31 August 2015

Psalm 25; 2 Chron. 6:32-7:7; James 2:1-13; Mark 14:53-65

Although we went from 1 Kings to 2 Chronicles, we are in the same place as yesterday, Solomon praying at the dedication of the temple.  Here, he prays first for foreigners, those who come for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm.”  Solomon prays that the Lord will hear the prayer of that person as well as the prayers of the people of Israel, that the people of foreign lands might also come to know the Lord who can do great things, know Him as the Israelites know Him.  Remember that Jesus said this place was to be a house of prayer for all nations?  This is the basis of that claim.  Solomon also sees prophetically that the sin of the people might result in exile and asks that when they pray from foreign lands in exile or when they are out in battle, that the Lord might hear them then as well.  He is here but that does not limit His ability to hear and act.  As he finishes the prayer, fire comes from heaven and consumes the sacrifice, just as it did when the tabernacle and altar were consecrated, and the glory of the Lord fills the temple, He has accepted this offering of a place for Him to dwell.  What a powerful idea.

Those whose responsibility it was to know the Lord and make Him known to the people, the chief priests, scribes and elders, put the incarnate God on trial. If you later realized that you had participated in the trial and conviction of God in the flesh how would you live with yourself?  The barrier to believing that this was, in fact, God, would be so high as to be insurmountable wouldn’t it?  The question that had been on the hearts, if not the lips of all throughout Jesus’ ministry was, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”  Jesus pointed only to the signs He was doing and their relationship to what the Scriptures said as the answer until this moment, and finally He says, “Yes.”  Instead of worship, they give Him scorn and find Him guilty of blasphemy, He is a pretender of the worst sort.  They don’t evaluate the evidence He has provided, their conclusion was already reached prior to the trial, it has all been a sham.

James tells us to avoid the sin of partiality.  What he is really saying is stop judging people by appearances.  He knows that human nature is such that we are more likely to greet people who look put together and to befriend them than we are to reach out to those who look like they might actually need something from us.  Our church culture often teaches that prosperity is a sign of God’s favor and blessing and we are then completely predisposed towards those who are more prosperous.  Some Christians, however, lean the other way, towards those in need and hate those who might be prosperous in the belief that they are likely then to be corrupt, greedy, or uncaring about others.  This, too, is the sin of partiality.  In the end, we are simply to love our neighbor as ourselves, whoever that neighbor might be.  Sin is sin, and yet we know that there is mercy if we confess, even for those who “knew not what they do” in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.  That is mercy!

30 August 2015

Psalm 148, 149, 150; 1 Kings 8:22-40; 1 Tim. 4:7b-16; John 8:47-59

The building and dedication of the temple serve to locate the worship of God’s people and root it in a place.  The high places are no longer to be for worship of the God of Israel, this is the only place where certain types of worship, sacrifice to be exact, can be offered and accepted.  It is the dwelling place of God among His people in the same way the tabernacle was in the wilderness.  It serves the same purpose as the Garden of Eden, the place where God’s people can meet with Him.  Solomon prays as prophet, priest and king at the dedication.  Solomon sees that in the future the people will turn away from the Lord and prays that when they return and pray in this place, that God will hear and He will forgive and have mercy on them.  His prayer is based completely in two things, the faithfulness of God and the given-ness of the wayward nature of His people.  It is a comforting but also dangerous thing to have the presence of God in your midst.

How did they think Jesus would respond to the question, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Did they think He would say, “Yep, you’re right, you got me on that score”?  They had nothing, no argument to make so they simply went with an ad hominem attack that was based in Jesus’ work in Samaria in John 4 and the sentiment that He drove out demons by a demonic power.  He has just told them that their failure to hear His words is due to their not being “of God.” Here, Jesus says that if anyone keeps His word they will not taste death and now they believe they have Him dead to rights.  Everyone dies, Abraham died, the prophets died, who do you think you are?  Jesus has a different definition of death but it is not one with which they are unfamiliar. Resurrection changes our definition of death. Physical death is not the final word on the matter.  Repentance changes everything because of God’s mercy and covenant of life.

How are you training yourself for godliness?  I go to the gym regularly to train my body and I keep a little notebook with the details of every workout in it.  I search the internet for workout regimes based on what muscle group or groups I want to focus on at a given time and I plan for weeks of intense focus on those parts.  In other words, I am intentional about my training and I take note of what is weak that it might become stronger through effort.  Paul is telling Timothy that we need to do the same with our spiritual life.  We need to take inventory of our strengths and weaknesses and train to strengthen ourselves in all areas.  We do this with the knowledge we will never reach perfection, there will always be sin in our lives and we will always need grace and mercy.  My challenge to you and to me is to develop that plan of training for godliness based on the classic disciplines of the church but beginning by taking inventory of your life and measuring it against Jesus and His words of instruction.

29 August 2015

Psalm 20, 21; 1 Kings 7:51-8:21; Acts 28:17-31; Mark 14:43-52

Did you notice that the elders assembled before Solomon in Jerusalem to bring the ark out of Zion?  Zion is the oldest part of the city, the place where David had brought the ark, now it would be brought to the temple for its presumed permanent residence.  It is amazing that the tent, the ark and all the accoutrements had lasted nearly five hundred years, but they were all brought up together here.  We are told that the only thing in the ark was the tablets.  What happened to the rod of Aaron and the jar of manna?  The temple is ratified as God’s chosen place by the shekinah glory filling the temple as the ark was set in its place.  What a glorious day!  These people present this day could never have imagined the history that was to come for the nation on such a day as this.  No one could imagine the pain and exile their children would experience. 

Surely everyone was in shock when they saw Judas and the crowd with clubs and swords coming out in the night to the garden.  What could this possibly mean?  Why was Judas with them?  Then, the greeting, “Rabbi”, and the kiss of betrayal as the crowd surged forward and seized Jesus, causing at least one of the disciples to react violently.  The young man who runs away naked in the last verse of the reading is thought to be Mark, the writer of the Gospel, which would make this a first hand account of the events.  The disciples flee. What do you do when all you have believed is now going wrong? Where do you go and how do you resume life?

Paul calls together the leaders of the Jewish community in Rome when he arrives there to explain his side of the story.  Surprisingly, the leaders tell him that they have received no communication from Judea concerning him.  Given the vehemence of the opposition to Paul in Jerusalem, people vowing to fast until he was dead, plotting to kidnap him from the Roman authorities and kill him, etc., it is amazing that they made no effort to inform the community about Paul.  His statement is that he is in chains because of the “hope of Israel.”  What is the hope of Israel?  It is the coming of Messiah.  The leaders are aware of this “sect” which they say is spoken against everywhere.  Paul’s presentation of the Gospel convinces some but not others and his final statement is that what the Holy Spirit told Isaiah was correct, that the message was to go to the Jews but they would not hear it so it will go to Gentiles who will hear and respond.  The glory of the Lord has moved from the temple into the world.

28 August 2015

Psalm 16, 17; 1 Kings 5:1-6:1,7; Acts 28:1-16; Mark 14:27-42

It sounds like Solomon is clear that his father couldn’t build the temple because he didn’t have enough peace in the kingdom to do so.  Well, that and the fact that the Lord told him he wasn’t to do so.  Hiram, king of Tyre, sends to Solomon to wish him well and Solomon tells of his desire to build a temple, now nearly five hundred years after they have come out of Egypt.  Hiram is glad to be of assistance in providing the lumber for the temple, a deal is struck and the work is engaged.  Did you count up all the numbers involved in the building of the temple?  There were over 180,000 men enumerated in various roles in the building of this edifice!  That was on the Israeli side alone, not to mention the men Hiram employed to cut and dress the timber.  Solomon wasn’t going to do anything half way.

