Sermon Tone Analysis

Genesis 38

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.”

For he thought, “He might die too, like his brothers.”

So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died.

When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnahe to his sheepshearers.

Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.”

So she took off her widow’s clothes, veiled her face, covered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah.

For she saw that, though Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.

He went over to her and said, “Come, let me sleep with you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.

She said, “What will you give me for sleeping with me?”

“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” he replied.

But she said, “Only if you leave something with me until you send it.”

“What should I give you?” he asked.

She answered, “Your signet ring, your cord, and the staff in your hand.”

So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.

She got up and left, then removed her veil and put her widow’s clothes back on.

When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get back the items he had left with the woman, he could not find her.

He asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?”

“There has been no cult prostitute here,” they answered.

So the Adullamite returned to Judah, saying, “I couldn’t find her, and besides, the men of the place said, ‘There has been no cult prostitute here.’

”

The scepter will not depart from Judah

Judah replied, “Let her keep the items for herself; otherwise we will become a laughingstock.

After all, I did send this young goat, but you couldn’t find her.”

or the staff from between his feet

About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law, Tamar, has been acting like a prostitute, and now she is pregnant.”

until he whose right it is comes

“Bring her out,” Judah said, “and let her be burned to death!”

and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.

As she was being brought out, she sent her father-in-law this message: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these items belong.”

And she added, “Examine them.

Whose signet ring, cord, and staff are these?”

Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.”

And he did not know her intimately again.

Later Jesus and his disciples were at home having supper with a collection of disreputable guests.

Unlikely as it seems, more than a few of them had become followers.

The religion scholars and Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company and lit into his disciples: “What kind of example is this, acting cozy with the riffraff?”

Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick?

I’m here inviting the sin-sick, not the spiritually-fit.

27 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb.

28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, and the midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread around it, announcing, “This one came out first.” 29 But then he pulled his hand back, out came his brother, and she said, “What a breakout you have made for yourself!”

So he was named Perez.F,j 30 Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread tied to his hand, came out, and was named Zerah.G

, The Message

, The Message

The one who denies justice to a resident alien, a fatherless child, or a widow is cursed.

And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

He (God) remains faithful forever,

executing justice for the exploited….

The Lord protects resident aliens

and helps the fatherless and the widow,

but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

God in his holy dwelling is

a father of the fatherless

and a champion of widows.

Wash yourselves.

Cleanse yourselves.

Remove your evil deeds from my sight.

Stop doing evil.

Learn to do what is good.

Pursue justice.

Correct the oppressor.

Defend the rights of the fatherless.

Plead the widow’s cause.

Speak up for those who have no voice,

for the justice of all who are dispossessed.

Look, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to possess.

Carefully follow them, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples.

When they hear about all these statutes, they will say, ‘This great nation is indeed a wise and understanding people.’

For what great nation is there that has a god near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call to him?

And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?

I will not punish your daughters

when they act promiscuously

or your daughters-in-law

when they commit adultery,

for the men themselves go off with prostitutes

and make sacrifices with cult prostitutes.

People without discernment are doomed.

He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.

As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me

to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to set free the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.

And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him.

He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

Social justice is something we do, the gospel is something that is already done.

Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides, sealed with seven seals.

I also saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”

But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or even to look in it.

I wept and wept because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or even to look in it.

Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep.

Look, the Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that he is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.

"Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides, sealed with seven seals.