Day 1 (Monday)
1 Kingdoms 9:27; 10:1-16 (Samuel Anoints Saul, Saul Returns Home)
Last time we met Saul, a young man of the tribe of Benjamin, and saw him leave his home looking for his father’s donkeys. Along the way, he met Samuel, and we saw God show Samuel that Saul was the one chosen to be the first king of Israel. Samuel invites him to stay with him, and shares the sacrificial meal with him, and gives him a place to stay for the night. In the morning, they leave, so that Samuel can send him back on his way to his father. We will now see what happens next.
Samuel Anoints Saul
27 As they were going down to the outskirts of the town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the boy to go on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.”
1 Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him; he said, “The Lord has anointed you ruler over his people Israel. You shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their enemies all around. Now this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you ruler over his heritage: 2 When you depart from me today you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has stopped worrying about them and is worrying about you, saying: What shall I do about my son?’
3 Then you shall go on from there further and come to the oak of Tabor; three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three kids, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. 4 They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from them. 5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, at the place where the Philistine garrison is; there, as you come to the town, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the shrine with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre playing in front of them; they will be in a prophetic frenzy.
6 Then the spirit of the Lord will possess you, and you will be in a prophetic frenzy along with them and be turned into a different person. 7 Now when these signs meet you, do whatever you see fit to do, for God is with you. 8 And you shall go down to Gilgal ahead of me; then I will come down to you to present burnt offerings and offer sacrifices of well-being. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”
Saul Prophesies
9 As he turned away to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all these signs were fulfilled that day. 10 When they were going from there to Gibeah, a band of prophets met him; and the spirit of God possessed him, and he fell into a prophetic frenzy along with them. 11 When all who knew him before saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” 12 A man of the place answered, “And who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 13 When his prophetic frenzy had ended, he went home.
14 Saul’s uncle said to him and to the boy, “Where did you go?” And he replied, “To seek the donkeys; and when we saw they were not to be found, we went to Samuel.” 15 Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me what Samuel said to you.” 16 Saul said to his uncle, “He told us that the donkeys had been found.” But about the matter of the kingship, of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything.
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 the pattern here, that God is telling Saul that he will be king, and is giving him a series of “lesser” signs to show the validity of this prophecy/promise. It is also worth noting that Saul doesn’t seem particularly eager to do God’s will at this point, as might be indicated by the fact that Samuel tells him to do whatever seems good to him when the Spirit of the Lord possesses him, and he seems to do not much of anything in particular. Nonetheless, this pattern is one that we see many times throughout Scripture. This is also the first time in a long while that we have seen an actual anointing with oil as the sign of God’s choice of a king, of the one to protect and bring justice for the people; this imagery persists throughout time, even to the present, since this is the image that is being referred to every time we call Jesus “Christ,” since Christ simply means “Anointed,” as a translation of the Hebrew “Messiah.” )
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)
Epistle of St. Clement to the Corinthians (translated by Roberts-Donaldson)
Last time, we saw St. Clement provide several examples of obedience, trust, faithfulness, and hospitality from the Old Testament, referencing Abraham, Lot, and Rahab. This time, he will move forward to press his point, exhorting the Corinthians to imitate these examples.
Letter of Clement to the Corinthians: Chapters 13-15
CHAPTER 13 — AN EXHORTATION TO HUMILITY.
Let us therefore, brethren, be of humble mind, laying aside all haughtiness, and pride, and foolishness, and angry feelings; and let us act according to that which is written (for the Holy Spirit says, "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, neither let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glories glory in the Lord, in diligently seeking Him, and doing judgment and righteousness" ), being especially mindful of the words of the Lord Jesus which He spoke, teaching us meekness and long-suffering.
For thus He spoke: "Be merciful, that you may obtain mercy; forgive, that it may be forgiven to you; as you do, so shall it be done to you; as you judge, so shall you be judged; as you are kind, so shall kindness be shown to you; with what measure you measure, with the same it shall be measured to you." By this precept and by these rules let us establish ourselves, that we walk with all humility in obedience to His holy words. For the holy word says, "On whom shall I look, but on him that is meek and peaceable, and who trembles at My words?"
