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Mark 9:38-49

26 Feb

38 John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.”

39 “Don’t stop him!” Jesus said. “No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. 40 Anyone who is not against us is for us. 41 If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded.

42 “But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands. 45 If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It’s better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 ‘where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out.’

49 “For everyone will be tested with fire. 50 Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.”

Mark 9:38-49

Dear God, I was listening to the beginning of the Voxology Podcast this morning, and I heard them reference a new book called The Sin of Empathy by Joe Rigney. I’ve heard about interviews with Mr. Rigney on this topic before, and I didn’t agree with a lot of what he said, but when I read the Gospel reading for today from Mark 9, which actually stopped at 40, it made me think of this disagreement I have with Mr. Rigney and should I be giving him more of the benefit of the doubt since he does what he does in your name. So I went to the entire passage, read it, and thought I would spend some time with it here to see if I have perhaps been wrong about this.

First, let me say that I don’t want to spend this entire time comparing Mr. Rigney to this passage, but this is a good reminder to be gentle about him and not judge him too prematurely. Ironically, to maybe even have a little empathy and try to see the world through his lens. While he is afraid of “woke” culture, I think he and I probably define “woke” differently, and, therefore, we look at being “woke” differently. We often start off looking for the worst in people, but I can assume that as he wakes up this morning, he is a man who wants to make the world a better place today. It’s just that he comes at it through a different lens that I do. So I can love him even though we disagree and then try to use the art of persuasion to argue for the perspective of my worldview and the lens through which I see the world.

Now, back to the passage. It is interesting that the church stopped with verse 40 because there is so much more here. Why didn’t they go to the end of the chapter? Nine more verses give you a lot of information.

First, the disciples were fussed because the man was not part of the “Jesus traveling party.” They had developed quite a clique, and I think they were feeling like the cool kids with Jesus. The special ones. Where did this guy come off doing this. In fact, this story is even out of context. Mark tells it as part of the story where they disciples are arguing about who is the greatest in the kingdom, and Jesus tells them “whoever welcomes these little children in my name welcomes me…” So the very next sentence someone speaks to him after that is John saying, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.” Tone of voice is almost always lost when we read. Perhaps there was a shamed tone in John’s voice when he said this.

Then Jesus answers him, and goes on to talk about the importance of not being the cause of others sinning. Oh, how this is a scary teaching. I’m not a pastor and I only to a little teaching, but the idea that I could be part of causing someone else to sin is scary to me. And then just in my personal life, I could be a bad influence on someone, and if they justify their own sin because they see me, a Christian, doing it I could be responsible for that. It’s a pretty heavy teaching from Jesus. And I know there is mercy. I know there is grace and redemption. I just don’t want to be part of that in someone else’s life.

Father, give me your eyes. We talk about seeing the world through the lens of other people, and I think that can be a very good thing, but all of us are limited. We need to see the world through your lens–to the extent we are able. Obviously, I have limitations on how close I can get to your worldview, but I humbly submit to you that, at the very least, I know that I don’t know. Help me to be loving. Help me to be humble. Help me to be discerning when I hear bad teaching or heresy. Help me to see what is really behind it. Is it fear? Is it idolatry? Are they hungering for you and they don’t realize it? Are they simply in pain and searching for your peace? Help me to be a minister of your peace today. And give me your peace, Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 26, 2025 in Mark

 

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Matthew 22:34-40

25 Feb

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. 35 One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

37 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:34-40

Dear God, I heard Skye Jethani on a podcast last week talk about Jesus highlighting these two commandments when only one commandment was requested. He made an interesting point. He basically said, as I interpret it, that you made people in your image so when we honor each other we honor you. There was a lot of explanation as to how he got there that I won’t go into now, but I thought it was an interesting conclusion.

Verse 40 is interesting in that I’ve always seen the “entire law” part of it, but the part that says, “…all the demands of the prophets…” is important too. The prophets called for a return to you. Faithfulness to you. But they also called for benevolence and mercy for others. There is a reason that the closer I get to you the more the fruit of your Spirit grows out of me (love, joy, peace…). You encourage love in me. You are love. You are a mature, secure being. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone. So what I see coming out of you is a God at peace with his role as omnipotent creator and nothing to prove to little old me. You just want me to love.

