The recitation of the Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, will likely be familiar to listeners of this week\u2019s Old Testament reading, and many might have images of a technicolor Charlton Heston descending from the mountain, tablets in hand. But what\u2019s striking in this reading is that God\u2014not Moses\u2014is speaking directly to the Israelites. Hearing directly from the Divine would have left quite an impact on these former Egyptian slaves as they made their way through the desert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s an order to the commandments as well\u2014get in right relationship with God (the first four commandments) and then you can be in right relationship with each other (the remaining six). The directives aren\u2019t meant to micro-manage our lives, but to apply constant pressure, the pressure of discipleship and formation, that can continue to guide us toward a life that is in right relationship with God, creation, and each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The psalm opens with what might be imagined as a wondrous cacophony of sound as all creation attests to God\u2019s glory. Each day eagerly shouts to the next, and each night whispers God\u2019s glory above our slumber\u2014yet the sounds aren\u2019t heard (v. 3). One is tempted to hold an ear to the ground to catch even a glimmer of the joyous noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It takes God\u2019s laws and decrees\u2014Torah\u2014to help translate the celestial symphony for our ears. By letting ourselves be molded by God\u2019s directives, we can begin to hear and see the glorious celebration going on around us all the time. Finally, as we journey deeper and deeper into our relationship with God\u2014allowing ourselves to be formed and shaped and forgiven\u2014we can humbly submit our own voice to the worship, with the plea: \u201cLet the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.\u201d What a joyous noise indeed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When looked at from the outside\u2014as many of the Greeks and Jews of Corinth would have seen them\u2014these Christ believers had an \u201cupside-down\u201d view of reality. Weakness is strength and death is salvation. The Apostle Paul highlights the paradox of the cross and establishes a neat dichotomy to drive unity for the church in Corinth: be among those who are perishing or with those who are living. Who wouldn\u2019t choose life, under the circumstances?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul is trying to mend a divided church in Corinth, where the wealthy members, lured by the Corinthian ideal of clever oratory (and possibly disappointed with Paul\u2019s own admitted mumblings) are tempted to segregate from their poorer counterparts and create their own ideal of church. Paul recognizes that they are missing the point. He forces them\u2014and us\u2014to stare directly into the shame and tragedy of the cross and, in so doing, put all humankind on equal footing. None of us is greater than another\u2014no matter what our earthly skills or accomplishments might suggest\u2014and all are far weaker than God\u2019s apparent weakness and more foolish than God\u2019s seeming foolishness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week\u2019s gospel reading plays with the notion of time in a number of ways. First, Jesus\u2019 disruption at the Temple takes place at the beginning of his mission, not at the end as it appears in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). Second, his zeal causes his disciples to reflect back on Psalm 69\u2014\u201cZeal for your house has eaten me up\u201d\u2014as Jesus unexpectedly turns over tables and throws money on the floor. Finally, there\u2019s what might be called a memory nugget\u2014something said that might not make total sense in the moment but, in hindsight, is clear as day. When asked for a sign, Jesus radically states that the temple, under construction for many years, can be razed and reconstructed in merely three days. One imagines the quizzical looks exchanged by the disciples in the moment, their own disbelief at Jesus\u2019 wild overture. Only in looking back, through the lens of Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection, would the statement make sense. What seemed an impossible claim in the moment would become, in the end, a proof point that Jesus as Christ had replaced the earthly temple once and for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exodus 20:1-17 The recitation of the Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, will likely be familiar to listeners of this week\u2019s Old Testament reading, and many might have images of a technicolor Charlton Heston descending from the mountain, tablets in hand. But what\u2019s striking in this reading is that God\u2014not Moses\u2014is speaking directly to the Israelites. Hearing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201221,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23,51,52,3],"tags":[305],"class_list":["post-766948","bible_study","type-bible_study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-studies","category-lent","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-lent-3b"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":23,"label":"Bible Studies"},{"value":51,"label":"Lent"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":305,"label":"Lent 3B"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bible_study"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":951943,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766948\/revisions\/951943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}