Day 1 (Monday)
Genesis 9:1-28 (Covenant with Noah, Noah & his Sons)
Last week we saw the Flood end, and Noah and his family leave the Ark and offer sacrifice to God. We saw God promise never again to destroy every living creature He had made, with a hint in that promise that God’s purpose is not to destroy the sinful world, but to save it, as He does in His Incarnation by assuming human nature. This time, we will see God respond further to the sacrifice, and establish a new covenant with Noah and his family, as He had done with Adam and Eve in the Garden. This new covenant includes new requirements and new promises.
The Covenant With Noah
9 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea; into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.
4 Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image. 7 And you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly on the earth and multiply in it.”
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.”
Noah and His Sons
18 The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole earth was peopled.
20 Noah was the first tiller of the soil. He planted a vineyard; 21 and he drank of the wine, and became drunk, and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.
23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers.”
26 He also said,
“Blessed by the Lord my God be Shem;
and let Canaan be his slave.
27 God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem;
and let Canaan be his slave.”
28 After the flood Noah lived three hundred and fifty years. 29 All the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.
646 words
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should point out two things. First, that God gives a commandment again, as He did in the Garden of Eden. He tells them what they can eat, that is, the flesh of every living thing, and what they cannot eat, which is to say, the blood of those animals. He then repeats the command to “be fruitful and multiply”, and then makes a promise, that He will never again destroy the world. Second, we need to pay attention to the blood; this is the place where we see that blood is treated as a sacred thing; we’ll see more about why this is so on Day 2, but for now, we need to remember that even from this point, the focus on blood is anticipating the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He sheds for the life of the world at the Crucifixion.
Then, for the portion regarding Noah’s wine-making and what follows, the Leader should note that this is a hard reading; it’s both difficult to understand, and sad to see. There are two sins here: Noah’s sin in getting drunk, and Ham’s sin, which was to spread the word about Noah’s sin. Ham’s sin is worse than Noah’s sin, because Ham was happy to see his father humiliated, and tried to humiliate him more by telling his brothers. It seems that he was trying to take advantage of his father’s weakness and use it to make himself more powerful. In a sense, then, Ham was doing the exact sort of thing that God had forbidden with the eating of blood…he was seizing power for himself from someone else’s weakness. When Noah curses Ham’s son Canaan, then, he isn’t causing Ham’s descendants to be evil and cursed, he is simply telling what the result will be of Ham’s sinfulness, and how it will not work the way that Ham wants. With his will to power and willingness to use others to get what he wants, the newly cleansed world is right back on the road to sinfulness. What we will see as we continue to read through the Bible, then, is that Ham’s descendants do in fact become powerful, for a long time, but in the end, they come to nothing, and the more righteous descendants of Shem and Japheth are the ones who prove to be truly blessed. We should note, as well, that descendants ultimately is not an issue of race, but of likeness. So those who act like Ham and try to take power at the expense of others will come to ruin; those who are humble and gracious and respectful, like Shem and Japheth, will be glorified.)
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?
6) “What is the a) literal, b) allegorical, c) moral/ethical, d) anagogical/eschatological meaning of this text? (Think of these questions as a mountain which we can ascend, or as layers of meaning upon which we can reflect. Oftentimes, as we reflect upon a text in this way, we may find that the anagogical reading, in which we see the text as revealing the glory of God and His kingdom in a deeper manner, sheds new insights on the lower levels of interpretation.)
Day 2 (Wednesday)
Leviticus 17:10–16 & Acts 15:28-29
In this space we usually read something from outside the Bible; however, the Day 1 reading shows us God forbidding humanity to eat blood, and this seems strange to us until we see that this is a consistent part of God’s instructions to us, in both the Old Testament and the New; so today we will read where this commandment is repeated in the Law of Moses, and again in the Acts of the Apostles. This thing about not eating blood is one of the only parts of the Law of Moses that applies not only to the people of Israel, but even to others living among them. It doesn’t immediately make sense to us, but if we first recognize THAT it is something God commands, then we can start to think about what it means.
Leviticus 17:10–16
Eating Blood Prohibited
10 If anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens who reside among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood, and will cut that person off from the people. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement.
12 Therefore I have said to the people of Israel: No person among you shall eat blood, nor shall any alien who resides among you eat blood. 13 And anyone of the people of Israel, or of the aliens who reside among them, who hunts down an animal or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.
