Leviticus 6:1-7:27, Mark 3:7-30, Psalms 37:1-11, Proverbs 10:3-4
Today is the 18th day of February. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is wonderful to be here with you today. It is a travel day today, a long, a long one at that. We’ll talk about that in a little bit. We’ve got a brand-new shiny, sparkly week just waiting to unfold before us. And we will step into that week by taking the next step forward in the Scriptures. Of course, we’ll be picking up where we left off yesterday. This week will read from the God’s Word Translation. Leviticus chapter 6 verse 1 through 7 verse 27.
Commentary:
Alright, so, in the book of Mark we encounter this story where when Jesus is being accused of being in league with the devil. And that’s where he’s getting his power to cast out devils. Now, as I’m mentioned when we began the book of Mark, Mark was the first Gospel to be written. Next in time, over a decade later, came Matthew. But we saw this story in Matthew and we talked about it. We talked about the unpardonable sin. The synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke - share similar stories. A lot of the source material for the stories in Matthew and Luke are found in Mark because that’s where they were first documented. So, we talked about this story when we read through this story in Matthew but now let’s take another pass. Let’s not just talk about this unpardonable sin, let’s talk about what Jesus is saying. The accusation is that Jesus is throwing out demons by the power of the prince of demons. And Jesus response is, ‘how can Satan force out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot last.’ Right? So, we’re all on the same page. Right? That would be civil war. And that will only undermine the infrastructure of the whole. The kingdom will come apart at the seams. There’s plenty of historical precedents throughout human history for this being true. Okay, so let’s take it out of, you know, historical empires and land it squarely in our own laps, because Jesus went on. ‘And if the household is divided against itself, that household will not last.’ Okay. So, Jesus has given a very comprehensive answer here. From a cosmic perspective, he’s saying, how can Satan force out Satan. And then He moves more toward society and the governance of society. ‘If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot last.’ And then he brings it down into every home. ‘And if the household is divided against itself, that household will not last.’ So, if our homes are a war zone then we could probably say that our house is divided against itself, and that household will not last if it stays divided against itself. And we see this kind of unrest in the world. Right? So, like, I mean, I know it’s all over the world. But I happen to live in the United States. So how long can we say we are one nation? So, we are one people under God. We just happen to disagree about everything and we fight each other all of the time. Right? How can we say we are one house under God? We too have come together into the covenant of marriage and no longer are we two, we become one, we become this thing, we establish this household, we are in this together when we are completely at each other’s throats, all the time undermining the infrastructure of our home. Things can’t last that way. With our own two hands we tear it apart. Or probably better spoken, with our own two tongs we tear it apart. With the same lips that we use for affection, we shoot bullets at each other and that won’t stand. And all we’re doing is sabotaging ourselves. And, I mean, this isn’t a the new thing. This has been going on in the world a long, long time. And I know there are all kinds of struggles in marriage. It’s a hard job. However, the job isn’t going to get easier until we can get on the same page about what Jesus is saying. Our divided allegiances will not work out in the end. Civil war inside our homes isn’t going to lead us on the narrow path that leads to life. And until we can get on the same page about that, because that’s the bedrock. Until we can get on the same page about that we can never begin to explore together or with the help about why we’re doing the things that we’re doing, about what we’re actually fighting for, what we’re trying to accomplish in our attempts to dominate. Until we can get on the same page it says, I am in covenant with you. You are a part of me. I am a part of you. We have this household that we’ve formed together that we’re tearing down brick by brick. This isn’t going to work. We have to do something different. This is not going to work until we can begin to practice what Jesus commanded us. Forgiveness. It’s not going to work. So, maybe it’s time to put down our weapons, all of the soft spots that we know about each other that we constantly go after that simply…I mean…when we hurt each other we’re hurting ourselves. It’s not going to work. I remember when I was a little boy, probably younger even than my son, Ezekiel, who’s five. And my mom was giving me a bath. And I’m just a little kid and I peed in the tub. And she told me, don’t do that. That’s like peeing on yourself. That’s exactly what we do we go to war with each other inside of our own homes. There is no upper hand to get. We’re one. We’re in this together. We’re in covenant. There isn’t anything to win. Attacking our spouse is like attacking our self and it won’t work. It won’t work out in the end, which isn’t to say that there are never any difficult conversations in relationships. There are plenty of them, but it’s how we go in. If we bring the strong artillery and the show of force in and were just, like, aimed at each other, that’s not going to get anywhere. We see in Jesus a person who always looks for the story behind the story, the plot, what’s really going on and he begins to speak to what’s really going on. And when we can have those conversations, ones where we know that we are in this together and we’re not holding this over each other, we’re practicing forgiveness, and we’re trying to find the path together forward, well, then all things are possible.
Prayer:
Father, we invite You into our relationships, our marriages, the work of becoming one, the work of being in a covenant. And even as we see in the book of Leviticus, all of the work of being in a covenant as a people, we see that this this comes down into our own lives. It’s work. To be in covenant with You, it requires daily, moment by moment surrender. Its work to be in a covenant with our spouse. It’s daily moment by moment surrender to Your leadership. And, so, we invite You. We have lots of conversations that we need to have. There’s all kinds of stuff going on. Sometimes it’s like such thick dense forest we don’t even know how to get in there. And we wouldn’t know where to begin to weed out and cut, but You do. You do. And, so, we surrender ourselves to Your Holy Spirit. We’re asking You to speak God. Show us where to tread and where not to. Show us how to move in this direction because a house divided against itself will not last and we believe You. So, come, Holy Spirit, and show us how not to be divided against ourselves. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Song:
Sarah Groves
Baby this isn’t like young love
No, this is like an underground river
Flowing over iron and iron
Shaping all the takers and givers
I feel the love between us
We just walked into some history
You can’t ignore a beautiful past
Full of redemption and mystery
Holding up the things that will last
I feel the love between us
Love is a diamond hidden in mountains
Covered in danger and dirt
I’m on the outside digging and digging
I’ve seen and I know what it’s worth
Love is a diamond hidden in mountains
Covered in danger and dirt
I’m on the outside digging and digging
I’ve seen and I know what it’s worth
Baby this isn’t like young love
No this is like an underground river
I feel the love between us