By Rev Elizabeth M Jackson
The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.
Often when we think of the Book of Genesis we are drawn towards the Creation Story, the soap opera drama of Adam and Eve, and the tragic violence of Cain and Able. However, Genesis is a foundational book for much of Judaism and Christianity. It’s in this book we find the story of Noah, the Tower of Babel, and the genealogy of the Abrahamic traditions all the way through the story of Joseph and his brothers.
Joseph is the youngest of Jacob’s sons. He was favored by his father, symbolized by a robe immortalized in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. However, Joseph’s favoritism, his robe, and eventually his dreams drives a wedge between him and his brothers leading to a tragic scene between all of them.
Today’s scripture reading comes from the Book of Genesis chapter 37 verses 12 through 28:
Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.
He came to Shechem, and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” “I am seeking my brothers,” he said; “tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” The man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
For the Word of God in scripture, for the Word of God among us, and for the Word of God within us we say…Thanks be to God.
Let’s set the scene for today’s scripture reading.
Jesus has returned to Jerusalem, and as he’s walking to the temple, chief priests, scribes, and elders from both the Pharisees and Sadducees come to pepper Jesus with a variety of questions. How can this man who claims to follow the Torah continue to cause such havoc for the religious elite?
Jesus is asked, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?” His responses come in parables, only frustrating the religious leaders more.
As the conversation - maybe debate is a more appropriate term - as the debate continues on for days, eventually something Jesus says peaks a scribe’s sincere curiosity.
The story picked up in the Gospel of Mark chapter 12 verses 28 through 34:
One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.
For the Word of God in scripture, for the Word of God among us, and for the Word of God within us we say…Thanks be to God.
Jesus has taught that self-giving care for others is the heart of the revealed will of God. He lived out his teaching that his kingdom consists of service to others.
The question becomes: who are the “least of these?”
The fundamental thrust of this scene is that when people respond to human need, or fail to respond, they are in fact responding, or failing to respond, to Christ. Today’s scripture invites the listener to consider not just acts of mercy or service but also a deeper dimension of our acts of human compassion.
The scripture reading this day comes from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 25 verses 35 through 40:
‘I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’
“Then those who are righteous will reply to him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and give you clothes to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
“Then the king will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’
For the Word of God in scripture, for the Word of God among us, and for the Word of God within us we say…Thanks be to God.
The Pharisees were an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs became the foundational, liturgical and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism.
Outside Jewish history and literature, Pharisees have been made notable by references in the New Testament to conflicts with John the Baptist and with Jesus. There are also several references in the New Testament to the Apostle Paul being a Pharisee. The relationship between Early Christianity and the Pharisees depended on the individual; while numerous nameless Pharisees were portrayed as hostile, New Testament writings make mention of several Pharisees, including Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, and Gamaliel, who are sympathetic to Jesus and Christians.
The scripture reading this day comes from the Gospel of Luke chapter 18 verses 8 through 14:
Jesus told this parable to certain people who had convinced themselves that they were righteous and who looked on everyone else with disgust: “Two people went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself with these words, ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like everyone else—crooks, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of everything I receive.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He wouldn’t even lift his eyes to look toward heaven. Rather, he struck his chest and said, ‘God, show mercy to me, a sinner.’ I tell you, this person went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. All who lift themselves up will be brought low, and those who make themselves low will be lifted up.”
For the Word of God in scripture, for the Word of God among us, and for the Word of God within us we say…Thanks be to God.
Ecclesiastes is read in the Jewish community during the feast of Sukkoth, a joyous pilgrimage festival that normally occurs in September or October. This festival underscores the precariousness of life and yet the joy to be found even in the enigmatic nature of life. Ecclesiastes focuses on the limits and contradictions of life in order to teach wisdom. Even the best life is limited in knowledge, virtue, and power, troubled by evil and injustice, and ultimately ended by death.
This morning’s antithetical pairings are a literary device to represent life’s totality and variety. Some scenarios may seem obviously good or bad, but time and/or circumstance can often invert the value of actions, for in everything there is a season.
