Contemplative Bible Reading

John 18:28 (New Living Translation)

28 Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas ended in the early hours of the morning. Then he was taken to the headquarters of the Roman governor. His accusers didn’t go inside because it would defile them, and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate the Passover.

The Jewish leaders were having the Roman rulers execute Jesus knowing that Jesus was innocent of any wrongdoing. This was murder by committee.

Note, however, that those pushing Jesus’ death were carefully following the rules of hygiene. They didn’t want to go into the presence of Gentiles and defile themselves. That would just be plain wrong.

Murder while clean. How convenient. Follow the smallest health and hygiene regulations and ignore the big issues.

Lessons for today? Perhaps.

2 Chronicles 6:21 (New Living Translation)

21 May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.

King Solomon is praying at the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem (called “this place” in the verse). There is much we can write about this prayer and this final request.

Consider the last phrase, “and when you hear, forgive.” Solomon knows that he, his people, and all mankind for all time will sin and will need forgiveness. Solomon asks, please forgive.

Well, we say, let’s just stop sinning. Well, maybe let’s just try harder and sin less. The second idea has some merit. We can sin less. We can live better and closer to God. Maybe a lot better, maybe a little better, but we can do better. Right?

Maybe we can; maybe we can’t. Maybe we can try so hard and worry so much that we hurt ourselves and those around us. Maybe we can relax and let the grace of God dwell in us and we simply live in that grace.

I strive for improvement. I’ve always felt like I could do better. That has helped me on occasions and given me a lot of pain on other occasions.

Well, what do we do? Let’s pray. Please God, hear us and forgive us.

Exodus 2:19 (New Living Translation)
19 “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds,” they answered. “And then he drew water for us and watered our flocks.”

This is part of the (hi)story of Moses. He fled Egypt and found the daughters of Reuel with their flocks. He “rescued” the daughters and their flocks and then watered the flocks.

We learned in Genesis that Egyptians detested or loathed shepherds. Yet here was an Egyptian shepherd tending to the flocks of stranger.

None of this makes any sense. Yet, here it is—nonsense making perfectly good sense given an odd situation. The Bible is full of this type of thing. The Savior would come from the line of David. The Savior would come from Nazareth. The Savior would come from Egypt. All those statements are in the Bible. Nonsense! Yet, there they are, and once we read all the (hi)stories, it makes sense.

I suppose there is a lesson in here about not judging before having all the facts or something. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions, and the like. When will we have all the facts? Probably never in our lifetimes. I hear people say, “I would only do this and that if I knew that and this.” But we won’t be able to know that and this. We live with incomplete knowledge in a confused world—most of the time.

What are we to do? Seek righteousness and justice. Love one another. Pray. Be patient. Yes, all those things are difficult, especially when I am tired and when I am agitated and when I just want to fix things right now! Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Genesis 31:14-15 (New Living Translation)

14 Rachel and Leah responded, “That’s fine with us! We won’t inherit any of our father’s wealth anyway. 15 He has reduced our rights to those of foreign women. And after he sold us, he wasted the money you paid him for us.

Laban was the father of Rachel and Leah. Jacob worked for Laban. In return for Jacob’s labor, Laban “gave” his daughters as wives. Yes, Laban sold his daughters to a fellow who watched his livestock.

In addition, the daughters noted that their father had wasted the price paid for them. Hmmm.

What was wrong with Laban? What was wrong with Jacob? Jacob did, after all, buy his wives from Laban. What was wrong with all these folks? Why didn’t any of them stand up and say, “No. This isn’t right. This isn’t just.”

Times were different. The times were different with different laws and different customs. Still, they could have all done better.

Now we come to the part of this little essay where we look at ourselves today. We live in our times with our laws and our customs and our injustice and unrighteousness. Do we stand up and say, “No. This isn’t right. This isn’t just.” Sometimes we do. Good for us on our good days. Often we don’t say these things. Bad on us on our bad days.

Please God, help me to speak for righteousness and justice. Even when I’m having a bad day.

Genesis 1:1-3 (New Living Translation)

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

The second sentence of the Bible paints an ugly picture: formless, empty, dark, deep waters.

Then God said, and everything changed. Light came from the words of God. Light brought life. Light brought hope. Light changed everything for the better. Light was God.

These four sentences are all we need of the Bible. Without God, it is bad. With God, it is good. Let’s be with God. Let’s be with the good light.

Thank you God for the light.

Genesis 20:11 (New Living Translation)

Abraham replied, “I thought, ‘This is a godless place. They will want my wife and will kill me to get her.’

