Tag Archives: Religion

Daily Bible Study

October 26, 2024 Bible Study — Those Who Are Not Against You Are for You

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 9.

I recently learned that many of those who study the Gospels divide Jesus’ ministry (and thus each of the Gospels) into three phases.  It seems to me that the middle phase begins when Jesus sends the Apostles out to preach His message and perform miracles in His name.  Certainly that marks the transition from His Early Ministry to the Middle phase.  It is in the middle phase of His ministry that Jesus began openly stating that He was the Messiah, at least to His disciples.  In addition, it is here in the middle phase of His ministry where Jesus highlights the cost of following Him.  I was going to expand on that, but then I saw His exchange with John about the man who was casting out demons in Jesus name, but was not one of His disciples.  When John told Jesus that they had told the man to stop because He was not one of them, Jesus told that him that they should not stop the man because whoever was not against them was for them.  Now this seems to contradict what He said in Matthew 12 verse 30, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ”  In Matthew, Jesus was referring to those who attributed His acts of kindness to malice, while here Jesus is referring to those who seek do use Jesus’ prestige to accomplish good.  So, we should not attempt to stop those who seek to do good in Jesus’ name, even if they do not appear to follow His teachings in any other way.  I have seen many examples of where those who sought good goals for secular reasons found the Lord because Christians embraced them when they came to work with Christian groups which were already working towards those goals.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

October 25, 2024 Bible Study — Consider Carefully How You Listen

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 8.

I think I wrote about this a few days ago, but I was really struck by how Jesus said “Therefore, consider carefully how you listen,” right after telling His disciples that there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed.  He follows that by saying that those who have will be given more, and those who do not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.  This begins when His disciples asked Him what the Parable of The Sower meant.  Before explaining the parable to them He tells them that the knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of God had been given to them, but that others though seeing would not see and though hearing would not understand.  Jesus tells us that one does not light a lamp in order to hide the light from the lamp.  Instead, one lights a lamp in order to illuminate an area.  Further, the purpose of the lamp is to provide light to everyone who enters the room.  As a result, that which was hidden in the dark is revealed.  Then Jesus extends His metaphor by telling us that what is concealed will be brought out into the open.  This leads me to realize that Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of God.  By the light of His presence God is going to reveal that which is hidden in the dark, and He is going to drag out into the light that which is concealed behind various means of obfuscation, whether that is words which seem to mean one thing but mean another, or hidden behind walls.  Which brings me back to being careful how we listen and to those who do not have losing what they think they have.  As I look at this, I think about people who listen closely, but only hear what they want to hear.  I think that is what Jesus is talking about when He says be careful HOW you listen.  It’s important that we put aside our preconceived notions and listen to what God is actually saying to us.  We need to listen to the entire message, not just the parts we like.  One result of not listening correctly can be seen in those today who focus on the “God is love” part of the message and dismiss the parts which require us to be disciplined.  In time, they start to lose an understanding of what God’s love is and think it is an excuse to do whatever we think best at the moment.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

October 24, 2024 Bible Study — Woe to You When Everyone Speaks Well of You

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 6-7.

In today’s passage Luke recounts a sermon by Jesus which is very similar to the one recorded in  Matthew as the Sermon on the Mount.  Some people think see the differences between them as indicating contradictions between the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew in a “Well, which way did Jesus say it? The way Luke recorded it or the way Matthew did?”  I see them as two different deliveries of the same basic sermon at different places and times, much like many public speakers deliver variations on the same speech to different audiences (I’ve done it myself).  I believe that Jesus delivered variations on this sermon multiple times throughout His three years of ministry.  In fact, I believe that this was probably the core of most of the sermons He preached.

