Day 1 (Monday)
Ezra 9:5-15; 10:1-17, 44b (Ezra’s Prayer, People’s Response, Removal of Foreign Wives)
Last time, we saw Ezra arrive at Jerusalem, and hear that a great many of the people of God who have been working there to rebuild the Temple have also taken wives from the people of the land, the worshippers of demon gods and practitioners of abominable religious rituals. He is shocked and appalled at this news, and sat down in public mourning until the evening. This time we will see what he does when the evening comes.
Ezra’s Prayer
5 At the evening sacrifice I got up from my fasting, with my garments and my mantle torn, and fell on my knees, spread out my hands to the Lord my God, 6 and said,
“O my God, I am too ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. 7 From the days of our ancestors to this day we have been deep in guilt, and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been handed over to the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as is now the case.
8 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, who has left us a remnant, and given us a stake in his holy place, in order that he may brighten our eyes and grant us a little sustenance in our slavery. 9 For we are slaves; yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to give us new life to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judea and Jerusalem.
10 “And now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, 11 which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land unclean with the pollutions of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations. They have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. 12 Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’
13 After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, 14 shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you destroy us without remnant or survivor? 15 O Lord, God of Israel, you are just, but we have escaped as a remnant, as is now the case. Here we are before you in our guilt, though no one can face you because of this.”
The People’s Response
10 While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him out of Israel; the people also wept bitterly. 2 Shecaniah son of Jehiel, of the descendants of Elam, addressed Ezra, saying, “We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.”
“3 So now let us make a covenant with our God to send away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. 4 Take action, for it is your duty, and we are with you; be strong, and do it.” 5 Then Ezra stood up and made the leading priests, the Levites, and all Israel swear that they would do as had been said. So they swore.
Foreign Wives and Their Children Rejected
6 Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God, and went to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib, where he spent the night. He did not eat bread or drink water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles. 7 They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles that they should assemble at Jerusalem, 8 and that if any did not come within three days, by order of the officials and the elders all their property should be forfeited, and they themselves banned from the congregation of the exiles.
9 Then all the people of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days; it was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. All the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain. 10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have trespassed and married foreign women, and so increased the guilt of Israel. 11 Now make confession to the Lord the God of your ancestors, and do his will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.”
12 Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “It is so; we must do as you have said. 13 But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain; we cannot stand in the open. Nor is this a task for one day or for two, for many of us have transgressed in this matter. 14 Let our officials represent the whole assembly, and let all in our towns who have taken foreign wives come at appointed times, and with them the elders and judges of every town, until the fierce wrath of our God on this account is averted from us.” 15 Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levites supported them.
16 Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men, heads of families, according to their families, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter. 17 By the first day of the first month they had come to the end of all the men who had married foreign women.
And the remainder of the chapter enumerates all of the people who had married foreign women, and concludes that “they sent them away with their children” (verse 44).
1049 words
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, on the one hand, this process feels heartless and cruel to us, with the separation of husbands from their wives and children from their fathers, and it is very easy to find fault with Ezra, or even with God, for requiring this. There are two points that we must remember as we do so. The first is that there is actually a normal, standard way for a foreign woman to become a part of the household of faith, by forsaking the worship of her ancestral gods and submitting herself to the law that God had given to Moses. The second is an extension of the first; since there is a normal way for a “gentile” woman to become part of the Covenant, then if we are speaking of “foreign wives,” this term refers explicitly not to an ethnic reality, but to a cultural one; these women have not joined themselves to the household of the covenant, but are rather functioning as a sort of fifth column within the house of Israel…and they are raising their children in the same way. It is for this reason that they must be sent away. If they are willing to become worshippers of the one true God, then they can stay…but if not, then this practice must end.)
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)
Irenaeus – Against Heresies 11
Last time, we saw St. Irenaeus speak at some length and in detail about the Eucharist, and how the Church offers it, and ought to offer, and what it all means. This time, we will continue with some allegorical readings of the Old Testament. We have been depending on a recent condensation of the work by James Payton; anyone who would like to purchase this book can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Irenaeus-Christian-Faith-Condensation-Heresies/dp/1608996247/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=.
St. Irenaeus of Lyons – Against Heresies – Book 4 (excerpts 6)
Book 4, Chapter 21.3
Furthermore, if anyone examines Jacob’s life, he will find it full of symbolic significance. In the first place, at his birth he took hold of his brother’s heel [Gen 25:26] and so was called Jacob (that is, the supplanter—one who holds, but is not held, struggling and conquering), grasping in his hand his adversary’s heel—that is, victory. This is why the Lord was born, the type of whose birth he showed ahead of time, about whom John says in the Apocalypse, “He came out conquering and to conquer” [Rev 6:2]. Next, Jacob took the rights of the firstborn when his brother despised them, just as the younger nation received Christ when the older one rejected him, saying, “We have no king but the emperor” [John 19:15].
In Christ all this is fulfilled: the latter people who believe in him have snatched away the blessings of the former from the Father, just as Jacob took away the blessing of Esau. Because of this Jacob suffered the plots and persecutions of his brother, just as the Church does from the Jews. The twelve tribes—the race of Israel—were born in a foreign country; Christ was also born in a strange country, to generate the twelve-pillared foundation of the Church. Various colored sheep were allotted to this Jacob as his wages; the wages of Christ are human beings, who from various and diverse nations come together into one cohort of faith, as the Father promised him, saying, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession” [Ps 2:8].
