Matthew 12:30-50 #eebc2018

This section starts with a bang. Our modern society does not care much for absolutes and hard choices--after all, "only a Sith deals in absolutes" was a well-applauded line (despite the irony of that statement being an absolute)--and casting things in shades of gray has been a long-running habit.

But Jesus makes it very, very plain, that anyone who is not with Him is against Him. That is not the world's way. We want to join in for some of the effort, pull out for others.

The Christian life is not so--we are either fully committed to the Lord or we are involved on the other side. This is one of the errors of our modern society. We want to take a little Jesus here, try a little Christianity over there, when all the while God's Word tells us that we have to choose.

This is the challenge of Christian discipleship: to understand that we live by grace. Full stop. Without grace, we have nothing. We can do nothing. Without Christ, we have no grace.

The next step, though, is to respond to grace. I fear too many times we've stopped without responding to the command of God, and that this is the source of so many of our difficulties in life as Christians. We continue to attempt to live as if nothing is expected of us because we are forgiven. Nothing may be required of us, but is that the way to respond to God's grace?

Matthew 11:25-12:29 #eebc2018

One of the challenges we have in reading the Bible comes from something added to the text as a helpful tool: the chapter and verse markings. Apart from the Psalms, there are no divisions like this within the original text. The Psalms are all individual, and the strange case of the titles is for a post on the Psalms.

The chapter divisions, if we are not careful, can lead us to make a separation that does not belong. For example, in this section of text, the well-known phrase "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:30) is in a different chapter from the events of chapter 12 where Jesus both reasserts the importance of the Sabbath and clears out the additions that the Pharisees had added to it.

If we do not read carefully, we will make an artificial and unhelpful division between those two sections and miss an important point. Take a look at how these go together: Jesus promises a burden but one that is restful. The Sabbath, under the structures of the cultural situation, was anything but restful. There were many details to follow--but there was no way around it!

Jesus re-emphasizes the idea of mercy, rather than stringent legalities, as worship. Which, when the Gospel breaks out into the Gentile world, will also push against the Roman world. The Roman world ran constantly, with never a break or moment to pull back. A Sabbath of mercy would be a challenge to their system, and being people who participated and encouraged others to rest would have been a challenge to that world.

Then we see a natural break: Matthew 12:15 where it speaks of His withdrawal from the crowds. Here is a natural shift in the events, a place where one segment of the story fades into another. Matthew cites Isaiah 42 and applies it to Jesus. This passage speaks of the Servant of YHWH, and talks of His compassion.

Exodus 3 #eebc2018

Get to work.

Seriously, get to it.

You think that the flocks you pasture, the wealth you acquire, the security you have, is what God has for you to do all the time.

It is not.

It is not your greatest good to enlarge the financial well-being of yourself. It is not your greatest calling to comfortably relax at home at the end of the day.

Your calling, based on on Matthew 28:18-20, is to go forth and make disciples of all nations. Just as God called Moses, here, and sent him out from comfort and ease, so He has commissioned every one of us to make the priority of our lives sharing the Gospel with the nations.

So get to work.

You are not going to get a burning bush, an engraved invitation, or a vision in the Temple, because God has already given His word.

And the sooner we will be about it, the better we will find our lives to be.

You may wonder, "But what about...."

Realize that God is keenly aware of your needs. Who is the better provider, you or Him? Is He not able to handle the needs before you?

Place your faith and action into following the commands of God. He will handle the details.

Exodus 2 #eebc2018

One might argue that the story of Moses begins here, in Exodus 2. For narrative purposes, that would be a good statement. But really, Moses' story begins way back in Genesis. The word that we translate as "basket" in Exodus 2 is the same word that is translated as "ark" in Genesis 7. In the variety that is the English language, the "Ark of the Covenant" that we will get to later in Exodus is not the same word for "Ark." So, if you want to make a connection from Genesis to Exodus, you should make it between the boat and the basket, not the boat and the box.

Which is a valuable lesson on two fronts. First, the overall Biblical languages front: we must remember that the Bible was not originally in English. English is one of hundreds of receptor languages for translations of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that the Bible was written in. Therefore, if you want to fully engage with the text you need to access those languages. I recommend a mixed approach, especially if you cannot afford the time/money/energy to learn the languages themselves (remembering that your language learning is only as good as its sources, at that): have multiple translations in your language (if they exist) and have good tools available. What are good tools? Sound Bible commentaries and study notes--this is the value of Study Bibles as a genre--as well as learning to use a concordance and a Bible dictionary.

If you only read the Bible in one translation and never consult the vast wealth of information that is available to you, English speakers, then you are not using all that God has given you to understand His Word. Start with some basics: Journey into God's Word and How to the Read the Bible for All its Worth are great starting points. Find your pastor and commit to a basics of Biblical interpretation class! The other tools, like sound Biblical commentaries, will take some investment but they are worth it.

The second valuable lesson is this: God works in His own ways, and sometimes there are similarities without identical happenings. In Genesis, God saves only the people in the Ark, rebuilding the population from those eight. In Exodus, God saves only one person through an ark, and will use that one to save the people of Israel. The expectation that God must do the exact same thing in all lives is not a good one--He has done the exact same thing for all by Jesus death on the cross for our salvation, but beyond that? Walk in obedience and let God work according to His ways, rather than expecting a photocopy of what He did in someone else's life.

For most folks, the Moses story is pretty well-known. He's drifted off down the Nile in a basket (ark) and pulled out by Pharaoh's own daughter. Now, technically, Moses's family obeyed Pharaoh's command: they put the baby boy in the river. Obviously, he was after something far more sinister. Tough break for Pharaoh.

