Day 1 (Monday)
3 Kingdoms (1 Kings) 16:29-33, 17:1-24
Before Palm Sunday, we were reading about the journey through the wilderness of the children of Israel, and we had just seen them arrive at the Promised Land and prepare to go in, led by Joshua, Moses’ longtime assistant and successor. We will here sum up what happened next; they entered in, and as long as they were faithful to God, He gave them the victory, and they settled in the land. But over time they began to adopt the religion and practices of the people who had been there before them, and over the centuries things went from bad to worse. At first God ruled over them directly, sending judges to lead them when necessary, but after several hundred years, they asked for a king, like the nations around them. God warned them that it wouldn’t go well, but when they insisted, He gave them kings; first Saul, who fell quickly into disobedience, and then David, who loved God and was faithful to Him, and repented when He fell away, so that God promised David that his line would never fail, and his descendants would be great kings and usher in a time of prosperity and peace. David’s grandson, however, was a foolish king, and as a result 10 of the 12 tribes went into rebellion, choosing someone else to be their king, and beginning to worship the gods that the Canaanites had worshipped. We will pick up the story at the time of David’s great-great-grandson Asa, who was king in Jerusalem about 100 years after David died, as God sends a prophet to the new king of Israel to tell him that he needs to repent.
Ahab Reigns over Israel
16:29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all that were before him. 31 And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he took for wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Ba′al, and worshiped him. 32 He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him…
Elijah Predicts a Drought
17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2 And the word of the Lord came to him, 3 “Depart from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is east of the Jordan. 4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord; he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. 6 And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
The Widow of Zarephath
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a cruse; and now, I am gathering a couple of sticks, that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13 And Elijah said to her, “Fear not; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord the God of Israel, ‘The jar of meal shall not be spent, and the cruse of oil shall not fail, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” 15 And she went and did as Elijah said; and she, and he, and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of meal was not spent, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by Elijah.
Elijah Revives the Widow’s Son
17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; and his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!” 19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her bosom, and carried him up into the upper chamber, where he lodged, and laid him upon his own bed. 20 And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, hast thou brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?” 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s soul come into him again.” 22 And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” 24 And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (Leader should note that Baal was the Canaanite god of the sky, of thunder and of rain, corresponding to the Greek God Zeus, and also was understood to have his palace in the underworld, in the place of the dead, and to have power over the dead. He is the pagan god usually understood to be the devil. So in declaring that there would be no rain, Elijah is declaring to Ahab that his god is false and has no real power, and that Yahweh is the one true God. The remaining events of this chapter highlight this point. Wherever Elijah is, God provides him with food, even in the middle of a famine. He sends Elijah to a city of Sidon, NOT an Israelite city, where Baal was worshipped by everyone, and finds there someone who is willing to trust in Yahweh, and they then have food when no one else does. And when the child dies, coming directly under the power of Baal, God raises him from the dead, showing that even in death, Baal’s power is nothing before Him.)
2) What do we learn about God in this reading?
3) What do we learn about human beings in this reading?
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 2 (Wednesday)
Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) – 8
We continue now with the Didache, the earliest text from the life of the Church outside of the New Testament. We are in the 2nd part of the Didache, discussing some practical details of the life of the Church. Last time we talked about prayer, fasting, and baptism; this time we will talk about the Eucharist, with a glimpse at the prayers of the Liturgy at the end of the 1st Century.
Concerning the Eucharist
Now concerning the Eucharist, give thanks as follows. First, concerning the cup:
We give you thanks, our Father,
For the holy vine of David your son,
Which you have made known to us
Through Jesus, your son;
To you be the glory forever.
And concerning the broken bread:
We give you thanks, our Father,
For the life and knowledge
That you have made known to us
Through Jesus, your son;
To you be the glory forever.Just as this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains and then was gathered together and became one, so may your church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom; for yours is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever.
But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist except those who have been baptized into the name of the Lord, for the Lord has also spoken concerning this: “Do not give what is holy to dogs.”
And after you are filled, give thanks as follows:
We give you thanks, Holy Father, for your holy name, which you have caused to dwell in our hearts, and for the knowledge and faith and immortality that you have made known to us through Jesus your son; to you be the glory forever.
You, almighty Master, created all things for your name’s sake, and gave food and drink to humans to enjoy, so that they might give you thanks; but to us you have graciously given spiritual food and drink, and eternal life through your son/servant. Above all we give thanks to you because you are mighty; to you be the glory forever.
Remember your church, Lord, to deliver it from all evil and to make it perfect in your love; and from the four winds gather the church that has been sanctified into your kingdom, which you have prepared for it; for yours is the power and the glory forever.
May grace come, and may this world pass away. Hosanna to the God of David. If anyone is holy, let him come; if anyone is not, let him repent. Maranatha! Amen.
But permit the prophets to give thanks however they wish.
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (Leader should note that we see here very early guidelines for how to prepare Holy Communion – the Bread and Wine are each blessed in turn, then those present receive, and then they give thanks for what they have received. Special note should be given to the line about “as this broken bread was scattered upon the mountains and then was gathered and became one,” which seems to refer to the Last Supper, when the Lord broke the bread and gave it to the disciples, after which they almost immediately scattered on the Mount of Olives when He was arrested, only to be brought back together after the Lord’s Resurrection. We should note as well the connection with David; this is making the point that Jesus is the Messiah, the long-awaited King, and that the Christians are His people, the new Israel. The reference to the prophets being able to “give thanks,” that is, to celebrate the Eucharist, reflects a usage in the early Church whereby each bishop would have his own version of the prayers of consecration and thanksgiving. Over time, the prayers of certain bishops became normal, which is why we have the Liturgies of St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom.)
2) What do we learn about God in this reading?
3) What do we learn about human beings in this reading?
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)
Luke 12:1-34
As we came into Great Lent, we were reading through the Gospel of Luke in order, one chapter at a time. We jumped ahead in the later weeks of the Fast to see the Lord enter Jerusalem and prepare for and then endure His Passion, and last week, we saw Him Risen from the dead and talking with His disciples. We will now go back to where we left off, and continue through the chapters we skipped; in these chapters we mainly see Jesus teaching, and will see many parables with which he preached to the people.
A Warning against Hypocrisy
12 Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.
Exhortation to Fearless Confession
4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after the killing, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. 7 But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; 9 but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.”
The Parable of the Rich Fool
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
16 Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
Do Not Worry
22 He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?
27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30 For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Discussion Questions
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (Leader should point out that Jesus is really making two essential points in this passage. He is first telling His disciples not to worry about what other people think, since that is the source of hypocrisy and self-righteousness, but that they should focus on what is pleasing to God, who knows everything, and that they only need to be faithful to Him. He then transitions to talk about wealth and possessions in this world, and how they also serve only to distract from what is real and true. He shows how one can gain great wealth in this life, and still have nothing that matters when death comes, and assures His disciples that, if they serve God faithfully, He will take care of them. We should note that that doesn’t mean we can be lazy and God will take care of us…just that we should not chase after possessions, but should seek God and His kingdom in all that we do, doing the work of each day with prayer and with love and with our eyes fixed on the Lord, not on the things of this world that don’t last.)
2) What do we learn about God in this story?
3) What do we learn about human beings in this story?
4) What do you find difficult about this story? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always.).
5) Does this story make you think that you need to change anything in your life?