Psalms 1-2

Dear RTB’ers,

(Speaking of the righteous person) …but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. (v. 2) In the past, whenever I read about “the law” (of the Lord) I would go back to Mt. Sinai where the Lord gave Moses and the Israelites the Ten Commandments or to Leviticus and Deuteronomy, where He added more “laws”. However, one of my main takeaways when we did the Psalms and the Wisdom literature in 2022 had to do with “the Law”, when we read Psalm 119. In essence, the entire Psalm 119 is about the Law – God’s word to His people. But my Study Bible pointed out that the author of Psalm 119 uses seven (I counted eight) other synonyms for “law” throughout Psalm 119: testimonies, ways, precepts, statutes, commands (or commandments), judgments, decrees, and (His) word. I’m not sure how “correct” it is to simply insert any one of these words for “the law”, but it helps my understanding when I typically use “His ways” as a synonym for “the law”. I see a more loving God than when I think of all the “dos and don’ts”.

STS notes that Psalm 2 is a “Messianic” psalm, looking forward to the reign of the Lord’s Anointed. So read it again with Jesus as that Anointed One (v. 2), that King (v. 6), My Son (v. 7 and continuing in verses 8 and 9), and the Son (v. 12). Jesus is that Anointed One, that King, that Son!!

Blessings!

Luke 24:36-53

Dear RTB’ers,

Today we finish Luke’s gospel with another of Jesus’ Resurrection appearances. Although we are never certain of the exact chronology of Jesus’ activities in the gospels, today’s incident possibly occurs on His Easter Resurrection day, late afternoon/early evening. If so, we see (again) that Jesus is fully committed to His disciples. They have seen His arrest and Crucifixion and He wants to assure them before too much time has passed that He is alive, that He has risen as He said He would. Even though they have heard reports of Him being alive from the women and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, it was important to Him to appear to them all in person. That’s the Jesus that we know; He is not unconcerned with whatever is troubling us, but rather is there for us. Live in that!

The disciples were unbelieving when they heard the women’s story, then again when the two men reported their meeting with Jesus. (Mark 16:12-13) Now Jesus appears in the flesh and the disciples …were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. (v. 37) So Jesus had to convince them otherwise. As with so many other items in Scripture, His convincing was in three parts. First, He appeared in the flesh and spoke to them, even commenting to them that …a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. (v. 39b) Second, He explained about Himself from Scripture, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead… (v. 46a) Finally, He asked for something to eat.

So, for us…? If you’ve been sharing the Gospel over and over again with your family and friends and they still do not believe, don’t quit. It took Jesus appearing in person to convince His disciples that He was alive – and then even with multiple signs. Just pray again that He will appear to the ones with whom you’ve been sharing, in the person of His Holy Spirit. Don’t be unbelieving, but believe – wait and pray, pray and wait.

Blessings!

Luke 24:13-35

Dear RTB’ers,

Jesus’ Resurrection, continued… Today, Jesus meeting two disciples on the road to Emmaus. This incident is possibly my all-time favorite Bible story. When I read it, I live it! I’m in it, I’m one of the disciples. A few verses jump out at me every time:

First, when Jesus asks them about their conversation, …one of them, named Cleopas, answered Him, “Are You the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” (v.18) Essentially Cleopas is reflecting the fact that Jerusalem has just gone through its annual Passover feast, with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims joining the large population of nearby residents, and the news of Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection has overwhelmed the city. There is no way the Jewish leaders could keep this quiet, even though they tried. (See Matthew 28:11-15)

Second, the disciples related what they knew, then Jesus took the lead: And then He said to them, “You foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to come into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the Prophets, He explained to them the things written about Himself in all the Scriptures. (vv. 25-27) As I put myself into that story, I am listening with all my heart! I’ve never heard the Old Testament explained so powerfully! Don’t you wish we had a recording…?!

