Thursday, 2/19/2015

“Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

NUMBERS 1, 2

God has Moses take a census of all the Men...

44These were the men counted by Moses and Aaron and the twelve leaders of Israel, each one representing his family. 45All the Israelites twenty years old or more who were able to serve in Israel’s army were counted according to their families. 46The total number was 603,550. 

God now has Moses give instructions on how they are to camp by tribes.

1The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 2“The Israelites are to camp around the tent of meeting some distance from it, each of them under their standard and holding the banners of their family.” 

34So the Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each of them with their clan and family.

MARK 3:1-21

Jesus is preaching in the synagogue and sees a man who has a shriveled hand. He asks him to stand up and then asks

4Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.5He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. 

Jesus names and calls the 12 Disciples

13Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14He appointed twelve^a that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15and to have authority to drive out demons. 16These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), 17James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), 18Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

JOURNAL

Jealousy, doubt and anger...it is so sad and you can see that Jesus is overwhelmed in frustration over the fact that the Pharisees care more about the law itself than people. They are so consumed in their agenda to trap Jesus that they are missing amazing miracles right before their eyes.

I wonder how many things I miss or dismiss everyday, that are miracles and are evidence of God's amazing grace?  If I just start with my own body: all the things that happen and work without my effort...my heartbeat, the conversion of oxygen, the chemical breakdown of food, the automatic responses of my brain to regulate my entire system.  The fact that I just have to think it and I can walk, run, jump, solve problems, communicate.  Then add emotions and personality...the gifts and their uniqueness and detail are truly amazing.



That is just the beginning...there are so many things to be thankful for that I could literally go throughout the entire day and the list would never run out.  The question is...why would I not do that?  For if I am truly grateful then I really don't have time to whine and complain.  I also am more likely to see the needs of others and less likely to miss Christ showing up in all his mysterious ways.

 8And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ( 2 Corinthians 9:8)

Wednesday, 2/18/2015

“The maxim, "Nothing prevails but perfection," may be spelled PARALYSIS.” ~ Winston Churchill

LEVITICUS 26, 27

The promises to those who follow all the decrees and obey all the commands... 

3“ ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. 5Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land. 

9“ ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. 10You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. 11I will put my dwelling place^aamong you, and I will not abhor you. 12I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

The promises to those who are disobedient...

14“ ‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, 15and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, 16then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it. 17I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. 

The path to redemption...

 40“ ‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, ...—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, 42I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham... 

MARK 2

Jesus goes back to Capernaum and while he is teaching at a home, the crowds overwhelm the entrances.  It is here that the paralytic man is lowered through the roof and Jesus heals him.  Jesus then goes to the home of Matthew, whom he had just called to be a disciple.  When the religious leaders hear of this they question...

 16When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
17On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

JOURNAL

Reading through all the commandments and laws of Leviticus, it becomes apparent that keeping all the laws is impossible.  Also, redemption only comes once one is humbled and pays for his sin.  To a sinner like myself...I cling to Jesus' claim in Mark.  I need the savior that came to save the sick... 

Quotes from an aged Franciscan friar 

If you feel the call of the Holy Spirit, then be HOLY with all your soul - with all your heart - and with all your strength.If, however, because of human weakness you cannot be holy, then be PERFECT with all your soul, with all your heart, and with all your strength.But, if you cannot be perfect because of vanity in your life, then be GOOD with all your soul, all your heart and with all your strength.Yet, if you cannot be good because of the trickery of the enemy, then be WISE with all your soul, with all your heart, and with all your strength.If, in the end, you can be neither HOLY, nor PERFECT, nor GOOD, nor WISE because of the weight of your sins, then carry this weight before God and surrender your life to His divine mercy.If you do this, without BITTERNESS, with all HUMILITY, and with a JOYFUL SPIRIT, due to the TENDERNESS OF GOD who loves the sinner and the ungrateful, then you will begin to feel what it is to be wise, you will learn what it is to be good, you will slowly aspire to be perfect and finally - you will be holy.If you do all this - with all your heart - with all your soul and with all your strength - then I assure you, my friends, you will be on the path of St. Francis - you will not be far from the Kingdom of God.

8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)

Tuesday, 2/17/2015

“Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

LEVITICUS 24, 25

One of the Israelites is accused of blaspheme.  They bring him to Moses and the following command is given from God

 15Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible; 16anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death.

 Moses gives instructions regarding the 50 year Jubilee celebration and answers the question of how they are to live in the seventh year of rest.

18“ ‘Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. 19Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. 20You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?” 21I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. 22While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.

MARK 1:23-45

Jesus begins to heal and he begins to be followed, crowds start forming.  Jesus begins to get up early and go off alone to spend time praying to God.

35Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
38Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”39So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Jesus is approached by a leper who asks to be healed.  Once he is healed...

43Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44“See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

JOURNAL

Why is blasphemy put on the same level as murder?  Doing some research...it is speaking or acting in ways that manipulate or denigrate the identity of God in a way that hurts or destroys.  In essence it is joining forces with Evil, because true evil uses and manipulates good in order to destroy it...usually and most always for selfish purposes. 

The thing I notice about Jesus is how he rejects fame.  It is one of the temptations of Satan in the desert and he continually moves away from being idolized. Jesus understands that idolizing him as a Man and seeing him just as a healer is missing the entire point.  His constant surrender to God and rejection of ease and comfort confirms his radical counter-cultural love.  It also runs counter to anything that could ever be construed as blasphemy.  Jesus always seems careful to walk this line of who he is while pointing all glory back to God.  

