Bible Study: Proper 17 (A) – 2011

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Exodus 3:1-15

God knows the suffering of the chosen people. Moses is told that God has heard their cry and has come down to deliver them. God also hears our prayers and knows our suffering. God is with us and will deliver us.

In this Exodus story, Israel will not be led out of Egypt to the Promised Land through direct intervention by God, however. No, God has chosen Moses to be the one who will lead the people to freedom. “I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt,” God tells him.

But Moses is frightened. He is too afraid, first of all, even to look at God. When he hears what God wants from him, he tries to argue that he is not up to the task. But God has a plan, and Moses will not win this argument.

• Most of us will never be called to take on a charge of this magnitude, but still sometimes our own responsibilities feel overwhelming. What are we afraid of, and where can we find the courage to overcome those fears? Do we have a role to play in working against the injustices we observe in our world? Or do we expect God to be the one who fixes things?

Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c

This is a psalm of praise and gratitude for all of the great things God has done for Israel, and especially – in the verses included here – for delivering the chosen people from Egypt. They were freed from their misery there through the actions of Moses and Aaron, who were sent by God to lead the people to the Promised Land.

This is cause for rejoicing, but God’s compassionate action on our behalf also carries with it the responsibility to continue the work of making God’s goodness known to all.

• Do we believe that God still does great things in our time, and if so, what would be some examples? Or should we give more credit to the courage and wisdom of human leaders, the modern counterparts of Aaron and Moses? Are there things that enslave us as individuals, things we need to be liberated from? Can we “search for the Lord and his strength” for help in those areas?

Romans 12:9-21

In this series of directives about how to live the Christian life, the guiding principal is love, love for God and for our brothers and sisters. Transformed by faith, we are to love one another affectionately and to live in harmony, to provide hospitality to strangers and to live peaceably to the extent that is possible. None of this is easy to live out consistently, even when we’re talking about family, friends, neighbors, or colleagues at work. Within these circles, however, we can at least aspire to live up to these ideals.

• The real challenge comes in the part where Paul goes on to talk about how we are to treat enemies. “Do not repay anyone evil for evil … never avenge yourselves.” It’s hard to accept that this is meant to guide our behavior toward people who have inflicted real evil on us. If we feed them and take care of them, aren’t we just enabling further evil? How does this fit with our obligation to work against evil and injustice? Do these mandates still apply in the circumstances of our world today? If so, how might we go about living them out? If not, why not?

Matthew 16:21-28

This reading comes at a pivotal point in Matthew’s gospel. The phrase “from this time on,” which begins the passage, marks the end of Jesus’ public ministry in Galilee and the beginning of his turn toward Jerusalem, where he will suffer and die. Here, for the first time in Matthew, Jesus predicts his own death.

This is hard news for Peter, whose protest is quickly silenced by Jesus, but there’s more: Jesus warns his followers that discipleship is going to cost them. Anyone who wants to follow him, he says, must also be willing to “take up his cross.” This was shocking language, for crucifixion was the method of execution reserved for the lowest classes of society and the worst type of criminals, so to die in that way was not only excruciatingly painful but also shameful.

In our own times, however, the cross has lost its power to shock us – we even fashion it into pretty jewelry. We might wear a cross to make a statement about what we believe, but we certainly don’t expect to be crucified for our faith.

• What is the cost of discipleship in the 21st century? Has our world really been made safe for Christianity? Are we fooling ourselves if we think there’s no reason we can’t aspire to “gain the whole world” as long as we identify ourselves as followers of Jesus?