Day 1 (Monday)
Genesis 21:8-21 (Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away)
For the last several weeks, we have read selections from the Old and New Testament relating to the feast of Christmas, and had set aside temporarily our journey through the life of Abraham. This week we will return to the story, immediately after the long-awaited birth of Isaac. Back in the first full week of December, we read of his birth, and of how Abraham obeyed God’s commandment, and circumcised him on the 8th day after his birth, dedicating him, and all his descendants, to be the holy people of God. Just last week, we celebrated the great fulfillment of that dedication, in the feast of our Lord’s circumcision and naming on January 1st. But now, we will continue with the story, and see what happens to Hagar and to Ishmael now that Isaac has been born.
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8 The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. 10 So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” 11 The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son.
12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. 13 As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.” 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” 19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
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 in this story, we continue to see the consequences of Abraham and Sarah’s effort to take matters into their own hands and “come up with” a child despite Sarah’s barrenness. They succeeded, but now we see the very human emotions of jealousy and fear of contested inheritance. What we also see, however, is God’s faithfulness, in caring for Hagar and Ishmael, and in accepting even Abraham’s mistakes as a part of the long-term plan. We know that not a few of the descendants of Ishmael continued in faithfulness to God, even soon after Abraham’s death, and then, of course, the Arab peoples have a long tradition of faithfulness within the Church, notwithstanding the rise of Islam.)
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 2 (Wednesday)
Wisdom on Living with Others from St. Dorotheos of Gaza
St. Dorotheos was a monastic saint in the 500’s after our Lord’s birth. He seems to have been born into an upper class family in Antioch around 500, but devoted himself to monasticism from an early age. He eventually came to be in a position of oversight of other monastics, and it is from this time that we have writings of his, guidance that he provided to others who were devoted to living a life of prayer in community. The passage quoted below has been found on the internet in various forms of editing, but the full version seems to be from here: https://www.holycross.org/blogs/spiritual-articles/113632902-on-blaming-others.
On Blaming Others
There came to me once two brothers who were always [arguing], and the elder was saying about the younger, ‘I arrange for him to do something and he gets distressed, and so I get distressed, thinking that if he had faith and love towards me he would accept what I tell him with complete confidence.’
And the younger was saying, ‘Excuse me, reverend father, but he does not speak to me with the fear of God, but rather as someone who wants to give orders. I reckon that this is why my heart has not full confidence, as the Fathers say.’
Impress on your minds that each blames the other and neither blames himself, but both of them are getting upset with one another, and although they are begging each other’s pardon, they both remain unconvinced ‘because he does not [from his heart] show me deference and, therefore, I am not convinced, for the Fathers say that he should.’ And the other says, ‘Since he will not have complete confidence in my love until I show him deference I, for my my part, do not have complete confidence in him.’
My God, do you see how ridiculous this is? Do you see their perverse way of thinking? God knows how sorry I am about this; that we take the saying of the Fathers to excuse our own will and the destruction of our souls. Each of these had to throw the blame on the other… What they really ought to do is just the opposite. The first ought to say: I speak with presumption and therefore God does not give my brother confidence in me. And the other ought to be thinking: My brother gives me commands with humility and love but I am unruly and have not the fear of God. Neither of them found that way and blamed himself, but each of them vexed the other.
Don’t you see that this is why we make no progress, why we find we have not been helped towards it? We remain all the time against one another, grinding one another down. Because each considers himself right and excuses himself, as I was saying, all the while keeping none of the Commandments yet expecting his neighbor to keep the lot! This is why we do not acquire habits of virtue, because if we light on any little thing we tax our neighbor with it and blame him saying he ought not to do such a thing and why did he do it—whereas ought we not rather to examine ourselves about the Commandments and blame ourselves for not keeping them? How did that [Elder] reply when asked, ‘What do you find most important in this way of life, Father?’ He replied, ‘In everything to blame oneself’. And when his questioner agreed with him about this, he underlined it by saying, ‘There is no other way but this.’…
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 we often find from monastics the clearest consideration of how to live practically with one another. Sometimes what we see from the monastic life appears to be unrealistic, and sometimes it is indeed irrelevant to us who live in the world. It would be good to foster a discussion of whether the point made in the final sentence, that we should “in everything blame one’s self,” is realistic and relevant to us Christians living in the world. If we attend carefully to this story, we will see that there is nothing uniquely monastic about it; we all have had conflicts like these, and the answer, for all of us, is to attend not to the speck that is in our brother or sister’s eye, but to the log that is in our own.)
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)
Matthew 9:35-38; 10:1-15 (The Disciples are Sent Out)
Last time we saw Jesus leave the house of Matthew to go to help the ruler of the synagogue whose daughter had just died. Along the way, He healed the woman with the flow of blood, and then afterward He also healed two blind men and a mute as well. This time, we will see Him go on from there and continue to do the same sort of work throughout the surrounding area, and then begin to give the disciples a share in this work.
The Harvest Is Great, the Laborers Few
35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
The Twelve Apostles
10 Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
The Mission of the Twelve
5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. 9 Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food.
11 Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
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 this is the point at which the disciples become “apostles.” This name begins to be applied to them precisely at the point when the Lord sends them out, and this is, of course, what apostle means: one who is sent. It is also worth attending to the very specific limits and guidelines that the Lord sets for them, and discussing why He might have set those limits, and what He is teaching them with these instructions.)
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?