Worth considering: there are almost no ancient stories where a king/noble/tyrant tries to eliminate a threat from an upcoming generation and succeeds. Check Greek mythology (Perseus, Oedipus), other mythologies, and you'll find that to be the case. Moses is a true example of this--and many of the other stories probably have a basis in truth. Brutality wins a day, but it rarely wins in the end.

Pharaoh's daughter draws out Moses, saves him, and gives him to his own mother for her to take care of. Then Moses grows up, kills an Egyptian, and flees the country. At this point, he meets Reuel, Zipporah, and the rest of a family of Midianites. He's been in Egypt for 40 years, and now he will be in Midian for 40 years.

As to the facts of the matter: we are not sure which Dynasty of Egypt is involved here, and I won't try to thread that needle. There are several historical examples of the "M-s-s" consonant group in Egyptian names, so consider those areas. Midian has typically been identified in modern-day Saudi Arabia. If you take the tradition that Moses' Mount Sinai is on the modern Sinai Peninsula, then you will have to put some Midianites there as well, but I would side with the view that tradition put Mount Sinai in the wrong place, resulting in the Sinai Peninsula being a misnomer. I think you find both, and the bulk of the Exodus-Numbers-Deuteronomy setting, on the Arabian Peninsula.

Practically? Catch the end of the chapter: Exodus 2:23-25. The Israelites cried out, God heard, God saw, and God knew. Whatever you are going through, cry out to God. He hears, He sees, He knows.

But His response may take longer than you want, because He may work in your situation alongside a few million others, too.

Genesis 50:22-26, Exodus 1 #eebc2018

Genesis ends with the death of Joseph, but not before he saw his great-grandchildren and had his descendants swear to take his bones from Egypt and bury them in the Promised Land. Worth considering here is that, apparently, some change had occurred in Egypt and the surrounding areas that prohibited Joseph from being buried like Jacob was--directly transported to the land of Canaan (remember, it's not Israel yet) and buried. Exactly what the problem may have been is not certain, but there's something going on here.

That's how Genesis wraps up--from "In the Beginning, God..." to a temporary burial in Egypt. It's a narrowing scope.

Exodus then begins with a reminder of who came down to Egypt. Then the news turns bad. The new Pharaoh does not "know" Joseph. There are a couple of meaning points here. First is the obvious one: Joseph is dead, so the Pharaoh does not know Joseph--he's never met him, like you've never met George Washington or Thomas Jefferson.

But using the same illustration, if you're American, you should "know" Washington and Jefferson, because you should know the heritage they left in this country. You should know the benefits received for what they had done.

The Pharaoh in question does not know Joseph in this way, either, and that is what makes him dangerous. He has power over the lives of those in his land, and he sees this group of Israelites who have maintained their separate culture, kept their identity, and because of those differences he sees them as a threat. He does so with complete disregard for the centuries the Israelites have lived in Egypt and not been problems...

He then sets out to destroy the Hebrews (used as the broader term for the descendants of Jacob here) through infanticide. Well, first he tries forced labor, then goes on to infanticide. As a side note, while one must be careful arguing through slippery slope claims, history (including this history) bears it out more often than not. First it's one thing, then a worse thing--here it's forced labor, then more forced labor, then it's infanticide, and then it's throwing babies into the Nile River.

Had Pharaoh simply decided at the outset to throw the Hebrews out of his country, the outcome would have been better.

A few other notes here: we have no name for Pharaoh, but we do for the midwives. It's probable that Shiphrah and Puah were the top midwives, because two midwives wouldn't be enough for the population. Or, the direct efforts of Pharaoh were aimed at Hebrew leadership and these were the midwives to the nobility, such as it was.

All told, there's a lesson here about judging people's value--midwives, foreigners, Hebrews, etc., and it's this: rather than being afraid of who they are, pay attention to who they are and what they do. Live and let live, as much as possible. Please note, though, as you look at 'policy' in light of this, that the Hebrews had no intention to overthrow Egypt or go on murderous rampages within it.

The Hebrews don't start trouble, the Egyptians do. The Hebrews finish it, though.

Matthew 10:40-11:24 #eebc2018

This segment of Scripture goes from good to bad, in just about 30 verses. We start with the positive, cheerful idea that those who support and encourage a ministry or a follower of Jesus are rewarded just as those who are encouraged and keep on in their good works. Then we finish with the idea that judgment day will be better for Sodom and Sidon than for the cities that rejected Jesus...

That's a mood shift in your daily Bible reading for you. Let's take the pieces and put it together:

First, there is a unifying theme in these segments: the work of spreading the message of the Gospel. The first section deals with those who encourage the messengers, the second with the discouraged messenger, and the last with those who ignore the proclaimed message. The thread of messages and messengers tracks across this set of passages.

So, what about it? First, to recognize that some people are charged with spreading the message--the opening section deals with prophets, righteous people, and little ones. In this context, each of these terms deal with those fulfilling a responsibility in a religious context. (Other places, "righteous people" is a general term and "little ones" is more about children/younger folks.) Here, though, you should these as people serving God. Some are well-known, easy to see, like prophets. Others have distinguished lives, like righteous people. Others are simply those walking humbly through life--the little ones. (Mostly derived from: Morris, Leon. The Gospel according to Matthew. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992.)

Jesus is pointing to the idea that these folks cannot fulfill their tasks without support, and the supporters are equal partners in the work. A side note would be the counter-condemnation that the supporters of those who do evil, down to simply offering a cup of cold water to aid those doing evil, should expect the same reward as the ones doing evil.

