31 August 2012

Psalm 16, 17; Job 9:1-15,32-35; Acts 10:34-48; John 7:37-52

Job asks a profound question, "how can a man be in the right before God?"  He recognizes God's holiness and that no one can stand before Him.  He understands God's power over all things and yet realizes that he, a mere man, cannot argue his case before Him.  His conclusion is simple, "I must appeal for mercy…"  He longs for an arbiter, a mediator, between himself and God.  Job is a wise man, he sees the truth about God and the distinction between God and man and desires one who will plead on his behalf.  He maintains his innocence, which we know is real based on chapter 1, but he needs someone else to take up his case.  Jesus stands in that mediatorial role for us, Job was right about our need.

The promise Jesus makes here concerning rivers of living water comes during the last day of the festival when they pour out water jars in faith, believing God will send the rains.  Jesus makes an incredible offer in connection with this faith ritual of coming to Him, it is the same offer He made to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 but the crowd isn't as receptive here.  They believe that Jesus comes from somewhere other than Bethlehem and He could set that right but doesn't, the issue isn't about origins.  The standards for judgment remain the same, where is he from and what do the leaders say.  The leaders are incredibly cynical about the people they have been given to lead, "…this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”  Nicodemus tries to intercede and simply becomes suspect, no argument rebutting his argument. 

In the midst of Peter's sermon about Jesus the Holy Spirit falls on all who heard the word.  It must have been an interesting thing for all concerned.  The people with Peter are surprised and amazed by this development, God giving the same gift of the Holy Spirit to these Gentiles.  The Lord is making these unclean persons clean by the proclamation of His Word concerning Jesus, bringing them into the fold.  What in the world are the Jewish believers to think about God's work here?  He only commands baptism, they have already received Jesus' promise of rivers of living waters so let's seal the thing with baptism in response to Jesus' command in the Great Commission.  What Peter "knew" is suddenly not true any longer. 

30 August 2012

Psalm 18:1-20; Job 8:1-10, 20-22; Acts 10:17-33; John 7:14-36

Can you imagine that you have lost everything, your kids, your wealth, and now your very health and having a "friend" say to you, " If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression."?  Bildad's advice isn't wrong, seek God and He will bless you, but his theology is a form of prosperity theology and based in a certain amount of personal pride.  The converse of all he suggests is that because he isn't suffering as Job is there must be an explanation and that explanation is that he, Bildad, is more righteous than Job.  The rain falls on  the just and the unjust alike and it is bad theology to suggest that there is a causal connection between righteousness and earthly blessing.  The only righteous man who ever lived died on a cross with a crown of thorns on His head, His back stripped of flesh from the beating He had been given.

A humorist in the 19th century, Josh Billings, once wrote, ""It ain't so much the things we don't know that get us into trouble. It's the things we know that just ain't so."  The people believe they know where Jesus comes from and we happen to know that they don't actually know that at all.  They are judging by appearances rather than making right judgments.  Since we chose to know good and evil independently of God we have never ceased to do so.  Their judgments are based on knowing His origins and what the leaders believe, not on what they see and hear.  Knowing apart from God is a significant problem in our lives.

Peter does the right thing in asking the Lord what the vision means and is obedient to the Lord's call on him.  Cornelius has also acted in faith, calling together his relatives and close friends to hear what this man Peter might have to say.  Peter arrives and finds "many persons gathered."  He knows immediately that the vision has been about not simply food but people, that clean and unclean are no longer important distinctions.  All through the Gospel Jesus has ignored such distinctions in healing lepers, the woman with the issue of blood, the Gerasene demoniac and others and now that same attitude is to be among His followers in order to take the Gospel to all people.  Come and see has been replaced with go and tell.  In Jesus the unclean is made clean.

29 August 2012

Psalm 119:1-24; Job 6:1,7:1-21; Acts 10:1-16; John 7:1-13

Job's life is such a misery to him all he wants is for God to turn away from him. David expressed this same sentiment in Psalm 139.  It is a painful thing to hear Job asking the Lord to simply leave him alone and allow him to live out the rest of his days.  Surely Job had not thought in such ways prior to this suffering, his life was pleasant and full of blessing.  Now, he is sorting out how to understand a God who either brings such suffering or allows it.  His experience of God causes him to despise this life completely.  He asks questions such as why does sin matter so much to God, why does man matter so much?  Indeed, why should we, insignificant in the universe, created from the dust of the earth, the remnants of creation, be significant to the God who created the universe?  Job is getting some perspective.

God's timing for things is rarely our own.  Jesus' brothers don't understand His mission. They don't believe to start with, why should they if they have been with Him and haven't seen Him do miracles until now?  They can't possibly understand that He isn't simply a wonder-worker and that He isn't trying to attract a crowd and make a name for Himself.  Jesus says He isn't going but then He does go, in a similar way to that of His words to His mother at the wedding in Cana in John 2.  He has made a name for Himself and it isn't altogether good, there is a divide among the people about Him.  Is He a good man or a deceiver?  The leaders seem to have already made a preliminary decision and so it is unwise to discuss Him openly.

