Day 1 (Monday)
Genesis 4:1-16, 25-26
Last week we read about the consequences of the Fall, and how Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden. Today we will read about their first two children, and the sad story of what happened when they grew up.
"1 Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced[a] a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
8 Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.”[b] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” 13 Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.” 15 Then the Lord said to him, “Not so![c] Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. 16 Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod,[d] east of Eden.
… …
25 Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, for she said, “God has appointed[e] for me another child instead of Abel, because Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth also a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to invoke the name of the Lord.”
Discussion questions:
1) Why did Eve say “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord” when Cain was born? (Maybe she was just surprised to see what happened the first time a human child was born, but many people think that Eve thought that this child of hers was the “seed of the woman” that God had promised would come to crush the head of the snake and make everything right again.)
2) What sort of work did Cain and Abel each do? (Cain raised animals, and Abel grew crops)
3) What happened when they grew up and went to offer sacrifices to God? (God accepted Abel’s sacrifice, but rejected Cain’s sacrifice).
4) Why do you think God rejected Cain’s sacrifice? (the Bible doesn’t say clearly, but maybe Cain disobeyed some guidelines, or sacrificed the wrong thing, or maybe his intentions were wrong. That is all God says to him – He says that, if he had done what he was supposed to do, his sacrifice would have been accepted).
5) Did God tell Cain to go away and never come back after his sacrifice was rejected? (This is important – God didn’t tell Cain to go away. He told him to change, to do what was right instead, and warned him that if he didn’t, he would fall into worse sin)
6) What did Cain do after this? Did he repent and change? (No – instead, he killed his brother – we assume he did so out of jealousy).
7) What was the punishment to Cain’s murder of Abel? (God told him that he wouldn’t be able to farm successfully anymore – but made sure that no one would kill him. Then Cain went away from Eden)
8) What did Adam and Eve do after all this? (They had another baby – it is important to note that Jesus Christ was descended according to the flesh from this righteous son, named Seth).
Day 2 (Wednesday)
Saint Averkios and His Monument
This Thursday, October 22nd, the Church celebrates the feast-day of St. Averkios, who was the bishop of Hieropolis in Asia Minor during the middle of the 2nd century. He fell asleep in the Lord in A.D. 167. During his life, he preached the Gospel in his own city, but also travelled west to Rome, and then east to Syria, and then back to his own city. When he got back, before he died, he wrote the story of his life on a monument, and many years later, that monument was found. What he says is written in a sort of code, so only Christians will know what he’s talking about. It is one of the earliest surviving artifacts of the life of the Christian Church in the 2nd century.
It reads as follows:
“I am a citizen of a special city, and I made this monument while I was still alive, so that when I died there would be a resting place for my body.
My name is Averkios, and I am a disciple of a holy shepherd, who feeds flocks of sheep on both mountains and plains. He has great eyes that see everywhere, and this shepherd taught me that the book of life can be trusted.
He sent me to Rome to see majesty, and there I saw a queen with golden robe and golden sandals, and a people who bore a bright sign.
Then I saw the land of Syria, and all its cities; I saw Nisibis when I passed over the Euphrates River. And everywhere I went, I had fellowship with those that had been called together by Paul. Faith led me forward everywhere, and everywhere I went, Faith gave me the same food, a perfect fish of great size, which a holy virgin drew with her hands from a fountain. It is this fish that Faith gives her friends to eat, together with a wine of great virtue, which Faith gives to her friends, mingled with bread.
I was a witness of these things, and I had them written here, when I was in the middle of my 72nd year of life. I ask everyone who understands these things, who is in one accord with me, to pray for me, for Averkios.”
Now – what this Averkios is saying, in more plain language, is this:
He is a disciple of Jesus Christ, Who is the Good Shepherd, and Jesus taught Him to trust in the Gospel, the Good News of the Kingdom of God. The Lord sent him to visit Rome, where he spent time with the Christian community there, holy and glorious like a queen, sealed with the Holy Spirit after baptism.
After that, he traveled east to Syria, and in all the cities there he found Christians, brothers and sisters among the Gentiles, such as those Paul preached to, and while he was with them, he was nourished with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior (ΙΧΘΥΣ), Who came into the world through the Virgin Mary, and this nourishment came in the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist.
