Saturday, Ordinary 27, Proper 22, Oct 4
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Meditation
Saturday, Ordinary 27, Proper 22 corroborated the adage that there were none so blind as those who chose not to see. The New Testament lesson of the Jewish leaders seeking ways to kill Jesus set the guards to bring him in, but the guards were moved by what Jesus said—amazing things—and they found no reason to logically arrest him. Nicodemus, a Pharisee who had come to Jesus (John 3) by night, insisted that they must abide by their rules of someone disobeying the law before he could be arrested.
The Old Testament lessons in the Psalms and Exodus dealt with the discovery of how God set himself apart from all other gods. The instructions in Exodus were more specific—“Don’t even mention the name of the other gods.” They were not to set themselves up or misdirect anyone else to false beliefs. Throughout the years, the Jews struggled with bringing the gods of their neighbors into their lives. Baal was often worshipped as evidenced in the archaeology of the Middle East. We lived in Beirut Lebanon and visited the towering pillars left from the temple to Baal, in the town of Baalbeck, in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. God declared that no other gods should come before him.
The Psalmist noted that everything in nature screamed out the truth about God, and people only had to be willing to see and acknowledge it. A friend asked me how if God only worked with the Hebrews—the chosen people—what about the people he ignored? Didn’t they deserve to know God? The Psalmist dispelled the belief that only Jews could believe. Anyone, who believed—and God would know which ones were true believers—could be a child of God. We know from the passages about the exodus of the slaves from Egypt that more than just those, who were born into the family of Israel, were included in the numbers of those leaving Egypt and they were considered ‘saved’ too.
But the distinction of those in the New Testament was that the leaders, who should have known the law and been able to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, were the very ones, who denied his authority. The man and woman on the street spotted the uniqueness and authority of Jesus. The temple police were stunned by Jesus’ amazing stories and didn’t arrest him the way the leaders had wanted. Their insistence that Jesus was not the Messiah was because he grew up in Galilee and they said the Messiah would come from Bethlehem. Nothing in the scriptures said anything about Galilee producing the Messiah. They didn’t do their homework to learn Jesus had been born in Bethlehem. Nicodemus protested their accusations without proof and they turned on him asking if he was from Galilee, too, as if it were the most despicable thing one could say about him. They were unwilling to open their hearts and minds to examine the truth.
The leaders claimed they knew more—too much of the law to be so gullible and fall for the foolishness of believing someone could come from Galilee and be a prophet. The indictment of the leadership should caution any leader today from becoming too arrogant in what they know. We must be humble and willing to examine the scriptures in new ways.
There were many Christian leaders that insisted that slavery, such as they had in the South, was approved by the Bible, since they relied on the story of Philemon. They spoke arrogantly of God’s word without studying it to realize that the ‘slavery’ spoken of in the Bible was really just a contract of service for a specific time, which was called slavery. Such church leaders have hurt Christianity because their reasoning was false. They refused to see.
Every dispute that Christians have today must be examined whether there is another way to look at an issue, before damage is done by false perspectives on the Word of God. One of the joys of being Presbyterian, is the fundamental belief that the church is “reformed and always reforming,” in that it is important to reexamine things that may have been misunderstood in the past. The church emphasizes the goal to be the opposite of what the Pharisees were.
If we open our hearts and minds like the Psalmist, we will discover the greatness of God and be able to apply it to our lives.
Thanks be to God.
All Scriptures printed below are in King James Version for copyright purposes. However, clicking on the verse locations will take you to Biblegateway.com
Prayer: Almighty God, Open my eyes that I might see. Open my mind that I might understand. Open my heart that I might make your words a part of me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Amen
Ordinary 27, Proper 22
Bible Readings
http://legacy.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm 19;Exodus 23:10-13;John 7:40-52&version=KJV;ERV;GNT;NCV;NIV (multiple versions)
Saturday, Ordinary 27, Proper 22
Psalm 19
Exodus 23:10-13
John 7:40-52
Daily Bible Verses to Memorize for Meditating
Philippians 1:21
King James Version (KJV)
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Single Bible Study chapter to study
John 7:40-52
King James Version (KJV)
40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
41 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
43 So there was a division among the people because of him.
44 And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.
45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him?
46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
49 But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
50 Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)
51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
:
OBSERVE:
Take a moment and write three observations of the verses. An observation is an observable fact from the Word.
1.
2.
3.
INTERPRETATION:
What do you interpret these verses to mean for you today?
APPLY:
Today, I learned _____________________________________and apply it to my life.
Prayer of Encouragement
Almighty God, forgive us for arrogance and closing our hearts and minds to the potential new insights of old texts. Help us to be like the Psalmist and Nicodemus, willing to see God as the true God in all his glory. In Jesus name, Amen
Conclusion
Saturday, Ordinary 27, Proper 22 revealed the unwillingness of the Pharisees to reexamine what they were certain they knew in the face of new information. They were entrenched in their beliefs without examining whether what they understood actually stood the test of time.
The Psalmist called upon people to observe the heavens and all around them, because it ‘declared the glory of God’ or in essence, taught about who God was.
Our job is to study the signs and wonders of God so that we can be informed and astute about the Word of God. We don’t want to find ourselves arrogantly sticking to an ‘old doctrine’ that has been shown to be different with the new information we discover. And we would do well to avoid the arrogance shown by the Pharisees who refused to believe the good news of Jesus Christ. In humbleness, we can be open to the leading of God.
Go out and be ready for God to do mighty things in your life—for the glory of God.*
*If you do not know the Lord as your personal Savior and you are seeking, please contact me. A genuine and simple prayer, asking God into your heart for the forgiveness of your sins will also do.