Two men have visions, one a Gentile and the other a disciple of the Jewish Messiah.  Cornelius was a man who had done everything to become a Jew but accept circumcision.  He was a devout man and he prayed continually to God.  His devotion is rewarded by a visitation from an angel while he prayed that spoke of his devotion being rewarded.  What did Cornelius make of the instruction to send someone to Peter?  Did he know who Peter was?  Peter, likewise, is praying and sees a vision while he is an a "trance."  In the vision Peter is told that now there is no clean and unclean with respect to food.  In order for the Gentile mission to go forward these restrictions must be lifted, otherwise there will be no way to associate with the Gentiles to evangelize them.  It is also important that Peter, as the leader of the Jerusalem delegation, receive this word rather than Paul so that when Paul goes exclusively to the Gentiles there will be no problem or division.  The mission is bigger than anyone realized.

28 August 2012

Psalm 5, 6; Job 6:1-4,8-15,21; Acts 9:32-43; John 6:60-71

All Job wants is for this to end, for God to end his life, the pain is too much to bear.  He has come to see God as His enemy but has God indeed done this to Job or has He allowed it?  Does it matter in the end which it is or is that nothing more than semantics to let God off the hook for blame?  Worse yet from Job's perspective is that his "friends" have withheld kindness and instead have sought to find fault in Job commensurate with the situation.  Job's response to their words is that the pain is the problem and they have ignored that in order to find the reason, that isn’t their prerogative.  Our role is to comfort one another in affliction unless the Lord has given us a very particular word to speak, which Eliphaz claims he has received.

Jesus is a bit testy here, even with the disciples.  What He has said, that in order to have life you must believe that He was sent from God and that you must also eat His flesh and drink His blood, is indeed a hard saying if the last part is to be taken literally.  There are two groups here to whom He speaks, the disciples and the twelve.  The disciples are clearly a larger group of those who were following Jesus more closely than the multitude.  In other Gospels we see a group of 72 who are sent out on one occasion, perhaps this is that group.  We also see, at the close of Matthew's Gospel a group of disciples, some of whom don't believe even as they see Him after the resurrection and ascending to heaven.  The twelve here are called out to see if they will leave as well and Peter makes a confession of Jesus as the Holy One of God, a powerful statement but even here Peter had no idea what that entailed. 

So exactly when did signs and wonders cease?  Peter is authenticated by these signs, the healing of Aeneas and the raising of Dorcas from the dead.  People come to faith through these signs, that the proclamation of the kingdom of God is more than words, it is also the power of healing and resurrection.  The kingdom of God will be fully realized when Jesus returns but in the meantime it should also be breaking into our world, startling us, awakening us and revealing His power.  Lord, show us Your power today in order that our unbelief might be healed and that the world may know that Your are still working in this world. 

27 August 2012

Psalm 1, 2, 3; Job 4:1,5:1-11,17-21,26-27; Acts 9:19b-31; John 6:52-59

"Blessed is the one whom God disciplines."  What a terrible thing to say to a man who has lost his possessions, his family and his health.  Job is in utter agony and Eliphaz tells him this is discipline and a blessing.  His counsel, to cast himself upon God, is not wrong, it is literally the only counsel anyone can give, but it presumes that this is discipline for wrongdoing.  Job has turned to the Lord but now the pain is greater than anyone could imagine and for what purpose or reason?  Job needs compassion not a lecture.  We don’t know how to deal with other people's pain very well, it makes us uncomfortable and we either change the subject or give expert advice when the reality is that unless we know what God is doing in a situation we can't give advice. 

The Jews are confused about Jesus' words.  "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"  Surely Jesus can't mean that literally can he?  Jesus, however, presses the metaphor even further in response to their misunderstanding, it isn't enough just to eat His flesh, you also have to drink His blood.  Why are they disputing among themselves about these things and not asking Jesus for clarification?  Again, they are leaning on their own understanding.  I do the same thing all the time, trying to sort out things in life without recourse to simply asking the Lord to reveal to me what they mean.  If we are to have true wisdom, the wisdom that knows all things, we have to go to the one who indeed is omniscient, praying to Him more than talking amongst ourselves.

As he begins a new ministry, Paul confounds the Jews in Syria and then argues with the Hellenists (Greek-speaking Jews) in Jerusalem.  He is, in sporting terms, a dual threat.  The name Paul is the Hellenized version of his Jewish name, Saul.  He had a foot in both worlds and was equally comfortable with Greek and Hebrew thought, unlike most of the other disciples/apostles.  No one wanted to believe that he had changed sides until Barnabas stood up for him.  It seemed impossible to believe that this man could have suddenly decided he had been completely wrong, but when he did, there was no turning back for Paul, and the a truer missionary was never born.

26 August 2012

Psalm 146, 147; Job 4:1-6,12-21; Rev. 4:1-11; Mark 6:1-6a

There are two things Eliphaz has to say.  First, Job is whining, he is able to speak into and encourage others but now that troubles have touched his life he has crumbled, he should take his own counsel.  Second, the Lord has spoken to Eliphaz and the truth is only God is holy, not the angels, much less men.  In other words, this is because of sin in Job's life that such things have happened.  We know, however, from chapter 1 of the book that it has nothing to do with sin in Job's life.  Amazingly, this remains the "go to" explanation for calamity in this life.  We think it about ourselves and we think it about others although most wouldn't be so insensitive to actually say it to a man in Job's situation.

