29 February 2012

Psalm 119:49-72; Gen. 37:25-36; 1 Cor. 2:1-13; Mark 1:29-45

Now that there is an economy there is no need to kill our brother and conceal his blood as Cain did to Abel, there is now a profit motive in the mix.  It seems likely, however, that Judah is talking his brothers down on the matter, lowering the temperature in the room by suggesting the transaction.  Is this a better solution in the eyes of God or did Jesus speak about this very thing when He equated murder and hatred?  In the end, Joseph is sold for 20 shekels of silver.  Sounds a bit like Judas’ bargain doesn’t it?  Reuben’s plan we looked at yesterday, to be the good guy with his father, is spoiled.  He seems not to have been part of the whole discussion about selling Joseph, otherwise why is he upset when he sees an empty pit?  Jacob, the one who had fooled his father by killing goats for him to eat, now is fooled by his sons in a similar manner.  Joseph will now have some years like his father’s years serving Laban.

Jesus’ ministry begins very quickly once He called the disciples.  After He cast out the demon in the synagogue at Capernaum it seems that word spread rapidly about Him.  The healing of Simon Peter’s mother is a private affair but as soon  as sundown came the Sabbath was over and the people flocked to Him for healing.  The temptation would certainly have been to settle in Capernaum and let everyone come to Him but He went out early in the morning to pray.  He knows that even though everyone is looking for Him, that isn’t the call, so they move on.  The scene with the leper is one of my favorites as Jesus stretches out His hand to touch the man to heal him.  Does He need to lay hands on him?  He can heal by a word and normally does but here He touches this man who is literally untouchable but instead of Jesus becoming unclean He makes the man clean.  Now Jesus must be in desolate places because of the crush of people coming to Him. 

It is a very strange message to talk about a man who was crucified after being rejected by those to whom He was sent.  He was their Messiah, they had all the knowledge about God’s plans and yet they concluded He wasn’t the one and now He is the Messiah, the savior, of all the world.  Paul says that this message was with authority and power, the two things that Jesus displayed in Capernaum.  What was the demonstration of power in Corinth to which Paul refers?  Jesus was crucified for jealousy, even though He was clearly a man He claimed equality with God, setting Himself above the scribes and Pharisees.  When Paul speaks of the secret wisdom of God He is speaking of the truth about Jesus, the truths that we confess in the Creed in our worship each week, that even though Jesus was in the form of a man, He was indeed of one being with the Father and the resurrection is our proof.  Our witness to Jesus always relies on the Spirit in us and the Spirit communicating and revealing truth to the other, prayer is always a necessity, asking Him to do the real work. 

Remember your word to your servant,
   in which you have made me hope.
This is my comfort in my affliction,
   that your promise gives me life.

The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love;
   teach me your statutes!

28 February 2012

Psalm 45; Gen. 37:12-24; 1 Cor. 1:20-31; Mark 1:14-28  

Is Reuben a good guy here in proposing that they not kill Joseph or he is trying to curry favor with his father by rescuing his beloved son?  If I were one of the brothers I would certainly assume that Joseph was coming out on a little reconnaissance mission to report back to dad as he had previously done in giving a bad report on them.  Several times in yesterday’s passage we saw the word “hate” used to describe how the brothers felt about Joseph and now we see that, like Cain, they have made no attempt to deal with this sin in their hearts but it has overtaken them and they are prepared to do as Cain had done, murder their brother.  Their jealousy, however, is only due to their father’s favoritism, God is no part of the equation now.  Clearly the robe that Jacob/Israel had made for Joseph was a part of the problem, they stripped him of the robe, the very thing that marked him as different and dad’s favorite would become that which identified him most clearly.  How long could he last in that pit with no water?