Isn’t it amazing that right after Jesus prophesies Peter’s denial He then takes Peter as part of His small group for prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane?  Even though Jesus has just told Peter he isn’t the man he thinks he is, Jesus wants him to be part of that little group that has always included him.  I always wonder how the other disciples felt about being excluded from that group.  Did they resent both Jesus and John, James and Peter?  Certainly in churches I have pastored and been part of as a lay person I have seen resentment over the leader being closer to some people in the church.  Jesus didn’t seem a bit concerned about that though and it was always the same group of three, never once does it vary.  On Passover night, Jews were commanded to keep watch and the festival of Passover became a time of staying up all night, keeping watch.  In the original Passover, they were commanded to remain indoors all night, no one was to go out before morning.  That is because the time of the destroyer, wickedness, was at night, darkness was its domain.  The covenant for that night required both Yahweh and the nation to do something, Israel kept watch and because she did, the Lord watched over Israel, kept it safe from harm, delivered it from the destruction.  Here, on that night, Jesus tells the three most trusted disciples to keep watch and they fail for weakness of the flesh.  The Passover observance ends in a household when someone can’t be easily awakened and here that is true, the time has come for wickedness to have its way.

Most people believe in something like karma whether they call it that or not.  The people of Malta immediately conclude that Paul is a murderer because of the viper which comes out of the fire and latches onto his hand.  This, they believe, is the death sentence and that justice wouldn’t allow him to live because of his crime and so, in this unusual way, justice will have its way.  That actually describes how too many Christians think as well.  We want grace but we often believe in karma and what goes around comes around.  The people of Malta are wrong about that but then they are also wrong about Paul being a god because he doesn’t die.  Our categories are wrong and as Christians we have to continually be reminded of grace.  Solomon received much grace though God knew he would fall away.  Peter received grace though he would deny Jesus.  Paul received grace even though he had persecuted the church.  If we recall the grace we have received perhaps we will remain faithful to the one who gave it, as Paul did.  We have received no less than he.

27 August 2015

Psalm 18:1-20; 1 Kings 3:16-28; Acts 27:27-44; Mark 14:12-26

Right at the outset we are told something of the character of the two women, they are prostitutes.   One tells her story, that they had both had babies within three days of one another, and the other woman rolled over on her own child in the night, killing it, and then took the dead child and switched it with her child.  The other woman objects and says simply, the dead one is yours, the living one is mine.  Solomon’s solution is simple and elegant, threaten to divide the baby and the true mother will not allow it.  The rabbis presume that Solomon knew by divine insight which woman was the true mother and that in the arguments presented the other had revealed this and her character in such a way that he knew the truth. The solution depended on the hardness of heart that says if I can’t have a baby of my own, it is unfair that you can.  The rabbinic interpretation is that Solomon knew how this was going to go, and that the “test” was simply so that the truth was then available for all to see.

Jesus gives four prophetic words. First, concerning where they will have the Passover meal.  He tells the disciples to go into town and there they will be met by a man carrying a water jar, and they are to follow this man, who is a servant, to his master’s house and there they will make inquiry concerning where the “Teacher” may have the meal with his disciples.  That is a very clear picture of what they are to look for and expect and it seems this is exactly what happened.  Next, Jesus says one of them will betray Him and they are all sad, sorting out which one.  Apparently none of them had the revelation given to Solomon in the first reading, as it doesn’t look as if they had a clue who the person might be.  Next, Jesus re-interprets the symbols of the Passover meal to be His body and blood rather than the body of the lamb and the wine is His blood, that purchases our freedom, His death is the key to life.  These symbols won’t mean anything until after the crucifixion so these words are prophetic.  Finally, Jesus predicts Peter’s denial. 

The sailors are surreptitiously preparing to abandon the ship.  The pretense is letting down anchors but they are really lowering the ship’s boat to allow them to escape. Paul gives yet another prophetic word, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”  Now, after evidence that perhaps Paul does have a direct line to the Almighty, the soldiers believe and cut away the lines, letting the boat float away.  Can’t you just see Paul then in the midst of this chaos, a la Jonah, urging them to eat and take nourishment and then celebrating this meal by giving thanks to God, breaking and eating?  It seems utterly ridiculous but there he is, doing something completely commonplace at the strangest time, an act of pure faith.  How they are all brought safely to land in the end is a miracle only God could do and he told Paul about it first. 

26 August 2015

Psalm 119:1-24; 1 Kings 3:1-15; Acts 27:9-26; Mark 14:1-11

It’s pretty amazing isn’t it that Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt?  Amazing given the events of the book of the Exodus, that an Israelite king, the former slave colony of Egypt, would have enough prestige to make such an alliance.   Right from the start, we see Solomon loving the Lord, but…he also sacrificed at the high places.  When the Lord asks, however, what Solomon might want from Him, the young man answers well.  He recognizes that the role he has been given is a gift from the Lord and also a great responsibility and that if he is to do this well and right he will need wisdom, but a particular kind of wisdom, “that I may discern between good and evil.”  Hmmm, where have we seen those two things before?  Solomon, for all his faults, knows that this knowledge is knowledge that God alone possesses and that if he wants to rule properly over God’s people he will need God’s knowledge.  Because he asked for this he received much more, the world’s honor, riches and lengthened days.  Sounds a lot like what Jesus promised in Matthew 6.33, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” What was Solomon’s response to the dream?  Worship before the ark of the covenant of the Lord in thanksgiving.  Was it just a dream or was Solomon convinced it was much more?

The nard this woman used to anoint Jesus was indeed costly and rare.  It is from the spikenard plant that grows in the Himalayan mountains of China, India, and Nepal between 10,000 and 16,000 feet of elevation.  By the time of the New Testament it was imported as a luxury into Egypt and from there to the rest of the near east.  Her extravagance in anointing Jesus with this raised eyebrows and the idea of wastefulness.  Surely there was a better way to donate such a valuable commodity.  Jesus points towards his coming death, Mark tells us it is now two days from the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Jesus says she has anointed His body for burial.  This seems to be the final straw for Judas but we don’t know what part drove him to betray Jesus.

Paul has a prophetic word concerning the proposed voyage, that they will lose the ship and lives if they set sail.  The centurion, Luke tells us, “paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.”  That isn’t a surprise is it?  The owner and pilot had more experience than this itinerant evangelist and they had more at risk.  Paul was also a prisoner, didn’t he get a prophetic word that would have avoided that?  The centurion had little reason at this point to consider Paul’s “word” as particularly important or meaningful.  Paul, in the midst of the storm that caused the crew to jettison the cargo of the ship, could have stood and said, “I told you so,” but he didn’t. He informs them that God has spoken and that while they will lose the ship and its contents, no loss of life will be incurred.  In the three lessons today we see that wisdom comes from God.  Solomon received wisdom from Him, the woman had wisdom to know what to do with the nard, and Paul had wisdom that none of the experienced people had, wisdom to know the future.

25 August 2015

Psalm 5, 6; 1 Kings 1:38-2:4; Acts 26:24-27:8; Mark 13:28-37

Adonijah receives the news that his brother, Solomon, has received the blessing of their father, David, as king and that the priest has anointed him as well.  Adonijah’s reaction is fear.  He takes hold the horns of the altar of sacrifice, which, in essence, grants him some form of sanctuary and remains there until Solomon summons him with the injunction, “If he will show himself a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the earth, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.”  Paying homage to his brother was his way of showing contrition, bowing to the one he recognized as king over Israel.  We pay homage to Jesus when we come to His throne or His cross and give up our own claim to the throne of our lives.  Now that there are no other rivals, David gives Solomon final instruction, and that is to follow the commands of the Lord, the Law of Moses.  He gives other instructions as well, concerning how to deal with those who cannot be trusted, but apparently we don’t need to read that in the rest of this chapter.

Jesus concludes this end-times prophecy with a warning that in spite of the fact the signs will be as obvious as a fig tree coming into leaf presaging the arrival of summer that no one will know the particular time, not even Him, only the Father.  The command to us is to stay awake, be prepared for His coming again.  The signs have always been there since His death, that this world is passing away and that there will be an end of history.  Our role is to wait as though He were returning now.  We often let down our guard and fail to live according to the commandments of Jesus.  We allow our desires for things of earth to rule over us and we chase after that which is prohibited to us, we fall into sin.  The answer to that is to stay awake, don’t allow ourselves to be lulled to sleep by the delay.  When we fail we are called to go back and repent, doing homage to the rightful king, taking ourselves off the throne that belongs to Him alone.

