Awet Andemicael and Adam Eitel discuss typological hermeneutics, the virtue of patience, and the theology of Irenaeus in relation to Numbers 21:4b-9 and John 3:13-17. The text is appointed for Holy Cross Day, in Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary.
The Serpent and the Cross (Fourth Sunday in Lent)
Voiceover Voice:
Christ conquering that sin on the cross then becomes the cure.
Helena Martin:
This is Chapter, Verse, and Season: a lectionary podcast from Yale Bible Study. Join us each week as two Yale Divinity School professors look at an upcoming text from the Revised Common Lectionary.
This episode, we have Awet Andemicael, Associate Dean for Marquand Chapel and Lecturer in Theology, and Adam Eitel, Assistant Professor of Religious Ethics.
They’re discussing Numbers 21:4-9, read by me, and John 3:13-17, read by our Production Manager Kelly Morrissey. The texts are appointed for the Fourth Sunday in Lent in Year B.
[Numbers 21:4-9]
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, but the people became discouraged on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous[c] serpent, and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it upon a pole, and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
Kelly Morrissey:
[John 3:13-17]
No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Adam Eitel:
The first thing that jumps out at me, it’s right here in verse four. It says, “the people became impatient on the way.” That word impatient, and it’s correlative patience, is something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. Nowadays we think of patience as being this quality of character–you might call it a virtue–that you need to endure a delay or things that are frustrating. But a lot of the thinkers that I spend my time reading from the ancient and medieval world, they thought of patience as this gift–well, a virtue might be a gift given by God–nevertheless, a virtue that you need, not just to endure delay, but to endure sorrow, to endure difficulty, to endure not simply long stretches of time, where we’re waiting on something that we dearly long for, but it’s something you need to endure difficulty. And I’m just thinking here about the real difficulty of life in the wilderness. And there’s clearly something that the people of God need, and they currently lack. Does that resonate with you at all?
Awet Andemicael:
Yeah, it does. I think the thing for me is that I can relate so well to the people of Israel in this context. I mean, there are so many times I’ve experienced a long-haul experience or a long-haul challenge. I won’t name them all, but there are many that come to mind. And I myself doubt myself along the way. And ultimately that self-doubt is really built on a kind of doubt and a lack of faith in God; at least for me, that’s the case. So, I don’t come out and say, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt?” I genuinely don’t. I’m not quite that obvious about it. I’m much more passive aggressive. [Laughs] I used to blame it on myself, but really deep down, I get frustrated. “Why am I in this situation? Why did I get myself in this situation?” Sometimes, “Did I misunderstand what God wanted me to do?” That sort of thing. So, in their general sense of a lack of patience, a lack of a sense of trust in God that the path that I’m on is actually the path that God intended for me. And so, I can really relate to them. I guess part of the issue here is that not only are they doubting themselves and second guessing whether this was the right move, but they’re very explicitly blaming not just God, but specifically God’s chosen servant. So do you think that what God is providing for them–is the punishment itself a mode for the people to learn patience or is it that the cure–the fact that God shows God’s power both by the punishment and the cure, that that is kind of pedagogical move that God makes in this context?
Adam Eitel:
That’s a good question. As you were asking the question, I was jumping ahead in my mind to those fiery serpents and thinking about them with respect to a juror as you put it, you know, that’s quite a furor. But it does remind me of something that–well, I was reading up on this passage and it’s something that Bede, and then many others following Bede, say in the Middle Ages about what these fiery serpents designate allegorically, or according to the moral interpretation, depending on how you understand the senses of scripture, those fiery serpents stand as the enticement of the vices, which afflict the soul and bring about spiritual death. That’s what he says. So in that respect, as Bede understands it, what the Lord does do in every age is hand people over to the entropy of their own moral weaknesses in order to come to a point where they can recognize how dearly they need help, help not just from God, but help from those who got appoints to lead the people of God. But that’s the interesting thing. If you really look at this passage, the first thing you said, Awet, is: I think you said something with respect to your own path. And the people here, they’re on a path. It’s not as though they’re meandering. They’re not lost, per se. They’re going somewhere. They’re on a route or on a destination. It’s a long one. It’s not the one they’d choose. And it’s not as though they have nothing. They just don’t like what they’re given. It’s nourishing, perhaps, but maybe just enough for each day. But we’re not really told here what the source of the people’s impatience is. Why are they grumbling? What do they want that they don’t have?
