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#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 81

Mar21

    Day 81—  Now that we’ve passed Day 66, we have established a “habit.” So CELEBRATE our habit of daily Bible reading! We are in the THIRD month so far! Praise God!

   Day 81 – Deuteronomy 32 – 34, Psalm 91  Song of Moses, Moses’s final blessing on each tribe, Moses death, Israel’s refuge)

God commanded Moses to write a song that would be taught to all Israel, so whenever they sang it, they would REMEMBER. It would be a witness for God.

In 43 verses and 10 stanzas of Chapter 32, Moses wrote the song of Israel’s glorious past, their hopeful present on the cusp of entering the Promised Land, and the disastrous future when they turn from God to worship other gods, who are not gods at all. And a glimpse of His everlasting love for them and restoration when the turn again.

“Rejoice with Him, O heavens;
bow down to Him, all gods,
for He avenges the blood of His children
and takes vengeance on His adversaries.
He repays those who hate him, 
and cleanses His people’s land.”

Deuteronomy 32:43

In Chapter 33, in the mode of Jacob when he blessed his sons, Moses now gives a “blessing” to the tribes of Israel, beginning with Reuben, and covering, Judah, Levi, Benjamin, Joseph (Ephraim & Manasseh), Zebulun, Issachar, Gad, Dan, Naphtali, and Asher.

Only Simeon is missing. Why? Because later, Simeon is assimilated into the tribe of Judah. (See Joshua 19:9 – “The inheritance of the people of Simeon formed part of the territory of the people of Judah. Because the portion of the people of Judah was too large for them, the people of Simeon obtained an inheritance in the midst of their inheritance.”)

(It might be interesting to compare Moses’ blessing on the tribes with Jacob’s blessings on his sons in Genesis 49.)

Chapter 34, tells of the death of Moses, written perhaps by Joshua.  Moses ascends Mt. Nebo and the LORD shows him the Promised Land. And there “the servant of the LORD died, and He (God) buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, but no one knows to place of his burial to this day.

Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed and his vigor unabated. And Israel mourned for him for thirty days.” 

And then… Joshua, the son of Nun (full of the spirit of wisdom) took over. And the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses.

“And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt…. and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”

 

(Alas, Moses DID get to enter the promised land, in the day when Jesus (“the prophet like himself”) was “transfigured.” Both he and Elijah stood with Jesus and encouraged the Savior about His upcoming death.  Luke 9 28-31.)

Psalm 91 is a glorious hymn, beginning with the familiar “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”

It goes on to encourage its readers (Israel) that HE is their protection against all the ever-present dangers and terrors that surround them.

“A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come year you.”

 

(A wonderful Psalm for any believer to read, why not go there now, and hold to the promises of God to those who love Him.)

 

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 76

Mar16

    Day 76 —  Now that we’ve passed Day 66, we have established a “habit.” So CELEBRATE our habit of daily Bible reading! We are in the THIRD month so far! Praise God!

   Day 76– Deuteronomy 17 – 20 (Forbidden worship, Judges, Kings, Priests, Cities of Refuge, Witnesses, Warfare)

Moses with another eclectic list of laws, duties, and possibilities.  Chapter 17 reviews the seriousness of worshiping idols and leading others to do so = death. Priests & Judges, with 2-3 witnesses decide the fate of murderers and assault cases.

Moses also covers the time when Israel will want a king for themselves, and what special laws will apply to him.

Chapter 18 reaffirms that the people MUST support their brothers, the Levites, for they are not proportioned any land. It also warns strongly against any occult practices, and sentences death to practitioners.

And then Moses tells of “a Prophet” that God will raise up from their tribes and put His own words in His mouth. Israel is to “listen to Him.” (An early hint of the Messiah. See John 1:21, 25, 6:14)

Chapter 19  again distinguishes between premeditated murder and manslaughter, calling for three Cities of Refuge to safeguard the one who accidentally killed someone, and more cities as the nation grows.  It also warns of untrue and malicious witnesses, saying they shall be punished as was meant for the supposed offender.

