Month: September 2022

Week 39  Luke 22

Near the very end of his life the Lord was talking to his disciples about his betrayal and he said: for I, the Son of Man, must die since it is part of God’s plan. But how terrible it will be for my betrayer.
Another version says: the Son of Man will go as it is decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him.
Another: the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed.
God’s plan was that the Son of Man would die. That’s pretty clear. The death of the Lord was part of God’s plan. Planned. Decreed. Determined. Sounds pretty solid & decisive & absolute.
But then in the second part of the verse Judas the Betrayer slides into the decision-making recipe. The Lord would die because it was planned and decreed and determined. And the Lord would die because he was betrayed by his friend. You’d think that a divine determination would devalue Judas’ hare-brained personal scheme to the point where it had no value or meaning. But that’s not how it would work.
The Lord died because his death was determined to happen.
And he died because Judas had his own deadly plan and took his own initiative to make it happen.
Both-And.

Note: quotes from Luke 22:21 NLT NIV NASB. End-of-month reading report: the year is 75% finished and reading is 85% complete.

 

Week 39  Luke 21

People were oohing-and-aahing over the beautiful temple in Jerusalem and the Lord surprised them by saying it would be smashed to pieces. So they asked two questions:
a) when will these things happen? and
b) what will be the sign that they are about to take place?
They wanted some kind of rough estimate about the timing of the event and they wondered if there’d be any pre-destruction tip-offs.
The Lord could have at least ball-parked question a) with something like: “within about 60 years”. But he didn’t. His focus was on question b). About things that would happen first.
I reread the chapter and counted 16 pre-event indicators that would occur before the temple fell. (A lot of them don’t seem all that illuminating – although I’ll admit that verse-20 sounds pretty definitive).
But that aside the bigger concern for me is that the Lord seems to move seamlessly from the topic of the destruction of the temple (which is how the conversation started) to his own return to earth (at that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory sounds a lot like the Lord’s return).
How these two future events got tied together is a good question. But the bigger question for me (as I hurry to finish Luke by tomorrow) is: ‘how am I supposed to start unknotting them?’

Note: quotes from Luke 21:7 27 (NIV). A quick fact-check: the temple was demolished in 70 AD.

Week 39  Luke 15

Not all parables are as clear & understandable & straightforward as the three in this chapter.
People described as ‘sinners’ came to talk with the Lord. Religious leaders took offence because Jesus was fraternizing with these creeps. The Lord and the religious people agreed that these people were in the Land of the Lost. The big difference was that the leaders figured they weren’t worth finding.
To make his point the Lord told three easy-to-understand parables:
One out of a hundred sheep was lost.
One out of ten coins was lost.
One out of two sons was lost.
In each parable someone was sad about the loss. So the person searched. Eventually the person found. And the person was very happy. That idea is repeated in each story: rejoice with me – the person says – I have found… That’s the reaction when something valuable is recovered.
The one unexpected add-on in the last parable is the piece where the prodigal son’s brother wished his brother stayed prodigal.
In some parables it’s hard to figure out what’s what and who’s who. And at first I wonder why the story of the prodigal son ends with the story of the Un-prodigal But Annoyed Bro. But when I circle back to the first two verses I realize what’s going on. The Lord didn’t bother spelling it out. Neither did Luke. I’m supposed to be able to do that for myself.

Note: quotes in Luke 15:6-7 9-10 and 24 & 32

Week 39  Luke 3

Luke wrote his gospel to a man named Theophilus and he told him that: since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good…to write an orderly account for you.
That orderly approach is what’s likely behind Luke’s details in chapter three about when John the Baptist began his ministry – which he says was: in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.
I had to do a quick detour outside of the bible to look for Tiberius Caesar. I checked three sources and they all agreed that Tiberius lived from 42 BC to 37 AD (so about 78 years). They also said that Tiberius ruled as emperor from 14 to 37 AD.
That’s a very useful detail to know because Luke says that John began his public preaching and baptizing in Tiberius’ 15th year.
So…14 AD + 15 more years = 29 AD. I don’t know exactly how dates were calculated in Luke’s scheme but I’ll ball-park 29 AD as the year that John began his prophetic work (it could have been 28 AD).
Anyway that confirms the general sense I have that the Lord Jesus began his public ministry in ~30 AD. I’d be stalled if Tiberius’ 15th year was (for instance) 70 AD. 29 AD is close enough.

