Day 1 (Monday)
2 Kingdoms 12:1-25 (Nathan Condemns David, David Repents)
Last time we saw David fall deeply into sin, following paths that we have seen him begin to carve out in both the desire of other women, and in anger and violence toward other men, and commit adultery with the wife of one of his soldiers. When she became pregnant, in order to cover up this sin, he had her husband killed by sending him alone against the enemies of Israel, and after a brief period of mourning, he took her for his own wife. We ended the story with the statement that the Lord was not pleased with this (which is profoundly strong language for the Bible), and we will begin this week’s reading with the same statement, and see what comes after.
Nathan Condemns David
But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord,
12 1 and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds; 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him.
4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” 5 Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; 6 he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; 8 I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.”
10 “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. 11 Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. 12 For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.” 13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house.
Bathsheba’s Child Dies
The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became very ill. 16 David therefore pleaded with God for the child; David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17 The elders of his house stood beside him, urging him to rise from the ground; but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18 On the seventh day the child died.
And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, “While the child was still alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us; how then can we tell him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, he perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.”
20 Then David rose from the ground, washed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He went into the house of the Lord, and worshiped; he then went to his own house; and when he asked, they set food before him and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while it was alive; but when the child died, you rose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me, and the child may live.’ 23 But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”
Solomon Is Born
24 Then David consoled his wife Bathsheba, and went to her, and lay with her; and she bore a son, and he named him Solomon. The Lord loved him, 25 and sent a message by the prophet Nathan; so he named him Jedidiah, because of the Lord.
And after all this, David went out and joined Joab and the army, and they completed the war against the Ammonites, and utterly defeated them. But all was not well in David’s kingdom, and starting next week, we will begin to see Nathan’s prophecy come true.
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should note that this passage is the turning point of David’s life. Up till last week, we have only seen David on the ascent, in terms of power, prestige, and the apparent blessings of the Lord. Yet at the same time, the narrative of David’s life in terms of his faithfulness and purity has been progressive movement in the opposite direction, from the high point of trust in God and faithfulness before Him that we saw in the combat with Goliath, all the way down to the adultery and murder that we read about last week. From this point on, we will see David’s fortunes reversed, but we will also see him returning to faithfulness to and trust in God, and beginning to act again as a more righteous man. For this specific passage, the Leader can also note that David’s fervent condemnation of the man in Nathan’s story seems a bit aggressive; one commentator has suggested that in this we see David’s guilty conscience revealing itself. He knows that he has sinned, so he is eager to at least bring justice to someone else, especially in such a clear and obvious case of injustice. In a certain sense, God actually carries out the sentence that David proclaims against himself; he says that the lamb shall be restored fourfold, but since in David’s case, the innocent lamb that has been stolen is actually Uriah’s life, lost to David’s murderous plan, the penalty that David will pay will be the destruction of four of his children, beginning with his firstborn child by Bathsheba, as we have seen already. The others, we will see next week.)
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)
Sts. Macrina the Elder & St. Emmeleia
On May 30th, the Orthodox Church celebrates the feast-day of two relatives of St. Basil the Great & St. Gregory of Nyssa: their grandmother, St. Macrina the Elder, and their mother, St. Emmeleia. Many of the details of their lives are actually found in the life of St. Macrina the Younger, their sister, which St. Gregory wrote after her repose. We will, God willing, read her life in full next year, but for now, we’ll enjoy the chance to see the origins of this remarkable family of saints.
Life of Saint Macrina the Elder, Grandmother of Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa (Feast Day – May 30)
Saint Macrina the Elder was from Neocaesarea in Pontus and was born in the middle of the third century to a noble family. Her teacher in the doctrines and piety of the Christian faith was Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, the first Bishop and Enlightener of Neocaesarea, who died between 270 and 275. There Macrina married a man, whose name we do not know, and among her children was Basil the Elder, who later became the father of a holy family, which includes such renowned saints as Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Macrina the Younger.
