February 26 / Matt. 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20

Matthew 8:28-34 and Mark 5:1-20

Demon possession… A scary thought!! I had one encounter with (what I thought was) demon possession. Before we were married Carol and I lived in households a few blocks from each other. Somehow a pair of alcoholics came into our lives – a young man, Bobby, 20’ish, and his female companion, 30’ish. One evening Bobby came to our house, very drunk. My roommates and I had leftovers from our meal together and we set them out on the table for him to eat. Bobby was standing in a corner near our dining table, making strange, unintelligible “gurgling” sounds. I went over to him and put my hand on his shoulder to get him to sit down and eat. He immediately shouted “Thou shalt not touch the son of man!”, and knocked me with his arm into a wall. Once in my construction days my dad had hit me with a backhoe bucket and knocked me into a building about a foot away. Bobby’s arm was less than that force, but it was still a powerful thrust! We immediately called our Bible Study leader (now a well-known “Emerging Church” Christian author) and he came to take Bobby away. I hope I never run into demon-possession again! It’s scary!!

See also:

February 25 / Matt. 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25

Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, and Luke 8:22-25

And they woke him and said to Him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38b) Mark has one take on what the disciples said to Jesus. Matthew and Luke have the disciples with a very different perspective: And they went and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” (Matthew 8:25) I wonder if we don’t approach God in like manner – probably most often asking God for His help, other times almost demanding that He act on our behalf! I find myself asking impatiently why He has not done this or that. Every Sunday we pray for world peace and I often ask God why He does not intervene in those “enemy” nations that have no faith or whose faith encourages violence against Christians. My prayers most often end with “Your will be done”, but I still wonder why His will has not been according to my world view. At times He has reminded me, especially regarding those peoples who seem to hate us the most, that we have brought it on ourselves. Their perception of our immoral behavior is abhorrent to their faith – we’re the ones who have set this immoral standard before them, before the world, and they are acting with righteous indignation. We are reaping what we have planted. Still, God, how will it end? Come, Holy Spirit!!

See also: April 21 (2019) / Matt. 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25

February 24 / Matt. 13:44-52; Mark 4:21-29; Luke 8:16-18

Matthew 13:44-52, Mark 4:21-29, and Luke 8:16-18

So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous… (Matthew 13:49) It’s worth repeating what Debbie posted a few days ago. At the end of the age it will be the angels sorting the good from the bad. It will not be our job then and it’s certainly not our job now!

Normally I don’t do this, but today I’d like to direct your attention to notes in the links below that I posted in 2019. Many items I picked up in my reading today are some of the same things I saw two years ago. I especially appreciated my observation about the Avanza kids questioning the one man’s unethical behavior! (See below).

See also:

February 23 / Matt. 13:31-35; Mark 4:30-34; Luke 13:18-21

Matthew 13:31-35, Mark 4:30-34, and Luke 13:18-21

He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. (Mark 4:34) Mark adds a bit of an explanatory note in verse 34 as to Jesus’ affinity for speaking in parables. Would that we also could sit at His feet as …privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

…the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. (Mt. 13:32) I saw something new today, that this smallest of seeds (the mustard seed) grows to be the largest of the herbs, so large that the birds make nests in its branches. That’s a tree that is both large and strong. Granted, birds’ nests are not that heavy, but with the eggs hatched and the mother and father providing food – landing and taking off – those nests need the support of strong branches. It’s not like a weeping willow tree! But I wondered at the application for us today, and thought of those nests being our own small groups. Diocesan branches grow from the mustard seed that is ACNA, then other parish branches grow out from those diocesan branches – strong enough to host small group nests. And it’s in those small group nests that we are further nurtured. I have thought quite often of those people who left St. Andrew’s in 2019 – of how few there were who left who had been in one of the five small groups that we had at that time. There is something about small groups that is indeed nurturing!!

See also:

February 22 / Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Seldom is Jesus so explicit in explaining something to the disciples. But in this case he detailed seven items from the parable: the sower, the field, the good seed, the weeds, the enemy, the harvest, and the reapers. Yes, there are seven elements to the parable, but I’m always fascinated when I see items as seven or twelve.

Let both grow together until the harvest… (v. 30a) I explain in the links below the difference between “row crop” planting and broadcasting seed onto a field. And clearly God has “broadcast” his children into the world. Babies from faithful mothers and unchurched mothers are born side-by-side in today’s hospitals. We are to be “in the world, but not of the world” (John 15:17). And just as the good seed and the bad seed grow together in the field, so we live side-by-side with unbelieving neighbors. So do we become more like them or do they become more like us?

I’m also thinking of good and bad seeds planted in my head. Can’t separate those very easily…!! Wait until the harvest!