Note: quotes from Luke 1:3 3:1 (NIV). I could try cross-referencing the other names in Luke’s list: Pontius Pilate (Judea). Herod (Galilee). Philip (Itrurea-Trachonitis). Lysanias (Abilene). But 29 AD is good enough for me.

 

Week 38  Luke 4

Lots of people don’t read the bible. And lots of people do.
People who do read the bible can be divided into two big groups: in Group A are people who read the bible and think it’s legitimate accurate reliable personally-valuable – things like that – and in Group B are people who read the bible for some reason – but not because they believe it or think it has any real & solid usefulness.
Anyway I put myself in Group A. And the main person I’d put in Group B is the devil.
I don’t know for a fact that the devil has read the whole bible (I figure he likely has).
And I don’t know for a fact that the devil has read every psalm (he likely has).
I do know for a fact that the devil read Psalm 92 because when he tempted the Lord he quoted a couple of verses from it.
This is worrisome on two counts.
First it’s a reminder that at least one guy in Group B is seriously-and-maliciously evil.
And secondly it’s a reminder that a sinister Group B guy can manage the meaning of a bible passage so that it takes on a dark & sinister twist.
The equation looks something like this: an illuminating-and-helpful bible verse + a dark-and-devious mind reading it = a potentially damaging-and-corrosive meaning.
It’s a reminder for Group A readers: a good verse is deformable.

Note: the devil quoted Psalm 92:11-12 in Luke 4:10-11

Week 37  Mark 10

Mark quoted Jesus: I tell you the truth. No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (and with them persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.
One hundred times as much. I’ve seen religious media-stars who – if the source I read is correct – are millionaires. I don’t know what they gave up ‘for the gospel’s sake’ but materially they’ve done pretty well. On the other hand I know a guy who gave-up a lot for the gospel. Unless he has hidden offshore money I don’t think he’s gotten a 100Xs return.
The second part of the verse says that gospel-followers will also get eternal life. That’s a future promise – non-testable – and can’t at present really be shown to be true.
My big concern is doping out what the 100Xs return in this life means. For now my What-Information-I’ve-Got list only includes:
I choose to leave my friends and resources behind for the Lord’s sake
I don’t leave them behind with the aim of recouping a bigger & better return
I do get some sort of return (but what exactly that 100X return is remains a bit of a mystery)
I also definitely get some degree of persecution as part of the transaction
And then in the end I also get eternal life.

Note: quote from Mark 10:29-30 (NIV)

Week 37  Mark 8

The Lord is talking to his disciples and Mark says that he’s talking to them plainly (another version says openly).
Mark is referring to the specific instance where the Lord told them the depressing news that he was going be killed – a blunt unequivocal conversation. Mark doesn’t quote the Lord but he likely said something like: “before long I’m going to suffer many terrible things and be denounced by the leading priests and the religious teachers. There’ll be a public show trial and then I’ll be killed. But after three days I’m going to come back to life”.
What the Lord said was pretty plain and simple and literal. Peter didn’t like the message. But he definitely understood it.
Of course there’re other times when the Lord said things that weren’t so straightforward. For instance just a couple of verses back he said: beware the yeast of the Pharisees. Which wasn’t exactly crystal clear with its mis-understandable below-the-surface meaning.
At some point I might do an exercise where I divide up everything the Lord says under two columns: on the left the Plain & Simple Things & on the right the Not So Plain & Simple Things.
Mark reminded me today that when I’m reading the gospels I’ll find plain and straightforward material. But a lot of the rest still needs some processing thinking doping-out assessing distinguishing and like that. Both are parts of my bible-reading mix.

