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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 10-11

I was struck by something in the Parable of the Good Samaritan today.  I have always heard people interpret it by saying that we should love those whom our society teaches us to despise the way the Jews of Jesus’ time were taught to despise the Samaritans.  Now, while this is not wrong, I realized that was not what Jesus was teaching here.  Rather, He was saying that we should love, and do good for, those who despise us the way that the Jews of His time despised the Samaritans.  I am not sure why this comes as a revelation to me today, because I know full well that Jesus also taught that we should not view anyone, any member of any group, the way that the Jews of His time viewed the Samaritans. Yet, despite the fact that I have often heard that we should seek to do as the Samaritan in this story did, I have also heard people tell me to put myself in the position of the man beaten by robbers.  However, we should evaluate this situation from the perspective of the Samaritan.  He could have thought, “This man does not really want help from someone like me.  This is a well traveled road, surely someone he would rather have help from will be along shortly to help him.”  But the Samaritan did not do that.  He could not know that those whom the man would have expected to help him had already passed by and chosen not the help.  He just saw someone in need and helped them.  We should do likewise.

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

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

When I began reading today’s passage, I was feeling like it would be a passage I would have trouble commenting on.  Then I came to verse 6:27, “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you.”   I think that we as Christians spend too little time talking about what this verse and those which follow mean about how we should live our lives.  It is in the context of the above statement that Luke records Jesus giving us the Golden Rule, “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.”  And it is worth noting that we cannot take Jesus’ statement of the Golden Rule as a transition into the next thing He talks about because a few verse later He repeats “Love your enemies.”  Right here Jesus spells out what it takes to truly be His follower.  I want to note that He talked about loving our enemies just a few verses after He said in 6:22-23, “What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man.  When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! ”  If we truly want to follow Christ, we need to do good things to and for those who abuse us.  And we need to expect that they will abuse us.  This passage is the basis for Chapter XII of “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo.  While it is not quite true as the Bishop says that we can buy someone’s soul from evil by this sort of action, after all, Jesus has already purchased their soul with His death, we can perhaps show people that their souls have been purchased by such action.

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

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

Every time I read the account of the temptations which Jesus faced in the wilderness I see them as representing the temptations by which everyone who sees the wrong in this world is tempted.  One of those temptations is the temptation to think that if we could just solve everyone’s material needs, all would be well.  Another temptation is the belief that if we just had the right people in positions of political power, they could fix what is wrong with our world.  The last temptation is in some ways the most insidious.  We are tempted to think that all we need to do is to get people to worship God correctly, all of their other problems would go away.

Each of these temptations fall short of what God wants from us.  Each of these temptations represent real problems in the world.  At different times to different people it will seem like the solution to these problems is just to work at whichever one most touches our soul.  Ultimately, none of these problems exists in isolation and, more importantly, we cannot fix them on our own.  We find in Jesus’ answers that the key to solving these problems is to realize that we cannot solve them.  And this is where I find trouble expressing the meaning this passage conveys to me.  So, let me give you Jesus’ answer to each of these temptations”

• “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word which comes from the mouth of God.”
• “You must worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.”
• “You must not test the Lord your God.”

Do you see what each of them has in common?  That’s right.  When we seek to solve this world’s problems our first step needs to be to turn to God, and to point others to Him as well.  We want one-size-fits-all answers, and there is only one of those.  That answer is that of Jesus on the Cross.  Jesus was victorious because He was willing to die to get His message across.  We cannot make people serve God, they have to want to serve Him.  We can’t make people experience what is best for them, they have to accept God’s word for it.

