Day 1 (Monday)
Leviticus 23:1-22 (Festivals: Sabbath, Feasts of Passover, First Fruits, Weeks)
You may notice that we have skipped ahead somewhat, from chapter 16 last time to chapter 23 this time. The reason for this is that Chapters 17-22 comprise what is sometimes referred to as the Holiness Code, the guidelines that are given to the children of Israel, on the one hand, and to non-Israelites living among them, on the other hand. These are relevant to a specific event in the book of Acts, so we are waiting to read them until March. For now, what we will see are the certain occasions on which the children of Israel were commanded to celebrate a great festival, making offerings at the place the Lord will appoint in the Promised Land, and observing these commemorations in a particular way. It is notable, too, that in chapter 16 we saw the particular details of the celebration of the Day of Atonement, but this week and next week, we will see the feasts of Passover, First Fruits, and Weeks/Pentecost, then the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, set out as the central celebrations of the festal year.
Appointed Festivals
23 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: These are the appointed festivals of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed festivals.
The Sabbath, Passover, and Unleavened Bread
3 Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work: it is a sabbath to the Lord throughout your settlements.
4 These are the appointed festivals of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall celebrate at the time appointed for them. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, there shall be a passover offering to the Lord, 6 and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of unleavened bread to the Lord; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. 8 For seven days you shall present the Lord’s offerings by fire; on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation: you shall not work at your occupations.
The Offering of First Fruits
9 The Lord spoke to Moses: 10 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall raise the sheaf before the Lord, that you may find acceptance; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall raise it. 12 On the day when you raise the sheaf, you shall offer a lamb a year old, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord.
13 And the grain offering with it shall be two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. 14 You shall eat no bread or parched grain or fresh ears until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your settlements.
The Festival of Weeks
15 And from the day after the sabbath, from the day on which you bring the sheaf of the elevation offering, you shall count off seven weeks; they shall be complete. 16 You shall count until the day after the seventh sabbath, fifty days; then you shall present an offering of new grain to the Lord. 17 You shall bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as an elevation offering, each made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of choice flour, baked with leaven, as first fruits to the Lord. 18 You shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, one young bull, and two rams; they shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, along with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord. 19 You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of well-being.
20 The priest shall raise them with the bread of the first fruits as an elevation offering before the Lord, together with the two lambs; they shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21 On that same day you shall make proclamation; you shall hold a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. This is a statute forever in all your settlements throughout your generations.
22 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien: I am the Lord your God.
Reading 11
663 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, while it isn’t entirely clear in our text in translation, the rite of the First Fruits is connected with the Feast of Passover; the raising of the sheaf would happen during the seven days of Passover, on the second day of the feast, as recorded by Josephus. So what we see here is basically a description of the feasts of Passover, on the one hand, and the feast of Weeks, celebrated seven weeks after Passover, which is to say, 50 days after, which is Pentecost. We should note, too, that this passage does not tell us WHAT is significant about these dates, but that they are important, two dates upon which the people of God are commanded to gather together to worship Him and to remember the glorious things that He did for them. Passover, of course, celebrated their deliverance from slavery in Egypt, and the manner of its celebration is provided in detail in Exodus. Pentecost celebrates the covenant established between God and Israel at Mt. Sinai, also described in Exodus.)
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)
Anaphora Prayers of St. Basil the Great – 2
Last time, we began reading the Anaphora Prayers from the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil. That first portion reflects on the glory of God in Trinity, praised unceasingly by the angelic powers, whose hymn, the Thrice-Holy hymn “Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of Your glory. Hosanna in the highest; blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!” we participate in as we celebrate the Divine Liturgy. From that point, we continue with a recounting of all the great and glorious things that God has done for His creation, and especially for humankind, as we join the Angels in praising and worshipping God.
St. Basil’s Anaphora (Offering Prayer) – Part 2
Priest: Together with these blessed powers, loving Master, we sinners also cry out and say: Truly You are holy and most holy, and there are no bounds to the majesty of Your holiness. You are holy in all Your works, for with righteousness and true judgment You have ordered all things for us. For having made man by taking dust from the earth, and having honored him with Your own image, O God, You placed him in a garden of delight, promising him eternal life and the enjoyment of everlasting blessings in the observance of Your commandments.
But when he disobeyed You, the true God who had created him, and was led astray by the deception of the serpent becoming subject to death through his own transgressions, You, O God, in Your righteous judgment, expelled him from paradise into this world, returning him to the earth from which he was taken, yet providing for him the salvation of regeneration in Your Christ.
For You did not forever reject Your creature whom You made, O Good One, nor did You forget the work of Your hands, but because of Your tender compassion, You visited him in various ways: You sent forth prophets; You performed mighty works by Your saints who in every generation have pleased You. You spoke to us by the mouth of Your servants the prophets, announcing to us the salvation which was to come; You gave us the law to help us; You appointed angels as guardians.
