OT: Numbers 21:1-22:20
Before I get to Balaam, I have to let everyone know that they can breathe easily now: the matter of Numbers has been settled in my soul. I know, I know--what a relief:)! I touched on my interpretation yesterday, but here it is in a nutshell: the OT portrays the relationship between a holy God and sinful man. By all accounts, such a relationship should never have happened, since holiness and perfection cannot commune with sin. The fact that it did happen proves Moses' words that "the Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love, and forgiving sin and rebellion" (14:18). However, due to human sinfulness, such a relationship is bound to be fraught with hardship. When humans live that close to holiness, a lot of death will necessarily ensue, as we have seen. And even with the Law and the priests and the sacrifices in place, man cannot enjoy the true, full communion with God for which they both long. Thus, God sent Jesus to fulfill the Law perfectly and to make peace between God and man. The relationship that we now enjoy is the relationship for which we were designed...and which the Israelites could never experience without that perfect Savior to mediate.
So, I got it. I'm sure most of you were already there and are relieved that I finally caught up with the class:).
Now, on to Balaam. Did I not tell you that this story would rock? Seriously, I found myself laughing out loud, having forgotten some of the details. I was a bit confused by God's anger over Balaam's journey, since He had told Balaam that he could go (22:20). But two verses later, He's angry about it. It seems clear to me that God's allowance was a concession to Balaam, and that He wanted Balaam to understand that He wasn't happy with this whole situation. And you have to love God's method. He puts an angel in the road, so that only the donkey can see it. Do you see what God's going for here? I have a theory that in giving the donkey better spiritual vision than the prophet, God was making a few unsavory comparisons. After all, Balaam's insistence on going with Balak's men shows that he was stubborn, and that he also turns out to be a bit of an...well, you know:). I mean seriously, who's the real talking donkey here? (I'll be here all week, folks:)).
And the physical comedy is hilarious. First of all, the donkey veers off the road. Then, he smashes Balaam's foot against the wall (this is the point where I started laughing out loud), and lastly, the donkey sits down under Balaam (increasing my laughter). And then, of course, it gets even better b/c God lets the donkey talk and calmly, reasonably prove why Balaam is being so...asinine. I know we all read it, but let's relive it together, shall we? First, the donkey asks, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?" And Balaam doesn't miss a beat. He is so mad that he immediately starts arguing with a talking donkey! He tells the donkey that she embarrassed him and that he would kill her if he had a sword. The donkey responds to this hotheaded remark with cool logic, proving herself to be the intellectual superior in the conversation: "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" I am rolling by this point. This story always gets me, and if you think I'm overreacting with my enthusiasm, just flip back and look what I have been reading in Numbers the last couple of days. Compared to that, this is high comedy! Then of course, God opens Balaam's eyes, and he sees the angel and makes up with his donkey. And I love God's little comment that He would have killed Balaam but spared the donkey. He really wanted to put Balaam in his place, didn't he?
And it worked. Balaam went on to faithfully relay God's words to Balak, despite the latter taking his turn as a stubborn mule and trying three times to get a curse out of Balaam.
NT: Luke 1:57-80
Today, I found myself loving the idea that John's identity was fixed from birth. God had a purpose and a plan for John. For some reason, I loved it when, after the first recorded game of charades, Zechariah confirms, "His name is John." Not, "I want to name him John," or "We are going to name him John," but, "His name is John." John is who this child is. John's identity is already formed. The people seem to get some sense of the wonder of the situation because they are "filled with awe," and "everyone who heard" about it wondered, "What then is this child going to be?" (65-66). They realize definitively that God has plans for this baby.
It makes me wonder if that is not true, albeit to a lesser degree, for all of us. After all, Ephesians 2:10 says that "we are God's workmanship, created in Christ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." That is true of me and of my children. And I know that my kids aren't John the Baptist, but I still see how to a certain degree, they have a fixed identity, and that God created them in a certain way for a certain purpose. Like Mary, I treasure things up in my heart about my children, and like the people in today's reading, I wonder, "What then are these children going to be?" I see their promise, and I wait and pray in anticipation for whatever God chooses to do through them.
I also love Zechariah's prophecy. I see clearly how Jesus did fulfill all of the things he prophesied, but I also see how Zechariah could have some misinterpretations of his own prophecy even as he says it. For instance, in verse 74, Zech says that the horn of salvation will "rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and...enable us to serve him without fear". Perhaps Zechariah was envisioning a physical escape from oppression; perhaps he pictured people serving God without fear because they had no reason to fear. However, Jesus rescued His people from the hands of their true, spiritual enemies, and He empowered them to serve fearlessly in the midst of adversity.
I don't know if Zechariah thought all that, but for some reason, I find the idea of misinterpreting the prophecy to be comforting. Often, I see things that lead me to believe fully that God is going to do something really cool, and then the really cool thing turns out completely differently from what I pictured. It's comforting to realize that even though God doesn't act in the way I think He is going to, He still is accomplishing great things. In fact, He is undoubtedly accomplishing greater things than the things I was picturing.
My favorite image, though, is of the "rising sun" that "will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace" (78-79). Beautiful!
Psalm 58:1-11
Well, David is quite graphic in this psalm! He implores God to "break the [wicked's] teeth in their mouths, and he compares them hopefully to a "slug melting away" and a "stillborn child" (6,8). Lovely.
In verse 3, there is some more imagery that might be pertinent both to the idea of original sin and our ongoing discussion of the function and intention of the psalms. I feel, however, that I have been belaboring those points a bit. Thus, I won't revisit them. (Except to say that it seems impossible for someone to speak lies from the womb. No more, though:).) I could go around and around with myself on this one, so I'll just move on instead.
Proverbs 11:12-13
Ah, these are tough verses. I was going to say that they are tough for women, but one thing I learned from high school is that guys are often bigger gossips than girls! They just aren't catty about it; they vent their feelings outright:). So these verses are tough for everyone. If nothing else, it is hard to hold one's tongue, like verse 12 advises! Since I very much value trustworthiness, I love verse 13. At the same time, though, I tell Greg everything, and maybe that betrays confidences sometimes! I do try to let people know before they confide in me that I will inevitably spill to Greg!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
March 14
OT: Numbers 21:10-22:20
Well, we're back to business as usual today, with the Israelites grumbling against God, and God responding by killing them. This time, it is with poisonous snakes. Once they repent, God always relents, and in this case, He provides a bronze snake for them to look at and be healed from their snake bites. After subconsciously and not-so-subconsciously mulling over this harsh relationship between God and His people for a few days, I can't help but appreciate more the holiness of God. You do. not. mess. with. a holy God. The end. That is the lesson I've kept learning. And it is a lesson that you have to learn to have any understanding of what Jesus did for us. He made everlasting peace between us and Yahweh! That is incredible! That is amazing! And my appreciation and awe of that fact have really deepened from reading Numbers this closely. (I am on a bit of an emotional roller coaster with Numbers, if you can't tell. My brain and my heart have been battling each other and the text, but I'm in a good place right now:)).
It also struck me today how God does not like impatience. Verse 4 says that "the people grew impatient on the way," and that's why they grumbled against God and Moses. In my life, I tend to get impatient when God takes me the long way. Reading the OT has really helped me see that the "long way" is God's favorite way. It has made me much more cool with it.
Oh, and lastly, BALAAM! I'm so excited; I love this story! It didn't get to the good part today, and so I'm not going to spoil it for you if you haven't heard it. Just wait for tomorrow--it's going to rock:).
