Blog – Page 173 – Read Through the Bible

April 10 / Luke 14:1-14

Luke 14:1-14

I am intrigued by the “parable of the great banquet” at the end of today’s reading. Most of us have friends who are in the same “social standing”. Incomes may differ dramatically, but we find common ground with our race, religion, nationality, etc. Frankly, for many of us, our church is our social group and our church reflects that common ground – race, religion, nationality, etc. We can invite Hispanics and Africans to join us and in doing so we expand that “social space”. The next step then is embracing those in that widening circle.

I think Jesus is telling us to get out of our comfort zones, whatever that means for any of us. When we finally get back to church together and get back to our wonderful “Gathering” times, we need to make it a point to sit with different people each week until we are on a first-name basis with everyone in the church. But now I’m preaching instead of sharing! Have a blessed day, folks!

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April 9 / Luke 13:22-35

Luke 13:22-35

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. (vv. 28-29) This is a scary section every time that I read it. But when I read these verses in context, with Jesus constantly dealing with opposition from the Pharisees and scribes, I can see that He is speaking (in context) to these Jewish leaders and that Gentiles will be invited into His kingdom with the unbelieving Jews left behind. And we see ourselves as being among those Gentiles who have been invited in.

We all presume that heaven is our ultimate destination, but sometimes I wonder if we are presuming too much. We have our “salvation verses” and our theologies that tell us that we are on the right track. We’ve accepted Jesus and His forgiveness – He has done it all and we are His beneficiaries. But the verses above and those in Matthew that I note in the link below continue to disturb me, even ever so little: “…I never knew you.”

April 8 / Luke 13:1-17

Luke 13:1-17

The vinedresser speaking: And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ (vv. 8-9) I was thinking of this manure (fertilizer) application around the fig tree and thinking of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, working on our inner selves so that we can be more fruitful. And when I think of manure, I have a vivid picture of Carol’s alpacas and what they do to the soil when they all choose to dump in the same spot. Everything in this dumping area dies and nothing sprouts for months on end. Then when something does grow, it comes up weeds. There are two problems with this alpaca dumping – it’s a large amount of manure in a small area and it’s never worked in properly. We could make better use of alpaca manure if we spread it more thinly and applied it to soil elsewhere that was in need of nourishment. I see the same picture for Jesus’ work in us – His Spirit is readily, abundantly available to us and His grace can easily eliminate evil (weeds = sin) in our lives. And then we need to spread His Spirit onto other soil in need of nourishment – our friends and relatives who need the Lord. It’s His desire and our calling.

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April 7 / Luke 12:35-59

Luke 12:35-59

A short post today, and nothing heavy… Early this afternoon Carol and I are catching an auto-train, going from Northern Virginia to Florida – a new experience for us!

He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. (vv. 54-55) Yes, I’m intrigued by geography. Today, because of the verse quoted above I maintain that Jesus is in Jerusalem or Judea, not Galilee or Samaria. All four regions would have recognized the west wind and rain in the forecast with clouds coming off the Mediterranean Sea. However, the scorching south wind would have affected Judea and Jerusalem because of the desert lands to the south, but Galilee and Samaria would have been protected from those winds by the mountains and those longer distances from those desert lands. So, Jerusalem! QED!!

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April 6 / Luke 12:1-21

Luke 12:1-21

In the meantime, when so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, He began to say to His disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. (v. 1) Luke seems to be writing his gospel in chronological fashion. The NASB has “Under these circumstances…” The immediate precedent at the end of chapter 11 has Jesus pronouncing woes upon the Pharisees – this activity seems to have gathered a crowd! I wonder… Could it be that the crowd (…thousands of people…) sensed the Pharisees’ hypocrisy all along and were fully attracted to Jesus’ attacks on them? At the end of the previous chapter we saw the Pharisees looking for a way to trap Jesus in whatever He said. Maybe this surge in crowd support for Jesus could be part of the Pharisees’ hatred of Him! As we’ve said so often, their hatred blinded them to His teaching. So sad…!

At St. Andrew’s we recently finished a Lenten series on the “Three Streams” (Sacrament, Scripture, Spirit). Brian and I shared at that closing session, bringing all three streams together. In my comments I mentioned how much I had learned of the Holy Spirit’s activity when I did a Creative Arts Camp on Jesus’ references to the Holy Spirit in John’s gospel, chapters 14-16. My comments on today’s reading two years ago highlighted those Holy Spirit activities. I encourage you to look at them in that first link below and to imagine how much the Holy Spirit is active in your lives.

