I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. 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.
This passage contains instructions on how someone who has been cured of a serious skin disease should present an offering of thanksgiving and cleansing before returning to their normal life (including provisions for those who are poor). It then goes on to describe what to do if mildew appears in a house and how to determine if only part of the house needs to be replaced or if the entire house needs to be condemned.
Jesus attempted to lead the disciples away from the crowds in order for them to get some rest. However, many recognized where they were going and rushed there ahead of them. When Jesus got off of the boat, He had compassion on the crowd which had gathered and began to teach them. Late in the day His disciples came to Him and said that He should send the people away so that they could go and buy themselves something to eat. Jesus told them that they should feed the crowd. The disciples replied that would take a lot of money, was Jesus telling them that they should spend that on feeding this crowd? Jesus then asked them to check how much food they had. They returned and told Him that they had five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus had the crowd sit down in groups. The people sat in groups of 50-100. Jesus then took the five loaves and two fish, gave thanks for them and passed them out to the disciples to be distributed among the people. Everyone ate and was satisfied. Afterwards the disciples gathered up twelve baskets of leftovers. Mark tells us that there were five thousand men in the crowd.
It is interesting how reading through the Bible and writing about it changes what I see when I read passages such as this. In the past when I have read this passage what struck me was how wonderful a miracle this was that Jesus was able to feed a crowd of over five thousand people with just five loaves and two fish. And it is. Today what struck me was the idea that when we as a Church hold all day revival/outreach meetings we should make provision to feed the crowd that gathers. They did not do this all the time, so this is not something we should necessarily do all the time either. Thinking about it, my congregation does do this from time to time (we have all day meetings where provision is made in advance to feed everyone who is there).
Jesus sent His disciples on ahead of Him across the lake, while He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Late in the night, the boat was in the middle of the lake with the wind blowing against the direction they were trying to go. Jesus walked out to them on the water. The disciples were terrified when they saw Jesus walking on the water because they thought He was a ghost. He told them not to be afraid and climbed into the boat with them. The wind immediately died down. The writer tells us that the disciples were amazed because they had not understood the meaning of the feeding of the five thousand.
Today’s passage ends by telling us that when they made land people recognized Jesus and spread the word. People brought the sick on mats to wherever they heard Jesus was teaching. They begged Him to let the sick touch the hem of His cloak. Those who did so were healed. This story is amazing and raises the question, why don’t we have similar impact from our ministries? Is it because I am not being called to that sort of ministry, or is it because I lack the faith? Or is it a little of both?
This is a wonderful psalm about waiting patiently for the Lord to act and trusting that in His time He will rescue us from our troubles. I will work on praising the Lord because I agree with the psalmist when he says of the Lord:
I would never come to the end of them.
Nothing and no one can compare with God. He does not desire our offerings and our sacrifices. What do we have that does not come from Him? God desires that we do His will, that we do what is right (as a column I read earlier today points out, God desires that we do what is right, not because it is His will, but because it is the right thing to do). The psalmist concludes today’s passage with a statement I will strive to follow:
I have talked about your faithfulness and saving power.
I have told everyone in the great assembly
of your unfailing love and faithfulness.
A good way to tell if you are truly serving the Lord is to examine what you say. If you say things for the purpose of helping people to make their lives better and more joyful, you are probably serving the Lord. On the other hand, if your words are chosen to mislead people and to hide your true purposes, you are acting in a wicked manner. No matter what you think your intentions are, if you feel that you need to mislead people in order to get them to go along with your plans your actions are evil.
Those who stir up controversy and conflict are promoters of hatred. Those who are acting from love do their best to smooth over disagreement and show the good in others, even those they disagree with.