{"id":766983,"date":"2017-02-19T01:39:58","date_gmt":"2017-02-19T06:39:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/episcopalchurch:8888\/bible_study\/bible-study-epiphany-7-a-2017\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T17:24:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T21:24:47","slug":"bible-study-epiphany-7-a-2017","status":"publish","type":"bible_study","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/bible_study\/bible-study-epiphany-7-a-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Bible Study: Epiphany 7 (A) &#8211; 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leviticus: not the most popular book of scripture among many Christians. How does one read text that does not contain a discernible story with engaging characters, but only seemingly arcane rituals and laws that have no apparent relevance in twenty-first century Western Christian culture? We do not practice them or even believe in their validity for the most part. How can we relate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Would you read it if it were a life-or-death situation? Scholars such as Robert Alter, Jacob Milgrom and Everett Fox, in their commentaries on Leviticus, all seem to suggest that this central portion of Torah describes a life-or-death situation for the Israelites, their place in the cosmos and their relationship with God. The instructions, both for priests and for lay Israelites, are meant, these scholars suggest, to enable God\u2019s chosen people to attain holiness and set aside impurity by embracing the values found, for example, in today\u2019s reading: caring for the poor and the \u201csojourner\u201d (both Alter and Fox use this word rather than \u201calien\u201d); not taking advantage of your neighbor; and generally, not being morally complicit with sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>How might this reading affect your understanding of holiness? Is holiness related to morality?<\/li><li>Take some time to re-read these verses, but include the omitted ones, 3-8. Are Christian rituals reflective of our values? If so, how?<\/li><li>Is our understanding of holiness different in twenty-first century Christianity than in the writings of seventh-century-B.C. Judaism? How?<\/li><li>How might we see love in these verses? How is holiness related to love?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Psalm 119:33-40<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTeach me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGive me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMake me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Best of all: \u201cIncline my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps surrendering to God\u2019s action upon us, as suggested by the syntax of the psalmist\u2019s words, is what sets our hearts free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>What might it mean in your life to surrender to God?<\/li><li>How might you ask God to work upon you?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Consider the character of Nick Bottom, from Shakespeare\u2019s comedy, \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream.\u201d Bottom is a comic figure, a \u201crude tradesman,\u201d who is often portrayed as what we would now term \u201csocially awkward,\u201d comparable to Sheldon from the TV show \u201cThe Big Bang Theory,\u201d but less of an academic snob. The group of rude tradesmen whom Bottom leads are attempting to put on a play for a duke\u2019s wedding. Shakespeare\u2019s comedy contrasts the actions of the aristocrats with those of the lower class. During the course of the play, an impish fairy, Puck, changes Bottom\u2019s human head into that of an ass because Bottom is such a laughable leader of the group of \u201cactors.\u201d In one scene, after his romantic encounter with the fairy queen, Titania, he shamelessly (mis)quotes the apostle from a different part of 1 Corinthians (2:9) as he attempts to understand his experience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cI have had a dream, past the wit of man to<br>\nsay what dream it was: man is but an ass, if he go<br>\nabout to expound this dream. Methought I was \u2013 there<br>\nis no man can tell what. Methought I was, \u2013 and<br>\nmethought I had, \u2013 but man is but a patched fool, if<br>\nhe will offer to say what methought I had. The eye<br>\nof man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not<br>\nseen, man\u2019s hand is not able to taste, his tongue<br>\nto conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was.\u201d<br>\n\u2014 William Shakespeare,&nbsp;\u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream,\u201d&nbsp;lines 1767-1776<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How might Bottom\u2019s speech be related to Paul\u2019s words in today\u2019s reading: \u201cIf you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>How does today\u2019s text affect your understanding of leadership, whether in a religious or a secular setting?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Matthew 5:38-48<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coercion. Oppression. Submission. Resistance. What do these words mean to you? Do you visualize a Hollywood action movie, where the bad guys attempt to coerce the good guys into submission via physical violence, and then the good guys win out by means of armed resistance? Often the directors of these films appear to exalt gunfire, punching and bombing as the means of overcoming the enemy. Both sides use extreme violence to achieve their respective ends. If this is what you visualize, you are obviously not alone. And neither is twenty-first century Western culture. Many in Jesus\u2019 time expected just this of him \u2013 armed resistance of the Roman oppressors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Or do you picture Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., when hearing these words? Do you view turning the other check to your enemies as a loss or a surrendering of your power? As a sign of weakness?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">David E. Garland, in his book, \u201cReading Matthew: A Literary and Theological Commentary\u201d (Smith &amp; Helwys, 2001) reminds his readers that to turn the other cheek affords one power over the \u201cenemy\u201d or the oppressor, because, essentially, you are putting the ball back in that person\u2019s court. He or she must then choose whether to offer more violence. For example, the Roman soldier then becomes the one who must choose how to respond when the person who has been compelled to carry a heavy pack willingly submits to going one more mile; the people on the bus are the ones who must choose to force a black woman from her seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>How would our lives be different if Martin Luther King, Jr., had led his followers into armed resistance?<\/li><li>How would the story of Christianity be different today if Jesus had led an armed uprising against the Roman Empire?<\/li><li>How can your life be different if you strive to be perfect in love of neighbor and enemy, as Jesus asks of us in today\u2019s lesson?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a href=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bible-Study-English-Epiphany-7A-2017.pdf\"><strong>Bible-Study-English-Epiphany-7A-2017<\/strong><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Bible-Study-English-Epiphany-7A-2017.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button\" download>Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 Leviticus: not the most popular book of scripture among many Christians. How does one read text that does not contain a discernible story with engaging characters, but only seemingly arcane rituals and laws that have no apparent relevance in twenty-first century Western Christian culture? We do not practice them or even believe&#8230;<\/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":[23,32,52,3],"tags":[261],"class_list":["post-766983","bible_study","type-bible_study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-studies","category-epiphany","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-epiphany-7a"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":23,"label":"Bible Studies"},{"value":32,"label":"Epiphany"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":261,"label":"Epiphany 7A"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766983","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\/766983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":951977,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible_study\/766983\/revisions\/951977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}