Then we see the twelve disciples sent out to preach, but Jesus does not leave their hometowns untouched. Instead, He goes and preaches there. This is a direct pushback against the mindset that we do not need to do missions because there are plenty of needs here: both need to be done, and God is sovereign and capable of meeting the needs here if we go there.

John the Baptist gives us an interlude, as he struggles with his time in prison. He's not entirely sure Jesus is who John thought He was, but then Jesus uses that to highlight the work of John.

Finally, Jesus points out the condemnation due those who reject the message. He highlights the amount of mercy shown to the cities He has visited and how other places would have responded with repentance had they seen what the current cities experienced. That raises this question: of all the blessings we have received, have we met the Lord God in repentance for our sins?

Or do we hold on those sins? What judgment will we face for embracing the very sins God has condemned?

Genesis 47:20-49:33 #eebc2018

Jacob and family are now settled in the land of Goshen. For the time being, it is their salvation from the famine and the place where their family will build its identity. Eventually, it will become something far worse. That's a truth worth considering: sometimes a place is good at one time and bad at another. It may go from bad to good, or do what occurs here and go from good to bad.

But remember that one's life should not be welded to a geographic location. Instead, the relationships you have with God and with others are what should define you.

During the famine, Pharaoh acquires all the land of Egypt, turning the economy to more of a serfdom-based system than it was before. After this time, the people of Egypt are not free to do as they wish, but instead must work land belonging to Pharaoh. The exceptions? The priestly groups of Egypt and...that small Hebrew family that just moved into Goshen. Their land was on loan from Pharaoh, but the flocks were their own. And their food came from Joseph's power and authority, not Pharaoh, so they remained free.

Jacob, though, knows his death is at hand. Since that is the case, he requires a promise of Joseph to bury him back in the land of Canaan (it's not Israel yet) and Joseph promises. Further, Jacob essentially claims Joseph's first two sons as his own, replacing Joseph in his family tree. This is why there is no "Tribe of Joseph" in the further narratives of Israel.

In a recent reading, an author made much of the decision of Jacob to bless the younger son over the older, claiming it was an intentional and designed to reset the whole of economic ideas. I think it's simpler than that: Jacob was the younger brother, and here he chooses to bless the younger brother. I would suggest to you that blessing belongs to the one who is giving it, and they have a right to make the decision about who and how they bless.

Jacob then goes through and prophesies over his sons, telling what he believes will happen to them in the years to come. A noteworthy moment is Genesis 49:10, which some interpreters hold as a messianic promise. (After looking in several commentaries, the books I have tend to list that as a "possible" understanding and cite other sources, including Gerhard von Rad, on this. I will punt...) If there is an implication of the Messiah here, then we have Genesis wrapping up with a promise similar to the one near the beginning in Genesis 3:15.

After speaking over each of his sons, Jacob dies. Take note that he wishes to be buried with Leah and not with Rachel, perhaps because Leah is the one buried in the family tomb with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Rebekah. The terminology for dying, "he was gathered to his people," is a comforting one. It is from this idea that we structure our belief in family reunification after death--for those who know Jesus.

What do we do with this?

Take a look at the prophecy over each of the sons. I think there's something to Jacob's understanding of who his sons were, how they would behave, and how they would raise their children. He knew that his people were a large enough group, and an isolated enough one, to not have to intermarry too much into Egypt. He knew that his family would not fully assimilate and become Egyptian, that's why he made them promise to bury him back home!

And so he could predict, easily, what they would become. Some flashes of insight seem to have come from beyond his ability, but he is 147 years old at this point. Most of this is his wisdom and understanding.

So the question comes to you: what would someone say is your future? The future of your children?

Based on who you are now? Based on your current actions?

Take heart, because there is grace enough even for that picture. There is time, even now, to turn our hearts more toward God and more into the ways He has given us. Because no future is completely sealed--God in His grace may give you a better one. Turn your heart to Him, and your ways to His ways, and see what He does.

Genesis 46:8-47:19 #eebc2018

This passage opens with the lineage of Jacob, showing his sons and their sons. One of the purposes here is to establish a total number: seventy people. This includes Joseph, Asenath, and their two sons. It's not a huge number of people, which is the point. This is not an invasion force, it's just a family.

Next we see Joseph guide his family to settle in the land of Goshen, which is in the Nile Delta area. It is less reliable for farming, but still excellent as a grazing land. A fringe benefit? The family does not have to get all the way into Egypt, down amidst the temples and government. (There is no archaeological evidence that Joseph wanted to be far  from On, where his mother-in-law lived.)

Where does this fit in Egyptian history? That's a great question. One major theory puts it during the Second Intermediate Period, during the ascendancy of the Hyksos. I prefer a date in the Twelfth Dynasty, placing these events in the Middle Bronze Age of Egypt.

Joseph settles his family, then takes his father and five of his brothers to meet Pharaoh. His brothers report on their occupation and little else.

Jacob appears to have more a conversation with Pharaoh. Pharaoh asks his age, and Jacob laments that his life has been (and will be) shorter than his ancestors. Now, in comparison to Pharaoh, his 130 years were probably longer, but compared to Abraham or Noah? Jacob's still quite young.

Then you get the difference in what happens to the Egyptians and what happens to the family of Israel. Joseph, by way of his position,  provides for his family. Meanwhile, many of the Egyptians find themselves deeding over their lands and their freedom to the central government to survive the famine. This provides some insight into how Egypt's economy operated at the time.

What do we see here?

First, help your family if God has given you the ability. It sounds simple, but some folks miss that point.