During the persecution of Maximinus, Macrina fled from her native town with her husband, and had to endure many privations for around seven years. She was thus a confessor of the faith during the last violent storm that burst over the early Church. Saint Gregory the Theologian describes what she and those with her endured in his Funeral Oration to Basil the Great:
"There was a persecution, the most frightful and severe of all; I mean, as you know, the persecution of Maximinus, which, following closely upon those which immediately preceded it, made them all seem gentle, by its excessive audacity, and by its eagerness to win the crown of violence in impiety. It was overcome by many of our champions, who wrestled with it to the death, or nearly to the death, with only life enough left in them to survive their victory, and not pass away in the midst of the struggle; remaining to be trainers in virtue, living witnesses, breathing trophies, silent exhortations, among whose numerous ranks were found Basil's paternal ancestors, upon whom, in their practice of every form of piety, that period bestowed many a fair garland. So prepared and determined were they to bear readily all those things on account of which Christ crowns those who have imitated His struggle on our behalf…
They betook themselves to a thicket on the mountains of Pontus, of which there are many deep ones of considerable extent, with very few comrades of their flight, or attendants upon their needs. Let others marvel at the length of time, for their flight was exceedingly prolonged, to about seven years, or a little more, and their mode of life, delicately nurtured as they were, was straitened and unusual, as may be imagined, with the discomfort of its exposure to frost and heat and rain; and the wilderness allowed no fellowship or converse with friends, a great trial to men accustomed to the attendance and honor of a numerous retinue."
In the Life of Macrina the Younger, written by her brother Saint Gregory of Nyssa, he writes of his grandmother and why his sister was named after her:
"Some time ago, there had been a celebrated Macrina in our family, our father's mother. At the time of the persecutions she had suffered bravely for her confession of faith in Christ, and it was in honor of her that the child was given this name by her parents."
Before Saint Macrina the Elder died, probably in the 340's, we are informed by Saint Basil the Great that she played a crucial role in the education of her grandchildren and their spiritual formation, making sure to impart upon them the blessed teachings of her spiritual father Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus. The first quote comes from Basil's Letter 204 to the Church in Neocaesarea and the second from Letter 223:
"What clearer evidence can there be of my faith, than that I was brought up by my grandmother, a blessed woman, who came from you? I mean the celebrated Macrina who taught me the words of the blessed Gregory; which, as far as memory had preserved down to her day, she cherished herself, while she fashioned and formed me, while yet a child, upon the doctrines of piety."
"The teaching about God which I had received as a boy from my blessed mother and my grandmother Macrina, I have ever held with increased conviction. On my coming to ripe years of reason I did not shift my opinions from one to another, but carried out the principles delivered to me by my parents. Just as the seed when it grows is first tiny and then gets bigger but always preserves its identity, not changed in kind though gradually perfected in growth, so I reckon the same doctrine to have grown in my case through gradually advancing stages. What I hold now has not replaced what I held at the beginning."
It can be safe to say, therefore, that Saint Macrina the Elder played a pivotal role in establishing a sanctified foundation for a family in which all its members are glorified and commemorated in the Church as Saints and Fathers.
https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2020/05/life-of-saint-macrina-elder-grandmother.html
Saint Emmelia, Mother of Saint Basil the Great (Feast Day – Slavic: Jan. 1; Greek: May 30)
Saint Emmeleia (also Emily, Emilia, Emelia), was part of a holy family and most famous for being the mother of Saint Basil the Great. There are very few descriptions of Saint Emmelia’s life. She was the daughter of a martyr and the daughter-in-law of Saint Macrina the Elder (260-340). Along with her husband, Saint Basil the Elder (+ 349), she gave birth to nine or ten children. She instilled the Orthodox faith in her children, teaching them to pray and devote their lives to the service of the Church. Among these were Saint Basil the Great (+ 379), his sister Saint Macrina the Younger (c.330–379) and his brothers Saints Gregory of Nyssa (334-394), Naukratios of Mount Nitria (332-358), and Peter of Sebaste (345/7-392). It is also a widely held tradition that Saint Theosevia (c. 335-c.385) was his youngest sister (though some claim she was the spouse of Saint Gregory of Nyssa), who is also a saint in the Church. There are also about four or five other girls, unknown sisters of Saint Basil. Therefore, Saint Emmelia is often called “the mother of saints.”