Luke 1:25-56
Today, Gabriel gives Mary the news of Jesus' impending birth. It seems like he has a bit of a double standard, because when Mary questions him, he totally obliges with an explanation rather than striking her mute. But I've gotta say, I totally see how they are two different cases. Zechariah is a priest, for goodness sake. He is supposed to be close to God. And he was in a holy place at the time, and Gabriel gave him news that was both possible and happy. Mary was just a young woman who did not enjoy that close connection with God that priests were granted. Gabriel appeared out of nowhere, and told her news that was both impossible and probably scary. So naturally, she might have a few questions about the craziness of the scheme. I love the end of Gabriel's answer to her: "Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God" (36-37). Awesome.
And I love Mary's response: "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said" (18). Amazing. I hope one day to have such immediate humility and obedience when presented with a task from God.
I also love the communion that Mary and Elizabeth get to enjoy, as well as the image of a Holy-Spirit-filled baby jumping for joy in his mother's womb. That's cool. So is Mary's song, which I think is called the Magnificat in...some place. Anyway, a couple of years ago, I heard a beautiful song written using her words, and I always sing it in my head as I read these verses.
Good times, all around. I loved today's reading. It was so happy. It was so....not Numbers:).
Psalm 57:1-11
Some favorite verses today:
"Have mercy on my, O God, have mercy on me,/for in you my soul takes refuge./I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed" (1). I adore that last image, especially since my instinct in disaster is to curl up into a ball, close my eyes, and wait for it to be over. Clearly, that's normally not the greatest response, but I love that my soul can do that in the shadow of God's wings.
I also love verse 7: "My heart is steadfast, O God,/my heart is steadfast;/I will sing and make music." My heart is so often not steadfast, so I love these inspirations from people who do steady their hearts in troubling times. And I love the idea that worship is always a choice, even in the worst of circumstances.
Proverbs 11:9-11
It was interesting to note both the power of one's mouth and the power of knowledge in today's reading. The mouth of the godless and wicked can destroy a neighbor and a whole city. The mouth is quite powerful, apparently. But according to verse 9, what saves the righteous is knowledge. I love knowledge, so I like that verse!
Well, we're back to business as usual today, with the Israelites grumbling against God, and God responding by killing them. This time, it is with poisonous snakes. Once they repent, God always relents, and in this case, He provides a bronze snake for them to look at and be healed from their snake bites. After subconsciously and not-so-subconsciously mulling over this harsh relationship between God and His people for a few days, I can't help but appreciate more the holiness of God. You do. not. mess. with. a holy God. The end. That is the lesson I've kept learning. And it is a lesson that you have to learn to have any understanding of what Jesus did for us. He made everlasting peace between us and Yahweh! That is incredible! That is amazing! And my appreciation and awe of that fact have really deepened from reading Numbers this closely. (I am on a bit of an emotional roller coaster with Numbers, if you can't tell. My brain and my heart have been battling each other and the text, but I'm in a good place right now:)).
It also struck me today how God does not like impatience. Verse 4 says that "the people grew impatient on the way," and that's why they grumbled against God and Moses. In my life, I tend to get impatient when God takes me the long way. Reading the OT has really helped me see that the "long way" is God's favorite way. It has made me much more cool with it.
Oh, and lastly, BALAAM! I'm so excited; I love this story! It didn't get to the good part today, and so I'm not going to spoil it for you if you haven't heard it. Just wait for tomorrow--it's going to rock:).
Luke 1:25-56
Today, Gabriel gives Mary the news of Jesus' impending birth. It seems like he has a bit of a double standard, because when Mary questions him, he totally obliges with an explanation rather than striking her mute. But I've gotta say, I totally see how they are two different cases. Zechariah is a priest, for goodness sake. He is supposed to be close to God. And he was in a holy place at the time, and Gabriel gave him news that was both possible and happy. Mary was just a young woman who did not enjoy that close connection with God that priests were granted. Gabriel appeared out of nowhere, and told her news that was both impossible and probably scary. So naturally, she might have a few questions about the craziness of the scheme. I love the end of Gabriel's answer to her: "Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God" (36-37). Awesome.
And I love Mary's response: "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said" (18). Amazing. I hope one day to have such immediate humility and obedience when presented with a task from God.
I also love the communion that Mary and Elizabeth get to enjoy, as well as the image of a Holy-Spirit-filled baby jumping for joy in his mother's womb. That's cool. So is Mary's song, which I think is called the Magnificat in...some place. Anyway, a couple of years ago, I heard a beautiful song written using her words, and I always sing it in my head as I read these verses.
Good times, all around. I loved today's reading. It was so happy. It was so....not Numbers:).
Psalm 57:1-11
Some favorite verses today:
"Have mercy on my, O God, have mercy on me,/for in you my soul takes refuge./I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed" (1). I adore that last image, especially since my instinct in disaster is to curl up into a ball, close my eyes, and wait for it to be over. Clearly, that's normally not the greatest response, but I love that my soul can do that in the shadow of God's wings.
I also love verse 7: "My heart is steadfast, O God,/my heart is steadfast;/I will sing and make music." My heart is so often not steadfast, so I love these inspirations from people who do steady their hearts in troubling times. And I love the idea that worship is always a choice, even in the worst of circumstances.
Proverbs 11:9-11
It was interesting to note both the power of one's mouth and the power of knowledge in today's reading. The mouth of the godless and wicked can destroy a neighbor and a whole city. The mouth is quite powerful, apparently. But according to verse 9, what saves the righteous is knowledge. I love knowledge, so I like that verse!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
March 13
OT: Numbers 19:1-20:29
When I let my wave of confusion roll onto my blog yesterday, I missed some cool points about about the reading. Even though God was way, way harsh with the "regular" Israelites, He had some tender moments with the priests. For one, He did that cool, "make Aaron's rod sprout" thing in order to "rid" Himself "of this constant grumbling against you" (17:5). He made it clear that when the people grumbled against the priesthood, they grumbled against Him. Also, in 17:9-20, God gives the priests all manner of goodies from the offerings. He gives them "all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain" (12) and "all the land's firstfruits" (13) and "everything in Israel that is devoted to the Lord" (14). This seems a bit lavish to me. God does clarify that they will not receive the typical inheritance that the others receive, but that is because God says, "I am your share and your inheritance" (20). That's cool. What wonderful imagery.
I loved all that. I loved it because if (IF) the Israelite society represents one big analogy about man's relationship with God, then my part would correspond more to the priests. After all, the NT makes clear that we are all "priests" now. We are all holy; we are all God's people. That's what the Israelites back then wanted to be true; that's what was true of the priests; and that's what is true of Christians today. But, lest I get overwhelmed with warm fuzzies (can you get overwhelmed with warm fuzzies while reading Numbers?), today's reading reminds me that priests don't get a free pass, either!
Though, before I get to that, I have got to note that I am seriously impressed with the stubbornness of these people. God swallows up three families, burns alive 250 men, and slaughters 14,700 people with a plague, and are they humbled? Are they fearful and trembling? No! If anything, they are p.o.'d! I can't believe it! They still complain and grumble! They have the nerve to say, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord!" Um, I wouldn't have brought that up! If anything, I would still be curled into a fetal position in my tent after witnessing all that they have witnessed. But these Israelites are a feisty bunch. Wow. Slow to anger, abounding in love...I really can see how all that applies to God here in Numbers, and that's saying something! After all, God does give them water, and He doesn't even send a little plague to teach them a lesson about gratitude!