Second, consider what your testimony would be if you stood before the most powerful government official you've ever known. Has your life been short and bitter? If so, what can you do today to start changing that?

Third, are you willing to go wherever it is necessary to follow God's commands? To live out that which you are supposed to do? Even if it means a sojourn in Egypt?

Matthew 8:28-9:17 #eebc2018

The Pharisees were convinced they knew Scripture well. And they did, many of them having dedicated their whole lives to the study and practice of the Word of God. Yet they did not fully understand the facts that they knew, they did not grasp the implications of the words.

This is why Matthew 9:13 records Jesus pointing them back to Hosea 6:6. The Pharisees had facts, but those facts were empty. They did not understand how the Word of God was given to them so that they could treat others differently, treat others with the mercy which God had for both the Pharisees and everyone else.

The problem echoes in the question of John's disciples about fasting. The disciples of Jesus did not fast enough, did not mourn, did not weep, but instead were generally joyous and celebratory. Why the difference?

It is the difference in those who know about God and those who know God. It is the difference of a life in a relationship compared to a life lived at a distance. Consider the difference in reading about being in love and actually being in love.

Or the difference in seeing food on television and seeing food in your own kitchen. One may give you knowledge, the other brings nourishment and joy. (Well, hopefully joy.)

So what are you doing with your knowledge of God? Is it changing your life?

Are you more joyful, no matter what comes your way? I know that some difficulties pull you down from exuberance, but there's a substantial gap between exuberant and peaceful joy through Christ. It is in Christ we have peace, we have joy, and we find a relationship with God that is real.

Remember that we have a relationship with the living Christ--guided through His Word, certainly, but our relationship is with the Living God.

Let Him transform you, within and without.

Matthew 7:15-8:27 #eebc2018

This passage wraps up the Sermon on the Mount and includes verses that belong with Matthew 7:1. 7:1 is the well-known "Judge not, lest ye be judged" passage, but didn't say that in a vacuum. He also didn't just drop it as a one-liner. Instead, He preached that as part of a sermon that also includes Matthew 7:19-20 which tells us that we will know people by their fruit.

The difference? Fruit is clear and evident, it's not a judgment based on fleck of dust but on repetitive evidence seen in actions. If you are 'evaluating' someone based on what you think it means that they wore that kind of clothing, you're in the wrong. If you are judging someone as sinful because they are an abusive spouse, then you're probably judging the fruit rightly: it's bad fruit. They are in need of repentance.

Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount by highlighting the importance of putting what He has said into practice. If we do not follow-through and actually do something, it really hasn't helped, has it? And we can say we believe, but belief leads to action.

After the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew records three definite healings and then comments that many others took place. The three are a leper, a Roman centurion's servant, and Peter's mother-in-law. Now, there is a joke in there about how all three are socially unloved people: lepers, Romans, and in-laws, but we'll let it pass for now. Instead, focus on the methods of healing: the leper is healed when Jesus touches him and speaks, the Roman at the word of Christ from a distance, and Peter's mother-in-law at a touch.

The differences highlight that the power is Jesus, not a specific action or person involved. Only the Savior can heal like this, which Matthew brings up from Isaiah 53:4.

But after the crowd builds, Jesus chases some of them away. Why? Because being a disciple is not for those who just want to hang about and have miracles. It's for those who will recognize the cost, those who will face the storms and trust Christ through them.

The miracles may get you started, but you need to have your faith grow beyond only what you've seen. You have to grow into trusting what God has said.

Genesis 45:1-46:7 #eebc2018

Joseph reveals himself to his brothers in this passage, and then sends for his father to come to Egypt. He provides for the practical needs of the elderly and smaller children to travel and works to reunite his family.

Jacob is, naturally, a bit unsettled by all of this. After all, he has believed Joseph is dead for two decades. He determines that he will go down and see Joseph before his death.

But on the way, he makes an important stop. At Beer-sheba, he makes sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. This is the first time in a while we have seen Jacob offer sacrifices. One might think Joseph's apparent death had put a hold on Jacob's relationship with God. (It is impossible to be certain, as we don't have all the details of the last 20 years.)

Here, though, he takes the step back. In this incident, it is Jacob's actions that bring him back into a relationship with God. He offers sacrifices and then God speaks to him. God gives him permission to go on down to Egypt and a promise that he will come back from Egypt. Now, when you read on, you'll see that he came back to be buried, but still, he came back.

Let's take this to heart. Jacob already knew God, had already experienced God's presence and His grace. This is not the first time Jacob has spoken with the Lord God.

But, like so many of us, he appears to have drifted over the years. Nowhere in their response to the famine does it appear the family seeks God. Nowhere do they ask God about buying grain from Egypt. Instead, they have just done what made sense to them at the time.

When our life gets aimed in that direction, we have to make the adjustment. The Christian life is not about waiting for God to do all the work--that is not what grace is about. (See Dan Phillips' wonderful The World-Tilting Gospel about "Gutless Gracers.")

Instead, we have to take a step in the direction of repentance. God will not take that step for us--He took the step to the cross. He took the step of saving us. He has the right to require us to take steps of repentance after our salvation.

Now, keep in mind that this is between you and God, not you and some other person. God sets the parameters of repentance, not mankind. You belong to Him, though after you have worked through the issues between you and the Lord there may be steps of relationship mending between you and other people.

The question at stake, then, is do you need to take a step of repentance? Has it been a while since you have heard from the Lord God?

We have the advantage over Jacob, because our hearing from God is as simple as opening the Word of God and seeing what He said. It's often the same action that shows our repentance: blow the dust off the Bible and read it! God speaks.

