March 20, 2013

Mark 3: 28-30

“Listen to this carefully. I’m warning you. There’s nothing done or said that can’t be forgiven. But if you persist in your slanders against God’s Holy Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives, sawing off the branch on which you’re sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives.” He gave this warning because they were accusing him of being in league with Evil.

Reflection questions: What do you think this means to us today?  How do we (or others) slander the Holy Spirit?  Does it always have to be in words, or do you think there are actions that can be just as bad?


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March 19, 2013

Mark 2:15-20

Later Jesus and his disciples were at home having supper with a collection of disreputable guests. Unlikely as it seems, more than a few of them had become followers. The religion scholars and Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company and lit into his disciples: “What kind of example is this, acting cozy with the riffraff?”

 Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting the sick, not the spiritually fit.”

The disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees made a practice of fasting. Some people confronted Jesus: “Why do the followers of John and the Pharisees take on the discipline of fasting, but your followers don’t?”

Jesus said, “When you’re celebrating a wedding, you don’t skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to pull in your belt, but not now. As long as the bride and groom are with you, you have a good time. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!”

Reflection questions: Think about these sayings of Jesus.  How similar are they to your thoughts about religion?  Do you think that people who are sinners should come to church or should they just stay home so all the “good” people can enjoy church?  And what about him eating and drinking with the “riffraff”?  Is that how a man of God should act?

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March 15, 2013

Matthew 27:15-25
It was an old custom during the Feast for the governor to pardon a single prisoner named by the crowd. At the time, they had the infamous Jesus Barabbas in prison. With the crowd before him, Pilate said, “Which prisoner do you want me to pardon: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus the so-called Christ?” He knew it was through sheer spite that they had turned Jesus over to him.

While court was still in session, Pilate’s wife sent him a message: “Don’t get mixed up in judging this noble man. I’ve just been through a long and troubled night because of a dream about him.”

Meanwhile, the high priests and religious leaders had talked the crowd into asking for the pardon of Barabbas and the execution of Jesus.

 The governor asked, “Which of the two do you want me to pardon?”

They said, “Barabbas!”

 “Then what do I do with Jesus, the so-called Christ?”

They all shouted, “Nail him to a cross!”

He objected, “But for what crime?”

But they yelled all the louder, “Nail him to a cross!”

Reflection questions: Why do you think the crowd turned against Jesus?  Why would they rather have a murderer pardoned than the one who had healed them and preached the good news to them?

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March 13, 2013

Here's some thing a little different for today.  If you want to read the Bible passages for the day, they are Exodus 22-24, Psalm 24, and Matthew 25.  You can find an online Bible here.

But what I would like you to watch and think about today is this spoken-word video that Indira posted on Facebook.  When you watch it, think about what he is saying.  What do you make into a god in your life?  What do you worship?

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March 12, 2013

Exodus 21: 2-19

“When you buy a Hebrew slave, he will serve six years. The seventh year he goes free, for nothing. If he came in single he leaves single. If he came in married he leaves with his wife. If the master gives him a wife and she gave him sons and daughters, the wife and children stay with the master and he leaves by himself. But suppose the slave should say, ‘I love my master and my wife and children—I don’t want my freedom,’ then his master is to bring him before God and to a door or doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl, a sign that he is a slave for life.

“When a man sells his daughter to be a handmaid, she doesn’t go free after six years like the men. If she doesn’t please her master, her family must buy her back; her master doesn’t have the right to sell her to foreigners since he broke his word to her. If he turns her over to his son, he has to treat her like a daughter. If he marries another woman, she retains all her full rights to meals, clothing, and marital relations. If he won’t do any of these three things for her, she goes free, for nothing.

”If someone hits another and death results, the penalty is death. But if there was no intent to kill—if it was an accident, an ‘act of God’—I’ll set aside a place to which the killer can flee for refuge. But if the murder was premeditated, cunningly plotted, then drag the killer away, even if it’s from my Altar, to be put to death.

“If someone hits father or mother, the penalty is death.

“If someone kidnaps a person, the penalty is death, regardless of whether the person has been sold or is still held in possession.

“If someone curses father or mother, the penalty is death.

“If a quarrel breaks out and one hits the other with a rock or a fist and the injured one doesn’t die but is confined to bed and then later gets better and can get about on a crutch, the one who hit him is in the clear, except to pay for the loss of time and make sure of complete recovery.”

Reflection questions: We all know the Ten Commandments, and that is what God gave to Moses just before giving these laws.  There are several more like these that I left out to be somewhat brief.  What do you think about these laws?  Why do you think they were important to the people in ancient Israel?  What image of God do they create in your mind?