But. Not everyone gets off so easily. Apparently, after all God's intervention and provision for Aaron and Moses in the last couple chapters, they got a bit full of themselves. They got themselves kind of confused with God. And we have seen (oh, how we have seen) that God does not like that. So, because they spoke to the rock and seemed to take credit for the water, they were denied entrance into the Promised Land. Wow! That's harsh! God definitely has better follow-through than I do as a parent. After all, if we were on our way to Disney World, there is no way that I would turn the car around and head home if my kids made one little slip-up! On the contrary, they would go to Disney World even if they were being brats! God, on the other hand, did not let Moses and Aaron into Disney World (random analogy, I know). They made a mistake, and so they had to die on a mountain instead (like Aaron did today). Like I said, "wow."
Luke 1:1-25
Ah, Luke. I love Luke. Luke is a historian, which I love. As a physician, he has a more scientific mind than I do, which is not saying much, and which I also love. Plus, he has a soft spot for women (and the poor), which I love even more. Wonderful Luke. I am so glad I named my son after you.
I will give you a much better intro to Luke in the comments section, but for now, let's get to Zechariah and Elizabeth. It is interesting to me that Z and E have been so righteous, and yet they are barren. That's kind of weird, but as we know, God had big plans for them, and He did reward them for their righteousness. And they were very righteous. The text says that, "Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly" (6). Let me tell you, after reading all the Lord's commandments and regulations, that is seriously impressive to me! I have been thoroughly overwhelmed just reading them; imagine practicing them your whole life!
I have to laugh at Zechariah's questioning of Gabriel, though. I mean, I probably would have done the same thing, but Gabriel's answer highlights how stupid it is to question an archangel who appears to you in God's temple. Gabriel's indignation is captivating to me: "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news" (19). I get the feeling that Gabriel is thinking, "Who is this clown?! Seriously, I don't have time for this!" That's probably not what he was thinking, but he does seem seriously put out, as evidenced by him muting poor Zechariah.
I also think it is cool that John the Baptist "will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth," or "from his mother's womb" (15, footnote). That will come into play in tomorrow's reading.
Psalm 56:1-13
For a man after God's own heart, David spends a lot of time in trouble. I feel like I should remember about the Philistines seizing David in Gath. Was this when he pretended to be a crazy person? I can't quite remember the details. Regardless, as a writer, David is at his most prolific when his life is in danger, apparently.
Proverbs 11:8
"The righteous man is rescued from trouble, and it comes on the wicked instead." Maybe Solomon learned this from his dad's stories. God always did come through for David.
When I let my wave of confusion roll onto my blog yesterday, I missed some cool points about about the reading. Even though God was way, way harsh with the "regular" Israelites, He had some tender moments with the priests. For one, He did that cool, "make Aaron's rod sprout" thing in order to "rid" Himself "of this constant grumbling against you" (17:5). He made it clear that when the people grumbled against the priesthood, they grumbled against Him. Also, in 17:9-20, God gives the priests all manner of goodies from the offerings. He gives them "all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain" (12) and "all the land's firstfruits" (13) and "everything in Israel that is devoted to the Lord" (14). This seems a bit lavish to me. God does clarify that they will not receive the typical inheritance that the others receive, but that is because God says, "I am your share and your inheritance" (20). That's cool. What wonderful imagery.
I loved all that. I loved it because if (IF) the Israelite society represents one big analogy about man's relationship with God, then my part would correspond more to the priests. After all, the NT makes clear that we are all "priests" now. We are all holy; we are all God's people. That's what the Israelites back then wanted to be true; that's what was true of the priests; and that's what is true of Christians today. But, lest I get overwhelmed with warm fuzzies (can you get overwhelmed with warm fuzzies while reading Numbers?), today's reading reminds me that priests don't get a free pass, either!
Though, before I get to that, I have got to note that I am seriously impressed with the stubbornness of these people. God swallows up three families, burns alive 250 men, and slaughters 14,700 people with a plague, and are they humbled? Are they fearful and trembling? No! If anything, they are p.o.'d! I can't believe it! They still complain and grumble! They have the nerve to say, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord!" Um, I wouldn't have brought that up! If anything, I would still be curled into a fetal position in my tent after witnessing all that they have witnessed. But these Israelites are a feisty bunch. Wow. Slow to anger, abounding in love...I really can see how all that applies to God here in Numbers, and that's saying something! After all, God does give them water, and He doesn't even send a little plague to teach them a lesson about gratitude!
But. Not everyone gets off so easily. Apparently, after all God's intervention and provision for Aaron and Moses in the last couple chapters, they got a bit full of themselves. They got themselves kind of confused with God. And we have seen (oh, how we have seen) that God does not like that. So, because they spoke to the rock and seemed to take credit for the water, they were denied entrance into the Promised Land. Wow! That's harsh! God definitely has better follow-through than I do as a parent. After all, if we were on our way to Disney World, there is no way that I would turn the car around and head home if my kids made one little slip-up! On the contrary, they would go to Disney World even if they were being brats! God, on the other hand, did not let Moses and Aaron into Disney World (random analogy, I know). They made a mistake, and so they had to die on a mountain instead (like Aaron did today). Like I said, "wow."
Luke 1:1-25
Ah, Luke. I love Luke. Luke is a historian, which I love. As a physician, he has a more scientific mind than I do, which is not saying much, and which I also love. Plus, he has a soft spot for women (and the poor), which I love even more. Wonderful Luke. I am so glad I named my son after you.
I will give you a much better intro to Luke in the comments section, but for now, let's get to Zechariah and Elizabeth. It is interesting to me that Z and E have been so righteous, and yet they are barren. That's kind of weird, but as we know, God had big plans for them, and He did reward them for their righteousness. And they were very righteous. The text says that, "Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly" (6). Let me tell you, after reading all the Lord's commandments and regulations, that is seriously impressive to me! I have been thoroughly overwhelmed just reading them; imagine practicing them your whole life!
I have to laugh at Zechariah's questioning of Gabriel, though. I mean, I probably would have done the same thing, but Gabriel's answer highlights how stupid it is to question an archangel who appears to you in God's temple. Gabriel's indignation is captivating to me: "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news" (19). I get the feeling that Gabriel is thinking, "Who is this clown?! Seriously, I don't have time for this!" That's probably not what he was thinking, but he does seem seriously put out, as evidenced by him muting poor Zechariah.
I also think it is cool that John the Baptist "will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth," or "from his mother's womb" (15, footnote). That will come into play in tomorrow's reading.
Psalm 56:1-13
For a man after God's own heart, David spends a lot of time in trouble. I feel like I should remember about the Philistines seizing David in Gath. Was this when he pretended to be a crazy person? I can't quite remember the details. Regardless, as a writer, David is at his most prolific when his life is in danger, apparently.
Proverbs 11:8
"The righteous man is rescued from trouble, and it comes on the wicked instead." Maybe Solomon learned this from his dad's stories. God always did come through for David.
Friday, March 12, 2010
March 12
OT: Numbers 19:1-20:29
I've gotta tell you, today's reading was hard. God is starting to wear me down. He is just such a mystery to me. He baffles me in so many ways. And I know that He doesn't owe me any explanations, but I just have to wonder, "Why does a God who seems so determined to make Himself known to man choose to be so enigmatic??" For one thing, why does He act so differently at different points in history? Why does He put up with all of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's crap, but then strike 14,700 people dead for complaining against Moses? And then, why doesn't He keep up that behavior through the rest of Israel's history? He burns 250 men alive and kills thousands more for grumbling against Moses and Aaron's authority, but when Doeg slaughters a priest, his family, and the whole town in I Samuel, where is God then? He definitely doesn't smite ol' Doeg the same way He smited these guys! The more I think about it, in fact, this behavior on God's part is very short-lived. His direct, violent intervention makes up a tiny slice of history, and His directly-sanctioned violence against others (which we will see shortly) makes up another small section. Throughout most of history, though, that is not how God chooses to act. Hmmm. Maybe He is teaching the people the definition of "holy" right now. All I can say is that that is not a fun lesson to learn, apparently.