Paul makes his defense and Festus, the governor, rebukes him, saying that his great learning has made him mad.  Paul speaks to Festus but is really making his appeal to Herod Agrippa who is a Jew.  He is engaging not so much in defense but in evangelism, his hope is that all who hear this message will respond in faith to it.  His concern is always with the kingdom of God and impelled by a faith in the Gospel that is complete, it is His message no matter what the circumstance.  Ultimately, Agrippa says his hands are tied in the matter, he could set Paul free but for his appeal to Caesar and, as a Roman citizen, he has the right to go to Caesar.  We all know who is actually in charge of the proceedings though, Paul didn’t make a mistake in the appeals process, the Lord’s intention was for him to go to Rome.

24 August 2015

Psalm 1, 2, 3; 1 Kings 1:5-31; Acts 26:1-23; Mark 13:14-27

Adonijah is very much like his older brother, Absalom.  He, too, is the big, good looking young man whose father never spoke a word against anything he did.  David was apparently a parent much like Jacob was, his children completely undisciplined and headstrong.  Adonijah does much what Absalom did, proclaiming himself to be king, gathering men to himself, and presumptuously offering sacrifices.  He gathers his kinsmen who have any complaint against his father, Joab, his cousin, who was replaced as leader of the army and Abiathar the priest who believed he should be the head priest.  David’s men who had been with him now a long time remained loyal to him.  It is an interesting pair, Nathan and Bathsheba, who come to David to tell him of all that has happened and remind him that Solomon shall be king.  Nathan, the prophet who confronted David in his affair with this very woman, Bathsheba is the one pursuing her rights as mother of the man who would be king.  God is gracious and keeps His word, Solomon is anointed king by his father David.  The redemption of this situation is wonderful.

Jesus tells of the end times but not in specific terms, simply that there will be tribulation for all.  The devil will have his day but the Lord, in His mercy, will cut these days short for the sake of the elect, the ones He has chosen to salvation.  There have been times down the ages in various places where such persecution has occurred, beginning in just a few decades after Jesus’ death and continuing for centuries in some places.  At present even in some countries and regions Christians are persecuted and it is a dangerous thing to take the name of Jesus.  He promises that the Lord will, in the last days, be merciful in the time He will allow the devil his time.  In the final part of this prophetic speech Jesus tells of the destruction of the created order prior to the coming of the Son of Man in words that mirror very closely the revelation John later received.

Paul’s argument before Herod Agrippa is that he is proclaiming what he has always, as a Pharisee, proclaimed, that God raises men from the dead.  The only real difference in his message is that he now proclaims that, in one instance, this has already happened.  He makes this proclamation because he had a vision and heard a voice from heaven and that voice said, “I am Jesus.”  He is obedient to the heavenly vision but also argues that this vision is perfectly aligned with what Moses and all the prophets said would happen.  He leaves out a bit of the story, that he is no longer observant of the ceremonial law, nor does he require it of his converts, but that decision was also shared by the Jerusalem church.  His message is simple, repent, and do works in keeping with repentance.  We always need to be prepared to give an accounting for our faith.

23 August 2015

Psalm 146, 147; 2 Samuel 24:1-2,10-25; Gal. 3:23-4:7; John 8:12-20

Who is the “he” who incited David against Israel to take the census?  In context, it seems the antecedent is God but this was an evil thing in the eyes of God so it must be someone else, leaving only one real option, satan.  The taking of a census wasn’t forbidden but it showed either one of two things, a lack of trust in the Lord and dependence on numerical strength or David’s complacency which was also a sign of lack of trust in God.  David is given three choices for the punishment of this sin and chooses to fall into the hands of God rather than men because God is merciful while men may not be.  Does that choice, again, reflect David as failing to see God’s sovereignty?  David’s sin cost 70,000 men their lives, destroying whatever numerical advantage he may have perceived himself to have.  He would have to rely on God rather than his massive army in the future.  The threshing floor of Araunah is thought to be the site of Mount Moriah, which will become the site of the temple.  It is fitting then that David offered sacrifice here.  Remember the Foundation Stone I talked about a few weeks ago, that would be in this location.

What do you do with Jesus?  That is the pressing question in everyone’s mind.  He makes the statement here that He is the light of the World and that would certainly be an offensive claim.  The light of the world is the original light of creation, the light that “came on” when God said, “Let there be light.”  In Jewish thought that light allowed a person to see from one end of space and, therefore, time, to the other.  It is the light by which God sees all things in space and time.  That light had to be hidden because of sin, wicked men could use the insight thus gained to make a mess of things.  The Torah was given to the Jews as light that was only for those who would take up its study, that is why David says it is a lamp for his feet, a light unto his path.  When Simeon sees the baby Jesus in Luke 2 he proclaims Him to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, thus Jesus isn’t a light only for the Jews.  When Jesus says that those who follow Him will have the light of life and will not walk in darkness, He sets Himself over against the Torah itself.  Here, in the temple courts, Jesus lays claim not to having the light, but being the light. 

Paul writes to the Galatians that all who have put on Christ by faith are Abraham’s offspring, there is no longer any distinction of race, class or gender among them.  For a man who grew up believing that only the Jews had the light, only they were chosen by God and whose entire life was determined by the distinction of race or ethnicity to write these words required a radical transformation of the mind.  The fundamental way in which Paul understood the world and his place in it was changed on the road to Damascus.  David’s census was motivated by an us against them mentality, and in that world, it might feel good to take a census of your people until you realize that there are always going to be more of them than there are of us.  If, however, you realize that the addition of One to that number makes the numbers meaningless, your reason for the census goes away.  In Jesus, there is no us against them, it is us for them and us is simply those who believe.  The elementary principles of the world are those important principles illuminated by the Law, in the light of Christ, we see these to be only the beginning of understanding and wisdom, not their fulfillment.  His light is superior in every respect.

22 August 2015

Psalm 137, 144; 2 Samuel 23:1-7,13-17; Acts 25:13-27; Mark 13:1-13

When David speaks of one who “rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God,” who then “dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth”, he is speaking of the rule and reign of Jesus.  The everlasting covenant made with his house is fulfilled in the one who is to come, the Christ, who will come from David’s line, the lion of Judah.  This may be David’s last poem or public oracle but these are not his final words, those will come in his death-bed instructions to his son Solomon regarding what he needs to do to consolidate his power over Israel and the settling of old scores.  As wonderful as David was, he was not the Christ, not the one to whom he refers in this passage.

Jesus speaks prophetically, first regarding the destruction of the temple which will occur in another thirty-five or so years, and then regarding what will come for the disciples.  They will be brought before councils, they will be persecuted, and they will be hated.  The good news is that they will have wisdom in their trials, the wisdom of the Holy Spirit speaking through them, and the Gospel will be proclaimed to all nations.  Given all the other things of which Jesus speaks, these would likely seem like small comforts.  We live in changing times, times very much like Jesus describes here with wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes and famines, but such things have always been happening.  Jesus doesn’t attempt to give signs of the end so much as to say that these things simply are a fact of life on this earth, but they are all the birth pangs of the new kingdom.  We have one work to do, proclaim the coming of that kingdom and do so in faith no matter what the circumstances.  We have to be prepared for persecution and rejection, not popularity.

This Agrippa is the brother of Drusilla, the wife of Felix, and he is a Jew. Not only that, he is accompanied here by Bernice and you probably assumed she was his wife but you were wrong, she is his sister.  There is a twist though.  It was widely speculated that their relationship was more than brother-sister, that it was, in fact, incestuous.  In his Roman position of authority he had also the power to appoint the high priest of the Jews, thereby controlling that position and ensuring it to be subservient to Roman interests.  He, therefore, was perfectly willing to allow Paul to be tried by the council, but Paul had the trump card of Roman citizenship to avoid that option.  Now, Paul will have an audience with Roman authorities but no one quite knows what charges may be brought against him.  We must always recall that earthly authorities may have some measure of power but ultimately there is the power of life only in the one who is life.  

21 August 2015

Psalm 140, 142; 2 Samuel 19:24-43; Acts 24:24-25:12; Mark 12:35-44

The welcoming party grows as David comes back into the land.  The first we meet is Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, whose servant, Ziba had gone to David and held himself out as loyal while his master was hoping to be raised up as the king in David’s place.  Mephibosheth’s neglect of his person would seem to indicate that indeed he was hoping for David’s return and we don’t know of anything that would argue in the other direction.  David determines to split the baby in half as it were, giving both men equal shares in the inherited land of Mephibosheth, whose response is the same as the mother of the child in the Solomon story who was the true mother.  Barzillai is offered the same arrangement Mephibosheth had enjoyed but he, like his forebears, chooses to remain on the other side of the Jordan and offered his son as proxy.  Ultimately, all Israel wants to greet the king and rejoice in him, but his own kinsmen, the men of Judah, prevail in their acclamation.  No one, at this juncture, wants to offend.

When Jesus teaches the scribes are wrong for teaching that the Christ is the Son of David he points to David referring to this one as lord.  The rules of succession were that the sire was lord and the offspring, in the presence of the predecessor or in reference to a predecessor, would use that term.  For David to refer to someone as lord, then, would require David to recognize that one as coming before.  Jesus is pointing to his own pre-dating of David, but at the same time, pointing to David’s acknowledgement that the Christ was his predecessor.  The scribes, here, come in for condemnation in that they want the honor of the office but do so at the expense of the poor, certainly something some preachers in our day have done, preying on their hopes and dreams.  Ultimately, Jesus says, those who are truly righteous are those who are “all in” in faith like the widow who put in her last penny in faith. 

Did you see what Paul reasoned with Felix and Drusilla about?  They spoke of righteousness, self-control and the coming judgment.  Certainly a strange set of topics, right?  It is really interesting when you know the history of the royal couple.  Felix had fallen in love with Drusilla because of her great beauty and convinced her to be his wife.  What a great love story.  The problem was that she was already married and she was Jewish.  She, therefore, had no right to leave her husband to marry Felix but that is exactly what had happened.  When Paul spoke on these topics it was incredibly personal and could have caused them to repent of their marriage completely.  No wonder Felix was alarmed and sent Paul away and hoped for a bribe.  Paul lived by faith in the Lord and was attempting to preach the Gospel of repentance, even to the man who seemed to have life and death power over him.  Faith recognizes the real power of life and death, the faith David had in the one to come and recognized him as Lord. Paul’s appeal to Caesar gets him the trip to Rome he had been hoping for, the trip the Lord had promised.

20 August 2015

Psalm 131, 132; 2 Samuel 19:1-23; Acts 24:1-23; Mark 12:28-34

David’s mourning for Absalom dishonored the men who had fought for David’s return as king.  Joab confronts the king and demands that he go out and honor these men by being in the gate of the city when they return from the battle.  Indeed, why did David mourn so over this son who had caused so much trouble and who wanted his father dead?  The soldiers felt guilty about the victory they had won for David because he seemed to care more about this son than for them.  Joab was right but, when David began re-gathering a team he promised the role of commander to Amasa, who had been commander of Absalom’s army and who was, like Joab, David’s nephew.  I assume David had had enough of Joab confronting him.  Additionally, all those who had treated David shabbily on his way out now come to pay respects and obeisance to the once and future king, including Shimei who had cursed him and thrown stones at him as he left Jerusalem.  On this day, David is magnanimous, the time to divide is past but, as Shimei will learn, it is also future. (see 1 Kings 2 for Shimei’s fate)

The question of which is the greatest commandment was a typical question of a Jewish rabbi who delighted in simplification like this.  Jesus goes back to Deuteronomy 6, to the Shema, the declaration of monotheism and the command to love the One God with all the heart, soul, mind and strength. If you love someone with all those aspects, what is left for anyone else?  If there is a second commandment to love, what would be the source of that love if all these were given to someone already?  The brilliance of the answer to love the neighbor as the self is that we are going to love ourselves one way or another but also that my neighbor is created in the image of God, so loving the neighbor is like unto that first commandment because I am commanded to love God and the image of God, they are connected to one another.  His interlocutor and all the rest are impressed with this answer and no one had anything else to ask, He clearly understood the Law.

The charges against Paul are religious in character only.  He is accused of causing Jews throughout the world to riot, being a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarene and attempting to profane the temple.  Paul’s defense is that he had been in Jerusalem twelve days, had stirred up no one, believed all these accusers believe and then some, and made no attempt to profane the temple at all.  It is solely with respect to the belief in the resurrection of the dead that he is on trial.  He is still attempting to divide his accusers although he is indeed on trial because of his claims re the resurrection of the dead, in particular the resurrection of Jesus.  Felix had a knowledge of the Way and so it seems he understood the issues at stake.  There will be a hearing, but it will wait.  Apparently he didn’t think Paul to be a problem, as he gave him great freedom while he was in his custody.

19 August 2015

Psalm 119:145-176; 2 Samuel 18:19-33; Acts 23:23-35; Mark 12:13-27

Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, the high priest, offers to run and tell David the news “that the Lord has delivered him from the hand of his enemies.” Joab, remembering what happened when a runner told David of news of Saul and Jonathan, how David had him executed, believes this to be a fool’s errand and calls for a foreigner, a Cushite, to take this news to David.  Ahimaaz persists in his desire and ultimately Joab allows him to go as well, perhaps with the idea that the Cushite will arrive first.  Ahimaaz, however, is faster but also he has his own game to play in the matter.  He has to have known that Absalom has been killed in battle but denies any such knowledge when David asks.  In doing so, he gets to be the bearer of good news, that David’s army has prevailed and, therefore, he will be able to go back and take over as king, but not the bad news, that will be the work of the Cushite runner.  Ahimaaz gets the glory, this man can receive the condemnation of the king.

When the Pharisees and Herodians collaborate you know there’s something wrong.  The Herodians were the ultimate compromisers with Rome and the Pharisees would ordinarily have never had anything to do with them.  In the case of Jesus, however, there was a common enemy, He was a threat to both.  They would not have been in agreement on the issue of paying taxes because that required the Pharisees to recognize Caesar as king when only God was king, but all they wanted was to get Jesus on the record.  His answer points to the likeness question.  The coin bore Caesar’s likeness and we bear God’s, therefore we are to render according to likeness.  The Sadducees, not to be outdone or left out of the plot to entrap Jesus, ask the ridiculous question only they could ask as they didn’t believe in resurrection at all.  The answer they receive is biblical and at the same time points to the reality that the after life is not analogous to this life, there is no reproduction in the next life.  They are all too smart by half.

Wouldn’t you love to know what the tribune did to those who were plotting against Paul? Surely he took it as a personal affront as well that they were planning to trick him in order to accomplish their mission.  He sent Paul off to Felix with quite an impressive guard, two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen.  The tribune can find nothing in Paul that deserves the death penalty under Roman law, and that is the law by which Paul must be tried in order to receive capital punishment as he is a Roman citizen.  The plot is also disclosed to the governor who can then question them as to their murderous intentions.  The buck has been passed effectively up the ladder of government and Paul is now to be treated as a Roman with respect to the law, and their law trumps Jewish law in the realm.  Gamesmanship is the way of the world, not of the church, yet we are to wise as serpents, innocent as doves.

18 August 2015

Psalm 121, 122, 123; 2 Samuel 18:9-18; Acts 23:12-24; Mark 11:27-12:12

Can this scene be any more comic?  Absalom, part of whose pride is his hair, catches himself by that hair in a tree while riding on a mule and the mule keeps walking on while Absalom dangles in the tree.  This is certainly a ridiculous situation for the man who would be king to be caught in and yet there he is hanging by his hair in an oak tree.  When Joab hears of Absalom, his cousin’s plight, he asks the man who tells him why he didn’t kill him while he had such a perfect opportunity.  The man is only providing information because David gave a command to deal gently with Absalom.  Joab has no compunctions about the matter and he and his armor bearers kill the young man, toss his body into a pit and cover it with stones.  Joab has gotten away with such disobedience to David in the past, doing what needed to be done in his eyes in spite of the king’s edicts. 

