Blogging the Bible

These two Psalms of David, in many ways are representative of the whole collection. They include cries of lament (31:9-13), penitence (32:3-5), and thanksgiving (31:19-24). They reveal the wide range of human emotions that result from the ups and downs of life. It is so encouraging to know that we can pray honestly–what we are really feeling. We can pray when we are angry, sad, discouraged, as well as when we are happy and content. The fact that God in his sovereign wisdom included all these kinds of prayers in the Psalms is confirmation of his unconditional love for us. He could have just preserved the Psalms that give him praise. But by the power of the Holy Spirit he has preserved the Psalms of lament, as well. They ALL are holy scripture.

For the Luke reading today I want to concentrate on the lost things trilogy. Luke arranges these stories intentionally to demonstrate clearly God’s purpose in sending Christ. He was sent to save sinners–to rescue the spiritually lost. The religious folks were offended by the people that Jesus was hanging out with. So Jesus tells them three stories from everyday life that they would clearly understand to explain why he was with these people. He came to save the lost. It is that simple. The stories build in intensity because the lost things increase in value. A lost sheep is very important to a shepherd who depends on them for his livelihood. The lost coin represents a significant part of the woman’s possession and is worth taking the time to carefully search for it. Finally, the lost item is a son. No one hearing this story would miss the significanc of it.

But the story of the lost son goes much further because the son is lost because he has chosen to dishonor and rebel against the love and care of his father. In the context, what this son is saying to his father when he asks for his inheritance early, is, ‘I wish you were dead!” The son is blatantly disrespectful and treacherous. In this case, because the son has gone off of his own free will, the father does not go looking for him but waits every day, watching to see if he will return. Then at first sight of him coming home, the father disregards all public decorum and social mores by lifting his garment and running to embrace the prodigal. Then he provides a banquet to celebrate the sons return, not a tribunal to punish him for his wrongdoing. Amazing! The value of this son was greater than anything else the father owned in possessions or reputation. The message is a strong one. Jesus did not come to “save” those who do not need saving (or at least do not think they need saving!). He came to rescue the perishing, to find those who are lost, to heal those who are sick, and to redeem those sold into slavery of sin. By putting these three stories together, Luke s emphasizing the nature of the kingdom of God. It is made up of lost things that have been found. It is made up of broken people that have been fixed. It is made up of sinful people who have been forgiven. Those who see themselves as neither lost, broken or sinful will not be “found” by Jesus. The Savior came for those who need to be saved!

The story or parable of the Good Samartian is perhaps one of the most well known stories of Jesus. It is a very powerful story when understood in the context because it strikes to the heart of all of our bigotry both due to race and religion. Most of the time when we read or hear it we can think of other people we know that “need to hear this story.” But the crux of the story and the purpose of Jesus telling it involves perhaps the most important question we need to ask ourselves every single day that we profess to live out our faith. WHO IS MY neighbor? Emphasis in caps. WHO IS MY neighbor? Who is it in my life right now, today, this hour, that I need to interrupt my life, my plan for the day, in order to love and serve.

Two weeks ago a woman came to the church requesting help. She looked to be in her 60’s. She was using a walker. She was in a lot of pain. She had no place to live. She was waiting on disability from a serious car accident in order to be able to get into assisted living. She had a prescritpion for medication and no money to get it. She had been riding the bus with what little money she had trying to find a church that would help her. Comng out of one church (that declined to help) she met a young mother wth four children. The young mother had a room for rent in her house and offered it to this woman. Her renter had just moved out. So this woman got on the bus again to see if she could find help to pay this woman rent and to get her pain medication. She ended up here at FPC. How, I do not know. I have heard a lot of hard luck stories and many of them are exactly the same because they are a mixture of truth and stock story. This story was different. Something in me believed this woman. But my day was so full already. I did not have time to help! Because I know from past experience this kind of assistance takes time… a lot of time. And it did. I ended up spending the rest of the day, several hours, securing the information I needed to make sure we were not just putting money in a black hole. Though she lived nowhere in the neighborhood, this woman WAS our neighbor. I just called today to see how the living arrangment is working with this young woman and her four children. God is good. It is working for them. What if I had “walked on the other side of the road” to avoid this woman? What if I had decided she was not my neighbor?

This, indeed is one of the most difficult and important questions of our faith. The man begging for money or food by the side of the freeway…is he your neighbor? The person going door to door looking for work…is she your neighbor? The person you know who does not have a car and your family has four cars…is this your neighborly chance? The person who has no medical insurance and so is not going to the doctor…is this my neighbor? Only the Spirit of God can reveal the answer. Obviously, if I stopped to help every person I see that has a need, I would be unemployed and thus unable to help anybody! But, all too often, we go to the opposite extreme and because we are busy, we have our own plans for the day, we do not stop to help anyone.