Third, to me, the most powerful, … He took the bread and blessed it, and He broke it and began giving it to them. And then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him… (vv. 30b-31a) And … He was recognized by them at the breaking of the bread. (v. 35b) Every week in our liturgical tradition we have the opportunity over and over again to recognize Jesus in our priests breaking the bread and sharing it among us. How powerful that is, especially hearkening back to the Emmaus verses I just noted.

Now, finally however, we begin to see faith and hope from the “eleven and those who were with them” (v. 33b). The two Emmaus disciples happily recount their story of meeting Jesus, then the “eleven” counter with their own story of Jesus appearing to Peter. Sounds like the first “Glory Sightings Sunday” in history! GLORY!!!

Blessings!

Luke 24:1-12

Dear RTB’ers,

Jesus’ Resurrection!! I’ve often asked you to put yourselves into the story. Today let’s take the part of one of the women coming and finding an empty tomb. We see two men in dazzling white standing by who ask us a strange question, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (v. 5b) Thankfully, the men continue with what we need to hear: “He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” (vv. 6-7) Again, thankfully, we recall those words (v. 8), but what of the reality before us? An empty tomb and a couple of messengers and no further instructions. I walk away from the tomb dumbfounded, unbelieving, confused. As I recount what I’ve seen to others, verse 11 should not surprise me: … but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. Could any of us fully believe those messengers’ words, that He is not here, but has risen?

How can we know that He is risen unless we see for ourselves? Stay tuned.

Blessings!

Luke 23:44-56

Dear RTB’ers,

Jesus’ Death on the Cross. Yesterday we saw Jesus crucified. Today we see Him die.

The Jesus Storybook Bible that we use at Avanza tells the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and death, in a somewhat softer tone – but no less impactful. Two items stand out to me from the JSB regarding today’s reading. First, there’s one line that the kids pick up on right away: “It wasn’t nails that kept Jesus there [on the cross]. It was love.” If I ask the question, I will get hands waving and shouts with the one-word answer: “LOVE!” Amazing!

The second item comes after the JSB has paraphrased Jesus’ words from Matthew 27:46, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Here are their next two sentences: “And for the first time – and the last – when He spoke, nothing happened. Just a horrible, endless silence.” … nothing happened! His Father did not answer Him. Jesus, who spoke Creation into being. Jesus, who cast out demons. Jesus, who stilled the storm with His words – the wind and the waves obeying Him. But here, Jesus spoke and … nothing happened. What a horrible silence that must have been.

Note that the JSB adds “…and the last…” in their text. Never again will Jesus’ words come to naught. Never again. If He speaks, it’s done. Let’s listen…!

Blessings!

Luke 23:32-43

Dear RTB’ers,

Jesus’ Crucifixion. Yesterday we saw Pilate hand Jesus over to crucifixion and He began His Golgotha walk, assisted by Simon of Cyrene. It is helpful to read the Good Friday account in the Chronological Study Bible. The other writers include a number of items left out by Luke, in particular the scourging by the Roman soldiers and the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Luke only has Herod dressing Jesus in “splendid clothing” (Luke 23:11) As horrible as crucifixion was back then, I’ve always been equally troubled in my spirit by the brutality of the Roman soldiers and accounts that I’ve read of scourging. I understand that Jesus died on our behalf, for our sins – for all humanity for all time. But why the additional suffering…?? Deeply troubling…!

And He [Jesus] said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (v. 43) Occasionally we play these stupid games of who’s in Heaven, who’s in Hell? There’s a spectrum we could name. Mother Theresa? Gandhi? Hitler? But, in fact, the only person that we know with absolute certainty is the “good” thief on the cross. Jesus forgave him personally and brought him alongside into Paradise. “Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.”

Blessings!

Luke 23:13-31

Dear RTB’ers,

Carol and I have been ill – me for the past week+ and Carol for almost two weeks. Coughing, sneezing, congestion – the works! We got it from our grandkids who came to visit during Holy Week. It’s a linger-er!! Won’t go away. Please pray for us (and Rachel and Christian and Audra) to recover.

