Daily Archives: April 28, 2013

Daily Bible Study

April 29, 2013 Bible Study — The Road to Emmaus

     I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

Magrat stretches
Magrat stretches

Judges 9:22-10:18

     After Abimelech had ruled Israel for three years the people of Shechem became disenchanted with Abimelech and set up an ambush for him on the hilltops. They robbed everyone who passed that way, apparently hoping that Abimelech would come and try put a stop to it, but someone warned Abimelech about the plot. Into this developing animosity between Shechem and Abimelech moves Gaal and his brothers. Gaal and his brothers moved into Shechem and gained the confidence of the citizens of Shechem. During the harvest festival, when the wine began flowing freely, everyone was cursing Abimelech. Gaal shouted that Abimelech was not a true son of Shechem and Zebul was no more than his deputy. Gaal said that if he was in charge he would challenge Abimelech to bring his army out to fight.
     Zebul, the governor of the city, was furious at Gaal’s comments and sent word to Abimelech suggesting that Abimelech bring his army secretly to Shechem and ambush Gaal. Abimelech took this advice. When Gaal led the people of Gaal forth to fight Abimelech, Abimelech drove Gaal’s forces back to the gates of Shechem. Zebul then drove Gaal and his clan out of Shechem, while Abimelech camped with his army a short distance away. When the people of Shechem returned to working the fields Abimelech brought his army back and attacked them. He sacked the city and killed all of its citizens. The people of the city retreated into a stronghold in an attempt to survive the attack. Abimelech and his men gathered branches and piled them around the stronghold, lighting them on fire and burning the stronghold down with the people inside.
     Abimelech moved on to attack another town. Once again the people fled to a stronghold within the town. However, this time when Abimelech attempted to pile wood around the stronghold, a woman dropped a millstone on his head, crippling him. He called on his armor bearer to run him through with his sword so that it would not be said that he was killed by a woman. The end result of this was that both Shechem and Abimelech were punished for the sins they had committed against Gideon and his family and Jotham’s curse was fulfilled.
     After Abimelech died two judges ruled over Israel in succession. After the second judge died the Israelites completely abandoned the worship of the Lord in favor of worshiping Baal and Ashtoreth and other gods of the people around them. As a result, they were oppressed by the Ammonites. After eighteen years of oppression, the Israelites called out to God for rescue, acknowledging their sin of worshiping other gods. They got rid of their foreign gods and returned to worshiping the Lord. When the Ammonites once more gathered their armies to subdue the Israelites, the Israelites gathered their forces. The Israelites declared that whoever would take the lead in attacking the Ammonites would be made ruler over those living east of the Jordan River.

Magrat on the walk
Magrat on the walk

Luke 24:13-53

     Two of Jesus’ disciples were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the day of the Resurrection discussing what had happened. Suddenly Jesus came up and started walking with them, but they did not recognize Him. Jesus asked them what they were discussing. They stopped short, surprised that anyone around Jerusalem could be ignorant of the things which had happened. Jesus asked them what things they meant. They then gave Him a short synopsis of Jesus’ ministry, arrest, death and reported resurrection.
     Jesus called them foolish for not recognizing that the prophets had proclaimed that the Messiah would need to suffer these things before coming into His glory. He then began with Moses and worked His way through all of the prophets showing them how they predicted His coming and what had happened. By the time He was finished they were approaching Emmaus. Jesus behaved as if He was going to go farther. However, they urged Him to stay with them since it was late and He agreed. When they sat down to eat, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them to eat. At that moment they realized who He was. He disappeared from their sight. I think this story represents something we need to pay attention to. We need to pay attention to messages that give us insights into God’s plans and will for us, even if the messenger is not obviously someone we recognize as a messenger from God. I am finding it difficult to word what I am trying to say, so I will try another way. Sometimes we will only recognize that someone has brought us a word from God after the fact.
     The two men got up immediately and returned to Jerusalem. When they rejoined the Eleven and those with them everyone told them that it was true that Jesus had risen. He had appeared to Peter. They then told everyone their story. While they were speaking Jesus appeared among them. Those present were startled and frightened. They thought they were seeing a ghost. Jesus asked them why they were troubled and showed them His hands and His feet and invited them to touch Him. They reacted to this in joy and amazement, but still an element of disbelief because it was too good to be true. Jesus then asked for some food. They gave Him some fish, which He ate. Jesus then repeated the process He had performed on the road to Emmaus, explaining how the Jewish Scripture predicted what had happened to Him. However, He added that now repentance and forgiveness were going to be preached in His name to all nations and that they were witnesses to what had happened. Finally He tells them to stay in Jerusalem until the power that the Father has promised came upon them.
     Jesus then led them out of the city to near Bethany. There He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them He was taken up into heaven. The disciples returned to Jerusalem rejoicing and spent a large portion of their time in the temple.
     There are a couple of points worth noting. The first is from the end. A simple reading of this passage leads one to think that Luke is saying that Jesus was lifted up into heaven on the day of resurrection or possibly the following day. However, Luke does not actually specify how long Jesus spent teaching the disciples the things He taught them about what the Scriptures predicted concerning Him. The other point that I want to discuss relates to Jesus using Scripture to show how He needed to suffer, die and be raised from the dead. Several weeks ago, I came across someone who posted a blog about an artifact that appears to be from the first century before Christ which appears to talk about the Messiah dying and being raised from the dead after three days. This blogger thought that if this artifact turned out to be what it appeared it would shake the faith of some Christians because it would show that the idea of that the Messiah would suffer, die and be raised from the dead was not original with Christianity, but had been present in Judaism all along. I commented to the blogger that there was no reason for such to be the case, since no where in the New Testament does it claim that this is a novel idea. As a matter of fact, passages such as this one suggest that the early Church believed that the idea was “baked into” Judaism, it was just that most people refused to see it. It would certainly make sense to me that Jesus might have used writings such as the artifact referenced to show the disciples how the Jewish Scripture had predicted what would happen.

