Contemplative Bible Reading

Genesis 12:1-3 (New International Version 2010)

¹ The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

² “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

The last phrase in verse 3 is short, easy to overlook, yet significant.

I believe in what some people call the big picture or the big story view of the Bible. At least I think I do; I am not certain as to what all these entail. Anyways, I believe that God created this planet to be a place where God and mankind would live together in a perfect relationship.

Mankind messed it up. ooops

Therefore, God created a plan to restore the perfect relationship with mankind. God picked a man to start His plan. That man was Abram or Abraham. God worked through Abraham and his small family to restore the perfect relationship. The working of God took what seems like an eternity to me, but probably isn’t much time for God. God’s plan seems awfully complicated, with far too many twists and turns and fits and starts, but that shows the limits of my imagination and my little mind.

If I stand back far enough and smooth the details, the plan does look pretty simple. God chose Abraham and built a family for Abraham. That family became a nation that one day brought God’s Son into the world. The Son sacrificed himself to clean away the mess that mankind had made – the mess of rebellion.

Now I come to the part of the plan that I don’t quite understand because I don’t see it clearly yet. God will live here again with mankind in a perfect relationship.

All this is predicted in the few, simple words

and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.

Exodus 33:12-13 (New International Version 2010)

¹² Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ ¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

This is a simple yet profound request from Moses.

LORD, teach me your ways.

We can each pray this request every day. I will strive to do so.

Leviticus 25:23 (New International Version 2010)

The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.

The LORD is passing along through Moses His laws for the people. There is a group of laws about owning, selling, renting, and such for the land. The land was critical to the lives of the people as almost all of them worked in agriculture. The verse above summarizes one of the main concepts of land ownership as stipulated by the LORD.

The LORD owns the land

Each tribe of Israel was allotted a piece of land as “theirs.” The land could change hands during certain years, but only among people of that tribe. A tribe could not buy part of the land of another tribe. During certain years, land that was sold would return to the original owner. Hence, people didn’t “buy” land from one another as we know it today. Instead, they rented the land from each other. And the final outcome is that they were all squatting on the LORD’s land.

The verse above emphasizes this by stating

The people were allowed to live as foreigners and strangers on the LORD’s land

So much for a promised land. That seems a bit harsh of the LORD to call His people a bunch of foreigners and strangers. Couldn’t the LORD cut them some slack and let them have a sense of permanence and security that goes with home ownership.

Not.

You see, home ownership and land ownership do give people a sense of security and a sense of safety. I don’t believe that is what the LORD wanted for His people in the time of Leviticus and that is not what the LORD wants for us today as Christians. I think that security through home ownership is a form of idolatry. The home owner tends to worship his home as the source of security and safety. The LORD wants us to worship Him as the source of all love, security, safety, and everything else that is good.

When the people wandered in the desert for 40 years, they depended on the LORD for daily life. When the people entered the Promised Land, they depended on the LORD for land. Today, we as Christians should depend on the LORD for everything. We are to live our lives as foreigners and strangers here. This world of today can be a wonderful place. It is nothing, however, without the LORD. It is nothing compared to what it will be when we live with the LORD.

Living as foreigners and strangers isn’t easy. It is, I believe, what the LORD wants us to do.

Luke 24:1-8 (New International Version 2010)

¹ On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ² They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ⁵ In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” ⁸ Then they remembered his words.

This is Luke’s account of the resurrection of Jesus. The women come to the tomb. They find the stone rolled away and Jesus’ body is not in the tomb. If the (hi)story stops at this point, we can conclude that grave robbers appeared and stole the body to gain its burial spices.

Then, in verse 4, two men appear to them wearing dazzling, white, shiny clothes. The traditional explanation, one that I accept, is that these two men were angels. These angels pronounce that Jesus has risen from the dead. Note what the angels say in verse 6:

Remember how he (Jesus) told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: …

Question:

How did the angels know what Jesus had told the followers back in Galilee?

I mean, the speeches of Jesus weren’t broadcast on television or YouTube or Facebook or Twitter or even in the local newspaper. How did the angels know what Jesus had said?

Some possibilities:

• They learned in the Monday morning staff meeting
• They were with Jesus all the time, but invisible to the followers
• God the Father told the angels what Jesus had said
• Jesus, while in the tomb, told the angels what he had said
• Angels could hear everything Jesus said no matter where they were
• The angels “just knew”

No doubt with time I could think of more possibilities. No doubt I would be wrong on the vast majority of my possibilities. Perhaps one day the angels will tell me how they knew.

2 Kings 5:11-14 (New International Version 2010)

¹¹ But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. ¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.

¹³ Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” ¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

We continue the (hi)story of Naaman – the General who had a skin disease and was healed by washing in the dirty Jordan River.

At this point in the (hi)story, Elisha has just told Naaman what to do to be cured. Actually, Elisha didn’t even tell Naaman. Instead, he sent a servant to tell Naaman. That was a bit of a slap in the face as Naaman was an important man and Elisha should have graced Naaman with his presence. Perhaps Elisha could have put on his best clothing and knelt before Naaman or something to pay homage to such a great military leader.

I think that Naaman went away angry because this entire episode was not going the way he expected. Naaman had a plan for how the Lord, the God of Elisha was to do everything. Naaman had a plan for how the Lord, the God of Elisha was to work. God  wasn’t following Naaman’s plan. Imagine the insolence of God.