We tend to lean on our own understanding too much.  Here, the people "know" Jesus, He grew up there, they knew His parents, knew His education or lack thereof, but they didn't know any of the things they thought they knew.  They knew Jesus' mother and surely they had heard the story of His conception but didn't believe it, so they didn't know who His Father was after all.  They knew He didn't go to rabbinic schools but they did know that He possessed wisdom and knowledge because He spoke and taught publicly.  They had seen and heard about the signs and wonders He had done but instead of standing in awe they made wrong judgments about how He did such things.  Because they lacked faith, He could do but little among them.  On what evidence do we make judgments?

What is the antidote to making wrong judgments and leaning on our own understanding?  Worship.  We need to bow before the throne and recognize that the Lord alone is the source of all wisdom, knowledge and understanding because He created all things and by His will they existed and were created.  Worship brings humility because it is acknowledgement of our own frailty and the great mercy whereby we continue to exist.  We are but dust if He does not gather that dust together and breathe life into what He thus creates, and to dust we shall return unless He wills and works otherwise.  Our very existence is conditional upon His will and we, therefore, need to make conditional judgments until He has shown us truth.

25 August 2012

Psalm 137, 144; Job 3:1-26; Acts 9:10-19a; John 6:41-51

What is the point of life, the purpose?  Suffering, unrelenting pain and misery will cause you to ask such questions.  Job's pain is particularly acute but is it entirely due to his physical situation?  I would say that it is the combination of losing his wealth, his children, his health, and also, at a spiritual/emotional level, his wife.  Everything has been taken away from him, everything familiar, everything that has filled his life.  Loss is painful in and of itself.  Job has only one solution for this situation, "I wish I had never been born."  We can tolerate almost anything if we believe there is a purpose to the pain, and Job can find no purpose for life, no reason to go on.  There is a little bit of Ecclesiastes in here, everything under the sun has been taken away, now what is there to live for.

Yesterday they were prepared to make Him king, now they are remembering that He is nothing more than Joseph's boy, who does He think He is saying He is the bread of heaven?  The people asked the same of Moses when he tried to identify with them, "Who made you ruler and judge over us?"  Jesus, though, has surely authenticated Himself through the healings and the feeding miracle, but they aren't looking for the Kingdom of God, they are still looking for earthly things.  Jesus draws the correlation between the manna God provided through Moses and Himself and says essentially what He said to the Samaritan woman at the well who took pride in the well because it was given by their father Jacob.  He offered her even better water and here He offers better food and begins to point towards His sacrifice.  All they have to do is believe.  Do they want what He offers enough to let go of what they know?

Paul is an amazing man.  He was able to let go, to come to faith, but it required this Damascus Road experience, a blinding of the eyes that had betrayed him that he might no longer walk by sight but by faith.  His eyes were then opened with the laying on of hands of Ananais in baptism.   God took away everything Paul had lived for and yet didn't leave him without anything to live for.  He took away whatever future Paul had in mind for himself, whatever position he longed for, and gave him something much better, a place in the eternal kingdom.  He no longer cared about the things that had dominated his life and his ambitions again.  That is true conversion.

24 August 2012

Psalm 140, 142; Job 2:1-13; Acts 9:1-9; John 6:27-40

Again, the Lord draws attention to Job and essentially taunts satan that he is wrong about Job.  Satan ups the ante, "skin for skin", afflict him personally, make his life miserable, and everything will change.  Why does the Lord allow this?  There is much suffering in this book and loss of life.  All we can say at the end of the day is that He is sovereign and whatever judgment we make is based on incomplete information.  Job's wife is certainly willing to get past all this and forget the Lord but Job will not speak as she encourages.  We are told here, however, not that Job didn't sin as in the first test, but that he didn't sin with his lips.  Job's friends, initially, are good friends, they sit with him and then join in his lament.  It won't last.

The opening verse of the Gospel reading is a near quote of Isaiah 55, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?"  They want to know what work they may do to find God's approval and Jesus says that the work of God is to believe in the One whom God has sent, namely, Him.  It isn't about work, it is about grace, only believe.  They propose a test that if He passes they will believe, but He has already passed that test once, even Gideon re-arranged the test with the fleece from one day to the next.  Again, we see the temptation of satan to Jesus to prove Himself to them, the same temptations come again and again but not directly as it were, through agency of people.  He can surely make bread and if He does they will ascribe Him the honor due to Him, make Him their king.  Two temptation in one.  If He does their bidding doesn't that mean He is worshipping them?

Can you imagine how terrible it was for Paul to hear those words from heaven, "I am Jesus."  He has ascended the throne and now is in heaven and allowed to speak.  He was clearly who He said He was and Paul, with all his rabbinic training, missed it, got it completely wrong, and was headed out to persecute those who believed in Jesus.  He surely had to believe that this was the end for him and yet, it wasn't that simple.  Remember Jesus' prayer, Stephen's prayer, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."  Paul was one of those guys they prayed for.  Not only does God not allow him to do as he planned, delivering the church from his threats, He had grace on the man and called him to Himself.  The journey begins with God acting against Saul's physical well-being, just like Job.

