Contemplative Bible Reading

John 7:25-26 (New Living Translation)

25 Some of the people who lived in Jerusalem started to ask each other, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 But here he is, speaking in public, and they say nothing to him.

Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Festival of Shelters. At first, Jesus was quiet and remaining “secret.” Later, Jesus stood in the temple and taught people. The people were amazed.

Some of the people knew that the religious leaders in Jerusalem didn’t like Jesus (putting it mildly). These leaders basically created an arrest warrant with a death sentence for Jesus—serious stuff. In these verses, the people are surprised because here is Jesus right in plain sight in front of everyone doing exactly what He was told NOT to do. Where were the leaders? Where was the arrest? Come on, let’s have some action here!

Nothing.

Why not? Fear? Fear of what? The political situation in Palestine and Jerusalem was complicated. No kidding. The Romans ruled—absolutely. The Romans could burn the city to the ground and kill everyone. The Romans were playing a complex set of circumstances to maximize profit. They allowed the Jews this and that so that the Jews would cooperate enough in just the right ways. The Jewish leaders understood all this. They pushed the Romans as hard as they could to obtain as much as they could without pushing too much and being squashed. This ebbed and flowed daily.

Here was this Jesus from up north. People followed Jesus and listened to Jesus much more than they listened to the official religious leaders. Killing Jesus would upset the crowds which would cause trouble with the Romans which might lead to … all sorts of bad stuff.

And the religious leaders were smart fellas’. They could see something in Jesus. Maybe Jesus was from God. They liked that idea and at the same time hated the idea.

These leaders feared the situation. These leaders felt inadequate in the face of Jesus. They plotted politics.

The answer was right in front of them. Turn to God. Trust in God. Let God take care of their fears.

Oh, wait, that is exactly what I should be doing today. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Luke 7:2 (New Living Translation)

2 At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death.

Jesus healed the slave of a Roman officer. Jesus then praised the faith of this non-Jew and contrasted it to the lack of faith of so many Jews.

Uh, wait, this was a slave. Maybe there is something in the translation that is lost here. A slave? Surely Jesus would not in the slightest manner endorse slavery by not demanding that the Roman officer be condemned for having a slave or demanding the slave be freed or demanding this or that or whatever Jesus would demand to ensure we know that slavery was wrong.

Again, maybe something has been lost in the translation. Maybe we are not told the entire story of what the Roman officer did later. Maybe this and maybe that and maybe something else.

We are told that Jesus healed the slave of a Roman officer. This is one of those (hi)stories about Jesus where He just didn’t seem to know how to act. A good Jew wouldn’t have anything to do with a an officer of an occupying army. A good Jew wouldn’t have anything to do with slavery. A good Jew wouldn’t (surely we can find some other things a person who knew how to act would or would not do here).

But here we have Jesus relieving suffering first. Other things would come later. Hmmm. Pretty good example for me. Relieve suffering first, now, here. Creating systems to solve the world’s systemic problems can come later.

Mark 6:30 (New Living Translation)

The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught.

At one point, Jesus sent out pairs of people to tell everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God (verse 12). Later, these people returned to Jesus and told him what they had done and taught. This translation of this sentence called it a “ministry tour.”

I guess we call these “mission trips” in some circles today. I guess. And what do we tell the folks we meet on these “mission trips?”

There was a simple message in the time of Jesus: don’t do the same old sins; turn to God instead.

Well, uh, see, we don’t like to talk about “the same old sins.” Put down that alcohol. Don’t clench that fist. Stop cheating those who don’t realize what you are doing. The list is long. The list can be too specific for my liking. Sooner or later the list will include my sins.

Still, this is what these people did on this ministry tour. It is my guess that the folks they met liked being healed of illness. I am not so sure about the “repent of your sins” part. I am not sure about the “turn to God” part, either.

The message remains the same many centuries later. Turn to God. Toss aside the old sins. We don’t need those sins. They don’t do us any good. Just move towards God everyday.

Simple. Somehow we make these things complicated.

Matthew 6:1 (New Living Translation)

“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven.

I have been writing this blog for 13 years. (13x2x52 = 1,352 posts) There, have I just done a good deed publicly and lost my reward from my Father in heaven?

My father was a minister of the Gospel all his adult life. He stood in pulpits and proclaimed the good news publicly. Did he do his good deeds in public and lose his reward from his Father in heaven?

The Shriners build hospitals for children. Those deeds are in public. Same question for them.

Or is there something else here?

It is easy to read too much or too little into this and the following verses. Where is the line? Is there a line? What other questions can I write for which I have no answers?

Answers? Try this: love God; love the folks around me, and do what I can.

James 5:16

This is a little different post. Here are several translations of this one verse. (I like the King James Version best.)

King James Version: Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

The Message: The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.

