Lent 2 year C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, and guest queerier, Jessica Davis, queery the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Genesis 15:1-12, [13-16], 17-18

Some time later, the word of the Becoming One came to Abram in a vision.
She said, “Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”
Then Abram said, “O Becoming God, what can You give me,

seeing that I shall die childless,

and the one in charge of my household is Dammesek Eliezer!”

Abram continued, “Since You have granted me no offspring,

my steward will be my heir.”

The word of the Becoming One came to him in reply,

“That one shall not be your heir;

none but your very own issue shall be your heir.”

She took him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars,

if you are able to count them.”

Then She added, “So shall your offspring be.”
And because he put his trust in the Becoming One, She reckoned it to his merit.
Then She said to him, “I am the Becoming One who brought you out

from Ur of the Chaldeans to assign this land to you as a possession.”

And he said, “O Becoming God, how shall I know that I am to possess it?”
She answered, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram,

a turtledove, and a young bird.”

He brought Her all these and cut them in two, placing each half opposite the other;

but he did not cut up the bird.

Birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great dark dread descended upon him.
[Then She said to Abram, “Know well that your offspring

shall be strangers  in a land not theirs, and

they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years;

but I will execute judgment on the nation

they shall serve, and in the end they shall go free with great wealth.

As for you, You shall go to your ancestors in peace; You shall be buried

at a ripe old age.

And they shall return here in the fourth generation,

for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”]

When the sun set and it was very dark, there appeared a smoking oven,

and a flaming torch which passed between those pieces.

On that day the Becoming One made a covenant with Abram, saying,

“To your offspring I assign this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:..."

Queeries for the text:
Are the Becoming One and the Becoming God the same?
Who else is a steward? How do stewards exist today? What might justice look like for stewards?
What does it mean to count the stars?
What allows Abram to be so forward with demanding things of G-d?
How did Abram carry all the animals? Did he have a pickup truck?
Why was so much of the Becoming One's Covenant omitted from the pericope?
What does it mean for God to give humans land to possess? What does it mean to possess land?
Where did the smoking oven and flaming torch come from? What powers them?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 13:31-35
³¹At that very hour

some Pharisees came and said to Jesus,

“Get away from here,

for Herod wants to kill you.”

³²Jesus said to them,

“Go and tell that fox for me,

‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow,

and on the third day I finish my work.

³³Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way,

because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’

³⁴“Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

the city that kills the prophets

and stones those who are sent to it!

How often have I desired to gather your children together

as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,

and you were not willing!

³⁵See, your house is left to you.

And I tell you,

you will not see me until the time comes when you say,

‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Becoming One.’”

Queeries for the text:
At which hour?  Where was Herod?
Why were Pharisees warning Jesus?
Why would Jesus call Herod a fox?
Have prophets ever been killed outside Jerusalem?
Can Jesus the Hen actually protect the brood from a fox?
Who else is like a mother hen?
When will people say "Blessed is the one..."?  Why?
Why does Jesus leave the house to them?

What are your queeries?