Mark has the beginning of Jesus’ ministry after the arrest of John and Jesus begins by preaching exactly the same message as John.  The call of the disciples then begs the question, who did they think He was at that time?  What did they know of Him otherwise?  Had they heard John’s testimony about Jesus and had they heard about what happened at the baptism?  The teaching Jesus did was with authority, not like the scribes, whose appeal was to tradition and the teaching that had gone before.  Jesus made no reference to any other teacher, only to the Word of God itself.  He had a unique authority because He alone knew the letter and the spirit of the law and when He taught it was with absolute authority.  If there were any doubt about that authority it was proven in the casting out of the demon from the man in the synagogue, He spoke and there was immediate and absolute obedience.  From whence did His authority originate?  That is the question that begs to be answered.

What we think we know isn’t so.  Wisdom is not found in the world, it is found in the cross, an overturning of the world’s wisdom.  If we hoped to know the difference between good and evil we failed at the source.  We can’t imagine the cross being “good” but the resurrection says that it is.  The world’s judgment is skewed because it lacks true wisdom, the knowledge of and about God, it failed the test of true wisdom when it chose to crucify Him.  We who are recipients of divine grace in revealing that truth are truly wise no matter what the world says in opposition but that is not a reason for boasting but humility because that wisdom doesn’t originate in or with us but rather in and with God Himself who revealed it to us by the Holy Spirit.  What Joseph’s brothers did not do to him, Jesus’ brothers, His fellow Israelites, did to him and ultimately, like with Joseph’s brothers, every knee will indeed bow before Jesus and confess He is Lord.  True wisdom is doing so now not later.

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
   The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
   with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;

27 February 2012

 Psalm 41, 52; Gen. 37:1-11; 1 Cor. 1:1-19; Mark 1:1-13

Jacob plays favorites and Joseph is immature and obnoxious.  Jacob favors Joseph because he is the son of his old age.  We typically make far more over grandchildren than we do our children for this same reason but Jacob is his father, not his grandfather and favoring one over the other is not good for family relationships, particularly in a society that favors first born sons, not last born sons.  Joseph is first seen here tattling on his elder brothers and then sharing his dreams of grandeur with them.  These dreams, as we know, are of the Lord, this will indeed be the case later in life but much would be required in the way of maturity before such things could be.  If Joseph had any idea what he would endure before he saw these dreams realized he wouldn’t have been so quick to share them with his brothers.  Jacob remembering these things sounds a bit like Mary pondering things in her heart.  Seemingly he knew and anticipated this was perhaps more than a dream.

Mark gets down to business quickly, no birth or infancy narrative.  He is also quick to tell us what this story is about and what he believes, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  John is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah of the forerunner, the one who will prepare the way for Messiah.  All the country of Judea and Jerusalem were going out to John and being baptized by him but John promised a greater one to come.  John’s ministry was simply prelude to the coming of this other one and when Jesus was baptized, the heavens were torn open, the dove came and the voice from heaven spoke.  What, however, was Jesus’ reaction to this revelation?  It was not like Joseph’s, boasting about Himself, it was to go out and fast and be tempted by Satan to walk away from that future.  Sometimes the most dangerous times of our lives are when we have God’s favor, pride comes creeping round the door.

Paul, too, is a man who could have developed a pride problem.  He was called by God Himself to be an apostle.  He heard a voice from heaven and lived, a la Isaiah.  He, however, understood that what he had was nothing more than grace.  He knew that he was the chief of sinners, he had not recognized Jesus, had persecuted the church, and should have been judged and destroyed but God extended grace to him instead.  He knew that even faith, even understanding, had its source in God.  Without revelation he failed to grasp the truth.  He knew that it was all about Jesus in the end.  Joseph would see the fulfillment of his dreams but not until he was prepared to see his position as gift and grace.  Visions frequently require us to endure trials to see them come to fruition so that we can enjoy them aright.

I trust in the steadfast love of God
   forever and ever.
I will thank you forever,
   because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
   in the presence of the godly.

