Slices
Prepare
What does it mean to live as ‘foreigners and exiles’ in society? (See 1 Peter 2:11,12.)
Bible passage
Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed
19 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 ‘My lords,’ he said, ‘please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.’
‘No,’ they answered, ‘we will spend the night in the square.’
3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom – both young and old – surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.’
6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, ‘No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.’
9 ‘Get out of our way,’ they replied. ‘This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.’ They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.
12 The two men said to Lot, ‘Do you have anyone else here – sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.’
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, ‘Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!’ But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
Explore
The Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth, 3,000 feet below sea level. Sodom and Gomorrah, probably located to its north, represent the lowest reaches of human depravity. This incident is described by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks as ‘a multiple offence, involving: forbidden sex, violence, and a breach of the strict code of hospitality in the ancient Near East’.* It is presented as compounded evil, an ‘outcry’ (v 13).
Lot concentrates only on the breach of hospitality. He has chosen to make his home in Sodom, an outsider for whom social integration is of high value. Welcome and belonging are everything. It is as though he is blind to the other aspects of his neighbours’ behaviour, and even to the outrageousness of his attempt to placate them by offering his daughters for gang rape.
Wanting to belong or fit in can easily distort our moral vision. Our attitudes and thinking can quickly become infected. We find ourselves tricked by false loyalties, compromised in our attempts to be accommodating and confused in understanding what is ‘right and just’. Lot is so embroiled that he cannot find the will to leave this corrupting environment. And yet, if he doesn’t leave, he will be ‘swept away’ with it (v 15).
*Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Covenant and Conversation, Toby Press, 2019, p106
Respond
Is there a situation you need to remove yourself from, even if you are tempted to stay for the best of reasons? (See 2 Corinthians 6:14–18.)
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Job 15–17; Psalms 83,84
Pray for Scripture Union
This summer, many churches have sport-based mission activities planned. Please pray that they will lead to many more children and young people having life-changing encounters with Jesus. (This week's prayers relate to this story. )
Revealing Jesus to the 95
It's estimated that 95% of children and young people in England and Wales aren't in church and the task of reaching them is huge! But so too is the opportunity!
The Revealing Jesus Mission Framework is designed to help your church journey into faith with the 95.
Find out how Scripture Union can support you on that journey.