The chief priests, scribes and elders question Jesus as to the source of His authority for his actions, having in mind particularly the driving out of the money changers and dealers in pigeons the day before.  Jesus refuses to answer them directly, asking them a question concerning John’s ministry, was it from man or God.  The leaders cannot answer either with their own beliefs or with an answer to appease the crowd.  They can’t publicly deny John’s ministry as a human invention because the crowd will turn on them and they can’t affirm it either because they are guilty of not hearing a word of the Lord in that case.  Instead of answering directly, Jesus tells the parable of the wicked tenants which clearly refers to these same leaders as in line with those who have rejected the prophets of old and therefore the God of those prophets as well.  The son of the owner of the vineyard clearly is self-referential and prophetic as to what will soon happen to that son and then to the tenants, and they all know Jesus has answered their question. His authority is that of the Son.

I wonder what the forty guys who bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul did about that oath.  They had a problem like Jephthah (see Judges 11), if they remained true to their vow they surely died of hunger and thirst long before Paul himself died.  Unfortunately for these idiots, Paul’s nephew hears the plot because they are so determined that they make a public declaration of it and he then tells Paul who calls the tribune under whose authority he remains to tell him of the plot.  In the end, what the tribune learns is that he can’t trust the Jews because they were planning not only to kill Paul but to make a fool of him in the process.  These men, like Absalom, like the chief priests, scribes and elders, are caught in their own pride and arrogance.  We should never trust too much in the devices and desires of our own hearts, but in the sovereignty of God.

17 August 2015

Psalm 106:1-18; 2 Samuel 17:24-18:8; Acts 22:30-23:11; Mark 11:12-26

The commander of the army of Absalom was Joab’s first cousin whose father was an Ishmaelite.  To make it all more complicated, if you go to 1 Chronicles 2 you will find that this Zeruiah, who was Amasa’s mother, was also the sister of David, so both Joab and Amasa were David’s nephews and therefore first cousins of Absalom.  This battle was a family affair.  David’s intention was to go out with the army but his commanders convince him that he is more valuable elsewhere and that he needs to stay behind.  Why does he still tell them to deal gently with Absalom?  This young man has caused great difficulty in David’s life yet he still loves him as his son.  It would have seemed unlikely that the armies of David would prevail since they had been put to flight, but here in the wilderness they win the day.  Absalom’s army appeared more formidable than it was.

The lesson of the fig tree isn’t that Jesus didn’t understand the seasonality of the tree.  The story of the fig tree brackets the day.  In the morning Jesus cursed the fig tree then went to Jerusalem and cleansed the temple of the moneychangers and “the seats of those who sold pigeons.”  Pigeons were a poor man’s offering at the temple, and the implication was that the sellers were preying on the poor.  Forbidding to carry things through the temple would suggest that merchants of all sorts were using the temple as a short-cut to their businesses, thereby cutting off the Gentiles from praying there.  In the evening, when they returned to the place of the fig tree, the disciples remark on the fact that it had withered during the day.  The fig tree was a precursor to the work of the day, something that looks good on the outside but isn’t producing what it was intended to produce and was therefore cursed.  It becomes a parabolic element in Jesus’ teaching on faith in God and in prayer. 

Who called this meeting?  The “he” of the first verse of our reading is the tribune whom Paul had confronted and confounded yesterday.  He commanded the council to meet together so that he might understand the charges they laid against Paul.  Why did the high priest order Paul to be struck?  It could be that he had spoken out of turn or that his statement was not believed and considered blasphemous. When Paul says he does not know that Ananais is the high priest you have to remember something and know something.  First, it has been a long while since Paul has been in Jerusalem and cared who the high priest might be and second, the priesthood, at this time, bounced back and forth between Ananais and a couple of other men so to know at any given time who it might be required more effort to know that Paul would have put forth.  His apology for lashing out verbally is sincere.  Paul knew his audience and chose the strategy of divide and conquer, dividing them along party lines via an appeal to resurrection.  The tribune would have been completely confused at the end of this meeting.  Nothing is as it appears, no judgment was possible.  Paul is reassured that in any event, he will, as he desires, go to Rome to bear witness to Jesus.  What is it that you believe God is going to do in and through your life that doesn’t seem possible today?  As Jesus said, have faith, believe.

16 August 2015

Psalm 118; 2 Samuel 17:1-23; Gal. 3:6-14; John 5:30-47

Hushai had been encouraged by David to remain in Jerusalem and offer himself as a counselor to Absalom in order to spy upon the proceedings and, if possible, to thwart the counsel of Ahitophel.  Ahitophel gave counsel to Absalom to press the attack immediately against David, kill him and then all Israel will fall into line behind Absalom as king.  Hushai is called that he might respond to this advice and he counters with a different plan in order to buy time for David and also to put Absalom personally into the fray where Ahitophel had counseled that Absalom remain at home while he, Ahitophel, led out the armies.  Hushai’s counsel appealed to the vanity of the young man and so Ahitophel’s counsel was set aside.  There is a quality in the story of the men being hidden by a woman on the Israeli side of the Jordan which is reminiscent of the story of Hagar hiding the spies long before.  The whole story, with Hushai creating the image of David as a mighty man and the men with him as valiant and mighty that also reminds of the first episode of spying out the land. Ahitophel determines to leave and goes home and hangs himself in disgrace, perhaps he knew it wasn’t going to go well for Absalom.

If Jesus can do nothing on His own why would we ever think we could?  He says that He judges only because He hears the voice of the Father first, and that His judgment is just because He isn’t seeking His will but the Father’s.  I fear that we can be like these to whom Jesus is speaking.  We can be biblicists and forget that the Bible points to Him, a person, not a set of rules, stories, etc.  In the end, what we make of Jesus is all that matters and if we don’t see Him in the entire Word, which, at the time He speaks, points only to the Old Testament, then we don’t see Him rightly or read the Word well.  If we would know the Father, we must receive the one He sent, the Son.  For Jesus to make such a claim is breathtaking in its audacity if it isn’t true and He points to multiple attestations to this truth.  Hearing His voice is paramount in every situation in our lives.

Paul’s argument is clear, no one is or can be justified under the Law because no one keeps it all perfectly.  Scrupulosity like that of the Pharisees is fine so far as it goes but it doesn’t go far enough to be perfect.  Only one, Jesus, has ever kept the Law, so the righteous live by faith.  Sometimes we overlook that term, “the righteous” in that little phrase.  Faith isn’t the only thing that is important there, we are called to righteousness as well as faith but that righteousness is never to be the ground of our faith, only His righteousness.  David had faith not in Hushai and the priests who were also spies on his behalf, he had faith in God, that His will would be done in all things.  God used these men for His purposes but ultimately only the Lord receives credit for delivering David from Absalom.  We are always, in all things, dependent on faith in the only one who is eternally faithful, who has revealed Himself and true righteousness in the face of His Son.

15 August 2015

Psalm 107:33-43, 108; 2 Samuel 16:1-23; Acts 22:17-29; Mark 11:1-11

Could David be any more resigned to his fate?  When Shimei, a member of Saul’s family, comes out and curses David and the entourage and throws stones at him, calling him a man of blood on whom all the blood of the house of Saul will be avenged, his men want to stop Shimei but David says to let him continue, it is possible that David deserves to be cursed.  Was David responsible for the blood of Saul’s house?  It wasn’t David’s men who killed Saul and Jonathan.  David, however, knows his sin and he knows God’s word concerning the reality that there will be no peace in his house as a consequence.  As Nathan had prophesied, another went in to David’s concubines, his own son, Absalom, at the counsel of Ahitophel.  At this point, Absalom had thrown down his claim to succeed his father in every way.  What had David done to Absalom to deserve the treatment he was given?  Was it still part of the revenge for Amnon’s rape of Tamar and David’s failure to act?

Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem provides quite a contrast with David’s exit doesn’t it?  Where Shimei threw stones and dust and shouted curses at David, the crowds greet Jesus like a king, strewing palm branches on the way and shouting, Hosanna, which means Lord save us and referring to Him bringing the kingdom of their father David.  Where does Jesus go when He enters the city?  The house of His Father, the temple, to look around at everything.  It had to have been a bittersweet moment for Him, hearing the crowds, receiving the adulation, and yet knowing what will soon take place in this very city and many of these same people will be shouting not, Lord save us and blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord, but “Crucify Him!”  Little could anyone know that this was the answer to the prayer, “Lord, save us.”

