Daily Bible Study

October 26, 2016 Bible Study — Carrying Our Cross On The Path To Becoming The Least

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I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 9.

    When Jesus said to His audience that they needed to “take up your cross daily” it would not have been a vague metaphor. That would have had vivid meaning to them as they would have been familiar with seeing condemned men carrying their cross has they were taken to be executed. Jesus is telling us that in order to serve Him we need to do things which we will no more desire than those men desired to carry their cross. If we wish to serve Jesus we will need to willingly go to our deaths, sacrificing our wants and desires in order to perform God’s will. If we try to avoid doing so, we will lose our lives and our very souls. The only way we can preserve our lives and our souls is to willingly give them up to serve God. One of the main characters in a book series I love put it this way, “It does us no good to give up our heart to obtain our heart’s desire.” As much as we might dread what we expect to find at the end of the path which Jesus leads us down, the end of every other path is worse. However, Jesus also tells us that we will find that the end of the path He is leading us down will be less dreadful and more glorious than we imagine. Yes, there will be suffering, but beyond the suffering is glory.

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    I have been struggling with what to say here because I am going to use an example involving someone who I know reads this blog. Here Jesus tells us that the least among us is the greatest. He says this in the context of telling us that those who welcome a child in His name welcome Him, and that those who welcome Him welcome God the Father. We have a tendency to read Jesus as saying that those who are least will be greatest, as if you may be the least now, but you will be the greatest later. However, that is not what Jesus said. He said, “Whoever IS the least among you IS the greatest.” This is not that somehow in the future God will make you great because you are least. No, this is the least are really the greatest.
    Now for the part that makes me nervous. I, and a couple of other friends, run a practice for a local group. After our last practice I was talking with someone who feels that they are not as good as they should be. They feel like they are the least able person at our practice (for the purpose of this blog I am going to assume that this feeling reflects reality, although that is open to debate). As a result of this, they think it is a waste of time for them to continue. Yet I cannot help but think that Jesus is telling those of us who think we are better than this person at this activity that we are wrong. He is also telling this person that because they are the least at this activity that they are actually the greatest. The thing about it is that I almost know what He means in this context. This person, who thinks they are so terrible at this activity, is my favorite teacher of newbies who are just starting to understand what they are doing because when she works with them she does not intimidate them, as some of our members who are more confident of their skill do(myself included, not because I am that good, but because I am that confident). And because she more naturally fences down to them in a way that encourages them to stretch their ability. And all of that is irrelevant to my point. Jesus is telling us that when we think we are the least is actually when we are the greatest.

Daily Bible Study

October 25, 2016 Bible Study — The Women Who Followed Jesus

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I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 8.

    I do not think I have ever given much thought to Luke’s passage here about the women who accompanied Jesus and the twelve as they traveled around Galilee. It is somewhat interesting that these women were travelling around with a group of men in that culture. At least a couple of these women were prominent women. In particular, Luke mentions the wife of Herod’s business manager and a woman named Susanna, someone with whom he appears to assume his audience is familiar. I conclude from this that Susanna was someone who was significant in the early Church (or at least in the area where he was sending this letter). However, the part of this which caught my attention is that these women were covering the expenses of Jesus’ ministry out of their own resources. The way Luke words this suggests that some amount of support for Jesus and the Twelve came from people in the towns they preached in, but that these women provided the expenses which could not be covered that way. The fact that Luke emphasizes that these women did this out of their own resources suggests that he wants to make it clear that they were not using their husband’s or their family’s money to support Jesus. These were women who HAD their own resources to support Jesus’ ministry.

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    In reading the parable of the lamp in Matthew, Mark, and now in Luke I have started to realize that there is something there more than what I have traditionally understood. My traditional understanding of it, and what I remember being taught about it, is that we should stand up and not be shy about others learning that we are believers in Christ. However, Jesus immediately follows this parable by saying that secrets will eventually be revealed and that the hidden will be exposed. While that suggests that Jesus may mean something other than the traditional understanding, the very next thing makes it certain. The next thing Jesus tells us is that we need to be careful how we listen to what He says, that we need to really work at it. Those who don’t just hear what He says, but actually listen will gain more understanding, but those who think they do not have to listen will lose what little understanding they already have. I don’t quite understand how these things connect. The best I can come up with is that we need to make sure that we let people know that our actions are motivated by what Christ teaches and that we are constantly striving to understand Him better. Let our words and our actions shine light upon Jesus and His teachings.