The story of the Good Samaritan is the answer to the question. Most of the time, the person we least expect or want to be our neighbor is our neighbor. And neighborliness almost always comes with a cost. WHO IS MY neighbor?

Ooops. Three days slipped away without a post. Sometimes life is like that! Luke would understand it. His gospel is marked by a fast paced perspective with incredible attention to detail. It is widely held that the author was a doctor who joined those following Jesus. His record appears to be eye-witness much of the time and his arrangement of material is careful and convincing leading to the conclusion of Jesus as Messiah for both Jew and Gentile.

One of my favorite stories in all the gospels is the story in chapter 8 regarding the “sinful woman.” This is an example of Jesus using an everyday situation to teach eternal truth. As often is the case in Jesus’ teaching, the religious characters are farther from the truth than the less religious characters in the story–in this case the woman who had lived a “sinful life” and whom the religious man called a “sinner.”

Jesus turns the focus of the story on forgiveness rather than sin. The religious man sees the point–the person who is forgiven much will love much. The person who thinksthey have been forgiven little, will love little. Love of God is what matters, not amount of sin.

The confession of Peter in chapter nine leads to the ultimate question of all the gospels, and Luke’s in particular. It is a question posed for every person who reads the gospel… who do YOU say that Jesus is? This section follows the parable of the sower, his teaching on who are his brothers and sisters, and three miracles. All of these provide a case for the decision facing every person who is confronted by Jesus’ claims. Who do YOU say that he is? What do you believe about Jesus? This challenge is answered by verses 28-36 where Jesus is seen by his disciples in the company of Moses and Elijah–pretty powerful company! But the confirmation of Jesus’ identity is even more clear when the disciples, in a fog (mentally and physically according to the text!) hear a voice from heaven declaring that this is the beloved chosen Son of God and they are to listen to him! Ok! I guess we better pay attention!

The cost of following Jesus closes out these chapters. This is why Jesus said earlier that a person must “hate” mother and father and sister and brother in order to love and follow him. (See question and comment from day 223). There is no promise of comfort following Jesus (no place to lay the head). There is no guarantee of time to attend to earthly business (burying the dead). And, it is likely that other relationships will be disrupted (not being able to say goodbye). The cost is great, but the rewards are also great! The presence and power of the living Christ guiding all the way and the promise of eternal life with that same living Christ-God in the flesh.

We will see more judgment for more nations. Jeremiah is bringing God’s judgment to the evil and proud nations that surrounded Israel. The most surprising thing that we will find is that God is also judging Babylon, the same powerful nation that he was using to punish Israel.

For many Jews who thought that Jeremiah was a traitor, Jeremiah’s prophecy against Babylon was tremendous shock. Many of them regarded him as someone who was against his own people, but now they cannot believe that he was prophesying against their enemies. Once again he demonstrated that his loyalty was with God and nobody else.

What is Jeremiah main teaching for us? I think his main teaching to us is that we can remain faithful to God not matter what the outside world can tell us. And also that if we decided to be faithful to God and his mission to our lives, he will provide all the necessary strength and grace to accomplish it.

Jeremiah now turns his face and words to other nations. To all of them he prophesied punishment because they were living in a very evil way. The reason why the prophet dealt with other nations is because all of them are also God’s concern.

 Through the prophet Jeremiah we can see a God who is completely involved in the world. You can see that God really cares for everybody, and that is why he is talking about punishing and discipline, but also about hope and restoration. Almost after every judgment predicted he will give words of mercy too.

Take for instance when his talking about Egypt, he confronted Pharaoh with this words “Give Pharaoh, king of Egypt the name ‘Braggart who missed his chance’ and proclaimed “Daughter Egypt shall be put to shame; she shall be handed over to a people from the north” (46:17, 24) but also at the end of prophecy he stated “Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, says the Lord” (46: 26)

The same experience is promised to Moab, a very sinful and arrogant nation which never cared about anything else but itself. However God also will punish and discipline her, but at the end he gave her this wonderful promise: “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, says the Lord” (48: 47)

God definitely is the God of the second chance!  What is he telling you today?

If Jeremiah’s ministry in Judah was difficult and challenging, his ministry in Egypt wouldn’t be less difficult and challenging. I believe that he really loved his people and wanted their welfare, but in the other hand he knew that his people welfare was a consequence of their relationship with God.

The leaders of Judah were locked into their reasoning, and they were unable to see or to hear anything different. Jeremiah did his best in proclaiming faithfully and courageously the word of God for them, but their hearts were set to do their own thinking.

 They Judeans told Jeremiah: “You are telling a lie. The Lord our God did not sent you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to settle there’; but Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us, to hand us over to the Chaldeans” (43:2-3) In other words they were saying Jeremiah you are not God’ servant but Baruch’s puppet. Their determination to do their own will was more evident when they told Jeremiah: “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you” (44: 16)

For us, is easy to think that they were just a bunch of rebellious and hardhearted people without first understanding that they didn’t become like that overnight.  It was a long process of getting away from God and trying to do their will and follow their own understanding of life.

