Contemplative Bible Reading

Ephesians 1:1 (New Living Translation)

This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful followers of Christ Jesus.

This begins the letter from Paul to the Christians in Ephesus. Paul says, “I am an apostle” of Christ Jesus. This is one of those introductions of letters. It is a long form of, “Dear Ephesus,” so we can just skip over it without reading or thinking. At least, that is how I usually treat these things.

Note, Paul does not call himself a “disciple;” he calls himself an “apostle.” Disciples are students who follow after a person. Apostles are those persons sent by a person with a message to others. In many ways, an apostle is a teacher.

This is quite simple, but often misunderstood. Paul never followed after Jesus like Peter, James, John, et al did. Paul was, however, sent by God with the message of and about Jesus Christ. Paul was an apostle, not a disciple.

Now I can disagree with others about my descriptive noun. Well, I didn’t follow Jesus around as Jesus walked through Palestine some several thousand years ago. Hence, I am not a literal disciple. If I follow the teachings of Jesus, maybe I qualify as a sort of disciple. I write these little posts sending a message about Jesus. That qualifies me as an apostle, right? Maybe.

Skip the titles for now. Do what I can. Love the people that walk into my path. Look to God. Pray.

John 4:10 (New Living Translation)

10 Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”

This is one of those sentences in scripture that puzzles me. In one case, “if you only knew the gift God has for you” shows how much greater God is than my little imagination. In another case, it shows that God has things for me that I don’t understand, so how could I ask for them if I don’t understand them? Please God, give me a break here. Let me know.

Well, God does let me know in ways that I don’t understand. I am back to “I don’t understand, so how could I understand?” Please God, give me a break here. It is sort of like back in school in the ancient days when the teachers told us, “If you don’t know how to spell a word, find it in the dictionary.” We cried about if we could find it in the dictionary we knew how to spell it and so we went around in circles with those misspelled words (then computers came along that underlined the misspelled words in red, but I digress).

Then again, maybe God is like those computers that underline misspelled words in red. I don’t type words I don’t know how to spell unless I am pushing myself beyond what I consider to be my boundaries. Maybe I grow in understanding of God when I push myself beyond what I consider to be my boundaries. Note, I grow in understanding; I don’t fully understand God, but I grow. Progress in the right direction.

This woman at the well didn’t know what God was offering. Hence, she couldn’t ask for it. A few days later, she understood more and she could ask for more so she could understand more and ask for more so she could… And on it goes.

Ask. Seek. Find. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Luke 2:15 (New Living Translation)

15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

This is part of the (hi)story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Angels visited shepherds in the fields and told them of Jesus in the manger in the stable.

I gloss over the story because I have heard it so many times. These sheep herders, however, had a serious job: watch the sheep. Those sheep were the livelihood of people. Losing sheep was a big deal. You lose your sheep, your family doesn’t eat and has no place to sleep and no clothes to wear!

Still, the shepherds reacted with, “Forget the sheep, let’s go see what the Lord has told us about.”

They realized they had received a message from God. They had to react to the message from God. The human consequences may be this or that, but the message from God was certain—no may be this or that.

Faith. Believe the message from God and act on it. Faith. God, please grant me the faith I need each day.

John 1:51 (New Living Translation)

51 Then he said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth.”

Jesus is talking to Nathanael. Jesus describes Himself as the stairway between heaven and earth. Other parts of scripture describe heaven and other as separated by an impassable gulf. Yet, there are nice, clear, orderly stairs that cross that gulf. Jesus is what allows lowly folks like me to cross that gulf.

I cannot swim across the Gulf of Mexico from Texas to Florida. That is impossible for me. I believe it is impossible for every human who ever lived. It is just too far. I need a bridge across the Gulf of Mexico to travel from Texas to Florida. In a major respect, Jesus is that bridge. Jesus enables me to do what I cannot do.

Okay, heaven and earth. What else? In what other sense does Jesus enable me to do something that I cannot do? Oh gosh, what a long list. Let’s begin with something simple: Jesus is that stairway between what I think of my next door neighbor and actually loving my next door neighbor. And if my next door neighbor isn’t enough, let’s start listing the people I know and don’t really love as I should.

Gosh, these lists inside lists are pretty long. That shows where I am and what I cannot do. And it shows the grace of the great stairway that is Jesus the Christ and what Jesus did and continues to do for me. Thank you God for your gift.

Exodus 20:24-15 (New Living Translation)

24 “Build for me an altar made of earth, and offer your sacrifices to me—your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats, and your cattle. Build my altar wherever I cause my name to be remembered, and I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you use stones to build my altar, use only natural, uncut stones. Do not shape the stones with a tool, for that would make the altar unfit for holy use.

This comes right after God gives the ten commandments to the people through Moses. God provides special instructions about the altar on which the people are to sacrifice the best of their livestock.

The altar should be natural: dirt and natural stones that were not cut, chiseled, and fitted.

I wonder about this. Why just pile up some rocks and toss on some dirt to fill in the cracks? Why not build “something nice?” This is lazy. This doesn’t make sense to me. Why, why, and why not?

Here is one guess from me: God says, “I want the greatest effort of sacrifice to come from your heart. Don’t put effort and expense into the physical stuff. Put the effort in your heart.”

