The Genesis (15:5-18) reading from the second Sunday of Lent, strikes 21st century readers as bizarre. Taken in the context of the procedure for reaching agreements, it isn’t just bizarre, it is stunning. In the ancient middle East, an agreement was sealed by cutting a sacrificial animal in half. Both parties to the agreement walked between the halves, symbolizing a willingness to be torn apart if they should break the agreement. In Genesis 15, Abraham cuts apart five animals and places each half on the ground. Then:
When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.”
It is not Abraham that passes between the pieces. The flaming torch symbolizes that the Lord himself makes the covenant. This image should not strike us a bizarre. It should stun us. God has bound himself to Abraham and his seed. By baptism, we are children of Abraham. The Lord has bound himsef to us. What more can we ask?
As most of us have learned, breaking agreements - or even straining them - is painful. Restoring them sometimes beyond our power. By the end of lent we will learn the cost of restoring the covenant and that it has been done for us.
February 17, 2015 has gotten a little busy. I'm updating the link and republishing this for this week's reflection.