Category: Through the Bible in a Year

The Scheme for March – April can be found here

Jos 19-20; Mark 3; Psalm 141-142

As we read Mark 3 – we cannot escape the theme of Conflict. It has already arisen with the scribes in Chapter two – life in the forgiveness of sins is breaking into the world, and the world is disrupted.

Over and over again we see this disruption in Chapter 3 – Jesus comes into conflict of the life denying tradition of the Pharisees. As He is troubled in his gut before the tomb of Lazarus, so also he is angered before the life denying of the Pharisees. Life breaks forth and Death stalks the scene – conflict

The crowds crush in on him – Life is being squeezed out – the demons get in on the act. Seeking to push Jesus into their deadly mould – to announce himself, rather than Life.

He chooses 12, but even amongst these there is one who will be the means by which the Conflict will be brought to a head

He is accused of casting out demons by the prince of demons – Life is called Death by those that would negate it, the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

And finally even his family try to restrain him. Here perhaps of all places in this passage we are challenged too. We may side with Jesus easily, and perhaps unthinkingly in all the other situations (although our actions may well betray us . . .) But here, Jesus takes that which is often most precious to so many, family and declares it a hindrance to Life. And of course it so often is. How often ‘family matters’ close us off to other people, and to the Life that is to be known in the community of Christ’s people.

Family values it strikes me, are a way in which we cloke our discipleship in a form of deceit. We say we have given up all to follow him, but our family in a sense becomes our last line of defence against this Life.

This life so evident in Christ, redefines family in terms of the Kingdom of God – we are invited to a new, huge family – one which does not act as a barrier to the outsider – but one which welcomes one and all.

That may well be the key way we find ourselves in conflict with Jesus.

But having found ourselves with him, and remember that the key question we ask is not ‘is he with me?’, but ‘am I with him?’, now we find ourselves in the midst of the same conflict – Life versus death, healing versus tradition, exclusive relationships versus open ones. [A reminder also that Jesus isn’t all that taken with marriage either – see Luke 18:29, 20:34-35 ]

The Scheme for March – April can be found here

Jos 16-18; Mark 2 Psalm 140

In my desk bible, the text from Mark is headed, ‘the healing of the paralytic.

I wonder what it is that catches our attention in this well known story – we must have seen it in our minds eye many times. The four friends who break a hole in the ceiling to get their paralysed friend to Jesus. I wonder How we saw it – what was the message we came away with.

Of course if it was told perhaps to a Sunday School class, the emphasis might have been on the four friends – or the drama of the breaking ceiling – or the man getting up and walking. Just another of Jesus’ miracles . . .

But read the text again – the focus is clear – it is on Jesus’ forgiving the man – everything else, Including the ‘healing’ is peripheral. There is a conflict – can a man forgive sin??? The scribes who saw him accused him of blasphemy . . . note they saw it as a sin of speech. Jesus in his reply does not treat it in the same terms. ‘To show you that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins’ Jesus contends that the words ‘your sins are forgiven you’ are effectual, they are the vehicle for the forgiveness, in a sense they are sacramental.

The healing of the man’s paralysis is a sign – it is not The Thing. That is the forgiveness of sins.

There are many parallels between Mark and Johns’ gospels. In John there is also a healing of a paralytic on a mat (Ch 5) – although he has no friends to bring his to Jesus . . . but also in John Jesus emphasises his Word, if you must then believe because of the miracles . . . (10:38, 14:11)

At the heart of this story is the heart of Life – that forgiveness of sins is the door to real life – knowing we are forgiven sets us free. our understanding of sin is so shallow, in that we tend only to hink of it in terms of what offence it causes to us. But as Jesus shows it is not so much offence, indeed the Scribes are offended – perhaps we ought to stop thinking of sin as being offensive to God, at least in the terms in which it is offensive to us. The Scribes are offended by what they hear as Jesus sinful behaviour.

Perhaps we would do well of thinking of sin as something which fundamentally damages us, and affects us at a most profound level, at every level of our being. And see in the healing the confirmation that the man is forgiven – for the deepest damage as been healed – telling him to take up his mat and walk is, contrary to the challenge Jesus lays down, actually really easy thing. Perhaps if we found it easy and natural to forgive sins, as God in Christ evidently does, we too might find it easier to say ‘take up your mat and walk!’ . . .

