Readings in July/August 2009
Wednesday 1 July
Genesis 21.5, 8-20; Psalm 33; Matthew 8.28-34
What we might call sibling rivalry is a very real issue throughout the book of Genesis, especially in cases where children are born to one father by different mothers. Hagar is Sarah’s slave girl and it was Sarah who suggested that Abraham get a child by her. Sarah had given up hope of having children herself, and so a child by her slave was some compensation. But when the miracle occurs and Isaac is born to Sarah, she is loath to live with the consequences of her earlier decision. The harsh expulsion of Hagar and her son solves the problem for Sarah, but God has not abandoned them. It is part of the special grace given to Abraham that all who belong to him will be preserved by God. The promise to Abraham was that many nations will be blessed in his name. The boy, Ishmael, will grow into a great nation, and will share that blessing.
Thursday 2 July
Genesis 22.1-9; Psalm 114; Matthew 9.1-8
However familiar we are with this reading – and we hear it at the Easter Vigil every year – this is a harrowing story. The author emphasises the pitiful nature – the words father and son are used twelve times in the account – usually quite unnecessarily in terms of ensuring the sense, it is done to underline the intimacy – this is the son, the long-awaited and beloved one. And Abraham, who had argued with God about the fate of the sinful people of Sodom, raises no plea for his own innocent and beloved son, but sets off “early in the morning”. God is putting Abraham to the test, and Abraham is totally obedient, but we cannot feel totally comfortable with that – even when we know that God will intervene to save Isaac. It is right that it should take Christians aback, for there are very deliberate echoes of a beloved son who likewise carried the wood on his back and was sacrificed like a lamb. The reason this reading is part of the Easter Vigil is precisely to emphasise obedience and love, the obedience of Abraham, of Jesus and the love which is expressed in the One who did not spare his beloved Son.
Friday 3 July
St Thomas
Eph 2.19-22; Psalm 116 ; John 20.24-29
On the feast of St Thomas we are given two readings that can fill any Christian with encouragement. St Paul tells the Ephesians that they are not aliens or strangers, but are fellow citizens – they [and we] are part of the household and that we are alongside the apostles, prophets and saints making up the holy Church where God dwells with the great company of the faithful. Thomas was one of the twelve who were chosen to accompany Jesus in his ministry – a tremendous privilege to know Christ in the flesh. And more: Thomas is blessed to have the sight of the wounded and risen Christ and so to be able to make the great profession of faith: ‘My Lord and my God’ – but others also have an even greater privilege: blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe!
Saturday 4 July
Genesis 27.1-5, 15-29; Psalm 134; Matthew 9.14-17
The author of Genesis makes no attempt to gloss the deception which Rebecca and Jacob carry out. The blind Isaac takes a lot of convincing – Jacob even has to perjure himself using God’s name – but Isaac finally gives the blessing of the first born to Jacob, thus doing Esau out of his inheritance. It is difficult for us perhaps to appreciate the significance of this blessing, but the word once uttered cannot be revoked – the prophets remind us frequently that God’s word is not equivocal. Isaac and Esau are left to try and console one another, but there is nothing they can do, the blessing has been given and cannot be unsaid. Because of this Jacob will become Israel and the father of the twelve tribes that form God’s people. The account gives no justification for the deceit, other than this is how the history of God’s people will pan out. Is this a case of God writing straight with crooked lines, or is it simply a reflection that even key figures in the history of God’s people are only ordinary, fallible, sinful beings?
Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time
Monday 6 July
Genesis 28.10-22; Psalm 90; Matthew 9.18-26
Jacob has left the family home mainly out of fear of his brother Esau, whom he duped out of his inheritance. As he travels he has a dream of a ladder going up to heaven, and God speaks to him. God gives Jacob a promise very like the promise to Abraham – indeed it is the same promise because Jacob is the means for the carrying out of the promise made to Abraham – it is Jacob – Israel – who will be father of the twelve tribes that make up God’s people. And God promises to be with Jacob and carry out all that he has promised. This is a promise which has no qualifications – God asks nothing of Jacob; but promises him descendants, land and safekeeping. On awakening Jacob is awestruck, and then he makes a promise too – if God carries out what he promised then the Lord will be Jacob’s God. Jacob’s commitment is a response to the divine initiative – it is God who acts first, for salvation is God’s enterprise, humanity is always the recipient.
