Tag Archives: 2021 Bible Study

Daily Bible Study

October 14, 2021 Bible Study — Are We Willing To “Get Dirty” To Help Those In Need?

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 1-3.

I am used to translations which say that Jesus was filled with compassion when the man with leprosy asked Jesus to heal him that this is the first time I noticed that this translation says He was indignant.  So, why would Jesus have been indignant?  The leper prefaced his request for healing by saying, “If you are willing…”  So, Jesus was indignant that the leper had reason to believe that someone who had the ability to heal him might not be willing to do so.  This corresponds with Jesus reaction to the situation with the man with the shriveled hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  There He was angry because of the religious people more interested in the letter of the law (as they interpreted the law) than in helping those in need.

So, Jesus was angry that people were so afraid of stepping over the lines which the “religious leaders” had set up that they would fail to help those in need.  I don’t think His anger was directed at those who were afraid to help.  I think it was directed at those who had made them afraid to do so.  We see more of this same ethos in His response to those who criticized Him for eating with sinners.  As recorded by Mark, Jesus was not condemning the hypocritical (I never realized how much I allow Luke’s telling of this story to color my understanding of what Mark wrote).  Mark highlights that Jesus came to call sinners.  How can you convince sinners to repent, if you won’t spend any time with them?    The Luke account focuses on the hypocrisy of those who think they are better than others.  Mark is more concerned with giving us a model to follow.

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

Daily Bible Study

October 13, 2021 Bible Study — Be Wary Of Those Who Choose To Believe What They Know To Be a Lie

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Matthew 27-28.

I do not think it is an accident that Matthew records Peter’s denial of Jesus just before he tells us about Judas hanging himself.  I think Matthew wants us to recognize that both betrayed Jesus, but Peter accepted Jesus’ forgiveness while Judas never gave Jesus a chance to forgive him.  Perhaps Judas’ betrayal was unforgivable, but it was not his place to make that decision.  In the same way, it is not our place to decide that we cannot be forgiven, we need to leave that decision up to those against whom we have sinned.

What I wrote in the previous paragraph has been rattling around in the back of my head for the last few years.  However, the first thing which struck me when I read today’s passage was that it was the chief priests and Pharisees who remembered that Jesus said He would rise after three days. So, we have the priests and Pharisees, who remembered that Jesus said He would rise after three days and Jesus’ disciples, who did not remember that.  However, when Jesus actually did rise from the dead, the priests and Pharisees made up a story explaining why the tomb was empty, while His disciples believed.  They knew their story was not true, yet chose it over the truth.  Be wary of those who do similar things today, those who choose what they know to be a lie over the truth.

 

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