Joel Baden and Sarah Drummond discuss leadership, faithlessness, and providence in Exodus 17:1-7. The text is appointed for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21) in Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Water from a Rock (Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost)
Voiceover Voice:
If a leader said that today, our reaction would be, that’s not a particularly emotionally intelligent leader.
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. It’s a different voice welcoming you to the show this week, but hopefully a familiar one. I’m Helena Martin, Executive Producer and original host of the podcast. I’ve been out on leave for a few months, but now I’m back. I’m so grateful to Natalie Owens Pike for sitting in for me, as well as to everyone else on the team. They all took on a bunch of extra work to fill the gaps and to continue to bring you new episodes every week while I was out, and I thank them all.
This episode, we have Joel Baden, Professor Hebrew Bible and Director of the Center for Continuing Education at Yale Divinity School and Sarah Drummond, Founding Dean of Andover Newton Seminary at Yale. They’re discussing Exodus 17:1-7 which is appointed for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost in Year A. The text is read for you by Natalie Owens Pike.
[Exodus 17:1-7]
From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” 4So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Sarah Drummond:
What strikes me first about this passage is that the expression, “water from a rock”, is one that I use in ordinary conversation on a daily basis whenever I feel like somebody’s asking me to give them something I don’t have.
Joel Baden:
Which evidently happens to you on a daily basis?
Sarah Drummond:
I’m an educational administrator, Joel. [Joel Baden laughs] Of course it happens to me on a daily basis. As an administrator, I am a symbol of the resources that people wish they had to work with. And sometimes I have them. Often, I do not. And I suffer from the projection,
Sarah must have it, Sarah must know it.
One of my great pet peeves is when people ask me a question and I tell them I don’t know the answer, and they won’t accept it. So, when Moses uses these words, “why do you quarrel with me?” because he’s been asked to provide water that Moses doesn’t have in his Ruck sack waiting to share, I feel a sense of satisfaction of this is just part of working with a community of people. Particularly a community of people who are trying to follow something that’s not the leader but is a God who’s being interpreted to them by the leader.
Joel Baden:
So, you don’t have to be in the wilderness. Or are you always in the wilderness? [Sarah Drummond laughs]
Sarah Drummond:
No, I’m not always in the wilderness. I’m not always in the wilderness, but I’m always seeking to pull people together in order to follow God together. And people sometimes confuse me for, I mean, I am, you know, goddess like in so many ways, but my capacity to create resources out of nothing is not godlike. And I disappoint people when I’m not able to give them what they’re asking for. Even if what they’re asking for is something I can’t control.
Joel Baden:
So, this episode, as you know, is one of a whole series of similar things that happen again and again in the wilderness. People complain. Moses is like, what do you want me to do for you? And sometimes Moses gets more or less annoyed. This one, somewhat less annoyed. It’s like, what do you want with me? And God also, somewhat less annoyed, is like, all right, I’ll give them, we’ll figure out a way to do this. Sometimes the reaction is far stronger. Moses will say things like, why are you even talking to me? Your complaint has to do with the boss. Go complain to him, understood like sort of, if you dare. And sometimes God’s reaction is, who are these people who dare to challenge me?
What’s at the heart of it though, in all of the cases, at least in so many of them, is something that is expressed explicitly here. Which is, I think we often look at the people, grumbling, complaining, however you want to take that, and our reaction is, what a bunch of ingrates. They just got taken out of Egypt. Because we know that they’re going to be okay. We know that God is taking care of them. We know that they’re supposed to simply believe and have faith and everything’s going to be fine. And we read a little bit in light of Deuteronomy that says very explicitly, I put you in the wilderness and took away all your stuff just to test you and you were so disobedient and that sort of frames the whole experience. We read these stories and we get annoyed with the people. The people at the end of this say, is God in our midst or not? We could read that in again as sort of, how could they possibly doubt? But at the same time, I can understand that. They’re in the middle of nowhere. They need something. Like they actually need something. And the one person that is supposed to be in charge of them can’t give it to them. Are we on our own here?
Sarah Drummond:
When you see and you read those words in translation, “is the Lord among us or not,” what’s the affectation behind those words in your imagination? Are they genuinely curious or is it a rhetorical question?
Joel Baden:
I think it’s that they genuinely feel abandoned. They feel like they were sold the bill of goods.
