{"id":10772,"date":"2011-08-03T11:11:49","date_gmt":"2011-08-03T16:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=10772"},"modified":"2011-08-03T14:00:43","modified_gmt":"2011-08-03T19:00:43","slug":"arguing-with-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Arguing with God"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lord said to Moses, \u2018Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it, and said, \u201cThese are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!\u201d \u2019 The Lord said to Moses, \u2018I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.\u2019<\/p>\n

But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, \u2018O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, \u201cIt was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth\u201d? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, \u201cI will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.\u201d \u2019 And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are a few of these \u201carguments with God\u201d in the Bible. I have always found these stories fascinating. In the Hebrew Bible, the protagonist is a chosen friend of God, holy and righteous. When the LORD threatens destruction to human life, the protagonist protests and attempts to persuade God. The human protagonist in these stories temporarily appears to have a better grip on God\u2019s essential character – righteous, generous, and merciful – than the LORD does!<\/p>\n

These days, we think of a conversation with God in which the human tries to change God\u2019s mind as at worst a descent into a pagan understanding of prayer and at best a delusion. Of course, God does not \u201cforget\u201d compassion and mercy as the narrative seems to imply. Yet these stories remain, somehow, compelling and true, and we read them in the liturgy.<\/p>\n

In the Roman Catholic lectionary, year C appears to be the year of Divine Negotiation: the 16th Sunday in Ordinary time (July 21, 2013) hosts Genesis 18:20-32, the story of Abraham asking God not to destroy the innocent of Sodom together with the guilty. The 24th Sunday (Sept 15, 2013) proclaims Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14, in which Moses begs the LORD not to embarrass himself by destroying his people on account of their idolatry. The Revised Common Lectionary also includes these readings, although they are alternates from the prophetic texts suggested for these days. In addition, both lectionaries include Luke 18:1-8, the parable of the unjust judge, five weeks later (the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time or 22nd Sunday After Pentecost, October 20, 2013).<\/p>\n

The story of the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28), read on August 14 this year according to both the Roman Catholic and the Revised Common Lectionary should also be understood within this Biblical tradition:<\/p>\n