23 August 2012

Psalm 131, 132; Job 1:1-22; Acts 8:26-40; John 6:16-27

Job was "blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil…the greatest of all the people of the east."  That is not only the opinion of the writer, those same words come from the mouth of God.  (How this conversation is known I have no idea)  Why does the Lord mention Job to satan?  Certainly Job wasn't happy at being singled out, but the Lord was especially proud of Job.  Satan believed that Job loved God because of all God had done for Job.  Today there are preachers who encourage this exact belief, much to the detriment of their people.  Job's reaction to losing his stuff and his children was that the Lord had given him all these things and they were, then, the Lord's to take away.  He passed the first test, he didn't charge God with wrong and he didn't sin.

Jesus, walking on water in the middle of a storm, after dark, approaches the boat with the words, "It is I, do not be afraid."  How could they be anything other than frightened at that sight?  I doubt I would have been comforted at all to see Him walking on the water.  As soon as he gets into the boat, however, they make land and John tells us nothing else of the conversation between Jesus and the disciples.  Next the people He has just fed realize that Jesus has gone over the lake and so determine to follow Him.  He isn't exactly pastoral and welcoming when they arrive, rebuking them for the reason they have come.  He knows their hearts and we see that He was right in His judgment.

Philip is available to the Lord for whatever mission He may have for him.  He is told where to go and as he does, finds a eunuch of the court of Ethiopia reading Scripture.  He must have been in Jerusalem and was going back to his country and his heart desired to know the Word.  He is reading from Isaiah, who, interestingly, mentions eunuchs favorably in the coming kingdom (see chapter 56).  Philip is able to tell him about Jesus' fulfillment of the prophetic promise and then, although they were in a "desert place", there was water enough for the man to be baptized.  Philip was then whisked away to Azotus and from there he preached the Gospel as he went.  The eunuch became the father of Christianity in Egypt, quite the irony.

22 August 2012

Psalm 119:145-176; Judges 18:16-31; Acts 8:14-25; John 6:1-15

The Danites determine to settle themselves in Laish even though this wasn’t their allotted portion.  It was an easy conquest, only 600 men were required to take the city because the people there believed themselves to be secure.  The Danites decided to take the idols of Micah as well as the priest who oversaw whatever "worship" there was at his home and set these up in their city as a talisman of protection.  Surely they could have worked out the math that these things hadn't protected Micah from them so how could they rely on them for their own protection?  Even still, they were able to set up this priest, from the line of Moses, to handle the religious duties.  Does the final verse imply that after the temple moved to Jerusalem this idolatry no longer existed?

There are those who will say that what really happened here is that when Jesus prayed and offered the meager amount of food to the multitude the people who had been holding back their own supply shared freely with all.  That explanation does not fit well with the idea that this proved He was the Prophet or that they wanted to make Him king after this.  The Prophet would need to do the things Moses did, like arrange for miraculous provision for a multitude of people in a place where there was no possibility of getting it without a miracle, a la the manna in the wilderness.  No one would make someone a king simply because He was able to get people to share.  The first temptation placed before Jesus in the wilderness was to turn rocks into bread to end His forty day fast and He refused.  Here, because of His compassion for the people who were seeking Him and coming to some belief, He is willing to produce food for them.  His kingdom, as He will tell Pilate, is not of this world, no matter who wants to make Him their king.

Philip has preached and the Samaritans have believed and he has, therefore, baptized them in the Name of Jesus.  They have, however, not received the Holy Spirit and Philip sent to the apostles that they might come out and lay on hands.  We do this same thing in confirmation.  In the Anglican world a local priest baptizes and the bishop (apostle) comes to lay on hands in confirmation with the prayer that the person will receive the Holy Spirit.  The apostles are then also encouraged to share the Gospel on their way home in the villages of the Samaritans.  They joined the mission God had called and commissioned.

21 August 2012

Psalm 121, 122, 123; Judges 18:1-15; Acts 8:1-13; John 5:30-47

The people of Dan have failed to conquer the land that had been allotted them (see Judges 1.27f).  They still have no place to call their own within the Land.  Here they send out spies to find suitable territory for themselves and determine that within the land of Sidon there is a city called Laish that will serve their needs.  Along the way they meet the Levite whom Micah had taken as his priest.  Apparently they are also superstitious/religious as well, they are quite interested in the idols Micah has set up in his home and that there is a genuine religious man of their kinsmen there serving.  This "priest" gives his blessing to their venture to conquer. 

Jesus encourages the people to make a right judgment concerning Him.  He holds up John the Baptist, the things He has done among them, and the Father as further witnesses to Him as Messiah.  They have all the evidence they need concerning Him if they will but believe.  The first step to faith is a willingness to consider the evidence and decide to believe.  That first step enables true wisdom and understanding.  As at the Jordan river, we have to take that step in order to see all things clearly.  The great barrier to faith is often religion.  These people have been given the Word, the revelation of God, but they still cannot see He is right in front of them. 

They were all scattered throughout the region except the apostles.  They had been given the promise that they would spread the Gospel from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria and to the ends of the earth and yet they wouldn't leave Jerusalem and they seemed safe there from Paul's activities.  Philip (one of the deacons, not the apostle) went to Samaria and began proclaiming the Gospel there and found great success, the people, with "one accord" (just like at Pentecost) received the word and the signs he was doing.  The first martyr was a deacon and the first evangelist to take the Gospel outside Jerusalem was as well, and these guys were commissioned to wait tables!  The kingdom was advancing in the face of persecution!  Even one who had his own following began to believe based on what He saw, just like some of the magicians of Egypt in the Exodus.