God’s like, I’m going to take you out of Egypt to a land of milk and honey. It’s going to be awesome. We’re going to leave and I’m going to take you there. And the people get there, and they don’t realize how hard the road’s going to be. And, you know, I’ve gone on, I’ve taken my kids on road trips and forgotten to pack water or a drink, and they’ll be like, “I’m thirsty.” And I’m like, sorry, I don’t have, you’re going to have to suffer for a while. I promise I’ll give you eventually. We’ll find a place to stop. But they have every right to be like, why did you take me here? Had you no plan for this?
Sarah Drummond:
So, I hear compassion in your interpretation. Compassion for, of course, they’re wondering if God is among them or not because they associate God’s presence with met promises that haven’t been met yet. And it’s hard for them to believe, if God is failing to deliver on this expectation, well, what about that expectation? What about the other expectation? And that, I resonate there, and I also, when I come back to the grumbling, when I come back to the “why are you quarreling with me,” I’m feeling such compassion for Moses here…
Joel Baden:
Sure.
Sarah Drummond:
…as well. And one of the concepts that comes to mind for me from my own area of ministerial leadership is a term that is being explored a lot by Alan Roxburgh and other people who are interested in missional perspectives on Christianity, the concerns over Ecclesiocentrism, the person who’d rather let their whole faith die as long as their church is okay. And Roxburgh’s critique of that Ecclesiocentric Christianity is, I’ts functional atheism. It’s divestiture of faith in something bigger than ourselves. That we need the church, kind of as it is right now, to survive and thrive, because if it doesn’t, then my faith will die. Well, is the Lord among us or not?
Joel Baden:
I think that there’s, in taking is the Lord among us or not in anything that is productive or positive, as we’re sort of talking about it here, I think is actually, is probably a counter reading to the way that the Bible is, the biblical authors, the biblical story is portraying it. I think for sure the people are supposed to be very much in the wrong here. They’re supposed to just trust and they’re supposed to have faith. And these are things that’s established over and over again. And God will say things like, after everything I’ve done for them, how could they even doubt it? God will be like, fine, they want to see him here, I’ll show up and then I’m kicking them out. They can take care of themselves. There’s lots of evidence that this question, is the Lord among us or not, is meant to be damning of the people.
Sarah Drummond:
Ingrates.
Joel Baden:
Ingrates. But also, not just ingrates, in part, but also just faithless. They’re supposed to simply believe that they’ll be okay, even when it seems not. And I will admit that I am, at least in this conversation, I’m considerably more sympathetic to them, just out of pure common experience. They don’t get to see the deity. Normally. They don’t know. I mean, you said, if not this, maybe not the next thing, maybe not the next thing. How do they know? And you feel sympathy for Moses. And I get that because you like to take the mantle of Moses onto yourself.
Sarah Drummond:
Oh yes, I definitely do. But correction, I feel sympathy for both parties. And I feel sympathy, I think the same way that you’re alluding. In part, I feel sympathy because I have known what it’s like to be deprived. And I know what it’s like to deprive others. But also, because when I’m honest, who do I really relate to in this story? It’s not Moses. It’s Moses’s followers. Why do you think I beat up on myself when somebody asks me to give them something I don’t have? Cause I feel guilty. I want to be able to give them what they need.
Joel Baden:
Moses never really feels guilty about how bad the, he never does. [Sarah Drummond laughs] He whines about how annoying they are, and he gets angry at them. In a sense, I don’t know, maybe this is what you’re talking about, Moses, tell me if I’m going too far, what if we read Moses as like, sort of has a little bit of true believer stuff going on here. Moses’ perspective is, I have complete and total faith in God. And so, you’re suffering, but I know it’s all going to be okay. So just suffer silently and know in the end that God will care for you. If a leader said that today, and I suppose there probably are some who do, I suspect that our reaction would be, that’s not a particularly sympathetic, emotionally intelligent leader.
Sarah Drummond:
Absolutely. You hear critique all the time of when the president says this is not something the executive branch can handle, he gets slammed for saying that because of the fact it’s lacking in compassion to those who have even less power than he has.
Joel Baden:
Yeah. I will admit, the more I think about it, the more I feel like, yes, it’s very hard for Moses, but he never recognizes that it’s much harder for them. And that would seem to be, again, this is your area, not mine, that would seem to be a trait that would be a useful one.
Helena Martin:
Thanks for listening. And thank you Professor Baden and Dean Drummond for your insights on Exodus.
Remember to rate and subscribe to this podcast wherever you’re listening. And visit our website 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. Our theme music is by Calvin Linderman.
We’ll be back with another conversation from Chapter, Verse, and Season.
Book of the Bible:
Exodus
Subjects:
Exodus
Guests
Text
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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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.