Tuesday 7 July
Genesis 32.23-33; Psalm 16; Matthew 9.23-38
After various adventures, Jacob is on his way back to the land promised him, and to his brother Esau. With him he brings his two wives, his sons and his wealth. But before he gets back he is halted by a curious incident. He meets a stranger who wrestles with him all night but cannot master him. Wrestling with the angel, Jacob demands a blessing and wants to know the name of his adversary. But the opponent will not give up his name, instead Jacob is given a new name, and that has significance – the one who wrestles with God. This is an important departure in the history of God’s people, for the name given to Jacob – Israel – will be the name by which the people as a whole are to be known. The change of name also signifies a change of character in Jacob. The Jacob of the earlier stories was that of Jacob the deliver or deceiver – a play on the name Jacob. But from now on he becomes more the peace maker, one who struggles – wrestles – to bring about God’s designs.
Wednesday 8 July
Genesis 41.55-57, 42.5-7, 17-24; Psalm 32; Matthew 10.1-7
We are suddenly plunged into the end of the Joseph cycle from the book of Genesis. Once again however, there is the theme of rivalry between brothers. Joseph has been sold into slavery, but the very brothers who enslaved him now come to him in their need. The author carefully raises the emotional tension – the brothers are brought to face their wrongdoing while Joseph weeps, knowing what is happening to them and to him. This is a long scene – it continues in tomorrow’s first reading – and the emotional stakes are raised as the brothers are forced to feel the consequences of their wicked act – consequences which will bring suffering to their father too. The twelve sons of Jacob – Joseph and his brothers – are the origins of the twelve tribes of Israel – God’s holy people. The twelve apostles of Jesus in the gospel are the origins of God’s new people. They are personally chosen to be the foundation stones for the New Israel.
Thursday 9 July
Genesis 44.18-21, 23-29, 45.1-5; Psalm 104; Matthew 10.7-15
There is something very poignant about the report of the stricken Jacob bewailing his fate and the loss of perhaps both of the sons his beloved Rebecca bore him. This, after all, is the Jacob whose cunning and deceit marked him out. Faced with the turmoil that he has caused, Joseph can bear the tension no longer and unveils himself to his brothers. His very simple assertion that the whole matters of his betrayal by his brothers was God’s way of preserving them may reveal one aspect of the divine plan, but the skill of the author in raising the emotional content of the story also gives insights into sin and its harrowing effects.
The gospel invites some reflection on the nature of mission. It is to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. As signs of that there will be all sorts of cure from illness and the casting out of evil. The one who proclaims is to rely on God’s providence and not be encumbered by spare possessions, and to rely on hospitality. The final threat in the passage is a reminder that ‘he who welcomes you welcomes me’ – and so he who rejects you rejects me, made very clear in Matthew’s final judgement parable (Matthew 25).
Friday 10 July
Genesis 46.1-7, 28-30; Psalm 36; Matthew 10.16-23
The passage from Genesis read today carries out two tasks. It concludes the story of Joseph in that he is reunited with his father, and Jacob can now utter his Nunc Dimittus – he can die in peace for he has set eyes on Joseph (who is now the saviour of his family). But of course the story also opens the curtain on the next great event in the history of God’s people – the enslavement and liberation from Egypt. Israel and his sons will now settle in Egypt and become a great nation, and their story will enter the next phase, when they come to be saved by God and given the land of the promise – the land destined for Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and their descendants.
Saturday 11 July
St Benedict, patron of Europe
Proverbs 2.1-9; Psalm 33; Matthew 19.27-29
Patron of Europe and founder of western monasticism, Benedict has had a huge impact on western Christianity. The great western monastic tradition – source of great religious influence, and so important in preserving so much of western culture and learning between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance – is intimately linked to his example and the writing of his Rule. The emphasis on taking seriously the pursuit of prayer, study, manual work and hospitality has permeated all aspects of Christian life. The readings chosen for today recall the importance of the task of searching out God’s will. The reading from Proverbs portrays it as a lifelong quest which will be successful with dedication and perseverance. The Gospel assures that any effort and sacrifice will be rewarded a hundredfold.