Now, having said all of that, let’s get to what He actually said, as recorded by Luke.  Here the Beatitudes have a completely different slant.  Matthew recorded, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”, Luke records, “Blessed are the poor…”  Matthew, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…”, Luke, “Blessed are the hungry…”.  Luke adds a series of “Woes” after his list of Beatitudes.  They are the opposites of the blessings.  I think the one to which we need to pay the closest attention is the last one. “Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”  That is a really tough one.  We all want people to speak well of us, but Jesus tells us that if everyone speaks well of us, we are probably guilty of misrepresenting God’s words when we speak.  From there I want to go into Luke’s account of what Jesus taught about the golden rule.  The context really makes it clear what Jesus meant when He told us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.  Jesus says that right after telling us to love our enemies and to pray for those who mistreat us.  You can’t get any further from this world’s take on the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as they do unto you.”  No, Jesus tells us that it is even more important to do nice things to those who treat us badly.  All too many of us think that being a nice person means being nice to those who are nice to us, but it’s OK to be rude to those who are rude to us.  Well, Jesus tells us that if we want credit for being nice we need to be nice to those who are mean to us. 

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

October 23, 2024 Bible Study — Luke Tells Us That He Did Not Record Events in the Order They Happened

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 4-5.

Luke’s account says that after teaching and casting a demon out of a demon-possessed man in the synagogue in Capernaum, Jesus went to Simon’s house.  I find this interesting because Luke does not mention Simon, or anyone else, becoming Jesus’ disciple before this.  As I was thinking about this, I believe that Luke wrote it this way in order to communicate that he was not reporting the events from early in Jesus’ ministry necessarily in the order in which they occurred.  In order to explain why I reach this conclusion let me recount the order of events which Luke records here.

  • Baptized by John in the Jordan River
  • Fasted in the wilderness for 40 days
  • Returned to Galilee and taught in the synagogues
  • Taught in the synagogue in Nazareth and was rejected by the people there, after He said they would ask Him to perform miracles like those He performed in Capernaum.
  • Taught in the synagogue in Capernaum and drove a demon out of a demon-possessed man.
  • Went to Simon’s house, healed Simon’s mother-in-law, healed many others.
  • Went to a solitary place where people from Capernaum found Him and begged Him to stay in Capernaum.
  • Preached in synagogues in Judea
  • Preached from Simon’s boat at the Lake of Gennesaret(also known as the Sea of Galilee)
  • Called Simon, James, and John to be fishers of men (may have called others, including Andrew, here, but Luke’s wording is ambiguous).
  • Jesus taught in other towns

Now, let’s look at that.  Luke records Jesus preaching in the synagogue in Nazareth before recording Him doing anything in Capernaum.  Yet, Jesus references what He did in Capernaum to the people of Nazareth.  Which suggests that the preaching Jesus did in Capernaum, that Luke records after he records Jesus experience in Nazareth, occurred before the events in Nazareth.  So, why does this matter?  It matters because many of the “contradictions” people point to in the Gospel accounts are about how the different Gospels place events in different orders, or, apparently, at different times.  Here Luke, the Gospel writer most obsessive about accuracy, communicates that he is not recording events in exactly the order they happened.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

 

Daily Bible Study

October 22, 2024 Bible Study — You Will Know the Messiah Has Been Born Because You Will Find a Baby in a Manger

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 2-3.

OK, again something I have never thought about before.  When the angel appeared to the shepherds, he told them that he was bringing good news, and that good news was that a Savior had been born, the Messiah.  That isn’t the new thought.  Then the angel told them he had a sign for them that what he had just said was true.  The sign was that they would find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.  I have always read this, and hear it preached about as directions on where to find the baby, but that isn’t what the angel said.  The angel said that finding that baby would be a sign to them that his message. that the Messiah had been born, was true.  The angel was not telling them, “This is how you will know you have found the baby I am talking about.”  The angel was saying, “This is how you will know that the Messiah has been born.”  I am not sure what the implications are of this different perspective on what the angel said, but I think they are significant.

I also want to comment on something I noticed about Jesus staying in Jerusalem when He was twelve.  So, it says that Jesus’ parents found Him after three days of looking for Him in Jerusalem.  It occurred to me this morning that this was a foreshadowing of His death and resurrection.  In particular, it foreshadows the three days of anxiety which His mother, Mary, would experience after His crucifixion: anxiety which was relieved when He rose from the dead.  Again, I am not sure what the implications of that foreshadowing are, but they are worth thinking about.  Of course, this account has two very important implications.  The first being that Jesus is always doing His Father’s business.  The second, that when we look for Jesus, we should start in His Father’s House.  Combining the two, we find Jesus when we look at where God’s business is being done.

