Gospel for June 2, 2024

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Mark 2:23-3:6
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus does not avoid controversy or confrontation.

The Pharisees are looking for ammunition against this wandering preacher, and they are picky.  When the disciples walk through the grain fields plucking and eating the grain, the Pharisees accuse them of violating laws against labor on the Sabbath day.

It must be clear that eating grain from someone else’s wheat fields was permissible according to Old Testament laws about gleaning (see Leviticus 23:22).  The poor and the foreigner were permitted to take just enough for their own needs.  The disciples were not stealing.

But the Pharisees are trying to pin charges of sacrilege on the disciples — and therefore against Jesus.

Jesus answers by citing a Scriptural precedent, which he knows better than they.  He cites the account of David, when he was on the run from the murderous King Saul (see 1 Samuel 22 & 23):

  He said to them, “Did you never read what David did, when he had need, and was hungry—he, and those who were with him? How he entered into God’s house when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the show bread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?”

Citing David and Abiathar is clever — after Saul’s disastrous campaign against the Philistines, David became king, and Abiathar became high priest.  And of course David became famous as the greatest king of Israel and Judah, by which all other kings would be judged. In fact, from his dynasty the Messiah himself was to come!  How could the Pharisees be critical of this breach of the law?  This too was part of Scripture that the Pharisees accepted as authoritative.

And Jesus makes it clear from this example that the law was given not as a list of rules and regulations, but to benefit God’s people:

He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

Jesus then takes his dispute with the Pharisees to another level.  He says:

  Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.

He has already established that he is the Son of Man, when he healed a paralytic in Capernaum. He had told the man that his sins were forgiven, and the Pharisees were scandalized, asking how he could arrogate to himself God’s authority to forgive sins.  So Jesus had said:

“But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—“I tell you, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house” (Mark 2:10-11).

Jesus clearly understands that the title Son of Man is Messianic, as per Daniel 7:13.  He is making no secret of his identity, and his authority even over the law of Moses!

But that’s not all.  On this same Sabbath day, he enters a synagogue as was his custom.  When he sees a man with a withered hand, the Pharisees are watching very closely.  So, just as a rabbi might do when teaching his students, Jesus asks a question:

Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?

But the Pharisees appear to be speechless.  Mark actually describes the emotions of Jesus in this passage:

When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other.

His anger is evoked because of their lack of compassion.  When it is in his power to heal, Jesus does so.

He has also illustrated his earlier point that:

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Jesus sees that the Sabbath is exactly the right time to do good, and to save a life.  If it is in fact a holy day, what better time to deliver this poor man from his infirmity?

But the Pharisees cannot see beyond their own limited interpretation of the law.  They are so intent on destroying Jesus that they go out:

and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

This is significant because the Pharisees and Herodians were bitter rivals.  The Pharisees believed in the establishment of God’s kingdom by obeying the Mosaic laws, and prayed for the coming of the Messiah who would overcome the Roman oppressors and usher in the end of the age.  The Herodians, on the other hand, were secularized accommodators, allied with King Herod, who was allied with the Romans.  Their “religion” was naked, manipulative power, and their highest value was wealth and influence. The collusion of Pharisees and Herodians was an unlikely alliance.  Their mutual fear of Jesus made strange bedfellows.

APPLY:  

What is the proper Christian approach to the law of Moses?  This is a far more controversial question than one might think.

As with so many other issues in Christian doctrine, there are wildly opposite views.  Some argue that the law of God is still in effect, even though we aren’t saved by the observation of the law.  They would say that a Christian nation should strictly adhere to laws concerning adultery, theft, etc., that prescribe very harsh punishments.  This is sometimes exemplified by some so-called “Dominion” theologians.

Others argue that all of the law has been abrogated, citing Paul’s criticism of the works of the law.  Therefore, they argue none of the laws of Moses are in effect any longer, only the law of love.  This is sometimes exemplified by the term “situation ethics” based on moral subjectivism.

This is a tough issue to distill in just a few paragraphs, but here are just a few observations.

First, Jesus never critiques the law of Moses.  In fact, he cites the law of Moses on many occasions.  Where he takes issue with the Pharisees is with their interpretation of the law of Moses.  He is impatient with their traditions, which means their very detailed instructions about just how to observe the Sabbath, or ritual laws of washing, etc.

For example, Jesus takes them to task for criticizing his disciples for not washing properly in Mark 7:6-13.  He makes a clear differentiation between the commandments of God and the traditions that have been developed by men:

 “For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.” He said to them, “Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition” (Mark 7:8-9).

Second, Jesus illustrates the real purpose of the law:

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

The law does not exist for its own sake, but for the sake of God’s people.  In other words, the law is best summed up by the Great Commandment — Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself (see Mark 12:30-33).  The purpose of the law is not to put people in a straitjacket, but to empower them to become what God means for them to become.

Elsewhere Jesus is asked what must be done in order to inherit eternal life.  Jesus answers by saying:

You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not give false testimony,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and mother’” (Mark 10:19).

Notice that these are relational commandments, dealing with our relations with other human beings.  The law is not given to create robots who perfectly perform their programmed functions.  The law is given to men and women in order to enable them to properly love God and one another, and thus fulfill their eternal purpose.

The dietary laws of Moses existed for the purpose of shaping the identity of Israel as a people set apart. The ritual laws of sacrifice pointed toward the sacrifice of Jesus as the perfect lamb of God.  Jesus fulfills those laws by his sinless life and his sacrificial death.  Therefore he says:

Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17).

This helps explain that the ceremonial and dietary laws are not required of Gentiles who are converted under the ministry of Peter, Paul and the other apostles.

But nowhere does Jesus ever abrogate the moral law.  The moral law enables us to live together with justice and peace and, yes, love as we move toward the kingdom of God.

RESPOND: 

Jesus simply and elegantly defines the purpose of the law in one short sentence:

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

This is particularly relevant to the Sabbath laws.  The Sabbath was to be a day of rest, for people and for their livestock.  It was meant to be a compassionate benefit, not an onerous burden.

But the Pharisees had developed a system of traditions, known as the oral law (also known as Mishnah) to supplement the law given to Moses.  According to some sources, there were as many as 613 such “laws” that hedged the Jewish people.  Originally, these may have been intended as helpful interpretations and applications of the law, but they had become a burden.

And they became a source of tension between the humanitarian Jesus and the legalistic Pharisees.  Jesus could see that God’s law would not forbid his hungry disciples from rubbing some grain between their hands and eating their kernels on the Sabbath.  And he certainly could see that having the power to heal someone on the Sabbath was inherently consistent with the purpose of this day dedicated to God.

However, he was not suggesting that the Sabbath in and of itself was a bad thing.  In fact, he himself observed the Sabbath.  Jesus taught in the synagogue (Mark1:21; 6:2).

The Christian should not draw the wrong conclusion from this passage, that the law was inherently bad.  A Sabbath day of rest and worship should be built into a person’s schedule.  But we are to avoid rigid, indifferent legalism.

Here is my own personal confession.  Sometimes when I attend church, I find that the paraments on the altar have not been changed.  For example, Trinity Sunday is supposed to be white, and perhaps the red paraments from Pentecost have remained.  Inwardly, I chafe a bit.  I appreciate the liturgical year, with the different colors that differentiate the seasons — Advent, Christmas, Ordinary Time, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and Ordinary Time again.

But I also chide myself a bit.  The point is not the colors on the altar.  The point is the presence of God in the heart of the believers.  And I pray:  Please, deliver me from Phariseeism! 

Lord, remind me that you have given your law and your principles for our good, not to be a burden but a blessing.  Your laws are holy and just and good when we are reminded that love is their foundation.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Lord of the Sabbath" uses the following photo as background:
"Wheat" by Daniel Taylor is in the Public Domain.

Epistle for June 2, 2024

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
2 Corinthians 4:5-12
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Reading someone else’s letters can require detective work, especially when they have not originally been sent to you.  Why has the letter been written?  Who is the intended recipient? Are there phrases or words that the sender of the letter and the recipient might understand but that have a different meaning to them than to us?

This is certainly true with Paul’s letters. Although there are passages in his letters that clearly and definitively present his understanding of the Gospel, or his views on ethics, there are also passages that require some “reading between the lines.”

For example — why does he tell the church at Corinth:

For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake…

Is his tone defensive, or is he simply declaring that the Corinthians need to look beyond the messenger to the Message, in the person of Christ Jesus?  We know from other correspondence with the Corinthians that he has felt it necessary to scold them a little for their immaturity:

Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ.  I fed you with milk, not with meat; for you weren’t yet ready. Indeed, not even now are you ready, for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men? (1 Corinthians 3:1-3).

The evidence of the Corinthian immaturity is that some were claiming to be loyal to him and some to Apollos (a very gifted preacher in the early church).  Paul has already found it necessary to tell them that he isn’t interested in their loyalty to himself.  His only concern is that they be loyal to Christ:

For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).

That certainly helps provide context for his declaration that he is not interested in preaching himself, but only Christ.

He is eager to make it clear that any insight they have from his preaching comes not from him but from God. Paul quotes a text from Genesis 1:3 to prove that any Light comes from God, not from himself:

seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

In order to illustrate his utter dependence on God he uses a vivid metaphor:

But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.

In this figure of speech, Paul compares the Gospel of Jesus Christ to priceless treasure which is stored in humble earthen jars of human beings like himself.  This illustrates what Paul is saying — he isn’t what matters.  What matters is the power of God.

Although Paul has declared that he doesn’t preach himself, he is not averse to using personal examples to make his point.  He alludes to the suffering that he and his companions have experienced:

We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

We know from other passages in 2 Corinthians and elsewhere that Paul suffered greatly as an apostle.  In order to prove his apostolic credentials, he feels compelled to share what he has gone through (and this is only a partial list!):

 Five times from the Jews I received forty stripes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep.  I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers; in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness (2 Corinthians 11:24-27).

He has felt compelled to boast, he says in 2 Corinthians 11, because the Corinthians are questioning his apostolicity.

And Paul returns to a recurring theme — that following Jesus means dying with Jesus, whether in the figurative sense of suffering and servanthood, or martyrdom:

 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh.  So then death works in us, but life in you.

It seems that the mortification Paul experiences does have some vicarious benefit for those to whom he preaches — by his example of “dying” they are enabled to live.

APPLY:  

There is a word here for all Christians, but particularly for those who are called into ministry as preachers, evangelists, missionaries, and teachers.  Paul offers a balanced view of how we are to share the Gospel with others:

For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake…

The messenger — i.e., the preacher or witness — must never seek to eclipse the Message — i.e. Christ Jesus as Lord. We aren’t saved by sermons, we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ.

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the preacher or witness cannot talk about what Christ has done in our own lives.  Nor does this eliminate the use of personal testimony and examples.  Paul sets an example when he writes of the difference that Christ has made in his own life. He gives his own testimony.  A perfect example is given in his letter to the Philippians:

If any other man thinks that he has confidence in the flesh, I yet more: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ. Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ… (Philippians 3:4-8).

Like Paul, however, we are always to be reminded that the treasure of Christ is what sanctifies and ennobles our lives.  We are the humble clay vessels that are transformed when the Spirit of God enters our lives:

But we have this treasure in clay vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves.

And there is a profound word of comfort here for any Christian who is experiencing suffering, persecution, difficulty of any kind:

We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

Notice that Paul’s response to suffering is not shallow.  This is no “candy religion.”  He acknowledges the reality of pressures, confusion, persecution — but he says that such experiences need not crush us nor lead to despair, because we are not forsaken or destroyed.

This is Christian realism.  Yes, we may suffer — but God is with us.  And perhaps the most profound insight into suffering is the declaration that God is with us in the suffering and death of Jesus.  As we identify with his suffering and death, we are delivered through death to life:

For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh.

RESPOND: 

I have been in Christian ministry as a pastor, preacher and evangelist in one way or another since 1980.  I have long had a love/hate relationship with preaching the Gospel.  I love to share the Good News of Jesus Christ — but at least two things have plagued me.

One is my anxiety to speak only the truth, and to say it in a winsome way that will reach people.  The other anxiety, though, is the temptation that many preachers experience to view their sermon or witness as a performance.  There is nothing wrong with entertainment — or “edu-tainment” as my wife calls it — so long as the performance doesn’t overshadow the point. If that happens, we have become self-indulgent, and we’re meeting our own needs instead of fulfilling God’s call.

I’m reminded of a church joke.  The church service has just ended, and the preacher’s young son has climbed up in to the pulpit.  The microphone is still on, and the boy shouts: “Look at me, everybody! Look at me!”

One sharp tongued member of the church turns to her neighbor and says, “That’s nothing.  His father does that every week from that pulpit!”

Paul reminds us that we need to be very clear about our subject:

For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake…

Personal testimonies and examples and anecdotes are perfectly acceptable.  Jesus told parables.  Paul spoke of the radical difference that Jesus had made in his life.  But we are never to make the message about ourselves.

Lord, keep my mind focused on you when I am ministering to others.  Remind me that I am not in ministry to tell everybody about me, but about you.  And when pressures and difficulties come, remind me that it’s ok to be perplexed, but also remind me that you will never forsake me.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
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Psalm Reading for June 2, 2024

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This Psalm highlights the omniscience of God concerning the very conception, consciousness, and inner being of David, the Psalmist.

This is a first-person poem/prayer in which David marvels at the intimacy of God’s knowledge of an individual — every movement, thought, word is known even before they are enacted, thought, or spoken (verses 1-6).

The Psalmist is amazed and humbled by the capacity of God to search and know him, and deeply aware of just how transcendent God’s knowledge is of all things.

One can’t help but wonder if this Psalm doesn’t inform St. Paul’s understanding of the Spirit of God, which is described in The Epistle to the Romans as communicating directly with our own spirits:

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:16); 

and in Romans 8:27:

 He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

While some Psalms marvel at the created order of the stars and the mountains, and the revelation of the Law (Psalm 8 and 19, and 119 and so many others), this Psalm revels in the deeply personal nature of the relationship between God and the human being.

God’s omniscience extends even to the mysterious realities of life and death. God is described as having woven the Psalmist together in his mother’s womb, and knowing him when he was yet unborn. The Psalmist is profoundly aware of just how fearfully and wonderfully made is the human body.  The mysteries of human anatomy and development in themselves are a testimony to the creative powers of God.

And the Psalmist suggests that God knows each of his days before they are lived, until even the day of death.

The Psalmist marvels that God’s thoughts are precious, vast and inscrutable.

APPLY:  

Consideration of the omnipotence and omniscience of God can often leave us feeling insignificant.  But this Psalm reminds us that the omniscience of God is really quite intimate.  God knows us from our conception to our death, our interior thoughts and even those aspects of ourselves unknown to us.

Although God is transcendent and “wholly other” as the theologians are wont to say, God is also deeply immanent (present and pervasive) and personal in his knowledge of us.  We puny, finite human beings are capable of knowing and being known by the Creator of all the universe!

St. Anselm of Canterbury once wrote:

God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.

The Psalmist illustrates that this God, above whom there is nothing greater, knows us each intimately and personally.  Although our knowledge of him is limited by our own finite capacity, the great blessing is that because he knows us we can know him.

RESPOND: 

I am capable of having a personal and intimate relationship with God, not because of my capacity but because of God’s initiative.  God has searched me and known my thoughts before they entered my mind, has known me from before my conception, and knows my potential and even my destiny.  Like the Psalmist I find that all this boggles my mind!

And God’s unique relationship with us from conception, through gestation and birth, and from life to the moment of death, should make us aware of just how sacred life really is.

Our Lord, how can my words begin to match the prayer of the Psalmist? That you know me intimately and care for me exceeds my capacity to understand.  All my life is lived in your omniscient omnipresence.  Amen.   

PHOTOS:

“Psalm 139 verse 14” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

Old Testament for June 2, 2024

Then Samuel said, “Speak; for your servant hears.”
[1 Samuel 3:10]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
1 Samuel 3:1-10
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Like many great stories, this one begins, in media res, i.e., in the middle of things.

Who is this child? What is Eli’s priestly history? If we know the answers to these questions, we may begin to understand the impact that Samuel will have on Israel in the future.

Samuel is the son of Elkanah and Hannah, who were of the tribe of Ephraim in the central highlands of Israel.  Although Elkanah deeply loved his wife Hannah, she was grieved because she was unable to have children.  But she went annually with her husband to the shrine of the Lord in Shiloh. There the ark of the covenant was kept in the tent that had been made at Moses’ instruction some centuries earlier. There she prayed each year for a child.

It was at Shiloh that Hannah’s prayers were observed by the High Priest Eli.  When he saw her praying fervently, he thought she was drunk until she explained her desperate pleas for a child.  Eli prayed that she might have a child, and when she returned home with her husband Elkanah the prayer was answered — she conceived and bore a son, whom she named Samuel. Note that his name means God hears.

This is where the story becomes extremely fascinating. This woman, who has been childless for so long, does an amazing thing. After Samuel has been weaned — possibly sometime between ages three and four — Hannah took her child to Shiloh to dedicate him to the Lord!  This is not merely a ritual act of dedication. She actually leaves him with Eli to be completely dedicated full-time to the service of God!

So, Samuel seems to become a kind of acolyte, assisting the aging Eli in his functions in the tabernacle.  We know from the second chapter of Samuel that Eli’s sons Hophni and Phineas were profoundly corrupt and sexually immoral.  In fact, a man of God has come to Eli to warn him that because of their sins, the house of Eli would be removed from the priesthood and his sons would die on the same day.

It is in this context that the young Samuel hears the voice of the Lord one night as the lamp in the tabernacle is burning.  He has no idea what it means, so he goes three times to Eli, thinking his mentor is calling him.  But Eli still has enough spiritual sensitivity to realize that the Lord himself is speaking to Samuel.

Note the irony.  Samuel’s name means The Lord hears.  And now Eli instructs Samuel to return to his station and to say:

Speak, Yahweh; for your servant hears.

God has listened to the prayers of Hannah, and to Eli’s intercession on behalf of this woman; and now Samuel in turn is being trained to listen to God!

Thus begins a prophetic career that would carry Samuel into the pages of the two books that would bear his name — 1 & 2 Samuel. He would judge Israel, and would anoint the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David.  He had learned to listen, and to obey.

APPLY:  

It is my experience and opinion that we are always in the position of responding to God’s initiative.  We may think that we are seeking God, but in fact God is seeking us.  When we respond, usually we realize that he has been calling us for quite some time.

This is the case of Samuel, who is quite oblivious to the call of God.  He is simply doing the work required of him in the tabernacle, and sleeping on his appointed mat in the vicinity of the Ark of the Covenant.

In fact, his initial reaction to the call is to confuse God’s voice with the voice of the high priest Eli.  It is Eli who helps Samuel understand what’s happening in this encounter with God.

It is helpful to have a spiritual mentor who can interpret for us what God is doing in our lives, at least until we are able to discern the voice of God for ourselves.

One other thing. By placing himself in the tabernacle of the Lord, Samuel is at least available to hear God’s voice.  Contrast him to the sons of Eli, who are abusing their privilege as priests and using their position only to satisfy their own cravings.

Likewise, if we place ourselves in the presence of God through regular worship, prayer, Bible study, and fasting, we will find ourselves more likely to hear God’s voice than when we are merely serving ourselves and our own appetites.

RESPOND: 

While God’s voice doesn’t come to me audibly, I do believe that God speaks in spiritual whispers.  What is required is that I listen.  And I can listen more carefully when I am practicing the spiritual disciplines of worship, prayer, fasting, and Bible study.

Lord, may I say with Samuel, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”  And may I heed and obey what I hear.  Amen.  

 PHOTOS:
“listening” by Isbg Six is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Epistle for February 25, 2024

 

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 4:13-25
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Here Paul addresses the vital doctrine of justification by faith.  He points out that this doctrine is not a new one — that it is rooted and grounded in the story of the great Patriarch of the Hebrews, Abraham himself.

Paul dismisses the notion that obedience to the law brings righteousness or true relationship with God.  He will elsewhere clarify the role of the law as the source of conviction that drives sinners to Christ, but here he simply states that the law is insufficient to fulfill the promises of God.  Faith is the means that God has ordained to satisfy the requirements of righteousness.

Paul points out that because faith is the means by which we inherit the promises of God, then it is those who are believers who are truly Abraham’s descendants and heirs of the promises of God in Genesis 17:5. He calls Abraham:

the father of us all.  As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.”

In other words, not only the Jews but also Gentiles may be included as children of Abraham because of their faith, not because of the Law.

Paul points out that Abraham’s faith was lived out against improbable odds — that he and Sarah would be parents despite their advanced years.

The central words here are these:

Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.”

Righteousness, or justification, was given to him as a gift not because of his works, or because of the Law (which hadn’t been given yet!), but because of his faith.  Salvation was truly by grace.  A gift of God.

Then Paul makes the connection to his Christian readers:

Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone, but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead.

The method by which the Christian receives the promises of God is the same that enabled Abraham to receive God’s promises — faith.

And finally, Paul illustrates the saving work of Jesus in one elegant sentence. It was Jesus:

who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.

The life, death and resurrection of Jesus is the central plan of salvation that makes our forgiveness and new life possible.

APPLY:  

If we ever wonder about the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets, and how they fit into the plan of salvation, the answer is provided here in Romans 4.  The same criteria that applies to our salvation applies to theirs — we are all saved by faith, not by works of the law.

Abraham becomes our role model for faith.  When he was old and as good as dead (Hebrews 11:12) and had yet to see even one of God’s promises fulfilled, he still believed God.

He hadn’t yet come into ownership of the land of Canaan, he had no heirs through Sarah, he didn’t have a multitude of descendants.  Yet he believed.  And it was credited to him as righteousness.

We do well to remember this example when it looks like everything around us is failing, and we wonder what to make of our circumstances.  Abraham believed despite his age; and Jesus conquered death despite the cruelty of the cross!

RESPOND: 

There have been so many times in my life that I have embarked on a new path, and I was filled with anxiety — going off to college and then seminary, getting married, taking my first church — and then all the other churches subsequent to that.

This passage is a word of comfort for me every time I embark on a new path with God.

Faith is at the heart of the Christian life.  Back in the 1880’s, when the famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody invited testimonies from members of the audience during one of his revivals, a young man stood up.  He acknowledged his uncertainties about the future, but then he said:

I am not quite sure-—-but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey.

This became the inspiration for a song that was co-written by Daniel Towner and John Sammis.  In my opinion, the hymn captures the essence of following Christ:

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

The answer to my anxieties lies in faith.  Trust God’s promises and obey his word.

Lord, I confess I am prone to doubt and fear.  But my very salvation depends not on my accomplishments, but on what you have done for me in Christ!  Why not trust you for all the rest of your promises? Amen.

PHOTOS:

"Living by Faith" by victoria louise Slade is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Gospel for June 11, 2023

A NOTE FROM CELESTE LETCHWORTH:

As most of you know, Tom went to be with the Lord in June 2018.

Since the lectionary cycles every 3 years, I am able to copy Tom’s SOAR studies from the archives and post them each week with our current year’s dates.

However — this Sunday (June 11, 2023), the lectionary for Year A’s Scripture selections are for “Proper 5” which is specified as:

the Sunday between June 5-11 (if after Trinity Sunday)

Tom started this blog in October, 2014 and we have not had a “Proper 5” situation (Sunday between June 5-11 if after Trinity Sunday) for Year A until now (2023).

So, the bad news is that I can’t find anything in the archives that Tom wrote for Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26.

But the good news is that I found his SOAR posting for Mark 5:21-43, which also covers Jesus healing the woman with the hemorrhage on his journey to raising Jairus’ daughter from the dead.

So —here’s the SOAR for Mark 5:21-43.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Mark 5:21-43
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Jesus is very busy. He is traveling around the countryside of Galilee preaching and healing.  He has crossed the Sea of Galilee in a boat with his disciples.  In the process, he had tried to catch a quick nap while in the boat when a violent storm arose and the panicked disciples cried out for his intervention.   Effortlessly he had calmed the winds. Then, on landing on the Gentile shores of the Gerasenes, Jesus had cast demons out of a man who was living desperately and wildly among the tombs, and Jesus sent the legions of demons into a herd of pigs which then drowned themselves in the Sea of Galilee.

On his return by boat to the Jewish side of the lake, his busy pace resumes.  A large crowd gathers around him.  And then Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, pleads with Jesus to come and heal his critically ill daughter.

Does this intervention by Jairus suggest that Jesus has gained credibility with local Jewish authorities? Or is this the last, desperate attempt by a father to find healing for his sick daughter?  Or perhaps both?

In any event, Jesus agrees to accompany Jairus to his daughter’s side.  But Jesus’ ministry is often interrupted by other events.  The woman who has had a hemorrhage for twelve years reaches timidly for the hem of his garment.

Note the disparity — the leader of the synagogue pleads openly for Jesus to come to his daughter’s aid.  On the other hand, this woman is extremely reticent.  In part, this may reflect the attitude toward gender that existed at this time.  A man, especially in an important role in the community, could come openly and boldly and ask for help from Jesus — albeit, the text does tell us that Jairus fell at his feet, suggesting great humility.  But a woman?  And what the translation doesn’t make clear is that hemorrhage was likely a menstrual flow that didn’t stop — for twelve years!  According to Mosaic Law, such a condition made this woman ritually unclean.  For her to touch Jesus would be to defile him, according to their customs!

No wonder she was so reticent!  And yet, she overcame her hesitation.

What follows is deep sensitivity and compassion on Jesus’ part.  He is so keenly sensitive spiritually and interpersonally that he is:

  aware that power had gone forth from him.

He seeks out the person who has touched him, because there has been a connection.  How could he identify one person in that pushing, reaching crowd that had touched him?

But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.

Jesus makes the spiritual connection.  This is not merely an act of healing on his part, but an act of faith on hers:

“Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

When Jesus heals, it is holistic — body and spirit.

Jesus then completes his mission at the home of Jairus, where family and friends are grieving and loudly lamenting.  The girl has died in Jairus’ absence.   Jesus himself now makes a statement of faith:

“Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.”

The response of the people there was scornful laughter, and Jesus asserts his authority:

he put them all outside.

He would not permit skeptics and scoffers to distract from his work.

He takes only the girl’s parents, and his followers, and enters the room where the little girl lies dead.  In one of the most tender moments in Scripture, the Gospel says:

He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about.

Jesus is extremely sensitive and practical:

and told them to give her something to eat.

As a curious sidebar, we note that this little girl was twelve; the woman with the hemorrhage had suffered with her condition for twelve years.

Of more importance, though, is what Jesus tells the witnesses:

He strictly ordered them that no one should know this.

This is the “Messianic Secret” that is especially prominent in the Gospel of Mark.  Jesus is not ready to be fully disclosed as Messiah.

APPLY:  

There are two key perspectives in this account of Jesus the healer.  On the one hand, we see the desperation of faith.  Those who are suffering, or watching loved ones suffer, can’t waste time and energy with doubt and theological discussions.  All they can do is reach out to Jesus for help.

Sometimes theological discussion is a luxury.  Faith begins not with questions — not that there’s anything wrong with questioning — but faith begins with crying out to God.

Second, we see in Jesus a challenging example of ministry.  We may prefer a regular routine, a predetermined schedule — but ministry doesn’t come at us in that way.  When people have needs, they may break through calendars and day-timers, and cross boundaries.

May we have the flexibility that Jesus has as we respond to the needs of others.

RESPOND: 

I confess that in 35 years of ministry, what has been most difficult for me at times is the interrupted nature of ministry.  My priorities have been upended by a personal crisis, an accident, a tragedy, an illness, a death.

Following Jesus means suspending my own agenda and my own plans and following the flexible flow of ministry.

Lord, when we are desperate to touch the hem of your garment, or for you to visit a house of death, you come to us.  May we be your agents of ministry also, and respond to real need when it arises.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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Epistle for June 11, 2023

 

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 4:13-25
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

Here Paul addresses the vital doctrine of justification by faith.  He points out that this doctrine is not a new one — that it is rooted and grounded in the story of the great Patriarch of the Hebrews, Abraham himself.

Paul dismisses the notion that obedience to the law brings righteousness or true relationship with God.  He will elsewhere clarify the role of the law as the source of conviction that drives sinners to Christ, but here he simply states that the law is insufficient to fulfill the promises of God.  Faith is the means that God has ordained to satisfy the requirements of righteousness.

Paul points out that because faith is the means by which we inherit the promises of God, then it is those who are believers who are truly Abraham’s descendants and heirs of the promises of God in Genesis 17:5. He calls Abraham:

the father of us all.  As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.”

In other words, not only the Jews but also Gentiles may be included as children of Abraham because of their faith, not because of the Law.

Paul points out that Abraham’s faith was lived out against improbable odds — that he and Sarah would be parents despite their advanced years.

The central words here are these:

Therefore it also was “credited to him for righteousness.”

Righteousness, or justification, was given to him as a gift not because of his works, or because of the Law (which hadn’t been given yet!), but because of his faith.  Salvation was truly by grace.  A gift of God.

Then Paul makes the connection to his Christian readers:

Now it was not written that it was accounted to him for his sake alone,  but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead.

The method by which the Christian receives the promises of God is the same that enabled Abraham to receive God’s promises — faith.

And finally, Paul illustrates the saving work of Jesus in one elegant sentence. It was Jesus:

who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.

The life, death and resurrection of Jesus is the central plan of salvation that makes our forgiveness and new life possible.

APPLY:  

If we ever wonder about the Old Testament patriarchs and prophets, and how they fit into the plan of salvation, the answer is provided here in Romans 4.  The same criteria that applies to our salvation applies to theirs — we are all saved by faith, not by works of the law.

Abraham becomes our role model for faith.  When he was old and as good as dead (Hebrews 11:12),  and had yet to see even one of God’s promises fulfilled, he still believed God.

He hadn’t yet come into ownership of the land of Canaan, he had no heirs through Sarah, he didn’t have a multitude of descendants.  Yet he believed.  And it was credited to him as righteousness.

We do well to remember this example when it looks like everything around us is failing, and we wonder what to make of our circumstances.  Abraham believed despite his age; and Jesus conquered death despite the cruelty of the cross!

RESPOND: 

There have been so many times in my life that I have embarked on a new path, and I was filled with anxiety — going off to college and then seminary, getting married, taking my first church — and then all the other churches subsequent to that.

This passage is a word of comfort for me every time I embark on a new path with God.

Faith is at the heart of the Christian life.  Back in the 1880’s, when the famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody invited testimonies from members of the audience during one of his revivals, a young man stood up.  He acknowledged his uncertainties about the future, but then he said:

I am not quite sure-—-but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey.

This became the inspiration for a song that was co-written by Daniel Towner and John Sammis.  In my opinion, the hymn captures the essence of following Christ:

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

The answer to my anxieties lies in faith.  Trust God’s promises and obey his word.

Lord, I confess I am prone to doubt and fear.  But my very salvation depends not on my accomplishments, but on what you have done for me in Christ!  Why not trust you for all the rest of your promises? Amen.

PHOTOS:

"Living by Faith" by victoria louise Slade is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Psalm Reading for June 11, 2023

 

A NOTE FROM CELESTE LETCHWORTH:

As most of you know, Tom went to be with the Lord in June 2018.

Since the lectionary cycles every 3 years, I am able to copy Tom’s SOAR studies from the archives and post them each week with our current year’s dates.

However — this Sunday (June 11, 2023), the lectionary for Year A ‘s Scripture selections are for “Proper 5” which is specified as:

the Sunday between June 5-11 (if after Trinity Sunday)

Tom started this blog in October, 2014 and we have not had a “Proper 5” situation (Sunday between June 5-11 if after Trinity Sunday) for Year A until now (2023).

So, I’m sorry that I can’t find anything in the archives that Tom wrote for Psalm 33:1-12.

But I did find a post by Dr. Timothy C. Tennent on Psalm 33 on Seedbed’s website.

Here’s that link: https://seedbed.com/the-power-and-the-purpose-of-god-psalm-33/

And I also found a video of Psalm 33 that I enjoyed. It’s made by The Skit Guys and you can watch it for free and/or purchase it to use at your church by clicking here:

https://skitguys.com/videos/hope-from-psalm-33

Blessings to you this week. And remember to Sing to the Lord a NEW song!

–celeste

PHOTOS:

"Psalm 33"

Old Testament for June 11, 2023

A NOTE FROM CELESTE LETCHWORTH:

As most of you know, Tom went to be with the Lord in June 2018.

Since the lectionary cycles every 3 years, I am able to copy Tom’s SOAR studies from the archives and post them each week with our current year’s dates.

However — this Sunday (June 11, 2023), the lectionary for Year A ‘s Scripture selections are for “Proper 5” which is specified as:

the Sunday between June 5-11 (if after Trinity Sunday)

Tom started this blog in October, 2014 and we have not had a “Proper 5” situation (Sunday between June 5-11 if after Trinity Sunday) for Year A until now (2023).

So, the bad news is that I can’t find anything in the archives that Tom wrote for Genesis 12:1-9.

But the good news is that I found his SOAR posting for Genesis 12:1-4a, (which is the lectionary selection for the 2nd Sunday in Lent for Year A).

So —here’s the SOAR for Genesis 12:1-4a.
You’re on your own for verses 4b-9. 😉

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 12:1-4a
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

We are introduced to one of the most important figures in the entire Bible.  Abram (whose name is changed to Abraham by Yahweh in Genesis 17:5) is mentioned in no less than 16 books of the Old Testament, and no fewer than 11 in the New Testament.  He is regarded in the New Testament as the definitive example of faith and obedience.

Abram appears at the end of the early history of Genesis in the first 11 chapters, which describe:

• The creation, and the fall of Adam and Eve.
• The downward spiral of their descendants into violence, and God’s subsequent election of Noah as the representative man who survives the great flood with his family in the ark.
• The arrogant overreach of humanity in building the tower of Babel, and the consequent confusion of languages and the scattering of the peoples on the earth.

Abram comes from the line of Shem, one of the three sons of Noah.  And his family follows the nomadic tendencies that have begun with the scattering of the nations. His father, Terah, has led his family from Ur up along the Fertile Crescent to Haran.

This is where the salvation history involving the story of Abram picks up.  Yahweh speaks to Abram.  His command to Abram is a kind of mission:

Leave your country, and your relatives, and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you.

In a Middle Eastern culture, this is a daunting command.  One’s family is their tribe, the place where they belong.  Abram is being asked to leave the familiar for an unknown land.

But this call is accompanied by significant promises:

I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.

Yahweh promises Abram that a great nation will come from him; he is promised fame.  Even more than fame, he will be a difference-maker — he will be a blessing to all the families of the earth.  The man who gives up his own family ties in Haran will have a tremendous impact on all families everywhere!

Note that all of this is oriented toward the future.  As we follow the trajectory of Abram’s adventures, we will see that these promises are not totally fulfilled in his own lifetime.  Although he will have sons, we will see that even at his death many of Yahweh’s promises remain a matter of faith, to be fulfilled in generations to come.

And we also note that Abram is already old — even if we take into consideration the length of years attributed to many of the ancient figures in Genesis.  At seventy-five, taking hold of these promises made by Yahweh must have been an act of faith.

But Abram obeys this strange command, taking with him a small entourage:

 Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they went to go into the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:5).

APPLY:  

Abraham becomes the ideal pattern of faith and obedience in the Scriptures.  Despite setbacks and even missteps on his part, he finds a way to trust and obey God.

Paul quotes Genesis 15:6, pointing to Abraham as the prime example for his doctrine of justification by faith:

What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh?  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God.  For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”  (Romans 4:1-3)

And James uses the same passage from Genesis to illustrate that Abraham is an example of faith and works:

 You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God (James 2:22-23).

These principles of faith and works are not contradictory.  Abram’s faith wasn’t merely theoretical.  He put his faith into practice by his obedience.  In its perfect sense, faith is demonstrated by works.  This doesn’t contradict the doctrine of justification by faith.  It gives the doctrine hands and feet.

RESPOND: 

Jim Elliot was one of five missionaries killed on January 8, 1956 while on a mission to evangelize the Huaorani people of Ecuador.  When he was in school in Portland, Oregon, he was regarded as a promising young man with a gift for oratory and drama.  He was encouraged by faculty members to pursue a career in acting.

But he believed God had other plans for him — he had been raised to “live for Christ,” and to seek adventure.  His intention was to work among the unreached tribes of South America.

He had much to live for — a loving Christian family, with four siblings; a young wife named Elisabeth, also a missionary; a young daughter, Valerie, who was born February 7, 1955.

On October 28, 1949, he wrote in his journal:

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

Although Jim Elliot enjoyed many of the blessings that life has to offer, he was willing to follow Christ even into the dangerous uncertainty of missionary work with a hostile tribe.  Jim and his four missionary colleagues were betrayed by a Huaorani tribesman.  Their bodies were found downstream in the Curaray River after they were killed by Huaorani warriors.

After these tragic events, Elisabeth Elliot and other missionaries continued the missionary work among the Huaorani, and she later published two books about the life of her husband.

When we encounter God, the demands may not be quite so dramatic.  Abraham was told to leave his family and go to a land that he didn’t know.  However, he was promised that he would be a great nation, with countless descendants, and that all families on earth would bless themselves by him.  His adventures taught him the nature of faith — that faith is:

 the assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

In his own lifetime, he certainly didn’t see all of the promises fulfilled that had been made to him.  When he died, the only land he actually owned in Canaan was a cave that he had purchased in order to bury his wife Sarah.  He didn’t see the descendants that he had been told would be as numerous as the stars — in fact, he had only fathered 8 sons by three different women, and only Isaac was to be the “son of the promise.”  Yet Abram trusted that those promises would be fulfilled.

And in the view of the New Testament writers, these promises have been fulfilled:

Even as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” (Galatians 3:6-8).

And Hebrews tells us that Abraham was looking for a land more eternal than what he found in Canaan:

 By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.  For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:9-10).

I take great inspiration from Abraham.  Mine is sometimes a faltering, unsure faith.  However, what matters is not how much faith we have, but the One in whom we have faith.

Lord, faith is a challenge in a world where we all want a “sure thing.”  Even more than that, we want it all now!  Abram teaches us that the sure thing is found in God’s eternal promises, and faith teaches us to trust in what we have not yet seen.  As a father of a demon-possessed boy once said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief.”  Amen.  

PHOTOS:
“Abraham Leaves Harran“ by Francesco Bassano the Younger is in the public domain.

Gospel for June 19, 2022

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. (Luke 8:32 NRSV)

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 8:26-39
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The ministry of Jesus was quite itinerant.  Other than his childhood visit to Egypt as a small child as reported in the Gospel of Matthew 2:13-15,  Jesus remained within a 90-mile radius of his hometown in Nazareth.  However, Jesus stayed on the move during his ministry, visiting many towns in Galilee, traveling to Gentile regions to the north and east of the Sea of Galilee, and of course Samaria and Judea.

Here is the back story of today’s Gospel reading  — Jesus and his disciples have taken a boat across the Sea of Galilee, likely sailing from Capernaum in Galilee to the region of the Gerasenes (also known as Gadara) in the Gentile region of the Decapolis (which means the Ten Cities).  The Decapolis were likely Greek and Roman cities outside of the political and cultural orbit of Jewish Galilee and Judea.

When Jesus arrives on the shore, he is immediately greeted by a naked, desperately wild, demon-possessed man. The manifestations of his demon possession were quite extreme — even chains and shackles were insufficient to hold him when he was tormented by demons.  He lived in the wilds and in the cemetery, both places reputed to be a refuge for unclean spirits.

We are reminded that there is a kind of spiritual warfare in which Jesus is engaged against demonic forces, as the man falls down before Jesus and shouts:

“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.

Jesus recognizes that this man is more victim than villain.  As Paul will write later:

our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

Jesus asks the man his name, knowing that he is not really speaking to the man but to the demons that have possessed him.  The demons must answer the Son of God with the truth.  Their name is Legion, suggesting that an army of demons have taken possession of this man.

We then get a small glimpse into the future fate of the demons:

 They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

Although demonology and the place of demons in Christian theology may be of interest, this isn’t really the place to explore such subjects.  Suffice it to say that the New Testament takes the existence of supernatural beings for granted, and this includes the existence of demons.  The abyss is generally understood to refer to the “bottomless pit” and the place of the dead.  (For more information, I refer you to 2 Peter 2:4 and Revelation 9:1-2, 11; 17:8; 20:1.)

What we know from Luke’s Gospel is that the demons are desperate not to be sent there!

And perhaps we should be a little surprised that Jesus accommodates the request of the demons to be sent into a large herd of swine.  It would seem that they require a physical host in order to function in the physical world.

The discerning mind may pick up on a little New Testament humor here.  Swine, in the Jewish world, were regarded as one of the most unclean of animals (Leviticus 11:7-8).  How appropriate that the unclean demons should wish to be sent there!

And, in another somewhat humorous development, even the herd of swine turns out to be an inhospitable home for the demons:

Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

Jesus and his disciples are now in Gentile territory where pigs are a source of income.  The destruction of the swine represented an economic disaster for the owner.  The swineherds flee in a frenzy and are eager to place the blame on Jesus.

When people from Gerasene hurry to see what has happened:

they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.

Curiously, their reaction to this amazing exorcism and dramatic change is great fear!  They beg Jesus to leave the area.  Rather than rejoicing that this poor man has been restored to sanity, they fear Jesus more than they seem to fear the demons!

As Jesus is preparing to return to Galilee by boat:

The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus  sent him away, saying,  “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

This cleansed man becomes one of the first of the Gentile witnesses, who is instructed to spread the news to non-Jews about Jesus and his mighty power!

APPLY:  

Jesus is able to make a distinction between the flesh and blood of this unfortunate man and the spiritual forces of evil that possess him.  Thus Jesus is able to separate the man from the demonic powers.

Mustn’t we do the same in our time?  We are led to believe that the problem with the world is a certain group or a particular belief, and we cannot distinguish between the demonic behavior inspired by certain ideologies and the people who espouse those ideologies.

Jesus loves the man, and cleanses him by separating the man from the demonic influence in his life.  Perhaps we can begin to distinguish between the immoral behavior and violent rhetoric of  people and instead try to see them as people.

RESPOND: 

This week as I meditate on this Scripture, I’m very aware of events in Orlando, Florida.  A nightclub that caters to the LBGTQ community was the location of the second largest mass murder in American history. They were systematically murdered by a young Muslim man.  I deplore what has happened there, and grieve for those who have lost their lives so violently.

Reactions to this atrocity have predictably reflected every possible ideological, political, and religious perspective.

Let me be clear — I believe that the Scriptures teach that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. And further, I believe that there is a brand of “radical Islam” that is dangerously violent and doctrinaire.

However, I am equally convinced that God loves all people — gay, straight, Muslim or whatever they may be.  Unlike ourselves, God is able to distinguish between those behaviors and attitudes that oppress and possess us, and love us in spite of ourselves.

What truly inspires me is the example of love and forgiveness like that of the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania  in October of 2006. A disturbed man named Charles Roberts burst into a one-room Amish schoolhouse and shot ten Amish schoolgirls, killing five of them and then took his own life.

The Amish community was devastated by the murder of innocents.  But family members of the girls began to express their forgiveness of the murderer.  Several family members of the girls buried their own daughters, and the next day attended the funeral of Charles Roberts and embraced his widow and family members.  Later the Amish community took up a collection for the widow and her three young children.

Did the Amish deplore the murderous act of Charles Roberts? Of course! But were they able to see that despite his act he was a human being who was loved by God? Yes!

Lord, help me to see the demon-possessed and the “evil” through your eyes — the eyes of love.  Help me to be a part of your mission to deliver all of us from the demonic forces that surround us.  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
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