The scripture reading this day comes from Ecclesiastes chapter three verses one through eight:
There’s a season for everything
and a time for every matter under the heavens:
a time for giving birth and a time for dying,
a time for planting and a time for uprooting what was planted,
a time for killing and a time for healing,
a time for tearing down and a time for building up,
a time for crying and a time for laughing,
a time for mourning and a time for dancing,
a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones,
a time for embracing and a time for avoiding embraces,
a time for searching and a time for losing,
a time for keeping and a time for throwing away,
a time for tearing and a time for repairing,
a time for keeping silent and a time for speaking,
a time for loving and a time for hating,
a time for war and a time for peace.
For the Word of God in scripture, for the Word of God among us, and for the Word of God within us we say…Thanks be to God.
Public theologian and activist, Shane Claiborne, says, “…the prophets really cry out that our worship and our holy days and feasts for God are detestable in God’s sight if the poor aren’t cared for. Amos cries out that we should shut up with our singing and our worship if justice doesn’t roll out like a mighty water to the poor…if there isn’t justice for the poor, our incense is stench in God’s nose and our songs are noise in God’s ears; that God cares about who our worship works itself out for the most vulnerable people in the land.
“Let’s start to reimagine some of these ancient and beautiful ideas because the patterns of the Gospel have a whole lot to offer the world that we live in right now.”
This morning’s first scripture reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 6 verse 11 from the New Revised Standard Version of the bible:
Give us this day our daily bread.
Today’s second reading comes from Proverbs chapter 30 verses 8 and 9, also from the NRSV:
Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that I need,
or I shall be full, and deny you,
and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or I shall be poor, and steal,
and profane the name of my God.
For the Word of God in scripture, for the Word of God among us, and for the Word of God within us we say…Thanks be to God.
When you step out onto the street human sexuality as a topic of conflict or debate is nowhere to be found. However, if you cross the threshold of a church building, especially a United Methodist church building, human sexuality can be a hot topic of conflict and debate. Why? How, as a denomination, did we get here? In this episode, Rev Elizabeth M Jackson tries to answer that question.
Public theologian and activist, Shane Claiborne, says, “I think one of the things that we’ve found is that through our…the cultural patterns of our world that teach us to separate ourselves from the poor or from suffering, what we find out is that we end up being some of the wealthiest people in the world but also some of the most lonely and depressed and hurting people. Because what we are created for is to love and to be loved. And when we gate ourselves out, and we lock people out, and we build picket fences and gated neighborhoods and walls around our countries to lock the alien and the poor and the stranger out, we find ourselves in a place where we’re really separate from God and from those who God is so close to on the margins.
“The model of the incarnation is that Jesus moved into the neighborhood. Jesus entered into the struggle, was born in the middle of genocide, and struggled through poverty and pain even up to the point of the cross. And that’s the model that we are called to follow.
This morning’s scripture reading comes from the Gospel of Luke chapter 16 versus 19 through 31 from the Common English Bible:
“There was a certain rich man who clothed himself in purple and fine linen, and who feasted luxuriously every day. At his gate lay a certain poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. Lazarus longed to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Instead, dogs would come and lick his sores.
“The poor man died and was carried by angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. While being tormented in the place of the dead, he looked up and saw Abraham at a distance with Lazarus at his side. He shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I’m suffering in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received good things, whereas Lazarus received terrible things. Now Lazarus is being comforted and you are in great pain. Moreover, a great crevasse has been fixed between us and you. Those who wish to cross over from here to you cannot. Neither can anyone cross from there to us.’
“The rich man said, ‘Then I beg you, Father, send Lazarus to my father’s house. I have five brothers. He needs to warn them so that they don’t come to this place of agony.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. They must listen to them.’ The rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will change their hearts and lives.’ Abraham said, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, then neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’”
For the Word of God in scripture, for the Word of God among us, and for the Word of God within us we say…Thanks be to God.
The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.