October 25 - Luke 10-11; John 10:22-42: Setting Things Right with Your Neighbor

Today’s Reading: Luke 10-11; John 10:22-42

The Message

English Standard Version

Thought to Guide Your Reading

Similar to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus wants His Chosen People to no longer focus on "standards" or definitions. He wants us to set things right because we can.

Summary in 100 Words or Less

Jesus sent 70 disciples to teach. God's Authority would protect them.
Jesus was asked "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus told a parable about a Samaritan man who helped a stranger. The Samaritan was the man's neighbor.
Jesus taught the disciples to persistently ask God to give what they needed. God would give what was best.
Jesus complained, "You want 'signs' but argue over minutia. Your eyes are too narrow to allow in My Saving Light. Stop looking for loopholes around God's Law."
Pharisees and religious scholars wanted Jesus murdered.
Jews refused Jesus as their Shepherd, but many believed in Him.

How Today’s Reading Contributes to the Gospel: God is Setting All Things Right

Jesus' missionary style was to allow insiders to call people to the messengers.

Churches have a problem going out. We love to stay in and wait for people to somehow find us. Jesus wanted His disciples to find a generous person and let them bring others to hear about Jesus. This is similar to how the first city accepted Jesus as their Lord. Find people in your city who can call others to listen to the Good News.

Jesus removed any limitation to the definition of a "neighbor".

As He did in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus took a standard (or a request for a definite answer) and turned it into a mindset. The Samaritan helped the man because He wanted to set things right. There was no law or moral code requiring him to act. There was no money in helping the man. The injured stranger needed someone to help him and the Samaritan was the one. There is no rule or standard to who constitutes your neighbors. Help anyone who needs your help.

Mary understood what was essential and what could wait.

I believe Jesus' point wasn't that kitchens were unnecessary. His point was that priority should go to learning how to set things right. We should not use this story as an excuse to never leave our lecture halls or living room small groups to do community service projects. We should learn from this example not to siphon time from the essentials in order to keep up a sparkling-clean home.

Jesus taught that prayer is like a friend calling another friend to help.

I struggle with prayer. It isn't because I don't think God hears my prayer or that He doesn't want to answer them. I struggle because I have difficulty seeing prayer as calling out to a friend to help in the middle of the night. It seems too distant, too formal. I struggle to balance rote prayers for the sake of praying and persistently praying for what I need. However, persistence pays off—especially when it comes to God. Before you start praying a million times for $10 million, remember that God gives us what we need. Don't bargain, ask for tradeoffs, or give ultimatums. Continuously ask God to set things right until it happens.

Jesus came to set things right, not perform magic tricks.

The Pharisees, religious scholars, and Jews wanted Jesus to perform sign after sign. They were not interested in following Jesus but discrediting Him, as I mentioned earlier. Jesus would not perform a miracle at their every beck-and-call. They had all the evidence they needed. They lacked faith not evidence.

It is not the outside that matters. The outside should mirror the inside.

The Pharisees struggled to obey God because they wanted all of the esteem from obeying God without the hard task of changing themselves to set things right. This is why Jesus has to make them see they are like a clean tomb—the dirty, dead bones are inside.

Do you struggle with praying like you are asking a friend for help?

March 18 - Deuteronomy 21-23: Moses Reminds the People of Various Laws

Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 21-23

The Message

English Standard Version

Thought to Guide Your Reading

Some of the laws God gave the Israelites are higher moral laws than we have today.

Summary in 100 Words or Less

The nearest city should bury abandoned corpses.
A female war-bride could be married after she mourned. If divorced, she was freed.
Birth order must stay the same. Execute a rebellious child. Bury the executed the same day.
Be good neighbors—return lost property and do not harvest another's field.
No mixing.
Wife-slanderers must be severely punished. Execute adulterers—unless the woman had no one to protect her. A virgin raped became the man's wife forever.
God restricted entry to the Tabernacle.
Defecate outside the camp.
Israel could not bring a prostitute's wages into the temple or charge interest to Israelites.

How Today’s Reading Contributes to the Gospel: God is Setting All Things Right

God protected women more than any other culture of the day.

Remember, women were thought of as property and child-bearers only by most people. If a man could not trust his wife then he could never really know if his children were his. So God's laws may not have given her equal rights to men as we would hope but God was not working with the same group of people. Let me explain through the examples given in the text.
A man could marry a slave captured in war but only after she had the opportunity to grieve for her loss. Later, if the man decided he no longer wanted her she went free. A man could not marry a slave girl, take advantage of her, and then sell her back into slavery when he grew tired of her.
A man who had two wives (often one married because of his parents' choice and one because of love) could not give the loved wife's children more than the other children. How does this protect the women? By protecting their children.
A man could not have remorse and get rid of his new wife by slandering her. The parents could protect her by showing the marriage bed's stains and prove she was a virgin.
An engaged woman who was raped would not be executed if she had no one to protect her. Protection is the reason a woman raped in a city did not have that excuse. She had the opportunity and ability to cry out and (because their walls were not very soundproof) have a protector come and save her. If she did not cry out then she must have been implicit in the act and would be executed with the man.
A virgin who was not engaged would become the man's wife. Remember, virginity is prized to these people. If a girl was not a virgin she would no longer be marriage material. A man could not use a girl and throw her out when he grew tired of her. Her virginity was lost but she forever had the protection of a man.
God protects women and will not allow men to treat them as possessions.

Parents are responsible for teaching their children. Children are responsible for obeying their parents.

God does not put the responsibility on one and not the other. Both sides must work together to make things right on the earth. God requires both parents and children to set things right in a family.

God wants His Chosen People to be good neighbors.

These seem like simple laws. However, think about this situation today. How often does lost property get returned to its proper owner? Not as often as it should. God's chosen people should be good neighbors.

God punishes the Ammonites and the Moabites for not allowing Israel to cross into their borders.

This event comes from Numbers. The people of Moab would not allow Israel to cross into their borders because they were scared and were inhospitable. God is punishing them for not allowing refugees into their land. God will punish those who are not hospitable to people in need.

God's law about taking from a field show that God is not the black-and-white god some present

God forbids stealing in the Ten Commandments, the first laws of Moses' law. Reaping a field that is not your own is stealing. However, God allows people to eat from someone else's field. How is this righteous? The person is hungry. The person is not allowed to take a bunch home or sell it to others. This is important because it shows that God is not a black-and-white god who has no exceptions to any laws. He does not want anyone to steal, but he will allow them to take some when they are hungry. God's laws are not so stiff that no exceptions can be made, but these exceptions must have a non-self-serving reason behind them.

God protects the poor from interest.

God has already told the people that if they obey Him they will not have poor in their country. So now God protects the poor who will be in the land from having to pay more than they borrow. God's Chosen People do not lend to other Chosen People and charge interest.