20 August 2012

Psalm 106:1-18; Judges 17:1-13; Acts 7:44-8:1a; John 5:19-29

Micah is superstitious.  He has stolen a substantial sum of money from his mother, over a hundred times the amount of money he offers the Levite whom he hires as a priest.  His mother has cursed whoever stole the money and yet now when he returns it she is thankful for him and the return of the money and blesses him.  In thanks for the return of the money she melts down a portion of it and has an idol made which Micah set up along with other idols and ordained a son as a priest, whatever that may have entailed.  When a Levite looking for work came along he was happy to offer him employment as yet another priest and counted himself as a man who would be blessed because he hired a real religious man as a priest.  Is there any place in your life where you are thinking like Micah?

Jesus certainly says nothing about which we can be superstitious does He?  Well, yes, in a way.  We can become attached to "believing" as the key to life without there being amendment of life.  Sacramentalists believe baptism saves and yet some who are more protestant in orientation make a similar mistake that if once I said the sinner's prayer I am saved forever.  Jesus speaks of believing in Him as believing in the One who sent Him as a critical thing in salvation but is that all He said?  Here He also says that judgment is based on the "doing" of our lives.  What we do in our lives reveals more truly what we believe than our words alone.  If Jesus is not Lord of our lives is He our savior?  We aren't saved by works but by grace but the testimony of our lives is a measure of the grace we have received.

Stephen accused the religious leaders of superstition, creating an idol of their own in the temple of Solomon.  It is remarkable how quickly Stephen gets to the accusation after the long build-up.  Surely they thought there was going to be a good bit more history after the building of the temple but that is the issue on which he focuses his critique, that the Lord doesn't live in a house built by human hands and the prophets have said so.  He also accuses them of receiving the law but not keeping it.  Their response is equally swift judgment, stoning him even as he, like Jesus, prays that this sin not be held against them.  Then we see Paul standing by in approval, ready now to move out in persecuting the church whom Stephen represents.

19 August 2012

Psalm 118; Judges 16:15-31; 2 Cor. 13:1-11; Mark 5:25-34

Was Samson's strength in his hair?  He had broken most, if not all, the Nazirite vows under which he was sworn during his life.  It is perhaps true that the allowing of his hair to grow without being cut was the only symbol of that vow that remained.  Once he had broken all the vows it seems that the Lord left him.  The Lord was his strength and yet it seems Samson had become superstitious/religious about the source of that strength.  Only twice do we see Samson praying, once for water and now for strength.  Would the Lord have helped him by giving him strength when he allowed Delilah to have him shorn?  In the end, the Lord's will concerning the Philistines is done, but Samson's life was a tragedy nonetheless.

This woman with the issue of blood is desperate.  She has not only suffered this affliction for twelve years, it has also meant that she is outside the community, she is unclean and therefore unfit for worship and treated as a contaminant by others because if they contact her they too are unfit for worship.  She believes that Jesus can do something about this problem and draws near simply to touch His garments and in that she is delivered from her infirmity.  When Jesus asks who has touched Him, the disciples see the press of people surrounding Him and know only that many have to have come into contact with Him.  She, however, knows she has been healed and is willing to tell the truth about her indiscretion.  It is her faith that has made her well and whole and now Jesus blesses her with something she has not experienced in these last dozen years, shalom.

Paul has defended his apostleship and wishes that when he visits it will be a joyful reunion rather than a time of chastisement and judgment.  He encourages them to ensure that their lives match their beliefs, through the power of Christ in them both personally and corporately.  As with Samson, strength comes from the Lord, from believing truth and also by walking by the Spirit in that truth.  What is the result for which Paul is aiming?  Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.  Let us commit ourselves to these things in order to know that God will be with us in love and peace. 

18 August 2012

Psalm 107:33-43, 108; Judges 16:1-14; Acts 7:30-43; John 5:1-18

Samson's new wife has a character like his old wife.  Why does he always seem to fall for the worst women?  Delilah is willing to accept a bribe to betray him to the Philistines and tries here three times to trick Samson into revealing the secret of his great strength and three times he lies to her.  His weakness is readily apparent, women, particularly foreign women as it seems likely that Delilah was a Philistine also.  His Nazirite vow was long forgotten by this juncture, he was seemingly uninterested in his own people and religious observance.

The man at the pool has been there thirty-eight years, surely the religious leaders who now confront him over the carrying of his bed on the Sabbath know who he is and can stand in amazement that he is now walking.  They had to have seen him during all this time but they are more concerned with the law (at least their interpretation of it) than his healing.  The man is quick to shift blame for carrying the bed to the one who healed him who told him to take it up.  He and Jesus both knew that the carrying of the bed was an infraction of the Sabbath rule concerning work, but Jesus coupled the healing with the command.  When Jesus then confronts the man He gives a further command to do no more sin lest something worse happen to you.  Was sin the cause of the original handicap?  How can the man who caused him to sin by commanding walking with the bed now say to do no more sin?  The man's reaction is interesting to say the least, to go and tell the Jews that Jesus was responsible for all this.  His allegiance, like that of Delilah, is to those in power. 