This is part of the (hi)story of Abraham and his wife Sarah. For a while, they moved into the territory of King Abimelech of Gerar. Abraham, fearing death, told everyone that his wife was his sister.

King Abimelech of Gerar almost took this visitor’s sister as a wife. When the King learned that the “sister” was already married, he jumped back in horror. What if he had done that? What if he had done wrong?

King Abimelech of Gerar confronted Abraham, whose reply is quoted above. Abraham assumed (1) no sense of right or wrong and (2) the locals would murder him.

Bad assumptions sandwiching a good assumption (they will want my wife). Such is life then and now and everyday in between. Bad assumptions about other people who are part of “them” and not part of “us.” Them don’t know right and wrong like us do. Them don’t respect life like us do. Them are subhuman in their desires and actions, not like us who always think the best of others and … uh, er, wait, we have to … oh gosh. Us act like our assumptions about them.

Us have the benefit of God’s grace. Them, well, they also have the benefit of God’s grace. I don’t care if them don’t always act and dress and talk like us. Them are covered just like us. Us should stop the bad assumptions about them.

2 Kings 17:26 (New Living Translation)

So a message was sent to the king of Assyria: “The people you have sent to live in the towns of Samaria do not know the religious customs of the God of the land. He has sent lions among them to destroy them because they have not worshiped him correctly.”

The people in the Kingdom of Israel had sinned against God for generations. God had the King of Assyria pull them from the land God gave them and scatter them to the winds. The King of Assyria moved folks from other lands into the land formerly occupied by Israel. It seems that the King of Assyria conquered lots of folks and relocated them all, but that is an aside.

These people who were moved into Israel were overrun by the proverbial lions, tigers, and bears (oh my).

Their reaction? It was a religious one. They didn’t know how to serve Jehovah the God of the Israelis. These were religious folks. They believed in more than you could see and hear. They believed in the supernatural.

They were religious but ignorant.

Hmmm, sounds to me like they would fit in just fine in today’s (post?) modern world. Many folks today believe that there is more than they can see and hear. There has to be more. This can’t be all there is, huh?

Our neighbors, friends, and colleagues believe in more than they can see and hear. They are wondering and some are searching. Let’s tell them a few things (when they are ready to hear). Many want to hear something. Many are wanting that hope that comes through a risen Savior.

Genesis 9:5-7 (New Living Translation)

5 “And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. 6 If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image. 7 Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.”

As far as I know, this is the first pronouncement from God against murder. It extends beyond mankind into the animal kingdom. If an animal kills a person, the animal must die. Whoa! How many folks would accept that one today? Nevertheless, there it is.

If a person murders another, that person must be put to death, and the death will come from human hands. That is one of the reasons we don’t want a person to murder another: if you murder someone else I must kill you. I don’t want to kill you, but here it is. Please behave so I don’t have to kill you.

And why? What is the reason? Because of all life created by God, mankind was created in God’s image. God treasures the life that is in His image. God won’t tolerate the destruction of what is in His image.

Again, that may not be popular in some circles today, but there it is. We are in God’s image, and God takes that seriously.

Exodus 2:18 (New Living Translation)

“An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds,” they answered. “And then he drew water for us and watered our flocks.”

This is Moses’ future wife talking. Moses had rescued her from some thugs and then watered her flocks for her.

Moses must have taken to her deeply and quickly.

Moses was an Egyptian, well, we know he was a Hebrew, but he was raised as an Egyptian and was Egyptian through and through in culture. We read later in Exodus that the Egyptians detested the idea of herding sheep. Hmmm. Moses the Egyptian doing what Egyptians detested. Why? How? What????? What would all the Egyptian friends of Moses say about that?

None of this makes any sense, but isn’t that how we would judge most of the Bible? It just doesn’t make sense on page after page after page. What is happening?

God is happening page after page after page. Something and some one supernatural, something we cannot explain by the laws of nature and the laws of human conduct. It happens everywhere in the Bible. People do what they wouldn’t do. Moses the Egyptian doing the detestable to impress a woman or simply to do what is right—protect the helpless.

I believe God does this everyday right in front of our eyes. All we have to do is notice. Notice God at work. And from time to time, point and tell our neighbor, “Hey, did you just see God do that!”

Romans 7:25 (New Living Translation)

Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Paul has been writing about the miserable state that he and us have. Paul discovered a “this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.” Yikes.

What are we to do about this principle of life? We try. And some days I really try. And some days I really fail. I, like Paul, am a slave to sin.

Thanks and praise be to God. God provided the answer in Jesus Christ. Principle of life removed. Principle of grace installed. Simple. I cannot comprehend it, but here it is.