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, \u2018Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.\u2019 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, \u2018Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.\u2019 He answered, \u2018I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.\u2019 But she came and knelt before him, saying, \u2018Lord, help me.\u2019 He answered, \u2018It is not fair to take the children\u2019s food and throw it to the dogs.\u2019 She said, \u2018Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters\u2019 table.\u2019 Then Jesus answered her, \u2018Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.\u2019 And her daughter was healed instantly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When I\u2019ve taught this passage to undergraduates, their first reaction is shock at Jesus\u2019 apparent callousness and narrow-mindedness. Like God in the Exodus story, Jesus is portrayed here as echoing, presumably, a common view of justice and mercy among his contemporaries. The woman\u2019s boldness not only challenges his assumptions but the reader\u2019s. The final reversal is then an especially striking testimony that Jesus\u2019 ministry would eventually save not only Jews but Gentiles as well; that God\u2019s love extends not only to \u201cthose like us\u201d but \u201cthose we do not like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you find this passage challenging? How would you interpret it in a homily, or how would you like to hear it interpreted?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are a few \u201carguments with God\u201d in the Bible. I have always found these stories fascinating. In the Hebrew Bible, the protagonist is a chosen friend of God, holy and righteous. When the LORD threatens destruction to human life, the protagonist protests and attempts to persuade God. The human protagonist in these stories temporarily appears to have a better grip on God\u2019s essential character – righteous, generous, and merciful – than the LORD himself! On August 14, we meet a New Testament version in the person of the Canaanite woman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[46,84],"tags":[1490,1491],"class_list":["post-10772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homiletics","category-lectionary-liturgy-of-word","tag-exodus-32","tag-matthew-15"],"yoast_head":"\nArguing with God - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arguing with God - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are a few \u201carguments with God\u201d in the Bible. I have always found these stories fascinating. In the Hebrew Bible, the protagonist is a chosen friend of God, holy and righteous. When the LORD threatens destruction to human life, the protagonist protests and attempts to persuade God. The human protagonist in these stories temporarily appears to have a better grip on God\u2019s essential character - righteous, generous, and merciful - than the LORD himself! On August 14, we meet a New Testament version in the person of the Canaanite woman.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-03T16:11:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-08-03T19:00:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"411\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"90\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kimberly Hope Belcher\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kimberly Hope Belcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/03\\\/arguing-with-god\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/03\\\/arguing-with-god\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kimberly Hope Belcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f99e819ba51084d4a5ff56a947fcbc96\"},\"headline\":\"Arguing with God\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-03T16:11:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-08-03T19:00:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/03\\\/arguing-with-god\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":830,\"commentCount\":20,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Exodus 32\",\"Matthew 15\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Homiletics\",\"Lectionary \\\/ Liturgy of Word\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/03\\\/arguing-with-god\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/03\\\/arguing-with-god\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/03\\\/arguing-with-god\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arguing with God - Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-03T16:11:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-08-03T19:00:43+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/03\\\/arguing-with-god\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/03\\\/arguing-with-god\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/03\\\/arguing-with-god\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Arguing with God\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"description\":\"Worship, Wit & Wisdom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"width\":1340,\"height\":209,\"caption\":\"Home\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f99e819ba51084d4a5ff56a947fcbc96\",\"name\":\"Kimberly Hope Belcher\",\"description\":\"Kimberly Belcher received her Ph.D. in Liturgical Studies at Notre Dame in 2009. After teaching at St John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, she returned to Notre Dame as a faculty member in 2013. Her research interests include sacramental theology (historical and contemporary), trinitarian theology, and ritual studies. Her interest in the church tradition is challenged, deepened, and inspired by her three children.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/kbelcher\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Arguing with God - Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Arguing with God - Home","og_description":"There are a few \u201carguments with God\u201d in the Bible. I have always found these stories fascinating. In the Hebrew Bible, the protagonist is a chosen friend of God, holy and righteous. When the LORD threatens destruction to human life, the protagonist protests and attempts to persuade God. The human protagonist in these stories temporarily appears to have a better grip on God\u2019s essential character - righteous, generous, and merciful - than the LORD himself! On August 14, we meet a New Testament version in the person of the Canaanite woman.","og_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/","og_site_name":"Home","article_published_time":"2011-08-03T16:11:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-08-03T19:00:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":411,"height":90,"url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kimberly Hope Belcher","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kimberly Hope Belcher","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/"},"author":{"name":"Kimberly Hope Belcher","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f99e819ba51084d4a5ff56a947fcbc96"},"headline":"Arguing with God","datePublished":"2011-08-03T16:11:49+00:00","dateModified":"2011-08-03T19:00:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/"},"wordCount":830,"commentCount":20,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Exodus 32","Matthew 15"],"articleSection":["Homiletics","Lectionary \/ Liturgy of Word"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/","name":"Arguing with God - Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-08-03T16:11:49+00:00","dateModified":"2011-08-03T19:00:43+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/03\/arguing-with-god\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Arguing with God"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","name":"Home","description":"Worship, Wit & Wisdom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization","name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","width":1340,"height":209,"caption":"Home"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f99e819ba51084d4a5ff56a947fcbc96","name":"Kimberly Hope Belcher","description":"Kimberly Belcher received her Ph.D. in Liturgical Studies at Notre Dame in 2009. After teaching at St John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, she returned to Notre Dame as a faculty member in 2013. Her research interests include sacramental theology (historical and contemporary), trinitarian theology, and ritual studies. Her interest in the church tradition is challenged, deepened, and inspired by her three children.","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/author\/kbelcher\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10772"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10776,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10772\/revisions\/10776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}