Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 (New Living Translation)

19 Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. 20 Do not scoff at prophecies, 21 but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil.

This is excellent advice for just about anything. Here is an idea. Is it good? Let’s test it. If it works, keep it. If not, don’t use it.

Here is LSD—a strong hallucinogen. Is it good? Let’s test it. WHOA, WAIT A MINUTE!!!!

Okay, that was an extreme example. (Some folks don’t think it was an extreme example.) That extreme example may help us to set some boundaries on things.

Notice three key little words in the second sentence, “that is said.” Test everything that is said. It doesn’t say, “test everything that anyone puts in your hand.” There is a difference. The difference is small, but it is significant.

This is delicate. It is a balancing act like walking on the top strand of a barbed wire fence (not recommended). How can I test something without being polluted by it? If my proposed test will “get me a little too dirty,” I should propose another test.

Still—test and do not stifle.

Luke 9:12-13a (New Living Translation)

12 Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, “Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place.”

13 But Jesus said, “You feed them.”

This is part of the (hi)story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with only five loaves and two fish. Let’s focus on the preliminary conversation.

The disciples, faithful and good servants, come to Jesus and tell Jesus of the obvious predicament. There are thousands of folks here with no food. Those folks were listening to Jesus.

Obvious suggestion, “At the end of the sermon, dismiss the crowd and tell them to go elsewhere for food as there is none here.”

Obvious reply, “We are here, now. Let us minister here, now.”

Yeah, but, some short-term work won’t solve the long-term problem. Let’s have an after action review to figure out how to do these sermons-in-the-wilderness events so we don’t have this problem and then we can…

We are here, now. How can I minister to others here, now? How can I serve others here, now? There are needs here, now. God put me here, now. Let me be like Christ here, now.

Luke 8:43-36 (New Living Translation)

43 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. 44 Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.

45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.”

46 But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.”

This is part of the (hi)story of Jesus healing the woman who had “constant bleeding.” When Peter told Jesus that everyone was touching Him because it was a big crowd, Jesus replied, “Someone deliberately touched me.”

There is a difference between bumping into people in a crowd and tapping someone on the shoulder to gain their attention. This woman was embarrassed when she gained the attention of Jesus, but that it what she wanted. Well, she sort of wanted the attention of Jesus. What she wanted was to be well, and Jesus seemed to carry wellness with Him.

Let’s repeat, there is a difference between bumping into people in a crowd and tapping someone on the shoulder to gain their attention. The woman deliberately touched Jesus. She saw Jesus in a crowd and didn’t just wander with the crowd. She went to Jesus. She recognized something in Jesus that she wanted and needed. Something inside her said, “Do this. Go to Jesus.”

Sometimes we bump into God without thought and are blessed. Sometimes we bump into people who have been blessed by and carry the blessings of God. Sometimes we deliberately seek God and touch God. Blessings come from each type of encounter.

Daily, let us deliberately touch Jesus.

Luke 8:43-36 (New Living Translation)

43 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure. 44 Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.

45 “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.”

46 But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.”

This is part of the (hi)story of Jesus healing the woman who had suffered with “constant bleeding.” Jesus knew that He had healed someone, because He “felt healing power go out from me.”

If healing power went out from Jesus, did he have a tank of it that was draining one miracle at a time? If so, how did Jesus recharge or refill that tank of healing power? Is this just a figure or speech or one of those things we have in translations that doesn’t translate well?

Still, how do we recharge or refill our tanks with this or that power from God? Many ways. One is the gathering of Christians on the first day or the week or any day of the week. Move away from destructive people. Gather with constructive Christians. Be a constructive Christian. Refill someone else’s tank.

Let us bless one another as Christ blessed this woman and blesses each of us each day.

Deuteronomy 10:11 (New Living Translation)

11 Then the Lord said to me, “Get up and resume the journey, and lead the people to the land I swore to give to their ancestors, so they may take possession of it.”

Moses is reminding the people of the history of their passage from Egypt to the Promised Land. God had given Moses the tablets with the law. Moses smashed those tablets when he saw the sins of the people. Moses made a second set of tablets for the law.

This all took 40 days and 40 more days and all that. It was a messy pause to a journey.

Then God told Moses to, “Get up and resume the journey.”

We have messy periods of time in our lives. Something bad happens. We evacuate for a hurricane. We bury a relative and meet with all the lawyers. Life seems to pause.

Get up and resume the journey.

