Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“God said to Abraham, ‘As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, September 17, 2019
by Daniel D. Maurer, Clergy Stuff
Isn’t it weird? I mean, come on . . . cut your little boys and this is the deal?
Americans often circumcised their little boys in the latter half of the 20th Century. I’m one of them! Some aren’t though. And, indeed, most of men today, if they’re cut, aren’t done so because it’s a religious mandate. It’s supposed to be for health.
(Ironically, the spread of HIV in African countries can be possibly curtailed through this practice.)
In Abraham’s day, I suppose it wouldn’t have been so strange, but I seem to remember hearing in my biblical history courses that people from other religions at that time thought it was weird, too.
What’s even weirder is reading passages like this in church. Or even in worship!
So what are we to make of it today?!
I suppose it could mean a “physical sign” of promise. But how would women relate to it then?
Here’s one of these times when I cannot offer any other wisdom than to encourage you to find out for yourself. You need to find out and discover which passages in scripture are important to our world today and which ones really don’t matter all that much except to give historical context.
I think this passage from Genesis fits in the second category nicely. The promise made to Abraham of the covenant in referring to the stars and Abraham’s descendants is not only more beautiful, but way, WAYYY less weird than this one!
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