In Chapter 20 Moses covers a new topic, that of warfare, first when fighting enemies around Israel, and then those inside the Land.  In the first case, they can besiege cities (but not cut down fruit trees for siegeworks), and when they conquer it, everything will be their spoil. The captured people will be forced labor and all animals and goods are theirs.  However, when they are fighting against the cities of Canaan, they shall utterly destroy everybody and everything.  First to clear the land of idolatry, and then to punish these offenders whose iniquity was finally “ripe,” and to give space for Israel.

Interestingly, there are 4 types of men who can “evade the military draft.”  1) Any man who has built a new home and has not dedicated it. 2) Any man who has planted a vineyard and has not yet enjoyed the fruit yet. 3) Any man who has betrothed a wife but has not yet taken her in marriage.  4) And finally, any man who is fearful and fainthearted may also leave the service.

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 62

Mar2

    Day 62—  Today we begin the THIRD month of Bible reading! We’ve been reading for over a 1/6 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that we will continue.

   Day 62 – Numbers 18 – 20 (Reviewing Levitical duties & purification, Miriam, Aaron, Moses)

After the last few days of Levite rebellion and God’s swift punishment & affirmation of Aaron & Moses, it’s suitable in Chapter 18 for God to review the duties of Priests and Levites, and their compensation for service. The LORD reminds them that in the Promised Land, they will get no real inheritance of property, but will have Himself as their inheritance and provider.

Chapter 19 reviews the laws of purification after touching a dead body. (Remember in chapter 16, how God’s plague killed 14,700 rebels. Lots of handling and burying!)

Chapter 20, (as the end of the 40 wilderness years approaches) lists several SAD, but necessary, things. First, Miriam, Moses’ oldest sibling, dies and is buried in the Wilderness of Zin.

Next, at the “Waters of Meribah (“questioning”), the people – yes, this newer generation – again grumble about not having water for themselves and their animals, and yearn for the figs, grapes, and pomegranates of Egypt. (YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING, how can they even remember that?)  And Moses loses it.

God tells him to take the staff (Aaron’s rod that budded?), assemble the people before a rock, and SPEAK to the rock, which will yield abundant water for them all.  Moses is so fed up with these people (he’s 120 years old and has been with the grumblers for 40 years), that he, 1) gets the staff, 2) takes the people to the forementioned rock, and 3) speaks…. but NO! Moses STRIKES the rock, not once, but TWICE!!

God is faithful. Water flows to the ingrate people, but Moses’ fate is sealed. He WILL NOT lead the people into the Promised Land, but die at its boarder. Wow.  Seems harsh, right?  I mean, which of us wouldn’t be as frustrated at those millions of “babies” and lose our cool?  Why would God condemn him for this ONE little human mistake?

Well, it is abject disobedience, of course, before the Priest and all the people. Punishable for a leader.

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But I’d like to consider a few other possible things. I’m thinking that in striking the rock this time, Moses “ruined” the “picture” or “type” of Christ’s work on the cross. Jesus our Lord is often called our ROCK of our salvation.  He’s referred to as the corner stone.  Jesus died for sin and experienced the wrath of God ONCE, on the cross. God approved and raised Him to life again.  After that, Jesus told His disciples they could pray to God for anything in his name. They could (and should) confess their sin and ASK for forgiveness, and God would hear and answer (for Christ’s sake). 

Jesus did NOT have to be crucified (sacrificed) again and again, like the bulls and rams in Moses’ time.  He – once and for all time – took the wrath of God for sin, and whoever believes in Him can have eternal life (rivers of living water).

Picture Jesus as that rock at Mt. Horeb, struck once, and yielding abundant water for Israel. Then, Moses was just to SPEAK to the rock (ask, if you will) and water would flow.  But he STRUCK the rock. It could be seen as having to crucify Jesus again to receive that eternal life. 

This is how I see Moses’ sin. It does not say specifically in God’s Word that this is so, so take it as a possible suggestion.  And also remember direct disobedience of a leader of God is very serious in it’s own right.

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After this incident, Moses continues to lead Israel toward the Promised Land.  They are taking the route to the East of the Jordan River Valley/Dead Sea, which will take them right through the land of Edom. These people are descendants of Isaac. Esau/Edom was Jacob’s brother, so these would be their closest relatives. Moses asks permission to move through the land – NOT march forward as against enemies – and Edom refuses twice, and then brings out their army.

God had told Moses (Deut. 2:5) NOT to wage war on their “brothers” or even take any food or water from them, so Moses leads Israel the long way, around Edom and Mt. Seir, the land God had given to the descendants of Esau.

