Contemplative Bible Reading

Matthew 11:25 (New Living Translation)

At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike…”

God sent His Son to bring the good news to man on earth. Some understood the message—the childlike. Some, those who thought themselves to be wise, just didn’t get it.

How wise am I? I thought wisdom was a good thing. I thought thinking was a good thing. I think these things are good things. Am I thinking too much?

Sometimes we simply try too hard. We miss what is plain to see right in front of us. God, please help me to be childlike. Help me to see what is plainly present. Help me to be present.

Luke 19:26 (New Living Translation)

‘Yes,’ the king replied, ‘and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away…’

Jesus is telling what many call “The Parable of Ten Talents.” This verse is near the conclusion. There are many lessons to discuss from this parable. One is:

Learn something, know something, that enables learning more, and teaching.

Learning and learning and learning just to be learning is a self-described problem: it is learning just to be learning. Learning with a purpose, however, is different. Learning to teach and to serve has a godly purpose.

One more caution about learning: I should not have a set plan to learn first, then do. “I will learn for two years before I set out to serve and teach.” Please, don’t.

Learn a little, serve and teach a lot. Repeat often How much is “a little?” I am not sure, but it is something less than a lot. Please God, don’t let me wait for the right day or the right year or…have me to serve and teach this moment.

Matthew 11:28-30 (New Living Translation)

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Ever have a tough day? Work hard and people fuss at you; go home and the faucet is leaking and the car battery is dead. And then someone quotes the above verse about how light my burden is. Where did that come from?

Life can be tough. Salvation, when considered in light of these verses, isn’t so tough. Jesus will find rest for us. Uh, err, what about the faucet and the car battery and the kid’s crooked teeth and…

Examine what Jesus said: we will find rest for our souls.

The rest and light burden is for our souls, not our family logistics. My salvation is His burden in that He does it all. I merely accept it.

Some days are tough. Things pile up high. Physical fatigue wins.

Salvation—the important thing—is taken care of by Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.

Luke 12:29-30 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

29 Don’t keep striving for what you should eat and what you should drink, and don’t be anxious. 30 For the Gentile world eagerly seeks all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

Jesus is speaking in these verses. He has just finished describing the birds and how God cares for their needs. Jesus tells us not to strive after the things that sustain us. And Jesus adds that God knows we need them.

Jesus doesn’t say, “God knows you want these things.” He says, “God knows you need them.”

God loves and cares for us. He will provide what we need. Also, wanting what we need is not a sin, and we need food, drink, and clothing. Enough italics to emphasize verbs.

Jesus urges us to forsake striving for what we need to strive for life with God. The necessities will come through one vehicle or another, and God—whether we realize it or not—provides those vehicles.

Still, it is not sinful to want food and clothing for my children.

Luke 19:36-40 (New Living Translation)

36 As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. 37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.

38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”

39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”

40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”

This is the conclusion to the (hi)story of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the height of popularity quickly followed by execution.

The people are shouting, singing, and praising God. The religious leaders are indignant. The people should not be hailing some wanderer from Nazareth as a King.

Jesus’ replied, “If they didn’t praise me, the rocks would.” In this case, the rocks—the lower part of God’s creation—don’t need to praise Jesus. The people are.

Try to turn this around in our minds. If we didn’t praise Jesus, if we were silent, the rocks would praise Jesus. Our numb silence would be the reason for the lower parts of God’s creation to praise Jesus. Let us never be the numb silence that is the reason for the rocks doing what we should do.

Luke 8:34-35 (New Living Translation)

34 When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. 35 People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been freed from the demons. He was sitting at Jesus’ feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid.

This is part of the (hi)story of Jesus freeing a man from demons that were living in his body. After the miracle, people came from the nearby town to see for themselves (no fake news allowed).

How did they react? Here was a crazy man sitting calmly next to this Jesus fellow. The crazy man was perfectly sane and dressed well in the business casual attire of the day. Rejoicing? Thrilled?  They could see their neighbor was no longer a menace but now a good member of the community.