I am sure folks who study these things have better explanations. I would love to hear them. The lesson I take is the focus on the heart. Does this mean something to me? Am I loving? Do I care? How do I treat this as more than just write a check and put it in the plate and go one with the stuff I like in life? That is my burden.

Luke 23:35 (New Living Translation)

35 The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

This is part of the (hi)story of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. At this point, Jesus has been nailed to the cross and is placed between crosses of two criminals who are being executed that day. Several times following this sentence different persons tell Jesus to save Himself as he claimed to have that ability.

In due time, Jesus would save Himself.

It is no great revelation to note that God does things in ways and at times that don’t make much sense to folks like me. I have solutions; God just needs to listen to me and do things my way. Silly me.

Jesus did save Himself. How and when Jesus saved Himself were beyond imagination (silly me and my limited imagination).

Sigh. I wish I understood how all this works. I wish I understood God’s timing for things and how they work out and fit into systems that make sense to me. Nice wishes; they probably won’t be met as that just isn’t what God does. That is inconvenient for me at times, but that is something I should mature into understanding.

Psalms 27:1-3 (New Living Translation)

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
so why should I be afraid?
The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger,
so why should I tremble?
2 When evil people come to devour me,
when my enemies and foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.
3 Though a mighty army surrounds me,
my heart will not be afraid.
Even if I am attacked,
I will remain confident.

This Psalm is attributed to David. David was acquainted with “evil people coming to devour” him, “enemies and foes attacking” him, and “mighty armies surrounding” him.

These are not metaphors for the slings and arrows of everyday middle class American life. These things are literal. David was a warrior—literally. He killed people in hand-to-hand combat. Thousands of men tried to kill him in hand-to-hand combat. Blood and guts and an R rated movie with all that. And the odor—I cannot imagine how bad it all smelled.

Yet, David writes, “why should I be afraid?” and “I will remain confident.” WHY SHOULD I BE AFRAID? Are you kidding?

And some days I feel defeated because someone else in the line at the grocery store is fumbling with their items and I have to wait a few minutes to pay for my fresh strawberries in January when it is 5° and sleeting outside. Are you kidding? What is wrong with me?

Fearless and confident. Come on. Let’s get real. I can do much better. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Luke 23:8 (New Living Translation)

8 Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been hoping for a long time to see him perform a miracle.

This is part of the (hi)story of the crucifixion of Jesus. At one point, Jesus was sent to Herod Antipas (there were lots of rulers named Herod in that day). Herod was delighted that a bound prisoner Jesus was being dragged to him. You see,

Herod wanted to see Jesus perform a miracle.

What’s a miracle? Let’s go with this definition: a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.

Make the sun move backwards across the sky. Make an ocean part down the middle where people can walk across it on dry land. Turn water into gold or river pebbles into diamonds. Amazing stuff like that, huh?

That’s what Herod Antipas wanted. Bring that magical Jew in here so he can perform for me. Yeah, that would be amazing stuff.

How about, cause a person to stop their daily walk to give a drink of water to a tired person sitting against a building in their dirty clothes with their shopping basic containing all their worldly junk? How’s that for a miracle? Not much amazing stuff there, but that is “a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable.”

I believe God works miracles everyday right in front of everyone. Just notice.

Well, Herod wasn’t all bad, was he? The verse begins with, “Herod was delighted at the opportunity to see Jesus.” That’s a pretty good start. I believe that most people today are in that situation. Let’s bring Jesus to them.

Matthew 12:25-26 (New Living Translation)

25 Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart. 26 And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is divided and fighting against himself. His own kingdom will not survive.

Jesus had just removed a demon from a man and restored his sight and speech. Some Pharisees heard about this miracle and accused Jesus of receiving “power from Satan, the prince of demons.”

Jesus replied to this accusation with the above verses. This is sort of good news from Jesus. Let me paraphrase Jesus with, “Okay, let’s assume I receive power from Satan. I am casting out Satan with power from Satan. Satan is fighting Satan. Satan cannot survive such infighting.”

Good news! Satan is killing Satan and will soon die of his own doing! That is good news.

On the other hand, continues Jesus, if the Spirit of God is working in this case, the Kingdom of God has arrived here. That is even better news.

Either way, good news! Yet somehow some of the folks there tried to turn it all into bad news. And, those folks seem to have forgotten what a tremendous blessing has come to the man who had a demon, couldn’t speak, and was blind. What about that guy? Praise God for that guy’s relief.

Zechariah 8:23 (New Living Translation)

23 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: In those days ten men from different nations and languages of the world will clutch at the sleeve of one Jew. And they will say, ‘Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”

God is speaking to the people through the prophet Zechariah. God is showing the people what will happen in the future. Jerusalem will be the unofficial capital city of the world. People from ten nations will grab the sleeve of one of God’s people and beg to be in the presence of God’s people.

Why?

Because God is with that person or at least they heard that God is with that person. Just the rumor that God is with a person brings such desperate clinging.

Why?

People everywhere will recognize the power, glory, and majesty or Jehovah God the Creator. “Please sir, please let me crawl at your feet so that I will come to know something of God.” That is what the people from all the corners of the earth will beg.

Does anyone in this coffee shop realize that God is with me? Yikes! Who asked that question? Please God, help me to know the answer. Please God, help me to live so that people realize that You are with me.