I am not sure how many of you are left, having now read Exodus twice in the matter of three weeks or so. For those of you that are: keep on keeping on, I suppose.
In other news, I have attached a link to my sermon that I preached this week at Way of Life Christian Fellowship in Grain Valley, MO. I wanted to share it because it is a direct result of the reading and conversation that we have done on this blog.
Where Are You from and Where Are You Going?
For those of you who are not auditory in your learning, here is a brief synopsis. The text is Genesis 14:1-16. It is the story of the four kings versus the five kings wherein Abram and his band of mercenaries perform a nighttime raid to rescue his nephew, Lot. I purposely cut off the story before the Melchizedek passage (a.k.a. the "interesting" part). I argued that, from a literary and theological perspective, this text pits Abram against his own family (Chedorlaomer is from Elam, a city named after Shem's first son. Abram is the descendant of Eber who is also from the family of Shem. See chapter 10.) and requires him to ally himself with the enemies of his family (Hamites/Canaanites). As such, my contention is that calling Abram a Hebrew (14:13) in this situation is a clue to the reader that Abram has become, by nature of his calling, a third party. However, this status is more a theological distinction than a sociological one. He has become suspended between his lineage as a Shemite and his location in Hamite/Canaanite territory. He is a rogue--a wild card. With this is mind, I challenged the congregation to imagine life as followers of the Messiah in terms of being suspended between all of the history, genealogy, and geography that attempts to claim our allegiance. In essence, what does it mean to be suspended between all of these possibilities without wholly aligning ourselves to one unless it serves the purposes of God?
I hope this makes some sense of an often ignored text. Enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment