Gen 17 for second Sunday of Lent 2012

1) We move to a far different covenant, with Abraham and his progeny. It is explicitly everlastng.
2) Circumcision takes seriously the old phrase in Hebrew, to cut a covenant. If ypou are interested in the old divisions, this looks to be P, Priestly material.
3) OK, this is material just ripe for jokes. The eminent CRE Mick Saunders (in his case it means committed rousing emperor) reminded me of an old, old, old, joke. Priest, Baptist pastor, and a rabbi make a bet to convert a bear. They all ended up in the hospital. The priest spoke to the bear about the catechism and got attacked. finally, he sprinkled holy water on the beast and it calmed. The bear is now going to confirmation class. The Baptist preached the Bible and the bear swung at the bible. They wrestled up and down hills in the forest until they toppled into a river, and the pastor immersed the beast , and he calmed.The bear is now a deacon. The rabbi looked up and sighed. I guess I shouldn’t have started with circumcision.

Circumcision is also used to refer to someone’s heart not being committed to God as in uncircumcised heart. Col.2 uses it as a gateway into baptism. Jesus himself was circumcised. Originally, it may have been a rite of passage at puberty.
4) Circumcision was practiced in ancient Egypt, and it was performed by other Semitic peoples.
5) We are connected to the promise of progeny extended to old age.
6) Abraham means father of many. Abram means the father is exalted. Sarah means princess or female leader.
7) El Shaddai’s meaning here is uncertain, God of mountain, perhaps related to breasts to emphasize sustenance,
8) Janzen (Abraham and the Families)m 50-1) speculates on circumcision as somehow symbolic of social organization and male power.
9) At any rate, circumcision is a sign of being in a community. it is an identity marker v. the “uncircumcised.”
10) God loves working from the small, as well as the large scale. here form this couple will come a multitude, even thought they are far past childbearing age. for a new novel on this topic see Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder