I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
When the time came for them to cross the Jordan River, Joshua instructed the people of Israel to purify themselves. The following morning, at God’s command, Joshua had the priests take the Ark of the Covenant and walk into the Jordan River. As soon as the priests carrying the Ark entered the Jordan River the water stopped flowing from a point upstream of where they entered. The rest of the water continued flowing into the Dead Sea until the Israelites could cross the Jordan River on dry ground. The priests stopped in the middle of the Jordan River while the rest of the Israelites crossed over. Once all of the Israelites had crossed the river, Joshua had twelve men, one from each tribe, go to where the priests were standing and get a stone from the riverbed. They took theses stones and used them to build a memorial of the crossing. The people of Israel stood in awe of Joshua for the faith he showed, and the power God exercised on his behalf, when they crossed the Jordan. When all of the Israelites had crossed the river, Joshua had the priests come out of the Jordan. As soon as the priests left the riverbed and stood on high ground the river began flowing once more. The passage points out that this occurred when the Jordan River was at flood stage.
It is worth noting that stones from a riverbed look different from stones that have not been in a riverbed. The flow of water over the stones smooths and rounds them, giving them a distinct appearance. This is why the memorial that Joshua had built would have been distinctive.
Today’s passage takes up with Jesus at a feast at a Pharisee’s house (it is worth noting that despite His many teachings against the hypocrisy of Pharisees, Jesus associated with them). Jesus took note of the fact that everyone was trying to sit in the seats of honor near the head of the table. Jesus tells them that they should not take the seats of honor because it would be terribly embarrassing if the host comes to them and asks them to move because someone more distinguished has come. Rather they should seat themselves at the seat of lowest honor that way they will receive even more honor when the host comes and tells them in front of everyone to move to a better seat. Jesus then turned to His host and told him that when he holds a meal, he should not invite his friends, family and rich neighbors who will invite him back. Rather he should invite the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. If he does the latter God will reward him.
I believe that both of these lessons are for us. We should not honor ourselves. Rather we should live our lives with humility and let others honor us, if and when we are deserving of honor. If we do not receive the honor we deserve in from our fellow man, we will receive it from God. The second lesson is that we should use our resources to help those who have less than we do.
Someone then called out to Jesus that those who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God were blessed. Jesus used this as the springboard to tell a parable about someone who announced a feast and invited many guests. However, when the time for the banquet arrived the invited guests all presented excuses as to why they could not come. When the man who was throwing the feast heard that his invited guests could not come, he sent his servants out to invite the poor, the sick, the crippled and the lame to his feast. When this was done his servants told him there was still room. So he sent his servants out onto the roads and the byways to compel whoever they could find to come to his feast, but those he had originally invited would not get to taste of the feast.
There was a part of this parable that I had never noticed before. We all know the part where the original guests offer excuses and refuse to attend the banquet. And most of us know the part where the Master sends out invitations to the poor, the crippled, the sick, the blind and the lame. What I never noticed before is that after inviting those unfortunates, the Master still had room. It was then that He sent out His servants to compel others to attend His feast. The unfortunates are the ones whom God invites first to His feast. It is only after they have all been seated and there is still room that He invited those who were not such unfortunates received an invitation. This is the model we should use when preaching the gospel. We should preach the gospel to the unfortunates of this world and invite them to God’s bountiful table, we should do our best to provide for their needs from the bounty which God has given us. Our ministry to those who are well-off in this world should be a product, an after effect of our ministry to the unfortunates. This is a difficult thing for me to express correctly. It is not that God loves the well-off less, it is just that we should focus our ministry on those who cannot pay us back.
Finally in today’s passage Jesus tells us that there is a cost to following Him. He tells us that we should look at that cost before we start the journey and recognize the price we will have to pay. Then He makes a statement that many people have trouble understanding. “Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again?” If we as Christians do not live any differently than those around us, what is the point of us being Christians?
This psalm is a cry for God to restore His people, to listen to their prayers. For me the key phrase is this:
Make your face shine down upon us.
Only then will we be saved.
It is only when God turns us back to Him and away from sin that we can be saved. I read that and think about the way that plants turn themselves to the sun when it shines down on them. In the same way, we need God’s face to shine down on us and we need to turn toward Him when He does so.
I read this proverb and it reminds me of a trip I made with some friends many years ago. We were going up to a cabin in a remote area for an extended weekend. On the way, the car in front of us hit and killed a deer. The people in that car did not want the deer, so my friends, who were hunters, dressed the deer and took it along with us. When we got to the cabin, we butchered the deer (after contacting the state Game Commission). However, my one friend was angry with the others because they cut the best cuts out of the deer to cook and left the rest of the meat for him to cut up. I helped as much as I could, but not being a hunter myself I had little experience with butchering a deer. The thing I learned from that was the importance of preparing all of something at once or losing the opportunity. My friends who cut out just the good cuts they wanted to cook at that moment are like the lazy people in this proverb. My other friend was like the diligent. He made use of everything that was available to him from this chance opportunity. The diligent friend has done well with his life despite many struggles. The lazy friends have since ended up in jail.
I will strive to be diligent and make use of every opportunity for good that God sends my way (whether that is good meat or the opportunity to witness to others).