It's also odd how He seems so bent on setting up such a strict hierarchy now, only to demolish it later. After all, his prophet, Jeremiah, foretells of a time when:
"No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."
That time came with the Holy Spirit and the new covenant. But it is still just so interesting/baffling to read about the progression, to see the many different "faces" of God throughout history. I just don't know what to make of it. But actually, typing about it did help:). The first time I read through the Bible, I felt so isolated and confused for a lot of the time. I didn't understand what God was doing half the time, and if anything, I felt more distant from Him after reading the Bible, rather than feeling closer to Him. This time has been so much better, and I know that part of that has come from getting to process each reading with my brothers and sisters. So thank you for encouraging me to do that. And please, if you have any insight into readings like today's, now is the time to share:).
Mark 16:1-20
Okay, time for Resurrection account #2. I urge you to read Matthew's account from February 14 (or you can get my synopsis here). I have been interested in comparing details, and it was interesting (my word of the day, apparently) to see how each gospel highlighted different things. In Matthew's account, the women and the guards actually witness the stone being rolled away; in Mark's account, it is already rolled away when they get there, and there are no guards mentioned. Mark also repeatedly highlights the unbelief of the disciples. I seem to remember that we will hear a different perspective on that in John. I'm not quite sure what to make of these discrepancies. For instance, whether the stone was rolled away before they got there or after is a very small detail...but shouldn't the Gospels not contradict each other? You can explain a lot of the "contradictions," but I'm not really sure how to explain that one....
It's also weird how our text (and most Bibles) include a portion of Mark that wasn't in the earliest manuscripts. Um, well, if it isn't in the earliest manuscripts, why include it? (I'm just full of questions today. I'm sorry if you came here expecting any insight:).)I thought at first that verse 10 seemed to contradict verse 8, but I see upon reading it again, that verse 10 talks about Jesus' appearance, whereas verse 8 was just about the angel. So in verse 8, there are two women who don't tell anyone out of fear, but in verse 10, there is one woman who does tell people. And that works, of course, b/c it is two separate occasions. Duh, Kim.
Psalm 55: 1-23
In a lot of ways, this psalm is "typical David," but it stands out for two reasons to me. One, David talks about the betrayal of a close friend, instead of just his usual nameless, faceless enemies (12-14). And secondly, it has some amazing poetry. Verse 21 really jumped out at me: "His speech is as smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords." What powerful imagery! What contrasts! That, my friends, is some powerful poetry! I loved it.
I also love, of course, our bolded verse: "Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall."
Proverbs 11:7
Another good, simple insight into the futility of wickedness. The power of the wicked ends abruptly in death.
I've gotta tell you, today's reading was hard. God is starting to wear me down. He is just such a mystery to me. He baffles me in so many ways. And I know that He doesn't owe me any explanations, but I just have to wonder, "Why does a God who seems so determined to make Himself known to man choose to be so enigmatic??" For one thing, why does He act so differently at different points in history? Why does He put up with all of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's crap, but then strike 14,700 people dead for complaining against Moses? And then, why doesn't He keep up that behavior through the rest of Israel's history? He burns 250 men alive and kills thousands more for grumbling against Moses and Aaron's authority, but when Doeg slaughters a priest, his family, and the whole town in I Samuel, where is God then? He definitely doesn't smite ol' Doeg the same way He smited these guys! The more I think about it, in fact, this behavior on God's part is very short-lived. His direct, violent intervention makes up a tiny slice of history, and His directly-sanctioned violence against others (which we will see shortly) makes up another small section. Throughout most of history, though, that is not how God chooses to act. Hmmm. Maybe He is teaching the people the definition of "holy" right now. All I can say is that that is not a fun lesson to learn, apparently.
It's also odd how He seems so bent on setting up such a strict hierarchy now, only to demolish it later. After all, his prophet, Jeremiah, foretells of a time when:
"No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,'
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,"
declares the LORD.
"For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."
That time came with the Holy Spirit and the new covenant. But it is still just so interesting/baffling to read about the progression, to see the many different "faces" of God throughout history. I just don't know what to make of it. But actually, typing about it did help:). The first time I read through the Bible, I felt so isolated and confused for a lot of the time. I didn't understand what God was doing half the time, and if anything, I felt more distant from Him after reading the Bible, rather than feeling closer to Him. This time has been so much better, and I know that part of that has come from getting to process each reading with my brothers and sisters. So thank you for encouraging me to do that. And please, if you have any insight into readings like today's, now is the time to share:).
Mark 16:1-20
Okay, time for Resurrection account #2. I urge you to read Matthew's account from February 14 (or you can get my synopsis here). I have been interested in comparing details, and it was interesting (my word of the day, apparently) to see how each gospel highlighted different things. In Matthew's account, the women and the guards actually witness the stone being rolled away; in Mark's account, it is already rolled away when they get there, and there are no guards mentioned. Mark also repeatedly highlights the unbelief of the disciples. I seem to remember that we will hear a different perspective on that in John. I'm not quite sure what to make of these discrepancies. For instance, whether the stone was rolled away before they got there or after is a very small detail...but shouldn't the Gospels not contradict each other? You can explain a lot of the "contradictions," but I'm not really sure how to explain that one....
It's also weird how our text (and most Bibles) include a portion of Mark that wasn't in the earliest manuscripts. Um, well, if it isn't in the earliest manuscripts, why include it? (I'm just full of questions today. I'm sorry if you came here expecting any insight:).)I thought at first that verse 10 seemed to contradict verse 8, but I see upon reading it again, that verse 10 talks about Jesus' appearance, whereas verse 8 was just about the angel. So in verse 8, there are two women who don't tell anyone out of fear, but in verse 10, there is one woman who does tell people. And that works, of course, b/c it is two separate occasions. Duh, Kim.
Psalm 55: 1-23
In a lot of ways, this psalm is "typical David," but it stands out for two reasons to me. One, David talks about the betrayal of a close friend, instead of just his usual nameless, faceless enemies (12-14). And secondly, it has some amazing poetry. Verse 21 really jumped out at me: "His speech is as smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords." What powerful imagery! What contrasts! That, my friends, is some powerful poetry! I loved it.
I also love, of course, our bolded verse: "Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall."
Proverbs 11:7
Another good, simple insight into the futility of wickedness. The power of the wicked ends abruptly in death.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
March 11
OT: Numbers 15:17-16:40
Okay, time for "Death Talk, Part 2." If you haven't read it already, you can catch up on the epically long "Part 1" here. I rambled on for longer than even I thought possible, and yet, I wasn't done! So now it is time to pick up the thread again.
Today, God gets mad at the presumption of Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and the 250 Israelite leaders who joined them in their rebellion against Moses. I found their statement to Moses to be incredibly fascinating, and I just can't decide what to make of it: "You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord's assembly?" (16:3). Typing it out, I realize that my fascination with it lies in the fact that the statement could be said today about God's people, the body of Christ. The New Testament makes clear that as Christians, we are each holy and "set apart." We are all priests of the Most High. And God is with us all. It reminds me of Jesus' anti-hierarchical statements in Matthew 23: 8-10. Jesus makes it clear at that point that no one is supposed to be set above anyone else. Well...Korah, Dothan, Abiram and company were ahead of their time, I guess you could say. And in this case, it wasn't a good thing. Apparently, God doesn't take it lightly when a person claims to be holy and claims to have God's presence, when he actually is not and does not. And so he killed them all.
