Genesis 19

Author: Joan Harman
August 11, 2021
This morning I read of three theophanies in my devotions.  Do you pay attention, as I do, when things come in threes?

The devotional reading in Upper Room was from Genesis 19.  This event follows a conversation Abraham had with the Lord, pleading with God to save the righteous people in the decadent and ungodly culture of Sodom and Gomorrah.  God did agree to save Lot and his family, based on Abraham's request.  Lot's wife was not saved because she could not abide by the conditions for salvation, either by willfulness or weakness.  The writer of the day talked about how hard it is to move forward, elaborating on her own struggles when she moved far away from birth family.

The center spread of the Upper Room always has a longer discourse for readers to consider.  This was labeled
Sisyphus and the staff writer who authored it talked about times in our lives when we feel more like Sisyphus than the man at the pool of Bethesda in JOHN 5 who stayed at the pool many years, believing (hoping?) that sometimes he would have a chance to be healed when he got into the water first after an angel disturbed the waters.  He was able to recognize and accept Jesus' powers and walk away healed.

The third story is in a commentary of the gospel of Matthew by Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, a theologian in the Orthodox tradition.  Matthew 28 starts with the events of what we know as Easter Sunday.  Two women, faithful followers of Jesus, have come to be present at the tomb of their Lord.  With the earth quaking, an angel appears to roll back the stone from the tomb, reversing Joseph of Arimathea's act of rolling the stone over to close the opening.  The angel is not here to show them the resurrection itself, for the tomb is already empty.  What the women are told by the angel reinforces their faithful presence, and indeed they are rewarded with the chance to see and worship the risen Jesus.
Blessings,
Joan K. Harman <><<><
 joanharmank@gmail.com
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