

Still Jesus’ mother and siblings try to silence Jesus and drag him home. Here is God in the flesh come to save the world and the only beings who will truly listen to him and believe in him are the minions of evil. Not even his family or his followers recognize and truly support him. At least…not yet.