But before they start, at Mt. Hor, on the boarder of Edom, God tells Moses to take Aaron and his son Eleazar to the top of the mountain, remove the priestly vestige from Aaron and put it on his son, for Aaron will die there. It seems he was involved in some way in striking that rock, so he also could NOT enter the Land. Moses obeys, and when the people see him coming back with only Eleazar in priestly garb they know Aaron is dead, and they weep for him 30 days.

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 47

Feb16

    Day 47 —  We are in the second month! We’ve been reading for over a 1/12 of a year! Praise God! I hope that it’s become a GOOD habit that will continue.

   Day 47 – Leviticus 11 – 13  (Unclean things, skin disease)

In chapter 10, we read about how two newly-consecrated priests sinned so defiantly, that God burned them up on the spot. God is HOLY and want’s he people to be holy as well. In the next 3-4 chapters God will show what the people must do to be “clean” in His sight.  NOT SINLESS for that is impossible on earth.

First, in chapter 11, God lists the CLEAN and unclean animals on Israel’s menu. Some unclean items are what we as Americans can eat every day – bacon, ham, shrimp, clams, even rabbit. Other things we might distain are okay, like grasshoppers, locusts, crickets. (I ate a grasshopper in Africa, fried in oil. It tasted a bit like crunchy bits of straw.)

Why this detailed list for God’s people? The answer is in 11:44. God is Holy (set apart) and Israel was to be set apart among the nations as well. Chosen by God to represent Him.  Many of the forbidden foods were worshipped & eaten by the pagan nations that they would find and fight in Canaan.

(People have argued the health benefits of this diet as well.)

Chapter 12 talks about another kind of “uncleanness.”  It involves blood. God looks on blood in a different way than most of us do. It’s the LIFE of a creature (the first job of EMTs is to stop the bleeding).  Blood is also used in sacrifice and the atonement for sin (culminating in Jesus’ blood shed for us), and in consecrating people and things to God as holy.

So — not to denigrate women or childbirth in any way in this chapter — God speaks of a woman’s monthly “period” and the flow of blood in childbirth as being “unclean.” He tells Moses the ways she can be “purified” after childbirth and monthly bleeding are with lengths of time and with ritual offerings, depending on their financial statis.

(I’ve always personally believed that it is also a protection from infection and/or bruising etc. (and even abuse) for a woman whose hubby may wish to resume intercourse before she is “back to normal” inside – MY belief, not historically or spiritually stated here.)

Chapter 13, is HARD TO READ, especially for the squeamish.  It’s about the identification and the actions to be taken when leprosy and other skin diseases are found.  It’s pretty graphic and ugly, and the person (or thing) with a contagious skin disease is to be removed from the camp.

But, since leprosy is sometimes a vivid illustration for SIN in human lives, we also need to see to sin’s elimination in ourselves and guard against spread.  I think of 1 John 1:9 and other verses – the believer’s First Aid for the deadly disease of Sin.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing HOLINESS to completion in the fear of God.”  2 Corinthians 7:1

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Tomorrow’s reading will show the laws for the cleansing of leprosy and the re-introducing of the person back into the camp.”

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.” Ephesians 1:7

Let These Go, says Jesus

Mar29

Morning and Evening by Spurgeon

John 18:8  Jesus said unto them, If ye seek me, let these go their way.

Mark, my soul, the care which Jesus manifested even in his hour of trial, towards the sheep of his hand! The ruling passion is strong in death. He resigns himself to the enemy, but he interposes a word of power to set his disciples free. 

As to himself, like a sheep before her shearers he is dumb and opened not his mouth, but for his disciples’ sake he speaks with almighty energy. Herein is love, constant, self-forgetting, faithful love.

 But is there not far more here than is to be found upon the surface? Have we not the very soul and spirit of the atonement in these words? The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, and pleads that they must therefore go free. The Surety is bound, and justice demands that those for whom he stands a substitute should go their way. 

In the midst of Egypt’s bondage, that voice rings as a word of power, “Let these go their way.” Out of slavery of sin and Satan the redeemed must come.

 In every cell of the dungeons of Despair, the sound is echoed, “Let these go their way,” and forth come Despondency and Much-afraid. 