Let us not neglect that opportunity, but instead rise to it. Let us take up the Word and see what God promises, see what our walk of obedience entails and then go do it.

Genesis 43:16-44:34 #eebc2018

Joseph now has his brothers in his power. Consider the opportunity for revenge. Consider the opportunity to take everything they have ever done wrong and jam it right back down their throats.

Is that not a temptation for us sometimes as well? When we're right and we know we are right? It may have been years--after all, for Joseph it has been at least 2 years, and likely many more. Genesis 37:2 has Joseph at 17 years old and he enters Pharaoh's service at 30 (Genesis 41:46). Given that specific ages are usually mentioned to highlight when the events around them happen, that would suggest a gap of 20 years or more for Joseph, since the famine comes along seven years after he starts working for the Egyptian government.

Twenty years have passed, and now Joseph has all the power. It's like the dream of every kid who was an outcast of some kind in high school: at the reunion, nobody will pick on me anymore! They'll see I was right and they were wrong! Joseph could have slapped all of his brothers into prison, sent food back for his father with Benjamin and included a note that said "DAD! I'm alive!!"

Instead, in the midst of a time of trouble and famine, he orders a feast for his brothers. He brings them into his home, provides for their comfort--not just their needs--and pours out the wealth he has control over for their needs. They eat, they drink, and they drink to excess--it's not just a meal. It is a feast.

Then, there is one more test. Joseph has shown grace to his brothers, but he still wants to find out about their character. He has no way of knowing if Benjamin is safe with them or not, so he sets a trap to force the men to hand Benjamin over to him. For all the brothers know, Benjamin is going to be imprisoned, but Joseph may be seeking to protect his full-brother. If he can separate Benjamin, he can make sure that there are no pits for him in the years to come with his brothers.

His brothers, though, demonstrate their changed life. Judah offers himself in Benjamin's place, and Joseph sees that twenty years have changed his brothers as they have changed him.

What do we learn?

First, without a doubt, we see the extravagance of grace. Grace forgives and restores, grace throws a feast in the midst of a famine, and does not hold back even in the face of cultural opposition. (See that Joseph dines by himself, because he's the boss, but by Genesis 43:34, the brothers are 'with' Joseph. Intoxicated, but with nonetheless.)

Do we show that type of grace? Are we willing to embrace that God is that forgiving toward us and that we can, and should, be that forgiving toward others?

Second, though, we should also see our responsibility for the welfare of others. When we have seen a pattern of destruction by some, we must extend grace while still defending the next potential victim. This is the important partner lesson here: Joseph was, it appears, working to help protect his youngest brother from his other brothers.

Do we do that? Do we understand that it is not graceful to leave someone in the midst of abuse or danger? We have to understand this. Grace is bought by the blood of Christ, and so should not be paid for again by the blood of victims.

Third, we need to acknowledge that people change over the course of time. I look back at my own life and see this. I've been working for churches for more than 2 decades at this point. In many ways, I don't know that 18 year-old youth minister Doug would recognize 41 year-old Pastor Doug. I'm not even sure the 2 would get along that well. Time changes us, hopefully for the better. Or at least makes a bit more mature.

Be careful evaluating someone because of who they were. Even as adults, we change, we grow, we learn from our mistakes. That does not exempt us from certain consequences, especially if we evaded them in our younger years, but it does show how some folks can persuade you now that they are wonderful when they were troublesome in the past.

Show grace, watch out for others, and allow for time to work in your life and other people's lives. In essence, realize that people are best known through relationships and not spreadsheets.

Genesis 42:29-43:15 #eebc2018

We pick up the Joseph narrative with his brothers on their way out of Egypt. Well, all of them but Simeon are on the way out of Egypt. Simeon is imprisoned in Egypt as a hostage to ensure the rest of the family are not spies. On the way home, the brothers have discovered that the money they paid for grain has been returned to their sacks. In other words, they really only end up trading a brother for food.

Which may have been a good trade...

However, they get home and Jacob is not pleased with the results. He questions his sons about why they gave Joseph so much information, why they have brought him so much trouble. Part of this is because none of them recognized Joseph.

Had the famine been shorter, they would have had a different problem. At some point, Simeon needs to get out of prison. That might have been simpler for them, but it still would have required a return to Egypt. Joseph successfully put his brothers in a bind where they will have to revisit him, where he will have another opportunity to address their wrongs.

The famine, though, continues. And the family of Jacob runs short on food again. Obviously, they are not completely out of food options before the brothers set out for Egypt, because that would have been poor planning. Everyone left behind would have starved before they got back! It takes some effort to persuade Jacob that the only choice they have is to go and take Benjamin with them.

Jacob accepts this, but does so with a bit of fatalism: "If I am deprived of my sons, then I am deprived," is not exactly a hopeful viewpoint.

Here we see where sometimes, the faithful falter. Seen from the end of the story, Jacob should have had a greater trust that God would take care of him. After all, God had seen him through many other troubles until now. Did he expect that God would allow him and the whole family of promise to starve? Or be imprisoned in Egypt and die there?

Yet we have so much more in common with Jacob in the middle of the story than we like to admit. God has a purpose for our lives, a will to use us for His honor and His glory. Sometimes, that involves suffering and difficulty.

And we lose heart. Because in the middle of the story, the lights are dimmer than we like them to be. Sometimes, the only choice to be made seems desperate and dreadful, like Jacob's choice to send the boys back to Egypt.

God, though, has not forgotten you. And He has not abandoned you. He will work in your life. You may not like the way He does--you could be Simeon, after all, or Jacob, waiting to see what happens with no certainty of results.