Finally, he asks anyone who understands what he is talking about and shares in the same Communion of the Church, to pray for him.
This shows that there were a fair number of Christians more or less hiding in plain sight in Roman society in the late 2nd century, and that they used certain symbols to recognize one another. One of these was the fish symbol, since the Greek word for fish (ἰχθῦς) is an acronym for the name of Jesus. Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱος, Σωτήρ, which means Jesus Christ, of God the Son, the Savior. We can, of course, still see the Fish symbol on the bumper of cars these days…but a long time ago, the Christians used it as a symbol to recognize one another.
The other things this passage shows is that the Church was united, even though it was scattered through the whole world, and that a Christian who traveled could find brothers and sisters everywhere. Finally, it shows that was Christians did was the same everywhere: they celebrated the Eucharist, and they believed then, as we do now, that the Eucharist, the Bread and Wine, are the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Besides that, they honored the Virgin Mary, and they showed their love for those who had died by praying for them. We can see all of these things are still what we do in the Church, every Sunday.
Here we can see a cast of the reconstructed monument, and here as well is a graphic explaining the ΙΧΘΥΣ/fish symbol.
Discussion questions:
1) Who was Averkios? (He was a bishop in the 2nd century, born before AD 100)
2) What did he do before he died? (He had a monument made and wrote down the story of his life).
3) Did he write the story so anyone could understand it? (No – he wrote it so only other Christians could understand what he was talking about)
4) What were some of the Christian things he talked about in code? (Jesus as the good shepherd, the seal of Chrismation/Baptism, visiting other Christians, the Fish symbol for Jesus, Holy Communion, the Virgin Mary, and the Church’s prayer for the dead)
5) Which of those things he talks about do we still do in the Church? (All of them – but it might be good to ask the kids which ones they have seen)
6) What do you think Averkios was doing when he traveled to Syria? (This is a bonus question – he was preaching and baptizing people. He brought so many people into the Church that he is called an Equal-to-the-Apostles).
Day 3 (Friday)
Luke 4:31-44
Last week we saw Jesus announce Himself as the Messiah, the Christ, in His home town of Nazareth, and we saw the hometown crowd get angry at Him and try to kill Him. This week, we see where He went next.
“The Man with an Unclean Spirit
31 He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. 32 They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. 33 In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm. 36 They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, “What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!” 37 And a report about him began to reach every place in the region.
Healings at Simon’s House
38 After leaving the synagogue he entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her. 39 Then he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them.
40 As the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various kinds of diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on each of them and cured them. 41 Demons also came out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Messiah.
Jesus Preaches in the Synagogues
42 At daybreak he departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowds were looking for him; and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving them. 43 But he said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44 So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea."
Discussion Questions
1) Where did Jesus go when He left Nazareth? (He went to Capernaum, which was a city nearby. It was Peter and Andrew’s home town)
2) What did He do there? (He preached in the synagogue there)
3) Was He able to preach without being interrupted? (No – a man possessed by a demon interrupted Him and started yelling at Him.)
4) What did Jesus do? (He commanded the demon to be quiet and to leave the man)
5) What did the people who saw this happen think about it? (They were impressed – they saw that Jesus had authority over the evil spirits).
6) What else did Jesus do in Capernaum? (He healed Peter’s mother-in-law, and a lot of other people, and then he left to go to other cities to preach)
7) What else did you notice? (This is an open question – they may ask about demon-possession. If they do, it is worth reminding them that God protects Christian people from demons when we remain in relationship with Him. This is one reason it is important to pray, to repent when we sin, to receive Holy Communion, and to remember the Lord throughout our daily lives. They might also ask why Jesus didn’t let the demons tell everyone that He was the Son of God. I would suggest that you ask them what they think about this. Afterward, you can mention that Jesus might be waiting to proclaim Himself publicly, or He might simply be unwilling to have the evil spirits be the heralds of His divinity. They will proclaim it as bad news, but in truth His coming is good news for everyone except for them)