Queerying Narrative Lectionary 107

Pace Warfield-May queeries the Narrative Lectionary readings.

2 Samuel 11:1-5, 26-27; 12:1-9
¹Kings often went out to battle in the spring, so King David sent Joab with his officers and all of Israel to ravage the Ammonites and besiege Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem while his army went off to fight his battles. ²Late one spring afternoon, David rose from his settee and went for a walk on the roof of the palace. While on the roof he saw a woman bathing and thought she was very beautiful. ³David sent someone to find the identity of the woman. The person reported, "This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite." ⁴So David sent messengers to bring her to him, and she came to him, and he raped her while she was in the stage of purifying herself after menstruation. Then she returned to her house. ⁵Bathsheba conceived; and she sent and told David, "I am pregnant."

[…]

²⁶When Bathsheba heard Uriah, her husband, was dead, she grieved for him. ²⁷When the official period of mourning was over, David sent and brought Bathsheba to his house and married her. She gave birth to a son.

But the Becoming One saw what David had done to Bathsheba and became upset, ^12:1and the Becoming One sent the prophet Nathan to David. Nathan came to him and said, "There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. ²The rich man had many herds of animals and many sheep, ³but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of the meager food he could provide and drink from his cup, and lie in his house, and the ewe was like a daughter to him. ⁴Now a traveler came to the rich man. The rich man didn't want to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, so he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him." ⁵David became greatly angered against the man in the story. He said to Nathan, "As the Becoming One lives, the rich man who has done this deserves to die; ⁶he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."

⁷Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the Becoming One, the God/ess of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; ⁸I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your heart, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if all of that had still been too little, I would have added as much more. ⁹Why have you despised the word of the Becoming One, to do what is evil in my sight? You have purposefully caused Uriah the Hittite to be struck down with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

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Psalm 51:1-9

To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had raped Bathsheba.

¹Have mercy on me, O divine one,

as your love is steadfast

and your mercy overflows in abundance

erase the harm I've done.

²Bathe me so that my inequity may be washed away,

and cleanse me from the harm I've done.

³For I know my transgressions,

and my harm is ever before me.

⁴Against you, you alone, have I caused harm,

and I have done what is evil in your sight,

so that you are justified in your punishment

and without blame when you pass judgment on me.

⁵Indeed, I was born guilty,

a sinner when my mother conceived me.

⁶You long for a truthful heart,

so teach me wisdom in my deepest, most secret part of me.

⁷Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.

Look away from the harm I've done,

and erase my inequities.

Queeries for the text:
What is this building on?
What is missing from this passage? Why was it left out?
What is the companion text?
Where is this headed?
Who has agency in this story?
What makes sex consensual?
Who did David commit sin against?
What is holy about blackness? What is sinful about whiteness?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Transfiguration A

River Needham M.A. queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Exodus 24:12-18

The Becoming One said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the teachings and commandments which I have inscribed to instruct them.” So Moses and his attendant Joshua arose, and Moses ascended the mountain of God. To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us until we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you; let anyone who has a legal matter approach them.” When Moses had ascended the mountain, the cloud covered the mountain. The Presence of the Becoming One abode on Mount Sinai, and the cloud hid it for six days. On the seventh day She called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. Now the Presence of the Becoming One appeared in the sight of the Israelites as a consuming fire on the top of the mountain. Moses went inside the cloud and ascended the mountain; and Moses remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Queeries for the text:
What mountain does The Becoming One tell Moses to go up?
Can tablets be made of stone?
How do we instruct?
Does the Becoming One have a body?
What other divine figures are represented by fire?
What is significant about forty days?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. ²And Jesus was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

⁴Then Peter said to Jesus, “Duuuuuude, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵While Peter was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Child, the Beloved; with whom I am well pleased; listen to him!” ⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.  

⁷But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” ⁸And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. ⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Human One has been raised from the dead.”

Queeries for the text:
Six days later than what?
How does the sun shine?
How does whiteness dazzle?  What about darkness?
How was Peter going to make the dwellings?
How does touch challenge fear?
Why doesn't Jesus want anyone to know?

What are your queeries?