Today in our readings, early Friday morning. I seem to be focusing on Pilate a lot this time through. Luke’s gospel has Pilate proclaiming Jesus’ innocence three times (Luke 23:4, 14, 22). Despite those proclamations, Pilate yielded to the crowd and delivered Jesus over to be crucified: But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that He should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. (vv. 23-24) What a sad, weak leader! But, Jesus’ horrible death is our glorious salvation. Still, how can we not be touched by these events…!!??

Blessings!

Luke 22:63-23:12

Dear RTB’ers,

Today Carol and I and Rachel and Christian and family have traveled 2.5 hours west to Ferdinand, Indiana to enjoy 2 minutes, 20 seconds of total eclipse and 3+ hours of partial eclipse. So a bit delayed…

So now in our readings we have clearly hit Friday morning and the Jewish leaders have used the darkness of the middle of the night and a mob of rabble-rousers to arrest Jesus. Now they go throughout the city to gather enough elders to put together a quorum for their Council so that they can carry out their devious business. Sad.

Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.” (Luke 23:4) This is the first of three times in Luke where Pilate tries to free Jesus. It’s pretty much a half-hearted effort, just his trying to stay neutral in the middle of a messy situation. It was all in his power to do whatever, so let’s not free him from any guilt in Jesus’ Crucifixion! Also, sad.

Blessings!

Luke 22:47-62

Dear RTB’ers,

Sorry for the late posting – we have out-of-town visitors.

Finally today we near the end of Maundy (Holy) Thursday in our readings. I keep mentioning this because the days seem to run together in Jesus’ Holy Week life if we’re not careful to distinguish the days and the hours. So all of tonight is still Thursday evening, possibly Friday early morning. A few of Peter’s denials could have been late Thursday or early Friday. It’s only when the rooster crows in verse 60 that we know we’ve hit Friday morning, and it will be tomorrow in verse 66 when we read, “When day came…” that we clearly see Friday morning.

My verse for today: And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. (v. 61a) It’s one thing for us to acknowledge our sin; it’s quite another for us (ME!) to look Jesus in the face and see the hurt and the love expressed in one facial emotion. I need to print that verse out and paste it on a mirror.

Blessings!

Luke 22:31-46

Dear RTB’ers,

We are still at Maundy (Holy) Thursday in our readings, terminating the meal and then leaving for the Garden of Gethsemane, where tomorrow’s reading will have soldiers arresting Jesus. Think of all that we have on this Thursday of Holy Week, putting together information from all four gospels: Jesus foot-washing; the Last Supper; His institution of the Eucharist; His many teachings, especially in John’s gospel and in particular about the Holy Spirit in John 14-16 and His High Priestly prayer in John 17; Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s denial; Judas’ intended betrayal and departure; Gethsemane and Jesus’ prayer, “Not My will, but Your will be done…”; the apostles sleeping; and finally, His arrest. I like how our Anglican tradition celebrates this holy day, especially the stripping of the altar. Carol and I have vivid memories of different priests undertaking this one task. Memories that are THICK with reflection…

And there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him. (v. 43) This information is found only in Luke’s gospel. We have angels “ministering” to Jesus after His forty days in the wilderness in Matthew and Mark (Mt. 4:11, Mk. 1:13), but I don’t recall any other time in the gospels where we have angels alongside Jesus. So the “ministering” angels and the “strengthening” angel lead me to wonder whether Jesus regularly had guardian angels. I daresay that most of us, if questioned, would agree that we have guardian angels watching over us. So Jesus having guardian angels should not be a stretch for us. I wonder what they did for Him. Presumably He was filled with the Holy Spirit from His baptism on. Were the angels also special envoys from His Father? Jesus had said the He had twelve legions of angels at His disposal (Matthew 26:53). So what did Jesus’ guardian angels do? Thoughts…?

Question #2 in STS is intriguing… STS also notes that the “you” in Luke 22:31 is plural, referring to all the apostles at the Last Supper, while in Luke 22:32 it is singular, referring only to Peter.

Blessings!