Father, help me to love well today. We have a staff meeting this morning. Help me to love well. We have a finance committee meeting this morning. Help me to be the man you need me to be in that meeting. We have another committee meeting this evening, a board meeting tomorrow morning, and still another committee meeting after that. Help me to be everything you need me to be in all of these cases. Thank you for the prayers you answered yesterday for my relative who had a medical procedure. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your kindness. Thank you for loving us and caring. Help me to love others and care about them today. Help me to be part of your presence coming into this earth. And forgive me for my failures.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 25, 2025 in Matthew

 

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Luke 2:1-14

23 Feb
The above image is called “The Glorious Form” and was created by Chris Stoffel Overvoorde. It is from Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups by Ned Bustard.

2 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.

6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in highest heaven,
    and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

Luke 2:1-14

Dear God, this image created by Overvoorde has so much going on. And I don’t understand all of the imagery. I probably should, and I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t get it all, but he certainly put a lot in here. From the outside of the image and going in.

There are 24 people watching. Hold it, wait. I’m remembering something about 24 people in Revelation. I think I prayed about that a few weeks ago. Let me read the description Bustard has for this image. In this case, I think I probably need it to get where the artist wants me to go… Okay, I’m back. Yes, there were 24 elders in Revelation 19, as well as four beasts. So, for Overvoorde, I think all past, present, and future are present to you. You are “I am.” Sow we have the beasts and elders of Revelation. We have doves that I’m going to assume are the Holy Spirit. We have Jesus–you–in-utero. Being nurtured and developed through an umbilical cord. Fully divine (Holy Spirit impregnation). Fully human (grown by a woman’s body).

Bustard quotes Bono of U2 as part of his description. I’ll put the Bono quote here: “The Christmas story has a crazy good plot with an even crazier premise–the idea goes, if there is a force of love and logic behind the universe, then how amazing would it be if that incomprehensible power chose to express itself as a child born in shit and straw poverty?”

Father, this is an amazing story. And it has amazing people. I come to you this morning to lean into just how incomprehensible it is. You are God. You have everything. You love us. You came to us. You keep coming to us. You are the father of the Prodigal Son. You are the Prodigal Father. It is amazing that you care. That you came. That you taught. That you are so loving. And now as I go to teach the Sunday school class this morning on Joseph, create a clean heart in me. And renew my spirit. Fill me with your Spirit. Help me to inspire others to learn more about you. Inspire me to learn more about you. To hunger for you. To need you. I need you, Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. I need you.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 23, 2025 in Luke, Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups

 

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Psalm 33:10-15

21 Feb


10 The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations
    and thwarts all their schemes.
11 But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever;
    his intentions can never be shaken.

12 What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord,
    whose people he has chosen as his inheritance.

13 The Lord looks down from heaven
    and sees the whole human race.
14 From his throne he observes
    all who live on the earth.
15 He made their hearts,
    so he understands everything they do.

Psalm 33:10-15

Dear God, this is the Psalm of the day for the Catholic Church. I think it is meant to be a sort of rebuke for people who look for power and presume they can do things themselves. Somehow, this morning, it is a comfort to me. It reminds me that the most arrogant of people are nothing before you. The most powerful women and men on earth are nothing before you. Yet, the meekest person on earth is everything before you. You embrace them. You love them. You lift them up. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” “Blessed are those who mourn.”

There are people with earthly power right now who really concern me. Their hearts are arrogant and full of themselves. They feel unchecked and like they can impose their will as they see fit. And, to some extent, they can. In a worldly sense, they have incredible power. In a heavenly sense, I almost feel like you are giving them enough rope to really do themselves in. The hard part is the suffering that will happen. The awkward part for me is that the suffering will likely not be done as much by me as by other completely innocent people who are hungry and need fed or sick and need healed. Who are trying to work, but under physical attack. Who are pawns in the hands of people. That’s where my lament comes from. I lament for them.

Father, I am in my mid-50s. I likely have no more than 30 to 40 years left this side of the death divide. And I have zero idea how those 30 to 40 years will play out. Honestly, I’m hoping it’s closer to 30 than 40. At the same time, it could be today. I have no idea. In fact, I am going to a funeral today for a friend who was my age. We just don’t know. My point is, I have a limited amount of time to leave a mark on this world. Help me to do it well. Let it start by worshipping you. Let it continue by serving others. To quote a song, “Make me a servant, humble and meek. Lord, let me lift up those who are weak. And may the prayer of my heart always be, ‘Make me a servant. Make me a servant. Make me a servant, today.'”