Saturday, Ordinary 27, Proper 22 corroborated the adage that there were none so blind as those who chose not to see. The New Testament lesson of the Jewish leaders seeking ways to kill Jesus set the guards to bring him in, but the guards were moved by what Jesus said—amazing things—and they found no reason to logically arrest him. Nicodemus, a Pharisee who had come to Jesus (John 3) by night, insisted that they must abide by their rules of someone disobeying the law before he could be arrested.
The Old Testament lessons in the Psalms and Exodus dealt with the discovery of how God set himself apart from all other gods. The instructions in Exodus were more specific—“Don’t even mention the name of the other gods.” They were not to set themselves up or misdirect anyone else to false beliefs. Throughout the years, the Jews struggled with bringing the gods of their neighbors into their lives. Baal was often worshipped as evidenced in the archaeology of the Middle East. We lived in Beirut Lebanon and visited the towering pillars left from the temple to Baal, in the town of Baalbeck, in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. God declared that no other gods should come before him.
The Psalmist noted that everything in nature screamed out the truth about God, and people only had to be willing to see and acknowledge it. A friend asked me how if God only worked with the Hebrews—the chosen people—what about the people he ignored? Didn’t they deserve to know God? The Psalmist dispelled the belief that only Jews could believe. Anyone, who believed—and God would know which ones were true believers—could be a child of God. We know from the passages about the exodus of the slaves from Egypt that more than just those, who were born into the family of Israel, were included in the numbers of those leaving Egypt and they were considered ‘saved’ too.
But the distinction of those in the New Testament was that the leaders, who should have known the law and been able to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, were the very ones, who denied his authority. The man and woman on the street spotted the uniqueness and authority of Jesus. The temple police were stunned by Jesus’ amazing stories and didn’t arrest him the way the leaders had wanted. Their insistence that Jesus was not the Messiah was because he grew up in Galilee and they said the Messiah would come from Bethlehem. Nothing in the scriptures said anything about Galilee producing the Messiah. They didn’t do their homework to learn Jesus had been born in Bethlehem. Nicodemus protested their accusations without proof and they turned on him asking if he was from Galilee, too, as if it were the most despicable thing one could say about him. They were unwilling to open their hearts and minds to examine the truth.
The leaders claimed they knew more—too much of the law to be so gullible and fall for the foolishness of believing someone could come from Galilee and be a prophet. The indictment of the leadership should caution any leader today from becoming too arrogant in what they know. We must be humble and willing to examine the scriptures in new ways.
There were many Christian leaders that insisted that slavery, such as they had in the South, was approved by the Bible, since they relied on the story of Philemon. They spoke arrogantly of God’s word without studying it to realize that the ‘slavery’ spoken of in the Bible was really just a contract of service for a specific time, which was called slavery. Such church leaders have hurt Christianity because their reasoning was false. They refused to see.
Every dispute that Christians have today must be examined whether there is another way to look at an issue, before damage is done by false perspectives on the Word of God. One of the joys of being Presbyterian, is the fundamental belief that the church is “reformed and always reforming,” in that it is important to reexamine things that may have been misunderstood in the past. The church emphasizes the goal to be the opposite of what the Pharisees were.
If we open our hearts and minds like the Psalmist, we will discover the greatness of God and be able to apply it to our lives.
Thanks be to God.
All Scriptures printed below are in King James Version for copyright purposes. However, clicking on the verse locations will take you to Biblegateway.com
Prayer: Almighty God, Open my eyes that I might see. Open my mind that I might understand. Open my heart that I might make your words a part of me. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Amen
Ordinary 27, Proper 22
Bible Readings
http://legacy.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm 19;Exodus 23:10-13;John 7:40-52&version=KJV;ERV;GNT;NCV;NIV (multiple versions)
Saturday, Ordinary 27, Proper 22
Psalm 19
Exodus 23:10-13
John 7:40-52
Daily Bible Verses to Memorize for Meditating
Philippians 1:21
King James Version (KJV)
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Single Bible Study chapter to study
John 7:40-52
King James Version (KJV)
40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
41 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?
42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
43 So there was a division among the people because of him.
44 And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.
45 Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him?
46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
47 Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
48 Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
49 But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
50 Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)
51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
:
OBSERVE:
Take a moment and write three observations of the verses. An observation is an observable fact from the Word.
1.
2.
3.
INTERPRETATION:
What do you interpret these verses to mean for you today?
APPLY:
Today, I learned _____________________________________and apply it to my life.
Prayer of Encouragement
Almighty God, forgive us for arrogance and closing our hearts and minds to the potential new insights of old texts. Help us to be like the Psalmist and Nicodemus, willing to see God as the true God in all his glory. In Jesus name, Amen
Conclusion
Saturday, Ordinary 27, Proper 22 revealed the unwillingness of the Pharisees to reexamine what they were certain they knew in the face of new information. They were entrenched in their beliefs without examining whether what they understood actually stood the test of time.
The Psalmist called upon people to observe the heavens and all around them, because it ‘declared the glory of God’ or in essence, taught about who God was.
Our job is to study the signs and wonders of God so that we can be informed and astute about the Word of God. We don’t want to find ourselves arrogantly sticking to an ‘old doctrine’ that has been shown to be different with the new information we discover. And we would do well to avoid the arrogance shown by the Pharisees who refused to believe the good news of Jesus Christ. In humbleness, we can be open to the leading of God.
Go out and be ready for God to do mighty things in your life—for the glory of God.*
*If you do not know the Lord as your personal Savior and you are seeking, please contact me. A genuine and simple prayer, asking God into your heart for the forgiveness of your sins will also do.
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