Afraid. There was no explanation of what they saw. It was impossible.

I like to think that when the impossible becomes possible that this is a great thing. Everyday, science and technology advance and we can do things that… That, however, has explanation. What these people saw had no explanation. It was super natural, i.e., beyond any explanation of natural events.

Of course they were afraid. Demons had power over demons. Maybe this Jesus was a super demon. I would be afraid of a super demon. Then again, the prophets of old could do these things. Was a prophet standing before them. If Jesus was a prophet, he would be well known, but he wasn’t.

None of the explanations fit. Of course they were afraid. I would be as well.

Are people today afraid of Christians? Should they be? Should our lives show things for which none of the regular explanations fit?

Isaiah 37:14-15a (New Living Translation)

14 After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed…

The enemy was at the gates. There was no natural way that they would be repelled.

Isaiah went into the temple to pray. He set the letter of demands from the enemy on the floor in front of him, and Isaiah prayed.

“That’s just a crutch,” we could say. “God didn’t need to ‘see’ the letter. Isaiah was grandstanding, putting on a show like the showboat he was.”

Isaiah was a man of God, chosen by God to speak His words to everyone else. Isaiah used the physical to aid his spiritual weakness and pray.

“Well, I don’t need such gimicks or props.” Really? Maybe there are times when I don’t. Maybe there are times when I do. Maybe there are times when I need to admit my weakness and show my weakness and act out of my weakness and humble myself. Maybe I need to put something on the table in front of me when I pray.

Luke 15:1-2 (New Living Translation)

1 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

Once again we have a case where Jesus didn’t seem to know how to live properly. He was violating social norms, and that upset powerful, influential people.

Note that the “notorious sinners” came to Jesus to listen to His words. Jesus, unlike earlier-mentioned Pharisees and teachers of religious law, didn’t proclaim, “Listen to me or else.” Jesus spoke and lived. Others noticed these things and came to Jesus to learn what was happening, why Jesus was the way He was. His life attracted people.

Back again to the verse. Jesus met sinful people. Hmmm, let me go to Starbucks and find people who don’t sin. I’ll sit next to them. Hmmm, I seem to be sitting by myself. Where are those folks who don’t sin? I can’t find them. Everyone seems to be like me, i.e., a sinner.

We each need to be with “good” people. Good people are good for us. I know some good people and I associate with them. I learn from them, I imitate them, and their “goodness” seems to rub off on me.

And then there are those who, well, society doesn’t approve of those other folks. They need to be around “good” people as well. Am I one of those “good” people who might rub off on them? Am I one of those Christians whose life might show Jesus Christ to them?

And, do any of these other folks see my life and come to me?

Luke 7:50 (New Living Translation)

And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

This verse is the conclusion of the (hi)story of a certain immoral woman who came to Jesus. She poured expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus and cleaned his feet with her hair.

Although there is much learned discussion among the important and learned persons in the room, we have no words from this certain immoral woman. Yet, Jesus proclaims that her faith in Him as the Christ has saved her.

A few words about “faith” as used in the New Testament. It appears from this (hi)story that faith is more than a belief. Faith also involves action. This certain immoral woman acted. He actions showed her beliefs, i.e., her faith.

I write a lot, and that is my form of talking a lot. How do my actions compare with this certain immoral woman’s? Should I compare the two?

Her actions of faith have been discussed by persons for 20 centuries. If you were to follow the lives of this certain immoral woman or mine, follow hers.

Philemon verse 6 (New Living Translation)

And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ.

Philemon, the recipient of this letter, is a Christian. His “faith” mentioned above is a belief in Jesus as the Christ. Hence, this sentence is telling us that a generosity comes from being a Christian.

Hmm. Christians = generous people. Hmm. Me. Christian. Generous?

Well, since “generous” is subjective, I can claim to be generous. Would others agree with that subjective judgment? And if I’m not so generous, does that mean I’m not so Christian? Why do I come up with such questions?