Stephen continues apace with his history lesson, getting to Mount Sinai and the affair with the Golden Calf.  He connects that episode with the prophetic words that come later concerning the apostasy of the people.  They have repeated that sin again and again in their history.  Nothing would have been surprising in this history, nothing would have alerted the listeners to the coming plot twist.  We, like the Israelites, tend to go astray.  We don't overtly worship other particular gods but we do tend to worship false gods like materialism and our culture has enshrined sexual desire as the supreme ruler of all things. Anything that we put in place of Him as our deliverer and savior is a god.  In the book Robinson Crusoe the protagonist reads his Bible and comes across the passage, "Call upon me in the day of distress and I will deliver you" and initially prays that he will be rescued but then soon realizes that his very existence on this island is a deliverance as the distress of his former life apart from God was what he needed to be delivered from.  It is only then that he determines to make the best of his current situation and wait with the Lord in this distress but if he be not delivered it no longer mattered.

17 August 2012

Psalm 102; Judges 14:20-15:20; Acts 7:17-29; John 4:43-54

The story of Samson is one of the most unusual stories in the Bible.  He does things that are almost fairy-tale or mythical.  Here, after the incident with his wife telling her people the secret to the riddle, her father has given her away to another man in the belief that he surely now hates her.  Samson's anger causes him to catch 300 foxes, tie torches to their tails and send them into the crops of the Philistines to destroy the crops.  Their revenge is not against him directly but against her and her father.  This further enrages him against them, getting his own revenge.  The Israelites have submitted themselves to Philistine rule and come against Samson rather than following him.  The cycle repeats and yet, in the end, Samson becomes judge for twenty years during the time of the Philistines.  They weren't completely independent but they accepted Samson's leadership over them. 

Why does Jesus say, " Unless you (y'all) see signs and wonders you will not believe.”  The man clearly believed, he had sought Jesus out to heal his son.  Again, I believe it goes back to the statements that He knew what was in men's hearts.  He wasn't doubting the faith of this official but the people who were there.  Why else would He have sent the man away as He did?  Jesus knew the man's faith was strong enough to go at His word of assurance concerning the healing.  This man, likely a Gentile since he was a royal official, displayed the faith His own people did not.  Twice since He departed Jerusalem He has found outsiders to be more willing to believe than those to whom He was sent.

Stephen makes clear that the people about whom he is speaking are his own people.  He calls them "our fathers" and "our race."  His history is one of the redemption of God's people.  Is this history only important knowledge if you are a Jew?  Too many leave off study of the Old Testament when we should be familiar with it, if for no other reason than to heed the warning of the saying, "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it."  We have been grafted into the vine and we do well to know and study the interaction of God with His chosen people so that we may know more fully what He expects of us and how He deals with those who go astray.  We might also know the snares the enemy sets for us that we may be wary and prepared.  We have failed in my lifetime to know these things.

16 August 2012

Psalm 105:1-22; Judges 14:1-19; Acts 6:15-7:16; John 4:27-42

What would have possessed Samson to marry a Philistine?  He has been under a Nazirite vow and now he wants to introduce something completely forbidden and unclean into his life.  This, we learn, is actually from the Lord, seeking to infiltrate the Philistines rather than the other way round as Balaam suggested to the Moabites as a way of destroying the Jews.  Samson had strength but not wisdom.  The Lord needed his strength rather than his wisdom, however.  He killed a lion with his bare hands and then later began to destroy the Philistines in response to his wife's betrayal of him to her people.  He is clearly not a man to be trifled with and he knows what he needs to know concerning his wife's loyalties but will he heed that warning?

Jesus didn't have "to pass through Samaria."  Most Jews didn't pass through there at all, they avoided it, such was their animosity towards the Samaritans.  This woman was simply getting some water and met Messiah.  The disciples were marveling that Jesus was talking with a woman when they returned from their errand to get food.  They didn't then understand spiritual things any better than Nicodemus or this Samaritan woman.  When Jesus talked about food they though he was talking literally.  She left her water jar behind and went to tell everyone about this man and, amazingly, they came to see him on her testimony.  The last chapter closed with Jesus not entrusting Himself to the people of Jerusalem because He knew what was in their hearts and yet, to this unlikely woman, He fully disclosed Himself.  Incredible.

Stephen's history lesson here certainly would have met with the approval of the council.  There is nothing out of place, he knows not only the history but the interpretation of the history.  I feel certain they were sitting and listening and saying, "Ok, ok, get on with it, we know all this."  The history serves to validate that he is one of them, not some outsider.  The twist will come in the end.  Like Samson, the Lord was working within the society, but not to destroy it, to save it.