26 March 2012

Psalm 31; Exod. 4:10-31; 1 Cor. 14:1-19; Mark 9:30-41

Aaron was the first Cyrano, who speaks for his less eloquent friend or brother in this case.  The Lord was angry with Moses for saying, “Here am I, send someone else.”  Moses was chosen by God and had this incredible personal encounter, how could he say this?  He remembered what happened forty years earlier and has no confidence but his confidence is still in self.  Moses has apparently forsaken the law of the Lord concerning circumcision concerning his son.  He cannot go and represent God to the people if he is not completely identified with them and, more importantly, with the Lord.  Apparently Moses was incapacitated from performing the circumcision himself so Zipporah does the procedure and then touches Moses’ feet (euphemism?) to connect him with the circumcision in the same way a worshiper was to lay hands on the animal prior to the sacrifice.  When he and Aaron go to the people, they find that God was right, the people believed and worshipped.

It always amazes me that after the few saw the Transfiguration and they all saw their inability to do anything about the boy with the demon who wanted to kill him that only Jesus was able to deal with that they are arguing about which of them was greatest.  Why, pray tell, did it matter?  Jesus should have been their only concern and yet He wasn’t. To be honest, it sounds like us arguing over preachers or teachers when our eyes should be on HIM.  In response, Jesus says the way to greatness is the kingdom is through service to one another, no longer seeking greatness.  The parable of the child and the words that end this passage are at one with another.  To receive Jesus is to receive the one who sent Him and to receive one whom Jesus sent is to receive Jesus Himself.

The gift of tongues can indeed lead to an inward curvature and to pride.  It is such an unusual gift in the sense that it is obviously a gift that it can become a badge of honor.  Many gifts can come and go and leave room for doubt, all are not healed, prophets should have some humility about their ability to discern all things, those with the gift of interpretation don’t always get the interpretation, etc., but tongues is, well, different.  Paul puts the gift into perspective here by elevating the other gifts.  Tongues, for whatever reason, has always been a problem in many places.  It sometimes becomes the “must-have” gift to validate someone as possessing the Spirit and yet Paul says the gifts that edify the church are more valuable to the kingdom.  Moses started with some signs to validate him to others but moved on from those “tricks” to speaking to the people for the Lord.  In all things let us seek to edify others rather than self.

Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
   which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
   in the sight of the children of mankind!
In the cover of your presence you hide them
   from the plots of men;
you store them in your shelter
   from the strife of tongues.

26 February 2012

Psalm 63, 98; Dan 9:3-10; Heb. 2:10-18; John 12:44-50

Daniel knew how to repent.  Throughout the book we have a picture of Daniel as a righteous man used powerfully by God, a Joseph-like figure.  Daniel was chosen by Nebuchadnezzar to be a model citizen, one who could lead his own countrymen to be good citizens of Babylon.  Through Daniel the Lord did mighty things, making him and example among the Babylonians, particularly to the king, of a model citizen of the kingdom of God.  Through Daniel the Lord made Himself known to the king of this great nation and blessed the nation, just as He had promised through Abram, that whoever blessed him would be blessed.  Daniel, however, identifies completely with those who have not been righteous, his people, God’s people, in this prayer of repentance, always using the pronoun we when he speaks of sin and faithlessness.  His understanding of this exile is based entirely upon the sin of the nation and his hope for deliverance is based entirely upon what He believes about God and about covenant. 

Can there be a much simpler, straight-forward presentation of who Jesus is and claimed to be than this?  If you believe in Jesus you believe in God, if you have seen Jesus you have seen God.  CS Lewis was right, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."  He left no room for the options people take for themselves today.  If we take one of those options we will be judged in the end.

He is not ashamed to call us brothers.  Jesus was and is the righteousness of God, no sin was found in Him until He went to the cross and took on Himself our sin and the judgment of God against that sin.  Daniel was not perfectly righteous and he could identify with his countrymen, Jesus was perfectly righteous, He is holy, He is God, and yet He chose to identify with us in the incarnation, taking on flesh, and the even greater love He had is shown in choosing to identify with our sin, our rebellion but in the paradox of complete obedience to the Father’s will.  His act of submission to the Father redeemed our many acts of rebellion against the Father.  What wondrous love is this oh my soul, oh my soul, what wondrous love is this oh my soul, What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss, To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul, To bear the dreadful curse for my soul?

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
   my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
   as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
   beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
   my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
   in your name I will lift up my hands.