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April 5 / Luke 11:37-54

Luke 11:37-54

Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. (v. 43) I have so often identified with the Pharisees, especially with them being suspicious of Jesus teachings, which were outside the Pharisees’ “mainstream” teachings. I also would have doubted His miracles, where I would have suspected Him of some fraud on His “healings”. But unfortunately I also identify with the Pharisees in their seeking honor unto themselves. Mine was a troubled childhood, especially in our “yours, mine and ours” family. I was ridiculed and diminished at home, so I was guilty of “tooting my own horn” at school and among friends. That pattern, unfortunately, continued into adulthood and remains a problem with me today – constantly appreciating (if not actively seeking) honor from others. So what would it have taken for me to follow Jesus back then? Would His pointing out my sin so clearly have forced me to re-think my own predispositions? Apparently not with these Pharisees, who continued …lying in wait for Him, to catch Him in something He might say. (v. 54) As I’ve said so many times, we are so fortunate to be living on this side of Jesus’ cross and resurrection!!

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April 4 / Luke 10:13-42

Luke 10:13-42

RTNT 2021. HAPPY EASTER!! Hallelujah, He is Risen!! Blessings from our Risen Lord on you and yours!! GLORY!!

A mix of four topics in today’s reading – woes, the 70 returning, the Good Samaritan, and Martha and Mary – just so we could get to the end of the chapter. Not a good reading plan! But pick what you want to comment on.

I was struck by Jesus’ “woes” on the Jewish cities almost immediately followed by His Good Samaritan parable – the contrast between the Jews’ rejection of Jesus and the Samaritan’s behavior toward his “enemy”. I’m sure that I’m guilty of similar behavior, that I confess Jesus as Lord, but so often I turn a blind eye to the world’s hurt and fail to do the right thing. But there’s also a “non-contrast” in tying these two stories together – the consistency in the Jews’ rejection of Jesus together with their priest’s and Levite’s refusal to help their fellow countryman. In telling the Good Samaritan parable, Jesus was replying to a lawyer’s (scribe’s) question, so clearly His parable was targeted to the Jewish leaders. But we should really take a good look and ask ourselves the scribe’s question, “And who is my neighbor?” I’ve said before that I fear for our country’s wealth and prosperity up against our lack of concern for the world’s problems – our “neighbors”, if you will…

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April 3 / Luke 9:51-62, 10:1-12

Luke 9:51-62, 10:1-12

And He sent messengers ahead of Him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for Him. But the people did not receive Him, because His face was set toward Jerusalem. (Luke 9:52-53) I commented on this verse two years ago, but it was about Jesus’ “setting His face” toward Jerusalem – a real turning point in Luke’s gospel. Two other items to note here, both with information from my Study Bibles. The first has to do with the Samaritans rejecting Jesus. One Study Bible suggested that Samaritans could normally tolerate Jews, except when they were headed to Jerusalem to observe a holy feast. That’s when their theologies particularly conflicted, with Samaritans pointing to Mt. Gerizim as the proper place to worship (John 4:20) and Jews pointing to Jerusalem. Second, my other Study Bible noted that a large section in Luke is known as his “travel narrative” (vv. 9:51-18:14) and it is not covered in the other Synoptic gospels. So this section in Luke will occupy most of our readings for the next two weeks. That’s good news for me, since Luke is my favorite gospel!

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April 2 / Matt. 8:18-22,11:20-30

Matthew 8:18-22, 11:20-30

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Mt. 11:28-29) I thought of these verses on Wednesday evening as we had our “Way of the Cross” service at St. Andrew’s. One of the stations has Jesus taking up His cross. So I first thought of the verse where Jesus says “…take up your cross and follow Me.” (Mt. 16:24) And I knew that that cross would be heavy – very heavy for any of us to take it up, but not nearly as heavy as Jesus’ cross, on which he bore the sins of all people for all time. But I also thought of His yoke and our finding rest. That was a more consoling thought. So we’re somewhere in that mix between our cross and His yoke. Life has its ups and downs, its easy times and hard times. Taking up our cross is essentially inviting some challenging times in our lives, but we know that we are not carrying that cross alone. Jesus has already done the heavy lifting. We are there just to walk alongside, to love the Man who loved us so dearly. Let’s find His rest this Good Friday!

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April 1 / John 10:1-21

John 10:1-21

And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. (v. 16) Earlier we read about the Syrophoenician woman who had asked Jesus to heal her daughter. (Matthew 15:21-28) At that time Jesus had replied to her, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (v. 24) However, Jesus relented based on her reply (the dogs eating the crumbs that fall from the table) and healed her daughter. Now we see Jesus actively speaking of other sheep that are not of this fold, presumably Gentiles who are not His own Israelite kin. We also saw Jesus earlier traveling through Samaria instead of taking the Jordan River road around Samaria. He had also traveled north as far as Tyre, Sidon, and Caesarea Philippi and gone east across the Sea of Galilee to other Gentile lands. So His first reply to the Syrophoenician woman seems to have been an “outlier” statement. And when He went to the cross, He no doubt died for us all – Jews and Gentiles alike. Each of us is one of those other sheep that are not of this fold. Rejoice!