Deuteronomy 33:1-29, Luke 13:1-21, Psalms 78:65-72, Proverbs 12:25
Today is April 9th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you. It’s always…it’s always great to just est. I don’t know, just imagine ourselves around the roaring global campfire. I can see it vividly in my mind. There’s a roaring campfire and there’s people around it, people coming in, people going out and it’s warm and it’s safe and it’s serene and we come in and we warm ourselves and we visit in community and then we go back into our lives always knowing that we’ll return here. It’s a beautiful thing to be going through the Scriptures in community with you. And, so we’re here to take that next step forward, which will take us back to the book of Deuteronomy. And if I’m not mistaken we’ll be concluding the book of Deuteronomy tomorrow. But today from the New International Version, Deuteronomy chapter 33.
Commentary:
Alright. So, in the gospel of Luke today we covered some different territory. Jesus commented on a number of things. The first of the things were some of the events that had been kinda going viral, had been kinda being talked about and spread around. So, an incident where some Galileans were killed in the temple complex and that desecrated the temple causing all kinds of unrest. For the Romans, these people would’ve been, you know, they would’ve been targeted and taken out, probably because they were suspected or had been known to create unrest for the Empire. Of course, for those in the temple and those were fellow Hebrews this would’ve been just like a political assassination. So, of course, it was being talked about. And then there was a tower in Jerusalem that fell down and 18 people died. So, these kinds of things, we understand, they would make the news. And as I’ve said in years gone by, like the first one would’ve made international news probably. Whereas as the second one would be more of a local tragedy. Nevertheless, this is what got people talking and what Jesus conclusion was is that it wasn’t these people’s specific sin that caused this tragedy to come upon them. Everyone is headed toward the same place and if we don’t keep our eyes on our own lives then we will all perish as well. And the one thing that we can for sure take away from this is that all of the things that God gets blamed for, especially in tragedies like this that we see around the world doesn’t mean that God did it. So, here’s God in the person of Jesus commenting on these things saying, “is it because they were greater sinners that this happened? No, I tell you know”, that’s what Jesus said, “but unless you repent you too will all perish.” And then in the next scene Jesus is found again healing on the Sabbath. And…ahhh…you can just see the synagogue leader getting up after a miraculous healing has taken place and his response to the people in the synagogue is, “there are six days to get healed. Don’t come and try to do this on the Sabbath.” It’s discouraging. And Jesus…and Jesus spoke up…”you hypocrites”, right? “You hypocrites. Are we seriously having this conversation? This woman is a sister. She’s a daughter of Abraham. She’s been bound for 18 years by the devil. She shouldn’t be free? She shouldn’t be free right now?” Of course, we can see this and we can shake our heads and say that Jesus was in the right totally and we can see the hypocrisy as we read the story, but the hypocrisy resides in each of us every time we try to shut down whatever God might be doing because he might be doing it against the rules that we think that we understand or that He might be doing something in a way that we don’t understand. We can get just like the synagogue leader. So, it’s important for us to not condemn the Pharisees and the synagogue leaders and the scribes and the religious leaders until we examine our own lives for the same kind of behavior and then do something about it. And then lastly Jesus is asking the question, “how do I describe what the kingdom of God is like?” That is such an important question, right? Because we’re continually talking about the kingdom of God, His kingdom and how we’re a part of that kingdom and how His kingdom will rule and reign. I mean, we talk about the kingdom a lot in our faith. Here’s Jesus saying. “How do I describe what it’s like.” So, what it’s like is something that we should know. In these two examples Jesus says it’s like…it’s like a mustard seed or it’s like yeast mixed in with flour. So, in the case of the mustard seed, it’s a small seeing that expands and grows and flourishes and spreads out to the point that even birds can sit in its branches. It was just this little thing that began to grow slowly and spread out or in the case of the yeast it’s a small thing put into a large amount of flour, but it changes the flour profoundly as it’s made into bread that makes it rise. It’s small but it changes everything. It mixes in and changes the consistency of everything. So, if we say we are a part of this kingdom, we are a member of this kingdom then that’s what our lives should be doing too, right? It’s a small thing that changes the consistency of everything, changes the outcome of everything. Our very presence is bringing the very presence of God into every situation, unless we’re suppressing that and participating in the evil of darkness. But this is what we’re supposed to be doing, changing the atmosphere, changing the consistency and outcome of everything.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for the things that we’ve been given to consider from Your own lips Jesus in the Gospel of Luke today. We ask that Your Holy Spirit come and plant these things in our lives. Show us how it is that we are a part of Your kingdom. Are we living as You’ve described? And if the answer is an honest no then we humbly repent ask You to show us, order our lives appropriately so that we can actively, vigilantly participate in what You are doing in this world at this time. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for You here tomorrow.