Contemplative Bible Reading

Matthew 3:1–2 (New Living Translation)

1 In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, 2 “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

John the Baptist is preaching. (Trivia note—this is the first time that the word “preach” appears in the Bible…depending of course on what translation you read.)

John the Baptist is one of the more famous preachers of all time. There is something to his name and title that seems to ring in English.

What’s the sermon? About eight words that encourage us to turn away from the world and towards God.

What can we add? Hmmm, I’m struggling to find an answer to that question. There isn’t much to add. Of course this brings us to question all those sermons we’ve heard that were longer than eight words and didn’t deliver much of anything, but again, they weren’t from John the Baptist.

Genesis 42:7 (New Living Translation)

Joseph recognized his brothers instantly, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. “Where are you from?” he demanded.

This is part of the (hi)story of Joseph, his brothers, and the eventual 430 years of life in Egypt for the family of Jacob.

Joseph is where he is because his brothers beat him and sold him. They lied to their father about what happened. They were liars.

In this verse, Joseph recognizes his brothers, but “pretends,” a.k.a, lies about it.

He lies to the liars.

Yes, but this was justified and part of the story and, and, and, well, you know. No. He lies to the liars. He could have been honest and the (hi)story would have concluded the same. Why lie? Well, I wasn’t there to ask Joseph, so I can only speculate, and my speculations are worth…oh…nothing.

Such is the human condition. We aren’t worthy of the grace of God. We do wrong because it feels right. We sometimes do right from the wrong motive. How foolish are we? Very foolish at times. Thank you God for your undeserved gifts. Help me in my unbelief.

Genesis 3:1 (New Living Translation)

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

Consider the language used at the start of this passage. The serpent was credited with being more shrewd than all the other wild animals. The serpent was not noted as being better or more advanced than all the other animals in any other way.

In a matter-of-fact manner, the serpent asks the woman a question and she answers. They have a conversation. Note that the woman wasn’t surprised by the serpent talking to her.

Given this description, it seems that the serpent had spoken with the man and woman before. It seems that all the animals had spoken with the man and woman before. Conversations among all God’s creations were common.

There was no wall stopping communication between mankind and the animals in the Garden of Eden. Outside the garden, there was a wall and conversation ceased.

What would we learn by conversations with the animals? Were the animals in the garden superior to those outside the garden? I have no answers. Just a few “I wonder what?” (actually many “I wonder what?”).

Matthew 11:4–5 (New Living Translation)

4 Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen— 5 the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”

The followers of John the Baptist were sent to Jesus. Was Jesus the one was was sent to take away the sins of the world?

Jesus replies with some facts. Tell John what you have seen and heard. This is a powerful list. And then we reach the last item: the Good News is being preached to the poor.

Well, uh, let’s see. The other items were miraculous healing—even the dead were brought back to life. Good news preached to the poor? How is that in this list?

In that time and place in history, the poor WERE P O O R. They sat on the side of the road and begged. They did this in a place that had been defeated in battle and was occupied by a foreign army. There wasn’t much giving to the beggars.

Jesus provided hope to those who were literally hopeless. There was something ahead that was much better than today. That is pretty miraculous.

1 Chronicles 4:9–10 (New Living Translation)

9 There was a man named Jabez who was more honorable than any of his brothers. His mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful. 10 He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!” And God granted him his request.

Tucked in endless lists of genealogies is a a short description of a man named Jabez. His mother bore him in great pain.

Jabez prayed, and one of his prayers seems to have been famous among the people of God. Part of his famous prayer was:

Please be with me in all that I do

Let us each pray this each day. Please God, have me remember to pray this every day. Each step of each day. Each decision, each turn, each press of a finger on a keyboard, each stroke of a pen on paper, each breathe. Please God, be with me in all that I do.

2 Chronicles 3:5 (New Living Translation)

He paneled the main room of the Temple with cypress wood, overlaid it with fine gold, and decorated it with carvings of palm trees and chains.

This verse describes how Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem. The main room was decorated with carving of palm trees.

Palm trees? How about beings such as angels or God? How events such as creation or the parting of the Red Sea? Palm trees?

Do a little searching and there are many descriptions of palm trees and their significance in the time of Solomon and also of Jesus—you know, Palm Sunday and the triumphal entry and all that.