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2025 in Psalms

 

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Joseph

20 Feb

Dear God, I am preparing my Sunday school lesson for this week, and I want to spend some time going over the things I’ve learned about Joseph over the last 24 years, since I first wrote God, Family, Job: In that Order?: A Study of Joseph, Jesus’s Earthly Father. Of course, my interest in Joseph started when I was at a retreat, and I started looking for a biblical man I wanted to emulate as a faithful worshipper of you, a husband, and a father. The list was short. Ultimately, I landed on Joseph and the Prodigal Son’s father. Since the Prodigal Son’s father was a representation of you, I ended up with Joseph. And I’ so glad I did. I’m so glad he was there to be Jesus’s earthly father. I’m so glad his example is there for me to follow.

When I think about Joseph off of the top of my head, here are my thoughts on an outline. Please guide me as I think about this, Holy Spirit:

  • His first decision: Divorce her quietly.
    • This decision would cost him and make him vulnerable
    • You needed Joseph to make this decision for your plan to work
  • He believed the dream and acted on it.
    • He married Mary but did not “consummate” the marriage
      • Did doubts ever linger?
  • He had to find a place for them to stay in Bethlehem
    • With family? In a tent outside of town? We don’t know.
    • What were their conversations like during the journey and before the birth?
  • The baby is born.
    • Had to improvise a difficult situation
      • Helping Mary made people unclean
      • Needed a better place but couldn’t find one
      • Doubts? What am I doing here? Was the dream real?
  • The shepherds.
    • Affirmation that this was all real! I cannot underscore this enough. If there were any doubts, the shepherds removed them.
  • The Temple (Simeon and Anna).
    • More affirmations.
    • Simeon’s warning to Mary.
  • The Wise Men
    • They created more problems than they solved.
    • More affirmations some months later.
  • The Dream and Escape to Egypt
    • Believing the dream
    • Survivor’s guilt?
    • Starting a new life? Gifts from the Magi?
    • Living in Egypt
  • Time to go home
    • More dreams.
    • Couldn’t return to Bethlehem because of Herod’s son. Ended up in Nazareth.
  • Lost in the Temple
    • He’s gone!
      • Where could he be?
      • Did Herod’s son, Archelaus, get him?
      • What were the conversations with Mary like for those three days of searching (four days of him being missing)?
    • Found!
      • He’s in the Temple and amazing people
        • Was this a surprise to Joseph and Mary? Had they already been amazed by him? When did Jesus start to display his knowledge and come into his mental maturity?
      • How inadequate did Joseph feel in raising your son?
  • Presumed dead
    • Sad that Joseph wasn’t around to comfort and help Mary during Jesus’s ministry.
      • Brothers and sisters seem to have been a hinderance
      • Would Joseph have been a hinderance too?

Father, there is so much for me to learn from Joseph. The least of which is that he, ultimately, considered his life nothing to him, even before his angel visit. He made a huge sacrifice just in his decision to divorce her quietly. I was just reminded of the scene in the first Captain American: The First Avenger movie when Steve Rogers, before the super serum, throws himself on a grenade to save everyone else, revealing the character the doctor was looking for in the man who would get this great power. That’s Joseph. Before you have him this great responsibility, even then, we are allowed to see his amazing character. Oh, Father, help me to be a man like that.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 20, 2025 in Luke, Matthew

 

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1 John 4:7-12

19 Feb

7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

1 John 4:7-12

Dear God, is your love really brought to full expression through me? I know it should be, but is it? When people see me, do they see you? Am I that tuned into you?

What does loving others look like? Well, what does it look like when you love me? For that, I guess it goes to the story of the Prodigal Son. When the younger son wants to leave, you let him walk away. When he returns you celebrate with no questions asked. When the older son experiences jealousy you console and comfort. In all of these cases, it’s not about you. It’s not about them hitting your standard for the standard’s sake. It is about you wanting what you know is best for them. You know that the younger son is better off when he is at home and not pursuing empty selfish desires. You know that the older son will be better off when he decides to love his brother and accept him.