 

 

 

The Scheme for March – April can be found here

Jos 15; Mark 1; Psalm 139

Of all the Psalms, perhaps 139 is the one which should cause us the greatest comfort. ‘Lord you have searched me and you know me . . . Yet . . .

At the opening of the Anglican Eucharist we pray – Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, and from whom no secrets are hid . . .

Perfect Love casts out fear, says the beloved disciple.  It is perhaps a measure of how far we have progressed in the Christian life being able to say this, not out of fear, because we feel we are ‘good people’, but because we know that God loves us although we are far from ‘good’.

The last few verses may cause difficulty for some, but this is the gift of the Psalms, in a sense after Psalm 1, Psalm 139 holds the key to praying the Psalms. For we begin in this as in all true prayer as open to God. In all our goodness, and in all that is not good – we bring our selves before God – and thus we may well pray things that those who pretend to be good might think terrible.

For where can we safely pour out EVERYTHING that is on our hearts – even the ‘unpresentable’ parts – except to the one who knows us through and through – who is nearer to us than we are to ourselves. It is in such openness that the healing of who we are takes place

 

The Scheme for March – April can be found here

Jos 12-14; Phm 1; Psalm 137-138

Whenever we read Scripture we need to be alert to two significant hindrances to hearing the text. One is relatively easy to deal with, the other presents us with far more problems.

The first is that of the cultural situation out of which the Scriptures are written. In other words there are elements in the text which we might either not understand, or worse misunderstand because we do not know ‘what life was like in those days’. [Misunderstanding is of course far worse than not understanding. When we misunderstand we think we understand and so may well act or speak on the basis of this and who knows where that might lead. At least if we do not understand the text, then we can be silent before it – which as most of our predecessors in faith would tell us is ‘No Bad Thing’.

That of course can be relatively easily remedied – certainly for anyone reading this. the internet has a wealth of information about such matters as context and with a wise and trusted guide, we can learn a tremendous amount about such matters. Indeed our knowledge of these things has grown exponentially over the last century or so . . . which isn’t necessarily a good thing . . . but another time

It is the second problem which provides us with more of a problem – that of not understanding how where we stand, our culture, our basic understandings about the world in which we live. Not understanding how these shape our reading of the text. It is as if we are wearing a pair of glasses which we’ve had on for so long, we forget they are there. We assume our vision is 20/20. [This is similar to the assumptions we make about what others are saying to us – both of these problems exist to one degree or another. We are aware that we might not understand someone else, but we forget that to truly understand them, we must also understand ourselves :)]

So we come to the text of Philemon, and as many have done, we may well throw up our hands in horror. Here is the Apostle Paul, apparently commending slavery!! . . .

So, firstly, cultural situation. There is no social security. Life is tough. People inevitably find themselves in situations where the only option they have is to sell themselves, or starve. One aspect of slavery in the times of the early church is that for SOME slaves, those with kind owners, it actually provided them with a degree of comfort and security that many of their contemporaries would not have known. This is not to condone it – for a human cannot own another human . . . and of course we in our age know that is true and we don’t have slavery . . .   .  .  .

Second problem, we don’t recognise how prevalent slavery of one form or another is in our world today. Firstly there is the most base form, where people can only sell themselves for the meagrest of food and shelter. Indeed like it or not, a not insubstantial segment of our world’s economic order relies on what might look to the eye of a contemporary of Paul just like slavery. It’s just that we don’t call it that.

Where folk have no choice about their work ( a comparative luxury ) – where taking what is on ‘offer’, on whatever terms is a matter of life or death – then not to call it slavery is mere semantics, an attempt to suggest that WE would never engage in such things.

But more – come to Paul – for he teaches us we all can learn from , especially those of us who emply our brother and sister Christians . . .

For Paul appeals to Philemon that he receive Onesimus back, not just forgiven for running away, but as his brother in Christ. For Paul the relationship Philemon shares with Onesimus over rules the wider story in society about slaves and owners. None of us own our brothers and sisters – we are their keepers . . .

Imagine what it might be like to work for a Christian who saw you as a brother first and an employee . . . well a very distant second.

As we began considering – there are two problems we face when we come to the text of Scripture – both ways of seeing the world, or struggling to see it. In this text we are confronted with a New way of seeing the World and those who dwell in it – as brothers and sisters, as fellow heirs with Christ.