Satan hears the well-known voice, and lifts his foot from the neck of the fallen; and Death hears it, and the grave opens her gates to let the dead arise. 

Their way is one of progress, holiness, triumph, glory, and none shall dare to stay them in it. No lion shall be on their way, neither shall any ravenous beast go up thereon.

 “The hind of the morning” has drawn the cruel hunters upon himself, and now the most timid roes and hinds of the field may graze at perfect peace among the lilies of his loves. 

The thunder-cloud has burst over the Cross of Calvary, and the pilgrims of Zion shall never be smitten by the bolts of vengeance. 

Come, my heart, rejoice in the immunity which thy Redeemer has secured thee, and bless his name all the day, and every day.

May 5, 2021 – #5 of 31 Days of Biblical Women

May5

Eve ~~

Genesis 2:15-25

Eden, fresh from the hand of the Creator. Beautiful beyond imagination. Self watering and weed free. Every tree bearing delicious fruit, just for the picking. Yes, there were two special trees in the very heart of the Garden. The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

There was only one prohibition. Do not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

They why plant it there? To see if man would choose life.

Then from His loving heart, the Creator put the man into a deep sleep, took one of his ribs and closed the flesh. Out of the rib, He made a perfectly matched and fitting together, helpmate. A woman. And the man was “wowed!”

Naked and unashamed the roamed and worked the Garden, eating fruit as they desired, learning about each other. Heaven on earth.

One day, walking together, the woman laughing and frolicking, her toes treading deep in the soft dewy grass, they came upon a magnificent tree.

“No, Eve. Let’s go on. We aren’t to eat the fruit on that tree.”

“Why not?” she asked her husband.

“The LORD God said so,” Adam told her.

“But why not?” she said again, walking toward the tree, her eyes wide with wonder.”

“He said we would surely die.”

“What does ‘die’ mean, Adam?” she said circling the trunk of the enticing tree, delight on her face.

“Why, hello there,” came a silvery voice from the heavily laden branches. “Did God actually say ‘you shall not eat of any tree in this lovely garden?”

The woman peered closer and saw a beautifully colored serpant weaving before her.  “We may eat of all the trees here except this one. He said we would ‘surely die’ if we did. We may not even touch it,” she added coyly.

“You shall not surely die,” came the sensuous, deep voice. “For God knows that when you do eat of it, you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

He paused then continued, “Here, try one. It is sweeter than any fruit you have ever eaten.”

The woman saw that the fruit would be good for food, and wasn’t that her tummy growling?

It was a beautiful fruit as well, so shining and deeply hued. She fancied she could even smell the warm fruitiness. Her mouth began to water.

And, if eating the fruit would make her wise, well, why wouldn’t anyone want that. She reached up, touched one of the fruits, and it fell into her hand.  She put it to her mouth and took a bite. It was so sweet and juice ran down her chin. “Ohhhhhh!” she moaned in pleasure.

“Here, husband, you must have one too!”

And Adam also ate.

Instantly the eyes of their soul were opened and the knew they were naked and they were ashamed. They crept into the trees, hands and arms covering the parts of their bodies they had deemed beautiful before. The half-eaten fruit lay in the grass, already beginning to rot. Flies hovered nearby.

 

Later, in the cool of the evening when they always walked and talked with their Creator, they heard His voice. That voice that had inspired such great joy within them, now struck terror.

“Where are you, my children?”

Adam crept out from the bushes, the hastily woven leaves covering his genitals. “I… we…heard your voice and were afraid because we are naked.”

“WHO told you, you were naked?” thundered the voice of God. “Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat?”

“The woman you gave me to be with, she gave me the fruit and I ate.” Adam answered his voice quavering.

God turned to the woman, “What have you done?”

“The…the…serpent deceived me… and… I ate,” her voice barely a whisper.

The God of the Universe turned to the serpant and roared, “You are cursed above all things. I will put enmity between you and the offspring of the woman. You shall bruise His heel.  But HE, He shall crush your head!”

“And as for you, woman, you will have pain now in childbearing. Your desire will be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

Majesty turned then to Adam. And in a still but intense voice, He said, “Because you listened to your wife, cursed is the ground because of you. In pain you shall eat of it all your days. Prickling, painful thorns will it bring forth for you, to tear your flesh. You will sweat and toil and in the end you will return to the dust from which I made you.”

