04/17/2020 DAB Transcript

Joshua 15:1-63, Luke 18:18-43, Psalms 86:1-17, Proverbs 13:9-10

Today is the 17th day of April welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is awesome to be here with you today as we…as we take the next step forward here around the Global Campfire where it is safe. No matter what is going on out there it is safe here and we are safe together and this is one of the places that we have in our lives where we just kind of come in, sit down, and know we’re not one not alone and exhale, and just allow peace to reign in this space as God’s word washes over us. So, let’s just take a deep breath and exhale it…ahhhh…and allow peace to come into our hearts and lives. We’ve been reading from the English Standard Version this week, which is what we’ll continue to do. And we’ve been working through the gospel of Luke and the book of Joshua, which is what we’ll continue to do. Today Joshua chapter 15.

Commentary:

Okay. In the gospel of Luke today we find Jesus in the city of Jericho. And Jericho is basically a desert city in the Judean wilderness. And, so, we have to remember that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River outside of Jericho according to the Scriptures. So, in…in that story of Jesus baptism He then goes into the wilderness and is tempted by the evil one before He makes His way back into the Galilee and announces His ministry. And this was one of the well-known pathways. Once you get down into the valley, then you have kind of flat, although arid, although doesn’t like, you have flat road basically, roadway, pathway to move, whereas just trying to cut down through the center you’d just be going through the mountains up and up and up and up. So, a lot of times they would descend out of the Galilee down into the valley and make their way down south and then make the trek up to Jerusalem. So, when Jesus was baptized after His temptation then He went up into the Galilee. Now He’s basically done that pathway in reverse, come out of the Galilee, down into the valley through Jericho, where He will then be heading west up to Jerusalem, and…and to His death. So, there’s a blind person on the side of the road and we’ve passed this story before but now as we pass it in the gospel of Luke like…it would….it should…like it’s so poignant for us right now. So, this blind mans on the side of the road and he’s just begging, right? Like he’s got a hat out or something. He’s just asking for…for any help he can get. A crowd goes by and although he can’t see the crowd, he can hear the crowd. And, so, he’s wondering what’s going on and people are telling him “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And Jesus reputation has grown so this blind man knows who this is and so he starts screaming for Jesus and everybody’s telling him to shut up, like he’s kind of marginalized blind person off to the side just begging, “just be quiet.” But he just keeps screaming for Jesus, he just keeps calling out, and Jesus hears him and has him brought to him. And here’s where our lives intersect with the story because Jesus has compassion on this man and asks him, “what do you want me to do for you?” And the man says, “basically, I would like to recover my site. I would like to see again.” And Jesus says, “fine” basically. “See. Open your eyes and see. Recover your site. Your faith has made you well.” It’s a beautiful story of the compassion of Jesus, who is on His way to His death in Jerusalem. I mean we wouldn’t blame Him if He were preoccupied with that fact that He’s gonna walk this last stretch up to Jerusalem and die, but he had compassion on this man we find ourselves spiritually in this story because we are that blind man. We have been calling out to Jesus this whole year for eyes to see. And we’ve been through this story before, but we’ve faced some significant challenges along the way since then and that is one of the most beautiful things about this rhythm of life that we have in the Scriptures. The Bible brings up the things that we need to focus on and it has a profound way of doing that when we need it.

Prayer:

Jesus, we come to You and we hear Your words out of the Gospels again, “what do You want me to do for You?” And we could have a long list of things that we would like You to do for us but like this blind man, the one thing that he needed to most was his site and that’s where we find ourselves spiritually. The one thing that we need is eyes to see and ears to hear, especially the voice of wisdom at the crossroads. And we believe this is completely available. This is what the Scriptures tell us. And, so, even as we look at this story in the Gospel of Luke Your response was, “recover your site your faith has made you well.” Holy Spirit, please as we surrender to You may our faith arise and well up within us. May we see with more clarity than we have ever seen before, the way that Your kingdom is in and among us and moving forward and moving and pulling us forward. Give us eyes to see this so that we might collaborate with You rather than working against You. Come Holy Spirit we pray in the mighty name of Jesus this is our request. 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.