14 For the life of every creature—its blood is its life; therefore I have said to the people of Israel: You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off. 15 All persons, citizens or aliens, who eat what dies of itself or what has been torn by wild animals, shall wash their clothes, and bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the evening; then they shall be clean. 16 But if they do not wash themselves or bathe their body, they shall bear their guilt.
This prohibition against eating blood is also one of the few parts of the Law of Moses that non-Jewish Christians were required to observe. During the early years of the life of the Church, the question was raised whether Christians who weren’t Jews needed to “become Jews” in order to be a part of the Church. Some thought that they did, that they needed to become circumcised, and observe all the requirements about food and clothing and washing and fasting. But when the Apostles and other leaders of the early Church met in Jerusalem, they decided only to require the things that God had commanded to Noah, which we see in the Day 1 reading, and see repeated above in Leviticus.
Acts 15:28–29 (NRSV)
28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (There are two reasons, basically, that they are forbidden to eat blood. The first is that it is by the Blood of Christ, when He gives up His life for the life of the world, that we are saved; for this reason, all blood is to be treated with respect, even in the Old Testament. In the sacrifices of the Old Testament, the blood is always a part of the sacrifice, and is an essential part of the reconciliation with God that the sacrifice accomplishes; the blood is wiped or smeared on people and things in order to wipe away sins. To eat it would be to mis-use it, and to “steal” what belongs to God, what has not been given to us…this makes sense especially now, that we have actually been given the Blood of God to consume for our salvation, in Holy Communion. The second reason that the eating of blood is forbidden is that it was common in pagan sacrifices to do precisely that, and therefore eating the blood of animals is strongly associated with idolatry. That the worship of demons should mis-use and corrupt the proper use of animal sacrifice is not surprising, but it does explain why this remained a significant issue, even in the New Testament. Eating the blood of the animals functioned as a mockery of Holy Communion, and is therefore still to be avoided.)
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?
Day 3 (Friday)
Mark 2:1-22 (Jesus Heals a Paralytic, Calls Levi, Question about Fasting)
Last week we saw Jesus begin to preach, to heal, and to cast out demons, beginning in the city of Capernaum, from the house of Simon and Andrew. After healing many people, He went out into the wilderness to pray, and Simon, Andrew, James & John found Him there. They wanted Him to go back to the city, because everyone was looking for Him, but He told them that He was instead going to go out to the neighboring towns; He was coming to save more than just the city of Capernaum, but all humanity. And as a sign of this, He cleansed even a leper, who began to tell everyone about Jesus, so that Jesus couldn’t go into the towns any longer, but had to stay out in the country. This time, we will see him come back to Capernaum “under cover,” and will see how long that lasts.
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
2 And when he returned to Caper′na-um after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them. 3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay. 5 And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question thus in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your pallet and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, take up your pallet and go home.” 12 And he rose, and immediately took up the pallet and went out before them all; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
Jesus Calls Levi
13 He went out again beside the sea; and all the crowd gathered about him, and he taught them. 14 And as he passed on, he saw Levi[a] the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
15 And as he sat at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were sitting with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. 16 And the scribes of[b] the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat[c] with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The Question about Fasting
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins.”[d]
Reading 3
572 words
Discussion Questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should point out that there are two main lessons to this reading. The first is that Jesus comes to save sinners, as He calls Levi meets with Levi’s sinful friends. Note along with this that He doesn’t just eat with them, but He preaches to them, and calls them to repentance. This is precisely WHY He comes and spends time with sinners…to call them to leave their sin behind and to follow Him. The second lesson is that those who follow Him behave differently from other people. This shows that the Way He is proclaiming isn’t just another sect of Judaism, just another human religious practice, because it’s not just about the ideas or the practices, but about being with Him. More advanced students may enjoy thinking about what the cloth patch and wineskins paragraph has to do with what goes before.)
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?
6) “What is the a) literal, b) allegorical, c) moral/ethical, d) anagogical/eschatological meaning of this text? (Think of these questions as a mountain which we can ascend, or as layers of meaning upon which we can reflect. Oftentimes, as we reflect upon a text in this way, we may find that the anagogical reading, in which we see the text as revealing the glory of God and His kingdom in a deeper manner, sheds new insights on the lower levels of interpretation.)
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