But you are not alone. God is with you. And His work in your life is driven by the Cross of Jesus and carries forward into eternity.

So hold on, make the choices you have to make, and do the next thing in front of you. It may seem desperate, but obedient faithfulness will always be the right choice.

Matthew 6:25-7:14 #eebc2018

The Sermon on the Mount continues. Matthew records Jesus preaching about anxiety and worry. He also speaks of judgment, hypocrisy, and seeking.

It is the connection of these three things that I would recommend you consider today. It is important that we not take the whole teaching of the Messiah and treat it like a collection of fortune cookie sayings. None of Scripture should be chopped up into one-liners. We do not do Proverbs justice when we do that, and it's even worse with the Sermon on the Mount.

So don't look at this as separate areas. Rather, see the way in which the Master connects these ideas. Each of them are valid on their own, of course, but they were not delivered stand alone.

How do they relate?

First, Jesus commands us not to worry. That's right, read it again in Matthew 6:25. It's a command. When Jesus says "Do not worry," He is not giving you sage advice. He's giving you a command to obey. He then goes on to give you some reasons and supports for obeying this command. Is God not capable of taking care of you? After all, see how God cares for everything!

Second, He moves from worry and anxiety into not judging others. How do these relate? Tear up your twenty-first century notions of "judging" as a starting place. Then, consider this: judgment here has to do with determining whether or not someone deserves what they have, be it happiness or wealth or illness or misfortune. There's a connection between making that judgment and trying to enforce the results.

It is not about deciding if a person's actions are right or wrong. Especially if you are in matters which are clear in Scripture, clear with a reasonable ethic. For example, if I abandon my child to starve to death, that's wrong. It's not wrongly "judgmental" for you to tell me it's wrong, either. If I am a serial adulterer who lies about it, that's wrong. It's not inappropriate to declare that behavior, and the heart that embraces it, as wrong. That's truth. Now, where we need to acknowledge Christian liberty is on the less-clear things: I let my children watch TV, but some do not. I have let my children read questionable books (email me for a list if you dare!) while others are much more reserved about what pages turn. (Obviously, some things are still wrong here but there are bright lines. And some things are out for being lousy literature, whatever the content.)

There was a long parenthetical there, but let's get back on track: anxiety and judgment? The connection is that anxiety frequently raises its ugly head as we judge our life against the lives of others. Why did he get a good thing that I didn't? Why did that bad thing happen there?

And then it builds, internally, as we run through those questions of judgment: what if I'm not good enough? What if this person gets in the way? What if something goes wrong? Will God still be there for someone like me when I screw it up?

So we loop on those thoughts, rather than moving ahead to where Jesus speaks of asking, seeking, knocking in our search.  One of our key misunderstandings here is that God should be giving us stuff, but that is why Jesus expounds on the ask-receive concept and talks about bread and fish. An earthly father knows not to give his son a snake--whether his son asks for a snake or a fish. Your Heavenly Father knows if what you are asking for is really a snake or a fish, and knows what to give you.

Just like He knows what your neighbor asked for and really needed--or didn't!--and judged more rightly than you would what they deserved.

You see, if we will work though all three of these paragraphs together, we will grasp what is being said. Start with knowing that you should ask God for that which you need and trust Him to know how to answer. Then, keep your focus where it belongs: walking with Jesus and trusting God. And you will find much of your anxiety will disappear without any direct effort.

It's like recognizing that you can mop up the water that leaks out every time you run the dishwasher or you can find the leak source and cut if off. We often fight anxiety, but that's like mopping every leaked dropped. You'll be exhausted and eventually ineffective. But if you track down the source, hone in on trusting God with yourself, then there are far fewer leaks.

Matthew 5:13-6:24 #eebc2018

Here we are in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is teaching His disciples, a message which opened with the Beatitudes and now goes on to talk about the disciples and their relationship with the world. The Sermon on the Mount deals with that subject at length, as well as the matter of the disciples' relationship with God.

It is these two areas that we often think are in conflict, but Jesus makes clear that they are not. In fact, your relationship with God is interdependent with your relationship with the people around you. That is not to say that people should be your boss--only God is your God, not anyone else. But if the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3-12 started you thinking that your relationship with God would be better if you just ducked away and never interacted, that thought should be cut off by the next two paragraphs. We are to be salt and light, clear to the world and affecting the world around us.

After all, salt doesn't do much if it is not with other items. And a light that cannot be seen is just wasting itself. The next several sections build on this idea. First, Jesus highlights that He is the fulfillment of the Law, not someone who will cancel it. The Law was based in the holiness of God, and that holiness will never change. How we live still matters, because otherwise we are destroying others. The Law, though, was not enough because adultery and murder are outside actions but righteousness requires that we stop at the inner thoughts which spark those actions.

And note that Jesus brings forward conflict with your fellow worshippers as a danger in the same realm as murder. Here is where we find that fixing a relationship is as important as bringing a sacrifice to the altar. Then we see that adultery begins as lust, and lust is worth removing body parts to fix. Now, should be actually go cutting off hands and gouging out eyes?

No. Why do we not take this literally? Because we read the text in context, understanding what is being said. Jesus points out that adultery begins as a heart problem. You cannot cut off your hand to fix your heart. He is driving to the real problem: your hearts are not just restless until we find God. Our hearts are dead without the Spirit of God. And we'll be far better off to let Him take that old heart straight out.

Going through the rest of the passage, we have instructions about fasting, giving, and prayer. There is a continued emphasis that our hearts must be right before God and our lives must be lived to draw others to Him.