Magrat on the lawn
Magrat on the lawn

Psalm 100

     What a great psalm of praise. I will call all of the world to acknowledge that God is Lord and I will worship Him gladly. I will give thanks to Him and praise His name for He is good and faithful. Singing praises to God gives me joy and I pray that the same is true for you.

Magrat at rest
Magrat at rest

Proverbs 14:11-12

      Seemingly permanent structures built by the wicked will be destroyed, yet temporary structures put up by the godly will flourish. If we really on our own sense of what is right to determine our path, it will lead us to death and destruction. Some of the most evil people in the history of the world were doing what they thought was right. If we attempt to make ourselves the final arbiters of what is right and wrong, we are following the same path as those men.

Opinion

Dr. Gosnell, Jerry Sandusky, Columbine and Sandy Hook

     I am not sure that I am going to publish this. I am not sure if I can say what is on my heart without sounding like I am blaming the victims, or blaming people who committed one sin for the acts of people who committed another sin. I am pretty sure I will change the title from “Tragedies and God” to something else if I manage to get this to come out the way it sounded in my head when I was first inspired to write this.
     I was inspired to write this when I read yet another blog post discussing the meaning of the Dr. Gosnell case. I suppose I should first give people a little background on Dr. Gosnell. Dr. Gosnell was a doctor who performed abortions in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In particular, he performed primarily late term abortions on women who were members of minority groups. There were numerous complaints about him over the years submitted to many different authorities. Yet none of those authorities did anything about him until one of his employees caught the attention of the Drug Enforcement Agency for illegal dispensing of prescription narcotics. This led the DEA to launch a raid on Dr. Gosnell’s clinic, where what they found horrified them. They passed on what they found to a grand jury. In the end, the grand jury indicted Dr. Gosnell for the murder of one woman and seven babies.
     The grand jury that delivered the indictments started their report with the following paragraph: “This case is about a doctor who killed babies and endangered women. What we mean is that he regularly and illegally delivered live, viable, babies in the third trimester of pregnancy – and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors. The medical practice by which he carried out this business was a filthy fraud in
which he overdosed his patients with dangerous drugs, spread venereal disease among them with infected instruments, perforated their wombs and bowels – and, on at least two occasions, caused their deaths. Over the years, many people came to know that something was going on here. But no one put a stop to it.”
     Every time I read that last sentence I want to cry, no, I don’t want to cry, I start to cry. What makes me cry is the knowledge that grand jury’s previous sentence understates it; many people not only knew something was going on here, they knew that something very wrong was going on here. But for various reasons they chose to look the other way. These were the same sorts of people (and perhaps in some cases the same people) who not only looked the other way, but worked to cover up the actions of Jerry Sandusky.
     In both cases, people in positions of authority knew that someone was taking advantage of and bringing harm to some of the most vulnerable in our society. Jerry Sandusky and Dr. Gosnell preyed on those whom God repeatedly warned in the Old Testament that He would come to the defense of, the widow and the fatherless. While those these two men preyed upon may not have technically been widows or fatherless, God does not withhold His judgment based on technicalities. How a society which allows such people to prosper, if only for a time, can expect to escape judgment is beyond me. And indeed we have not escaped judgment. For the same mindset that allows people to turn a blind eye to Jerry Sandusky and Dr. Gosnell leads to the school shootings at Columbine and Sandy Hook.
     I did not phrase that last sentence quite right, the cultural roots that lead not only to someone doing the things that Jerry Sandusky and Dr. Gosnell did but to others turning a blind eye to it and covering it up are the same cultural roots that lead someone to cavalierly shoot as many children and other innocent people as possible before law enforcement arrives. All of these things come from a sense that the only accountability is that which might be visited on one by one’s fellow man.
     I ran out of time at this point and was going to come back and write more later, but the inspiration left me. I think this is too important to leave unpublished, so I am going to publish this as it is. Perhaps God will inspire me to come back to this subject and post more on it later.

