000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

232 Third Sunday in Lent/Year C
animals, they bind themselves to one another in such a way that covenant
disloyalty will tear each of them in two as the animals lie cut in two.” 68
In Genesis 15:18–21, God gives the land to Sarai and Abram. However,
their descendants will not possess it until four generations have passed.
Nevertheless, the couple experiences a prolepsis: they live in the land as
if it is already theirs. What would happen in our churches if we lived in
the present as if it were a promised land?
Genesis 15 does not inform Luke 9:28–36, Luke 13:31–35, or Philippians
3:17–4:1. However, Paul cites or alludes to Genesis 15:5 in Romans
4:18 and to Genesis 15:6 in Romans 4:3, 6, and 22, and in Galatians 3:6,
with James 2:23 referring to the passage. Luke makes use of Genesis
15:13–14 in Acts 7:6–7.
Third Sunday in Lent/Year C
Isaiah 55:1–9
For comments on this passage, please see Proper 10/Year A.
Fourth Sunday in Lent/Year C
Joshua 5:9–12
The season of Lent includes reflection on the degree to which the congregation
manifests faithful witness. Although the larger literary setting of this
reading is immediately after the Israelites cross the Jordan into the promised
land (see Proper 26/Year A), Joshua 5:1 introduces a theme that fits the season
of Lent. When the leaders of the peoples inhabiting the promised land
(Amorites and Canaanites) heard that YHWH had dried up the Jordan
when the Israelites crossed over, the hearts of these leaders melted, and
“there was no longer any spirit in them, because of the Israelites.”
Circumcision was a sign of God’s promise and faithfulness (see Second
Sunday in Lent/Year B). The Israelites who had come out of Egypt had been
circumcised in accord with God’s directive in Genesis 17:1–16, but the generation
who wandered in the wilderness did not listen to the voice of YHWH
and did not circumcise their children (Josh. 5:6). As one of the first acts in the
promised land, Joshua ordered circumcision for the new generation that had
crossed the Jordan and was about to occupy the promised land (Josh. 5:2–9).
Commentators disagree on the meaning of the “disgrace of Egypt” that
God rolled away by having the new generation circumcised (Josh. 5:9).