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7th SUNDAY
Discipleship 101 continues in this Sunday’s readings and on the
docket are such disciple-qualities as hospitality, an example of one
God-follower’s faith and obedience, and servanthood-serving of the
new kind of kingdom life to which God calls us-the righteous life.
Genesis 22:1-14-A Text of Terror
What a scandalous, terrifying lesson! Yet remarkably, the
sacrifice of Isaac has become an endeared treasure of Christians
because of the overtones of death and resurrection as well as the
painful sacrifice that the faithful see in God’s salvific action.
While many questions will emerge from this text to postmodern
listeners (“isn’t this child abuse?” “is this how faith
works?” “how could a loving God demand such a thing?”), the
story stands alone with no excuses or apologies. What do we learn
about God? In addition to the high cost of discipleship, the story
has much to say about “seeing” which becomes a play on words and
moves us to envision a God who not only commands but also “sees”
and provides.
Romans 6:12-23-Slaves . . . of righteousness?
The metaphor of slavery is neither common nor acceptable in
postmodern culture. Yet, slavery would have been well understood by
the Romans in Paul’s day-half the Empire were slaves. A slave was
one who gave herself or himself completely over to their master.
Slaves didn’t flaunt their rights-they simply obeyed the bidding
of the one to whom they were accountable. Since we are free from sin
(which we reflected on last week in the opening lines of the
chapter), we can now serve a new master: righteousness, which finds
its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
Matthew 10:40-42-Hospitality works both ways
How well does our communities of faith welcome outsiders? How is
the giving and receiving of hospitality vitally linked to the gospel
of Jesus? Such questions must have emerged early on among
Christians. Our lesson for this Sunday responds to such questions
with a promise for both those who receive and for those who extend
Christian blessing and hospitality. “When you proclaimers are
welcomed,” Jesus says, “so am I welcomed, and so also is the
Father who sent me.” By implication and application, to welcome a
prophet is to share in the reward of that prophet and to welcome
good and godly folk is to receive a blessing on par with their own.
In God’s vision, there seems to be an inextricable thread that
ties givers and receivers together.
