J.R. Briggs
Attempting to behold the miracle long enough without falling asleep
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Archive of "Scripture" Category
Names
Names are important.
More important than I think we realize.
This year I decided to do the read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year thingy. It’s a great structure that chops it up and has you reading a little bit out of the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the gospels and the Epistles everyday so you aren’t wanting to take a gun to your head when you get to Leviticus and Numbers in the springtime.
It keeps it fresh.
I am excited about it and I know I can do it — I’ve done it before — but I want to make sure I’m not just checking off a box for the day that I completed it, but I want it to let it sink into my soul and saturate my heart.
John Ortberg said that the goal isn’t to get all the way through the Bible in a year, but that the Bible gets all the way through you.
I like that.
I want that to happen to me this year.
Well, as you would imagine most of January has been Genesis, which seems to be the logical place to start in a Bible reading plan. (Who starts to read a book in the middle anyway?) All of the stories ring with familiarity, but it’s been refreshing to engage with this kid’s stories in new ways this month.
One of the things I noticed are the importance of names found in Genesis (and throughout Scripture). Genesis is chock-full of great names that have even greater significance. I feel as though I miss so much by not knowing the Hebrew language and yet, I am grateful that I have footnotes in my Bible to tell me the meaning of names.
One great scholar pointed out recently that names are distinct. They are yours. It is your essence and your destiny, in addition to your distinctive identity. Names are important enough that you were not numbered when you were born. ("Look, we decided to name her ’38569′ Isn’t she beautiful!") No, we are all given a place in this world by being given a name. .
So, if you happen to be out for a spiritual jaunt through the Genesis narrative anytime soon, notice the names of individuals and what they mean. They add so much more texture and color and shape to the imagery of the stories of the patriarchs.
“I” faith vs. “we” faith: Part II
More thoughts have emerged since my previous post on faith as a communal act.
"We" faith is all encompassing, even in the way in which we talk to God. When the disciples ask their rabbi if he will teach them to pray he gives them the model that has been recited throughout the centuries: The Lord’s Prayer.
Think critically about these familiar words.
Notice that they say, "Give us our daily bread" — not "Give me my daily bread"
"Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors" - not "Forgive me my debts as I have also forgiven my debtors."
"Lead us not into temptation" — not "Lead me not into temptation."
"Deliver us from the evil one" — not "Deliver me from the evil one."
This famous dialogue with God is God-centered, but it is also others-centered…not me-centered. The basic premise of Jesus’ way of living was found in the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and in Leviticus 19:18 – "Love God, love others."
The fact that my faith is a "we" faith should impact the way in which I pray.
But does it actually impact it?
Do I pray inclusively?
Or, I guess I should ask instead, do we pray inclusively?
belief/unbelief
Recently I stumbled into Mark 9. This one line hit me hard: "I do believe. Help my unbelief!"
This line seems to be the one line that I could use to describe my walk with Jesus right now. My life is filled with either and void of both.
What an interesting mix of the life of a follower of Christ. Belief and unbelief. My belief informs my unbelief. My unbelief strengthens my belief…but I still need help.
Oh, Jesus, I do believe you are who you say you are, but help me in the midst of my unbelief!
Reflections in Matthew’s Gospel Part 7
Jesus’ intriguing interaction with children…
1. In his interaction with his disciples Jesus makes an object lesson out of a child. He calls a child over and has him stand in their midst. Then he says, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’ (18:3) In the NASB it translates it ‘unless you convert and become like little children…"
What does it mean for me to ‘convert’ to be like a child? Have you ever thought about experiencing a child conversion when you are already a believer?
2. In Matthew 19:13-15 it says that "little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them."
"When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there." Fascinating that Jesus’ intent to was to put his hands on the little ones in order to bless them and pray for them.
3. Right after the Triumphal Entry Jesus is in the Temple. After healing the blind and the lame it records the following verses:
"But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the Temple area ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant. ‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ they asked him. ‘Yes,’ Jesus replied, ‘have you never read "From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise"’?"
It was the words of children that ticked off the religious leaders. Not only was he influencing the lives of adults, but Jesus was ‘ruining’ the lives of the next generation of Jews. And all to fulfill a prophecy that Jesus pointed out to them…
How often do I value children? Do I watch them and study them? Why do I pray that I would be more mature in my faith (i.e. grown up) yet fail to pray that I would become more like children?
Maybe there is a paradox in our spiritual lives that we oftentimes fail to recognize: maybe growing up in our faith as followers of Jesus only happens when we are becoming ‘spiritually younger and younger’.
God, convert us to be like little chidren…
Reflections on Matthe’s Gospel Part 6
Amazed…
I’m noting the amount of times that Matthew records the crowd being amazed, in awe or astonished by Jesus. By my count, it seems to be six times (8:10; 9:8; 9:33; 15:31; 22:22; 22:33).
