Okay so I’m more medicated and more lightheaded today so hopefully this makes sense. If you are interested in good fiction there is a terrific book out on this portion of biblical history. It isn’t written from a theological point of view though so don’t get upset if it isn’t totally biblical. It is called “The Red Tent”. It’s a great book to read without letting it color your biblical stand. This is the first story where we see the true hearts of Jacob’s sons. In their youth they are not following God. They were legalistic and only truly followed the letter of what they had been taught, without having a real relationship with God, much of that I think is because of the lack of example Jacob and his wives. They cared about the fact that Shechem wasn’t circumcised and had raped their sister but they didn’t care about the fact that they were lying to them and were going to murder all those people. They were only concerned about their own pride. This put their whole family in danger.
I think Jacob realized that he had been lax in teaching his children God’s ways and allowed other things to be taught in his home. That is why in chapter 35 he consecrates his family. He cleanses his family spiritually and physically to show them that they were no longer to follow any ways but those of God. It took this for God to reiterate the promise he’d made to Jacob to make him into Israel. We see Israel having to deal with the same betrayal and dishonesty from his sons as he dealt to his father in 35:22. Maybe this made his return to Hebron and seeing his father again easier. He could see how he’d been and who God had made him.
Chapter 36 shows that God kept his promise to make Esau great. It also ends the story of that side of the family and prepares us to read about Jacob’s family, which we will read tomorrow.
In Matthew 9:14-15 we see that Jesus finds fasting appropriate. This is a practice that we don’t do much during these times. It is a really great practice though. It encourages spiritual focus and to hear Jesus say that we should be doing it should encourage us to learn about it. If you’re interested in learning more about fasting and other things you can do to grow in spiritual disciplines, “Celebrating the Disciplines” is a great book to read.
I love the story of the woman in verses 20-22. She had been suffering for a long time. Her faith was so great that she wouldn’t even bother asking Jesus, she knew she only needed to touch him and she’d be healed. How amazing is that. She didn’t want to hold him up or call attention to herself, she just wanted to be healed by God. How many people today would have humility like that? I love it!
He continued on through and healed person after person. I especially like the part in verse 24 where he gets ridiculed. Can you imagine how much crow they would have to eat because the girl suddenly rose and walked out? Lol You can’t tell me that the Bible isn’t full of humor. Jesus only asked that people have faith and he would do miracles. What would our world be like if we truly still believed in miracles?
Then of course the Pharisees have to chime in because Jesus makes them look bad. Everyone is focused on Jesus and what he teaches which takes away the power of the Jewish rulers. They try to say that he heals through Satan’s power. Jesus didn’t even address this, he just continued to preach God’s word and heal those in need. What Jesus said in verses 37-38 is still true today. We see it in Haiti today especially. There are many people who need help. The laborers are few. Those of us that complain about how socialism is gaining a hold have to think of the reason why. If the church was doing what they were supposed to do, we would not have as much need for socialism and if we shared God’s message of personal responsibility and loving one another, people would not have to turn to the government to answer their problems. We as people need to hold to personal responsibility and work to help those in need. If we all did that, even when people criticize us, the world would be a much more loving place. It takes both though, compassion and responsibility. We all have a role to play.
Tomorrow’s reading is Genesis 37-39 and Matthew 10.
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Good blog!
ReplyDeleteCompassion and responsibility. If we do not take seriously our responsibilities to maintain our freedom, socialism will prevail in the guise of “taking care of us”. As we see in many scriptures, responsible people did rise up and fight their leaders when they felt they were unjust. They were not passive and sacrifice their freedoms for the sake of “peace”. We do need to start taking care of one another and not expect the government to. That’s how it used to be… before there were all the government programs. It swung the other way when the people that were dominate abused their power and/or did not live up to their responsibilities… they were not good stewards of their position(s). Now, the pendulum has drastically swung the other way! Once again, balance comes up. The human compassion of giving has been taken away – People are run ragged by working and keeping up with their “taxes” and other things and do not have the free will to give that $... Instead, the government takes it and redistributes… Taking away the citizens FREE WILL to give and leaving a citizen that feels taken from and unempowered. Yes, you can give over and above what the government takes and people have evolved into the mindset of supplying for themselves and not for others and telling themselves that they are taking care of others by the taxes that they pay to the government so that the government can distribute it to those who need it. So the government has “relieved” us of our responsibilities… At what cost?
And how does the citizen's power become restored? We need to directly start giving to each other again… Yes, our ability to give financially has been severely depleted; but money only is not going to fix our problems… but collectively, we all have our diverse God given Gifts to restore our freedom.
Joy