15 August 2012

Psalm 101, 109; Judges 13:15-24; Acts 6:1-15; John 4:1-26

Manoah again affirms his belief that the words the man has spoken will come true even though it certainly seems that he did not believe the man was actually an angel.  He offers to prepare a meal for the man, a la Abraham when the three men visited him in the desert to tell of Sarah's impending pregnancy, but the man refuses to eat the meal. Perhaps because angels do not eat as we do?  Contrast that refusal again to the men who ate with Abraham that day.  Manoah now wants to know the name of the man but again, he refuses, saying the name is wonderful, it is too much for Manoah to know such things now, compare this with the wrestling match between Jacob and the man at the ford of the Jabbok in Genesis 32 when Jacob wants to know the man's name.  Wonderful is also one of Jesus' names (Isaiah 9) and they offer sacrifice to the Lord who works wonders.  The man departs and goes into the heavens and the happy couple are left to ponder these things in their hearts.

The Samaritans' expectations for Messiah are for the prophet like Moses from Deuteronomy 18.  They do not have the prophets, only the books of Moses and they believe they are the true Israel, before things became adulterated.  They do not worship in Jerusalem, their worship is based on the original mountain of God.  This woman, although an outcast from her people who can make no claims to righteousness due to her promiscuity, retains national pride vis a vis the Jews, reminding Jesus that "our father Jacob" gave us this well.  Jesus gets to the heart of the problem, proving Himself to be a prophet indeed.  Could He be Messiah?  He speaks truth into all matters, not just her sin, this water, even though of ancient provenance, won't satisfy thirst forever and he now offers something greater.  Also, "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews."  He is unafraid to tell her the truth, her beliefs are wrong and this would certainly have been a bitter and difficult pill to swallow because they believed that they were right and the Jews were wrong.  It is important that truth be established because God wants us to worship in both spirit and truth.

Does this idea of deacons go back to Jethro's advice to Moses in Exodus 18?  The disciples are certain that the distribution of food isn't their call to ministry.  They are to devote themselves to the preaching of the Word and to prayer, so they raise up the ministry of the diaconate, those who will serve the community in order to minister in the "church."  The qualifications for the job are "men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom."  Apparently this became a pattern for the churches to have such people in this role as we see it in Paul's letters particularly to Timothy and Titus.  Stephen was one of those deacons but it seems that he didn't just serve tables, he "was doing great wonders and signs among the people."  He was also called on to dispute with the Jews, a man who could handle the word of God.  Who would have thought the office of deacon would provide the first martyr?  We are all called to know and defend the Word. 

14 August 2012

Psalm 97, 99; Judges 13:1-15; Acts 5:27-42; John 3:22-36

Samson's birth is foretold in something of the same fashion as Jesus'.  Samson was to be the deliverer of his people from the Philistines, whom they had served for forty years during their apostasy.  Samson's mother and father are quick to believe that she, who had been barren, would have a child and that he was to be under a Nazirite vow even from the time he was conceived.  The mother was to essentially live under such a vow as the child developed within her.  Manoah, the father, simply wanted confirmation of all his wife told him.  When he speaks with the angel, it is presupposed that what the angel has said will come to pass, "Now when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?”  The angel confirms the vow but does not share the mission with Manoah as he had done with his wife.  Nonetheless, they are obedient to the heavenly vision.

John makes no pretense of being the Christ.  He has already publicly denied such to the leaders in the first chapter of John's Gospel, saying plainly, "I am not the Christ."  Here, contrast the language John uses with Nicodemus' failure to understand these same concepts in the previous verses.  John recognizes that his teaching and speaking are earthly while Jesus' are from above whereas Nicodemus had no idea what such things meant.  John believes Jesus is from God and knows that the one who believes in Him has eternal life.  Belief is a major issue in John's Gospel, we see it right from the start but what is it that John the Baptist believed, could he have imagined that he would personally decrease by being beheaded?  Could he have imagined Jesus' crucifixion?  John, who lived as a Nazirite like Samson, was likewise obedient to the proclamation of the heavenly vision and the mission he was likewise given before his birth.

What they have witnessed, the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, they have no choice but to proclaim, no matter who forbids it.  The council makes a profound statement, that the disciples "intend to bring this man's blood upon us.”  That is their very hope for the mission of proclamation, but not the way this statement is intended.  In Judaism this would mean that they would be guilty of a most heinous crime, murder, which they wanted to avoid even while ensuring that the death penalty was carried out.  As Christians we know that Jesus' death was not murder, it was a sacrificial offering.  He was, as John said, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  His blood atones for sin, but only if we accept that we are guilty already.  Gamaliel counsels caution with respect to this sect, his expectation is that they will soon die out as others have done.  The only action the council takes is to forbid them to teach in the name of Jesus.  These men now only fear the one with power of life and death, they are obedient to the vision.  Boldness now is their way of life.

13 August 2012

Psalm 89:1-18; Judges 12:1-7; Acts 5:12-26; John 3:1-21

So Jephthah has conquered the Ammonites but hasn't asked the Ephraimites to help and now they are angry enough about the slight to go to war with him?  Jephthah has a different version of events, namely that the Ephraimites refused to come and help.  This dispute cost 42,000 Ephraimites their lives.  These men were relatives of one another, why should there have been such civil war, it seems utterly ludicrous that this should have such a terrible result.  We don't know the times and we don’t know the nature of the dispute, it seems there was much more going on than this one event that would precipitate this war.  Emotions are too high to believe that this was the only thing provoking them.