See also:

February 21 / Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15

Mark 4:1-20 and Luke 8:4-15

Two more Gospel accounts of the Parable of the Sower… I was noticing today the three seed scatterings that had negative outcomes. In the first case, by the wayside, nothing happened – no comment. In the second and third cases, however, seeds sprouted but did not bear fruit. These last two cases are interesting, in effect polar opposites, the rocky soil and the thorny ground. With the rocky soil, tribulation and persecution befall the person receiving the Word and he/she falls away. But the third case, the fertile, thorny ground is just the opposite – this person is extraordinarily blessed with money, wealth, power, whatever! And these “good things” result in the same outcome, failure to receive and act upon the Word. So life’s difficulties (tribulation and persecution) result in the same outcome as wealth and power. The better option – being good soil: But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold. (Mark 4:20)

See also:

February 20 / Luke 8:1-3; Matt. 13:1-23

Luke 8:1-3 and Matthew 13:1-23

These three verses in Luke are not likewise covered in any of the other gospels. (For more info, see my first 2019 post below.) Strange that I would be reading this account and my 2019 comments when I have been reflecting on what I might say to the parish tomorrow on our 2020 and 2021 budgets – as I speak to Jesus’ “followers and financial supporters”.

The Parable of the Sower is covered in all three Synoptic gospels; we will cover the other two versions tomorrow. Matthew is the only writer who covers this Isaiah passage in a longer quote; today I particularly noticed it in verse 15: For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. (Isaiah 6:10) I thought of my sitting in church on any given Sunday. While there I clearly see everything. But there are times (probably every Sunday) when my mind drifts and I don’t actually hear what is being said – maybe in the readings or the sermon or even in the ancient and holy words of the liturgy. And if I fail to truly hear what is being said, there’s no way that I can gain that understanding that Jesus wants of us – that changed heart, that healed soul. But if I do see and hear and understand properly, I come away a different person; it changes me. My prayer for all of us in every pew every Sunday – to really, truly see, hear, and understand and be healed.

See also:

February 19 / Luke 8:19-21, 11:24-36, 12:10-12

Luke 8:19-21, 11:24-36, 12:10-12

Today, Luke’s writing on a number of items that we have covered the past few days in Matthew and Mark, with a number of my 2019 comments repeated in the links below…

And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. (Luke 12:11-12) Jesus’ prophetic words were realized a few years later when Peter and John found themselves in front of the Sanhedrin, defending themselves from a baseless charge in that they had done a good thing by healing a lame beggar in Jesus’ name (Acts 3). After hearing their testimony, the Jewish leaders were perplexed: Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13) These uneducated, common men, filled with the Holy Spirit spoke powerful words, just as Jesus had foretold! But one more item – these last few words from Luke are powerful for us today – do people “out there” recognize that we are living with Jesus? In my comments below I mention people looking into our eyes – what do they see? Do they see a body full of light? Do they see Jesus in us? Again, repeating Archbishop Beach, “If not, why not?”

See also:

February 18 / Matt. 12:31-32, 38-50; Mark 3:28-35

Matthew 12:31-32, 38-50, and Mark 3:28-35

It’s been hard to organize material when the Synoptic gospels report on the same incidents – trying to keep chapters together, but also trying to follow the same incidents in two or three gospels. In addition the readings in 2019 were much shorter, so today’s readings in Matthew and Mark are covered in four separate links of my comments from 2019.

…whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. (Mark 3:29) Two items… First, Mark refers to Holy Spirit blasphemy as an “eternal sin”. Matthew and Luke have Jesus saying that this person will not be forgiven, which I suppose is saying the same thing. But there’s something about the word “eternal” that makes Jesus’ words in Mark come out so much stronger. Second, a number of commentators suggest that “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is giving Satan credit for the works of Jesus (whose works and miracles were done in the power of the Holy Spirit) – they were essentially accusing Jesus of being demon-possessed instead of Spirit-filled.” (My words from 2019.) If these commentators have that understanding correct, then the Pharisees who claimed that Jesus, Himself, was demon-possessed, then these Pharisees are damned to hell for all time. That’s tragic! Is there anyone else in all of Scripture damned to hell for all time?

See also:

February 17 / Matt. 12:22-30; Mark 3:20-27; Luke 11:14-23

Matthew 12:22-30, Mark 3:20-27, and Luke 11:14-23

RTNT 2021. Then He went home… (Mark 3:20) This is one of the few recorded occasions (that I recall) where Jesus “went home”. Presumably Mark is referring to Peter’s (and Andrew’s?) house in Capernaum, for which there are a number of indications that Jesus used this house as a base for His Galilean ministry. Still, we don’t often think of Jesus having a “home”.

God’s echo…! In the third (Mark) link below, in that first of three items the discussion centers on Jesus’ family coming to take Him away: He is out of His mind. (Mark 3:21) We had this very discussion in our Men’s Group ZOOM meeting last night. Sunday’s Transfiguration reading led to a discussion of how anyone (Peter, James, and John in this case) could fall away from Jesus after having seen Him in His glorified state. That “following Jesus forever” discussion led to today’s reading about His family wanting to take Him away, but Mary maintained faith in who Jesus was, even to the point of following Him to the cross. In that post below I defended her “intervention” two years ago. It’s always nice to see these “echo” occasions!

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. (Luke 11:21-22) When I read this verse I tend to think of Satan or one of his demons as the “strong man” and Jesus as the one stronger than he. However, an alternative interpretation could be that any one of us is that “strong man” and that Satan or one of his demons is the one stronger than he. We might look a bit more at this interpretation. This “strong man” – any one of us – is “fully armed” and guarding what is entrusted to him/us. But if we let our guard down even a slight bit, we can allow that one stronger than he to overcome us. The key is in the phrase, “fully armed”. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:10-17 what it means to be “fully armed”. We need to be vigilant: Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (I Peter 5:8)

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