When Paul says that he was sent to the Gentiles the crowd turns on him.  Their cry is that he isn’t fit to live and react as Shimei reacted to David’s presence.  The man is preaching their only hope for salvation and they want him dead.  The tribune knew Paul spoke Greek and Hebrew but Paul had identified himself only as a Jew who had been born in Cilicia to this point so the man had no idea that Paul was also a Roman citizen.  The tribune thought perhaps the best way to get Paul to explain the truth about why these people were so angry with him (the tribune probably didn’t speak Hebrew and couldn’t have understood the controversy) was to torture him by flogging him.  At the last moment, after Paul has already had his civil rights violated by being bound, he informs them that this is unlawful to do to a Roman citizen.  Purchasing your citizenship was less prestigious that having natural-born status as Paul did, no matter what your title might be.  We have a tendency to measure all things by present circumstances, David down, Jesus up, Paul, not too good.  We don’t have any idea how to understand the moment and yet we try.

14 August 2015

Psalm 102; 2 Samuel 15:19-37; Acts 21:37-22:16; Mark 10:46-52

What an incredibly sad scene to see David and those who remain loyal to him leaving the city of David going out towards the wilderness in fear.  Men come to him and offer their loyalty.  Some, like Ittai the Gittite, David allows to go with him, others, like the priests and his friend Hushai the Archite, David sends back to the city to be his eyes and ears there.  He refuses to allow the ark to go with him into the wilderness, it is not a talisman with magical powers.  He will rely on the Lord to bring him back to Jerusalem if it seems good, otherwise he is willing to accept the Lord’s judgment.  As he prays for the Lord to turn the advice of Absalom’s counselor, Ahitophel, to foolishness, the Lord presents a solution in the person of Hushai, who can become a counselor as well, speaking alternative wisdom to Absalom.  Who could have imagined such a scenario as this?

Jesus and his retinue are going towards the city of Jerusalem for the festival.  The scene is remarkably different here, there is anticipation and excitement surrounding Jesus.  The people are coming to believe perhaps this is the one who will take the throne, the Messiah, and crowds line the streets of Jericho as He comes through the town.  Bartimaeus cries out, ““Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” He believes this Jesus is the Messiah, the promised Son of David and he will not be silent in his plea for mercy.  Jesus’ question of what Bartimaeus wants from him gives the man a chance to beg alms but instead he wants more than this, he wants his sight restored.  Because he did not balk at such a request, he proves that he believes even more than simply a king has come, this one has healing power as well.  Because he asks, he receives and follows Jesus on the way.  He will soon have reason to wish he had not received back his sight as he, surely, watched the events of Good Friday.

To the tribune, Paul speaks Greek and proves himself to be one thing when the tribune thought him to be something else, an Egyptian.  This shows how confused was the scene when Paul was arrested.  When he is allowed to speak to the crowd, however, he speaks in the Hebrew language, he is speaking to his people, and they immediately pay closer attention.  He begins his defense by situating himself squarely in Jewish culture, he was raised here in Jerusalem and was educated by one of the two great rabbis of the day, Gamaliel himself.  He was as zealous as anyone for the Law and hated this sect of the Way who believed Jesus was Messiah and persecuted it vehemently until he had an encounter with Jesus on his way to Damascus and then everything changed.  Paul’s life was utterly changed when he met Jesus.  He received an eternal reward but it cost him everything he had ever worked for to receive it.  Trusting the Lord is sometimes difficult but it is the only way.

13 August 2015

Psalm 105:1-22; 2 Samuel 15:1-18; Acts 21:27-36; Mark 10:32-45

I have certainly been part of churches where someone like Absalom arose to attempt to steal the hearts of the people.  I have seen in happen in churches where I was a staff member and I have seen it with subordinates in the church I serve as senior pastor.  It is painful and always ends badly one way or another.  Absalom made himself available, first thing in the morning, to anyone who walked through the gate of the city to assist them.  He was obsequious in his manner towards all and sundry in order to curry favor but also to make David look inaccessible.  Church splits are frequently the result of this very behavior.  Absalom ultimately got critical mass of support and went out and proclaimed himself king with many in his train.  David realizes too late what has happened and can do nothing more than flee.  David failed to keep an eye on Absalom and trusted him when he knew he could not.  In the church it is easy to do the same and fail to call that person into account.  The real issue is that the person is collecting people for their own purposes and not attaching them to Jesus.

By this point, the disciples knew better than to challenge Jesus when He predicted His death.  They didn’t understand it, it didn’t fit with their eschatology, but they were unwilling to ask or question Him on the matter any longer after Peter was so profoundly chastised.  James and John don’t directly challenge the issue, they ignore it and ask for special favor to be on the right and left of Jesus when He ascends to the throne.  It is hard to imagine the presumption and gall of these two disciples in making this request.  It would have been breathtaking to hear it from Jesus’ perspective and in retrospect you have to believe the two disciples themselves were heartily ashamed of themselves.  No wonder the others were indignant.  Can we ever get to a place where we are truly serving for the sake of others rather than for what it might ultimately do for us?

Paul’s submission to the Jerusalem elders caused him to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  He was in the temple with the four men who had taken the vow and Jews from Asia came accusing him of speaking against the Jews, the law and temple and of taking Greeks into the temple, flaunting his disregard for that place.  That this was untrue no longer mattered, the crowd had become a mob, enflamed against Paul in the same way they had turned on Jesus.  Fortunately for Paul, while they were beating him the Roman soldiers came to stop the madness.  We should never seek to be popular, only to be obedient.  Paul certainly knew that truth and it cost him dearly time after time.  In the end, however, he is a true hero of the faith.

12 August 2015

Psalm 101, 109; 2 Samuel 14:21-33; Acts 21:15-26; Mark 10:17-31

Absalom was the pride of Israel.  He had it all, good looks and good locks, when he cut his hair the weight of what was cut was five pounds.  He had perfect kids, everything.  Did you notice his daughter’s name? Tamar, the name of his sister who was defiled by their brother Amnon.  David allowed him back into the land but not into the king’s house.  What Israelite who knew the story of Amnon and Tamar, and it seems likely that Absalom would have made certain that everyone knew why he had his brother killed, could have held that murder against him?  More than likely, it made him a good man in their eyes to have avenged his sister in this way.  Absalom is man who will not be denied.  He summons Joab twice without response and finally he finds a way to get his attention, setting Joab’s field on fire.  This gets him his audience with the king who kisses him and restores him as a son.  His impetuous nature paid off.

Interestingly, Jesus’ answer regarding the commandments leaves off the first few doesn’t it? He doesn’t talk about the commands that relate to God, only those to do with other people.  The young man can say that he has kept these but Jesus will show what he “lacks”, setting God first.  The man comes seeking to inherit eternal life but he is unwilling to relinquish his earthly inheritance for the eternal one.  He is tied to his money in such a way that he cannot lay it aside at Jesus’ command in order to receive what he says he wants.  There are things in all our lives that keep us from having the best of and from the Lord, things that we must have rather than secondary things.  This is a perfect, living example of what Jesus meant in telling us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.  The man seeks the kingdom but seeks it secondarily.  We can only hope that he re-evaluated this decision after the resurrection.

The charge against Paul made by the zealous Jewish converts in Jerusalem was that Paul was teaching Jews to forsake the law of Moses.  The Jerusalem council had ruled that Gentiles were not bound by the law except in certain matters but it wasn’t clear what that meant for Jewish believers in Jesus. Paul did not, himself, maintain strict observance to the ceremonial law among Gentiles, he ate with them in their homes.  There are two kinds of law in general, ceremonial law, that which relates to the temple worship, and moral law.  Nowhere does Paul lessen the moral strictures of the law but with respect to the ceremonial law, Paul set the proclamation of the Gospel first, the ceremonial law of the temple was null in his eyes because Jesus had supplanted the temple.  He is, however, talked into taking men under vows to the temple to complete their vow in order to show that he has value for such things that the Jews might see and their objections be dropped.  Good luck with that. 