Right from the outset Jesus knocks Nicodemus off balance in this conversation.  Nicodemus begins with a flattering pleasantry that would seem to indicate that there had been some talk among the Pharisees about Jesus at this early juncture, he uses the pronoun "we" rather than "I."  Jesus' response has to do with being born from above, and Nicodemus must have thought either he or Jesus was hard of hearing since this seemingly has nothing to do with the opening gambit.  Jesus is speaking of new birth, spiritual re-birth, but Nicodemus doesn't follow this and asks about a physical re-birth. When Jesus responds by saying "you do not receive our testimony" and then through verse 12, He is using the plural form of the pronoun, not questioning Nicodemus but all the teachers he may represent.  The polite conversation Nicodemus may have had in mind became a confrontation about the credentials of Nicodemus and his friends rather than about Jesus' credentials for doing what He has been doing.

The apostles continue to minister just as Jesus Himself had done, healing the sick and doing other signs and wonders.  They had done such things before when Jesus sent them out, this isn't their first time being involved in this ministry.  The leaders become jealous and have them thrown into jail but the Spirit sets the captives free and tells them to go straight to the temple and teach, right into the lion's den as it were.  Having been set free once they have no fear of those who imprisoned them.  It certainly presents a dilemma for the leaders.  We, too, have been set free, do we share their boldness?

12 August 2012

Psalm 66, 67; Judges 11:1-11,29-40; 2 Cor. 11:21b-31; Mark 4:35-41

What a beginning to Jephthah's story!  In the first few verses we are told that he is an illegitimate son of Gilead and a prostitute and that when he went to Tob he was surrounded by worthless fellows who went out with him.  Sounds just like the background we would want in a man of God doesn’t it?  We don't get any details about why the men of Gilead chose to go and get him to fight against the Ammonites but he agrees to do so under the condition that if he is successful he will not only be their military leader but also their leader in peace.  What in the world possessed Jephthah to make such a vow as this?  What does it mean that he kept his vow?  There are two views, one that he sacrificed her life to keep the vow and the other that she was devoted to the Lord's service and was a perpetual virgin.  I believe the second view is most likely as it would have been an ungodly thing to sacrifice the life of another, vow or no. 

There are echoes of Jonah in this story.  All who are in the boat are afraid and yet Jesus, like Jonah, sleeps in the midst of this storm.  He becomes that which brings peace but, unlike Jonah, Jesus is on a mission to a pagan land, not running from that land.  He has compassion on the man in the tombs who is demon-possessed and is going to heal him as a sign to the people of this land.  When they awaken Jesus it is with a question that is far bigger than they can possibly imagine, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"  The true answer is that the entire reason He has come among them is because He cares that they and we are perishing.  His voice is the voice that created all things and which caused the sea to know and obey its boundaries and here it causes obedience as well.  Their faith just got expanded in this man.

Paul speaks of the incredible persecution and suffering he has endured in the service of Jesus.  It is unimaginable to most of us that any man would have persevered in Christian service in the face of such misery.  We have been taught to cry persecution at the slightest opposition to our work and we have also been taught a lie concerning the Christian life that if we face opposition and difficulty we may have gone off the path because our lives are to be constantly blessed.  Paul says that his background, his pedigree, is far better than his opponents' but that doesn't make a bit of difference, his weakness is far more important than this.  God chooses whom He wills, who we are before is of no particular interest to Him.  It is only His election that matters, we have a new destiny in Him and our past is simply past. 

11 August 2012

Psalm 87, 90; Judges 9:22-25,50-57; Acts 4:32-5:11; John 2:13-25

It took only three years for the people to realize the mistake they had made in making Abimelech their ruler.  He had already proven his lack of character and his murderous bent to them and they were willingly complicit in his actions in hopes of receiving reward but they found that this was a man whose only desire was his own enrichment and aggrandizement.  Why do we make these kind of mistakes?  I know that I am guilty of overlooking things I know about people for some reason or another, they have the potential to help me or hurt me, they don't like the same people I don't like, they express their purpose as higher, whatever, but every time we overlook what we know, what the Lord has shown us, it is a mistake that will end up biting us.

The moneychangers and sellers of sacrificial animals had taken over the outer courts of the temple.  They were in the area where the Gentiles could come and hear what was being taught while not, simultaneously, defiling the temple by coming inside its courts without having offered sacrifice or accepted the Law.  Their encroachment was surely a gradual thing and the keepers of the temple had allowed it, similar to Lot's movement from outside Sodom to a respected elder sitting in the gate of the city.  The temple was to be a house of prayer for all peoples and this system had cut out those not in the club, they had no chance to learn more if they had wanted to.  Jesus drove them out in order to restore the temple to its intended purpose, no one could argue with what he had done because it was plainly true.  They no longer cared about those outsiders, they had tolerated the profiteers because of their antipathy to the outsiders like the Romans who ruled over them.

Ananias and Sapphira wanted to be well thought of but weren't willing to pay the price others had paid.  There were those who truly held all things in common and when they sold property were willing to give all the proceeds for the needs of others in the church but these two held back but represented that they had given all.   There was no requirement that they give all, the problem was a character issue, they lied.  Peter was apparently given a word of wisdom on the matter and rebuked both of the couple separately.  Their deaths became a sign concerning the importance of character to all the people.  In the end, they made a name for themselves as a by-word, not as virtuous.