Contemplative Bible Reading

Luke 14:1 (New Living Translation)

One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat dinner in the home of a leader of the Pharisees, and the people were watching him closely.

The people were consumed with thoughts of Jesus—this fellow from Nazareth who walked around talking to people and doing things that were not believable if you didn’t see them for yourself. Wherever Jesus went, the people watched him closely. What would Jesus say or do next?

Gosh, it would be great to have Jesus walking around my community today. I would watch Jesus closely to see what he would do or say next. Gosh, what is wrong with me?

I believe that Jesus is walking around my community today. I believe that Jesus lives in many people in my life. Many people live out the teachings and ideals of Jesus. They are believers and followers.

Followers tend to do and say the same things as the person they are following. All I have to do is listen and watch. And, by the way, do some following myself and say and do the things Jesus would say and do. Jesus spreads that way.

Hosea 14:9 (English Standard Version)

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
whoever is discerning, let him know them;
for the ways of the Lord are right,
and the upright walk in them,
but transgressors stumble in them.

The prophet Hosea is delivering the words of God to the people.

There are two kinds of people. Some people walk standing straight up. One step at a time, step by step, no problem. Some people stumble and trip and bumble along through life with nothing working right ever.

What’s the difference? Some people walk in the ways of God. Some people don’t.

This is simple. This must be much more difficult than it sounds because so many people refuse the ways of God. It is easy to ask, “What is wrong with those folks? Don’t they get it? They deserve …”

oooops. Where is my mercy? Yes, there are some who in their right mind choose freely to stumble along in life. And there are others whose stumbling is a horrible tragedy. And all who stumble deserve my prayers and love.

John 5:8,11 (New Living Translation)

8 Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”…11 But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

This was the man who was at the pool at Bethesda. He had been lame for 38 years. Jesus healed the man so that he could carry his mat and walk.

Well, it happened to be the Sabbath day and law-abiding Jews did not carry mats or anything else. Questioned by the authorities as to why he was obviously breaking the law, the man replied, “Well, I don’t know, that fella’ told me to.”

The leaders then demanded to know who it was who had told the man to break the law. Who was encouraging anarchy?!?!!!

“Uh,” replied the man, “I don’t know. He didn’t have a name tag or anything.”

In this story, the person telling happened to be Jesus, the Son of God. The lame man with the mat didn’t know that and he didn’t care. Someone told him to do something, so he did it.

We don’t need permission to tell someone to do something that is right. Jesus didn’t; we don’t.

I’m not encouraging us to go around and be bossy all the time and tell everyone what to do and run their lives. Now and then, however, meekly tell someone. Such as

• Smile when you order coffee at Starbucks.
• Hold the door open for others, let them go first.
• Pray when you see someone hurting
• Do one little thing to aid someone else.

It won’t hurt to tell anyone any of these things. Sort of like, “Pick up your mat and walk.”

Mark 5:18-20 (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.” 20 So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.

These verses are at the end of the (hi)story of the man possessed by a legion of demons in the region of the Gerasenes. This was literally a mad man who lived among the ruins and could not be restrained by chains or anything. The locals simply gave up on him and told their children not to play among the ruins because—no kidding this time—they boogey man would get you.

After meeting Jesus, the man was in his right mind and appeared normal. Jesus rejected his plea to come with Him. Instead, “Go home, tell them everything the Lord has done for you.”

With that charge, the man went to the ten towns or Decapolis. No training. No education. No funding. Nothing. He went.

And everyone was amazed at what he told them.

There you have it. One of the great evangelists of the Bible. Doesn’t make any sense, does it? Madman to evangelist.

Met any great evangelists this week? We probably have, but we didn’t notice them. God works in ways we still don’t understand.

Matthew 16:21-22 (New Living Translation)

21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.

22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”

Jesus tells the followers what will happen in the near future. Peter protests!

Let’s review. Jesus told the disciples PLAINLY. Perhaps there is something lost in the translation, but this plainly says that Jesus spoke PLAINLY. Jesus was not talking in riddles or something that was difficult to understand.

Jesus was to rise from the dead on the third day.

Peter didn’t hear that part. He only heard the part about Jesus being killed. How could Peter miss the “raised from the dead” part? Was Peter listening? It is easy to sit here 2,000 years later and write how foolish was Peter for missing something so obvious. We listen much better today, right? Huh?