Awet Andemicael:
First of all, I think what’s tricky for me in reading this passage is part of a larger question about how Christians are to read the Hebrew Bible, especially situations where the people of Israel come across in a bad light or people get punished for something. And even if this is long after God has shown God’s power in an amazing, sometimes even miraculous, way, or a way that I can understand miraculously, the glory and the glow of that experience fades over time. And then you’re just caught in the middle of the valley. You’re just saying, “Yeah, that was fine then, but I’m over that. We’re moving on.” So, with all of that, I often identify with them. And then when we see God punishing them in a way that, at least to me when I’m reading, seems really harsh, if we just think of a large group of people making a very long trip in a time when you didn’t necessarily have a place to stay along the way, it would take a lot of discipline, almost like a military-type precision and a military-type respect for the leadership, just to make sure things don’t devolve into chaos. You can see how just practically speaking it would be difficult for that many people to make that trip if they didn’t have some kind of discipline, but it also seems like a really harsh response.
So, traditionally, what a lot of Christians have done—a lot of Christians will immediately go and say, “This is a type of something else.” So, whether it literally happened or not, the point is we’re supposed to learn something from this. So, we kind of skate over the challenges in the actual text or the ways in which it presents a picture of God that is hard for us, as contemporary Christians, to grapple with, so we kind of skip over that discomfort, and say, “Well, okay. This is actually meant to teach us a lesson, to show whatever it is.” It’s a way of kind of getting God off the hook for coming across as being overly harsh. I was checking Irenaeus of Lyons, who’s the person I study and one the main figures that has been influencing me lately. And he has this whole conversation, not about this specific passage, but generally speaking, he quotes the person who calls the presbyter, who a lot of scholars think is likely—what’s his name?—Polycarp! Polycarp. So he quotes this whole thing, and one of the things he says that we learned from the presbyter is how important it is for us, when we’re reading about the people of Israel doing something that was wrong, it’s important for us to recognize, to not be judgmental, if they do something that God condemns in the Bible, in what he called the Scriptures, which is what we would call the Hebrew Bible now, or the old Testament, depending on the terminology you use, that we should really extend a lot of grace toward people in that context, not be judgmental, not think that we’re better than they are, but just to recognize that what they did was something that God forgives and that God has forgiven in Christ. And more broadly, he makes the same move that many Christians in later centuries would make, it’s that the most important thing for us to learn from these situations is what it represents in a typological way, you know, how it is a reflection of things to come.
So, in this particular passage, we definitely have that spelled out for us. There’s, there’s kind of a biblical precedent for making the leap to the sort of spiritual or more metaphorical or more allegorical reading, rather than the literal reading, because the second passage we’re looking at this paired with it in the lectionary readings is from John 3, where Jesus is reported to be referring directly to this passage and saying, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” And when Jesus refers back to this, he’s not talking about what they did was wrong and God punished them and it was appropriate. He’s kind of skipping over all of those kinds of questions we might have. And he’s going directly to what’s the significance of a symbolism of Moses actually putting up a serpent. The thing that caused the problem, that was the danger, becomes itself a version of the cure, at least the serpent of bronze being put up on the pole. And then he says is so just as Moses had to lift up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, speaking about his own being lifted up, which we have to kind of read very carefully because we don’t want to say then that Christ is the cause of the problem and the cure. It doesn’t quite map on directly. But the sin that Christ bore when he was lifted up on the cross was the problem. And then Christ, bearing that sin on him, is then lifted up on the cross. And then that becomes, looking to him, we have eternal life, because in being lifted up, in being crucified, Christ bears the penalty for our sin. And depending again on your theology of atonement, in some sense Christ therefore frees us from the penalty and from the wages of sin. And we’re brought to eternal life because of that. It’s the sin that is the problem. And that Christ conquering that sin on the cross then becomes the cure. So, it lines up, but not precisely. It’s kind of a broad analogy, but Christ Jesus himself makes it. [Laughs] So, I’m not going to criticize Christ for using a kind of a broad—you know, not lining up all of the details of the metaphor, the way a person might like.
