Psalm 78:1-39; 2 Samuel 7:18-29; Acts 18:12-28; Mark 8:22-33
David’s response to God’s promise to him concerning the throne is unrestrained praise and worship and thanksgiving. David marvels at all the Lord has done and the great promise he has just received, much as Abraham had done. David believed that what had been promised would be faithfully done by the Lord. His praise is not just for this promise but also for all the Lord has done and for who He is. You can sense David’s sense of awe and wonder at the greatness of the Lord God, there is none like You, there is none besides You, You are exactly as we had been told and in Your greatness You chose Israel and within Israel You have chosen me and my family. Could there truly be anything more amazing than the reality that the God of all creation, bigger than the universe we can scarcely comprehend to this day, has chosen us to love us and to have us with Him forever?
Yesterday’s Gospel reading was about the Pharisees and the disciples lacking understanding concerning Jesus. Sunday’s Gospel was Nathanael’s confession of Jesus after Jesus spoke of seeing him under the fig tree. Today we have a blind man healed so that he could see everything clearly, anticipating, it seems the disciples learning to see clearly. As they pass through Caesarea Philippi Jesus asks them what it is they understand about Him and Peter confesses that he believes something very much like what Nathanael confessed in his first encounter with Jesus. Now they have the basis for moving forward in truth about what will come next yet they aren’t ready for the truth. Peter confesses with his lips but he isn’t willing to let Jesus have the final say on things, he believes he might know better in this instance. His failure to listen to the one he believes to be the Christ gets him a stinging rebuke. Are we prepared to hear what He has to say or are we thinking about the coming of the kingdom we prefer?
Paul continues to press on with his missionary endeavor, returning to some of the places where he had previously been in order to strengthen the disciples in those places. He took with him Priscilla and Aquila, his friends from Corinth who he was discipling and they then began their own ministry, starting with Apollos, whom some believe to be the writer of the book of Hebrews. Persecution was normative in the early mission work and Paul seemed never to allow it to deter him from the work, his expectation was that this would be his lot and yet he kept his eyes fixed on the kingdom of God, in faith. Are our eyes fixed on the coming of God’s kingdom or are we still primarily concerned with our own kingdom? Our reaction to hardship will generally tell all. In the end, it is all about faith in God’s promises.
If e’er to bless Thy sons
My voice or hands deny,
These hands let useful skills forsake,
This voice in silence die.
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