Matthew 20:29-34

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more… (v. 31) Why were the onlookers so harsh to the two blind men, sternly telling them to be quiet? Was this behavior typical? Was this part of the Jewish moral code, as in …who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? (John 9:2) An immediate stereotype of someone born blind…? Seems harsh! But a good contrast to Jesus’ compassion!

It’s hard to read this selection without noticing Jesus’ question to the men, What do you want Me to do for you? (v. 31b) It’s a simple question with an obvious answer – we want to see. But in sermons or in conversation, others have offered a salient point – Jesus wants us to ask. He can do anything of His own accord, but He wants us to be connected to Him through our perceived needs. Clearly Jesus knew that the men needed more than physical healing. And when they had received their physical healing, they continued forward with Jesus toward their spiritual needs. Possibly those who have been blind are better at seeing than the rest of us…?

Slava Bohu!

Luke 18:31-34

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” Jesus had already predicted His death and resurrection at least three times (Luke 9:22-27; Matthew 17:22-23; Mark 9:30-32), but this time His prediction follows His raising Lazarus from the dead. I would think that, having heard it so many times and now seeing Lazarus’ resurrection, that the twelve would have had more understanding. Yet verse 34 says that …they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. My guess is that inwardly they were denying His death and accordingly could not fathom His resurrection to any comprehensible degree. Even today very few people would deny that Jesus was crucified and died, but are unwilling to accept the compelling evidence that He rose from the dead. Today it’s a matter of faith (or lack thereof); presumably it was the same back in the 1^st century.

Jesus pinpoints details about His death in our readings from the past three days, much more than He had in His prior death predictions. The accuracy of His predictions strengthens the faith of believers, but also provides fodder for His antagonists to suggest that the Gospel writers wrote what they wanted well after the fact, so as to make Jesus’ words and those of the Old Testament prophets coincide with actual outcomes. Same comment I closed with in the first paragraph above – it’s a matter of faith (or lack thereof)!!

Slava Bohu!

Mark 10:32-45

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. (v. 32a) That “…they were amazed…” seems to me a reasonable reaction, especially if they had just witnessed the raising of Lazarus. But what caught my eye was that “those who followed were fearful…”. That struck me as strange, at first. But then, thinking further… The crowd that was following probably included some devoted disciples, but it may also have included some onlookers who were interested in “this Jesus”, but who also knew that to be in favor of Jesus was to be at odds with the Jewish leadership. And if rumors had begun circulating about the chief priests and Sadducees now agreeing together on Jesus as an “enemy of the state”, following along after Jesus could indeed make for a fearful follower.

Following fearfully is not where we are in the USA these days. No further comment, just that…

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 20:17-28

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” It doesn’t seem so strange to me that James and John (in Mark) and their mother (in Matthew) would ask to sit on Jesus’ right hand and left hand. But what makes it really strange is that in doing so they are ignoring Peter! These brothers were possibly in the fishing business with Peter. He was the one who made the dramatic claim of Jesus as the Messiah at Caesarea Philippi. He was there with them at the Transfiguration. And it was very likely Peter’s house where Jesus stayed when He was in Capernaum. The brothers (or their mother) asking for special favor seems a bit greedy, but it is not so far-fetched. Leaving Peter out, however, seems excessive!

Verse 24 follows naturally from my thoughts in the paragraph above: And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. I seldom think of the disciples quarrelling among themselves. Certainly Jesus offered special treatment to his “top three” – Peter, James, and John. Even that trio is without Peter’s brother, Andrew, our namesake, which seems strange since Andrew was the one who brought Peter to Jesus. And a few others like Philip and Thomas earn more mention than all of the other six (except Judas at the very end). So today’s reading is a strange incident in the Gospel stories. Which makes it all the more authentic, to see these disciples whom we have labelled “saints” behaving like the rest of us. They weren’t always “saintly”!!