So when I look to loving others, what I am doing is wanting the best for them regardless of what it might cost me. If it is my wife, I want to love and support her in the things I perceive you are putting into her life. Now, if it is something that I perceive will take her away from you I will say so, but if it seems to bless her then I want that for her no matter what it costs me. Father, help me be willing to pay that price. If my children decide to pursue a path that costs me everything then I want to love them and bless them to pursue that path. If I think it is unhealthy for them and I am asked I will share my thoughts, but if they don’t then I don’t want to get in the way of anything you have to teach them (or me) through the process. Frankly, I don’t know what is your best for them. All I have to offer them is my unconditional love. The same is true for my coworkers, friends, and even just acquaintances or those you put in my path and sphere of influence. Father, help me to see all of this with your eyes. Help me to love each soul I encounter as much as I care about the existence of my own soul.

I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 19, 2025 in 1 John

 

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Luke 6:20-26

18 Feb

20 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said,

“God blesses you who are poor,
    for the Kingdom of God is yours.
21 God blesses you who are hungry now,
    for you will be satisfied.
God blesses you who weep now,
    for in due time you will laugh.

22 What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. 23 When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way.

24 “What sorrow awaits you who are rich,
    for you have your only happiness now.
25 What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now,
    for a time of awful hunger awaits you.
What sorrow awaits you who laugh now,
    for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.
26 What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds,
    for their ancestors also praised false prophets.

Luke 6:20-26

Dear God, by almost any measure, I am not to be pitied. I have a relationship with you and a life that makes it fairly easy to carve out discipleship time with you. Just spending time with you and getting to know you. I have a good marriage to a really good woman who is kind and patient with me. I have a job that not only pays our bills, but is good work. Important work for loving others. Speaking of bills, my bills are paid. I have money in the bank. I have friends. I have men and women who are positive influences on me and who speak your wisdom into my life. My children are seemingly healthy and living successful, independent lives in committed relationships with significant others. We are all healthy. Yes, there are things within what I just mentioned that bring me sorrow or concern, but compared with 99% of the world, I am absolutely not to be pitied.

So that makes me wonder about this passage. Should I be concerned? Is it a problem that I’m not poor, hungry, or weeping (although there are times when I do weep)? Can diamonds be made with no pressure? Can strong steel be made with low heat? And when the heat comes, do I delight and rejoice in it? If I take a stand for you among those who mock you (I’m thinking about one friend in particular who is disdainful of Christian faith) and they ridicule me, do I welcome that and delight in it or do I soft pedal my faith around them so as to not inflame their anger towards me?

Father, I am going to spend some time over the next few days with this mini sermon from Jesus. It is largely similar to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, but not completely. Help me to glean some nuances from it that I might have missed from Matthew. Perhaps the way Luke put it will shed a new light on something you need me to understand. Speak to me. Inspire me. Love through me.

I give you all of me, in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 18, 2025 in Luke

 

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John 8

15 Feb

8 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

11 “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

13 The Pharisees replied, “You are making those claims about yourself! Such testimony is not valid.”

14 Jesus told them, “These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don’t know this about me. 15 You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone. 16 And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. 17 Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact. 18 I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.”

19 “Where is your father?” they asked.

Jesus answered, “Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.” 20 Jesus made these statements while he was teaching in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. But he was not arrested, because his time had not yet come.

21 Later Jesus said to them again, “I am going away. You will search for me but will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going.”

22 The people asked, “Is he planning to commit suicide? What does he mean, ‘You cannot come where I am going’?”

23 Jesus continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not. 24 That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I claim to be, you will die in your sins.”

25 “Who are you?” they demanded.

Jesus replied, “The one I have always claimed to be. 26 I have much to say about you and much to condemn, but I won’t. For I say only what I have heard from the one who sent me, and he is completely truthful.” 27 But they still didn’t understand that he was talking about his Father.

28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I am he. I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me. 29 And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.” 30 Then many who heard him say these things believed in him.

31 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?”

34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. 37 Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message. 38 I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.”

39 “Our father is Abraham!” they declared.

“No,” Jesus replied, “for if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example. 40 Instead, you are trying to kill me because I told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing. 41 No, you are imitating your real father.”

They replied, “We aren’t illegitimate children! God himself is our true Father.”