 

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

October 21, 2024 Bible Study — God Will Answer Our Doubts

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Luke 1.

One of the things that we often note about this passage is the fact that both Zechariah and Mary questioned the message which Gabriel gave them.  But Zechariah was made mute for questioning while Mary received an explanation.  Why was Zechariah punished but Mary had her question answered?  Both questions expressed at least an element of doubt that Gabriel’s prophecy could come true.  Today, when I thought about it I realized that both Zechariah and Mary got the same response.  They each asked a question, and they each got a complete answer to that question.  Zechariah asked, “How can I be sure of this?”  The angel told him that he could be sure because he would be unable to speak until it took place.  Zechariah asked for a sign, and Gabriel gave him one.  Mary asked a much safer question, “How will this be since I am a virgin?”  Mary asked a procedural question, so Gabriel gave her a procedural answer.  I will repeat here, it seems to me that both Zechariah and Mary were equally doubtful of the message they received.  Who wouldn’t be? Zechariah asked for a sign, and he was given a sign.  Mary asked for an explanation, and she was given an explanation.  I would say that this difference indicates that we need to be careful how we express our doubts and what we ask God to do to relieve our doubts.  Except that I think Zechariah was grateful for the sign God gave him.  God will give us the answer we need, and we will be blessed by the way He gives us that answer.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

October 20, 2024 Bible Study — Signs Will Accompany Those Who Believe

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 14-16.

I was going to write about Judas, or about Peter, or perhaps Judas and Peter.  Then I read through the ending of Mark, which appears to be chapter 18, verse 8.  I was going to ignore verse 9 through the end, because that appears to be a later addition.  However, after some thought about how I understand the Bible, and God’s power, I decided to write what I thought about Mark ending with verse 8, then a bit about the rest.  When the women were heading to the tomb early Sunday morning, they were worrying about how they would roll aside the stone in order to get to Jesus’ body to finish the burial preparations.  In a way, they were praying to be able to give their last respects to someone they dearly loved.  God answered that prayer, but not in a way which bore any resemblance to  what they had hoped for.  In fact, God’s answer to their prayer was so much better than what they were thinking that they did not make the connection.  As a result, they were frightened and fled.  They were coming to Jesus’ tomb to say good bye to Him, because they believed He was dead and that they would not see Him again.  Instead, they found Jesus’ body gone and someone who told them that He was risen.  Mark tells us that the women fled and told no one.

Which brings me to the “add-on” of verse nine to the end.  It appears that later scribes who copied the Gospel of Mark felt that this ending left us hanging with no explanation of what came next.  So, they added this bit which contains summations of information from other Gospels.  Now, I had decided, after some thought, that we should consider this addition as the canon, as authoritative, because it has been copied as part of the Gospel of Mark for so long.  I believe in God’s power to maintain the accuracy of the Bible.  Therefore, if this addition did not contain material which God considered important for guide us in following His will, He would have arranged for it to be removed.  Today, as I was putting my thoughts together, I discovered that this addition to the Gospel of Mark goes back to at least the Second Century A.D..  Which means it was likely included by people who knew witnesses to Jesus’ life.  And that brings me to what we need to learn from this addition.  Jesus told His Disciples, and through them us, that signs would accompany those who believed in Him.  I am going to look at one of those signs which Jesus mentions here: they will pick up snakes with their hands.  Some people make a ritual out of following this, but I think it refers more to what happened to Paul after he was shipwrecked.  Paul did not purposefully pick up a venomous snake, but when he did so and was bitten, it did not harm him.  In the same way, we should follow God’s direction without spending time fearing a dangerous place, or even a dangerous action.  That does not mean we do not take danger into account.  It just means that we do not let danger stop us from doing what the Spirit has directed us to do.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

October 19, 2024 Bible Study — How to Answer Those Who Ask Questions About Our Faith

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 12-13.