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March 11, 2013

Matthew 23:15-32

“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned.

“You’re hopeless! What arrogant stupidity! You say, ‘If someone makes a promise with his fingers crossed, that’s nothing; but if he swears with his hand on the Bible, that’s serious.’ What ignorance! Does the leather on the Bible carry more weight than the skin on your hands? And what about this piece of trivia: ‘If you shake hands on a promise, that’s nothing; but if you raise your hand that God is your witness, that’s serious’? What ridiculous hairsplitting! What difference does it make whether you shake hands or raise hands? A promise is a promise. What difference does it make if you make your promise inside or outside a house of worship? A promise is a promise. God is present, watching and holding you to account regardless.

“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You keep meticulous account books, tithing on every nickel and dime you get, but on the meat of God’s Law, things like fairness and compassion and commitment—the absolute basics!—you carelessly take it or leave it. Careful bookkeeping is commendable, but the basics are required. Do you have any idea how silly you look, writing a life story that’s wrong from start to finish, nitpicking over commas and semicolons?

“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.

“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You’re like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it’s all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you’re saints, but beneath the skin you’re total frauds.

“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You build granite tombs for your prophets and marble monuments for your saints. And you say that if you had lived in the days of your ancestors, no blood would have been on your hands. You protest too much! You’re cut from the same cloth as those murderers, and daily add to the death count.”

Reflection questions: The Pharisees were a group of Jewish people who considered themselves very righteous – better than the common people, who couldn’t afford to do all the ritual sacrifices and who did jobs that made them so dirty they were ritually unclean.  Why do you think Jesus spends so much time attacking them?  (Remember, Jesus thought of himself as Jewish, so he wasn’t attacking them for their Jewishness!)  How do you think we can apply what Jesus says to religious leaders today?

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March 7, 2013

Matthew 20:24-28

 When the ten other disciples heard about this [John and James asking to sit at Jesus’s right hand in the kingdom of heaven], they lost their tempers, thoroughly disgusted with the two brothers. So Jesus got them together to settle things down. He said, “You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.”

Reflection questions: What do you think it means that those who want to become great must become servants?  What examples have you seen of servant-leaders in your life (either in the church or outside of it)?  Have you ever led by being a servant to others?

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March 6, 2013

Exodus 4:10-12

Moses raised another objection to God: “Master, please, I don’t talk well. I’ve never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer.”

God said, “And who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn’t it I, God? So, get going. I’ll be right there with you—with your mouth! I’ll be right there to teach you what to say.”

Reflection questions: Here is more of Moses trying to get out of doing what God is asking him to do!  What do you think about God’s reply?  Has God ever challenged you to do something despite your perceived limitations?  How did it turn out?

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March 5, 2013

Exodus 3:9-14

“The Israelite cry for help has come to me, and I’ve seen for myself how cruelly they’re being treated by the Egyptians. It’s time for you to go back: I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the People of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Moses answered God, “But why me? What makes you think that I could ever go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

“I’ll be with you,” God said. “And this will be the proof that I am the one who sent you: When you have brought my people out of Egypt, you will worship God right here at this very mountain.”

Then Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the People of Israel and I tell them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What do I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I-AM-WHO-I-AM. Tell the People of Israel, ‘I-AM sent me to you.’”

Reflection questions: It sounds like Moses really wants to get out of what God is telling him to do.  First, he asks, “Why me?”  Then he brings up a potential problem with God’s plan.  Have you ever asked God, “Why me?”  Have you ever thought that what God was asking you to do was too much?  How did you respond?

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March 4, 2013

Matthew 17: 18-20

And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly.  Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Reflection questions: What do you think Jesus means here?  Do you think he means that if we just pray hard enough and have enough faith, we can make our favorite sports team win, or find a pile of money on the street, or get anything we want?  If not, why not?  Do you think it shows a lack of faith if your prayers aren’t answered?

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February 28, 2013

Matthew 14:15-21
Toward evening the disciples approached him. “We’re out in the country and it’s getting late. Dismiss the people so they can go to the villages and get some supper.”

But Jesus said, “There is no need to dismiss them. You give them supper.”
“All we have are five loaves of bread and two fish,” they said.

Jesus said, “Bring them here.” Then he had the people sit on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples. The disciples then gave the food to the congregation. They all ate their fill. They gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. About five thousand were fed.

Reflection questions: How do you think the disciples felt when Jesus asked them to feed 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and two fish?  Has God ever asked you to do something you think is impossible?  How did it turn out?

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