Mark 12:38-44

Let’s continue to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” The Widow’s Mite. Jesus is commending this widow, who put in only about one penny – but it was all that she had to live on. However, I don’t think he was condemning or chastising those who were giving more. He said that …they all contributed out of their abundance… (v. 44), but I don’t see that comment as degrading the gifts from those who had more. As Treasurer, I can assure you that if we did not have donors who gave “out of their abundance” our budget would be a whole lot worse off than it is now!

The Old Testament sets the tithe as a standard, as David said this past Sunday. However, Jesus’ words go a lot further, as He said to the “rich young ruler”, “Go and sell all that you have and give to the poor … and come follow Me.” (Matthew 19:21, Luke 18:22, slightly edited) At St. Andrew’s, my sense is that there are many parishioners who go much more than their tithe, others who are careful to meet the ten percent fairly closely, and others who fall short of the OT guideline. We accept whatever gifts come in and offer no further guidance, except that we ask Vestry candidates to be committed to the OT guideline of the tithe. So, give whatever God puts on your heart. Pray about it and seek Him first!

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 23:37-39

Let’s continue to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem. Three items for today…

First, Jerusalem was a special place for Jesus – likely, for all Jews! Presumably He had been coming here every year for three decades, since He was a young child. And it would have always been a special place for Him and His young friends, to make the trip together and to spend time roaming the city. The temple must have been a magnificent structure to behold, in His youth and as an adult. Plus, after He had begun His ministry He had been back a time or two, including a major encounter with the Jewish leaders over His healing of a man born blind. So yeah, Jerusalem was a special place.

Second, …your house is left to you desolate. (v. 38) Given Jesus’ love for Jerusalem, it must have been extremely troubling for Him to look into the future and see the coming destruction some 3+ decades later. And although He would have “gathered your children together” (v. 37), it was left for His disciples to do just that after His Resurrection and Ascension. Jerusalem stood at the center of His followers’ early Christian ministry until Jewish (and Roman) persecution drove them far afield. His wish will be fully fulfilled when He gathers us all together when He comes again!!

Third, For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” (v. 39) So I wonder if this lament is chronologically misplaced. It was Palm Sunday a few days earlier when the crowds were chanting/singing this very Psalm (118:36), yet Jesus is speaking these words in a future tense. So it could have been (must have been?) on an earlier trip to Jerusalem that He spoke this lament. Confusing, but interesting…

Only three verses, but a lot of content! GLORY!

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 23:25-36

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” Jesus continues his chastisement of the scribes and Pharisees. A couple of things I noted… First, this verse always troubles me: So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (v. 28) I know others can say the same thing, but I feel like Jesus is addressing me, that outwardly I look righteous (translate, religious?), but inwardly I know myself – a self that I am happy others do not see. On a number of earlier occasions I have written that I am sympathetic to the Pharisees. I have no sympathies here, but I am recognizing who I really am. Just that…

The second item is verse 34: Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city… As translated here in the NASB, Jesus is perfectly predicting the future of persecutions for His followers and for those who come after them. A bit of confusion comes with other translations. Both the ESV and the NKJV translate “I am sending…” as “I send”. That present tense “I send” could also be interpreted as past tense. As an example, “I send you to the store for five items and you forget the main thing!” However, later in that verse both of the other translations have “…will kill..” and “…will crucify/flog…”, so the NASB translation reads more clearly, and Jesus is in fact predicting the future. All the way into the 21^st century…!!

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 23:13-24

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” It’s hard for me to relate to a lot of what Jesus is talking about in these verses. Swearing by the temple or the gold in the temple, by the altar or the gift on the altar… For the most part, we don’t hear people saying that they swear by this or that. Most common is “I swear on my mother’s grave.” Or in the courtroom, “Do you swear…?” So that paragraph is a bit lost on us unless we do some serious Old Testament research.

However, I have strained (scooped) many a gnat or fly out of my drinks and have never intentionally swallowed one!! And never have I ignored a beetle or a cricket in my drink and figured I would just drink it rather than scooping it out. That all sounds preposterous!! But what Jesus is saying is that the scribes and Pharisees were so fastidious in their small points of the Law (or their additions to the Law), but were ignoring items that were more problematic for them to deal with – things like equal justice for all or mercy instead of harsh judgment.

I don’t know where we (or I) stand on matters like this. But the one example that constantly hits me is our U.S. evangelical focus on abortion and same sex issues. Don’t get me wrong – I am on the same side of these issues as the larger evangelical community. But for that larger community there seems to be altogether too little focus on the poor, the orphans and the widows – or the “stranger in our midst”. Especially the stranger in our midst – so many billions in other countries or waiting at our border, hoping for a better life. I don’t mean to get political, but world poverty has been an issue on my heart for more than 50 years, since I first saw real, ravaging poverty in slum villages in Vietnam. We have so much, they have so little. I do believe that we in the USA are …straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel (v. 24).

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 23:1-12

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” Jesus says in verses two and three that the scribes and Pharisees have the proper authority to speak to the people, but that they do not act on what they preach. That is, He tells His followers to listen to their words, but not to follow their actions. Then He goes on, by way of explanation, to hit on a verse that troubles me: …and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. (vv. 6-7) It troubles me because it’s another pride fault in my life. I like being referred to as “Dr. Ruppel”. I like speaking to a crowd and having people tell me what a good job I’ve done. I even like you RTB’ers telling me to stay with this group when I was ready to drop it after ten years. You truly touched my heart, effectively saying, “We love you too much.” Yeah, I like all that…too much!!

