For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

    If you propose sensible ideas you will be admired. As time goes by, people will hold those who always suggest truly warped ideas in contempt. It is better to be someone of no account, yet sufficient beyond your needs to afford hiring a servant than to be thought a person of great account, yet not have enough food to eat.

    Paul tells us to pray for our rulers. This psalm gives us a good idea about what we are to pray for them. Let us pray that they have a love of justice and righteousness. Let us pray that our rulers judge fairly for all, both the rich and the poor. Let us pray that they defend the poor and rescue the children of the needy. If our rulers and government officials rescue the poor and help the oppressed the land will flourish. Let us pray that the rulers and government officials which God has given us are such men. Let us live our lives so that we will gain favor with rulers that are like this.

    When word reached Herod Antipas about Jesus, Herod was confused because he knew that John the Baptist was dead. We must conclude from this that Jesus’ message was a lot like the one which John had preached, enough like it that people thought they must be the same person, even Herod. Beyond this, Luke tells us that Herod kept trying to find a way to see Jesus. Notice, Jesus actively took His message to the poor, but the rich and powerful sought Him out to hear His message. We should take a similar approach in preaching the Gospel.
    Luke tells the story of the feeding of the 5,000. When the disciples asked Jesus to send the crowd away so that its members could go get some food, Jesus told them to feed the crowd. The disciples replied that they only had a small amount of food, not enough for that many people. Jesus had them sit the crowd down and begin to feed them. When they were done, not only was everyone fed, but there was more food left over than what they had started with. The lesson here is that when God sets us a task, we should not worry about whether we have the resources to complete the task. We should take the resources we have and begin the task. God will provide the resources to finish the task.

    Today’s passage describes three festivals which the people of Israel were to hold gathered together at the place which God would designate. The Passover celebration reads to me as if it is to be a family celebration, something to be celebrated as a family to bring the family closer to God (although I may be reading into the passage here). However, the other two festivals are community gatherings. They are clearly instructed to include everyone in the festival (sons and daughters, male and female servants, Levites and foreigners, widows and orphans). They are instructed to make sure that everyone has what they need to take part in these two festivals, no matter their background and no matter their resources. There are to be no outsiders, not because outsiders are excluded, but because everyone is to be included. Let us be like that today. Let us hold events that include everyone and make sure that no one feels that they cannot take part because they cannot afford the cost, or because they are not one of us.