And he not only killed them, he killed the families of Korah, Dothan, and Abiram. And the families included, "their wives, children, and little ones" (16:27). In the seeming repetitiveness of the last two, it's like the text really wants you to see that there were children involved here. So I think it might be a nice time to stop and explore something I didn't get a chance to explore in the first "death talk." I would like to explore the relationship between death and eternity, especially in the Old Testament.
When I heard these stories as a child, I think part of why they were so horrifying to me is that I pictured all these people going straight to hell. After all, God killed them (and Nadab and Abihu and Uzzah) for rebellion, so...it stands to reason that they would be eternally condemned. Now, let's set aside for a second the fact that I have no idea where these people went:). I still want to think about it some, in order to meditate on God's character. I want to know God, to understand Him. And even though I know I will never come close, I think He wants us to try. So here we go:
This is one of those times where the NT picture of God influences the OT for me. In the NT, we see the lengths that God is willing to go for our salvation. We see the mercy and the grace that He pours on us. On all of us, all of humanity. I really do believe that that includes past and present humanity. And furthermore, in the NT, God's character does not break from the OT; it just expands. In the OT, God is merciful. The fact that He is even willing to deal at all with the Israelites proves Moses' words that God is "slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion" (14:18). But that character is taken to an infinitely higher level in the NT. So just because these people were wiped out doesn't mean that they were eternally condemned. I'm sure God judged them each by His perfectly just and merciful standard. It does mean, though, that they lost their gift of life.
And honestly, I'm okay with that, and not just because I have faith in God. I'm okay with that because more and more, I see clearly how a soul is more valuable than a life. If their deaths served as a stern warning, if they turned souls to God that would have otherwise been lost, then wouldn't that have been worth it? Maybe for some of them, their sudden death saved their own souls! I have had that thought several times throughout my life when I've heard of an untimely death. Several times, through my admittedly very limited perspective, I have seen how death might have been the best thing for a person's soul. Maybe it was because their terminal illness turned them back to God. Or maybe it was because they were currently faithful Christians who were nevertheless sorely tempted by immorality. I have had the thought, "Maybe God killed that person out of mercy, to spare their soul from their future decisions." Or, "maybe God killed that innocent (sorry, Becky:)) child and took him straight to heaven in order to drive another soul to God that would have been lost otherwise." In my mind, the logic is clear: a soul is worth more than a life. So if it takes a death to save a soul, then that's a good trade.
Apparently, Jesus thought so, too:).
Which brings us to....
NT: Mark 15: 1-47
Those are all of my "death thoughts," by the way. I'm going in a different direction now. I just couldn't pass up that segue:).
It's interesting: God's wrath in the OT was quite frightening today, but even that wasn't as chilling as the people's attitude toward death in the NT reading today. Especially Pilate. God killed out of passion; Pilate killed out of apathy. God loved His people; Pilate just couldn't muster up enough compassion to really care. He knew that Jesus was innocent, and that the people had just handed him over out of jealousy (15:10). Unlike God, Pilate had no appreciation for the sanctity of life. God knew the seriousness of what He was doing. Pilate had no concern for it. He handed Jesus over just "to satisfy the crowd" (15). And because he couldn't have cared less, he had him flogged first. Why not? Who cares? If the crowd wants it, why not nearly beat the man to death before you nail him to a tree? Does it matter? Apparently not to Pilate.
And when Joseph of Arimathea comes to request the body, apparently Pilate is simply surprised that he died so soon (44). "Huh. I would have thought that that would taken longer." What is he doing, chewing the fat with Joseph? How can he be this casual over a crucifixion?! Good lands! Different times, I guess....
Psalm 54: 1-7
In light of God's OT wrath, it is interesting to see OT characters like David throw themselves so completely on God's mercy. I would have been terrified by God. I would have been too scared to ask Him anything, lest He strike me down for my "presumption." And yet, apparently, God was able to convey His love and compassion even then, for people did turn to Him for protection and comfort.
Proverbs 11:5-6
I like the idea that righteousness makes a straight path for for the blameless. I definitely know from my own past dealings in deceit that lying makes things complicated very quickly. Like verse 6 says, such unfaithfulness traps us. It makes our road very rough and unpleasant.
Okay, time for "Death Talk, Part 2." If you haven't read it already, you can catch up on the epically long "Part 1" here. I rambled on for longer than even I thought possible, and yet, I wasn't done! So now it is time to pick up the thread again.
Today, God gets mad at the presumption of Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and the 250 Israelite leaders who joined them in their rebellion against Moses. I found their statement to Moses to be incredibly fascinating, and I just can't decide what to make of it: "You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord's assembly?" (16:3). Typing it out, I realize that my fascination with it lies in the fact that the statement could be said today about God's people, the body of Christ. The New Testament makes clear that as Christians, we are each holy and "set apart." We are all priests of the Most High. And God is with us all. It reminds me of Jesus' anti-hierarchical statements in Matthew 23: 8-10. Jesus makes it clear at that point that no one is supposed to be set above anyone else. Well...Korah, Dothan, Abiram and company were ahead of their time, I guess you could say. And in this case, it wasn't a good thing. Apparently, God doesn't take it lightly when a person claims to be holy and claims to have God's presence, when he actually is not and does not. And so he killed them all.
And he not only killed them, he killed the families of Korah, Dothan, and Abiram. And the families included, "their wives, children, and little ones" (16:27). In the seeming repetitiveness of the last two, it's like the text really wants you to see that there were children involved here. So I think it might be a nice time to stop and explore something I didn't get a chance to explore in the first "death talk." I would like to explore the relationship between death and eternity, especially in the Old Testament.
When I heard these stories as a child, I think part of why they were so horrifying to me is that I pictured all these people going straight to hell. After all, God killed them (and Nadab and Abihu and Uzzah) for rebellion, so...it stands to reason that they would be eternally condemned. Now, let's set aside for a second the fact that I have no idea where these people went:). I still want to think about it some, in order to meditate on God's character. I want to know God, to understand Him. And even though I know I will never come close, I think He wants us to try. So here we go:
This is one of those times where the NT picture of God influences the OT for me. In the NT, we see the lengths that God is willing to go for our salvation. We see the mercy and the grace that He pours on us. On all of us, all of humanity. I really do believe that that includes past and present humanity. And furthermore, in the NT, God's character does not break from the OT; it just expands. In the OT, God is merciful. The fact that He is even willing to deal at all with the Israelites proves Moses' words that God is "slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion" (14:18). But that character is taken to an infinitely higher level in the NT. So just because these people were wiped out doesn't mean that they were eternally condemned. I'm sure God judged them each by His perfectly just and merciful standard. It does mean, though, that they lost their gift of life.
And honestly, I'm okay with that, and not just because I have faith in God. I'm okay with that because more and more, I see clearly how a soul is more valuable than a life. If their deaths served as a stern warning, if they turned souls to God that would have otherwise been lost, then wouldn't that have been worth it? Maybe for some of them, their sudden death saved their own souls! I have had that thought several times throughout my life when I've heard of an untimely death. Several times, through my admittedly very limited perspective, I have seen how death might have been the best thing for a person's soul. Maybe it was because their terminal illness turned them back to God. Or maybe it was because they were currently faithful Christians who were nevertheless sorely tempted by immorality. I have had the thought, "Maybe God killed that person out of mercy, to spare their soul from their future decisions." Or, "maybe God killed that innocent (sorry, Becky:)) child and took him straight to heaven in order to drive another soul to God that would have been lost otherwise." In my mind, the logic is clear: a soul is worth more than a life. So if it takes a death to save a soul, then that's a good trade.
