Here comes a first in 30 years of ministry. I have never preached a sermon from a text in I or II Chronicles. Now I’m about to offer two or three because we will be reading those books as part of the Immerse volume titled Chronicles. It not only includes the titular books, but also Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Daniel. Esther too will be a new preaching experience for me.
I had not ever noticed the absence of Chronicles from my texts but now I find there are a couple of good reasons. First, there are absolutely no readings from Chronicles in the RCL (Revised Common Lectionary), which I generally follow. Esther too is all but absent, with only one reading in three years (actually scheduled for this coming Sunday) to be found in the lectionary set of Hebrew scriptures which follows a plan to “read through,” rather than the set which seeks to match the theme of the Gospel readings each Sunday. I always work with the latter set.
Second, as I’ve begun to read and reflect on Chronicles in preparation, I see why I’ve not dealt with it and likely why it is not in the lectionary. The first nine chapters are pretty bare-bones genealogies, with only the slightest intrusion of narrative content. The rest largely duplicates content from Samuel and Kings, with a few additions and some enlightening changes.
Preaching on those genealogies seems especially challenging, but I’m actually going to do it twice, this Sunday and next. For this Sunday, as an introduction to the Immerse readings, I will springboard off I Chronicles 1:1-27. It’s the genealogy of the human race beginning with Adam and ending, at that point, in Abraham. I’ll be working with several reflections on it:
To begin with, there is the clear record of the diversity of the human race from the outset. Though Scripture focuses the story down to Abraham and his descendants, it also names and makes us aware of the other “branches” of humanity. They are all human and they are all included in the story.
Next, I will simply note the unlikelihood that any of the “families” in this genealogy were what we would call “white.” The name “Adam” for the first human being means both “earth” and “red.” Given what we know of ancient middle-eastern peoples, it’s probable that most of those covered by these lists were brown or ruddy skinned people, including Abraham and his descendants.
Alongside that reflection on color, it seems worth a moment or two to dispel the notorious “myth of Ham,” because of its ugly history as part of American slavery and racism. That is, Noah’s curse on his son Ham (who is included in this genealogy) had nothing to do with a supposed perpetual curse on black people which entitled white people to enslave them.
Finally, I would like to point forward to John’s great vision in Revelation 7:9, “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” God’s story of interaction with humanity both begins and ends with pictures of human diversity. Ethnic differences which arose in the branching of human family are not meant by God to be eliminated or “melted down” as people are united in Christ. Instead, the beautiful differences which unfolded at the beginning of human history are part of God’s plan both now and forever.