The Landless Wanderer

  • January 11, 2023
  • /
  • Erin Newton

Scripture Focus: Genesis 12:1
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”

Reflection: The Landless Wanderer
By Erin Newton

Nomad. Vagabond. Roamer. We have many words for those who travel, often without a permanent home. Gordon Wenham refers to Abraham as a “landless wanderer” to our human eyes.

The story of Abraham’s call marks a pivotal moment in Genesis. From creation to the Tower of Babel, humanity has encountered a series of judgments: the banishment from the Garden, the curse of Cain, the Flood, and the disruption of easy communication. God now calls out to one person, granting a message of peace and blessing to him.

From the text, we know that Abraham was 75 with a wife, extended family, but no children. He had servants (whether they were slaves or willing employees, it is unclear in this chapter) and many possessions.

In short, he was well established, self-sufficient. He was a man of means that quickly caught the attention of the Egyptian Pharaoh later in the chapter. The stability that Abraham enjoyed was self-made and self-secured.

Suddenly, God calls him to walk an unknown path with an unknown future, leave all he ever knew. Everything hinged upon the promise that God would bless his family and through him, the world. The details were vague, only a promise. By faith, Abraham responded and followed.

It is hard to imagine someone of great means leaving it all. The idea is so mystifying that we are enamored by stories with such plotlines. Royals leaving the monarchy. Billionaires donating their wealth. Pastors leaving their megachurch. The security in each case is established through wealth, power, prestige, or popularity. Give that up? Preposterous!

In these cases, the reason could be righteous or not. In the case of Abraham, it is a righteous response that is expressed in his immediate worship. Abraham would follow, perhaps looking like a fool to his peers.

It is a call we see repeated throughout the Bible. Jesus, a landless wanderer himself with no place to lay his head, leaves the glory of the right hand of God to fulfill his call on Earth. The disciples, busy with their work, are called to leave it all and follow Jesus. We are called to do the same.

Each journey is not without trials and tribulations. Abraham was not exempt. Jesus was not exempt. We will not be exempt. 

What has God called you to do? Where has he called you to go? Where will you be a blessing?

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus taught us, saying: “Do not worry; do not say, ‘What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear?’ It is the gentiles who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God’s saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well.” — Matthew 6.31-33

Today’s Readings
Genesis 12 (Listen 2:51)
John 11 (Listen 6:37)

Read more about Faith Honors God
To believe in God as Abraham did is to be right with God because faith honors God. Faith says to God: “I believe what you say.”

Faith Honors God :: Throwback Thursday

Read more about Supporting Our Work
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Supporting our Work

Cultivation Leads to Harvest

  • January 11, 2019
  • /
  • John Tillman

Matthew 12.1
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.

Reflection: Cultivation Leads to Harvest
By John Tillman

Cultivation leads to harvest. Harvests, when shared, lead to celebration.

In the rural south, I often experienced touches of the generosity harvest brings. In northern Mississippi, you knew when someone’s harvest was in because the produce would show up unannounced at your door. Or sometimes in your kitchen.

I remember coming in from some errand with my Granny to find a bag of fruit on her table that hadn’t been there when we left. A neighbor, coming by while we were out had walked into the unlocked home and left a bag of fruit. My Granny recognized the giver by the gift and set to work baking the fruit in a cobbler to take back to his house. Of course we ate some as well.

The generosity of sharing in the harvest is not a southern or a northern phenomenon. It is a phenomenon that happens within communities where gains and pains are shared.

The fruit of harvest may be literal fruit—the fruit of the vine, the fruit of the grain, the fruit of trees. It may also be the fruit of beauty and peace—of fresh cut flowers from a garden, of sitting in cooling shade, of walking beneath vines whispering with wind, or of crossing a brook whose current waves the cattails at us in greeting.

Scripture has specific guidance for dividing the harvest. Some was to be left in the fields for the poor. A tithe was to be brought to the temple so that those who served the spiritual nourishment of the community could be physically nourished in return. Some was to be given in other sacrifices. Sacrifices for sins. Sacrifices for special requests to the Lord. Sacrifices on behalf of the community and for others. (Anyone teaching that all God wants from us financially is a tithe hasn’t read the Old Testament in depth.)

We are responsible for the care of our communities, spiritually and physically. This requires a financial and a spiritual harvest. We understand, if we don’t always follow, the principle of sharing our financial benefits with others. But often we are left with no harvest of wisdom, love, and mercy to share with our community, because we do not cultivate our spiritual growth.

How are you dividing up your spiritual harvest? To whom are you passing on biblical knowledge? With whom are you exploring the treasures uncovered in God’s Word? How are you supporting those who support your spiritual development?

Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Our sins are stronger than we are, but you will blot them out.. — Psalm 65:3

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Prayers from The Divine Hours available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Genesis 12 (Listen – 2:51)
Matthew 11 (Listen – 4:06)

This Weekend’s Readings
Genesis 13 (Listen – 2:16), Matthew 12 (Listen – 6:41)
Genesis 14 (Listen – 4:04), Matthew 13 (Listen – 7:23)

Additional Reading
Read More about Redemption at Work in Generosity
Landowners, the CEOs of Israel’s agrarian society, had a holy responsibility to not wring every grain of profit from their fields—to not harvest the edges and corners of the field, and to not pick up dropped grain or return for forgotten sheaves.

Read More about Good News to the Poor :: Epiphany
When Mary sang about filling the hungry with good things, poverty and many other personal tragedies were considered markers of spiritual failure. Today we also see poverty as a result of sin.

How far will you travel in God’s Word this year?
On January 1st we restarted our two year Bible reading plan in Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew. Join us on the journey. We read the Old Testament over two years and the New Testament and Psalms each year.

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Where will a journey through the Bible take your faith in the coming year? Jesus calls each of us, saying, “Follow me.”