How often am I amazed or astonished by God working in my midst? How can I increase my astonishment (is that even possible)? And is it connected to my ability to recognized God working in our midst?
Reflections on Matthew’s Gospel Part 5
I’ve been noticing the amount of times that Jesus is intentional about who he touches and when and where he touches them (and I’ve noticed the amount of times that Matthew records and notices touching occuring). See earlier post on this idea.
But Matthew also notes the times that others are trying to touch Jesus (especially in an attempt to be healed).
- the woman subject to bleeding for twelve years (9:21-21)
- the people who begged for the chance to touch Jesus (14:36)
And the times that Jesus was intentionally touching others in order to help them:
- he touched his disciples when they were scared (17:7)
- he desired to touch the children and rebuked his followers when they tried to keep the children from being touched by Jesus (19:13, 15)
- he touched the blind man’s eyes (20:34)
I also find the wording of Matthew’s description of Jesus being seized by the soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane interesting: "they laid hands on him" (26:50).
How can I be more intentional and value people by the way I touch others?
Reflections on Matthew’s Gospel Part 4
Reflections on Matthew’s Gospel Part 4:
The Kingdom of Heaven is like…
Of course we know that Jesus used metaphor and imagery and simile in an effective way. But when it came to the Kingdom of Heaven (or Kingdom of God) he used story more than any other topic.
He described the Kingdom of Heaven as:
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a mustard seed (13:31)
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yeast (13:33)
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a hidden treasure (13:44)
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a merchant (13:45)
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a net (13:47)
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an owner of a house (13:52)
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a king (18:23)
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a landowner (20:11)
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a king, again (22:2)
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ten virgins (25:11)
Do I see the power of metaphor and story?
When was the last time I taught (or spoke) and started a sentence, "The kingdom of heaven is like…"?
How can I begin to use metaphor, simile, allegory, imagery, story as a tool the way Jesus did?
Reflections on Matthew’s Gospel Part 3
I’m pondering the book of Matthew once again, noticing the difference between Jesus teaching and Jesus speaking to the crowd. Jesus’ ministry certainly is teaching-intensive. But one thing I noticed that I had never noticed before with Matthew is that Jesus is mentioned teaching or preaching almost exclusively when he is in the synagogue, "as was his tradition." But when he was with the crowds — outside of the synogogue — Matthew notes, he was speaking or talking, not teaching.
Matthew notes at least nine times that Jesus speaks to the crowd (instead of teaches). [See 12:46; 13:3, 10, 13, 24, 33, 34; 19:1; 22:1]. And as he does, of course, he asks splendid questions in the process. His teaching ocurred in the midst of his speaking.
It makes me wonder how much was Jesus’ ministry speaking more than teaching? Maybe Jesus viewed his Kingdom Lessons less as a monologue to be delivered than a speaking opportunity to engage with other people.
If Jesus spoke to the crowds more than taught them, according to Matthew, then how does that change the way we/I communicate the gospel? Or should it impact our/my gospel communication?
Reflections on Matthew’s Gospel, Part 2
In Matthew I circled all the times that Jesus said the word "go." On my unofficial count I noticed fifteen times that Jesus says the word to his disciples, to Gentiles, to those he has healed, etc.
Jesus said to his disciples "Come, follow me" but to most everyone else he said to go. Jesus was a sending agent to the nations. He was constantly sending people out.
Am I more content to "go" or to "stay"?
Reflections on Matthew’s Gospel
Recently, Ray Vander Laan challenged me to take the Great Commission seriously: if Jesus commands us to teach others about what he taught then I better know for sure what Jesus taught. He asked if I had ever made a list of everything Jesus ever taught. I never thought about it that way before…
So, I have started a journey of reading through the four gospels underlining and marking everything that Jesus commanded and taught. I have been carefully reading through Matthew using the Contemporary Parallel New Testament published by Oxford University Press. It’s a NT Bible that contains eight translations on each page. It’s quite thick, but it’s the best New Testament resource I’ve ever come across.
It has forced me to take a more careful and in-depth approach to the Text than ever before.
As I read through Matthew I came across seven concept or values that jumped out at me that I had never noticed before this careful study. For the next several days I am going to share those. I’ll share the first one now…
The first thing I noticed was the amount of times that Matthew mentions that Jesus’ actions act as a fulfillment of OT prophecy. My unofficial count came up with fifteen times the word ‘fulfil’ ‘fulfilled’ or ‘fulfillment’ was mentioned, tracing back to the Old Testament. One of Matthew’s most famous verses is when Jesus verbalized his own purpose of his ministry:
‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.’ (Mt. 5:17)
It’s fascinating how Matthew intends to bridge the gap between the testaments, something that most evangelical Christians (including myself) don’t do a very good job at identifying.
It makes me more sensitive to see in the other gospels the ways the authors mention Jesus’ fulfillment of prophecies.
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