Thinking about our world of self-promotion and image consultants, the life of Christ continually flies in the face of this.  Here the son of God never takes advantage of his building reputation, he constantly rejects and removes himself from opportunities to profit from his growing "brand".  

Jesus knows his destiny, he knows his ultimate path as a man is to be crucified.  Worship of him as a man will only serve to focus on the earthly flesh instead of the spiritual and heavenly kingdom.   It is here that I again am reminded that my ultimate call is to be surrendered to God in obedience to my spiritual home.  I am to walk the fine line of gratitude and appreciation for the gifts of life and all its goodness, while never getting too comfortable in using it as a substitute for God's love. 

1Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:1-4)

Monday, 2/16/2015

“Seven Deadly Sins

Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience
Science without humanity
Knowledge without character
Politics without principle
Commerce without morality
Worship without sacrifice.” ~ Mahatma Ghandi

LEVITICUS 22, 23

31“Keep my commands and follow them. I am the Lord. 32Do not profane my holy name, for I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the Lord, who made you holy 33and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.”
1The Lord said to Moses, 2“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.

• The Sabbath
• The Festival of Unleavened Bread
• Offering the Firstfruits
• The Festival of Weeks
• The Festival of Trumpets
• The Day of Atonement
• The Festival of Tabernacles

MARK 1:1-22

The Gospel of Mark begins with John the Baptist...

1The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah,^a the Son of God,^b 2as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way”^c —

3“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.’ ”^d

4And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8I baptize you with^e water, but he will baptize you with^f the Holy Spirit.” 

Jesus then comes, is baptized, is tempted in the desert and goes on to call his first disciples. He then goes to the Temple to preach where people are amazed at his knowledge and the authority with which he preaches. 

JOURNAL

The writer of the Gospel of Mark is identified as John Mark, he is one of Peter's associates and therefore Peter is his source.  It was written in the 60's AD. AD 64 is the year Nero started persecuting Christians, which may be why the book heavily emphasizes Jesus' suffering.  The book is the shortest of the Gospels and is heavy on action.  In this first half a chapter, Jesus is baptized, calls his disciples, faces temptation and begins teaching in the synagogue.

ACTION....I recently read back through The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck.  There is a particular passage in this book that really struck me.

…I became increasingly aware of the ubiquitous nature of laziness. In the struggle to help my patients grow, I found that my chief enemy was invariably their laziness. And I became aware in myself of a similar reluctance to extend myself to new areas of thought, responsibility and maturation. One thing I clearly had in common with all mankind was my laziness. It was at this point that the serpent-and-the-apple story suddenly made sense.

I too have recently become aware of how laziness is at the core of my sin.  Love, and good honest work is hard, it requires me to extend myself and do things that require constant effort.  It requires me to seek God in humility and constantly be aware of my motives and the sneaky nature of this pull to take the easy route. It shows up when my son wants to go shoot the basketball when it is 30 degrees outside.  It rears its head when the last thing I want to do is open the Bible and read.  It is there at the core when shading the truth would cause less friction and make a relationship or situation smoother.  It is my flesh wanting an easier route, a guarantee, a way that I can be in control and therefore limit my suffering and increase my pleasure.  

So, God is not being too hard on the Israelites, he is saving their lives. He is constantly pushing them with new laws, new traditions, details upon details...yet this is his love and grace in action.  What would have happened to them had God not intervened in such a dramatic way?  They would have destroyed themselves..no doubt.  They were slaves who had been pushed and told exactly what to do for hundreds of years so therefore they needed specific detailed instructions for every aspect of their life...Reality is...I am no different.

22Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. (Colossians 3:22-24)

Sunday, 2/15/2015

“We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”  ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

LEVITICUS 20, 21

God continues to give the Israelites instructions on living...the purpose always is in obedience to God, who loves them in grace and not because of anything they have done...

7“ ‘Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. 8Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy. 

22“ ‘Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. 23You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. 24But I said to you, “You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from the nations.

MATTHEW 28:1-20

Jesus' body has been taken down from the cross and he is placed in a tomb paid for by a new disciple...Joseph of Arimathea.  After the Sabbath, Mary goes to the tomb and a violent earhtquake strikes.  The tomb is opened, the guards pass out and Mary confronts an angel...

5The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” 

8So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

JOURNAL

The purpose of it all is revealed...Jesus is risen, conquering death and giving the command to go in love making disciples of all, teaching to obey everything Jesus taught them and finally that he is with them always.  

Awesome! Wait...what did he tell them to do? Jesus was just crucified and his command is go and do as I did???  This is a death sentence and a command that will be the cause of horrible suffering, torture and strife.  Everyone of the remaining 11 will die horrible deaths...not only them but countless others after them.  Good News? Really??

Here is the rub in my faith.  Here is where I struggle every day, every hour, every minute.  Jesus' commission is to go and struggle and if need be...get tortured and killed.  How is this lived out in a culture whose chief objective is comfort and "happiness".  

I don't know the answer...yesterday I came across the following...10 Horrifying Tortures of Early Christians.  In reading these I am horrified by the brutality, but I am amazed at the actions and demeanor of these disciples.  The calmness, peace and love demonstrated through days of relentless torture is beyond my understanding...I then look at my own life and think...PATHETIC! 

There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37They were put to death by stoning;^e they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:35-39)