Mission Yearbook: Rev. Dr. Justin Reed explores sibling struggles on ‘Leading Theologically’ podcast

The Book of Genesis has plenty to say about reconciliation and repair. Fortunately for listeners of the “Leading Theologically” podcast, the Rev. Dr. Justin Reed joined podcast host the Rev. Bill Davis recently to share his insights on some of those frayed and fraught relationships, as well as the reconciliation that sometimes followed the conflict. Listen to their 40-minute conversation here.

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Reed is associate professor of the Old Testament at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. His teaching focuses on African American hermeneutics. His first book, “The Injustice of Noah’s Curse,” is forthcoming. Davis is senior director of Theological Education Funds Development at the Presbyterian Foundation.

“To me, the mixture of what’s in Genesis is fascinating and relatable as a human and across cultures,” Reed said. “I read a story in Genesis and I can compare it to the beautiful and inspiring stories I know through different cultures. … It’s really the stories that capture me.”

Davis asked Reed to start with what’s often described as the first murder in history, the Cain and Abel story.

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The Rev. Bill Davis

What a person brings to the table makes “a big difference” in how we read such stories, Reed said. Cain brings God an offering of fruit, Abel brings an offering from his flock, “and people look at that difference with a high level of scrutiny and say, ‘Cain did it wrong from the beginning,’” Reed said, adding he’s “not bringing a desire to justify God’s response to Cain’s offering” when reading and teaching this text. “Instead, I’m looking at how is this true of the human experience I see in the world. It’s so relatable to see a story of two brothers and the divine favor that they receive is different.” Siblings can grow up in the same household, and one is a gifted athlete while another is more cerebral. That’s seen as divine favor.

“To me, what’s beautiful about this story is saying there is a difference in favor. That’s a fact of life in the world we live in, and it’s a fact of life in this story,” Reed said. “Cain chose the wrong response. It’s homicide, and that’s wrong.”

What’s beautiful in the story is that when Cain tells God the punishment is too much for him to bear and that he fears for his own safety, God gives Cain “a form of grace by saying, ‘Cain, I know you’re afraid somebody’s going to harm you the same way you did to your brother,’ and then God puts a sign of protection on Cain. … There is grace with the punishment. There’s a care from God about that person’s fears.”

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The Rev. Dr. Justin Reed

It's “difficult but important work as Christians to think about redemption for everybody, to think about the full humanity of people in spite of the worst that they’ve done,” and “how we can work toward a society that has space for their redemption, a society where everyone is safe and at the same time you haven’t abandoned, you haven’t given up on someone who has done an extreme harm,” Reed said.

Then Davis moved to the Genesis account of other brothers in conflict, Jacob and Esau. Even before the twins are born, God gives Rebekah an account of what is to be: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other; the elder shall serve the younger.”

The Hebrew here is a bit ambiguous, Reed said. “Is this a story about who’s great, or who’s older?” he asked. Here we’re “talking about a world that’s set up where humans justify differences based on our understanding, our interpretation, our claims of where God’s favor is.” Rebekah’s favorite is Jacob, and Isaac’s is Esau. “Now we have this transition,” Reed noted, “from God’s differential favor to humans’ differential favor.”

One thing Reed loves about Genesis is “it doesn’t say, ‘the lesson is this,’” he said. “Genesis doesn’t say, ‘these are the virtues that are important for you to follow because of your ancestor Jacob.’ … You listen to the story, you meditate on it, and it becomes part of the perspectives you have on the world around you.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Eileen Schuhmann, Associate, Global Engagement & Resources, Presbyterian Hunger Program, Interim Unified Agency
Michelle Schulz, Administrative Manager, Information Technology, Administrative Services Group (A Corp) 

Let us pray:

God of grace and mercy, we give thanks for the opportunities you give us to join in your care of all who are in need. May your Spirit inspire us as we serve in the name of Christ. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - ‘This stuff is profound, y’all’

Baccalaureate speaker asks graduates to name how God is different now than when they started

September 19, 2022

The Rev. Dr. Justin Reed

Well into his baccalaureate address at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary this past spring, the Rev. Dr. Justin Reed asked graduates from the classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022, “How is God different now than when you started?”