There they are. Palm trees. Enter the Temple of the Lord and you see palm trees. By putting the palm tree in the temple, Solomon and God honored it. The palm tree had religious significance.

I’ve lived in and around southern Louisiana for many years. The southern live oak tree is wonderful and means so much to people in that region. If the Temple were built in south Louisiana, southern live oaks would be carved into the walls.

In the time and place of Solomon, the palm tree was revered and honored. I’ve always liked palm trees. I guess there is a connection.

Hebrews 5:1-2 (New Living Translation)

1 Every high priest is a man chosen to represent other people in their dealings with God. He presents their gifts to God and offers sacrifices for their sins. 2 And he is able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses.

The events of this past week were…well, what word do we use? Startling. Disgusting. Worrisome. Weeping. I guess we could find an adjective for every letter of our alphabet.

Then we consider the above verses.

The High Priest—the one person standing between regular folks and God—was subject to the same weaknesses as the regular folks. A brotherhood of weakness.

God sent His Son to earth in human form to feel these same weaknesses.

And then we see what we saw this week, this past year, and every year of our life. People acting like, well, let’s use the adjectives. And lest we forget, they have the same weaknesses that I have. Yes, but…

Yes, but what? Yes, but I don’t act out like that. I may feel that way, but ooops. Jesus tells us about the sameness of “feel that way” and “act that way.”

Oh, that. Yes, oh, that. We are in a brotherhood of weakness. We weep at how these weaknesses are expressed. We pray for better in others and in ourselves. We thank God for His grace and peace that pass all human understanding.

Genesis 2: 8 (New Living Translation)

Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made.

As the (hi)story of the creation continues, we read that God the Creator planted a garden and put Adam in that place.

We see earlier in verses four and five, “When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth.”

The Garden of Eden did not exist. There were no food-providing plants on the earth. There were no homes on the earth. Hey, consider that, Adam was homeless. He was the only person on the planet, but he was homeless.

In addition to creating everything, God created a garden. God planted plants for food and planted plants for beauty. God was the first botanist. God was the first farmer. God was the first home builder.

Adam was along for the ride.

Hmmm, not much has changed. When we step back and look at things, God provides, and we are along for the ride. Sort of keeps us humble, or at least it should keep us humble. Most of us seem to struggle with that as we are so proud of our great accomplishments.

Please God, help me with humility. Help me in my unbelief. And thank you for showing us botany and farming and home building and everything else.

Matthew 2:13-14 (New Living Translation)

13 After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother,

This is part of the (hi)story of the birth and childhood of Jesus. The wise men had visited with their gifts. Most believe that Jesus was about two years old at this time.

An angel comes to Joseph. The angel says to go to Egypt because Herod is going to kill Joseph’s son Jesus.

Well, that sure sounds bad, but Egypt? I mean, Egypt? That place? Things hadn’t been good in Egypt for a long time, and you know, these moves take time and there’s a lot to consider, and …

Joseph took Mary and Jesus and left that night. Such was the faith of Joseph. He could have waited until “things got bad” and when the news reported that Herod was looking for baby boys and when … No. That night.

Hear. Believe. Act. Right now.

Please God, help me in my unbelief. Give me just a small portion of the faith of Joseph.

Deuteronomy 13:5 (New Living Translation)

The false prophets or visionaries who try to lead you astray must be put to death

God is instructing the people with regards to prophets or visionaries—literally persons who predicted the future and the future came true. These were persons who had words from God that were relayed to the people. These where not traveling charlatans or fakes.

Put them to death if they try to lead to people astray, that is lead them in the wrong direction.

Hmmm, we have to watch out for people who lead us the wrong way. Why, they may have our kids doing such-and-such and we’d have trouble right here (in River City).

No. God isn’t talking about liberal theology or fanatic theology or whatever we call something that isn’t what we’ve always done. This is not a license to kill those we find disagreeable.

The verses earlier, state what “leading astray” means. It is when they say,

‘Come, let us worship other gods.’

Oh, well, sure, we would uh not like fellas’ like that. And that is the end of this. Disagreeable? Live with it. Not liking the details? Live with it. And love at all times.