 Do you think we are different than them? No! We also tend to do our own will and get our own way. The only difference between them and us is our determination to do what they were unable to, which is hearing carefully and faithfully what God has to say.

Let’s remember what the writer of the book of Revelation told his readers seven times: “Let anyone who has ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches”

Will we listen or will we persist in our own reasoning?

I apologize for the delay, but here are the  blogs!

In these three chapters, there is an interesting contrast between two men, the king Zedekiah and the prophet Jeremiah. The king is desperately trying to preserve his kingdom and the other is faithfully representing his God. King Zedekiah asked three times for God’s word (37: 3, 17; 38:14) through Jeremiah, but in all the occasions he did not obeyed, he was just trying to figure out if his luck has changed at all.  In the other hand, we have a prophet whom even though obeying God commands could represent his death; he remained proclaiming what the Lord told him to say.

 I think both men struggled with the possibility of doing things in other way, Jeremiah at times could think about not prophesying (Jeremiah20:9) and the king could think about wholeheartedly obeying, but no one changed. One was brave the other was weak. One preserved his life; the other destroyed his kingdom and his country.

Day 220: Jeremiah 40-42

Babylon took over Judah; all what the prophet Jeremiah foretold became a reality. Now you expect that this people could possible understand that God really was punishing them and that they suppose to be ready to obey now, but this was not the case they still want to do things in their own, and that is why you will continue to see more plots, rebellion, and disobedience.The last thing they decided to do was to flee to Egypt. There were many reasons why they shouldn’t go there, but their fear of the Babylonians was stronger than their ability to trust God. Humanly talking it was the most reasonable thing to do, but according to the divine perspective that was the most foolish thing to do.

 Do you think Jeremiah’s job was easy? Not at all, but he decided to be faithful when everything was falling apart. For many people it is really hard to believe that a good man could ever proclaim judgment to his own people, but the reality is that Jeremiah was not guessing when prophesied he was plainly declaring what God told him to say.

The people of Judah really had trouble in listening and obeying God. They tried to emend their ways, but they could not keep their promises. Their faith and obedience fell short in comparison with their circumstances.

The prophet Jeremiah uses the experience with the Rechabites clan to demonstrate that if they were willing to obey their ancestor Jonadab (35:6) why the people of Judah couldn’t obey God. God told them clearly that he has been faithful in telling them his commandment, but they have been very persistent in no paying attention.

The people of Judah received many opportunities from God to save their lives and to avoid the destruction of their country, but they instead decided to ignore God words. In fact, the king Jehoiakim after hearing part of God’s message through the scroll of the prophet Jeremiah “throw them in to the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire” (36:23) the general attitude was if God wants to talk to us, it will be in our terms no in his.

One of the biggest challenges in life is trying to convince somebody about something he thinks his right, but actually, he is wrong. God had that trouble with the people of Judah, they couldn’t hear God because they thought he was wrong or at least his prophet was wrong.

There is not good in trying to “get rid” of God’s words. God actually is more persistent than us, and will continue to send his word to us whether we listen or not. The prophet Jeremiah “took another scroll and gave it to the secretary Baruch son of Neriah, who wrote on it at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned in the fire; and many similar words were added to them”  (36:32)

 “There is hope for your future says the Lord” (31:17) is the key word for these three chapters. The reason why God is telling them that is because the tragedy of the Babylonian invasion would be so overwhelming, that the people of Judah will think that they will be destroyed.

God is certainly the God of judgment, but also and over all the God of hope and new beginnings. The people of Judah could not avoid the punishment neither they will lose the opportunity of restoration.

  It doesn’t matter how difficult your present circumstances can be, God certainly has a way to start a new beginning in your life and family. The same God, who has the ability to restore an entire nation, is the same God who can restore your entire life. 

  The new beginning anyway will take time to be accomplished, but is the driven force to keep you believing, thrusting and waiting for better days to come. Jeremiah had to proclaim the destruction and the restoration of his people, but even though he believes that “nothing is too hard for you (GOD), (32: 17) he had his concerns about how the restoration will take place. God answered him with a powerful question: “See, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me? (32:26)

Obviously, nothing is too hard for God, but he wanted to make sure that Jeremiah understands that every new beginning is the real product of the real intervention of the power and mercy of God. In addition, the reason why God asked if anything is too hard for him was to tell Jeremiah: that is exactly truth, but do you really believe it Jeremiah?

Our real hopes for our real new beginning stars with our real believe of God’s power. That is why he told them: “Call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” (33:3) or like the Message puts it “Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things you could never figure out on your own