Esther 9, 10
Luke 19
Nothing in particular stood out today. But I did like a handful of things about this scripture...
1 - I know I've heard people talk about how different Jesus's message was from what the people were used to, but I've never really taken notice of that while reading the Bible. For some reason today that was clear to me when reading in Esther. People didn't like the Jews and wanted to kill them. The Jews wanted to kill their enemies. Both wanted to kill whole families of people they had potentially never met, just because someone decided they were enemies. And all that killing was no big deal to them. They were celebrating after it was done. I think if my life required me to kill some people in order to protect my family, I'd have a hard time celebrating. I'd be really really glad when we were safe, but having to kill people to stay safe would be really upsetting. Anyway, it was just really clear today how different the message of Jesus was, the message to love our enemies. And also how we need him in order to do that. I don't think that loving everyone comes naturally to people. We need the Lord's help to live in the way he calls us to live.
2 - I like the story of Zacchaeus. For some reason I picture a guy who had probably been ripping people off for years and never thought anything of it. But when confronted with the "wrongness" of his ways, he immediately abandoned them. And I like it that when Jesus said he needed to stay at Zacchaeus's house, Zacchaeus gladly accepted. He could have wanted to avoid Jesus because he knew he had been cheating people out of their money. He could have just not wanted a house guest and wished Jesus would stay somewhere else. Lots of things could have turned him off from the plan of having Jesus stay with him, but he responded to Jesus request gladly and I like that.
3 - One study Bible I have talks about the courage involved in Jesus riding the colt into town and teaching in the temple. It's funny how much I haven't noticed through the years in the gospels. I've never really thought about his courage during this time. So much focus is always put on the crucifixion. But I'm sure it was pretty scary to be openly teaching in the temple, knowing they were looking for any opportunity to kill him, knowing so many of the people hated him. It was scary and he knew it was leading to a horrible death, but he did it anyway.
Prayer
Dear Lord, please bless the reading and study of your word. Thank you for all that I'm learning in this Bible study. Lord I pray that you would help me and all of us keep making time for this and also to make sure we find time to get together and discuss it. That time has been a great blessing too. Thank you. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Kristy,
ReplyDelete1. I was thinking that same thing about Esther! It was weird to me how they didn't want the Jews to be killed, but they could just go kill thousands of other people without a thought, and then have a party! I guess that's why I have never understood war.
2. I was very confused when I read Zaccheus' story because in the Message version he tells Jesus "Master, I give away half my income to the poor—and if I'm caught cheating, I pay four times the damages." He says it in present tense. It sounds like he is actually a good person in that version, and it made the story more confusing and less important. It is more moving to think that he is a major sinner, and Jesus chose him out of all the good people around him.
3. I definitely want to get together with our group, too! I hope we can work it out!