I see our congregation as full of “servants”. I have three people in mind right now who serve us weekly at The Gathering. Avanza is coming up and we’ll see another 20-30 people showing up for tutoring, with dozens of others providing snacks and Ellen Backs quietly organizing things. And when those kids line up to go to Children’s Worship, know that there are two or three people there waiting to greet them – not to mention others in the nursery across the hall. Drop by during the week and see how many ladies offer their time to Sharon to lighten her load. Oh yeah, the building doesn’t simply run itself – someone is looking over “its shoulder”. And with this listing I haven’t even covered half of what members of our congregation do to serve one another. Be assured, those who serve are a blessing and are blessed. Be one!!

Slava Bohu!

John 11:45-57

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” Now he <Caiaphas> did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. (vv. 51-52) Caiaphas, the ultimate politician, willing to let an innocent man die so that he could maintain his own power!

It’s strange that the two major political parties, the Sadducees (Caiaphas, the chief priest) and the Pharisees could come together and agree on this one item, that Jesus must die. Verse 53 is telling: So from that day on they planned together to kill Him. Jesus had a long history of doing battle with the Pharisees. Now the other political party, the Sadducees has joined the fray and they have agreed together! All this in spite of the fact that many of the Jewish leaders were now believing in Him (v. 45)! And killing Him didn’t end their problems. The Romans sacked Jerusalem some forty years later!

Slava Bohu!

John 11:38-44

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” I’ve often wondered how tightly sealed these 1^st-century tombs could have been. When Martha said in verse 39, Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days, I wonder that there would not already be a stench because of the difficulty of sealing these tombs. Was it only a stone rolled in front of a cave, or was it sealed off somehow with some stench-free fibers or fabrics? Not a big item, just wondering…

Something interesting, connecting two verses together… Here’s today’s verse 40: Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” But what had Jesus actually said to Martha? Go back two days to John 11:23-26: Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” So if you put these verses together, the “glory of God” that Jesus mentions in verse 40 could be either (1) His raising of Lazarus from the dead, or (2) the eternal life that believers have – or BOTH!!

The raising of Lazarus is the last of the “seven signs” in John’s Gospel; clearly Jesus saved the best for last. GLORY!

Slava Bohu!

John 11:28-37

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” Yes, I regularly see things in our readings that I had not seen before, but a lot of those items seem too trivial to discuss. But one item stuck out this morning to me: “…secretly…”. When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him. (vv. 28-29) “…secretly…” (NASB and KKJV translations; the ESV says “…in private…”). That one word caught my eye. When Mary then left the house, the Jews followed, thinking Mary was going to the tomb and not knowing that she was going to meet Jesus. So Martha spoke “secretly”, in my mind knowing that the information that Jesus had arrived would have caused turmoil, a rush for others to see Him and that the sisters’ deep personal time with Jesus would not have been possible.

So, “secretly” hit me, but what to make of it? To whom do we go “secretly”? Or who comes to us “secretly”? The first thought on my mind is private confession, one believer to another, confessing his/her deepest thoughts, feelings, hurts, sins. But that doesn’t make us get up and go to Jesus – He is already there with us in that “confessional”.

The second thought on my mind is evangelism. With the exception of large crusades, I daresay most conversions are deeply personal, a believer to a non-believer, with maybe a few others present. Our encouragement to non-believers can certainly be public, as in speaking a personal testimony in front of a small or large group. But that one personal conversion typically is more of the one-to-one variety. After that public testimony, someone comes up and wants to talk more. Or after an evangelical sermon, someone meets the speaker afterward and wants to know more. Those meetings are done quietly, more “secretly”, if you will. And therein, folks, is a “go to Jesus” moment. Time for Mary to get up or that non-believer to get off the fence and go to Jesus.

I’ve been dwelling on “secretly” for much of the past eight hours. If any of you can add more or enlighten me/us further, please do so.

Slava Bohu!