Then in saddness and anger the Creator drove the humans He’d created out from the Garden He’d made for them. He placed one of His myriads of cherubim with a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life.

Lest the man and woman now eat of it and live eternally in their SIN.

The picture represents Eve in shame before Mary who is carrying the promised offspring, the Son of God, who will indeed die by the serpant’s wiles, but who will rise from the dead triumphant to crush death and Satan forever.

 

 

LORD, help me to seek Your face and Your ways, and to love and obey you with my whole heart. Lead me not into temptation and deliver me from the Evil One.

Jh

God Became Like us, so that —

Feb18

—- we could become like God.

But it doesn’t happen by anything we can DO in our self.

It takes God by His wonderful grace, sending His Holy Spirit to “quicken” (make alive) our dead spirits, so that we can receive His gift of faith and believe the Gospel. And then He graciously fills us with His Holy Spirit. When that happens, we are saved.

Now, the Holy Spirit’s job in us is to “sanctify” us (make our thoughts, words, and actions righteous and holy) like Jesus.

 

Romans 8:29 (ESV) –  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

 

 

 

jh

 

Mark 4, Matthew 12 – The Disciples ask “Why?”

Sep7

READ Mark 4:10-12 (with Matthew 12:10-17)

Yesterday was a look at the first parable of Jesus about the soils (the sower). I imagined how those listeners would have responded to this as they walked home. (See yesterday’s “long” post.)

When the crowd had gone, the disciples came to Him with a question. Mark 4:10.

By looking at Matthew’s fuller account of the disciples coming to Jesus afterwards, we see what they asked Him.

“Why do you speak in parables?” Good Question.

Jesus’s answer, “To YOU has been given the secret of the Kingdom of God, but for THOSE OUTSIDE…everything is in parables.”

Huh? Doesn’t Jesus want everybody to know about the Kingdom of God, and how to get into it????

(Your assignment: Check out the following passages in Matthew and I’ll answer that question – if you still need it – afterwards.

1. Matthew 4:23 – What does this say about what Jesus was doing after He chose his disciples?

2. Matthew 5:1 – 7:29 – (with particular attention to 5:2 and 7:28/29) Okay, What do all these verses show in detail that Jesus was DOING all this time?

3. In the next chapters of Matthew, we see Jesus continuing to heal the sick and deliver the demon possessed (such compassion!) and to teach His OWN DISCIPLES some strong things about persecution and the end times, etc. WHY is He now mostly just teaching THEM??

The end of Matthew 11 shows the Jewish officials accusing him of having an unclean spirit, and his family wanting Him to come away and get some food and rest. (Wednesday’s post)

And THEN…………… he gets into a boat and teaches the crowd on the shore….. in a PARABLE. (Yesterday’s post)

Do you see why?

The crowds have been divided into 1) those who believe and follow Jesus, and 2) those only seeking healing or to hassle Him.

Jesus answers their WHY question here,

“To the one who HAS (belief in Him and understanding of who He is) more will be given and he will have an abundance. BUT from the one who HAS NOT (those who reject Him and his teaching), even what they have (clear teaching to this point) will be taken away.”

“THIS is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do NOT see (me as Savior) and hearing, they do NOT hear (my teaching) nor do they understand.”

Got it?

Then Jesus give a blessing to those who DO believe and follow Him,

“Blessed are your eyes, for they see and your ears for they hear. For truly I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.

Then (Mark 4:14-20) Jesus goes on to tell them the meaning of the Parable of the (Sower and the) Soils, which – if they understand – will help to understand the rest of Jesus’ “kingdom” parables.

Mark 4 – Parable of the Sower and the Soil

Sep6

Mark 4:1-9

Jesus, with crowds pressing from every side, makes slow progress down to the sea. He gets into one of the boats (Peter & Andrew”s, or the Zebedee family’s) and pushes a little way out.

Suddenly there is space between Him and the people. More can see Him and hear Him now and he begins to teach. Perhaps the people even sit down along the shore that gradually slopes up into the rolling farm land behind.

Jesus catches His breath, communes with His Father for a few seconds, then gazes beyond the people to the farm land, where perhaps barley is growing 8-10 inches high.