Adam Eitel:
Well, what is it that we’re looking at when we’re looking at Christ on the cross? In part, what the people of God are being asked to look at in the wilderness is something that resembles in some way the source of the problem. And so too, when we look at Christ on the cross, we’re looking at our humanity. I guess I’m thinking about this from a post-Chalcedonian Christological perspective where what you’re looking at when you’re looking at Christ is his human flesh, which is real human flesh. But not just that. He’s fully divine, fully human. When you’re looking at Christ’s flesh on the cross, you are looking at our own flesh, our own humanity, the difficulties that emerge out of it in our finitude and our fallenness. In looking at him we’re also looking at the one by whom we’re redeemed. We’re looking at God made man.
Awet Andemicael:
Yeah. That’s a very good question. I mean, if I’m kind of going back to Irenaeus, there’s one place in Irenaeus, his book Against Heresies, in Book IV, Chapter 2, Section 7, he makes a reference to the passage in Numbers and the passage that quotes it in John, and his purpose there is to explain that the law (and there he means kind of broadly the Pentateuch, the books of the law, not necessarily that the legal code), that the law had a pedagogical function leading to Christ, that it wasn’t a hindrance from coming to know Christ, but it’s a pedagogue leading to Christ, “since the law exhorted people to believe in the son of God,” he says, “seeing that men can be saved by no other way from the old wound of the serpent.” And here he uses the term serpent generally to refer to the Devil. “Men can be saved by no other way from the old wound of the serpent than by believing in him, in Christ, who in the likeness of sinful flesh, is lifted up from the earth upon the tree of martyrdom and draws all things to himself, and vivifies the dead.”
So, when he’s talking about this vivifying the dead and this broader context, at least for Irenaeus, the big way he thinks about what Christ does: He thinks about a kind of conquering death, conquering Satan, and kind of battling with Satan, but the broader or metaphysical way he thinks about what Christ does is through this concept of “recapitulation.” At least what Christ does with our humanity: he puts humanity under a new head. And he’s drawn this whole idea of the “second Adam” that he’s taking that from Paul, of course, but he builds on it further. So, the things that Adam and Eve did that were wrong, had to be undone and kind of redone, but in the right way, so that in doing that Christ inaugurates a new version of humanity,
So, in doing this Christ, re-does humanity for us, in a sense, even though Irenaeus doesn’t go into a whole lot of detail here, Christ takes on the likeness of sinful flesh and what is being lifted up on that tree of martyrdom is actually this renewed humanity. And it’s in looking at that humanity and following Christ in being in the presence of the glory of God, that is the way in which we are a redone and remade; that Christ has redone this humanity, and we’re able to be drawn in by the power of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God. And we experience the redemption, but also that kind of vivifying quality of this new human, this new version of humanity, that Christ inaugurates.
Helena Martin:
Thanks for listening. For a transcript of today’s episode and lots more, check out YaleBibleStudy.org.
Chapter, Verse, and Season is a production of the Center for Continuing Education at Yale Divinity School. It’s produced by: Creator and Managing Editor, Joel Baden; Production Manager, Kelly Morrissey; Associate Producer, Aidan Stoddart; and I’m your Host and Executive Producer, Helena Martin. And our theme music is by Calvin Linderman.
We’ll be back with another conversation from Chapter, Verse, and Season.