11 August 2015

Psalm 97, 99; 2 Samuel 14:1-20; Acts 21:1-14; Mark 10:1-16

David seems always to fall for the same ruse.  As with Nathan in the matter of Bathsheba, Joab and the wise woman from Tekoa, later known as the home of Amos the prophet, concoct a story to tell David which will ultimately elicit from him wisdom concerning an issue that is, in actuality, his own situation.  The woman tells of two sons, one of whom is murdered by the other and of a blood avenger who seeks the life of the murderer.  This will leave her childless and without anyone to inherit whatever she has.  This would have been an exception to the law of the blood avenger for those reasons.  David judges that for these reasons the law is not to be enacted against the remaining son and in so doing, the woman points out that the same is true of Absalom who has been banished for his actions in murdering Amnon. David sees that Joab is behind this ruse and the woman finally admits that they have indeed conspired to get the king to see the “truth” of the matter. 

Jesus, like with all other moral teachings, raises the bar on divorce.  Moses permitted a man to divorce his wife (a woman had no such rights) by giving her a letter and setting her free.  Jesus goes back to Genesis for God’s original intent which was based in gender complementarity, the original creation of male and female, and in that complementarity they can become one flesh,  what is lack in one is completed in the other.  They are to remain one flesh and divorce is not contemplated.  Jesus says that those who divorce and remarry are adulterers.  The thing to remember is grace, sin is forgiveable if we come to the place of repentance but divorce, according to Jesus, is sin.  The church has lost its moral footing on this issue and needs to reclaim it.  It is interesting to me that this is immediately followed by the issue of children coming to Jesus and his injunction to let no one hinder them from coming.  Divorce often affects children most and children of divorced parents have reasons for doubting the faithful love of God as they have seen covenantal love break down. 

Paul continues his journey to Jerusalem by saying goodbye to old friends along the way, all of whom have not only a bad feeling about the future but all of whom know how this is going to end.  Agabus comes and prophesies with demonstrations about Paul’s future if he persists in going to Jerusalem and all, including Luke, do their best to dissuade Paul from going.  Paul, however, has no concern about this eventuality, he seems to agree completely with the prophetic word but is certain this is God’s will.  Remember way back when Paul first became a believer he was told all that he must suffer for the Name of Jesus.  It would certainly have included this and Paul, with the same attitude of Jesus, goes willingly.  Could God trust you with such knowledge?  We all have crosses to bear, David did with Absalom and that only got worse, sometimes marriage can be our cross as well when it is hard.  God can redeem and restore anything but if not, we are still called to bear it well.

10 August 2015

Psalm 89:1-18; 2 Samuel 13:23-39; Acts 20:17-38; Mark 9:42-50

Absalom waited two years to get his revenge on Amnon.  We aren’t told why he chose this particular time, only that he begged his father David to send his sons to participate in the celebration at sheep shearing time and ultimately David relented.  David’s question as to why Amnon should come out seems to indicate that he had some doubts about the matter but he sent him anyway.  The initial report was that all the king’s sons were killed, a la Job’s situation, but Jonadab, the very man  who contrived with Amnon to have Tamar come to his chamber and provide opportunity for the rape, assured the king that only Amnon was killed and the reason was the rape to which he was plotter and accomplice.  Absalom flees to Geshur and remains for three years.  The last verse seems to indicate that David’s reaction to the death of Amnon was perhaps, to him, as the death of his child with Bathsheba.  He knew of the sin of Amnon and surely knew that it was only a matter of time before someone got the revenge and, as she lived with Absalom, it seemed likely it would be him.

Obviously, Jesus took personal righteousness seriously.  Sin mattered greatly to him, enough that He would suggest that if a member of your body caused you to sin you should consider cutting it off.  He says that hell is real, and is a consequence of a life lived according to the flesh.  To the extent we enter heaven maimed, that is far better than entering hell, “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched”, whole and intact in body.  We have to deal with the fact that believing is only the beginning of the journey not the end.  We are saved by faith because we can’t be saved by our own righteousness, but we express our gratitude and the reality that we have a lord when we submit our lives to Him.  Jesus can’t just be savior, He must also be Lord if you truly believe.

Paul calls the elders of the Ephesian church together and gives them a charge to keep the faith.  His speech is much like an abbreviated version of the book of Deuteronomy. He reminds them of all he has done, how he taught house to house, paid his own way in all things, defended the faith, and all in tears and persecution.  He fears for the future of the church as he knows some will come from outside like ravening wolves and that there will be some also within their own ranks who will stray from his teaching.  He is very much aware that the Spirit constrains him to go to Jerusalem and this will not turn out well as has been prophesied over and again to him but he will be obedient to the Spirit regardless of the outcome.  

9 August 2015

Psalm 66, 67; 2 Samuel 13:1-22; Rom. 15:1-13; John 3:22-36

David had the power to compel others to bring Bathsheba to him.  Amnon lacked that power but the feelings he had for his half-sister Tamar were no less powerful so he contrived with his friend Jonadab to get David to compel Tamar to come to his bed, ostensibly for the purpose of nursing him in a sickness.  The problem of polygamy extends beyond the husband-wife relationships to extended family.  Amnon describes her as Absalom’s sister which allows him to let his “love” grow in ways it would perhaps not if he reminded himself that she was also his own sister.  Ultimately, the love becomes lust which needs to be satisfied and he rapes Tamar and then immediately hates her more passionately than he had loved her and sends her away from him.  Absalom learns the truth and yet sits on it, sheltering Tamar at his home.  David, too, learns the truth but takes no action against his son.  Why?  He set a son above a daughter in the matter.

John knew his place in God’s grand plan.  He knew that he wasn’t the Christ and therefore when that one came he was willing to take a lesser place, to see others going to the Christ.  His work was to point to Jesus.  That is our mission as well.  We should be glad when people believe our testimony about Jesus and follow Him.  We aren’t to make disciples for ourselves, all are to be disciples of Jesus.  John was willing to let go of people and rejoice that they followed after Jesus.  He knew that what Jesus taught was greater than his own teaching because he was a man of earth and Jesus a man from above.  His exaltation of Jesus was important because he had such a ministry.  He wasn’t attempting to create a dependency on himself as the messenger but only to direct people to the one whom he proclaimed.

What would our fellowship look like if we set out not to please ourselves but to please our neighbors instead?  I think we would find ourselves greatly pleased. That one change in thinking and attitude changes not only me but, ultimately, my neighbor as well. If someone else is seeking my good in our relationship then I don’t have to look out for my interests.  It allows me to seek their interests.  Paul cites Jesus’ example of bearing the reproach of sin on our behalf.  He came to bear away our sins, to take them and the punishment, death, on Himself out of love.  What if Amnon had loved Tamar in truth and sought her interests rather than the gratification of his own desires?  How we love matters greatly in the kingdom, our love is to be of a different character and quality.

8 August 2015

Psalm 87, 90; 2 Samuel 12:15-31; Acts 20:1-16; Mark 9:30-41

David fasted and prayed so long as there was hope but after the child died he went back to living.  It is incredibly realistic to take such an attitude but it doesn’t fit with anyone’s expectations or experience.  David’s words explaining himself, particularly the last sentence, seem painful, “But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”  After David comforts Bathsheba and she bears him another child, Solomon, his time of being away from the army needs to come to an end.  His private life has kept him from his other, royal, duties and Joab summons him to come to Rabbah lest Joab take the city without David and history be repeated.  Remember that David’s victory over the Philistines became a point of jealousy for Saul.  David now resumes his kingly responsibilities.  Can you imagine a crown that weighs 75 pounds like the one they took from the king at Rabbah.

No one, not even the disciples, understood death and resurrection three days later.  they believed in the resurrection of the dead but not with respect to Messiah and not the idea of three days.  Isn’t it completely ludicrous that they were arguing which of them was the greatest as they traveled with Jesus?  Does it really matter who is the greatest when you have Jesus among you?  No one compares to Him and certainly the three that went up the mountain couldn’t have so quickly forgotten what they had seen and heard and those who were incapable of healing the boy and saw Jesus heal him couldn’t have forgotten could they?  Of course they could have forgotten such things, we do it all the time.  When God uses us in ministry we easily forget our place in the grand scheme.  Humility is a great and rare virtue.

