Open-ended,
Life-centred,
Gospel-Focused Explorations of Hebrew Bible Readings from the
Australian Prayer Book.
GEN 18:20-32... 9th S. after Pentecost, C .... (For LK 11:1-13
scroll.)
NOTES: 1]Read the Hebrew Bible in the light
of our Christian understanding of God revealed in Jesus.2] After chapters of 'pre-history',
with Abram (later,
Abraham) on the scene (c.1870
BC?) we are in actual history. 3] Abraham
is central to God's establishment of a Covenant with the
Hebrews, & then, through Jesus, humanity. See,e.g.17:9+. 4] The 'men' referred to are the
'angels'(?) we met in v.2. 5]
Sodom (Ch.19) became a by-word
for unsavoury sexual practices. 6] Abraham pre-figures Christ
in his
plea to God on behalf of both righteous & unrighteous.
WARMING UP: Is there some
place we associate with particularly unsavoury practices?
TREASURES OLD & NEW:
Identify God at work in anything this week?
ENTERING INTO THE STORY:
20-22 Does the primitive nature of this story detract
from the importance of its message? Or, maybe, enhance it? Are there
ways a story can be true even if it isn't literally true? Do we still
sometimes think of God as if He
moves from heaven down to earth & back up again? Are heaven &
earth really 'up' & 'down' respectively, or do we know better than
that now?
Do we still think of God as
being concerned about 'wickedness' in the world, or is that our
business? Are we as concerned for 'goodness' as we may be about
'wickedness'? Where does our concern for either actually stem from? How
does the idea of there being an 'angel of death' sit with our idea of
God revealed in Jesus? Is that idea just a perception of the time but
that tends to persist? How much time do we spend 'remaining standing
before the Lord'?
23-32 Have we ever pleaded with
God as earnestly & persistently for anyone as Abraham does here
to stop some destructive act (not necessarily caused by God, but at
least allowed by God)? (In the
middle-eastern setting we're talking about there are obviously
geological factors to take account of when destructive events happen.)
Or don't we see it as our prerogative to plead on behalf of those who
don't appear to deserve it? Is
Abraham crossing the line between pleading with God & bargaining
with God here? Do we ever cross that line? What would be serious enough
to lead us to cross it? What might make us generous enough?
Is the
opposite of 'righteous' necessarily 'wicked'? What is the essential
meaning of righteous? (Don't confuse
it with self-righteous!) Does either 'righteous' or 'wicked'
have much impast these days? Has everything become too relative to have
such absolutes? Should we be trying to put value
back into either or both words & what they mean / stand for? If, by
some stretch of our imagination, we believed God was going to destroy
our city / community, what would we think would be a fair number for
God to take as the cut-off point for such a decision? Or is this just a
scenario for religious cranks? What if we applied the same thinking
process to our faith community, 'cranks & all'? Who discerns who
the 'cranks' are? If we could whittle God's 'indignation' down to 10,
as Abraham does, would we survive? Who is judge of that kind of
religious arithmetic? Can we tolerate even one unrighteous person in
our midst? What if it were us? Is indignation, like wrath, a way of
looking at the flip-side of God's love?