42 Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. 43 Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! 44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! 46 Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.”

48 The people retorted, “You Samaritan devil! Didn’t we say all along that you were possessed by a demon?”

49 “No,” Jesus said, “I have no demon in me. For I honor my Father—and you dishonor me. 50 And though I have no wish to glorify myself, God is going to glorify me. He is the true judge. 51 I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!”

52 The people said, “Now we know you are possessed by a demon. Even Abraham and the prophets died, but you say, ‘Anyone who obeys my teaching will never die!’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”

54 Jesus answered, “If I want glory for myself, it doesn’t count. But it is my Father who will glorify me. You say, ‘He is our God,’ 55 but you don’t even know him. I know him. If I said otherwise, I would be as great a liar as you! But I do know him and obey him. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad.”

57 The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?”

58 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am!” 59 At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.

John 8

Dear God, before I do my final preparations for tomorrow’s Sunday school lesson on John 9, I wanted to go back to John 8 and see what the immediate stories were leading up to Jesus healing the blind man. When I read the second half of this chapter, I was struck once again by the incendiary things Jesus said to the people as recorded by John. It reminded me of what I’ve said about John’s Gospel before. John 1:1-18 is the thesis statement for the entire book. If you don’t believe those 18 verses then Jesus is either a liar or a lunatic. But if you do believe those first 18 verses of John, then he definitely is you incarnate. “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!” Not a lot of wiggle room there. It falls neatly into C.S. Lewis’s line of Jesus was either a liar, lunatic, or Lord.

It’s such an amazing thing to consider. I am dependent upon two things for my faith in you, and and am wholly at their mercy. First, that John, Matthew, Mark, and Luke recorded their accounts accurately. Second, Jesus was who he said he was. If the first is true, then the second has to be true. If the second is true, then I need to think seriously about every word Jesus said and consider what he would say to me/us now. If he were to be in our town, outside any of our churches on a Sunday morning, and discussing any number of issues with us, how would challenge our assumptions, our actions, and our faith? I can be pretty confident in my opinions. And I am sure I am wrong about a good number of things. I just don’t know which things. So how can I be very confident about anything?

Father, you know I’ve been kind of sad this week. I haven’t lost my faith. I haven’t lost my peace. But I have been sad. I see a lot of things happening in the world that grieve me. They are all focused around people being callously harmed. I would say thoughtlessly, but it honestly seems like some thought has been put into it. And there is simply nothing I can do about it. But as I’ve said over the last couple of weeks, while each soul is precious, in the history of earth, human life is cheap. So I offer you simply my service to do my best to love the souls that touch my life and pray that my life might ripple into other souls. “It only takes a spark to get a fire going, and soon all those around ca warm up to it’s glowing. That’s how it is with [your] love, once [I] experienced it. [I] spread [your] love to everyone. [I] want to pass it on.” Shout out Kurt Kaiser.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 15, 2025 in John

 

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John 9

14 Feb

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

3 “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. 4 We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work. 5 But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. 7 He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!

8 His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!”

But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!”

10 They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?”

11 He told them, “The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!”

12 “Where is he now?” they asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied.

13 Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, 14 because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him. 15 The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, “He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see!”

16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath.” Others said, “But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?” So there was a deep division of opinion among them.

17 Then the Pharisees again questioned the man who had been blind and demanded, “What’s your opinion about this man who healed you?”

The man replied, “I think he must be a prophet.”

18 The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been blind and could now see, so they called in his parents. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see?”

20 His parents replied, “We know this is our son and that he was born blind, 21 but we don’t know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. 23 That’s why they said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”

24 So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.”

25 “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”

26 “But what did he do?” they asked. “How did he heal you?”

27 “Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”

28 Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.”

30 “Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from? 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. 32 Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.”

34 “You were born a total sinner!” they answered. “Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out of the synagogue.

35 When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

36 The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.”

37 “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!”

38 “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.

39 Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”

40 Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?”

41 “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.

John 9

Dear God, I have a lot of thoughts as I think about this story this morning.