No, afraid not. We don’t read much better. We don’t listen much better. We don’t act much better. Peter is an excellent example of us, of me. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Zechariah 3:3-4 (New Living Translation)

3 Jeshua’s clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel. 4 So the angel said to the others standing there, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And turning to Jeshua he said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.”

In these verses, there is much imagery (I guess we call it virtual something or other today). The prophet is telling what Jehovah God told him.

Jeshua is a High Priest. He is standing before God, Satan, and others. Jeshua is clothed in filth. The filth are the sins of Jeshua. New clothes are without sin.

Shed a dirty towel; drape a clean towel.

Simple? Yes. Impossible? Yes. God, however, frequently defines possible and impossible beyond our imagination. This is how Jehovah God does it. Forget about easy things like world peace and a vaccination for whatever ails us this year. God erases history; God erases our past mistakes and wrongs as easily as dropping a dirty towel to the bathroom floor. Consider that for a few moments or a few lifetimes.

God—power and majesty beyond belief. Me—not so much. Please God, help me in my unbelief.

Mark 5:22-23 (New Living Translation)

22 Then a leader of the local synagogue, whose name was Jairus, arrived. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet, 23 pleading fervently with him. “My little daughter is dying,” he said. “Please come and lay your hands on her; heal her so she can live.”

Jairus is a leader of the local synagogue. The synagogues were, and are to this day, schools where the Jewish law was taught.

Leaders of synagogues didn’t get along well with Jesus. Jesus often taught the synagogue leaders the errors of their ways. The synagogue leaders didn’t like that. We have several examples of that in scriptures.

This synagogue leader, however, ignores all that. He falls at the feet of Jesus and pleads with Jesus to come to his home. His daughter is ill beyond their means to restore her health.

Note how local political disagreements disappear when your child is dying. There is something about the health of your child that renders all other issues mute.

The child died. Jesus arrived and made her alive again.

No more trouble in this local synagogue.

Sometimes we need something close and real to help us to understand what is important and what is petty. Please God, let me understand the difference without having to experience the agony of Jairus.

2 Timothy 2:24 (New Living Translation)

A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people.

Servants of God must be able to teach. Pretty plain statement here.

“I’m not a school teacher. I don’t know how to teach.”

Someone should be teaching teaching. Someone should be ensuring that servants of the Lord can teach.

There are many forms of teaching. Many of the best teachers were never educated and are not “school teachers.”

Still, some servants of the Lord need to be teaching teaching.

Isaiah 59:9-10 (New Living Translation)

9 So there is no justice among us,
and we know nothing about right living.
We look for light but find only darkness.
We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.
10 We grope like the blind along a wall,
feeling our way like people without eyes.
Even at brightest noontime,
we stumble as though it were dark.
Among the living,
we are like the dead.

Pardon the reference to the TV show of the same name.

The prophet Isaiah is describing the situation among God’s people. They have drifted so far from God that they live in gloom. What a tragedy. Given a close relationship with the Creator, they have looked for something else and found nothing. Now they live in nothing.

They have forgotten what it means to live right with one another. Be honest, be fair, be just. They forgot the meaning of those words. They grope and stumble in the dark.

This isn’t poetry, it is a stark description of the horror of their lives.

It is the horrible existence of anyone at any time when living apart from God.

Thank you God that someone taught me of your justice and loving mercy. Thank you God that I can live in your light instead of stumbling around like the walking dead in eternal darkness.

Isaiah 57:11a (New Living Translation)

“Are you afraid of these idols?
Do they terrify you?
Is that why you have lied to me
and forgotten me and my words?

God is speaking to the people through the prophet Isaiah. The people have been lying to God. That is odd in itself as God knows our thoughts, so we might as well just tell God to truth, anyways.

The people have been frightened by idols, that is their reason for lying to God the Creator.

I want to meet those idols. Those idols are so powerful as to scare people so much that they attempt to lie to God. Wow. Those must be some idols!

I guess what really happened is the representatives of the idols—some type of priest of the god of the tree or something—scared God’s people. That makes some sense. I mean if some persons came to me and threatened to kill all my relatives if I didn’t bow to the tree, I would be scared. Not all of us have the faith that suppresses fear like Daniel (of the lion’s den history).

Once again, we return to the situation where what we can see and touch immediately takes precedence over what is spiritual. That is one of our many human failings.