Lenten Musings - 42

Matthew 5
Man, I think I could blog for at least a whole month about this chapter. Instead, I think I'll just not comment at all. If you are instead in some of my ideas, I'll direct you to one of my old sermons called "Murder, Adultery and Divorce". You can find it at http://reliabletoasters.com/sermons.htm

Lenten Musings - 41

I finished the puppet theatre today. I think it looks good, if I do say so myself. There's a few little things that I may need to do yet, but it's good for now. Oh, and my mother-in-law is making the curtains for it. I'll post a picture after it's done.

Matthew 4

I look at Satan's temptations of Jesus and it makes me wonder a couple of things. The temptations were real, otherwise this whole story is a farce. Why? How did Jesus know who He was? Did He always just know? He is very confident of who He is. I wonder if at some point Satan's tempting was, uh, tempting. Or perhaps did the fact that Satan was tempting Him only reinforce His identity? Jesus was fully human, so did He have a jumble of doubts and fears rumbling around in his head, too? Maybe that's not necessarily a necessary human trait, it just seems like it.
The thing I like about Jesus here is that He stands firm in what He believes. If I can relate to what's happening to Him, I can stand firm in what I know to be true. I have lots if fears and doubts, but I've also been given what I nee to overcome them, the truth.

Well, in the immortal words of Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie: As God has shown us by turning stones to bread/ so we all must lend a helping hand (yeah, yeah, yeeaahh). ;)

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Lenten Musings - 40

Hey wait a minute. Lent doesn't just have 40 days! Apparently, you're not supposed to count Sundays, which I did. So I'm a little ahead of the game perhaps.

Matthew 3

There's an interesting difference between Mark's account of what John the Baptist was doing, and what Matthew records here. In Matthew, John is preaching a baptism of repentance (Matthew 3:11), but Mark adds for the forgiveness of sins (Mark 1:4). I wonder why. Perhaps for Matthew "repentance" is assumed to be equated with forgiveness. If I remember correctly from what I read in Mark, he seemed to be much more interested in sin and forgiveness than Matthew is at this point. Matthew is giving details related to his Jewish audience. He mentions the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the "we are Abrahams' children" bit. I think both Matthew and Mark are using this story to try to relate to their audience. Different people can relate to what Matthew is talking about compared to what Mark has to say. They aren't just reporting what happened, but they are trying to make it relevant to the reader. It's kinda nice that there are different angles presented of these stories, because we're not all the same and I think different people will be touched in different ways by these accounts. I think I relate more to Mark's version, which would make sense since I'm not Jewish.

Lenten Musings - 39

I don't think anyone will ever accuse me of being a motivated go-getter. I have missed a couple days, but oh well, as Cornelius Robinson says, "Keep moving forward!"

Matthew 2
I've always wondered why Herod didn't go with the Magi, or at least send a delegation along. Jerusalem wasn't that far from Bethlehem, it shouldn't have been a big deal. It's interesting that "all of Jerusalem" was in a tizzy to hear that the "King of the Jews" had been born. I can understand that Herod would be concerned, but you would think everyone else would be excited or something. Jesus could barely walk and talk at thia point, yet He was already encountering opposition and animosity. It makes me think that even before He started His ministry there were already people ready to oppose Him no matter what.
I notice the abundance of OT references so far in Matthew. Mark didn't do it so often, and I don't think John did as much either. It's obvious that Matthew has an audience in mind that is concerned with, or at least interested in these things. I wonder what things he assumes we will know, and what things he will make an effort to point out.

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Lenten Musings - 38

So, I missed a day. I only realized it this morning. I was busy doing our taxes last night. This is the first year in my entire life when I won't get all of the taxes back that were deducted from my paychecks. That's not bad. In my nearly 34 years on this earth, I've only had to pay (on average) $40 bucks a year in tax. Not including PST and GST and whatever other taxes one encounters on a regular basis. But if I think of all of the services that I have at my disposal as a Canadian, that I've taken advantage of over the years, I definitely haven't contributed my fair share. I'm sure I'm not alone. It got me to wondering who pays for all of the stuff the various levels of government provide? It must be mostly businesses or something.

Matthew 1
It's an interesting thing, the geneology of Jesus. You find a lot of "characters" in it. Jacob was a liar and a fraud. Judah helped plot the sale of his brother in to slavery. He also slept with someone he thought was a prostitute, but turned out to be his daughter-in-law. It's interesting that Tamar is listed in the geneology, even though if you look at it, she's not a part of it. She's only listed to point out what Judah had done. Rahab was a prostitute, although she comes across pretty good in Joshua 2. As much as David was "Israel's greatest king" and "a man after God's own heart", he sure did some pretty messed up crap. Solomon didn't fair much better in the end, either. Manasseh was the worst of all of Judah's kings, if I remember correctly. There's also a bunch of people that we would never hear of except as a part of this geneology.
I think one thing it says about God is that He's not afraid of working with us, even when we're screw ups. He can take some of the biggest mistakes we make, and turn them into blessings. It also shows that He has come down into the midst of reality. He didn't find some perfect, super human lineage to be a part of. Jesus starts out as one of us, and shares in the same sort of heritage as we have.

Lenten Musings - 37

I've noticed that I whistle a lot. I never hear other people whistling. I walk through the grocery store, just whistling, and when I catch myself, I try to listen for other people doing the same. There's always music going through my head. I think my little girl does also, because she often randomly sings out loud what's going on in her head.
I see I've come to the end of John, so I think I'll go on the Matthew from here.

John 21
I always wonder why John doesn't refer to himself in this gospel. He always refers to himself in a round about way; "the disciple who did such and such", etc. I don't think anyone would have really thought anything of it had he just written it normally. One of the things I've liked about John is how he includes little details that aren't really important, but give you a sense of being there. Like in John 21:7, where he not only mentions that Peter tucked in his clothes before jumping into the water, but that he wasn't wearing anything underneath. Too much information... We don't need to know that. He could've just mentioned that he jumped into the water and left it at that. But he was there, and for some reason that stuck out to him. I'm glad he puts those things in, it doesn't necessarily add to the narrative per se, but it does add some colour and realism whether we consciously recognize it or not.

Lenten Musings - 36

John 20
Here is the most amazing event in the History of History. Jesus has died and now is resurrected. He has completed the work the Father sent Him to do, He has conquered death and saved us from our sins. Mary, Peter and "the other disciple" find Jesus' tomb empty. His body wasn't stolen; any would be thief wouldn't have bothered to unwrap His grave clothes and put them neatly on the bench. "The other disciple" (considered to be John) believed that Jesus was resurrected (john 20:8).
With this amazing event having happened, and the wonder confusion, excitement that came with it, what do you think the disciples did? John 20:10 says that they all went home. What? Wouldn't you think they'd have done anything but that? They could have gone looking for Jesus, or met together, or something. Jesus was alive, but they didn't understand it yet. He still had some teaching to do before He left them for good. Eventually, they would get it, but at that moment I suppose going home seemed like the thing to do.