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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.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

7 August 2014


Gideon declined to be king but he certainly acted like one.  He asked for tribute in the form of the earrings the people had taken from the vanquished as spoils of war.  It seems a small thing but the weight of the earrings was over forty pounds of gold.  This, Gideon had made into an ephod, a garment that had a priestly function.  The ephod made in Exodus for the high priest had stones set in it, the Urim and Thummim, which in some ways were used to determine the will of God as an oracle.  We have no indication of how or when it was consulted by the priest but here, Gideon sets up this golden ephod as a shrine and apparently it was worshipped as an idol similar to the golden calf of Exodus and it became a snare to Gideon and his family and all Israel.  Gideon also acted as Solomon did with wives and concubines, like kings of the surrounding countries.  He started well but didn't end particularly well.  There was, however, forty years of tranquility in the land during his life.

Can't you just see Jesus laughing at Nathanael when the latter makes his declaration, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”?  Because Jesus saw him under a fig tree when He couldn’t actually have seen him?  Jesus essentially answers, "You ain't seen nothing yet."  If Nathanael were that impressed with a bit of prophetic insight then what will he make of healings, feedings, and the like?  Nathanael, in this confession, makes clear what he is looking for in a Messiah which is what Philip told him they had found.  His objection to Philip's disclosure was based solely on where Jesus came from (the information was faulty anyway) and was easily overthrown.  Nathanael was looking for a king while Philip said they had found the one promised in the Scriptures although as yet they hadn't considered the suffering servant of Isaiah, the true Messiah.


Did you notice who was there to arrest Peter and John?  The Sadducees.  They were "greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead."  The Sadducees were those who didn't believe in resurrection.  They could get along with the Pharisees okay because what they taught concerning resurrection was theoretical but the disciples were teaching it as reality in Jesus, that was a bridge too far.  Five thousand people believed their teaching, which would certainly make a dent in the Sadducees ability to lead.  By the time of the trial the charge was somewhat different even though the high priestly office at the time was controlled by the Sadducees  Annas and Caiphas.  The charge was changed to what power was the healing of the lame man effected.  They knew that the charge had to be palatable to the Pharisees also.  The Name of Jesus becomes the problem to be solved and it gives Peter a chance to be the man he always wanted to be, bold and courageous.  Unlike Gideon the work he did for God hadn't become Peter's boast.

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