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

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

There is a reason that the Luke account of Jesus’ birth is the “standard” used by most Christians at Christmas.  Every time I read this passage I am struck by who the angels were sent to make an announcement of Christ’s birth.  I want to review the various people whom the Gospel accounts tell us received a message regarding Christ’s birth.  Mary and Joseph each received a visit from an angel.  They were both intimately involved in this pending birth (Mary more so than Joseph and the nature of the message they received reflects this fact).  Elizabeth received word by the Holy Spirit and her son leaping in her womb. The wise men discovered the announcement by their study of the stars; Herod and others among the high and mighty received word by way of the wise men.  However, the shepherds, among the lowest of the low, received the message by way of a host of angels on the occasion of Jesus’ birth.  When God chose to announce the birth of His Son, He sent His messengers to those who mattered, but they were not those whom we, as humans, would have thought mattered.  He “called” the shepherds, the “common man”, and gave them the message right away.  He let the wise men find out by “reading the sign” that the father put up when the baby went “home from the hospital”, and he let the big wigs and important people find out from them.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 23-24

Reading today’s passage I was struck by how the crowd demanded Jesus’ death from Pilate, even though they could provide no evidence of any crime deserving of death.  Pilate tried to either find something he could charge (and convict) Jesus with which would justify crucifying Him, or to convince the crowd to accept His release.  When Pilate failed at both, he ordered Jesus’ crucifixion because he was unwilling to go against the crowd.  We learn from this passage that being part of the crowd, or doing what the crowd demands, will often lead us to do evil.

The men who appeared to the women at Jesus’ tomb ask a question which sums up the theme of the rest of this chapter and one which we today should ponder.  “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”  The two men on the road to Emmaus were doing the same thing.  They could not believe that Jesus had risen, certainly not on the testimony of mere women; rising from the dead was impossible.  The men who appeared at the tomb told the women that Jesus had told them this would happen, including His resurrection.  Jesus showed the men on the road to Emmaus that the prophets foretold that He would be crucified and rise from the dead.  And I just realized that if we believe that He is indeed alive we will never again be either part of that crowd which gathered before Pilate, nor afraid of that crowd. 

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 21-22

I did not comment on Jesus’ comments about the poor widow who gave her last two coins (OK, the passage does not actually say that, but Jesus does say that she gave all that she had) when I read it in the Gospel of Mark this year.  I felt bad about that because I have long thought it contains important lessons about wealth, but it is such a short part of the passage and I did not think it connected with the other themes in that day’s passage.

However, I did a quick search on it today to make sure that I remembered where it occurs in the Gospels and came across a commentary about it I had never heard.  The commentary pointed out that Jesus’ comment about the widow’s offering came just a short time before He prophesied the destruction of the Temple.  I am amazed that I have never heard anyone make that connection.  The collection box referred to in the verses about the widow’s offering would have been for expenses related to the upkeep of the Temple.  If the Temple was going to be destroyed in less than 40 years (and we know that it was indeed destroyed in just under 40 years after this) then these offerings were being wasted.  In this light, instead of commending the widow for her offering, Jesus was condemning the wealthy for what they were doing.  By ostentatiously making offerings which, for all intents and purposes, cost them nothing they were pressuring the poor to make offerings which they could not afford, offerings which accomplished nothing of value.

My title for today’s blog suggests that perhaps we should not spend money on worship facilities, but that is not what I believe.  Rather, I think this passage raises questions about how much we spend on those facilities.  Are we encouraging the poor to give more than they can afford so as to make our worship facility ostentatious?  Does the beauty and luxuriousness of the facility make the poor among us feel unworthy to worship God?  I don’t think the questions raised by this passage have one single answer.  We must consider them each and every time we make changes to our facilities.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 19-20

As a child, the story of Zacchaeus was one which was retold often as a children’s Bible story.  I am unsure what made it such a success as a children’s story.  Perhaps it was the fact that Zacchaeus needed to climb a tree to see over the crowds, something children can sympathize with.  Whatever the reason, the story does have some basic lessons for us. 

1. 1. 1. an eagerness to find God will be rewarded.
      Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus. Jesus called out Zacchaeus by name.
      2. God accepts us where we are.
      Jesus went to Zacchaeus house before Zacchaeus changed his ways.
      3. Showing people love and honor while they are still sinners can transform them.
      In response to Jesus coming to his house, Zacchaeus promised to give half of his wealth to the poor and to compensate those whom he had cheated.