  • Of course, I’m very interested in the blind man’s parents and how they experienced all of this, including the years leading up to it.
  • This story is obviously important to John because he takes 41 verse to tell it.
  • I wonder why this story was so important to John. It starts with him acknowledging that the disciples asked the wrong question to start this whole thing. Would Jesus have even healed the blind man had they not mentioned it?
  • The Pharisees are still hung up on healing on the Sabbath, but the only “work” I can see Jesus did was make a mud pie for the man’s eyes. I guess it’s a “spirit of the law” thing for them.
  • There is division among the Pharisees. Not all of them are against Jesus. Was Nicodemus there? If so, did he speak up or had he learned to keep his mouth shut after what happened in chapter 7? Maybe not since this wasn’t in Jerusalem, but I’m sure Nicodemus wasn’t the only Pharisee that was secretly believing in Jesus.
  • Who were these people who felt the need to tell on Jesus (verses 13-14)? Self-righteous snitches? Instigators? I’ve known people like this. I guess I’ve probably done it a time or two myself. I’m sorry.
  • Why did the Pharisees ask the man’s opinion about who Jesus was (verse 17)? What were they trying to get him to say? Were they looking for someone to punish that day? Then they asked him parents the same thing. Sounds like a trap to me. But why were they taking out their anger on this man and his parents? Why stop there? Why not start asking everyone around what they thought? How about the people who brought the man to him? The self-righteous snitches. Why didn’t the Pharisees ask them who they thought Jesus was?
  • John tells the detail of the Pharisees asking the man to tell them the story again. This story was obviously a big deal for John for him to give us so much detail. He probably told this part because of the piece where they man asked the Pharisees if they wanted to be his disciples too.
  • They threw him out of the synagogue. Was he ever allowed back in? Was he banished as the parents feared would happen to them?
  • Jesus went and found the man. That’s kind of a cool detail. He didn’t come across him later. He heard the story and then sought him out. Oh, my Jesus! You are wonderful!
  • Some of the Pharisees overheard Jesus’s conversation with the healed man. They couldn’t admit their own weakness in front of Jesus.

Father, I will admit my weakness in front of not only you, but in front of anyone. I don’t feel the need to be something I’m not. I am a sinful man. I am a man who loses faith. I am a man who is often wrong and doesn’t have it all figured out. I am loving this story more and more. Thank you for preserving it for me. Thank you for using it to comfort me. I offer you my repentance and my worship.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 14, 2025 in John

 

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John 9:1-2

12 Feb

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

John 9:1-2

Dear God, the disciples asked a binary question here that they didn’t realize was completely off-base. They errantly thought negative circumstances were an indication of bad actions. It kind of goes back to Job. In fact, it’s kind of weird that the Book of Job didn’t dispel this errant theology from the beginning. I guess the prosperity gospel goes back a long way and its roots are so deep and attractive that we don’t want to let go. The thing that prosperity gospel brings us is the idol of control. We think our actions will drive outcomes and so we will ignore Job and determine that our own actions will manipulate you into working everything out the way we want it.

So, they started with the wrong assumption. If I see a blind man, there must be sin behind it. In this case, they assumed the sin belonged either to the man (although I don’t understand why they would think that since he was born blind) or, more likely, to the parents. So these two poor parents had probably lived a lifetime not only caring for a blind child when he was young, but also feeling blamed by their community for their son’s situation. And as I’ve said before, maybe they accepted that blame and took it. Maybe they remembered that time they committed that sin and now lived with the guilt of it having produced a blind son. Or maybe they didn’t feel they had sinned so they blamed their spouse. Had their blind son driven a wedge between them? Or between them and you? Did they feel judged by you?

How does this apply to today? To my life? Well, there can be circumstances that we aren’t pleased with. Relationships that are broken. Outcomes we don’t like. Unemployment. Health issues. Financial crises. Children who are struggling. Damaged marriages. When these things happen, do we ask the right questions, or are we as ignorant as the disciples and just assume that the family we see with a struggling child is responsible for that child’s struggle? Do we assume that someone is to blame for the struggling marriage? For the health issue? Maybe these things come into our lives so, if turned over to you for redemption, they can bring about your glory in our lives and for others.

Father, help me to be much, much less judgmental of other people. Help me to be an encourager. Help me to see the person who is struggling and not immediately think they should repent, but instead offer them your comfort, love, and power. Help me to accept all of that for myself as well. Basically, the disciples start this story believing a lie. Help me to recognize the lies I believe and reject them for your truth.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 12, 2025 in John

 

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