Daily Bible Study

October 24, 2016 Bible Study –Don’t Worry About The Speck In Your Brother’s Eye

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I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 6-7.

    The part of this passage which the Spirit brought most to my attention was the verses from chapter 6 verse 41 through verse 44. We need to focus on what we are doing wrong, not on what others are doing wrong. It is important to note that “doing wrong” includes not doing right. That is, if we are not doing things we should be doing it is just as bad as doing things we should not be doing. If I fail to help those in need, I am as much of a sinner as a person who murders someone. While the verses about the relationship of good and bad fruit to good and bad trees is not directly related to the teaching about worrying about our own faults, there is a connection. Someone who spends their time focusing on the shortcomings of others will never overcome their own shortcomings. It also provides us with a measuring stick by which we can measure ourselves. Are we producing good fruit? Are we doing the sorts of things which show God’s love to the people around us? Because, if we are not, then we are not only not producing good fruit, we are producing bad fruit.

Daily Bible Study

October 23, 2016 Bible Study

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I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 4-5.

    The three temptations which Luke describes Jesus experiencing in the wilderness describe the three basic temptations faced by those who desire to make the world a better place. The first temptation is to supply people’s material needs, making them dependent upon you. They will need to do the “right thing”, or you will cut them off. The second temptation is the temptation to compromise with evil in order to gain political power. Sometimes this is justified by the belief that, once political power is gained, you can go back on the compromise. It never works that way. Once you have justified compromising with evil you can always find a reason to do it again. The third temptation is to harness the power of religion and spirituality. Declare that all who do not fully support your agenda are heretics and servants of Satan. All of these represent attempts to take shortcuts from the hard work of convincing people, one at a time, to surrender their lives to God.

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    When Jesus spoke in the synagogues His teaching was different than most religious teachers of His time. He did not refer to other people’s interpretation of Scripture. Jesus went directly to the Scripture and justified His teachings based on what was written there. We should follow His example. This does not mean that we should not study what others have said and written about Scripture, or that we should not use their teachings in teaching others. No, what is means is that we should treat only the Bible as authoritative and trust the Holy Spirit to show us what it means. If you hear or read someone’s teaching about God’s will and do not find it a convincing explanation of what is written in the Bible, set it aside and rely on what you read in the Bible.

Daily Bible Study

October 22, 2016 Bible Study — How Do We Learn What God Wants Of Us?

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I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 2-3.

    This passage always touches me deeply. It is the passage my father read every Christmas Eve as my family celebrated the birth of Christ. It also appealed to me because Luke has a certain matter-of-fact approach to his presentation. Even with that matter-of-fact approach the story still paints a vivid picture. Reading it today, I finally saw what Jesus meant when He asked His parents why they had to search for Him. After all, they were there when the shepherds came and told of seeing the angels. They were there when Simeon and Anna prophesied over Him. They had surely told Jesus these stories as He grew up. Where else would He be but the place where He could find answers to the questions about what God wanted Him to do?

Daily Bible Study

October 21, 2016 Bible Study — Messages From an Angel

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I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 1.

    One thing I wonder as read the opening to Luke’s Gospel. Was he writing to a person by the name of Theophilus? Or, was he addressing his writing to everyone who was a lover of God (the translation of Theophilus)? I suspect the former, but, in either case, Luke assures us he has done his homework and gotten the facts straight. When you look at all of the details which Luke got right, from cities which were lost to history until modern archeologists rediscovered them to routes of travel which seem the long way around until you look at the geography and where the Roman roads ran.