Luke gives a detailed travelogue.  He was part of the group at this time, note the use of the pronoun “we” throughout this passage.  These are events to which he is providing eyewitness testimony.  While at Troas, Paul speaks well into the night to the believers and a young man, Eutychus, falls deeply asleep and while Paul talks still longer he fell from a third story window and is “taken up dead.”  Paul is used by the Lord to raise the young man back to life and then it seems Paul spent the remainder of the night talking to them.  I would bet that this event charged the group and re-vivified all who were there.  Paul, unlike David, lived after the resurrection of Jesus and knew that death wasn’t always the final answer. 

7 August 2015

Psalm 88; 2 Samuel 12:1-14; Acts 19:21-41; Mark 9:14-29

How horrifying it must have been for David when his sins were laid bare before him by the prophet.  I wonder what he thought after the little story when he proclaimed against the man who had done such evil against his neighbor and Nathan said, “You are the man!”  When Nathan continued that the Lord had blessed David and given him so much and then finally he told the sins of David with Bathsheba and her husband Uriah David must have been utterly devastated.  In the Psalms, particularly Psalms 51 and 139, we see David’s response to this episode in his life.  The lament of Psalm 51 over sin and the initial lament and then ultimately finding comfort in what he had formerly lamented in Psalm 139, that there was no place he could hide from God reveal David’s suffering and then his wisdom and trust in the Lord.  How wonderful it must have been after he confessed to hear the words of absolution.  There would be consequences, serious and abiding consequences but not punishment for sin.  We have to separate the two, consequences and punishment, from one another to understand things rightly.  David’s sin was forgiven but the child born from this relationship would die.

Had the disciples come to believe that they were the source of the power to heal?  Jesus says that this kind can come out only by prayer in response to their question as to why they couldn’t heal the boy.  It is certainly possible to take His meaning as they had depended too much on the power of the Spirit so that they took it for granted rather than depending on God in an intentional way like prayer.  I think perhaps it also says that while there is anointing for some things, some things are more difficult and require us to plead before the Father.  The man’s faith has been tested for years with this infirmity and now is being tested again with the disciples’ failure to help.  His plea to Jesus is conditional, “if you can…”, he is about out of hope and Jesus speaks into this lack of faith.  I’ve been there and I know that it looks like to have no hope and yet know that indeed all things are possible. There are no limits to the possible with God.

Demetrius posed two problems that the Gospel may present.  First, it was a threat to the trade in hand-made gods that he and his fellow craftsmen made and sold, their livelihood was potentially at stake.  Second, the temple of the goddess was at risk of being counted as nothing and she deposed from the preeminent position she occupied in the world.  The first concern is really the concern of these craftsmen but it helps to get others on your side if you make the issue something that concerns them.  The strategy worked.  The people didn’t know why they were there but then sorted it that their god was somehow under attack so chanted for two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”  Can you imagine watching and listening to this?  Fortunately, the town clerk saw through it all and calmed the crowds.  It had to feel a bit dangerous for Paul and his friends for a bit though. 

6 August 2015

Psalm 34; 2 Samuel 11:1-27; Acts 19:11-20; Mark 9:2-13

The first sentence tells us where things began going wrong.  In the spring of the year “kings” went out to battle but David didn’t go, he sent Joab and the rest of the nation.  David, however, remained at Jerusalem.  Because he didn’t go out with the army, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  “If only I had…” is something we live with all the time.  Who would have thought that David remaining in Jerusalem would become the occasion for his downfall in sin?  Uriah may be a Hittite but his name is actually a Hebrew name meaning “the Lord is my light” and he is faithfully serving David in the army at the time David sees and falls in love with his wife.  The liaison results in a pregnancy and because she was “cleansing herself from her impurity” at the time, we know that the child must be David’s so he sends for Uriah to come and, hopefully sleep with his wife and cover David’s tracks.  The plot fails because Uriah is a faithful man to his duty and ultimately, rather than admit what he has done, David must have Uriah killed.  As always, it isn’t necessarily the crime but the cover-up of the crime that creates the nightmare scenario.

Clearly the disciples had no idea what to make of what happened on the mount of Transfiguration.  They didn’t have any idea how it was possible or why Jesus was suddenly transfigured and talking with Moses and Elijah.  They didn’t know what to do about it and suggested that the moment be preserved as long as possible, Peter proposing to make booths so that they could remain there.  Just as remarkably the cloud overshadowed Jesus and the voice from heaven proclaimed Him as the Son and they were told to listen to Him.  These others had spoken also, the Law and the Prophets, the two who were to come back prior to the end and yet they were eclipsed by Jesus.  When He told them not to speak about this until the Son of Man was risen from the dead, Mark tells us they didn’t understand that either, “So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.”  It was all too confusing, sometimes we don’t understand what we see and hear in the Spirit either.  We always need to be humble about interpreting such things.

Real revival happened in Ephesus because real power was displayed.  People were being healed which attracted much attention but also some of what could be deemed superstition.  The itinerant Jewish exorcists (certainly something you don’t hear about in our day) included seven sons of a priest named Sceva who thought they had found the magic word for healing, the name of the particular Jesus whom Paul proclaimed.  The result wasn’t pretty for these men, routed, beaten and naked, they flee from the house.  When word gets around town, believers come confessing and divulging their practices and those who were practicing magic brought their books to be burned. Believers experienced the fear of the Lord because of the power of the Lord and revival began to happen, they put away their sins and their folly, the belief in something other than God for power. The fear of the Lord is an important part of revival, it means we are seeing clearly.

5 August 2015

Psalm 119:97-120; 2 Samuel 9:1-13; Acts 19:1-10; Mark 8:34-9:1

David reaches out to do kindness to Saul’s family and Saul’s servant Ziba is brought to David that the king may inquire if there are any living relatives of Saul.  Ziba tells David that Jonathan has a son named Mephibosheth who is lame in both feet who remains alive and David sends for the man.  David is incredibly generous to this man, giving him all that had belonged to his grandfather, Saul, his lands and his servants. Additionally, Mephibosheth will eat at David’s table as if he were a son of the king himself.  In doing this, David is honoring the covenant he had made with Jonathan, that they were indistinguishable from one another, so Jonathan’s son is as though he were David’s own son. 

Jesus says that the way to eternal life is the way of self-denial.  Does that mean that this existence has no meaning and purpose and that we are to simply grit our teeth, put our heads down and plow on to the end of this life?  Absolutely not, the incarnation tells us that this life has great significance in and of itself.  Jesus’ life was important on its own because it tells us what the contours of our lives are to be, the basic shape is love, self-sacrificial love.  Self-denial becomes affirmation of something more and greater than the self.  The autonomous self is an illusion, there is a time when we were not, we did not self-generate.  When we recognize that there is no true autonomy we have three basic choices to make, to deny that truth, to find ourselves in something else of earth, or to find ourselves in our creator and to find that He loves us.  Taking up our cross is an act of love and it is also an act of the will.  We choose to take up the cross, it isn’t laid across our shoulders unless we are willing to bear it.  David chose to treat Mephibosheth with kindness and it was costly to him, he could have appropriated all the lands of Saul and could have neglected this young man but he chose to sacrifice for love. 

Are there people today who have “never even heard of the Holy Spirit”?  When Paul went to Ephesus he found some believers in whom he saw something missing and asked about their baptism.  It would certainly seem that Apollos was their teacher prior to his own deepened understanding of what Jesus came to do.  The baptism of John was for those who repented of their sins but it was a preparatory action.  John proclaimed that one was coming who would baptize in the Holy Spirit and fire, not just water.  In our tradition, we recognize the water baptism as preparatory for the later baptism of the Holy Spirit which we call confirmation.  The problem is that we don’t teach the Holy Spirit very much or very well so we have believers who have heard of the Holy Spirit but they don’t know enough to know what it means to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.  There is more available to us, who, like Mephibosheth, are lame and infirm through sin, we are invited to participate in the life of the Spirit.