Reason Breeds Insanity

2 Samuel 7:4-5, 12-14, 16
Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22
Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24

Matthew 21:1-11
Isaiah 50:4-7
Phillipians 2:6-11
Matthew 26:14-27:66
I always find it interesting that Peter is the disciple who is remembered for denying Christ. Matthew 27:35 says, “And all the other disciples said the same.” They all said they would never disown Jesus. They all said they would die with him. Yet it is Peter who is remembered as the disciple who makes this commitment, and it is Peter whose disloyalty is remembered. Matthew 27:56 says: “Then all of the disciples deserted him and fled.” Why aren’t they all forever enshrined as the disciples who ran away? Is because they become minor characters from here on out? They aren’t the rocks on whom Jesus builds his church? Peter is the one who follows him all the way to Caiaphas. Matthew 27:58 says, “But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.” Peter is sort of a metaphor for my relationship with Jesus: I commit. I follow at a distance. I enter the court of the hight priest, and then I sit on my ass watching what might happen. I might even deny I know the guy. I go outside and weep bitterly. Repeat.

Isaiah 42:1-7
John 12:1-11
Kind of sucks that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead just so someone could plot to kill him?!

Isaiah 49: 1-6
John 13:21-38
The structure of this passage is interesting. Especially verses 27 and 30: “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him…As soon as Judas had taken the bread he went out. And it was night.” What am I supposed to make of this parallel structure? Is the part that is framed important? Are the words that frame this important? Is the parallel important: Satan comes in, Judas goes out. I am not sure what to do with it, but it must be important or else John wouldn’t have used such an obviously rigid construction. Either way: the moment Judas takes the bread is the crucial moment. One that can never be changed.
Here we have Peter’s story again: “I will lay down my life for you.” But before the cock crows, Peter denies Jesus. He disowns him three times. I think Peter and I would either love each other or kill each other, we are so similar.

Thanks for your prayers and happy wishes. I am the new Assistant Manager for Hot Topic in the Muncie Mall. I wonder how freaky I can get?! Should I chronicle it for all to watch? Just kidding, I think I am freaky enough as it is!

Numbers 21: 4-9
I am sorry that I didn’t read this when I was supposed to read it. I love the book of Numbers, which is sort of like admitting that I love the book of Chronicles as well. I love it because the Israelites continually whine about not having all of the great things they had in Egypt: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” This passage always reminds me of when I was in middle school and high school. I helped with this program every summer that gave food to kids stuck in the throes of poverty. Each church in my hometown took a day each week and fed any child that wanted to come be served a good, well-balanced meal. They started the day after school got out and went until the day it started again in the fall. It always amazed me that the kids were so picky. I was thinking: free food, eat it. At this point in my life I think, everyone deserves the opportunity to be picky, and that we often observe as pickiness is simply the human longing for choice. The Israelites in the desert couldn’t choose their food. They whined. In Egypt they could choose their food but not their occupation. As humans, we thrive on choice. I think this is what makes Paul’s struggle between flesh and spirit so universal. We want to choose.
John 8:21-30

Daniel 3: 14-20, 91-92, 95 (Good luck finding this one, too!)
John 8:31-42

Genesis 17: 3-9
I have often agreed with scholars who say that we should call the parts of the Bible the First Covenant and the Second Covenant, although several versions of covenant fall between Genesis and Revelation. I love it that the beginning of God’s covenant with Abram says: “Walk before me and be blameless.” One of my professors once pointed out that Noah, Job, nor Abram are described as faultless but blameless. Such a slight disntinction of terms makes me think about our Chrisitian walk. We are to be blameless before God as well. We are not called to be faultless. We are called to be holy, perfect, finished. Blameless: “Abram fell facedown.” When was the last time I was so enamored, in awe, overtaken with God’s promises that I fell facedown before [Them]?

John 8:51-59
In this passage, Jesus outs himself as: “I am.” When he is questioned about seeing Abraham, he replies: “I tell you the truth, before Arbaham was born, I am.” This interaction is amazing to me because they question Jesus to the point of revealing his divine purpose, his divine origin. It seems to be one of the few places in which Jesus leaves his Socratic seminar style of preaching. He does not answer their question with questions, but he does answer in a sort of parable. Interesting.

Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62
Good luck finding this one. I am not sure what it is supposed to be.

John 8: 1-11
It kills me not to know what Jesus wrote on the ground, but maybe that is why I love this story. I will never know. The only people who know are the woman and her accusers. I love the mystery. The glorious mystery. I want to think he wrote: “Grace, grace, grace, grace.” I think it would be wryly humorous, if he started writing the names of all the men gathered around her, who she had slept with. I think it would be even more poignant if he listed all the women her husband had slept with. Okay, maybe not funny or wry, but convicting. It would be interesting, as well, if Jesus wrote all the other sins the men, who were gathered around her, had committed. I think what touches me about this story is that that Jesus stands with the woman in the face of her sin. He joins her in her shame. Think about it. If someone was going to be stoned, would you want to be standing next to her? If people started throwing rocks, don’t you think some would hit you, especially if you were bent over writing in the dirt? This is what I love about Jesus-what I personally love about Jesus. I feel like Jesus would stand next to Brittany Spears and wrap his arm around her and say, you don’t have to do this, I love you. He would have stood next to Matthew Shepherd and said, which of you can cast aspersions, I love him. He would stand next to Saddam Hussein, or Osama Bin Laden, or George W. Bush and say: “Neither do I condemn you, go now and leave your life of sin.” But he would be there in the moment with the person who is being persecuted, he would hold the hand of the downtrodden, he would stand with us in the face of our punishment, he would accept our shame. He stands with me when I fuck it up, ready to be stoned right along with me. That’s what I love about Jesus. I am not shamed or ashamed.