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    I cannot help but sympathize with Zechariah when the angel comes and tells him Elizabeth will bear him a son. Because the angel told him not only that Elizabeth would bear him a son, but that that son would be a man of renown. The angel told Zechariah that he would be called on to raise the boy with strict discipline (that is, Zechariah would need to impose strict discipline upon himself as he raised the child). All of this is quite a lot to take in. So, naturally, Zechariah asked for a sign. The angle gave Zechariah a sign, but that sign was also a punishment for doubting. Zechariah would be unable to speak until the child was born. I have long thought that, while Zechariah would have loved to have the chance to talk with others about the angel’s message, he was grateful for being forced to silently contemplate what it all meant for those nine months.

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    On the other hand we have Mary’s response to the message she received from the angel. Her response was, “May everything you have said about me come true.” She faced a much more difficult time. Yet she welcomed it readily. She had no doubts that the words the angel had spoken to her were true. The message which Zechariah received was unmitigated good news. He would finally have a son. The news which Mary received was much less so. She was going to spend the next several years surrounded by scandal. Despite this Mary was able to rejoice and see the blessing which God had laid upon her. Whether we find ourselves in Zechariah’s or Mary’s shoes, let us be glad when God sends a message to us.

Daily Bible Study

October 20, 2016 Bible Study — My Spirit Is Willing, But My Body Is Weak

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I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Mark 14-16.

    I see a connection between the actions of the woman who anointed Jesus’ head with perfume and with the establishment of the breaking of bread and sharing of wine. Both contain an aspect of ceremony and of ritual. We, as human beings, need ceremony and ritual in our lives. I have long tried to determine what we were supposed to learn from the woman who anointed Jesus. Today I came to the conclusion that the lesson is that it is OK to conduct ceremonies which show our love for Jesus and for God. However, they should be ceremonies which have personal meaning to us, not ceremonies we take part in to impress others. There are some ceremonies which are established for every generation (i.e., the breaking of bread and sharing of wine) and there are ceremonies which each individual must develop for themselves. But even in the established ceremonies, each generation needs to look closely at how the ceremony is conducted to determine if it still conveys the meaning it was designed to convey. I, also, want to point out that our ceremonies may offend some. I have always suspected that Mark is trying to tell us that Judas betrayed Jesus because of His acceptance of the anointing.

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    When Peter bragged that he would never desert Jesus, it was not just bragging. Peter was trying to build himself up to make it true. When Jesus told Peter that he would deny Him three times, He was not putting Peter down. He was telling him that it takes more than human bravado to stand for God in the face of persecution. We can only do so with the help of the Holy Spirit. The experience in the Garden of Gethsemane was a reinforcement of this same lesson. It is only by keeping watch and praying that we can receive the power from the Holy Spirit that we need to overcome temptation. If we cannot stay awake to pray with Jesus before the trial comes, how will we stand firm by His side in the face of persecution? But Jesus knows that our failing is because our body is weak, not because our spirit is unwilling. Let each and every one of us pray for God’s Spirit to strengthen us so that we can face the troubles which will come.

Daily Bible Study

October 19, 2016 Bible Study

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I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Mark 12-13.

    The parable of the evil farmers was directed at the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, at the ones in the audience when He told it. However, it contains a message for leaders of today as well. The message is that all leaders have been given their position of leadership by God and they owe Him for that position. However, there is also a message there for everyone. Those who have been given positions of leadership by God face a constant temptation to usurp God’s authority. It is a temptation that all too many of them give into.

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    The various groups of Jewish leaders asked Jesus questions which were designed to have no right answer. In the question He asked in return, Jesus showed that trick questions do not lead to understanding. Jesus was asked three questions. Two were designed to trap Him, the third was asked out of a genuine desire to hear Jesus’ answer. In the first two Jesus answers in a manner to clearly show up the flaw in the thought process of the person asking the question. In the first question, the questioners are more concerned with the law of the land than with the Law of God. In Jesus’ answer He points out that while our money has the image of our government, we ourselves have the image of God. We should let the government have our money, but we should give ourselves completely to God. In this election season I find myself giving myself (by my engaging in the political debate) to the government. I should spend the time I spend worrying about politics serving God (or finding new ways to serve God). I find this lesson reinforced by Jesus’ answer to the question about the greatest commandment and by His commentary on the widow who gives all that she had. Are we giving all that we can to God’s service? Or are we expending our resources on other things?