Another couple of points. First, God, through Elisha, was humbling Naaman. God did not have Elisha pay proper respect to Naaman or a man of Naaman’s position. Being a General of an army doesn’t impress God. There is little any of us can do to impress God. God sent Naaman to dunk himself in a dirty river, and that wasn’t respectful.

The second point is that God’s method left no doubt as to who did the healing. If, as Naaman had planned, Elisha had waved his hand over Naaman while chanting some mysterious words, people could have attributed the glory to Elisha or the way he waved his hand or the mysterious words he chanted or the spot where they stood or any assortment of things. The healing of an incurable skin disease by splashing around in a dirty little river left no doubt about who healed Naaman. The Lord, the God of Elisha did it.

The (hi)story of Naaman ends well. He is healed and turns toward the Lord, the God of Elisha as the one true God. Naaman was wrong about how God should work. All his expectations were shattered. Now, how about me today? How about all of us today? I’m pretty smart; I’m well educated, and I even take the time to write a blog about what I read in the Bible. Surely, I know how God should work in my life and in the lives of those around me. No, I might think I know, but I don’t. Like Naaman, I need some humility and I need to keep my mouth shut and all my senses alert to notice how God works in His own ways.

Luke 7:30 (New International Version 2010)

²⁹ (All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

Such a shame. In verse 30, we read that

the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves

God had something in store for these people. God had plans for them. These people, however, rejected all of what God had for them.

My life has been a stream of blessings from God – at least that is how I see it. There have been miserable, awful periods in my life, but God has given me what I needed to move through those periods and into other times of, well, I’ll use the word FUN.

What if I had rejected God’s purposes for me? What would my life have been?

I think that I still have a lot of life in front of me. I could reject the purposes that God still has in store for me. I think I’ll stay the course and stick with God’s purposes.

2 Kings 5:6-8 (New International Version 2010)

⁶ The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

⁷ As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”

⁸ When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

These verses continue the (hi)story of Naaman, the general afflicted with a skin disease who was cured by washing in the dirty Jordan River seven times. At this point in the (hi)story, Naaman has gone to his king and asked for diplomatic papers for the King of Israel. The king of Aram sends a brief note to the king of Israel. It says:

Cure my man of his incurable disease, thanks, have a nice day.

The king of Israel tears out his hair. He has been set up for failure, and once he fails, the king of Aram will have just cause for a little invasion and all sorts of mayhem. To all this angst over international politics, the prophet Elisha has a simple response.

I am a man of God. What’s the problem? Send him over.

Maybe my retelling of the (hi)story is a bit flippant. The king of Israel did have plenty of international problems as well as internal idolatry. His life was miserable and he didn’t need any more provocation. All this stress caused him to lose sight of God and God’s power.

Elisha lived a much simpler life. He was also much closer to God. Maybe those two things aren’t coincidental. Maybe there is a big lesson there. I think so.

Romans 1:5 (New International Version 2010)

Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake.

Fascinating combination of words:

• obedience
• faith

Faith: I haven’t seen anything from the natural sciences to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, yet I believe.

Obedience: Hence, my belief leads me in my life.

This doesn’t make sense from any sort of logic or rational perspective. I can see lives changed by a faith in Jesus as the Christ. Those changed lives influence my faith. I can look around me and see a world that  defies the probabilities of science. The against-the-odds wonders of our world influence my faith.

Still, in the end, I believe something that I cannot see and cannot prove. And I believe it enough to alter my “natural instincts,” whatever that means, and live differently.

2 Kings 5:1-2 (New International Version 2010)

¹ Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.  ² Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife.

These verses begin the (hi)story of Naaman. He was the general who had leprosy and was healed by washing in the dirty Jordan River seven times. We first learn of Naaman as the commander of the army of the king of Aram.

Naaman was highly regarded because through Naaman the Lord brought victories to Aram. Well, that is respectable, right? It is until we read verse 2. Aram was not the “good guys.” They raided Israel now and then and stole young girls to be slaves.

Why would the Lord bring victories to a slave ring?

The usual answer is that God was using Aram to punish Israel for its idolatry and disobedience. That makes sense, but still, I struggle to accept that the theft of children is approved by God. So I sit and wonder about this one. What was the Lord doing here?

I don’t have an answer.

Perhaps that is my place as a part of creation; I don’t understand the creator. I don’t like that place. I want to understand everything that God does. No, that is too gentle. I demand to understand everything that God does. Such is my recurring sin of arrogance – the demand that God make himself understandable, explainable, and rational by my line of thinking.

Lord, forgive my arrogance and grant me peace in my lack of understanding.

Luke 24:19-24 (New International Version 2010)

¹⁹ “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰ The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹ but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. ²² In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³ but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴ Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

Let’s focus on the first part of verse 21:

but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.

Jesus did redeem Israel; he also redeemed the rest of us for the rest of time as well. The trouble is that words can mean many things. Sometimes we limit them as did these people here. They understood

redeem Israel

as

redeem just Israel from just its political troubles with its Roman occupiers

There are no limits in the words “redeem Israel.” Any limitations are the ones we add from our own perspective, culture, time, situation, politics, and so on.

How else do we limit God’s promises?