Missionary Disciple

Abram K-J has  this  wonderful Advent post  on Jonah and included this painting.  Jonah no doubt had the heart of a missionary, but he gets depressed at Nineveh where he finds missionary success. Jonah is a great story of the love of God.  

Jonah  Thrown into the Sea, by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640)

This all brings to mind Pope Francis' teaching on the missionary disciple.    All believers are called by God to reach out. It's difficult and there will be times when the missionary wants to give up, like Jonah did, but the presence of God is in the mission.

Making Events Present

If you use the "search" on this blog there are several posts on anamnesis (remembering).  As God's people  gather in worship God comes with memories of his mighty acts, events which become present in liturgy.  Because God is in eternity, this is more than a re-representation of past events.

Sarna says this about remembering in his comment on Exodus 2:24: 

The Hebrew stem z-k-r connotes much more than the recall of things past. It means, rather, to be mindful, to pay heed, signifying a sharp focusing of attention upon someone or something. It embraces concern and involvement and is active not passive, so that it eventuates in action. As Menaḥot 43b has it: “Looking upon leads to remembering, and remembering leads to action.”

Remembering leads to action.  How does this happen?   The worshiper relives the events, as described in Sarna's notes to Exodus chapter 13:

This section continues the process of historicizing existing institutions by reinterpreting them in terms of the Exodus experiences. The revitalized ancient rituals, now charged with new historical meaning, serve to perpetuate the memory of those events by making them living realities for succeeding generations.

Nahum Sarna,   The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus שמות (Jewish Publication Society, 1991). 

Read the NT in Greek

No excuses.  I've had the classes.  I can handle the grammar.     But   I've just been too lazy to plow through the NT in Greek.  Well, here is the challenge from Travis Bohlinger:  http://tavisbohlinger.wordpress.com/2014/10/02/no-more-reading-the-nt-in-english-please/

Gospel of Luke

I will be back to Exodus soon.   But today I have to  mention Brian Davidson's insight into Luke's 
Gospel:

While reading through Luke over the past couple weeks, it seemed to me that Luke makes explicit ideas that are implicit in the other Synoptic Gospels. I note here four: (1) the exodus motif, (2) the movement of the Synoptics’ presentation of Jesus’ ministry from Galilee down to Jerusalem, (3) the idea that Jesus was a prophet “in word and deed,” and (4) the belief that Jesus rose physically and bodily. 

http://brianwdavidson.com/2013/06/14/luke-states-what-others-imply/#_ftn2  
If you read Brian's  post you will see four fascinating  scriptural cases where Luke makes explicit what is implicit in the other Synoptic Gospels.

Exodus 4

Exodus 4: 29-31 says this:
Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites. 30 Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and performed the signs in the sight of the people. 31 The people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had given heed to the Israelites and that he had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.  
Exodus 4: 29-31 (NRSV).  
The reference to "elders"  reminds me of what we hear today about tribal leaders in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.  Sarna  in his comment on this verse from Exodus chapter 4 describes the importance of these elders in ancient times:  "The institution of elders is rooted in the tribal-patriarchal system that shaped the character of Israelite society in early times. The rich Mari archives dealing with Northwest Semitic tribes show that the council of elders was entrusted with considerable authority, judicial and political. Its members acted as the spokesmen and the delegates of the tribes in dealings with the urban administration.”
Nahum Sarna,   The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus שמות (Jewish Publication Society, 1991). 

Exodus 3

In Exodus, God tells Moses, "you shall worship."  Exodus 3:12.  In fact, the freedom to worship is one of the objectives of the exodus: 

Whether it be a prediction or a prescription, this phrase ["you shall worhsip"]  is a subtle hint to Moses on how to handle the negotiations with the Egyptian authorities. The motif of the worship of God as one of the objectives of the Exodus is reiterated time and again before Pharaoh. Since the Hebraic stem ʿ-v-d means both “to be in servitude” and “to worship,” the phrase insinuates the idea that worship of God is incompatible with servitude to the pharaoh. 

Nahum Sarna,   The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus שמות (Jewish Publication Society, 1991). 

Knew Not Joseph

Exodus 1:6-8 states: 
⁶ Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and that whole generation. ⁷ But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them. ⁸ Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹ He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. ¹⁰ Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
Exodus 1:6-8  (NRSV). 

The phrase "did not know Joseph"   is full of meaning, as described by Sarna: 

This is the first appearance in Exodus of the verb y-d-ʿ [know]. It is a key term in the Exodus narratives, occurring over twenty times in the first fourteen chapters. The usual rendering, “to know,” hardly does justice to the richness of its semantic range. In the biblical conception, knowledge is not essentially or even primarily rooted in the intellect and mental activity. Rather, it is more experiential and is embedded in the emotions, so that it may encompass such qualities as contact, intimacy, concern, relatedness, and mutuality.  Conversely, not to know is synonymous with dissociation, indifference, alienation, and estrangement; it culminates in callous disregard for another’s humanity.  
Nahum Sarna,   The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus שמות (Jewish Publication Society, 1991).