‘Read, Mark, Learn and Inwardly digest’
For those who are following the scheme to read through the Scriptures in a year, here are the readings for May and June

Of course if you missed the beginning, there no reason why you can’t join in at any point. The earlier parts of the scheme are found HERE (Jan-Feb) and HERE (Mar-Apr)

Just a couple of tips – if you miss a day, do not worry, or try to catch up, this will just turn it into a chore! Start again with the reading set for the day. And if something grabs your attention, then stop, turn to God in prayer or praise or lament or in whatever way seems appropriate.

This scheme will take you through the whole Bible in a year and twice through some parts. It is adapted from a scheme supplied by the Christian Medical Fellowship and includes a reading from the Old and New Testament everyday as well as a reading from the Psalms, the prayer book of God’s people down through the ages.

Of course you do not have to read All of the readings, you could perhaps just follow the Old Testament track, or the new – or just read a Psalm a day as set – all of it is a profitable discipline

A meditation on the readings for the day is published each morning on this site

May God bless us all in our studies

Eric

May 1    Jdg 5-6; Mark 7; Psalm 1-2
May 2 Jdg 7-8; Mark 8; Psalm 3-4
May 3    Jdg 9; Mark 9:1-29; Psalm 5-6
May 4 Jdg 10-12; Mark 9:30-50; Psalm 7
May 5    Jdg 13-14; Mark 10:1-31; Psalm 8
May 6 Jdg 15-17; Mark 10: 32-52; Psalm 9
May 7 Jdg 18-19; Mark 11; Psalm 10
May 8 Jdg 20-21; Mark 12; Psalm 11-12
May 9    Ruth 1-2; Mark 13; Psalm 13-14
May 10 Rut 3-4; Mark 14:1-31; Psalm 15-16
May 11 1 Ch 1; Mark 14:32-72; Psalm 17
May 12 1 Ch 2-3; Mark 15; Psalm 18:1-30
May 13 1 Ch 4-5; Mark 16; Psalm 18:31-50
May 14 1 Ch 6; Heb 1-2; Psalm 19
May 15 1 Ch 7-8; Heb 3-4; Psalm 20-21
May 16 1 Ch 9; Heb 5-6: Psalm 22
May 17 1 Sa 1-2; Heb 7-8; Psalm 23-24
May 18 1 Sa 3-5; Heb 9; Psalm 25
May 19  1 Sa 6-8; Heb 10; Psalm 26-27
May 20  1 Sa 9-11; Heb 11; Psalm 28-29
May 21 1 Sa 12-13; Heb 12-13; Psalm 30
May 22 1 Sa 14; Jas 1; Psalm 31
May 23 1 Sa 15-16; Jas 2-3; Psalm 32
May 24 1 Sa 17-18; Jas 4-5; Psalm 33
May 25 1 Sa 19-20; 1 Pet 1; Psalm 34
May 26 1 Sa 21-23; 1 Pet 2-3; Psalm 35
May 27 1 Sa 24-25; 1 Pet 4-5; Psalm 36
May 28 1 Sa 26-28; 2 Pet 1; Psalm 37:1-19
May 29 1 Sa 29-31; 2 Pet 2-3; Psalm 37:20-40
May 30 2 Sa 1-2; 1 Jn 1; Psalm 38
May 31 2 Sa 3-4; 1 Jn 2; Psalm 39

