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Mark 9:14-29 - Lectionary for Pentecost 17B

9/13/2018

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9/13/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

This week’s Gospel reading is from Mark chapter nine. I’d like to use it briefly to practice a skill which all Christians should have. Please bear with me. In the passage, a crowd has gathered around a father and boy. The boy’s father has described a problem, which he says is an evil spirit. The description of symptoms looks a lot like epileptic seizures. Jesus, by his command, appears to bring healing to the boy.

Now, enter on the scene the disputer of this age who says this was merely a medical condition. After a seizure the person seems normal. All Jesus’ words did was to provide a little time until the seizure passed, then the boy was fine. Jesus could get the credit for healing. It’s all made up. The talk of evil spirits was just a cultural expectation. Therefore, the disputer today says, Christianity is just a sham. The outcome would have been the same regardless.

Let’s unpack this a little bit. First, observe that the putative author of Mark’s Gospel was an eyewitness or a long-time companion of an eyewitness, Peter. Disciples hungry for power would more likely have invented a story in which they would be the heroes, not the sadly faithless people who missed the boat and couldn’t do any good for anyone. There really isn’t an element of self-preservation in this story. It has all the marks of a true confession.

Second, there were multiple witnesses around. Some of the witnesses were hostile witnesses, the scribes. If this were a made-up story, they would have to be persuaded as well or the story could not survive without serious questions being raised.

Third, the command of Jesus provoked a new attack. This isn’t how epilepsy works. It looks more like a fairly desperate attempt by a spiritual power to retain influence in the boy’s life. When under threat of expulsion, the symptoms worsen, so much so that the boy seems to have died. Once again, there are a number of witnesses. It isn’t the kind of thing you forget easily. If someone is trying to make it into something it isn’t, you are very likely to complain, but we have no evidence of disputes.

What’s the logical conclusion we come to? The report in Mark’s Gospel is a credible eyewitness report of something which really happened in the presence of hostile witnesses who agreed about what happened. The events show all the signs of being supernatural in origin. And we have Jesus’ word that it was through prayer that the boy was rescued from an evil spirit. The wisest interpretation is to assume that the events really happened as we are told in the text.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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James 3:1-12 - Lectionary for Pentecost 17B

9/12/2018

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9/12/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

A few years ago I wanted to get some pointers on how to make a simple cheese. Like many in this day and age, I turned to the Internet. I found many videos which I hoped would prove instructional. I bet you’ve seen some of these videos also. “I wanted to ______ so here’s what I did. I never did it before but it came out pretty well. Now you know how to do it also.” Yes, indeed, in a pile of cheesemaking videos, there were a few experts who knew what they were doing and a huge pile of people who had, at best, done it once before.

Our reading from James chapter 3 counsels Christians not to desire to be teachers. They will be held to a stricter standard of judgment. It then goes on to talk about how difficult it is to control the tongue, which has the power to cause harm like nothing else in this world. How should we deal with this passage?

First, I think it’s important that we recognize James chapter three doesn’t say the Scripture is uniformly difficult to understand and that interpretation should be left to the experts. That is decidedly not what James is saying. If you have any inclination to read and study the Bible, you should do it. Read with an open mind and heart, expecting God to instruct you through His infallible word!

Here’s what James is warning against, though. What about all those teachers who are looking for something new, something powerful, some sort of insight that will suddenly change the world? There have been several influential teachers in the past who have said that they found out how we should really understand the Bible, and that it is different from everything all the generations before them thought. Really? Do you actually want to say that every theologian before you got it all wrong?

When I was exploring Lutheranism I wrote a series of blog posts about the liturgy, about Law and Gospel, and about the sovereign grace of God. I was testing the water. They were tentative posts. I was hoping for correction and interaction. In general, the interaction I received was affirmation from people who had more experience with Lutheran doctrine. They were saying, “That’s right, you’ve understood what we have been saying.” It’s a very good thing to recognize that some teachers, throughout history, have gotten things very right, and that we can understand them. That’s different from the attitude we see so often. Someone has a religious opinion, maybe a move from one theological camp to another, and sets himself up as an expert. After all, he was wrong before but is right now, so it’s time to set the rest of the world right also.

This is very much like making the instructional video of how to make cheese when you have done it successfully yourself exactly once before. Premature. And, in a way, it is more dangerous. If I learn to make cheese wrong, I get bad cheese. No big problem. If I learn to do Christian theology wrong, I bring eternal condemnation to myself and possibly others. Big problem.

Let’s try to improve ourselves as teachers before we spend too much time teaching anything revolutionary. There’s a great deal to be gained from the counsel of others. Let’s guard our tongues as well as our keyboards, and seek to be good and right before God.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Isaiah 50:4-10 - Lectionary for Pentecost 17B

9/11/2018

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9/11/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Our Old Testament passage from Isaiah chapter 50 points very clearly to Jesus. He is the one who speaks to our troubles, who listens, who does what is right without rebellion. He is the one who, in verse six, gives his back and his cheeks to those who tore out his beard. He goes willingly into trouble, knowing that God will vindicate him.

There are generally two directions that preaching about this passage can go. Actually, there’s one direction which it normally goes, and another direction in which it should go. The way it normally goes is to reduce Jesus to the level of an example. Now I know that Jesus is an example, but he is not only an example. Unfortunately, this passage is often used to reduce Jesus’ role. We saw how Jesus suffered. We need to be like him in his suffering. We find Jesus uncomplaining when people sin against him. We need to do the same. When we do it well enough, we are shown to be like Jesus.

That’s all well and good. but what of the times we fail? Can we find forgieness? What was Jesus doing when all this transpired? Does it even matter that he was dying in my place for my sin? Thatis the direction this passage actually points. It shows a Saviorwho gives himself for me. All the suffering he is subjected to is suffering I desere. He undergoes it all without complaint because he cares for me. His love and sacrifice are powerful on my behalf.

Make no mistake. Here Jesus is presented in his self-sacrificing power. That is his right role, as the one who can rescue from death itself. My role is now to trust him and faithfully receive his gifts. This is true Gospel.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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Psalm 116:1-9 - Lectionary for Pentecost 17B

9/10/2018

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9/10/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.

Our Psalm this week praises God because He is the kind of God who hears and answers when we are in distress. This might not seem to be a big deal for anyone raised in the sorta-Christian culture of Western civilization. After all, that’s what we automatically think a deity would do. But that very concept, the idea that a deity would actually care, is rooted in Chritianity. The religions which surrounded Israel, like most world religions, featured deities who were capricious and demanded appeasement, which would often be to no effect.

The God of the Bible stands in stark contrast. He is the one who is gracious and merciful. He hears the cries of his people and comes to care for them. He rescues them even though, even especially since they are helpless. This is truly a big deal. The Psalmist knows that the true God is different from all others. We praise Him because He is exactly that special kind of God, the one we need.

If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.

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    About Throwing Inkwells

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