John 11:17-27

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. (vv. 25-26) I’m trying to understand these statements. The phrases, “though he die” and “shall never die”… A believer dies (“though he die”), but he lives and never dies again (“shall never die”)? These statements seem to imply a believer’s two-stage life process. Our body dies but our spirit lives. Then the body is resurrected and will never die again. Is that what Jesus is saying? It’s what we believe.

Earlier this year I came to the understanding that when John wrote “the Jews” he was referring to the Jewish leaders, not to the general population. So when verse 17 says that …many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them…, John is most likely referring to Jewish leaders, some of whom may have come from Jerusalem, just two miles away. Or it may be that they are not the higher Jewish leaders from Jerusalem, since later (v. 46) we read that some of these Jews reported to the Pharisees what Jesus had done. I’m guessing that these “mourning” Jews are local synagogue officials, maybe leaders of the Bethany synagogue that Martha, Mary, and Lazarus attended, who were also probably known to the higher Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.

Mostly I’m just trying to put the crowd together. Clearly many of the mourners would have been Bethany residents, friends of the family. Then there would have been the Jewish leaders. Also there were the disciples (and a crowd of followers?) who came with Jesus. And there were probably onlookers who came when they heard that Jesus had come. So when Lazarus is later raised, there are a lot of witnesses!!!

Four days in the tomb…! Clearly Jesus’ greatest miracle…!! GLORY! Sorry, I’m getting ahead of our reading schedule!

Slava Bohu!

John 11:1-16

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” I went online to ask whether this Mary who anointed our Lord with oil (v. 2) was the same Mary who was a noted sinner. I’ll get to that in a minute. But first, one of the online links asked a pertinent question. Clearly Jesus’ raising of Lazarus was the most significant miracle that Jesus performed. Then why was it reported only in John’s Gospel and not in the Synoptics? The author(s) gave two answers. First, Lazarus may have still been alive when the other writers wrote their accounts. Naming Lazarus may have put him in the rifle sights of the Jews, so better to be silent. Second, some argue that the Synoptic Gospels “are centered on Peter’s account of Jesus’ teaching and ministry” and Peter may not have been present at this time. (https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/john-11/) It remains odd to me that this greatest miracle is recorded only in John.

Second, who was Mary? The next chapter tells of Mary’s anointing of Jesus (John 12:3) while He was in Bethany. Matthew and Mark also have him at a home in Bethany for His anointing (Mt. 26:6-13; Mk. 14:3-9). Luke’s account (7:36-50) is more problematic. Luke does not mention a location, but his earlier activities in chapter seven have him in Galilee. Luke’s account reads, in part: And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. (v. 37-38) There is nothing in John 11 or in the “Martha and Mary” story (Luke 10:38-42) that would portray Mary as “a sinner”. Hence, many writers simply suggest two anointings, one by a sinful woman in Galilee and the other by Martha’s sister Mary in Bethany.

So much that we don’t know, so much to learn…! “Come, Holy Spirit…!”

Slava Bohu!

John 10:22-42

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” I am amazed (and pleased) at how much better I understand our Gospel readings now that we have been working through them for 7+ months! This is especially true of the issue of Jesus being the Messiah. Carol’s guidance on that item has been particularly helpful, of how the Jews were constantly testing all potential messiahs.

In today’s reading, Jesus is being tested again, this time point-blank: So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” (v. 24) He answers “Yes” with what they consider blasphemy, …I and the Father are one. (v. 30) He then forestalls their stoning by talking about His “works”, but they are still ready to stone Him on the charge of blasphemy: “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God. (v. 33) The Chronological Study Bible pointed out that the Jews never expected a divine Messiah (but only a human in the line of David who would deliver them from their Roman oppressors). So Jesus couldn’t be the Messiah if he was claiming Sonship with the Father. It was His claim of divinity that was blasphemous to them.

Although I understand more and more, my increased understanding only highlights how much more I do not understand!

Slava Bohu!