Apparently, Jesus thought so, too:).
Which brings us to....
NT: Mark 15: 1-47
Those are all of my "death thoughts," by the way. I'm going in a different direction now. I just couldn't pass up that segue:).
It's interesting: God's wrath in the OT was quite frightening today, but even that wasn't as chilling as the people's attitude toward death in the NT reading today. Especially Pilate. God killed out of passion; Pilate killed out of apathy. God loved His people; Pilate just couldn't muster up enough compassion to really care. He knew that Jesus was innocent, and that the people had just handed him over out of jealousy (15:10). Unlike God, Pilate had no appreciation for the sanctity of life. God knew the seriousness of what He was doing. Pilate had no concern for it. He handed Jesus over just "to satisfy the crowd" (15). And because he couldn't have cared less, he had him flogged first. Why not? Who cares? If the crowd wants it, why not nearly beat the man to death before you nail him to a tree? Does it matter? Apparently not to Pilate.
And when Joseph of Arimathea comes to request the body, apparently Pilate is simply surprised that he died so soon (44). "Huh. I would have thought that that would taken longer." What is he doing, chewing the fat with Joseph? How can he be this casual over a crucifixion?! Good lands! Different times, I guess....
Psalm 54: 1-7
In light of God's OT wrath, it is interesting to see OT characters like David throw themselves so completely on God's mercy. I would have been terrified by God. I would have been too scared to ask Him anything, lest He strike me down for my "presumption." And yet, apparently, God was able to convey His love and compassion even then, for people did turn to Him for protection and comfort.
Proverbs 11:5-6
I like the idea that righteousness makes a straight path for for the blameless. I definitely know from my own past dealings in deceit that lying makes things complicated very quickly. Like verse 6 says, such unfaithfulness traps us. It makes our road very rough and unpleasant.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
March 10
OT: Numbers 14:1-15:16
Today's reading really conveyed the difference between forgiveness and consequences. God forgave the Israelites for their fear and rebellion, but there were still consequences for their lack of faith. In His words, "I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of the men who saw my glory...will ever see the land I promised" (14:20-23). This response from God demonstrates the principle that Moses highlighted in his speech to God: "The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation" (18). It seems unfair that God would punish children for the sins of the fathers, but by "punish," God doesn't mean "hold accountable." It's just how "natural" consequences work. You can see it even today when the consequences of parents' sins affect their children. We also saw it in the punishment of the Israelite adults in our passage today. They are the ones barred from Canaan, and yet, their children have to live with them those extra forty years in the desert. As God points out, "Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert" (33). As a parent, that makes the consequences of sin even more steep. I would hate to think that my sins would have a negative effect on my children's lives. To me, that's all the more reason not to sin!
With my talk yesterday about fear and distress, this lesson struck me as an interesting counterpart. I don't want to get too deep into semantics, but I am interested in the emotions here, because I feel a lot of emotions myself:). God tells us to fear not, and the Israelites were undoubtedly frightened by the spies' bad report, but was that why they were punished? My first instinct is to say no: they weren't punished because of their fear, but because of their rebellion and lack of faith. They were not going to go into the land. They weren't going to do what God wanted them to do. Their fear influenced that decision, but it was not what they were punished for, per se. Hmmm...I don't know. Joshua tells them not to rebel and not to be afraid in 14:9. God is specifically angry with them because they treat Him with contempt and do not believe Him in verse 11. Plus, I think His words in verse 18 are interesting: "...tell them, 'As surely as I live...I will do to you the very things I heard you say." It reminds me of the Proverb we read recently: "What the wicked dreads will overtake him" (Prov. 10:24a). Hmmm...I am going to have to ponder further this relationship between fear, lack of faith, and Gethsemane-level distress and sorrow. It occurs to me that we can't necessarily help our emotions, but we can decide what to do with them. Must think further.
NT: Mark 14:53-72
Oddly, I can't think of any off the top of my head, but the plot to kill Jesus reminds me of a certain type of movie plot. You know the movies that start off with seemingly ordinary people, and then the events of the movie push them to extremes of bad behavior? And the point of the movie seems to be to expose the corruption that lives in the heart of the average, law-abiding citizen? No? Never seen a movie like that?:) I really have, but I can't think of specifics. Okay, got one: one of the subplots of the movie, Traffic, involved an upper-class American woman, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, who has no idea that her husband is a drug lord. She is a completely innocent, normal citizen. But when she does find out about her husband, she tries to protect her family, and as such, gets pushed into increasingly desperate, immoral situations. The climax of her subplot has her riding in her nice Suburban, on the way to pick up her kids or something, while on a cell phone with an assassin who she hired to kill the witness to her husband's crimes, who is in federal custody. The assassination attempt gets botched, and she increasingly loses her composure. And so the viewer ends up with this image of this totally put-together, wealthy woman, yelling hysterically into the cell phone, "Shoot him! Shoot him in the head!"
It seems that the teachers of the law are in a similar "movie." They seemed all put-together beforehand. They seemed like good, "Law" abiding citizens, devoted to Torah and to personal holiness. And yet, the circumstances of Jesus pushed them to extremes that totally revealed the darkness of their hearts. Opposing Him is one thing. Killing Him is quite another. And furthermore, the lengths and means to which they go to kill them are even quite another thing. In the Law, God gives reasons to kill a person who is rebelling against Him. But because Jesus doesn't break the Law, the teachers of the Law can't do it outright, like God says. No, they have to scheme and bribe; they have to manipulate the masses and summon false witnesses. And they can't just kill Him, no. They have to spit in His face, to beat Him, to torture Him. Their behavior through this whole process lays their hearts bare. It ironically proves everything that Jesus has been saying about them. They are whitewashed tombs: their insides are filled with corruption and death.
Psalm 53:1-6
Ooooh, here is a point in favor of those who say that you can build a theology (be it original sin, pro-life arguments, etc) around a psalm. Paul very carefully builds "his" doctrine of man's sinfulness and God's grace around this psalm in Romans 3. He uses it as his main text to prove a major point about the human condition in a book devoted to the deliberate building of a coherent doctrine. Hmmm...
I still have reservations: the psalms are all different; he was divinely inspired, and we're not; and there is a ton of figurative language throughout the psalms. And I still don't think I buy completely into the idea of original sin, despite its seeming support in Psalm 51. (Someone help me out here: the Church of Christ does not believe in original sin, right? Right? I'm not trying to tow the party line here, but I really want to clarify that that is what I've been taught. I'm beginning to get confused on that point.) However, despite my continued objections, Paul's use of this text provides a strong point for another view.
Oh, but yeah--the psalm itself:). Um, it's really good. It's hard for me to separate it from Romans 3, but, as I've noted with other psalms, it always strikes me how despair over humanity has been present throughout history. I'm not downplaying the despair that we might feel now, but it is interesting to note that those feelings have always been there. As such, I tend to view those feelings as very valid, but not necessarily apocalyptic. What I mean by that is that often, people tend to look at society and conclude that we can't get much worse, and that at this rate, we have got to be close to the end times or to some apocalyptic-style disaster. And maybe we are. But I also see how people have had these thoughts all throughout history, and so that awareness tempers my panic. Instead, it helps me focus on what I can do in the situation, which is to be a strong, steady light in dark times.
Prov. 11:4
"Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death." It is always good for me to be reminded that the external factors aren't what keep me safe. I know it in my head always, but reading the scriptures helps to remind my heart.