And since from the multitude of his children the prophets of the Lord afterwards arose, it was necessary that Jacob beget children from the two sisters, even as Christ did from the two laws of one and the same Father. Similarly, Jacob had children by the handmaids, indicating that Christ would raise up children of God, both from those who are free and from those who are slaves, granting all of them in the same way the gift of the Spirit, who brings us to life.… For with God nothing is without purpose or due significance. (4:21,3)
Book 4, Chapter 22.1
Now in the last days, when the fulness of the time of liberty had arrived, the Word himself “washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion” [Isa 4:4] when he washed the disciples’ feet with his own hands [John 13:5]. This was the goal of the human race, inheriting God: that as in the beginning through our first parents we were all brought into bondage, becoming subject to death, so at last through the last Adam all who from the beginning were his disciples, being cleansed and washed from the defilement of death, should come to life in God—for he who washed the feet of the disciples sanctified the entire body, and rendered it clean.… (4:22,1)
Book 4, Chapter 22.2
It was not only for those who believed on him in the time of Tiberius Caesar that Christ came; nor did the Father direct his providence only for those who are alive now; but for all those who from the beginning, according to their capacity, in their generation have feared and loved God, have practiced justice and piety towards their neighbors, and have earnestly desired to see Christ and hear his voice. Therefore, at his second coming he will first awake from their sleep in death all persons of this description and will raise them up—as well as the rest who will be judged—and give them a place in his kingdom. For truly “God is one” who directed the patriarchs toward his dispensations and “justifies the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith” [Rom 3:30].… (4:22,2)
Book 4, Chapter 26.1
Anyone who reads the Scriptures attentively will find in them an account of Christ and a foreshadowing of the new calling, for Christ is the treasure hidden in the field [Matt 13:44]—that is, in this world (for “the field is the world” [Matt 13:38]). The treasure hid in the Scriptures is Christ, who was pointed out by types and parables. His human nature could not be understood before the things predicted took place (that is, the advent of Christ).… Every prophecy, before its fulfilment, is enigmatic and ambiguous, but when its time of fulfillment has arrived and the prediction has come to pass, then the prophecies have a clear and certain exposition.
For this reason, to this day when the law is read to the Jews, it is like a fable to them, since they do not embrace the explanation of all things which accords with the coming of the Son of God in human nature. But when it is read by Christians, it is a treasure, hidden indeed in a field but brought to light and expounded by the cross of Christ; it thus enriches human understanding, manifests the wisdom of God, declares his dealing with humankind, forms the kingdom of Christ ahead of time, preaches by anticipation the inheritance of the holy Jerusalem, and proclaims beforehand that those who love God will be greatly privileged to see God.
They hear his word, and from the hearing of his discourse they will be glorified so greatly that others will be unable to behold the glory of their countenance, as was said by Daniel: “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” [Dan 12:3]. This is what happens to those who rightly read the Scriptures. This is the way the Lord himself taught his disciples after his resurrection from the dead, arguing from the Scriptures, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer … and then enter into his glory, … and that repentance and forgiveness of sins be proclaimed in his name to all nations?” [Luke 24:26,47].… (4:26,1)
1010 words
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 are given here a very helpful set of examples of an allegorical reading of several episodes in the Old Testament. These allegorical readings to not replace or negate the literal sense of the story, but they do reveal to us some of the ways in which what happened in the Old Testament prefigures and foreshadows and sometimes outright prophesies the coming of the Lord. Moreover, as we will see Irenaeus say explicitly in a few weeks, it gives us a way to read the Old Testament without getting bogged down in judgment of those who have gone before us in the Faith, which can be a dangerous thing for our spiritual well-being.)
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 15:12-27; 16:1-4a (Jesus' Commandment, World's Hatred)
Last time we saw Jesus promise very clearly to send the Holy Spirit to His disciples, and then outline to them the basic principle by which they should live, recognizing that their life flows from Him, as He is the vine, and they are the branches. This basic truth of their (and our) existence is to be the guiding principle of their life in community. That their (and our) life flows from the Lord in Whom we live and move and have our being has a direct logical consequence, which the Lord will lay out in today’s reading.
A New Commandment
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
The World’s Hatred
18 “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. 27 You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
16 “I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. 3 And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. 4 But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them.
464 words
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 what the Lord is telling His disciples is effectively the fundamental and guiding principle of the Church, that they are to love one another as they have seen the Lord love them. This is the final rebuttal of their former expectations, and He is immediately replacing that expectation with a new commandment. Along with this, He warns them that the world will reject them, as it has rejected Him, and that all the suffering that they will experience is simply part of the truth to which He calls them, to follow Him and to submit to the same rejection that He has experienced, because in this way, the world will be called to Him, and also the world will sort itself according to the essential, binary question, of whether they welcome and love the Lord, or reject Him. In all of this, He is preparing His disciples (and us) for what it will mean for us to take up our cross and follow Him.)
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?