CHAPTER 14 — WE SHOULD OBEY GOD RATHER THAN THE AUTHORS OF SEDITION.
It is right and holy therefore, men and brethren, to obey God rather than to follow those who, through pride and sedition, have become the leaders of a detestable emulation. For we shall incur no slight injury, but rather great danger, if we rashly yield ourselves to the inclinations of men who aim at exciting strife and tumults, so as to draw us away from what is good. Let us be kind one to another after the pattern of the tender mercy and benignity of our Creator.
For it is written, "The kind-hearted shall inhabit the land, and the guiltless shall be left upon it, but transgressors shall be destroyed from off the face of it." And again [the Scripture] says, "I saw the ungodly highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon: I passed by, and, behold, he was not; and I diligently sought his place, and could not find it. Preserve innocence, and look on equity: for there shall be a remnant to the peaceful man."
CHAPTER 15 — WE MUST ADHERE TO THOSE WHO CULTIVATE PEACE, NOT TO THOSE WHO MERELY PRETEND TO DO SO.
Let us cleave, therefore, to those who cultivate peace with godliness, and not to those who hypocritically profess to desire it. For [the Scripture] says in a certain place, "This people honours Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." And again: "They bless with their mouth, but curse with their heart." And again it says, "They loved Him with their mouth, and lied to Him with their tongue; but their heart was not right with Him, neither were they faithful in His covenant." "Let the deceitful lips become silent," [and "let the Lord destroy all the lying lips,] and the boastful tongue of those who have said, Let us magnify our tongue; our lips are our own; who is lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, and for the sighing of the needy, will I now arise, says the Lord: I will place him in safety; I will deal confidently with him."
The translation is taken from the following website: http://earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-roberts.html
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 how Clement began in the previous selections to urge the Church at Corinth, both the leaders and all the people, to repentance, and then to righteousness, giving examples both positive and negative from the Old Testament. This time, having laid his groundwork, he begins to come to his point; humility and mercy are essential, but with that said, following or taking part in rebellion against the established authorities is a path to destruction, and he warns against this with very strong language. So, in short, he is urging, or seems to be urging, the Church authorities to be an example of humility, repentance, and mercy…and then he strongly exhorts those who have followed those making trouble in the Church to repent, and to be reconciled with their leaders. This seems like a good recipe for actual healing in the Church, both then, and now. Mercy and forgiveness and humility from the leaders is essential, but it cannot accomplish anything except martyrdom by the leaders without genuine repentance on the part of those who have strayed.)
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 13:54-58; 14:1-12 (Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth, Death of John the Baptist)
Last time we saw Jesus complete a series of parables, spoken both to the Pharisees and scribes, and then to His disciples, teaching to them about the kingdom of God, and emphasizing how it is not in the things that are valued in this world, in wealth or power or grandeur, but in the humble, small, and suffering realities of the Kingdom, which transform the world from the inside out, like a small seed growing into a large tree, or like a little yeast transforms a lump of dough. This time, we will see Him return to the town in which He grew up, and will see what happens there.
The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth
54 He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house.” 58 And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.
The Death of John the Baptist
14 At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus; 2 and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet. 6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and she pleased Herod 7 so much that he promised on oath to grant her whatever she might ask. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 The king was grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he commanded it to be given; 10 he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 The head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who brought it to her mother. 12 His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.
Discussion Questions
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should note how remarkable it is that, at this point in the Lord’s ministry, with massive crowds following Him, the Pharisees dogging His heels everywhere He goes, when He goes to the town in which He grew up, people take offense at Him. It is a sad exhibit of human envy, of how we so easily fall into jealousy of one another, resentment when someone that “we know when” surpasses our expectations or our understanding. We would expect that the town in which the Lord grew up would be the most blessed of places, having lived for decades in the presence of the Most High God become human…but they do not seem to have been able to get past that basic pitfall. In the meantime, we see that John the Baptist has completed his race and reached his martyrdom, which tells us that, with the Forerunner and herald of the Lord’s Gospel now off the scene, any preliminary character to the Lord’s preaching is over. He is moving quickly now toward Jerusalem, toward His Passion, death, and Resurrection, as St. John begins to proclaim His imminent assault on the powers of death and sin to those bound in Hades.)
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?