Day 1 (Monday)
3 Kingdoms 3:1-28 (Solomon’s Prayer and Wisdom)
Over the past several months, we have read much of the book of Leviticus, and then we shifted forward to read the Prophecy of Jonah in the weeks immediately preceding Pascha. As we move forward, we will return to the story of the kingdoms of Israel following the death of King David and the crowning of his son Solomon, which we read in June of last year. We had seen Solomon crowned by the faithful servants of his father David, and then after David’s death we saw him deal out justice to those who had committed evil in the days of King David, or who had sought to seize the kingdom for themselves. As we begin this story (spoiler alert), we should expect to see David’s descendants, and the others who reign on the thrones of Judah and Israel sometimes do well, but more often fall into the same faithlessness that we have seen throughout the entire history of God’s people, from Mt. Sinai onward. What we are seeing is, fundamentally, the problem which the Lord comes to remedy in His Incarnation, death, and Resurrection, as His people discover that they are actually rubbish at observing His commandments to them.
Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom
3 Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt; he took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David, until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.
3 Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David; only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places. 4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” 6 And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. 7 And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. 9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”
10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12 I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. 13 I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. 14 If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”
15 Then Solomon awoke; it had been a dream. He came to Jerusalem where he stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. He offered up burnt offerings and offerings of well-being, and provided a feast for all his servants.
Solomon’s Wisdom in Judgment
16 Later, two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. 18 Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house. 19 Then this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant slept. She laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. 21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead; but when I looked at him closely in the morning, clearly it was not the son I had borne.” 22 But the other woman said, “No, the living son is mine, and the dead son is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead son is yours, and the living son is mine.” So they argued before the king.
23 Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; while the other says, ‘Not so! Your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” 24 So the king said, “Bring me a sword,” and they brought a sword before the king. 25 The king said, “Divide the living boy in two; then give half to the one, and half to the other.” 26 But the woman whose son was alive said to the king—because compassion for her son burned within her—“Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!” The other said, “It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it.” 27 Then the king responded: “Give the first woman the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.” 28 All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute justice.
Reading 1 – 837 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 Solomon begins well, and begins by asking the Lord for help. Specifically, he asks for wisdom, in order to faithfully lead and care for the people entrusted to his kingship. The Lord grants his request (which God will often do, especially when our prayer is made in humility and in harmony with the Lord’s commandments), and gives him many blessings as well. What we should keep in mind, however, is that all those additional blessings of wealth and honor do not seem to help Solomon; in fact, they will be at war with his wisdom, and he will not prove able to bear them well. But that is in the future; for the time being, Solomon is doing well, and we have the story of the two mothers as an example of his wisdom.)
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)
St. Epiphanios on Holy Saturday
As we proceed through this Paschal season, we will take the next several weeks to read a Sermon for Great and Holy Saturday from St. Epiphanios, Archbishop of Salamis on Cyprus. St. Epiphanios lived in the 4th century, and was the overseer of the Church in Cyprus for the final 40 years of his life, and was considered unimpeachably Orthodox throughout his life. The one point in which he is somewhat controversial to later centuries is an incident in which he opposed the use of an embroidered curtain in one of the churches, and he has been embraced as an early proponent of Iconoclasm by some. We should rather read this incident, however, as reflecting an exacting sobriety on his part, on the one hand, and on the other indicating that such images of Christ or one of the saints were indeed in common use at his time, even though he opposed their use. At any rate, in the text which we will read today and for the next several days, we are given a beautiful look at the manner in which the Christians of the late 300’s understood the Lord’s death and resurrection.
A Sermon of our Father among the Saints, Epiphanius, Archbishop of Cyprus on the Burial of the divine Body of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on Joseph of Arimathæa and Nicodemus, and on the Lord’s Descent into Hell, which occurred in wondrous manner after his saving Passion.
What is this? Today, great silence in the earth. What is this? Great silence and great stillness. Great silence, for the King sleeps. The earth feared and was still[2] when God fell asleep in the flesh. God died in the flesh, and Hell trembled. God slumbered a short spell, and woke up out of Hell those of times past who were sleeping.
Where now are yesterday’s commotions, the cries, the clamourings against Christ, O ye transgressors? Where are the mobs, the riots, the troops, the weapons and the spears? Where the kings, the priests, the judges worthy of judgment? Where the torches, the swords, the unruly shouts? Where the crowds, the jeers, the insolent guards?
Truly in verity and verily in truth, the peoples imagined vain and futile things.[3] They stumbled at the cornerstone Christ[4] and were broken. They crashed themselves against the solid Rock, but their waves scattered into foam. They struck against the indestructible Anvil, but were themselves shattered. They lifted up the Rock upon the Tree, but it fell down and crushed them. They bound the great Samson, Sun, and God[5], but he loosed the age-old bonds, and destroyed the Philistines and transgressors. The divine Sun set beneath the earth, and brought about deep darkness for the Jews.
Today is salvation for those on earth, and those of ages past beneath the earth. Today is salvation for the world, both seen and unseen. Twofold is the Master’s coming today, twofold the dispensation, twofold the love of man, twofold the descent, and likewise the condescension, twofold the visitation unto men—from heaven to earth, and from earth to under the earth.
God draws nigh, Hell’s gates open wide. O ye of times past who are fallen asleep, rejoice! Ye that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, receive the great Light![6] The Master is with his slaves, God with the dead, the Life with mortals, the Guiltless with the guilty, the unwaning Light with those in darkness, the Liberator with the captives, the One far above the heavens[7] with those in the lowest depths.