And when the fullness of time had come, You spoke to us through Your Son Himself, through whom You created the ages. He, being the splendor of Your glory and the image of Your being, upholding all things by the word of His power, thought it not robbery to be equal with You, God and Father. But, being God before all ages, He appeared on earth and lived with humankind. Becoming incarnate from a holy Virgin, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, conforming to the body of our lowliness, that He might change us in the likeness of the image of His glory.
For, since through man sin came into the world and through sin death, it pleased Your only begotten Son, who is in Your bosom, God and Father, born of a woman, the holy Theotokos and ever virgin Mary; born under the law, to condemn sin in His flesh, so that those who died in Adam may be brought to life in Him, Your Christ. He lived in this world, and gave us precepts of salvation. Releasing us from the delusions of idolatry, He guided us to the sure knowledge of You, the true God and Father. He acquired us for Himself, as His chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
Having cleansed us by water and sanctified us with the Holy Spirit, He gave Himself as ransom to death in which we were held captive, sold under sin. Descending into Hades through the cross, that He might fill all things with Himself, He loosed the bonds of death. He rose on the third day, having opened a path for all flesh to the resurrection from the dead, since it was not possible that the Author of life would be dominated by corruption. So He became the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, the first born of the dead, that He might be Himself the first in all things. Ascending into heaven, He sat at the right hand of Your majesty on high and He will come to render to each according to His works.
Part 2 – 602 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 end this week just before the phrase “as memorials of His saving passion He has given to us these gifts” as a prelude to the offering of the Bread and Wine. But this week’s portion of the prayer shows how St. Basil, and the Orthodox Church at large, approach the great problem of human existence, the reality of sin, not as a crime that we have committed against God, but as an enemy to whom we have become enslaved, and from which God comes to deliver us from sin and death and restore us to life in Him. The essential message of this prayer, and of the Church’s understanding of our life with God, is that everything that has come to us has been permitted or accomplished for our salvation. This includes even the struggles and challenges (not that God does the things that are evil TO us, but that He allows them as part of the reality of free will, and transforms them to work for our healing and wholeness if we submit ourselves to Him in faithfulness and obedience) that come to us in this life; if we can follow the Lord, we will come to recognize in the entire Creation the Lord’s gentle and steady work to heal and restore all things to Himself.)
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)
Acts 13:16b-43 (Paul’s Sermon at Antioch of Pisidia)
Last week, we saw Paul and Barnabas leave Antioch, sail to Cyprus, preach throughout the island, and then take ship again north to Asia Minor, where they preached in one of the coastal cities and then went further inland, to the north, to Antioch of Pisidia, where they went into the synagogue on the sabbath day and were invited to speak. This time, we will see what Paul says there.
Paul Preaches in the Synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia
“You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen. 17 The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. 18 For about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. 19 After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance 20 for about four hundred fifty years. After that he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. 21 Then they asked for a king; and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years.
22 When he had removed him, he made David their king. In his testimony about him he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’ 23 Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised; 24 before his coming John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John was finishing his work, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals on his feet.’
26 “My brothers, you descendants of Abraham’s family, and others who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. 27 Because the residents of Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize him or understand the words of the prophets that are read every sabbath, they fulfilled those words by condemning him. 28 Even though they found no cause for a sentence of death, they asked Pilate to have him killed.
29 When they had carried out everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead; 31 and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now his witnesses to the people. 32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors 33 he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm,
‘You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.’
34 As to his raising him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,
‘I will give you the holy promises made to David.’
35 Therefore he has also said in another psalm,
‘You will not let your Holy One experience corruption.’
36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, died, was laid beside his ancestors, and experienced corruption; 37 but he whom God raised up experienced no corruption. 38 Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; 39 by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. 40 Beware, therefore, that what the prophets said does not happen to you:
41 ‘Look, you scoffers!
Be amazed and perish,
for in your days I am doing a work,
a work that you will never believe, even if someone tells you.’”
42 As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people urged them to speak about these things again the next sabbath. 43 When the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
Reading 24 – 649 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 the way in which St. Paul makes the argument from the Torah and the Prophets that Jesus is the Messiah. He speaks first of the kingship in Israel, and presents Jesus as the descendant of David, which is to say, the Jewish Messiah, the promised anointed king. He then speaks of how Jesus came to the descendants of Abraham, but the leaders in Jerusalem rejected Him and crucified Him, and moves from that into the proclamation of the Resurrection, which he demonstrates as part of the prophetic expectation with the quotes from Scripture. And finally he calls them to receive the good word that has come to them, and not to reject their deliverance when it comes to them, again quoting Scripture foretelling that many will indeed scoff at their own salvation. This is a beautiful and concise summary of the Gospel that St. Paul and the other apostles were preaching in the synagogues, by which a great many of the Jews came to follow the Way of Christ Jesus.)
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?