tough stuff

Joseph (of Technicolor dream coat fame) is reunited with the brothers who sold them into slavery.

Paul writes that God has "imprisoned all to disobedience so that he may be merciful to all."

Jesus calls the Canaanite woman a dog (or worse).

Not an easy set of lessons for the preacher this week; which isn't me :-). I think the hardest part to reconcile for me is that last line from the lesson from Paul's letter to the Romans. What does he mean that God "imprisoned all to disobedience"? It sounds like that whole free-will bill of goods is worthless. Was God conspiring with the serpent so that Adam and Eve would eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Humans to this day are incapable of not doing something they were told not to do.


I'm not convinced that this is the case. The context of what Paul is saying seems to be much larger than "God's out to get us." It seems as though Paul is pointing out that we are imprisoned to sin by our disobedience, that without God we cannot be restored to God's dream for our creation - the Creation.

Or maybe it is much smaller than "God's out to get us." Maybe it is really specific to the people of Israel, as the context seems to state. Maybe it is another way for Paul to say that the law condemns but grace gives freedom. Maybe it is Paul's way of getting the attention of his Roman audience by saying, "in the old model, not even God's chosen were promised redemption, but with Jesus Christ all have the possibility of being set free."

Tough lessons this week - lots to chew on - glad I'm not preaching. ;-)