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The intent of Pilgrim Processing is to provide commentary on the Daily Lectionary from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. The format for the comment is Old Testament Lesson first, Gospel, and Epistle with a portion of one of the Psalms for the day as a prayer at the end.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

21 January 2012



Abraham, like the Energizer bunny, just kept going.  Why did he not settle in Canaan?  Was it because of the Canaanites?  When famine came, he went to Egypt and thought it best to have Sarai tell everyone she was his sister because she was so beautiful.  Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran and Sarai was not a young woman but she must have been uncommonly beautiful for the king indeed took her for a wife.  We get a precursor of the plagues in Exodus here as Abraham prospers and the Egyptians suffer for the sake of wronging Abraham.  It is also fulfillment of the promise of God concerning those nations who bless and curse Abraham.  It is his fault for having lied and not trusting God in the first place.  It is interesting though that it eventually comes to light somehow that Sarai is Abram’s wife and they are sent away and they went back to the Negeb, the desert.

The disciples are surprised Jesus is talking with a woman but no one asks what they are talking about.  The woman leaves her water jar behind, the reason she had come, and tells the villagers about her encounter with this strange Jew who told her everything about herself, without mentioning, “Oh, by the way, He claims to be Messiah”, but simply asking if it could be.  As with the woman, Jesus speaks of spiritual food and the disciples, good materialists all, wonder where He got food.  As Jesus sees these people coming to Him, He tells the disciples are white for harvest.  Think of the scene with all the town coming out in their robes to the well and it would indeed look like a harvest coming to them and so it was.  Many believed initially because of this unlikely evangelist and then they saw, heard and believed for themselves.  She was restored to community and her memory of that well, formerly a place of pain and isolation, would forever be that this was the place Messiah revealed Himself to her.  What a wonderful God, what a wonderful Savior!

Jesus’ permanent priesthood makes the covenant better.  If the priest is permanent, so is the covenant.  Permanent is better than temporal, it is eternal.  There is never a lapse in His ministry and there is no successor, He is eternal.  He is better than any priest could ever have been or ever could be because He is also the sacrifice and we know it was acceptable to God, we don’t just have to take the priest’s word for it.  We know that His sacrifice was acceptable because He was raised from the dead.  Would you rather have Jesus or a guy who needs to offer sacrifices for his own sin?  Where have you failed to believe God for His promise and where is that place of pain in your life due to sin, yours or someone’s against you, where redemption is needed for you to move on?  He wants to redeem it if you will go there with Him.

Souls of men! why will ye scatter
Like a crowd of frightened sheep?
Foolish hearts! why will ye wander
From a love so true and deep?

It is God: His love looks mighty,
But is mightier than it seems;
’Tis our Father: and His fondness
Goes far out beyond our dreams.

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