English Standard Version: Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

New Century Version: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so God can heal you. When a believing person prays, great things happen.

New English Translation: So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness.

Two thoughts:

(1) be a righteous person, i.e., a person who believes in God and Jesus Christ.

(2) pray

Then amazing things happen. Thank you God.

Luke 2:6-7 (New Living Translation)

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

This post is to be “published” on Christmas Day of 2021.

I don’t think Jesus was born on December 25th or several days after the winter solstice or something. Many centuries ago, someone said, “December 25th is it!” That stuck, so here we are.

Here we have a young (14 or 15?) woman giving birth in a dirty cave. She wrapped her baby in tattered cloth gathered from here and there. She put the baby in a dirty feed trough.

No, she wasn’t just any poor young mother. Angels had visited her and her husband. There were other things that happened before that made this more than just another baby born to another poor woman.

Still, we have these words recorded for us and passed down through 20 centuries so we can read them and find some comfort in them. Thank you God.

Exodus 16:1-3 (New Living Translation)

Then the whole community of Israel set out from Elim and journeyed into the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Mount Sinai. They arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month, one month after leaving the land of Egypt. ² There, too, the whole community of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron.

³ “If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”

Life in the wilderness was difficult. Life in the dessert was difficult. Just look at the community of Israel as they struggle to make due. No wonder they wanted to return to Egypt where they had a solid roof over their heads. Why just look at how long they had to suffer.

oooops. They were on the road one month. One month, and they were already complaining about the hardships and wanting to return to die in Egypt.

What a bunch of ungrateful people. They sound like me and a lot of people I know today. Our lives are too hard. God wants too much from us. How silly we are.

Please God, help me in my unbelief, impatience, and just plain stupidity.

Hebrews 1:1-4 (New English Translation)

1 After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, 2 in these last days he has spoke to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. 3 The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and who when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4 Thus he became so far better than the angels as he has inherited a name superior to theirs.

What strikes me about this description of Jesus, the Son, is how the cleansing of our sins is almost an afterthought. Note the mentions of the Son:

1. God spoke stainsto us in the Son
   The Son was appointed heir of all things
   Through the Son, God the Father created the world
   The Son is the radiance of the father’s glory
   The Son is the representation of the father’s essence
   The Son sustains all things
   The Son accomplished cleansing for sins
   The Son sits at the right hand of the father
   The Son became for better than angels
   The Son inherited a name superior to the angels

Item number seven of ten is about the amazing cleansing of all the sins of all of us for all the ages. We tend to think of that one as the one and only important thing the Son of God did and is, and for good reason. That is pretty darn important. Do we, however, shortchange the Son by forgetting all these others things in just this one little list?

Galatians 5:10 (New Living Translation)

10 I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you.

Paul is writing to a group of Christians in Galatia. Someone was entering the group and teaching things that were false and confusing. It appears that misinformation and disinformation are not new. Those things were with us some 2,000 years ago.

What were these false and confusing ideas? We don’t know all the details. The preceding sentences are about following an old law to be right with God. Those ideas are false. We don’t have to follow a law to be right with God. Jesus makes us right with God.

What I think is worse is that these teachings were confusing. The teachings were based on something good and right and true. They were based on the Law of Moses that many of the Jews in this group knew so well. Many of the Gentiles in this group also knew of those laws and lived by some of them.

Aha, misinformation. Teachings that contain some things we know are true. Then the confusing teacher adds a little and stretches a little and before you know it, BAM! We are in the wrong place with the wrong idea and the wrong life. No. No. No.

The Gospel is short and simple. Jesus brings us to God all clean and presentable. Beware of those who stretch that a bit here and there and everywhere and mix in a little of this and that and something else. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Romans 5:2 (New Living Translation)

2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

This is one of those verses that summarizes the New Testament in one sentence.

Believing that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God (even though we see no physical proof of that), brings us to our current place: a place of undeserved privilege. What privilege? I know that what happens day to day doesn’t matter that much in the long run. I know that, but some days I doubt that. I am still human with my human weaknesses. I have bad days. I get tired (more now than 20 years ago), so tired I just want to close my eyes and take a nap (which I do more now than 20 years ago).

Despite my human weakness, I am in a place of undeserved privilege. Now what? Well, this sentence continues and tells me to confidently and joyfully share God’s glory in the future (and now, too, but that is another topic for another day).

Confidence. That is another one of many privileges I have. I am a confident person. That confidence was passed along to me through countless persons who had faith in Jesus. I don’t know a life without such confidence. I see it in others who also have Jesus in their lives. And I see a lack of confidence in those who don’t have the faith.

Again, this sentence is the entire New Testament. We could go on and on with what it means and how my life is different because of it.

For now, one thing: understand some of the privileges. Live them for others to see. Pray when in doubt.