Graduates weren’t reticent to answer the Assistant Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible: God is “bigger,” “more expansive,” “Blacker,” “more accepting,” “stronger,” “more loving,” “has more mercy,” “laughs more,” “less restrictive,” “more heartbroken over us.”

“This stuff is profound, y’all,” Reed said. “We found God here, and yet it is God whom we continually seek. My hope and prayer is you will continue to celebrate what you found here even though you will find more to celebrate beyond this place. The work of justice never stops.”

“You will have a lifelong journey of seeking the inscrutable God present in all you do.”

With those words, Reed wrapped up the 168th baccalaureate address given to LPTS students, faculty, staff and family. He called his address “Finding That Which We Seek” and used Micah 6:1–8 as his text.

Micah, Reed helped students recall, was a prophet in Judah during the 8th century BCE. During “the most important part of his career, Hezekiah was the king,” a king whose titles — wonderful counselor, prince of peace — matched monikers later ascribed to Jesus. Jerusalem, the Bible and three religions — Christianity, Judaism and Islam — probably would not exist today if Jerusalem and Hezekiah hadn’t survived the Assyrian invasion.

“Finding that which we seek” may well remind his hearers of Jesus’ “seek and you will find,” Reed said.

“I think it’s fascinating that what we find is not necessarily what we were seeking at the start,” he said. Consider the seeking and finding recorded in John 4, Reed said: A woman went to a well seeking water, but found Jesus instead. “That woman went back to [her Samaritan] community and she preached because she found the living water, the Messiah. She realized in retrospect maybe that’s what she was seeking all along, and it’s maybe what she needed,” Reed said.

Centuries before, “Hezekiah thought he was helping people to survive and reform religion. Now we know the impact was way bigger than he could have imagined,” Reed said. “We can say something similar about your journey,” he told graduates, who were adding a few letters after their name, including “MDiv” and “DMin.”

“You found ways to combine passion and vocation, new paths to traverse, new degrees to get,” Reed said. “Some of you found a sense of home here, a deep and abiding friendship or a romantic partner.”

But when a prophet like Micah shows up, we start seeing things through a different lens, according to Reed.

“He doesn’t just praise Hezekiah because some people got security,” Reed said, citing examples where Micah calls out predatory lending and forced migration, those who “treat people like commodities to be consumed,” a justice system “that works for people who have money,” and a religious landscape “where spiritual leaders proclaim God’s favor on the wealthy.”

“Some of those injustices should sound familiar,” Reed said.

In Micah 6, God is “taking people to court. The point is not to punish, but to compel change,” Reed said. “That’s something I hope you are taking away from your time here.”

“Justice may not have been central to you when you got here,” Reed told the graduates. “But it’s hard to believe some of it didn’t rub off on you.”

The journey the graduates completed “was punctuated by pandemic and killing and the attempted killing of Black people. It’s an undeniable fact those will be part of your memories of seminary,” Reed said. He recalled holding his baby while watching students protest following the killing of Breonna Taylor.

“I would point and say [to the child], ‘See that person with the megaphone? That’s Louisville Seminary right there. That one with the rainbow mask? That’s us, too.’”

“I would tell my baby, ‘These people are doing this because they care about justice for your generation.’”

“The marathon continues,” he told graduates. “You have stepped into the work of doing justice and I’m confident it won’t end in this place.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Tina Finley, Accounting Clerk, Central Receiving Services, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Rob Fohr, Director, Faith-Based Investing & Corporate Engagement, Compassion, Peace & Justice, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Grant that we, O God, may find new and joyful ways to bear fruit in this world you love so dearly, even as we gladly bear the yoke of Christ given in the covenant of baptism. Amen.