When her son, Naukratios, suddenly died at the age of twenty-seven, she was consoled by her eldest daughter, Macrina. Macrina reminded her that it was not befitting to a Christian to “mourn as those who have no hope” and inspired her to hope courageously in the resurrection bequeathed to us by the saving passion of the Lord.
After her children left home, Emmelia was persuaded by Macrina to forsake the world. Together they founded a monastery for women. Emmelia divided the family property among her children. Retaining only some meager possessions, she and Macrina withdrew to a secluded family property in Pontus, picturesquely located on the banks of the Iris River and not far from Saint Basil’s wilderness home. A number of liberated female slaves desired to join the pair, and a convent was formed. They lived under one roof and held everything in common: they ate, worked, and prayed together. They were so eager to advance in virtue that they regarded fasting as food and poverty as riches. The harmony of this model community of women was unspoiled by anger, jealousy, hatred, or pride. Indeed, as the Church sings of monastics, they lived like angels in the flesh.
Living in this manner for many years, Emmelia reached old age. When an illness signaled her departure from this world, her son Peter came to her side. Together with Macrina, he tended to his mother in her last days. As the oldest and the youngest, Macrina and Peter held a special place in Emmelia’s heart.
Before committing her soul to the Lord, she raised her voice to heaven, saying, “To you, O Lord, I give the first fruits and the tithe of the fruit of my womb. The first fruit is my first-born daughter, and the tithe is this, my youngest son. Let these be for you a rightly acceptable sacrifice, and let your holiness descend upon them!” Saint Emmelia reposed in 375 and was buried as she had requested, beside her husband in the chapel at their estate in Annesi, where Naukratios had also been laid.
Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Having lived your life prudently before God, you finished your course beforehand with revered Basil, all-revered Emmelia, and in the wilderness, you mutually went with your children, towards that which you longed for above, wherefore Christ most-glorified your household.
https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2017/05/saint-emmelia-mother-of-saint-basil.html
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader can point out that what most characterizes the lives of these saints is that they are living as citizens of the kingdom of God that is to come, rather than fixing their attention and cares on the things of this present world. This undivided purpose transforms their entire existence, and that of those around them.)
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)
John 11:1-16 (Death of Lazarus)
Last week, we came to the end of the Gospel of John, but of course we are not yet finished with this ecclesiastical year, nor with this fourth year of the Religious Education Initiative. We remember, of course, that we had read through to the end of the 10th Chapter of the Gospel according to St. John as we came to the beginning of Great Lent, and that we saw the Lord leave a dispute with the Pharisees one last time as they tried to kill Him. He then departed across the Jordan River, and remained there. We left Him and His disciples there, and skipped ahead to the end of the account of the Mystical Supper, so as to arrive at the Crucifixion and Resurrection by Holy Week. We will now return to Chapter 11, and see through the summer the path that the Lord walked toward His life-giving Passion.
The Death of Lazarus
11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, 6 after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. 10 But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” 11 After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”
12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” 13 Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. 15 For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
Discussion Questions
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader can point out that the Lord’s initial words, in verse 4, seem to contradict the plain reading of the text, since Lazarus’ sickness DOES in fact lead to death. The point, however, that the Lord is making may be one of two. The first, and probably most likely, is simply that the death of Lazarus is not the end of this story. Death is USUALLY the end of the story, and if a sickness leads to death, that is where the story of that person ends. But this sickness is instead leading THROUGH the death of Lazarus to a joy unlooked-for. The other possibility is that the Lord is referring to the deeper meaning of death, which is to say, spiritual death, separation from God. Whatever else is happening here, the death of Lazarus does NOT result in spiritual death. But I think the first interpretation is more likely correct in this case.)
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?