Opinion

For Our Struggle Is Not Against Flesh and Blood

As you can tell, I wrote this last week. I wasn’t quite ready to publish it and thought I might polish it up and take some of the edge out of it, but that never happened. I wanted to put this out there for people to comment on. I hope I do not offend anyone with what I am saying.

The date: Friday, April 19, 2013
The inning: Top of the 6th
The score: 8-1 Phillies
The pitcher: Doc, a.k.a. “Dr. No-No”

Ordinarily this game would have me stoked, but with what’s happening in Boston, I am a mess. I am in utter despair. There’s a young man who is foolishly running from the authorities. Were he to turn himself in, at least there’s a chance that he will be redeemed. If he decides to go down in a blaze of glory like his brother, he will most likely be killed, and that most likely means an eternity in Hell.

And an eternity is a pretty long time, people.

It’s not that I didn’t mourn for the victims and their families. But I am praying that God’s Spirit can reach the heart of this troubled youth. And I am desperately praying for him and his soul.

I check the news again, having not looked in the last ten minutes, the curse of living in a 24/7 news world, and I read that the 19-year old has been apprehended. And I breathe a sigh of relief, and pray he doesn’t do anything stupid. I return to pray for those who lost loved ones in the Marathon.

I read people’s online reactions, and while I cannot blame people for reacting the way they did–let’s face it, this is a heart-wrenching thing–I found it all a bit appalling and shameful. Oh, not those who have never experienced God’s grace, but how can I, or anyone else, who has experienced God’s grace and forgiveness, not wish to see it extended to someone else, even someone who has done what this young man has done? Am I really any better than this young man?

The answer is NO! It is only God’s grace that has kept me from committing some act as heinous or worse.

Let me back up a bit here.

I am glad the authorities found him and apprehended him peacefully. I am thankful no other members of the Boston P.D. were hurt or killed while they took him into custody. I am relieved he is off the streets and “behind bars”. I fully believe that God has given the government the authority, and duty, to enact justice, but I am called to forgive.

As a Christian, I feel it is wrong for to call for his head. I’m sure many of the posters who were ready to metaphorically throw stones are parents of 19-year-olds themselves. But I’m not saying *their* 19-year-olds would ever DREAM of committing such acts of anarchy or terrorism. And yes, people were reacting out of the thought that the victims might have been their loved ones and were voicing their opinions extemporaneously. I will not blame them for their reactions. I was angry, too, when the story broke! I wanted to see someone pay. This young man committed the worst act mankind can do: he preemptively caused the deaths of innocent people!! It was “murder…refined, cold-blooded, deliberate murder”, to quote Arthur Conan Doyle. The fact that more people weren’t hurt or killed was a miracle and a mercy.

However, the eyes of the world are upon us this week. Shouldn’t our behavior be a bit more compassionate? Romans 12:19 pops into my head, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord”. Can we not try to take as a model the families of the Amish school children who were shot in 2006? On the day of that shooting the grandfather of one of the victims said to his younger relatives, “We must not think evil of this man.” Other members of that Amish community established a charitable fund for the family of the shooter. To give another example, when Jesus was suffering pain beyond my imagining on the cross, cried out to God, “Father, forgive them.”

We are fearful of those countries that hate us and would see us perish, through whatever means necessary. We wish and pray for a more peaceful world. Yes, we should pray for those countries whose governments are corrupt and do evil to their own countrymen and conspire to commit heinous acts on others across the globe because of some religious or political agenda.

But change, positive change, does not happen at the national level. It happens individually. We are to take love, LOVE! Not hate, and pass it on, and not just when it’s convenient and feels good. Now here’s my crazy idea: If every one of us were to start praying for him, and ask God’s Spirit to touch him, maybe some positive change will occur deep down in his tortured soul. And maybe that change will spread to others who share the violent goals he embraced.

Let me close with Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”