Contemplative Bible Reading

Mark 5: 18-19 (New Living Translation)

¹⁸ As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. ¹⁹ But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.”

These verses are near the end of the (hi)story of Jesus healing a demon-possessed man. After years of being the “wild man of the ruins,” we are told that the man sat dressed respectfully and perfectly sane.

All the man wanted to do now was follow Jesus. What better thing is there than to follow Jesus?

Jesus, however, once again does the opposite of what we expect. He tells the man, “No. Go somewhere else.”

Jesus sent the man to the people who had known him all his life. The man was to be an example of how God changes lives. We are told later that all those who met the changed man were amazed.

Sometimes we move forward with Jesus be going backwards into our past. That doesn’t make any sense, but we should become accustomed to the unaccustomed as we serve God.

Daniel 3:16-18 (New Living Translation)

¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. ¹⁸ But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

This is one of those “Bible stories” I heard as a child. God saved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace.

Bible stories for children are great. They teach great truths and teach that teachers love children and love the Bible. All good things.

Let’s step into the adult side of the Bible stories. These three young men were confident in God and humble in their position as it related to God. They were quite confident to stand before one of the world’s most powerful men and tell him how things were.

• God is able to save us. The power of the king is not worth mentioning.
• God is God. God will choose what to do here and now.
• We will always serve God the Creator, not your man-made gods.

And they were tossed into certain death. Note, they didn’t jump into the furnace. They were tossed. They resisted death as best they could.

And, they let God choose their fate.

Mark 4:2 (New Living Translation)

He taught them by telling many stories…

This is how Jesus taught. He told many stories.

When I was a child (many years ago, or was it yesterday? Sometimes I confuse the two), people read me Bible Stories. My father read me Bible Stories. My teacher (it was a Christian school) read us Bible Stories.

The stories from the Bible were wrapped in stories about kids like me and about kids who weren’t like me.

Good grief. Now I have to decide what to write next.

• I learned that their were kids who were not like me, but who believed in the same God. God was God for everyone.
• I learned that those kids learned from Bible Stories, that the Bible was the Bible for everyone.
• I learned that some adults cared enough about me to spend time reading me Bible Stories.
• I learned that I wanted to hear those Bible Stories. There is something about Bible Stories that span time, places, and listening kids and telling adults.

I suppose I could go one longer about what I learned from those Bible Stories and those persons who told and read the stories.

Back to the basics, Jesus taught them by telling many stories.

John 4:48 (New Living Translation)

Jesus asked, “Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?”

Jesus is about to perform another miracle of healing. Some people wouldn’t believe unless they saw something that convinced them (just like us today).

What do we need to see to believe? Do you remember the first time you saw a magnet push another magnet away if you held the poles right? Remember how you could feel the pushing even though you weren’t touching anything. The force that is invisible to our eyes exists and pushed that other magnet away. It was amazing.

What, however, do we need to see to believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God? How miraculous does a sign or wonder need to be? How much “magic” do we need to see?

How about one more sunrise? Will that do it? How about one more view of the stars in the sky? Will that do it? How about one more smile on the face of a newborn baby? Will that do it?

I guess we could go on and on with these “how abouts.” Somewhere out there is a “how about” that will trigger belief. I suppose each person has their own “how about” that works for them. Many are still waiting for theirs to appear. Some of us were blessed with people in our lives that brought that “how about” to us.

Please God, help me to be the sign and wonder that another person can see.

Ezekiel 14:4 (New Living Translation)

Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Israel have set up idols in their hearts and fallen into sin, and then they go to a prophet asking for a message. So I, the Lord, will give them the kind of answer their great idolatry deserves.

Oh, what a horrible curse. God, speaking through the prophet Ezekiel, is going to send a message to the people. The message will be what they deserve to hear.

Please, God, don’t send me a message I deserve. Instead, send me a message of hope, love, grace, and promise. Send me a message of love and compassion; send me a message of empathy so that I can embrace my fellow sinners with your love.

Jeremiah 9:24 (New Living Translation)

But those who wish to boast
    should boast in this alone:
that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord
    who demonstrates unfailing love
    and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth,
and that I delight in these things.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

Jeremiah 9:24 (New Living Translation)

God is talking to us through the prophet Jeremiah. God tells us what God brings. Here it is…wealth, health, power, got to be something like that, huh?

Justice and righteousness. God brings doing what is right for one another according to God’s standards.

Hmmm. A failure in translation? There’s got to be more than that, huh? I mean, you know? Tell us how to cure cancer or at least give us a vaccine for this year’s virus, right?

No, those other things—as significant as they are in our lives—pale in comparison to treating one another justly as God teaches. If we could practice justice and righteousness, perhaps we would have the energy to answer some of the other questions that plague us (like plagues).

Please God, help me to put first things first.

Jeremiah 9:24a (New Living Translation)

But those who wish to boast
    should boast in this alone:
that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord

Jeremiah 9:24a (New Living Translation)

Want to brag or boast about something? Don’t we all? Here is something:

I know the Creator. I understand that the Creator exists. I seek to learn of the Creator God and what is desired of me.

Well, I have a long way to go and will never reach the end.

Isaiah 42:16 (New Living Translation)

I will lead blind Israel down a new path,
    guiding them along an unfamiliar way.
I will brighten the darkness before them
    and smooth out the road ahead of them.
Yes, I will indeed do these things;
    I will not forsake them.

Isaiah 42:16 (New Living Translation)

God is speaking through the prophet Isaiah. These are the types of things that God does.

Want to do some of the things God does? Sure I do, but I can’t… Yes, there are many things God does that I cannot do, that is why God is God and I am not.

Still, there are many things God does that we can all do. We can all lead persons down unfamiliar paths. We can all brighten the darkness that befuddles some. We can all smooth the paths of people who are stumbling.

We can all refuse to forsake others.

Please God, help me to do the things You do.

Isaiah 32:1-2 (New Living Translation)

1 Look, a righteous king is coming!
And honest princes will rule under him.
2 Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.

The prophet Isaiah is relaying a message from God to the people. A new king is coming one day. The new king will not bring military might or economic prosperity. No, the new king will bring righteousness—the state of being right with God.

With a righteous king will come princess—the dreaded middle managers, huh? No.

These princes of the righteous king will bring relief from life’s daily troubles. The harsh winds won’t tear my skin. Storms won’t rip my clothes and rip the roof from my home. There will be life-sustaining water to drink. There will be the relief of cool shade on a hot day.

Being right with God…today that is “no fun” as God just tells us things we shouldn’t do. No. That is a lie that our world has told itself for generations.

A righteous God brings relief from the pains of a harsh world. A righteous God brings middle managers who bring the relief that God gives. A righteous God brings righteousness into our lives.

Please, oh righteous King, come soon.

Psalm 99:9 (New Living Translation)

Exalt the Lord our God,
and worship at his holy mountain in Jerusalem,
for the Lord our God is holy!

Consider the last words: Jehovah our God is holy. Holy means separated, different. The Creator, Jehovah, the God of the chosen people is different from all other gods. And there were and are many other gods—many other things that persons worship.

The Creator, Jehovah is different. The Creator created. Other peoples worshiped things created by the Creator. The Creator, however, is the one and only God who created everything.

Let us exalt the Creator, Jehovah, the one God.

Pretty simple stuff. How and why do we struggle with such simplicity?