There are whole books written on just portions of the Sermon on the Mount, so we cannot possibly cover it all here. Take up and read, and let God change you through His word. What should come through this is that our lives will not be the same with Jesus as they would have been without Him. If we are not different in our living, if our lives cannot be easily seen as lives committed to Christ, then we should reconsider and reread.

Genesis 41:38-42:28 #eebc2018

Joseph is now the top dog in Egyptian agriculture. Well, probably Anubis was the top dog, but he was more a jackal-headed mythological guy. There has been some pushback in the historical world about Joseph and the lack of definite recording of anyone as a true "second-in-command" or grand vizier or prime minister in any part of Egyptian history that would fit the description of Joseph. There are a couple of possibilities that would explain that, but the simplest one is this: Joseph is made "second to Pharaoh" in the realm of agriculture/disaster preparedness. That does not put him in charge of the military or the religion or many other tasks. In a modern sense, that would make him like the Secretary of Agriculture in the US Cabinet.

Except that he would have the power to execute you if you did not do what he said. That is not a power we want any single government official to have. Joseph had it, but we do not know if he misused it any. Scripture does not give us all the details. (On Joseph's authority, consider this question: the Joseph events happen around the time that the term "Pharaoh" settles toward the meaning of the one king of Egypt from meaning the "great house" of Egypt, where the ruler comes from. It is possible that Joseph is second to the "house," that is, second to the royal family.)

Joseph leads the nation of Egypt to stockpile food for the coming season of want. They store up grain to enable replanting the crops each season. That was one of the main dangers of crop failure: think about where the seeds for next year come from. They come from this year's crops! So if the crops are short, one must remember to reserve some anyway. Further, given what we now know about crop genetics, another factor that comes through here was unknown to Joseph: perhaps the famine was part of a blight or crop disease. And by replanting from older stock, they were able to raise crops that did not have those characteristics.

Meanwhile, Joseph has married and had two children. Manasseh and Ephraim will be more important later. We now have four named people in the story: it's all of the family of Joseph. Asenath, his wife, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Joseph are the focus of the story.

The people of Egypt come to Pharaoh for food, and he sends them to Joseph. Likewise, many of the nations around Egypt send envoys to buy grain from Egypt. Some of these may have been in one-year crop failures, but others were facing a longer-term problem. Genesis 42 opens on Jacob, showing that the famine was also severe in the land of Canaan. (It's not properly Israel yet.)

Jacob sends ten of his sons to Egypt for food. They are brought before Joseph, and he begins to test them. Joseph imprisons Simeon and lets the rest of the brothers return home with grain. He warns them not to come back without Benjamin.

Meanwhile, they know in their hearts that the trouble they are facing is because of their treatment of Joseph. Joseph states that his test is to determine their honesty--the one thing they all know they lack.

That is, unfortunately, where we all tend to get hit: right at the point of weakness. This is why it is so important to dwell in honest community with your fellow followers of Christ. One person's weakness is another's strength, so we need each other.

Let that be one of the lessons you gather here: together, we can either scheme and destroy as Joseph's brothers do, or we can encourage and strengthen one another. The choice is ours.

Genesis 41:1-37 #eebc2018

Joseph is still in prison. It's been two years, and he's still in prison. (A minor note: figure the "years" in Egypt are based on astronomical observations, so it's a fairly precise "year." Other cultures used a lunar year, which did not sync up perfectly and required adjustment. So there's a reason it's wise to avoid nailing a year number to the text.)

How long have you been in prison? How long have you been serving where you never wanted to go? Are you ready for a breakthrough into something different?

Are you prepared for it to be a disaster of major proportion for you to get it? Let's not get too caught up in the "Be Like Joseph" rhetoric as we read this: be faithful where you are, but realize that Joseph's ascension to great renown required a pretty harsh event for others. Do not be so convinced of your own delusions of grandeur that you require others to suffer for your sake.

And that is how this chapter unfolds: Pharaoh has a couple of dreams. He cannot understand his dreams, but no one could find an interpretation for him. (Another minor note: there's no future in being a dream interpreter in the Bible. The only folks who do it well actually get pulled from other jobs to give God's words, and then go on to other jobs...)

At this point, the chief cupbearer brings Joseph to the attention of Pharaoh. Interestingly enough, Joseph remains the only named individual in the story. Joseph is pulled from the prison, cleaned up, and set before Pharaoh to interpret the dreams.

Which Joseph promptly tells Pharaoh that he cannot do.

Think through this: Joseph stands before a man with the power of life and death over him. All Joseph needs to do is present Pharaoh with a plausible dream interpretation, say a few nice things, and hopefully Pharaoh lets him out of prison and out of the country. He can go home.

Instead, Joseph points out that only God can give Pharaoh any clarity about his dream. Joseph's first action is to point Pharaoh to the One True God. After this, Pharaoh shares his dreams with Joseph, of seven fat and seven skinny cows, of seven great ears of corn and seven lousy ones.

The meaning is made clear through Joseph: disaster is coming. There will be seven good years, but soon seven bad ones will come and destroy the results. The options? Joseph proposes a stern taxation plan, matched with a tight hand on the budget. Food must be stored for the bad years, Egypt must make itself ready.

While the next reading will cement this: Joseph is the one who will be put in charge of this task. Joseph was faithful as a slave, faithful as a prisoner, and now will have to be faithful when in power. It is, perhaps, a harder temptation.

Genesis 39:19-40:23 #eebc2018

Joseph is off in Egypt. He started as a slave but now it's gotten worse: he has been whisked off to prison for allegedly assaulting Potiphar's wife. He's an innocent man, but that does not stop the legal system from letting him languish in jail.