Today's reading really conveyed the difference between forgiveness and consequences. God forgave the Israelites for their fear and rebellion, but there were still consequences for their lack of faith. In His words, "I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of the men who saw my glory...will ever see the land I promised" (14:20-23). This response from God demonstrates the principle that Moses highlighted in his speech to God: "The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation" (18). It seems unfair that God would punish children for the sins of the fathers, but by "punish," God doesn't mean "hold accountable." It's just how "natural" consequences work. You can see it even today when the consequences of parents' sins affect their children. We also saw it in the punishment of the Israelite adults in our passage today. They are the ones barred from Canaan, and yet, their children have to live with them those extra forty years in the desert. As God points out, "Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert" (33). As a parent, that makes the consequences of sin even more steep. I would hate to think that my sins would have a negative effect on my children's lives. To me, that's all the more reason not to sin!
With my talk yesterday about fear and distress, this lesson struck me as an interesting counterpart. I don't want to get too deep into semantics, but I am interested in the emotions here, because I feel a lot of emotions myself:). God tells us to fear not, and the Israelites were undoubtedly frightened by the spies' bad report, but was that why they were punished? My first instinct is to say no: they weren't punished because of their fear, but because of their rebellion and lack of faith. They were not going to go into the land. They weren't going to do what God wanted them to do. Their fear influenced that decision, but it was not what they were punished for, per se. Hmmm...I don't know. Joshua tells them not to rebel and not to be afraid in 14:9. God is specifically angry with them because they treat Him with contempt and do not believe Him in verse 11. Plus, I think His words in verse 18 are interesting: "...tell them, 'As surely as I live...I will do to you the very things I heard you say." It reminds me of the Proverb we read recently: "What the wicked dreads will overtake him" (Prov. 10:24a). Hmmm...I am going to have to ponder further this relationship between fear, lack of faith, and Gethsemane-level distress and sorrow. It occurs to me that we can't necessarily help our emotions, but we can decide what to do with them. Must think further.
NT: Mark 14:53-72
Oddly, I can't think of any off the top of my head, but the plot to kill Jesus reminds me of a certain type of movie plot. You know the movies that start off with seemingly ordinary people, and then the events of the movie push them to extremes of bad behavior? And the point of the movie seems to be to expose the corruption that lives in the heart of the average, law-abiding citizen? No? Never seen a movie like that?:) I really have, but I can't think of specifics. Okay, got one: one of the subplots of the movie, Traffic, involved an upper-class American woman, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, who has no idea that her husband is a drug lord. She is a completely innocent, normal citizen. But when she does find out about her husband, she tries to protect her family, and as such, gets pushed into increasingly desperate, immoral situations. The climax of her subplot has her riding in her nice Suburban, on the way to pick up her kids or something, while on a cell phone with an assassin who she hired to kill the witness to her husband's crimes, who is in federal custody. The assassination attempt gets botched, and she increasingly loses her composure. And so the viewer ends up with this image of this totally put-together, wealthy woman, yelling hysterically into the cell phone, "Shoot him! Shoot him in the head!"
It seems that the teachers of the law are in a similar "movie." They seemed all put-together beforehand. They seemed like good, "Law" abiding citizens, devoted to Torah and to personal holiness. And yet, the circumstances of Jesus pushed them to extremes that totally revealed the darkness of their hearts. Opposing Him is one thing. Killing Him is quite another. And furthermore, the lengths and means to which they go to kill them are even quite another thing. In the Law, God gives reasons to kill a person who is rebelling against Him. But because Jesus doesn't break the Law, the teachers of the Law can't do it outright, like God says. No, they have to scheme and bribe; they have to manipulate the masses and summon false witnesses. And they can't just kill Him, no. They have to spit in His face, to beat Him, to torture Him. Their behavior through this whole process lays their hearts bare. It ironically proves everything that Jesus has been saying about them. They are whitewashed tombs: their insides are filled with corruption and death.
Psalm 53:1-6
Ooooh, here is a point in favor of those who say that you can build a theology (be it original sin, pro-life arguments, etc) around a psalm. Paul very carefully builds "his" doctrine of man's sinfulness and God's grace around this psalm in Romans 3. He uses it as his main text to prove a major point about the human condition in a book devoted to the deliberate building of a coherent doctrine. Hmmm...
I still have reservations: the psalms are all different; he was divinely inspired, and we're not; and there is a ton of figurative language throughout the psalms. And I still don't think I buy completely into the idea of original sin, despite its seeming support in Psalm 51. (Someone help me out here: the Church of Christ does not believe in original sin, right? Right? I'm not trying to tow the party line here, but I really want to clarify that that is what I've been taught. I'm beginning to get confused on that point.) However, despite my continued objections, Paul's use of this text provides a strong point for another view.
Oh, but yeah--the psalm itself:). Um, it's really good. It's hard for me to separate it from Romans 3, but, as I've noted with other psalms, it always strikes me how despair over humanity has been present throughout history. I'm not downplaying the despair that we might feel now, but it is interesting to note that those feelings have always been there. As such, I tend to view those feelings as very valid, but not necessarily apocalyptic. What I mean by that is that often, people tend to look at society and conclude that we can't get much worse, and that at this rate, we have got to be close to the end times or to some apocalyptic-style disaster. And maybe we are. But I also see how people have had these thoughts all throughout history, and so that awareness tempers my panic. Instead, it helps me focus on what I can do in the situation, which is to be a strong, steady light in dark times.
Prov. 11:4
"Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death." It is always good for me to be reminded that the external factors aren't what keep me safe. I know it in my head always, but reading the scriptures helps to remind my heart.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
March 9
OT: Numbers 11:24-13:33
Okay, it's time for a "brain" break; it's time to go with "heart" for a day. So I'm not going to try to do justice to these passages by covering them thoroughly and deeply. Instead, I'm just going to highlight the little things that struck me today.
But first, I'll let you know the questions that I decided not to ponder (though I wanted to):
--Why did God change His punishment plan with the quail and strike them with a plague on top of it?
--Why did He punish Miriam so much more harshly than Aaron?
--And, in general, why was God so mean to all of them?
--And why did Moses throw in that much-ballyhooed aside that he was the most humble man on earth?:)
Okay, now onto what struck me today:
"But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the Lord." (12:7-8a)
I love this statement because it is a clear acknowledgment from God that He usually does not speak clearly, and that He tends to use riddles! His communication with Moses is an exception to His normal practice. Thank You! I'm glad to hear that said aloud! So much about God, as I've noted, seems to be shrouded in mystery, a mystery that He seems to clearly cultivate. He tells us what we need to know, but we have to really dig to get to know Him the way we long to....and the way He longs for us to. I can kind of understand the reason behind it...but it is still just comforting to hear God acknowledge on some level that He is confusing:). At least, that was my interpretation of His statement:).
NT: Mark 14:22-52
Do you want to know what I got from this passage? (I'm sure you are on the edge of your seat:).)
Today, I had a hard time focusing, and had to stop several times to pray, but when I got to the verses that God wanted me to hear, they came blaring into my ears loud and clear:
"He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,' he said to them. 'Stay here and keep watch.'"
Ta-da! Yes, cheerful, I know. Here's the thing: lately, I have been struck by the difference in fear-level between the OT and the NT. In the OT, you see people begging for their lives quite a bit. David is the prime example, as he regularly grovels with lines like, "Spare my life, my precious life." In the NT, a funny thing happens: the begging stops. And when I see the members of the early church, they just seem SO BRAVE to me! They rejoice in their sufferings; they don't fear death. If anything, they seem to welcome it! Peter and the apostles rejoice that they are counted worthy of being flogged in Acts 5; Stephen prays for forgiveness for the people who are about to stone him in Acts 7; Paul declares, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain," in Philippians 1. And it seems that all these Christians march boldly off to their death without a thought or care in the world during the persecution.