So how to overcome that pride thing? The last two verses in today’s reading speak truth – be a servant and be humble. I try to give the glory to God whenever I am complimented on this or that thing. I know I’ve been blessed with a number of gifts and without those God-given gifts I would never be in any position to receive “the praise of men”. I think I do the servant thing OK, but it’s a hard thing for me to be humble. I’m working on it.

Slava Bohu!

Luke 20:41-44

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” Matthew and Mark place today’s reading right after the scribe questioning Jesus about the “great commandment”. Luke, however, places these verses after the Sadducees’ questioning Jesus about the resurrection of the dead. Even with different preceding verses, both Mark and Luke have the crowd (presumably the Pharisees) unwilling to ask Jesus any more questions. So with His listeners silenced, Jesus decides to ask them a question, as to how David can call his Son “Lord”. I find it interesting that Jesus has taken the initiative in asking that question after He had silenced them with His responses. He was teaching them how little they knew, in spite of their great knowledge.

Matthew’s final verse in this incident is even more telling: And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions. (Matthew 22:46) The scribes and Pharisees had no answers and now no more questions. After Jesus had answered so perfectly the Sadducees’ question about the resurrection and the scribe’s question about the great commandment, we must surely wonder why the Pharisees (some of them) didn’t just throw in the towel and sit at Jesus’ feet and learn all they could from Him. It’s a simple answer, really: pride! The same thing that keeps us holding on to our own “idols”. Folks, let’s never get to the point where we have stopped asking Jesus questions…!

Slava Bohu!

Mark 12:28-37

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” We noted yesterday (and Mark has it today) that Jesus was quoting Psalm 110:1, “The Lord said to my Lord…” (v. 36). I went back in my Study Bible to look at the notes for Psalm 110. These notes said that the scribes regularly assumed that this verse referred to the Messiah. However, the Study Bible also noted that some scribes saw in this verse that David was referring to his son, Solomon, and was calling him “my Lord” since Solomon was now the king and had a higher rank than David. Interesting…!

Again I see the power of reading only a few verses instead of two or three chapters at a time. Today we meet a scribe to whom Jesus accords great honor: And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” (v. 34) In contrast to the other Pharisees, this scribe seems to be asking genuine questions, seeking truth. This scribe heard “them” – his colleagues? – disputing with one another and Jesus, and seeing that Jesus had responded well asked a sincere question (v. 28). Then he gave strong support to Jesus’ response, going further by saying that these two commandments were much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices (v. 33b). Essentially he was setting himself (and Jesus) against the temple authorities (mostly the Sadducees) and their regimen of daily sacrifices, placing personal beliefs and behaviors above public displays – no matter how well-intentioned these public displays were. I can imagine the reception he must have gotten from his fellow Pharisees, both lauding him and chastising him for siding with Jesus against the Sadducees.

So, did this scribe later become one of Jesus’ followers? Maybe we know him, from later in the Gospels or Acts…??

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 22:34-46

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” I have always had trouble understanding this quotation in verse 44: The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, until I put Your enemies under Your feet”. (I have added the caps for further clarification.) Here Jesus is quoting Psalm 110:1, a psalm written by David. My Study Bible helps me a lot in understanding this verse. Their notes clarify the first six words at the beginning of that quotation by substituting “God” for “The Lord” and “David’s Lord” for “my Lord”; then they explain the verse a bit further. So here’s their explanatory note: “God said to David’s Lord, i.e., David’s superior – ultimately the Messiah…”. That helps me see how Jesus was confounding the Pharisees and challenging them that David’s descendent (the Messiah) was also his Lord.

I hope this helps others.

Slava Bohu!

Luke 20:27-40

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” When all three Synoptic gospels report on the same event, it is often difficult to find something to say on days two or three. Thankfully, Luke tends to be the most different of the three writers, so it’s easier to find something to say on day three. Today is no exception. There were a number of items that Luke wrote differently than Matthew or Mark, but what caught my eye was today’s next-to-the-last verse: Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” (v. 39) The scribes were Pharisees and differed with the Sadducees as to the resurrection. So when Jesus answered the Sadducees’ question by confirming that “the dead are raised” (v. 37), He shot down the Sadducees and pleased the Pharisees. Luke is the only Synoptic to note the Pharisees’ affirmation of Jesus’ response.

Luke is also more clear than Matthew or Mark in phrasing the Sadducees’ context for their question (vv. 29-31) and in clarifying the realities and activities of the afterlife (vv. 34-36). All in all, we get a more complete coverage of this event from Luke.

Slava Bohu!

Mark 12:18-27

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. (vv. 26-27) When God appeared to Moses in the “burning bush” incident, the Israelites had been in Egypt more than 400 years. All the patriarchs were clearly long since dead. So I can see where the Sadducees were coming from. To me a reasonable interpretation of Exodus 3:6 would be God saying to Moses that He is the God who appeared to Abraham when Abraham was alive, but Abraham is now dead. And He is the God who appeared to Isaac when Isaac was alive, but is now dead. And the same with Jacob. But Jesus clarifies those words that God spoke, declaring that God is the God of the living – that is, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive with Him when He spoke to Moses.

I can see the logic of the Sadducees’ position, but Jesus is telling them that they are wrong and that the Pharisees are correct – there is an afterlife. That is, Jesus is revealing truth for what is otherwise a confusing and arguable passage. Does that make sense?

Slava Bohu!