Wrestling Match

Family,

I have often talked about my good friend, Manny Diaz, because he was so influential to my finding my path into the ministry. But more than that, he was the first evangelical, that i had met, who made it quite clear that it is ok to ask questions of the Bible. He taught me, right away, that the answer, "The Bible says so," simply does not work, all the time. And in other cases, the Bible has stories or incidences that make us question.

Genesis 19 is one of those stories, at least for me, that often raise my eyebrows. It is full of the threat of violence, or more specifically rape, and it ends in incest. But it also has a father offering up his only daughters, as bait to spare strangers. And it, of course, has the total destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. This is a chapter full of darkness, rash decisions, pain, and for me at least, confusion.

What do we do with a text so full of darkness? How do we, with authenticity, have an open and honest conversation about a text that many just pass over, because of what it involves. I dont think i have found Genesis 19 on the lectionary, and i am pretty sure most of my pastor friends avoid it like the plague. But is that the answer? Is avoiding difficult text or difficult situations really helpful, healthy? No. It isn't.

I think we have the freedom, as was shared in small group, to be angry at this text. Any father of daughters, or any children, would be angered at the audacity of Lot to offer his pure daughters as a ransom for complete strangers. I think its ok to talk about our feelings of this text. How we find it repulsive and unacceptable. How it violates everything we know about what it means to be human and a parent. Its ok.

Its ok to suggest that Lot is not a godly man, if that is how we read the text. But it is also ok to read it and sense that Lot might be doing what he feels is best. Even if it doesn't make sense to us. At the core of Lot's issues is the reality of welcoming two strangers/ angels into his household. Lot's desire to be hospitable ranks higher than the well being of his daughters. Lot knew that those strangers came under his roof, expecting to be safe, expecting to be cared for, and expecting to have an experience that is positve. Lot doesn't want to break their trust.

But what does this say about Lot's parenting skills, as my friend Melissa raised? What about the role of women in that culture? Could it be that women were really seen as property and not at all human? So that enabled Lot to treat his daughters differently? He went after his son in laws, who laughed at him, but he was ready to throw his daughters to the wolves. But what does this say about God?

Kendra offered a great question. If God promised to save Sodom, if He found ten people, why didn't God look harder? Or was Sodom really that corrupt, that evil? What made them evil? Was it their desire to rape, and yes the Hebrew points towards a violent act, them two strangers? Or was it that their violent intentions proves their failure to be hospitable? I dont have many answers, but i do have a lot of questions. More than that, i have listening ears, because i need to hear how you read this text.

Finally, the daughters of Lot get him drunk and sleep with him. They do this out of desperation. But what is your reaction? What are your thoughts? And does it make the whole situation ok when we realize that two great peoples: Moabites and Ammonites come from this time of desperation? Or do the ends not justify the means? I invite, no i encourage your responses, your thoughts, and your anger or whatever feelings come from Genesis 19. Lets craft, together, a message that truly comes from us, as the Body of Christ. It is a joy to journey with you all, and may God's Spirit illumine His word and His purpose in each of us, so that we might continue walking in the Light. Amen.

Shalom,
jerry