Author: Administrador

September is the launching pad of congregational life — Sunday school, regular worship times, choir, council meetings, confirmation, Bible studies, etc., etc.  It is also the time when we wonder, again, “How are we going to bring them in? To reach them? To educate, to support, to challenge and tell God’s people the good news?” … Continue reading “Exodus 2:23-25; 3:10-15; 4:10-17 Commentary by Karla Suomala”

Exodus 1:8 — 10: From Welcomed Guests to Suspected Terrorists By the end of the Genesis narrative, the Israelites had achieved most-favored immigrant status in the land of Egypt. The Egyptians had welcomed the Hebrew foreigners from Canaan because they were family to Joseph who, even as a non-Egyptian, had risen to second-in-command next to … Continue reading “Exodus 1:8-2:10 Commentary by Dennis Olson”

These first verses of Exodus use concise prose to set a tragic scene of oppression. The systematic mistreatment of the Hebrews by Pharaoh escalates from enslavement (1:11, 13) to ethnic cleansing as Pharaoh commands that the Hebrew boys be killed at birth (verse 16) or drowned in the Nile (verse 22).  These verses give us … Continue reading “Exodus 1:8-2:10 Commentary by Amy Merrill Willis”

The command to know “who you are and whose you are” has become a cliché in Christian preaching these days, often overused and under-explained. Even so, this simple phrase gets at the heart of the book of Exodus, which is dominated by the theme of identity. In fact, the book of Exodus can be read … Continue reading “Exodus 1:8-2:10 Commentary by Cameron B.R. Howard”

A lot has happened since we left Jacob in Genesis 32 last week. This year’s narrative lectionary skips the story explaining how Jacob’s family landed in Egypt: how jealous brothers sold Jacob’s favorite son into slavery, how Joseph rose to power alongside the pharaoh, and how a drought drove the family to seek help, and … Continue reading “Exodus 1:8-14 [15–2:10]; 3:1-15 Commentary by Patricia Tull”

Introduction: A Sprawling Story — The Exodus This week’s assigned narrative lectionary text is a big, sprawling story — the story of the Exodus, plus a few verses from the start of the Wilderness story. The challenge is rather daunting: how does one preach such a long story? Wouldn’t it be a great deal easier … Continue reading “Exodus 1:6-22; 15:20–6:8 Commentary by Rolf Jacobson”

Jacob showed special favor to his young son Joseph, the child of his old age (Genesis 37:3). Ten older brothers hated the one who possessed the love they could not have (37:4). Joseph had something else they did not have: the gift of dreams, visions into a future where he would be their master, and … Continue reading “Genesis 50:15-21 Commentary by Anathea Portier-Young”

Coming at the end of the Joseph narrative, this episode in which Joseph’s brothers seek his forgiveness is not as straightforward as it seems. Leon Kass sees the brothers’ petition as one last act of deception and Joseph’s answer as an artful dodge.1 Asking first in their father’s words and then in their own, the … Continue reading “Genesis 50:15-21 Commentary by Margaret Odell”

Just when you think all is right in the world of Joseph and his brothers, their family drama reminds us that trust is very difficult to earn. Genesis 50:15-21 contains the final scene of the Joseph novella, which began to unfold in Genesis 37. It depends deeply on the long story that has gone before, … Continue reading “Genesis 50:15-21 Commentary by Cameron B.R. Howard”

The text for today describes a moving scene of reconciliation, the self-revelation of Joseph to the brothers who sold him into slavery many years before, and gives us the theological lens through which to view the whole story of Joseph. This scene of reconciliation comes right after an eloquent and extended speech by Judah. It … Continue reading “Genesis 45:1-15 Commentary by Kathryn M. Schifferdecker”