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October 18, 2016 Bible Study — I Want To See

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I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Mark 10-11.

    Jesus’ teachings on marriage here tell us a lot about God’s intentions in creating human sexuality. A man leaves his father and mother and is joined, by God, to his wife. Husband and wife are not joined together by the government, nor are they joined together by the Church. They are joined together by God. I do not fully understand how that happens, but our sexuality plays a role in it. This is why sexual sins are such a problem, our sexuality is designed to bind us to one other person of the opposite sex. There is a connection between this and Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount about lusting after someone and adultery. I think this gets put into that bucket of subjects I should revisit and do an blog study on at some point in the future.

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    I see a unified theme from the children who come to Jesus through the healing of blind Bartimaeus. Let’s see if I can find the words to explain that theme. In some ways I think that this passage is central to Mark’s understanding of Jesus’ teaching just as the Sermon on the Mount is central to Matthew’s. First Jesus tells us that we must receive the Kingdom of Heaven like a child. I have seen lots of debate about what that means and I am not going to go into that right now. This is followed by the story of the rich young man who is not willing to give up his material wealth to gain eternal life. He is willing to do just about anything else (to the point that we do not know anything else he is not willing to do), but not that.
    Then Jesus tells the Twelve the sort of death He is about to die. Which is immediately followed by James and John asking for special privileges in Jesus’ coming kingdom. Even after the exchange with the rich young man and Jesus describing the terrible sufferings He was about to experience, they were looking for the perks of being a follower of Jesus. So Jesus explains to them that the leaders in His Kingdom will spend their time meeting the needs and wants of others, not in having their needs and wants met by others. Finally we have blind Bartimaeus. When Jesus asks him what he wants, he responds, “I want to see.” While Bartimaeus was asking for physical sight, Mark is telling us that we need to want spiritual sight. When Jesus asks us what we want, do we answer “I want to see?” Or are we looking for what is in it for us?

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October 17, 2016 Bible Study — Sometimes God Needs To Touch Us More Than Once For Us To See

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I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Mark 8-9.

    Once again Jesus is teaching a crowd in a remote area and He is concerned that they are hungry. This happens not that long after the feeding of the 5,000, yet the disciples are worried about where they would get the food to feed this many people. It is so easy to look at the disciples and think that they should have learned from the first time. Yet, we often do the same thing. Well, at least I do. God has miraculously provided for our, or someone else’s, needs, yet when the same, or similar, needs arise again, we worry about how we will meet those needs this time. No sooner had Jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee after this feeding than some of the Pharisees asked Him for a miraculous sign of His authority. The driving out of demon’s, the curing of the sick, restoring hearing to the deaf, and the feeding of thousands on two occasions were not sufficient for them. They wanted a sign performed just for the sake of proving Jesus’ power. Just as our faith can act as yeast to change the world around us, so can such “skepticism” act to change the Church. The first makes a positive change, the latter a change for the worse.

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    In this passage is a story of Jesus healing a blind man that I have always been slightly puzzled by. Why did Jesus have to place His hands on the man’s eyes a second time for the man to be able to see clearly? Today for some reason I thought of the story of the man born blind in the Gospel of John. In that story when the Pharisees were questioned the healed man, they told him, “We know that Jesus is a sinner, so what really happened?” To which the man replied, “I don’t know if He is a sinner or not. What I do know is that I was blind, but now I see.” By saying that the former blind man was telling the Pharisees, “I was blind and Jesus gave me sight. Since you cannot see that He is from God, you are clearly still blind.” Which brings me back to this story, sometimes it takes being touched by Jesus more than once for the spiritually blind to gain their sight. All of us were born spiritually blind. It is only when we are touched by God that we can gain our sight. Some of us need to be touched more than once. This is the lesson from the beginning of today’s passage as well. The disciples needed to see Jesus feed the masses twice before they understood. But some will choose to never understand, no matter how often Jesus touches their lives.