And I want to be like that. I believe that God is in control of all things. I believe Paul's words that "to live is Christ and to die is gain." I believe that God loves me and always wants the best for me. I believe that no matter what happens in this life that God is with me. I get it. I do. And yet...I still fear. It's not a crippling thing or a constant feeling, but I don't want to fear at all. Ever. But when I think of horrible things happening to my children, or of other devastating hardships, I still shudder. It's like, I am on board intellectually, but not emotionally. Because, to be honest, I don't want to suffer! I don't want my children to suffer! I just don't. As Jesus himself said in our passage today, "The spirit is willing but the body is weak."
And today, I found such odd comfort in the fact that Jesus didn't want to suffer, either. He was deeply distressed and filled with sorrow at the prospect. So...it can't be wrong, can it? I do have faith in God--really! I feel full of faith right now:). But daggone it...I just don't want it to happen. Like Jesus, I can say, "Your will be done," but I can't promise their won't be weeping and "sweat drops of blood" through the process. I can't say that I won't quake beforehand. And you know what? Maybe the early Christians did, too. They did flee from persecution, you know. Maybe Peter was shaking like a leaf as he was led to be crucified. Maybe Stephen spent a sleepless night in torment before his death. Maybe they were all terrified. But maybe the important thing is not that we have no fear or dread, but that we trust God to be with us no matter what happens.
And that was my thought for today.
Psalm 52:1-9
Yay for my 5th-6th grade Wednesday night class! We read the story of Doeg, on whom this psalm is based. So I will now recap it for you: David was fleeing from Saul, and he went to a priest, Ahimelech, to get some food. David kinda deceived him, as Ahimelech thought David was still in Saul's service. David convinced the priest to give him some of the consecrated bread for him and his men to eat (Jesus later cites this passage to the Philistines), and the priest gives David Goliath's sword, which I thought was pretty cool. Anyhow, Doeg sees the whole interchange, and ends up reporting it to Saul. It's funny to me, then, that David talks about Doeg lying throughout the psalm, b/c I'm pretty sure that Doeg was truthful. He was just a tattletale:). But it gets worse b/c even after Ahimelech explains that he had no idea that David was a fugitive, Saul still orders someone to kill Ahimelech and his family. No one will, though, probably b/c it's such a jerk thing to do. And so Doeg volunteers, and then goes and kills not only the priest and his family, but also the whole town. So he's not really a cool guy. Hence the psalm.
Proverbs 11:1-3
"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom" (2). I so want to be a humble person, not because I fear disgrace as much as because I really want wisdom. Sometimes I feel like a toddler in the faith, instead of the 19-year-old Christian that I am. I guess the only good thing is that toddlers are teachable!:) And I know I have a lot to learn!
Okay, it's time for a "brain" break; it's time to go with "heart" for a day. So I'm not going to try to do justice to these passages by covering them thoroughly and deeply. Instead, I'm just going to highlight the little things that struck me today.
But first, I'll let you know the questions that I decided not to ponder (though I wanted to):
--Why did God change His punishment plan with the quail and strike them with a plague on top of it?
--Why did He punish Miriam so much more harshly than Aaron?
--And, in general, why was God so mean to all of them?
--And why did Moses throw in that much-ballyhooed aside that he was the most humble man on earth?:)
Okay, now onto what struck me today:
"But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the Lord." (12:7-8a)
I love this statement because it is a clear acknowledgment from God that He usually does not speak clearly, and that He tends to use riddles! His communication with Moses is an exception to His normal practice. Thank You! I'm glad to hear that said aloud! So much about God, as I've noted, seems to be shrouded in mystery, a mystery that He seems to clearly cultivate. He tells us what we need to know, but we have to really dig to get to know Him the way we long to....and the way He longs for us to. I can kind of understand the reason behind it...but it is still just comforting to hear God acknowledge on some level that He is confusing:). At least, that was my interpretation of His statement:).
NT: Mark 14:22-52
Do you want to know what I got from this passage? (I'm sure you are on the edge of your seat:).)
Today, I had a hard time focusing, and had to stop several times to pray, but when I got to the verses that God wanted me to hear, they came blaring into my ears loud and clear:
"He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,' he said to them. 'Stay here and keep watch.'"
Ta-da! Yes, cheerful, I know. Here's the thing: lately, I have been struck by the difference in fear-level between the OT and the NT. In the OT, you see people begging for their lives quite a bit. David is the prime example, as he regularly grovels with lines like, "Spare my life, my precious life." In the NT, a funny thing happens: the begging stops. And when I see the members of the early church, they just seem SO BRAVE to me! They rejoice in their sufferings; they don't fear death. If anything, they seem to welcome it! Peter and the apostles rejoice that they are counted worthy of being flogged in Acts 5; Stephen prays for forgiveness for the people who are about to stone him in Acts 7; Paul declares, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain," in Philippians 1. And it seems that all these Christians march boldly off to their death without a thought or care in the world during the persecution.
And I want to be like that. I believe that God is in control of all things. I believe Paul's words that "to live is Christ and to die is gain." I believe that God loves me and always wants the best for me. I believe that no matter what happens in this life that God is with me. I get it. I do. And yet...I still fear. It's not a crippling thing or a constant feeling, but I don't want to fear at all. Ever. But when I think of horrible things happening to my children, or of other devastating hardships, I still shudder. It's like, I am on board intellectually, but not emotionally. Because, to be honest, I don't want to suffer! I don't want my children to suffer! I just don't. As Jesus himself said in our passage today, "The spirit is willing but the body is weak."
And today, I found such odd comfort in the fact that Jesus didn't want to suffer, either. He was deeply distressed and filled with sorrow at the prospect. So...it can't be wrong, can it? I do have faith in God--really! I feel full of faith right now:). But daggone it...I just don't want it to happen. Like Jesus, I can say, "Your will be done," but I can't promise their won't be weeping and "sweat drops of blood" through the process. I can't say that I won't quake beforehand. And you know what? Maybe the early Christians did, too. They did flee from persecution, you know. Maybe Peter was shaking like a leaf as he was led to be crucified. Maybe Stephen spent a sleepless night in torment before his death. Maybe they were all terrified. But maybe the important thing is not that we have no fear or dread, but that we trust God to be with us no matter what happens.
And that was my thought for today.
Psalm 52:1-9
Yay for my 5th-6th grade Wednesday night class! We read the story of Doeg, on whom this psalm is based. So I will now recap it for you: David was fleeing from Saul, and he went to a priest, Ahimelech, to get some food. David kinda deceived him, as Ahimelech thought David was still in Saul's service. David convinced the priest to give him some of the consecrated bread for him and his men to eat (Jesus later cites this passage to the Philistines), and the priest gives David Goliath's sword, which I thought was pretty cool. Anyhow, Doeg sees the whole interchange, and ends up reporting it to Saul. It's funny to me, then, that David talks about Doeg lying throughout the psalm, b/c I'm pretty sure that Doeg was truthful. He was just a tattletale:). But it gets worse b/c even after Ahimelech explains that he had no idea that David was a fugitive, Saul still orders someone to kill Ahimelech and his family. No one will, though, probably b/c it's such a jerk thing to do. And so Doeg volunteers, and then goes and kills not only the priest and his family, but also the whole town. So he's not really a cool guy. Hence the psalm.
Proverbs 11:1-3
"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom" (2). I so want to be a humble person, not because I fear disgrace as much as because I really want wisdom. Sometimes I feel like a toddler in the faith, instead of the 19-year-old Christian that I am. I guess the only good thing is that toddlers are teachable!:) And I know I have a lot to learn!
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