While he's there, though, he makes the best of his bad situation. Joseph steps up to take care of his fellow prisoners, God grants him grace in the eyes of the prison warden, and Joseph becomes one of the top leaders in the prison. It should be clear that 2nd millenium BC Egyptian prisons and the rules about them were quite different from anything modern, so be careful about applying an understanding of "impossible" to this.

While he is in this role, Pharaoh gets angry at his chief cupbearer and his chief baker. So, both are sent to the prison that Joseph is both in charge of and imprisoned in. Joseph is made responsible for them, and they are in captivity for an undisclosed amount of time. Now, a few words are due here: 1.)Pharaoh is not a name, it's a title. It's basically the Egyptian word that one would translate as "King" these days. Although, around Joseph's time, it also was applied to the ruling household. 2.) We do not have a hard lock on which Pharaoh of Egypt we are dealing with here. 3.) The prison warden wants these two prisoners handled delicately because Pharaoh may turn them loose any time. 4.) If Potiphar could imprison Joseph without trial, Pharaoh certainly can--and for far less of a crime. We do not know what they did. Both of them were involved in food service. They could have gone to prison for letting the potato salad go bad.

These guys have dreams. Not the "I have dreams for my future" kind but the "I have dreams of my future" kind. However, they do not know what these dreams mean.

Joseph, however, takes note of their situation. He knows something is wrong, but not quite what. So he does the logical thing: he asks them. They tell the story of their dreams, Joseph interprets them, and then they come to pass.

The cupbearer, though, does not follow through with Joseph's request. Perhaps he was just so busy he forgot, but "remember" is often used in a specific sense when dealing with kings. It's about deliberately making the king aware of a person or event--and the cupbearer perhaps fears his own situation is too tenuous to risk in pointing out Joseph's situation.

Now, what do we do with this?

The biggest lesson that I think we should grab hold of here is that people matter. Joseph noted the distress of his fellow prisoners. The warden knew his two special prisoners needed care, and knew who to entrust them to.

How well do we engage with people? Are we aware or do we live in the frustrations that have surrounded us? I'm sure that, in his human nature, Joseph had bad days that he mainly thought about his own problems. But that wasn't the way he lived all the time. What about us?

Matthew 4:12-5:12 #eebc2018

John the Baptist was arrested. Mark 6:17 tells us that Herod had him imprisoned for preaching about immorality in the palace, and then later has John executed. Immorality is not good in the leadership of a nation. That's not the main part of the section, but that's still a relevant lesson.

The passage under review deals with Jesus calling His first disciples. Matthew highlights that this ministry opening in Galilee was a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy that a great light would dawn on the people of that region. It's the first part of Isaiah 9, where we often jump ahead to "For unto us a child is born...."

It is worth taking note that Jesus begins by preaching. Note that 4:17 highlights the message of the Lord as one of repentance. While His preaching also involves grace and mercy, we cannot miss that the opening message of Jesus is to repent!

After beginning this preaching, Jesus calls specific men to Himself. These men will be His disciples, and they will be the opening leadership of the church. That will come in another few years, for now the call is simple: follow Jesus. Then we tend to make it complicated.

The next point in this section is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Now, you can grab a handful of books and get different views about which "Mount" or whether Matthew condensed multiple sermons to a summary or whatever else may have happened, but taken at face value, this looks like one sermon from Jesus. It covers all sorts of topics, and really would not have taken that long to deliver.

It just takes a lifetime to begin to live out.

Matthew 2:16-4:11 #eebc2018

We're into Matthew and seeing the tail end of the Christmas story here. The Magi have headed back to their homeland (Persia, but not the point here). Joseph and Mary have fled with Jesus to Egypt.

Herod, living in fear of the "born King of the Jews," uses his authority to call for the death of all the boys in Bethlehem that could possibly be this new king. This is a common theme in ancient history--and it never does work out right. All that happens is the death of innocent people. There's a lesson here: you cannot stomp out the will of God. There is not enough blood to spill, and if you think that more violence will bring you control, you are wrong.

The next step in the narrative is John the Baptist. John preaches in the wilderness, declaring the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. He calls out religious fallacies and political nonsense. He speaks very little of hope and peace and a great deal about judgment. Eventually, this costs him his freedom and then his life. What would we be? Alive or faithful?

Jesus is then baptized, and we see all three persons of the Trinity present: the voice of the Father, the vision of the Spirit as a dove, and the Son is there in the water. Can we fully understand this idea? No, we cannot. But if God had to be limited to our understanding, He'd be a lousy God.

We wrap up with the temptation of Jesus. Satan himself attempts to derail the Messiah by offering Him benefits that are not his to offer. This is what temptation is: an offer to receive something from someone who cannot really give it to you. Satan cannot give you the kingdoms of the world, they aren't his to give! Likewise, happiness is not something that material can give you, happiness cannot be found in sin, because you were made for a relationship with God and those things will not be enough.

We see that Jesus confronts temptation through Scripture. Though He could have said anything He wanted and destroyed the Accuser, Jesus instead gives us an understanding of what can defeat the temptations in our life. As God, He anything He said would be perfect, but we are not God. We, being human, cannot create perfection in our words.

But we can learn from His perfection, and use His words. That is our takeaway here: to know the Word of God well, so that when temptation comes, we can deal with it. Perhaps we can deal with it by reminding ourselves of who God is and what He has commanded. Perhaps we can deal with it by challenging the source of our temptation.

The Word, though, is the key. So know the Word of God.