Read Proverbs 29:1-14
Read Mark 8
Wow! Mark 8 is loaded with good stuff. I encourage you to take some time to ponder the significance of each section.
What I want to focus on is something that we would probably call "gross." Jesus heals a man by putting spit on his eyes. Yuck!
Now, human spit can do many things. It begins to digest our food. It can start to work stains out of clothes. It can wipe jelly off your kid's cheek. And when expelled onto someone else, it can start a fist fight.
Spit can do many things. But it CANNOT heal. Unless it's Jesus' spit, that is. Jesus is fully human and also fully divine. The cool thing is that Jesus can do divine works through his human nature. In other words, as God, he can give his spit healing power. Which is what he chooses to do here in Mark 8:22-26. We could probably call it "holy spit," but maybe we shouldn't so that we're not misunderstood. : )
Similarly, Jesus would soon go to the cross and do a divine work through his human nature. It is something we would call "gross." He lets his body be whipped, tortured, stretched out and nailed to a cross, and then hung on those spikes to die. Yuck! That's a lot of blood.
And human blood is good for many things. But it CANNOT heal our sin-sick souls - unless it's Jesus' blood, of course. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). Yes, right after Jesus shows that his human spit can heal, he begins to talk about his death and resurrection (v. 31) where his human blood will forgive us. Yes, all our sins are washed away. We are made new. Whole.
Since we have such a wonderful, powerful, and loving Savior, we are eager to deny self, take up our cross and follow Jesus (v. 34). Thanks be to God.
Ask Yourself:
What sacrifices have I made to follow Jesus?
Has my cross really been that hard to bear? Do I carry my cross alone?
Do I skeptically ask God for signs like the Pharisees, or do I trust his promises?
Pray:
"Lord, open our eyes to see You and Your ways. Help us to recognize and confess You clearly as our great physician. Amen." (TLSB p. 1673).
Then pray concerning the things on your heart...
Study with me tomorrow,
Pastor Jon
Soli Deo Gloria!
So much I could comment on here, but I'd like to start with this...
ReplyDelete7A righteous man knows the rights of the poor;
a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.
How do we define righteous and wicked in these verses?
I would define them the same way I always define them. "The righteous live by faith," right? So, the one who is righteous has faith in the One True God. The wicked man disobeys, disbelieves, and denies God and His Christ. Therefore, the wicked man has no regard for the poor, whom God created, loves, and redeems. The righteous man, however, treats the poor with loving kindness, because God first loved us.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's where my question comes in, how does this passage respond to the non-Christian who does have regard for the poor? What about the many people helping the Haitians right now? There are scientologists and mormons groups helping there too. Can we say that they don't have regard for the poor?
ReplyDeleteTo add to that, I know non-Christians who do more to help the poor than some of the Christian people I know.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Proverb goes more deeply than just the earthly state of "poor". It could be speaking of those that are lacking the knowledge of the one true God. Those are the ones that are truely poor. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteI like that thought Kevin. Maybe I was starting with the wrong question. How does God define poor? With that, I think you would be exactly right. :)
ReplyDeletePlus, we could talk about the 2 kinds of righteousness. Lots of people have a "civil righteousness," that is, a righteousness before fellow mankind. The redeemed and the lost can have this kind of righteousness. Sometimes unbelievers have more than the believers do (though this should never be. If we find this to be the case, we should repent of our sin and strive to do better). But before God, only those are righteous who have faith in their Savior. Hebrews 11:6, "Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God" - even if the unbelievers are helping Haiti too.
ReplyDeleteAnd, if you want to sound like a theologian, you can use Latin terms. Righteousness before man is righteousness "coram hominibus" and righteousness before God is righteousness "coram deo."