Perhaps a better way to think of this is to continue the journey with God through the messy periods of time in our lives. Minister to those you meet while evacuating the hurricane, burying the relative, meeting the lawyers, and so on. The pauses in life are not alone. There are others present who need God’s grace, and I am sitting right there. Who better to share than me?

Mark 10:19-21 (New Living Translation)

19 … Honor your father and mother.

20 “Teacher,” the man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.”

21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

There are several items to discuss in these and the surrounding text. Let’s compare the person to whom honor is due. Jesus speaks first of the old law. This is because Jesus knows this man knows those laws and abides by them. One of the laws is to honor your father and mother. That honor takes many forms, but one part of the old law was that the children would provide material care for their aging parents, i.e., spend money on their aging parents.

Next Jesus moves to the subject of the poor. Jesus encourages the man to spend money on the poor. In other words, honor the poor in the same way that you honor your parents.

But I am poor, so give to me or all my friends and I are poor, so we just get along and all is well.

Perhaps, but are we honoring our parents and our close friends more than everyone else? I think that Jesus is once again giving a “new law” to the people of the day. Don’t just honor your parents, honor everyone. Jesus served and sacrificed for everyone. I should do the same—even on the days when I am tired and just don’t feel like it.

Galatians 5:16 (New Living Translation)

16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

I can live my life guided by the Holy Spirit from God. That is super natural or something that cannot be explained by the laws of nature. That is the super nature.

Then there is the sinful nature. Perhaps that, too, is something that cannot be explained by the laws of nature. The following sentences tell us that the sinful nature is the one that wants to do evil.

What will I choose—peace, joy, love or conflict, hate, and jealousy? Huh? How could I possibly choose a life of conflict, hate, and jealousy? How could I ever be that stupid? Somehow, there are days when I am that stupid. What is wrong with me? How can God still accept such a stupid, pathetic character?

But God does. Thanks be to God in the limitless mercy and grace.

Mark 10:19 (New Living Translation)

19 But to answer your question, you know the commandments: ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.’

Jesus is talking to a good man about eternal life. Jesus repeats some of the old law to the man. Let’s focus on the next to last item—cheating anyone.

What does it mean to “cheat” someone? I see it all the time on those reality shows where people buy and sell old items. They find a treasure, buy it for $1, and then proclaim how they will be able to sell it for $10. Isn’t that cheating the original owner? Or is that just sales and marketing and value-added business? Where does smart business end and cheating begin?

Or how about pulling in front of someone in traffic so that you “make the light” and they are stuck for five minutes after the light turns red? Is that cheating them of time? You took their place in line, right? Or is that just smart driving?

When is it taking advantage of an opportunity and when is it cheating another person? I don’t like these questions. I have lived a blessed life. Have I reached this point by hard work or cheating others?

Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Luke 11:4 (Christian Standard Bible)

And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves also forgive everyone
in debt to us.
And do not bring us into temptation.

This English translation of the Lord’s Prayer equates sin with debt. Sometimes I struggle with understanding sin. Sure, this is wrong and this is right. Sin, however, is a deep subject that gives me a headache sometimes.

Debt—I understand debt. The lady behind the counter at Starbucks gives me a cup of copy. I have a debt to pay. The magic of the iPhone and credit cards and banks and all that electronic transfer of coffee takes care of the details. At the foundation is a debt that must be paid. There is no free lunch and no free coffee and (this is the part that hurts) no free sin.

Someone has to pay the debt of sin. VISA cards and the iPhone don’t help with that. Jesus takes care of that. Thank you, God. Thank you for paying the debt that I can never pay. Help me to live a live of appreciation.

Mark 9:42-48 (New Living Translation)

42 “But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands. 45 If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It’s better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 ‘where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out.’ NOTE: Verses 44 and 46 “are missing.” That is another topic for another day.

This is one paragraph on one topic (at least it seems that way to me on this day). This is about going to or traveling to sin. Don’t cause someone who trusts in God to travel to sin. God will remove whomever and whatever causes that doomed trip.

If I push someone on the trip to sin, God removes me. If a hand causes the trip to sin, remove it. The same with a foot or an eye. Whatever it is, remove it. Cut it off, gouge it out, rip it apart, hang an anchor around it and toss it into the depth of the sea. Be gone.

A little harsh, huh? Sorry. The path of sin is the wrong path. It is difficult enough to stay off that path. When some person or some thing nudges me towards that path of doom, be gone with it. The end.