I am going to try linking the accounts of the three questions asked of Jesus in today’s passage.  These stories come in the context of the Jewish teachers of the law and other leaders seeking a way to arrest Jesus without inflaming the crowds.  So, the first question was intended to either get Jesus to say something which would allow them to get the Romans to arrest Him, or alienate the crowds.  If He declared that Jewish Law, the Law of Moses, forbade paying tax to Caesar, they could accuse Him of insurrection to the Romans.  On the other hand, if He said that the tax to Caesar was legitimate under Jewish Law, they would have been able to present Him to the crowds as a stooge for the Romans.  Jesus avoided both of these while pointing out to the crowd that the hypocrisy of those who had tried to trap Him.  Then the Sadducees tried a different trap.  They thought they had found a contradiction between the Law of Moses and belief in the resurrection of the dead.  Jesus pointed out the “easy out” on this and that they did not believe in resurrection because they did not believe that even God could bring the dead back to life.  The final questioner was honestly interested in Jesus’ answer.  And because the questioner was honest in seeking to understand what Jesus taught, Jesus gave him a sincere, honest answer.  Not that Jesus’ other answers were not honest and sincere, it’s just that this last answer did not include any condemnation of the questioner.  Each of the answers teach us important lessons about our God and our faith.  However, taken together these three answers from Jesus teach us how to answer those who question our beliefs.  If they are looking to understand then we should answer them honestly and with respect.  On the other hand, if they are asking in order to trap or  trick us we should answer with shrewdness and wit.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

October 18, 2024 Bible Study — If Only God is Good, Then Jesus, the “Good Teacher,” must be God

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 10-11.

It is interesting the things which we almost never notice.  In today’s passage I have never before noticed that the rich man in today’s passage fell to his knees before he asked Jesus his question.  For that matter, I don’t think I have ever heard anyone comment upon that fact.  It adds a bit of nuance to several elements of the story.  My first thought was that it makes his walking away from Jesus even more stark.  But, it also puts a new look on Jesus’ response about being called “good”.  There are two possible explanations for the man falling to his knees before Jesus.  First, it could have been an expression of sincere supplication.  Second, it could have been an effort to put on a show of sincere supplication.  In the first case, it makes it much sadder that the man was unwilling to give up his wealth and follow Jesus.  In the second case, it suggests that the man came to Jesus to ask the question in order to appear righteous.  The more I think about this incident the more I am convinced that the man was posturing more than he was truly seeking guidance.  In which case, it makes more clear the point which Jesus was making when He asked why the man called Him good.  The man approached Jesus with an appearance of worshipful supplication.  Jesus points out that only God deserves such a worshipful approach.  I want to highlight one other thing about this because Muslims often use this exchange as evidence that Jesus denied that He was God.  In fact, I think this passage does the exact opposite.  By asking why the man called Him good, Jesus is highlighting that when people called Him good they were acknowledging His divinity.  This same reasoning applies to those today who want to say that Jesus was a good teacher but not divine.  Jesus said that only God is good.  Therefore if you call Him a good teacher you cannot also say that He is not God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

October 17, 2024 Bible Study — We Need Jesus’ Touch if We Wish to See

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Mark 8-9.

Whenever I read Mark’s account of Jesus healing the blind man at Bethsaida I wonder why he felt the need to include the part about Jesus having to touch the man’s eyes twice.  Today it occurred to me that while this actually happened it is also a metaphor for how so many of us come to know God.  Sometimes we are blind to God’s will for us until we ask Jesus to touch us, or, more likely, until someone asks for us.  However, sometimes we still only see blurrily, such that people look like trees walking.  In those cases, we need Jesus to touch us again, so that we might clearly see God’s will.  I was reading the passage again to see what else I wanted to write about today when I realized that Peter’s proclamation that Jesus was the Messiah immediately followed this story.  Mark’s account of that sort of reflects the above lesson.  First, Jesus asks His disciples who people say that He is, then He asks them who they say that He is.  The answers they gave to the first question reflected what those who had been touched once saw, but they, who had been touched repeatedly by Jesus, saw more clearly.  Let’s not settle for blurred vision.  Instead, let us walk with Jesus daily so that He may make our vision clear.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.