Note: quote from Mark 8:32 15 (NLT NIV)

Week 37  Matthew 27

After the Lord had been crucified & died & been buried the religious leaders came to Pilate. This time they wanted to post an armed guard at the Lord’s tomb. They told Pilate: we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, “After three days I will rise again”.
I check the cross-references for where Jesus actually said that. There they are: Matthew 16:21 & 17:22-23 & 20:17-19 (plus some in Mark & Luke). They make the point that the resurrection conversations were private & privileged – the Lord only told the disciples.
But somehow word got out. Maybe Judas told. Maybe an insider let the cat out-of-the-bag. But the leaders knew the story. And now that “that deceiver” was dead they didn’t want things getting out of hand with a fake resurrection story added to the mix.
In spite of all the miracles the Lord performed I don’t get any impression the religious people thought there’d be an actual resurrection. Even when the guard’s told them what had happened the leaders stuck with their Grave Heist narrative.
And it’s also a pretty interesting thing with the guards. Matthew says they actually saw a luminescent angel just before they fainted into unconsciousness. But the supra-world experience didn’t have any residual traction. They were paid-off. They changed their story. And that-was-that. Whatever impact the vision might have had they seem to have sublimated it. Who says seeing-is-believing?

Note: quote from Matthew 27:63 (NIV). See refs in Mark 8:31 9:31 10:32-34 Luke 9:21-22 18:31-34.

Week 37  Matthew 27

At the Lord’s trial Pilate was the presiding judge and a couple of things were perking in Pilate’s head. For one he was perplexed that Jesus refused to defend himself. And for two Pilate suspected that envy was the big motivator driving the religious leaders. So he sensed that something fishy dubious & questionable was going on.
But there was an added factor. Pilate’s wife told him about a dream she’d had the night before. Because of that dream she had – she told him – suffered a great deal today.
She also told him a) her own opinion about Jesus and b) what action she figured Pilate should take: don’t have anything to do with that innocent man.
So this left Pilate with his own suspicions and added to that was his wife’s dream.
It’s hard to know how seriously Pilate took the dream. On the one hand he did make a weak effort to cut Jesus loose (he publicly said he couldn’t find any crime Jesus was guilty of). But on the other hand he did turn the Lord over to the lynch-mob in the end.
Dreams are a bit tricky. They can have a pretty powerful psychic impact when they occur. Then the sun comes up and they can lose some of their punch.
I don’t figure there’s a general lesson here to act-on-your-dreams. But in retrospect his wife’s dream-advice was something Pilate should have paid more careful attention to.

Note: quotes from Matthew 27:19 (NIV)

Week 37  Matthew 24

Near the end of his life the disciples took the Lord aside privately and asked him a couple of forecastive-type questions:
Q#1: When will the temple be demolished?
Q#2: What are signals of the end of the age?
I don’t know exactly what the disciples were hoping for but my preference would have been for a fairly explicit answer. For example:
A#1: the temple will be destroyed 40 years from today.
A#2: I will return in 2458 AD.
But I don’t get my wish. The Lord forecasts only pretty generic events like the fact there’ll be:
wars & rumors of wars
famines & earthquakes
persecution hatred animosity betrayal
false & deceptive prophets. Like that.
Even though these tips do give me something to work with they don’t seem like very decisive forecasts. And to make things worse the second-half of the chapter says things like:
no one knows about that day or hour
it’ll be just like people in the time of Noah who knew nothing about what would happen until the rain actually began
you do not know on what day your Lord will come
the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
I’m not drawing any final conclusions today since other bible readers have extra opinions to add to the hopper.
But I do have one take-away: on the Do Know-Don’t Know Scale I figure I’m a lot closer to Don’t Know.

Note: quotes from Matthew 24:36 37-9 42 44 (NIV)