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john
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New Revised Standard Version Bible
Copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Credits
Host and Executive Producer: Helena Martin
Production Manager: Kelly Morrissey
Creator and Managing Editor: Joel Baden
Assistant Producer: Aidan Stoddart
Music: Calvin Linderman
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Joel Baden and Sarah Drummond discuss unity, transformation… and beards… in Psalm 133. The text is appointed for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 15) in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Bill Goettler discuss generational transition, faithlessness, and the voice of God in 1 Kings 19:9-18. The text is appointed for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 14) in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Jennifer Herdt and Jere Wells discuss justice, abundance, and the spiritual power of leftovers in Matthew 14:13-21. The text is appointed for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 13) in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss praise, transaction, and God’s action in history in Psalm 105:1-11. The text is appointed for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 12), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Almeda Wright and Kate Ott discuss the messages of dreams and mundane reality in Genesis 28:10-19a. The text is appointed for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 11) in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Bill Goettler and Joanne Jennings discuss applying the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23) to our own dynamic lives of faith. The text is appointed for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 10), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss environmental justice, co-creation, and the kingdom of God in Psalm 145:8-14. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 9) in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Bill Goettler and Joanne Jennings discuss hard truths and be in-dwelled by Christ in Romans 6:12–23. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 8), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss Jesus’ scarier proclamations in Matthew 10:24-39. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Sarah Drummond discuss hospitality, laughter, and the complexity of Sarah as a character in Genesis 18:1-15. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 6), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and John Hare discuss faith, doubt, shame, and mystic union in Romans 4:13-25. The text is appointed for the second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 5), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss rest, reveling, and revelation in Genesis 1:1–2:4a The text is appointed for Trinity Sunday, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Awet Andemicael and Adam Eitel discuss diversity, reversal, and the power of the Spirit in Acts 2:1-21 and John 20:19-23. The text is appointed for the Day of Pentecost in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss righteousness, liberation, and vulnerability in Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35. The text is appointed for the Seventh Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Almeda Wright and Kate Ott discuss suffering, meaning, and unjust power structures in 1 Peter 3:13-22. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss prophecy, interfaith reading, and incarnation in John 14:1-14. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Jacqueline Vayntrub and Christian Wiman discuss paradox, poetry, and life beyond death in Psalm 23. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joanne Jennings and Bill Goettler discuss divine encounter and human conversation in Luke 24:13-35. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss interfaith perspectives on the story of Easter in conversation with John 20:19-31. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday of Easter, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss power, peace and healing in Acts 10:34-43. The text is appointed for Easter Day, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
John Collins and Jennifer Herdt discuss the problem of suffering, the impact of loss, and the resilience of human nature in Job 14:1-14 and 1 Peter 4:1-8. The text is appointed for Holy Saturday, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss Christology, glory, and exclusion in John 18:1–19:42. The text is appointed for Good Friday in the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Sarah Drummond discuss sacrificial practice, identity markers, and imagined history in Exodus 12:1-14. The text is appointed for Maundy Thursday in the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss crucifixion, suffering, obedience, and solidarity in Philippians 2:5-11. The text is appointed for the Liturgy of the Passion (Palm Sunday), in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Yejide Peters Pietersen and Bill Goettler discuss miracles, healing, and grief in John 11:1-45. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss the role of Joseph, the divine potential of dreams, and membership in the Holy Family in Matthew 1:18-25. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss life in the wilderness for the Israelites, being tested and testing God in Exodus 17:1-7. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss blessing, migration, and the inspiring legacy of Abraham across religious traditions in Genesis 12:1-4a. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss seduction, curiosity, craftiness, and misogyny in Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7. The text is appointed for the First Sunday in Lent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss leadership, inherited stories, and transfiguring moments in Exodus 24:12-18 and Matthew 17:1-9. The texts are appointed for Transfiguration Sunday, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Almeda Wright and Kate Ott discuss pedagogy, mixed metaphors, ageism, and spiritual growth in 1 Corinthians 3:1-9. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss hypocrisy, reward systems, righteousness, and religious performance in Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12). The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss blessedness, poverty, consolation, and the dangers of transactional theology in Matthew 5:1-12. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joanne Jennings and Bill Goettler discuss living with both faith and fear in Psalm 27:1, 4-9. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss the story of John the Baptist, a wild and perhaps uncertain character, in John 1:29-42. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss Messianism, prophetic gentleness, and hermeneutical approaches in Isaiah 42:1-9. The text is appointed for the First Sunday after the Epiphany, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Vasileios Marinis and Volker Leppin discuss human nature, sovereignty over creation, and preacherly responsibility with reference to Psalm 8. The text is appointed for the First Sunday after Christmas, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Yejide Peters Pietersen and Bill Goettler discuss the spirit of children, the multiplicity of interpretation, and pastoral responsibility at Christmas, with reference to Luke 2:1-14 (15-20). The text is appointed for Christmas Eve in the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss Christian and Muslim interpretations of the Nativty of Jesus, with special reference to Matthew 1:18-25. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Judith Gundry and Adam Eitel discuss patience, endurance of suffering, and the challenges of family conflict in James 5:7-10. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday of Advent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss the imagined future of the glorious kingdom in Isaiah 11:1-10 and Romans 15:4-13. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday of Advent, in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
AndrewMcGowan and Ned Parker discuss the holiness of divine absence and the anticipation of things to come in Matthew 24:36-44. The text is appointed for the First Sunday of Advent in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss colonial narratives, indigenous theology, and the downsides of going to a “Promised Land” in Deuteronomy 26:1-11. The text is appointed for Thanksgiving Day (USA), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss Hebrew vocabulary, shepherd imagery, and the legacy of King David in Jeremiah 23:1-6. The text is appointed for the Feast of Christ the King (Proper 29), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss eschatology, aspiration, and ancient Near Eastern curse formulations in Isaiah 65:17-25. The text is appointed for the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 28), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
John Collins and Jennifer Herdt discuss poverty, apocalyptic imagery, and economic justice in reference to Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18 and Luke 6:20-31. The text is appointed for All Saints’ Day, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and Greg Sterling discuss redemption, the proper use of wealth, and the strange company Jesus keeps in Luke 19:1-10. The text is appointed for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 26, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Awet Andemicael and Adam Eitel discuss shame, redemption, and rehabilitation in Joel 2:23-32. The text is appointed for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 25, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss punishment, free will, and the dangers of metaphor in Jeremiah 31:27-34. The text is appointed for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 24, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Jacqueline Vayntrub and Christian Wiman discuss joy, salvation history, and chicken guts in Psalm 66:1-12. The text is appointed for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 23, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss trauma, hope, and poetic Hebrew in Lamentations 1:1-6 and 3:19-26. The text is appointed for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 22), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss faith, ritual performance, and divine blessing in Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16. The text is appointed for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Justin Crisp and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss capitalism, shrewdness, and the logic of parables in Luke 16:1-13. The text is appointed for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 20), in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
John Collins and Jennifer Herdt discuss the undoing of creation, fidelity, and false prophets in Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28. The text is appointed for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 19, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Eric Reymond discuss precarity, God as creator and destroyer, and the potter metaphor in Jeremiah 18:1-11. The text is appointed for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 18, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss humility, reversing the status quo, speaking truth to power in Sirach 10:12-18. The text is appointed for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 17, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Christian Wiman and Jacqueline Vayntrub discuss justice, prayer and action, and getting God's attention in Isaiah 58:9b-14. The text is appointed for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 16, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Erika Helgen and Chloë Starr discuss faith heroes through history, triumphant faith, and the role of sin in Hebrews 11:29-12:2. The text is appointed for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 15, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Greg Sterling and Harry Attridge discuss women in early Christian communities, eschatology, and faith as a matter of the heart in Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16. The text is appointed for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 14, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Judith Gundry and Adam Eitel discuss possession, wealth, and covetousness in Luke 12:13-21. The text is appointed for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 13, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Tisa Wenger and Joel Baden discuss bargaining, God and Abraham's new relationship, and the righteous of Sodom and Gamorrah in Genesis 18:20-32. The text is appointed for Track 2 on the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 12, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Andrew McGowan and Ned Parker discuss Mary and Martha, extroversion, and authenticity in Luke 10:38-42. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 11, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss poverty, God's expectations, and our responsibilities to one another in Psalm 82. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 10, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Eric Reymond discuss kings, skin diseases, and prophetic power in 2 Kings 5:1-14. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 9, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Erika Helgen and Chloë Starr discuss prophetic leadership, sudden loss, and mentorship in 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 8, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and John Hare discuss gender identity, ethnic dynamics, and changes of the heart in Galatians 3:23-29. The text is appointed for Proper 7, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss joy, multiculturalism, and feminine language in Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31. The text is appointed for Trinity Sunday, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Volker Leppin and Vasileios Marinis discuss signs and wonders, Hebrew Bible connections, the promise of salvation, and more in Acts 2:1-21. The text is appointed for Pentecost, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Yejide Peters Pietersen and Bill Goettler discuss love-songs, community, and connection in reference to John 17:20-26. The text is appointed for the Feast of the Ascension, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Erika Helgen and Chloë Starr discuss social justice, human failure, and heavenly hope in Revelation 21:10, 22–22:5. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Eric Reymond discuss poetic structure, creation language, and the mechanics of praise in Psalm 148. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Andrew McGowan and Ned Parker discuss whiteness, danger, and comfort in Revelation 7:9-17. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and Gregory Sterling discuss Resurrection encounters and calls to action in Acts 9:1-20 and John 21:1-19. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Mark Heim and Abdul-Rehman Malik discuss doubt, trauma, and the value of “Doubting Thomas” in John 20:19-31. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday of Easter, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harry Attridge and John Hare discuss faith, uncertainty, and the power of emotion in John 20:1-18. The text is appointed for Easter Day, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss the construction of stories, Christian supersessionism, and the legacy of Christian storytelling in relation to Genesis 22:1-18. The text is appointed for the Easter Vigil, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Judy Gundry and Adam Eitel discuss the innocence of Jesus, divine kingship, and more in John 18:1-19:42. The text is appointed for Good Friday, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
John Collins and Jennifer Herdt discuss enslavement imagery, Passover liberation, and models of service in Exodus 12:1-14 and John 13:1-17. The texts are appointed for Maundy Thursday, in all three years of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Andrew McGowan and Ned Parker discuss community, sacrament, and suffering in Luke 22:14-23:56. The text is appointed for the Palm Sunday, the Liturgy of the Passion, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Tisa Wenger and Joel Baden discuss divine violence, colonialism, and the notion of “wilderness” in Isaiah 43:16-21. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Yejide Peters Pietersen and Bill Goettler discuss reconciliation, spiritual role-models, and what it means to “become the righteousness of God” with reference to 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. The text is appointed for the 4th Sunday in Lent, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Judith Gundry and Adam Eitel discuss repentance, leniency, and divine warnings in Luke 13:1-9. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday in Lent, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Eric Reymond discuss inheritance, offspring, and the promises of God in Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday in Lent, in Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Harold Attridge and John Hare discuss the possibility of being in relationship with God in Romans 10:8b-13. The text is appointed for the First Sunday in Lent, March 6, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss the healing and transforming power of God in Luke 9:28-43. The text is appointed for Transfiguration Sunday, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Sarah Drummond and Joel Baden discuss forgiveness and the sibling dynamics at work in Genesis 45:3-11,15. The text is appointed for the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss Jesus’ blessings and warnings in Luke 6:17-26. The text is appointed for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany, Sunday, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Jacqueline Vayntrub and Christian Wiman discuss the difference between verse and prose in Isaiah 6:1-13. The text is appointed for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Sarah Drummond and Joel Baden discuss reluctant prophets and God’s will in Jeremiah 1:4-10. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Erika Helgen and Chloe Starr discuss the church universal and love as the basis for the exercise of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss recognizing God in the midst of community and the diversity of gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss the power of God in Psalm 29. The text is appointed for the First Sunday after Epiphany, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Awet Andemicael and Adam Eitel discuss the mystery, language and lyricism in John 1:1-18. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday after Christmas, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Gregory Sterling and Harold Attridge discuss the humanity of young Jesus and the role of Mary as mother in Luke 2:41-52. The text is appointed for the First Sunday after Christmas, Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Sarah Drummond and Joel Baden discuss birth, kingship and signs of God’s redemption in Isaiah 9:2-7. The text is appointed for Christmas (Proper 1), December 24, Years A, B, and C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Felicity Harley-McGowan and Bruce Gordon discuss the Magnificat and our understanding of Mary through the ages in relation to Luke 1:46b-55. The text is appointed for the Fourth Sunday of Advent (Advent 4), Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Sarah Drummond discuss hope, apathy, and why the context of prophecy matters in Zephaniah 3:14-20. The text is appointed for the Third Sunday of Advent (Advent 3), Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Peter Hawkins and Eric Reymond discuss disaster and hope, glory, and reversal in Baruch 5:1-9. The text is appointed for the Second Sunday of Advent (Advent 2), Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Joel Baden and Tisa Wenger discuss messianic prophecy, timelessness, and historic context in Jeremiah 33:14-16. The text is appointed for the First Sunday of Advent (Advent 1), Year C of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Chapter, Verse, and Season gives listeners the opportunity to overhear the kinds of conversations that take place in the halls of Yale Divinity School. Each week, professors from different theological disciplines chat about biblical texts from the Revised Common Lectionary. They bring their own interests to the table and hopefully spark new insights into the scripture appointed for each Sunday.