When Christ was on earth, we believed on him; now that Christ is among the dead, let us go down with him. Let us learn the mysteries there, let us come to know the wonders of the hidden God hid beneath the earth, let us learn how the preaching appeared even to those in Hades. What then? Did God save all without exception when he appeared in Hell? Not so, but there too, only those who believed.
Yesterday, he displayed the things of economy: today, those of sovereignty; yesterday, the things of infirmity: today, those of authority; yesterday, the things of humanity: today, those of divinity. Yesterday, he was slapped: today, he strikes Hell’s household with the thunderbolt of his Godhead. Yesterday, he was bound: today, he binds fast the tyrant with unbreakable bonds. Yesterday, he was condemned: today, he grants freedom to the damned. Yesterday, Pilate’s minions mocked him: today, Hell’s porters shudder to see him.[8]
Come then, listen to the lofty tale of Christ’s Passion, listen and praise him, listen and glorify him, listen and proclaim God’s great wonders: how the Law retreats, how Grace flourishes; how the types[9] pass away, how the truth is preached; how the shadows[10] recede, how the Sun fills the world; how the Old Covenant expires, how the New Covenant is established; how old things are passed away[11], how new things blossom forth.
Two peoples were present in Zion at the time of Christ’s Passion, that of the Jews and that of the Gentiles; two kings, Pilate and Herod; two high priests, Annas and Caiaphas; that there might likewise be two Passovers—one that was ending, and Christ’s, just beginning. Two sacrifices were accomplished that evening, since two salvations were at work—of the living, that is, and of the dead.
The Jew bound a lamb and slew it in sacrifice, while the Gentile sacrificed God in the flesh. The one looked to the shadow, while the other ran to the Sun and God. The Jews bound Christ and sent him away, while the Gentiles eagerly took him in. The one brought in sacrifice an animal victim, while the other offered the body of God; the Jews made remembrance of their passing over from Egypt, while the Gentiles made proclamation of their deliverance from error.
And where did these things take place? In Zion, the city of the great King[12], where he wrought salvation in the midst of the earth[13]—Jesus, that is, the child of God, known in the midst of two living things[14]: acknowledged[14] to be the Life from Life engendering life in the midst of the Father and the Spirit, the two Living Beings; born in a manger in the midst of angels and men; set as a cornerstone in the midst of the Jews and the Gentiles; preached alike in the midst of the Law and the Prophets; seen on the mountaintop in the midst of Moses and Elias; acknowledged to be God by the wise thief in the midst of two thieves; sitting as eternal Judge in the midst of this life and the next; and working today a twofold life and salvation in the midst of the living and the dead. Twofold life, I repeat; twofold birth, which is to say, rebirth; listen, then, to the facts of the twofold birth, and applaud the wondrous works.
An angel announced the birth of Christ to Mary, Christ’s mother, and an angel announced the rebirth of Christ from the tomb to Mary of Magdala. By night was Christ born in Bethlehem, and again by night was he reborn from the dead in Zion. In a cave of stone was Christ born, and in a cave of stone was Christ reborn. He received swaddling-bands when he was born, and he is wrapped in swaddling-bands here as well. He received myrrh at his birth, and he receives myrrh and aloes at his burial. There—Joseph, supposed spouse of Maria; here—Joseph of Arimathea. His birth was in Bethlehem, laid in a manger for his crib, while here, the place where he lay[15] as in a manger, was in a crypt. Shepherds first preached the glad tidings of Christ’s birth, and the shepherds of all men, Christ’s disciples, first preached the glad tidings of Christ’s rebirth from the dead. There, the angel cried “Hail!” to the Virgin, and here, Christ the Angel of great counsel[16] cried out “All hail!” to the women.
Reading 1
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should note the essential point of St. Epiphanios’ sermon, that the Lord’s death reflects a moment of profound stillness, and profound tension, between a great number of dualities, but most of all between the Old Covenant and the New, between the darkness and obscurity of the time before the Lord’s death and resurrection, and afterward. He is, effectively, painting for us a picture in words of the Lord’s death as the foundation stone of the entire Creation, as the Lord truly rests on the Great and Holy Sabbath Day, and in that rest, perfects and completes and restores the Creation to the goodness of which we hear in the book of Genesis.)
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 19:11-27 (Sons of Sceva, Riot in Ephesus)
Last time, we saw St. Paul leave Corinth, return to Antioch, and then re-visit the Churches in Syria, Cilicia, Galatia, and the interior of Asia Minor before arriving in Ephesus, where he remained for two years, caring for the Church there. We noted especially that, soon after his arrival, he found some disciples of John the Baptist, and having baptized them in a Christian baptism, he laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit with the same signs that had accompanied the first Pentecost and the Gentile Pentecost with Cornelius, showing the Paul, too, is an Apostle. This time we will see his time in Ephesus begin to draw to an end.
The Sons of Sceva
11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them. 13 Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.
17 When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck; and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised. 18 Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices. 19 A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly; when the value of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins. 20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
The Riot in Ephesus
21 Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.” 22 So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia.
23 About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way. 24 A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans. 25 These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, “Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business. 26 You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods. 27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.”
Reading 35 – 427 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 in this passage, we see an early example of the miracles that the Lord works through physical objects, as the napkins that are blessed by St. Paul become the means by which the Lord heals people. We also see, however, that the power of the Lord is not a magical or mechanistic power, as the sons of Sceva find to their great pain; one must be in right relationship with the Lord to use His name against the demons. It is for this reason that the people destroy their magic books, as the example of the sons of Sceva makes very clear that the Way of the Lord is not one of techniques, passwords, or incantations, but rather of a transformation of life that leaves no room for hedging one’s bets.)
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?