Jun 1 2 Sa 5-7; 1 Jn 3; Psalm 40
Jun 2 2 Sa 8-10; 1 Jn 4-5; Psalm 41
Jun 3 2 Sa 11-12; 2&3 Jn; Psalm 42
Jun 4 2 Sa 13-4; Jude; Psalm 43-44
Jun 5 2 Sa 15-16; Rev 1-2; Psalm 45
Jun 6 2 Sa 17-18; Rev 3-4; Psalm 46-47
Jun 7 2 Sa 19-20; Rev 5-6; Psalm 48
Jun 8 2 Sa 21-22; Rev 7-8; Psalm 49
Jun 9 2 Sa 23-24; Rev 9-10; Psalm 50
Jun 10 1 Ch 10-11; Rev 11-12; Psalm 51
Jun 11 1 Ch 12-13; Rev 13-14; Psalm 52
Jun 12 1 Ch 14-15; Rev 15-16; Psalm 53-54
Jun 13 1 Ch 16-17; Rev 17-18; Psalm 55
Jun 14 1 Ch 18-20; Rev 19-20; Psalm 56-57
Jun 15 1 Ch 21-22; Rev 21; Psalm 58-59
Jun 16 1 Ch 23-24; Rev 22; Psalm 60-61
Jun 17 1 Ch 25-26; Mat 1; Psalm 62-63
Jun 18 1 Ch 27-29; Mat 2; Psalm 64-65
Jun 19 1 Ki 1; Mat 3; Psalm 66
Jun 20 1 Ki 2; Mat 4; Psalm 67
Jun 21 1 Ki 3-4; Mat 5; Psalm 68
Jun 22 1 Ki 5-6; Mat 6; Psalm 69
Jun 23 1 Ki 7; Mat 7; Psalm 70-71
Jun 24 1 Ki 8; Mat 8; Psalm 72
Jun 25 1 Ki 9-11; Mat 9 Psalm 73
Jun 26 Pr 1-2; Mat 10; Psalm 74
Jun 27 Pr 3-4; Mat 11; Psalm 75
Jun 28 Pr 5-6; Mat 12; Psalm 76
Jun 29 Pr 7-9; Mat 13:1-35; Psalm 77
Jun 30 Pr 10-11; Mat 13:36-end; Psalm 78:1-31

The Scheme for March – April can be found here

Jos 4-6; 2 Tim 1-2; Psalm 132

Whenever we read the Scriptures, we need to read carefully – attentively. Scripture is littered with hints to those who read with care that there is a much bigger story behind all of this. That things are not as they seem.

In Joshua 5 we read such a hint – it is but a single word, but it dramatically re-orders our understanding of vast swathes of the Scriptures, if not the entirety of them. It is the word ‘neither’.

Joshua has come to Jericho with the children of Israel, and whilst he stands and ponders this mighty city, he sees an angel – the ‘Commander of the army of the LORD’. Perhaps the one who will become revealed as The Archangel Michael.  [Note :- The phrase we commonly translate ‘Almighty God’, is a little obscure in Hebrew, but is perhaps best rendered God of the heavenly host. It is in this light that we might understand Jesus’ command to Peter to put away his sword in Gethsemane] It is significant that he announces himself in such terms – for he is being explicit – he is the Commander of the army of Yahweh – the God of Israel – Israel’s God – but This God is unlike Any of the gods of the nations. He is Radically Free from the agendas of Israel. God does not exist for Israel – Israel exists for God.

Joshua asks the angel – ‘Are you one of us, or one of your adversaries?’ Whose side are you on??

In the First World War, the German troops wore on their helmets, ‘Gott mit uns’ ‘God with us’. Of course, the opposing forces were taught just the same. Sobering film of troops from the era shows Army chaplains leading the soldiers in rousing choruses of Onward Christian Soldiers.

‘Whose side are you on, God?’

The third commandment which the Israelites were given was – ‘you shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain’. In popular parlance ‘Don’t use God’ or ‘Don’t attach the Name to your projects’ However Righteous they seem to you. ‘My ways are not your ways, My thoughts are not your thoughts, says the God of Israel.’ How slow we are to learn this – how quick to forget that ‘The LORD will not acquit anyone who attaches His name to their project’ This is Holy Ground.

‘Are you one of us, or one of them?’ Neither.

God is working HIS  purpose out, and as we shall see, when Israel tries as it were to take the law into its own hands, it pays a heavy price for standing shod on Holy Ground.

That word ‘Neither’ is just one word – hidden in an obscure text in the Old Testament. But it reminds us, this is not about us, our schemes, our plans, our wars. It is about God.

Thus Jesus calls us from preoccupation with our lives – God does not exist as an agent of our personal happiness. We pray YOUR Kingdom come, Your will be done. We need to avoid the presumption we know what that is. Passing from death to Life is no less than acknowledging Him as God and serving Him only

The Cross of Jesus is the End of all presumption that our stories about our lives are the centre of things – they are all judged and found wanting. The Risen Lord commands us follow – this is God’s work, not ours.

The question is not ‘Is God with us?’ – The question is ‘Are we with Him – following Him wherever he leads’

Following the Resurrection, there is only one way of life.

PS It is interesting to note that there is little if any older artwork concerning Holy Things. It is only this present age that presumes to represent the Archangel