And He tells them a parable about growing a good harvest, that it all depends upon the soil. Would they HEAR?

1/  A hard beaten path does not receive the good seed. The seeds lie there briefly until birds spot them and fly down to eat them.

2/  Areas of thin soil with a hillock of rock just beneath, take in the good seed, sprout it, but there’s nothing to support growth and the seedling dies.

3/  Soil with healthy weeds growing receive a bit of the good seed between the stalks, but this seed fights a losing battle for moisture, nutrients, and sunshine. It can’t grow strong enough to produce grain, and dies barren.

4/  But good, cultivated, deep rich soil gets seed too. It is nourished, warmed, protected from birds and weeds. It sends down roots, grows up healthy and produces a harvest.

~~~ You’ve heard this parable many times, and know what it means, but what of that crowd along the shore?

As Jesus finishes speaking and the disciples row the boat out into the water, the crowd makes their way home. They walk on paths and roads through the growing barley… and wonder at this perplexing story Jesus told.

As they walked did they see where seed had been sown along the well-beaten path? Did they step on a few missed by the birds? And were there some seeds that had struggled up but been scorched, now lay brown against the thin soil? Did these folk spot a few spindly blades between thick weeds, trying to compete with their aggressive neighbors?

Why had Jesus told this story of failure and loss?

Then perhaps as the walked farther, and lifted their eyes and saw good plants heading out with grain and a promise of harvest.

Maybe some began to understand. ALL the SEED had life in it. It was WHERE it landed that mattered.

Jesus had said those strange words, “He who has ears, let them hear.” Did this good seed represent the things Jesus was teaching….scattered among many, many “ears” in the crowd? They’d all heard them, right?

Or…. maybe not.

1/  Some said, “Oh, I didn’t understand a thing He said. And my mind is on the good dinner my wife is preparing. Now there’s something to think about.”

2/  Others said, “Oh, His words sound good, but I don’t go along with what He teaches. I’m sticking with what the Pharisees teach. They know the law. I trust them.”

3/  Still others said, “Well, what Jesus says kind of makes sense. And his miracles are spectacular, but when He says His followers must leave everything behind to follow Him…. well, I’ve got a family, and a business. I have kids to plan the future for. I’ve just no time to follow Him. Besides… it sounds scary to just leave everything and walk away.”

4/  But…. some of their “ears” (hearts, understanding) were open to “hear” His teaching and the meaning of His words, and receive it like the good soil.

And there would be an abundant harvest in their lives.

Mark 3 – Concerned Moms & Rejecting Leaders

Sep6

Mark 3:13-35.

Jesus has gone back “home” to Capernaum after being on the mountain with His disciples and appointing the twelve to be apostles.

In the city, He is immediately surrounded by great crowds of people wanting healing, deliverance, and to hear his teaching.

His family (mom and siblings) come to rescue Him, saying “He’s out of His mind.” They couldn’t understand Jesus’ total willingness to be accessible to the crowds; to have them impose on Him constantly.

(Who of us would be wiling for this?)

Officials from Jerusalem also batter Him with accusations (they will later batter him with slaps and fists and spitting before sending Him to Pilate to be tortured and killed), saying “He has an ‘unclean’ spirit! He does these miracles by the power of Satan!”

Yikes!!

Jesus rebukes them with severe judgement. Blasphemy against anyone – even Himself – can be forgiven, but NOT blasphemy against the Spirit of God. Jesus was indwelt by the HOLY spirit, and to call Him “a unclean spirit” (a demon) is truly unforgivable…for eternity. They knew what Jesus was claiming about Himself – to be their Messiah, the Son of God – and they rejected Him, saying He was empowered by Satan.

(It freaks me out to just type that!)

Again Jesus’ family calls to Him from the periphery of the crowd, concerned that He needs food and rest (a typical Jewish mother).

Jesus gently rebukes his natural family, knowing their hearts were unbelieving at this point, but not vicious against him like the Jewish officials. He reminds them (again) that He has to be about His (heavenly) Father’s business, and that those who are sitting around him, eagerly hearing His words and believing in Him (which is the will of God – see John 6:40) are his SPIRITUAL brothers, sisters and mother.

 

(PS: We know that later His mother, Mary, and His brothers James and Jude believe in Jesus, and maybe other siblings too.)